Bills Fans Have Better Tailgates Than Super Bowl Fans
By Brian Giuffra
MIAMI -- It's sunny and warm here at the Super Bowl, where fans are forking over thousands to get in.
Guess money can't buy everything.
While the Super Bowl has a lot of cool aspects to it, tailgating doesn't appear to be one of them. Now, in full transparency, I can't drink at these tailgates, which is obviously a big part of the whole experience. But while that inhibits me from experiencing the Super Bowl's tailgates in totality, it doesn't inhibit me from observing and reporting the truth:
Bills fans have more fun at their tailgates.
No, I'm not saying this because I haven't seen any fans jumping through tables. I'm saying it because Bills fans seem like a community that welcomes their kind. You hungry? Here's a hot dog. Thirsty? I got a beer for you. It's an open-arm policy in Buffalo. The Super Bowl feels like an individualistic, capitalistic society where they have open hands, not arms.
Take, for instance, the way tailgates are set up:
See those giant tents? Yeah, those are "tailgates". You need a pass to get in them. Security points away credential-less party goers. There's long lines to get a beer or mixed drink or hot dog or whatever you want. Yeah, even if you want to pee, better be ready to hold it.
Worst of all? You're tailgating alone. Yes, there are thousands of other fans around you. But most focus only on the people they came with. They're not looking to party with strangers, even those wearing the same jerseys as them.
Now, this isn't to say the Super Bowl tailgates aren't fun. There's live music and games. The food and drink is free flowing. Everyone is taking selfies with smiles on.
But the thing that made tailgating special to me was the community element. It wasn't me and my family only. It was me, my family, and my extended family of random people who shared the same fandom over a beer and a story.
Bills Mafia gets that.