Last weekend me and the boys went down to Buffalo for the quasi-annual trip to see the Toronto Bills in action. It was a weekend full of win. Well, except for the casino part. Uh, and the football game.
Saturday night was spent at Boston Pizza on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, where we watched the Toronto Maple Leafs play the greatest third period of all time against the New York Rangers.
Five goals in five minutes and 21 seconds. That, Stephen Valiquette, is what I like to call revenge.
After making our donation at the casino, we proceeded to cross the border at around 1:15 AM. Of course our good friends, U.S. Border Patrol, summoned us inside, you know, so we could all catch up. Small talk: how are the kids, the dog, the job, when was the last time you visited the Middle East. The regular stuff. We're all real tight down at the Rainbow Bridge. The good people over there certainly never miss an opportunity to personally say hello and welcome us to their beautiful country.
We spent the rest of Saturday night in Niagara Falls, New York and, let me tell you, someone on the American side missed the memo that the area can work out to be a pretty bitching tourist destination. I mean, the Canadian side is absolutely bumping. You cross the border and you're walking deserted streets like Will Smith in I Am Legend.
Instead of taking another beating at the Seneca Niagara Casino, we ended up at the uber-American institution known as Denny's. It was a no-brainer, really.
As for the game, you can see by the picture above that things are a changing at good old Ralph Wilson Stadium. They're still running the trough system in the washroom, but now that the words "Do Not Urinate In Sink" words emblazon the walls, people have stopped, well, urinating in the sink. I guess all it took was the sign to stop the insanity. Who knew?
Good times were had by one and all. The always pleasant tailgating experience left me joyously inebriated, the weather was beautiful, no one pissed in the sink, and I got into a round of verbal jousting with a Jets fan. He gave me the "You know what Bills stands for? Boy I Love Losing Super Bowls!" line, and it was my moral duty to let him have it. Yeah, the Bills lost, but come on, four out of five ain't bad. On top of it all, I got to see some guy everyone keeps going on about - I believe the gentleman's name is Brett Favre - live and in living colour.
One more thing: if we can't tailgate in Toronto like they do down in Buffalo, they deserve the Bills a lot more than we do. I think I enjoy the tailgating experience more than the actual game itself. Something about drinking heavily and eating red meat at 9:30 in the morning just sits well with me, I guess.
Stay classy, Buffalo...
*Thanks to my new friend Dave Sommer for the picture.
