I Am An Insider Here

For those who don’t yet have a clear picture of the rites and rituals of Bills Mafia, take a look at this story on The Ringer.

I watched this dude going about his work and was like, man, that’s probably how I look when I’m out working. To get a story like this you need to embrace your outsider status, become a blank slate, and ask all the questions. I can’t do that with the Bills — I’m from WNY, I’m an insider here.

Not being the outsider is one of the things that I appreciate most about coming to these games. It’s something different from how I’m normally positioned, and it’s a good break from continuously being on the fringes.

Outsiders have this social levity about them, they have distance, a lack of expectations — ultimately, they’re irrelevant, and there is a certain freedom in irrelevancy. But insiders have the feeling of being a part of something — which after decades of travel is something you really start to crave every once in a while.