Two years ago, the Buffalo Bills played in their first playoff game since the 1999 season. It was 17 years of heartbreak, underperforming teams, celebrating moral victories and individual successes, and no playoff games. This year, after a one-year playoff drought, it feels different.
Admittedly, I grew up a lot between the last two Bills playoff games. I was a junior in high school in January of 2000 an had grown up with Buffalo being a playoff team. “They’ll be back.”
But they weren’t.
I moved to college, graduated, got a great job, moved back, married my wife, moved again, started writing for a tiny blog, welcomed two kids, moved again, took over leading a much bigger blog, and lost my father to cancer among the major milestones between playoff games.