Buffalo, NY

I’ve had this tradition to catch a Bills-Patriots game for a few years now. It started back when I just got out of college, my first job was working for a subsidiary of the Kraft Group and my office was inside Gillette Stadium. Back then I used to be able to get tickets to just about any Patriots game, one of my roommates was from Buffalo so we made it a point to see the Bills play in Foxboro. My buddy, Rob, recently moved back to Buffalo and we made plans to take the trek up to visit him and see a Patriots game in Ralph Wilson Stadium.

We spent the first night at a bar called Coles, just down the street from where Rob lives (ladies, you know where he’s at). The food was decent and the bar area was a good scene. The thing to order were the burgers, I got a Cajun-something or other, it was good. The bar was pretty packed and it kinda looked like a toy store at Christmas with all of the decorations – a toy store that serve’s alcohol…

After this we went a few blocks down to another bar called JP Bullfeathers, this one had a pretty decent scene and there were plenty of girls hanging around to talk to. Actually, that’s one thing about upstate New York – the girls are pretty down to earth and approachable. Definitely way more approachable than girls in Boston. I’m not sure why that is, but I guess it’s a good reason to move. The camera got passed around a bit and at some point the ISO got bumped up to 3200… I converted a lot of the shots to B&W, also I tried split toning some of the shots to give it a slightly kodachrome look.

Finally, on the way back home we stopped by this late-night taco place. Definitely hit the spot, it brought back memories of living in Davis Sq and stumbling into Anna’s before it shut down. Something about taco’s, they just hit the spot after a night in the town.

The next day we were all fairly under the weather. Rob promised us actual-bonafide buffalo wings. Supposedly Anchor Bar is a tourist trap, the real deal (he promised) was at Gabriel’s Gate (I checked Yelp! when I got back home and I guess a lot of the locals agree). The restaurant itself is pretty cool it almost had a New Orleans vibe to it with the antique tiled ceiling. The wings were good, but I feel the need to try a few other Buffalo restaurants before I’m willing to concede any titles (maybe next time I’ll do a more thorough taste test). I also had the club sandwich which was so gigantic I was unable to finish it – I guess value is no problem over here.

Ok so here’s is probably the best story from the entire trip. Let me introduce you to “Tron”, we named him that after the Chappele Show recurring character “Tron Carter”.

While we were eating this guy walks into the bar and just starts shooting the shit with anyone. Everyone turns around to look at him because he was so loud that he made himself the center of attention. He also uttered some of the weirdest/best lines of dialogue that I have personally ever heard. My friends and I were trying to figure out if he was a pimp, a bookie, a dealer or all three combined.

So he starts off by talking about football and how much money he has on the different games. Another patron at the bar gets sucked into this conversation and then notices the watch Tron is wearing. The conversation went something like this:

Man: “That’s a nice watch you got there, what is is?”
Tron: “It’s a Omega. Look here” [Tron pulls up his sleeve]. “Platinum!” “And look at this.” [pulls out a roll of money] “Bam! Hundred dollar bills!” “Man, I’m working not to work. You dig?”

Tron then orders a drink from the bartender…

Bartender: “What do you want”
Tron: “You tell me, you the one that knows. I want you to do what you do best. I’ll do what I do best, and I want you to do what you do best”

Somehow the conversation turns to Tron’s personal life..

Tron: “I have 4 wives…. They take care of me.”

And then things get violent…

Tron: “I was there man, I saw it! I saw her when she got fucked up. Seriously man, they found her naked in the attic, she had to have 87 stitches. I seen it.”

We were all quiet while all of this was going on, but we wanted to laugh so hard. On the way out of the restaurant one of the waitresses begged us to take her with us. Apparently the guy is a regular and once he starts talking he doesn’t stop for hours. My only regret is that I didn’t (a) take a picture or (b) video tape the entire conversation. Thus you’ll have to settle for my crudely drawn illustration of Tron and imagine the scene for yourself… When we got out of the car and started driving back to Rob’s apartment, we couldn’t stop quoting Tron and cracking up about it. Seriously, I nearly pissed myself laughing. The only way it could have been better is if Tron said “Look at me America! Look how Tron is living for the citaay!”

That night we went out to a Buffalo Sabres game, this was my first time going to a NHL game ever (yep, I’ve never seen the Bruins play). Before heading into the stadium we grabbed a quick drink at the “Pearl St Grill” which was pretty big (kinda reminded me of Jillian’s but more of a sports bar). The Sabres were playing the Penguins, apparently a lot of Pittsburgh fans don’t mind the drive up to Buffalo because the stadium was rough 60-40 Sabres-Penguins fans. There were also a lot of Canadians in participation. We tease Rob about him actually being a Canadian, he didn’t help himself when the first national anthem that was played at the game was the Canadian one. The Sabres ended up loosing the game, the cool thing was that it went into a penalty shootout. After the game we went to a random dive bar with a presidential/historical theme. It was actually a good time and a pretty neat bar – though I can’t remember the name of it.

The next day we got up early to tailgate before the Bills game… The weather was in the 20’s but windchill brought the temperature further down into the teens. Of course, the idiot that I am, I forget to bring my gloves and the extra pair of socks. Luckily a guy was selling Bills glove (yes, I had to suck up my pride and buy them – it was worth it) also my buddy Greg has a pair of feet warmers that kept my toes alive (I needed those too). Tailgating is tailgating, I guess there is not much I can say about it. Well, except that a girl ended up squatting behind Ed’s car to go to the bathroom – Buffalo girls definitely are different than Boston girls.

The game itself was pretty good, we had great seats about 120 feet from the field and on one of the corners of the stadium. You could see both sides of the field easily with a perfect 3/4 view and no obstructions. I was trying my best ot be the unassuming fan of the opposing team, Chris was doing his best to be the Pats fan he is and crawl under the skin of every Bills fan that he could. A lot of people were wearing hunter orange… some of these guys own guns and I wouldn’t want to piss them off.

After the game we went back to Rob’s apartment, it was our last night so we bought some Chinese food and settled in early before the long ride home to Boston the next morning.