Went to see the playoff hungry Bills (6-7) take on the lowly and history destined Dolphins (0-13) with my brother in law Joey. We loaded up the CRV with the Coleman, some propane, beer and jumbo hotdogs. Thermal socks, fleece and winter jackets as the temperature was expected to be a few degrees below freezing, windy and ‘precipitous’ (a mix of freezing rain and snow).
We left for the game at 8:00 am sharp with the hopes of being parked and tailgating by 11:00. We were bang on. There was little traffic and it’s unbelievable how easy it is to get to Orchard Park once crossing the border at Niagara Falls. It’s about 20 minutes from border to parking most of it on major highway.
Here’s a valuable trick for parking: When you get onto 179E/Milestrip Expwy, instead of following it to Abbot Road and finding parking in that mayhem, turn R onto McKinley Pkwy which is before Abbot Road. Then, turn left on Big Tree Road. Find parking on any one of the many houses that charge you only $10 (instead of $20) to park on their lawn. We parked on the right side of the road about 200m before Abbott Road intersection. I think it was 5287. Backed in so that the car was facing the road and ready to just boot it after the game. Benefits of this spot was: not a busy road after the game, close to a couple restaurants down the street in case you need to go the washroom. About 20 cars could park there so you get a mini-tailgate feeling. Or just meander over to one of the restaurant parking lots for a bigger experience.
We were able to pull out the rarely used picnic table that comes with the CRV and set up the Coleman to cook up the dogs. It was cold out but it was fun. Had a few beers and listened to the high-powered stereo they had set up on the porch to catch the pre-game.
About 12:30ish we packed up and walked to the game. About a 15 minute walk at the most. Unfortunately our gate was at the far back corner of the stadium so we had to navigate through all of the crowds to get there.
After entering the gates I found a quiet-ish spot and called home to confirm whether Galloway was playing for TB. I was in the playoffs and needed to make a change if he were listed as inactive. Unfortunately he was listed as active and I continued to play him instead of subbing in Marshall for DEN. I consider this THE mistake of my ’07 run for the championship as it turns out this decision alone cost me a trip to the finals.
We had seats near the top of the stadium in a corner of the endzone. Not bad seats at all and well worth the price. The game was 24-0 for Buffalo by the end of the 1st quarter. Although Miami did score 17 pts, it ended up 31-17 and was never really in doubt. That gave me some time to watch the scoreboard and guess how I was doing in the pool. My guess was that after the 1st set of games, I had a fairly good lead.
On the way home (and yes it was that easy to get out of Orchard Park thanks to the primo parking location) we stopped at Jack Astors in Stony Creek to watch the remainder of the 4:00 games and then made it home by 9:00.
Yeah, it was cold and wet and windy, my toes were frozen but it was a fun day and can’t wait to go again. Earlier in the season would be nice but not necessary. Just looking for the matchups will be the deciding factor.