I grew up down the street from the Ralph. I was in 5, 6, 7, and 8th grade when they had their Super Bowl streak... and I've lived in Toronto almost 8 years now and still would've rather have gone to Bills game back home, bought tickets for cheaper, and rented a car or took a bus to stay with family and friends and enjoy tailgating, etc. etc... took my partner to his first ever NFL game and though it rained, we had fun and the Bills actually beat the Lions.

Today, I went to the Rogers Centre (read: Skydome) and watched the Bills stink it up in front of a 60% capacity crowd filled with 1/3 Bills fans, 1/3 Seahawks fans, and 1/3 NFL fans of other colors -- Steelers, Broncos, Browns, Patriots, Lions... I think the Bills in Toronto series is GREAT for the NFL, much like the London series is... but for the Bills? Bills fans? No. Not one bit.

The big entrance through the strobe lights, dry ice, and air-filled balloon logo thing? Moderate applause. The first half felt eerily quiet. People seemed more excited when they were warming up the audience for Psy's half-time performance.

Psy was good. Entertaining. People danced, cheered, and um, some people around us actually left after he left. Including 3 people next to us.

I laughed during the 3rd quarter when the scoreboard read "Quiet Please, Offense at Work!" as Fitz bumbled our team to a 3 & out... thing is, it was silent the whole game. There would be a little noise on 3rd downs, but not really enough to know whether it was for the offense or defense, and there was raucous applause when Seattle scored (however many times) and when Buffalo scored (three times). People kinda booed Fitz at one or two points.

And none of the Bills even looked that embarrassed or concerned... Fitz kept trotting back out there. The only person who looked visibly upset was Stevie Johnson. Chandler watched a ball sail over his head, get intercepted, and the dude ran right by him, eventually for a touchdown, while he just signaled "no catch." TJ Graham looked ATROCIOUS. Spiller even looked hesitant. Mario was mostly a no-show, the defense looked awful, no one was ever spying Wilson... we knew he was gonna run from the corner of the end zone.

But this isn't so much about the Bills' play... My problem? There's no way this series is doing anything to drum up support for the team regionally (hell, I don't even feel like rooting for them in public in Toronto when they play like that), I don't think it does anything for the team to play in front of that crowd once a year, there's really no 'tailgating', the merch was CRAP and WAY over priced (I don't own any Bills stuff but wanted to get something, but they didn't have anything good), and it wasn't even close to being sold out. I think it is a failed experiment, and if they renew the series, I'm not coming back again next year. I'll save my money for the Ralph...