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00:02the big day is Saturday for the new stadium or as it's officially known the
00:10new stadium the scrimmage on Saturday and it appears that from pictures that I
00:16saw today the stadium or as it's officially known the old stadium is in
00:22ruins it's completely demolished it's good all the stands are gone I think the
00:27the the suites on the far end yeah or was those are off were offices I don't know I
00:33think that's still there and the bill's store I believe is still in front of you
00:39know right at the front of the property closest to Abbott Road the bill's store
00:42must not be demolished right and but I wondered I don't think I've I've heard
00:47it asked I mean I'm sure like I did watch Sal mentioned his podcast with Matt
00:53Beauvais and they were having Pete Guelli on I did watch that last night in its
00:58entirety and there was a lot hey I was on last there was a lot of talking there
01:03about retail opportunities but I did not I I guess I don't know if the bill's
01:07store is moving across the street eventually or staying where it is well
01:11I'm sure you'll tell me when you find out yeah but anyway but yeah it it's it's
01:16stadium is gone the old stadium is gone yeah
01:21we've known this was coming for a long time we've seen the new one go up we've
01:25seen the old one go down I don't feel like I've had enough conversation about
01:32the significance of this actually even in this amazing opportunity that I have
01:39with you every day to like be open available for conversations about this
01:43whatever we choose but like I don't know like what are people feeling is it sad is it
01:50exciting which which is the more dominant emotion I I don't know but while while you
01:57were away at the end of last week I talked one one of the one of the days Thursday it
02:03was um you know you you've said you've you had said earlier in the week like the bills
02:08fans is there like a malaise kind of are we are we I don't know bored like about the
02:14season about the season right and I I wondered if the stadium the stadiums both I mean the
02:22the old one being gone and the new one being up lends itself to a certain uneasiness because
02:28it's it's new it's not familiar it's not you you don't have all the same plans necessarily
02:34with all the same people like it I I think it could be a part of it it's not it's
02:39not
02:39has nothing to do with what you think of their depth chart or their rookie linebacker or anything
02:43but I I think there could be a sort of uh I tried this on Graham when he was on
02:49and he thought like
02:49yeah you know I like how you're thinking like it's just uneasiness because it you don't know you
02:55don't know where you're going you know you've known where you were going your whole football life
03:00probably going out there you knew I've been lost a couple times but okay yes and the new the new
03:07is
03:07new so trying to get around the other direction right before you realize that you can't do that
03:12right um so I did yeah I mean I talked about that a little but I I don't know I
03:18think it's a part of
03:19the it's a part of this offseason and the coming and the season is that our you know we're not
03:25sure of
03:26our footing exactly you know like if I would tell you this we we don't go we stopped going um
03:32due to COVID and then just never picked up going again right for the games and doing post game from
03:38on site it was just more convenient to be here or for me at home on Sundays uh here for
03:44you me at home
03:44and so but if we were going like you know if we still had the games I think we'd probably
03:53be
03:53going to the new stadium to do post game uh because you know it's the new stadium and what
03:58are you doing all hands on deck kind of thing right um I was expecting that anyway I would feel
04:04a lot of
04:04uncertainty about where to go where's where am I parking where's the entrance because I'm like that
04:09I like to know where I'm going I like to know as much as I can know about my destination
04:15on a given
04:16day or whatever and I think it adds it lends itself to just a a little uneasiness it's it's exciting
04:24it's mostly positive but things that are positive that are changes can also cause you to be a little
04:30uneasy well I'll go as far as and this would be different for everyone I'll go as far as to
04:35think
04:35that if you're a season ticket holder that this would be a it's kind of upside down or inside out
04:43but a distraction right to the season and your normal ways of looking forward to it and making
04:49plans I mean I think for what it's worth the bills on the field are pretty much the same as
04:57they've been
04:58the last several years where you can feel pretty good that you know what you're going to get
05:03there is a new coach like that's different and it's never like a given but they're they're not a team
05:10where there's a lot of change they're not a team where you just have no idea what to expect I
05:15mean
05:15they're they're really very close to the complete opposite of that so I think almost anybody would
05:21feel like yeah they'll be good right I mean Josh Allen yeah etc etc I just feel like the fact
05:28that
05:31Rich Stadium Ralph Wilson Stadium is gone is you know it's maybe trumped by the fact that there is the
05:38new place I mean of course there would have to be but I mean just sitting with the thought and
05:43the
05:43pictures of the stadium in rubble is really like it depends on kind of how you're wired and maybe
05:51what the place meant to you I mean I think there was a time when the bills were in the
05:56drought and it
05:58looked kind of bleak whether they might even move where it felt like fans this is maybe where the tables
06:04thing started like it felt like fans just treated it like a junkyard that it wasn't it wasn't it was
06:10never Lambeau Field but it was never a place like that had that sort of uh reverence where people had
06:16that reverence for or respect for instead you know you'd hear stories of you know pictures of people
06:22having sex in the stadium and just like different things like you know that but there's a lot of
06:27people I mean that's not to say everybody was doing whatever crazy things but you know there
06:31there were stories along the way and our where am I going I mean our fans are rabid and you
06:38know
06:38loyal of course we put we take a lot of pride in our loyalty toward the bills and everything like
06:45this and the stadium just naturally would have this very important place in that I mean most people
06:54that's where they've played their entire lives I mean that's since the early 70s I'm barely old
07:00enough to predate that but I don't remember the bills playing in the rock pile do even you
07:06uh barely I mean barely I'm eight 1973 my first bills game experience was in the new stadium
07:13I saw I'm sure I'm sure I I you know every memory you have of the bills is in the
07:19news at home yeah
07:20is there yeah I don't really remember anything about games that I saw or could have seen that were
07:25played at war memorial yeah so just like it's not like all those memories just go away but it's
07:34incredible that they're not going to be on that field anymore and then we're not going to be in
07:38those seats anymore it's just it's what happens it's it's what happens but it's also maybe in
07:45Buffalo here something that for most of that time you might have thought would never happen
07:50that if ever yeah I would have said it I'm sure I would have said it like there's never going
07:53to be a
07:54new stadium they'll they'll move you know it's cool it goes back 20 years it goes back to Peter King
07:59you know maybe wagging his finger at us like you know Castle Pines Colorado has more people than
08:05Buffalo you know that right like just okay well we're we're less than thanks for reminding us
08:10and if they're ever gonna need a new place which is inevitable that it'll be somewhere else but
08:16instead it's across the street like yeah there's so many different ways of looking at it and you
08:23know maybe emotions that you'd have about it yeah but they're gonna open on Saturday for that scrimmage
08:30and it'll be everybody's first time back out there since Mitch Trubisky threw four touchdown passes
08:38against the Jets in their final game at the old stadium that happened by the way Allen never threw four
08:45more than four there in a regular season game five in the New England playoff game okay that's his
08:51personal best I believe at least at home anyway you go back out there and they will not be there
08:55I
08:55want I wonder I I again I watch this it's always game day in Buffalo podcast with Sal and Matt
09:01when I
09:01was on last night well it might have been after you were done even what time did you start anyway
09:06we go forever uh okay no chance uh you go to bed before we're done at one point Pico Welly
09:12said
09:12that they were their way ahead of schedule getting the old stadium down that it was it was by March
09:20of
09:2027 I think is what he said they were maybe contractually obligated with the county or the state or
09:27whatever to like have that you know ready to be redeveloped in some way right so their way ahead of
09:35schedule I wonder if people were expecting if they knew if people were aware of that because I admit
09:40like I didn't think the stadium was just coming down like the second the new place was you know
09:46they cut the ribbon um that maybe you'd have you know the year or part of this year where you'd
09:51be
09:51going to games and still see the old stadium across the street but now it's yeah it's rubble
09:56um and maybe I don't know I I wonder I haven't really spent time I mean those one or two
10:04threads
10:04that I I was tagged in on Twitter uh you know while the you know the wrecking balls were doing
10:11their
10:11things over there with you know people you know talking about memories and it was it felt like a sad
10:17thread of kind of like you know see you later old friend that kind of thing um but I I
10:24haven't I it
10:25kind of caught me by surprise that it's down which I think is the the point you're maybe the
10:30the initial talking point you're like it's gone yeah I didn't I didn't think it would be gone
10:36I like how you said that time it's funny how you know the builds always take too long they're behind
10:42schedule but the demolition is always like they're never behind schedule we're it's just going bang
10:47it's blammo it's done there's no reason to yeah wait around we don't need to check the the
10:52blueprints and because of the way the thing was constructed down into the ground like there wasn't
10:56even you didn't even need like a you know like explosives like right it wasn't anything dramatic
11:01where you could like go watch from chestnut ridge or something when they blow no it's it's just gone
11:07it was some tractors just hammered into the ground and that's the end of it so yeah I I've never
11:14really
11:15last year um you know I I talked about on the show quite a bit how I I took Owen
11:21to the game he had
11:24been to other games so it wasn't his first game but it was my first time sitting in the stands
11:30since 2002 maybe like whenever I started working with you I never went to another game as a fan like
11:37we were in there you know working um and but but even prior to like this version of my life
11:45the media
11:46version of my life which is now you know 30 years of my life half of my life um I
11:52I didn't I I never
11:53went like it was never a place it was never like the odd to me it just why I I
11:59went I didn't I probably
12:01went once every three years if that on average through the stadium's life maybe even less than
12:08that um and it was never a church it was never a church to me and you know with that
12:15in mind like
12:16I never really wanted to say last year you know my experience because I I know everyone was kind of
12:22going through it right the stadium is this is our last time last season this might be your last game
12:28you know I I it was jarring to me how um just outdated it was like from a like from
12:37a current
12:3921st century stadium standpoint and and Pete Pete said this on the podcast a couple of different times
12:44like there was no getting up and going to the concession stand like at the first quarter break
12:50and expecting to be back in your seat like the traversing the concourses was extremely challenging
12:56the lines were extremely long both the restrooms and the concessions I absolutely experienced that
13:02at that Miami game like it was one of the hardest things I've ever done at a sporting event to
13:07go get
13:07a piece of pizza and then find a place I didn't want to go jam myself back into the seat
13:12and try to
13:13eat a piece of pizza because I'm sitting you know like I got my meat my you know my I'm
13:17on the balls of
13:18my feet because my legs won't fit entirely in the spot so I'm sitting uncomfortably my calves are
13:24twitching because they're stressed the whole time and I'm going to try to eat a piece of pizza
13:28while balancing a drink and I know so let's stay on the concourse and the tvs on the concourse
13:36look like they were from like 1985 like the the smallest possible tvs everywhere on the concourse on
13:45the 100 level like the main level of the stadium okay not the suites or the clubs I know there
13:50are a
13:51lot of nice spots in there you could barely stand on one side of the concourse and see the tv
13:55and
13:55watch the game that you're at like getting back to the seat was not a good idea standing here of
14:02course you can't see the field but it's just concrete everywhere and the tvs were like it was
14:07like the worst bar you've ever been in to try to watch a game and I was like the only
14:11thing they
14:11weren't doing was putting like law and order on with the sound right right like when you go to a
14:16sports bar sometimes and and my thought was this sucks this is not a good this this is terrible
14:23you know but I didn't want to like go loud with that last October or September or whenever that
14:29was I went to that Miami game because I know it means it people who went all the time and
14:35I know I
14:35would be like this if I did go all the time that all that becomes charming it's a part of
14:41the it's a
14:42part of the thing right like no you can't go to the bathroom at halftime dumbass okay right for me
14:50not having experienced it in 20 some years it was jarring I just thought like man I can't wait for
14:58the new place I'm sorry like I and I never thought I'd be like that because I you know sitting
15:04in the
15:04stadium itself to watch the game is fine to me like I don't I didn't need it despite the legroom
15:10point I'm making but that's me I'm a giant you know I'm the most people aren't six five um
15:16but I I I thought it was I felt like wow it's time for a new place standing in there
15:22last year
15:23so I I didn't uh and I say I sat on that for months like I said because I didn't
15:27want to
15:27be the guy that's like you people are all crying over a place that needs to be replaced
15:33well but now I feel like how much crying has there been that's really what I'm thinking about
15:39yeah is I mean I'm not crying neither are you you're like ready for it yeah I think maybe a
15:45lot
15:45of people are for whatever reasons like that they might have you know it would have again naturally
15:52evolved to a point where it just sort of if you went to other stadiums new places you would feel
15:57like
15:57all right this is a relic yeah and everybody kind of knew that anyway but almost all of my
16:04memories of the bills are in there many of which are firsthand you know with different people and
16:12different seats and different opponents different decades like it's all from that bowl it's all like
16:19right there and I think what tends to happen is you just sort of get used to the new facility
16:27the
16:27new new location and either it morphs or it doesn't it's a separate and I don't know like
16:33it just what it is you know people in the 80s would tell you about the rock pile or the
16:3990s and they
16:39would tell you about you know people throwing beer cans that weren't even empty and just different
16:44different things the mud all the different you know people bringing coolers into their own yeah
16:51their own cans of beer to throw not 18 cans of beer you bought at the concession stand I don't
16:56know
16:56I'm just kind of in the mood for the nostalgia and even if that's just like good riddance I couldn't
17:03see the game I couldn't fit yeah but really once the season starts we'll talk about these beautiful new
17:11features off off and on but it's really about the games it's about right their season and now that
17:20the old place is in ruins like seems like as good a time and with the new one opening in
17:25three days
17:26yeah to kind of take some take a minute for some perspective on that if anybody wants to I mean
17:32I
17:32I made a list of not that I needed to but just a few of my favorite days out there
17:37one of which is a
17:38hockey game same as you yeah yeah um but you know there's no practice today even like right you know
17:44kind of wanted to talk about it as we've been doing yeah 803 05 50 for your calls one guest
17:50scheduled Eric Edholm he's been covering the NFL a long time now with Yahoo he'll join us
17:55at 4 eastern Mike show up in the bulldog here we'll look for your calls after this time
17:59you
17:59you
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