April Fools...?

Wow.

For those who were unaware, The Spectrum ran its annual April Fools issue on Wednesday. In the issue, I happened to write a little piece on how the Buffalo Bills were officially moving to Toronto, and becoming the Toronto Wolf Pack.

I never expected the responses I received about my fake article. My assumption was that I had thrown in enough subtle, yet noticeable, hints that would stop Bills fans from having a heart attack.

I was wrong. I guess Milt Northrup being alive since 1862 wasn't good enough.

My inbox was flooded; the article spread throughout the Internet, and 99.9 percent of Bills fans hate my guts. While I find the fact that people want to bash my kneecaps in absolutely hilarious, their hatred towards me provided enough faith that the Bills won't be leaving Buffalo anytime soon.

Bills fans have been through enough since the team's inception in 1960. While they won the AFL Championship in 1964 and 1965, the years to follow were, in simple terms, brutal. The remainder of the '60s was hideous as the Bills merged into the National Football League, while the '70s brought only one playoff appearance.

The '80s were a sign of the great things to come, and so they did. The Bills made the Super Bowl four years in a row from 1990 to 1993. While they lost each and every championship game they were in, Buffalo fans held their ground.

From watching Scott Norwood's wide right kick to seal Super Bowl XXV to watching Don Beebe run with nothing left as he stripped the ball from Leon Lett in Super Bowl XXVII, the fans were there. Through the fire and the flames, we carried on.

The fact that the Bills have not made the playoffs since President Clinton was in office doesn't ease the pain.

Now, the Bills are in the insert-number-here-teenth year of rebuilding, and we find out that owner Ralph Wilson feels that he needs to tap into a new Canadian market for the team to survive. I guess selling out 99 percent of games doesn't matter anymore.

When fans found out about the Bills heading to Toronto for eight games over the next five years, their already broken hearts took a turn for the worse. As many promise the Bills are not going anywhere, can fans really trust anyone? We've been hurt over and over again, and it seems that we are never going to receive a break.

We Buffalo fans have braved the elements, ranging from ugly cheerleaders and Mike Mularkey, to the extreme snowstorms we have endured. We do what we must with what we are given, and at the end of the day we don't care how bad the product is - we love this team.

After seeing the outpouring of emotions expressed after the article was published, I put myself in their shoes; I thought about how I would have felt if I was casually reading news on the Internet, and this fell into my hands. Other than screaming uncontrollably, I would have probably immediately driven to Ralph Wilson Stadium and strangled someone.

In a day and age where this might happen, Bills fans need to hold strong and make sure these men realize they can't push us around. We need to prove that we hold the team in our hands.

How can we do this? Think about it.

In 1949, the All-American Football Conference was in existence, having a team with the same name as the Bills located in Buffalo. As the conference began to fold, Buffalo fans attempted to save their team.

These fans produced more than 15,000 season ticket pledges, as well as raising $175,000 in stock options. While the team ended up dismantling in the end, it was still enough to show the future American Football League that Buffalo was a football town, and 10 years later, football came home.

If the Bills were to leave Buffalo, so be it. While I would never watch the Toronto Wolf Pack, Toronto Fighting Tuques, or whatever they would become, I'd hold the image of Buffalo football dear to my heart. Like myself, there are enough fans around the world that would fight for Buffalo to have a football team.

With millionaires like Tom Golisano and Robert Rich, Jr. in the mix, anything is possible. Jim Kelly has made it his word that the Bills will stay in Buffalo. In protest, fans aren't buying Toronto tickets, and true Bills home games should sell out this year.

Whether the Bills stay or leave and we get an expansion team in a few years, Bills fans will be able to handle it.

We've been through enough already. How hard could it actually be?