I know that we mainly write about hockey on this site, but I needed to find an outlet to express my emotions because I may explode. After all, we do want to have Buffalo Bills content on this site at some point. We’ll save that for another day.

It’s the morning after easily the most crushing defeat of my lifetime. Yes, I was alive for the Music City Miracle, but it didn’t register like this. I remember the 05-07 Sabres runs. Again, not like this. The Bills were 13 seconds from becoming the Super Bowl favorites. Nothing is guaranteed of course but COME ON! They were 13 seconds from hosting the AFC Championship game.

Last night felt like their moment. They finally slew the dragons known as the New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs. Josh Allen was on the verge of becoming the face of the NFL.

Every Bills fan in that stadium and watching at home were dreaming of what the next few weeks could hold for them. My wife and I were discussing who was going to watch our kids so we could go to the game next week.

Then it was gone.

I’ll never forget trying to explain to my wife, who just got into football a few years ago, what was happening. She couldn’t understand it. It was supposed to be over. How could this be happening? Well, welcome to being a Bills fan, dear.

After the tying field goal, the life was sucked out of me. Sitting there watching the coin toss…A COIN TOSS…decide the winner was helpless. The minute you heard “it’s heads” you knew that was it. I just sat there and waited for the inevitable.

Becoming someone who covers the Sabres has withdrawn a lot of the fandom with that club. I don’t know maybe deep down it’s still there, but I’m numb to a lot of things with that team. The good or bad really don’t impact me one way or the other.

The Bills though…I’ve latched on tighter than ever.

This is the high and lows of being a fan of sports. This is why we love to be a fan. Earlier in the week, I was celebrating Tottenham scoring two goals in the 95th and 96th minute to beat Leicester City. Then yesterday was the low. It’s not all jujus and rainbows, Tim Murray once said.

So, now what?

It’s going to take a while to get over this. I know I don’t have it in me to turn on another football game this season. This would be the first Super Bowl I don’t watch in a long time. Maybe I’m being childish, but I won’t be able to watch without thinking to myself that was supposed to be us. Sometimes you just need to take a break and hit the reset button.

I’m sure, by now, you’ve had someone say to you “well, there’s always next season.” That’s not helpful the morning after, but the future is a part of this conversation of being a fan. After the pain subsides we finally can get around to next year. Doesn’t matter what team you’re a fan of. The next year conversation always comes.

Both of these teams have shown their fans that there’s something to be excited about. The Bills, of course, are on a different level than the Sabres. The Sabres have a handful of young players that have shown promise and are having success in their own regards at a young age. You can see the structure of something being built.

The Bills are in it every year for as long as Josh Allen is throwing the football. They have the best or at worst the second-best quarterback in the game and that’s what matters in that sport. Ya, you need to build the pieces around him, but if you have that position figured out you have the golden ticket.

They’ll get another chance to make a run. It’s a certainty. Perhaps this was their Tampa Bay Lightning moment where they sent out “the letter.” Then they went on to win back-to-back Stanley Cups.

I’m not ready to think about that next run yet, but I will be at some point. I feel confident that one year will be “our year” with the Bills. Maybe, we’ll get lucky and we’ll get a few of those. Part of being a fan is jumping back on the roller coaster for the ups and the downs. Because when that highest of the high comes it’s going to be awesome.

I’m at the end of this and I don’t know if it helped you at all, but it helped me. Nobody wants to feel last night, but this is what it’s all about, right? This is supposed to make that moment when it all comes together that much sweeter.

The night is darkest right before the dawn and Harvey Dent promised the dawn is coming.

Photo Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports