Dan Arestia in Banditland: There's Something About Buffalo

BUFFALO, N.Y. — There’s something about Buffalo.

By population, it’s the sixth biggest city in New York. It’s smaller than Oyster Bay. It’s hardly a major vacation destination. Yet it’s home to two major league sports franchises, the Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo Bills.

Fans of Buffalo sports teams are fanatical. Bills Mafia, famous for, in equal parts, jumping through tables, Zubaz pants and being some of the most passionate fans in all of sports, makes a name for itself all football season. You’ve seen the clips.

Buffalo is also home to the National Lacrosse League’s two-time defending champion Buffalo Bandits, and that’s what brought me to the city. The Bandits routinely pack KeyBank Center, an arena they share with the Sabres. They record multiple 19,000-plus-fan sellouts every season and averaged a shade under 17,000 fans per game last season. It has a reputation as the best environment in pro lacrosse.

I needed to see Banditland in person. I needed to find out what it is about Buffalo.

A ride from my home in Connecticut to Buffalo is a long one. A 4:00 a.m. wake up, two trains separated by two subway rides, and then the Amtrak. All told, it was eight hours of travel to assure I’d be in Buffalo for a 7:30 p.m. game against the Philadelphia Wings.

When I told people who didn’t know much about the NLL that I was making the trek just for one night — and for a lacrosse game, no less — they’d tell me, “Well … that … that sounds cool. I’m sure it’ll be fun.”

But when I told lacrosse fans who knew about or had been to Banditland before, they’d look at me like I was being welcomed into a special club. I’d be able to say I’d been there. I’d been to a Bandits game.

I stepped off the train at Exchange Street Station and was greeted by what Buffalo is probably most well-known for: quite a few Bills fans and a blast of snow-filled cold air. The Bills were hosting a playoff game the day after the Bandits game, and while kickoff was still some 30 hours away, a walk around downtown made it clear that tailgating had begun in earnest. Bars were full watching other football games.

Unrelated: I think Patrick Mahomes is the least popular person in Buffalo.

I set out to get as much of a taste for Buffalo as I could before the Bandits hit the floor. Literally. After soliciting recommendations for some wings and being told roughly two dozen places that I just HAD to try, I narrowed it to a few popular spots before I’d make way to KeyBank Center.

First stop was Anchor Bar. To skip out on the birthplace of buffalo wings while in Buffalo would have been a mistake. After that, it was Colter Bay, where you can get your wings “on the pit,” giving them a nice, charred flavor.

While football dominated TVs, every bar I walked by had people wearing Bandits gear. Jerseys (some with autographs), sweatshirts, hats — the orange and black stood out everywhere you looked.

Full of wings, but only having enjoyed an appetizer portion of the Buffalo fan experience, it was game time. I had a seat in the lower bowl, Section 101. To no surprise, the building was packed. Flags waved, foam fingers pointed, cowboy hats of sizes that ranged from small to gargantuan worn. Beach balls knocked around, signs pressed against the glass.

It was a sea of orange and black, with an announced gate of 17,521 fans who all seemed to know each other like family. When you sit down in the arena, you look around at the packed lower bowl, and you think that alone is a great crowd for a lacrosse game. Then you look at the level above that, and it’s full, too. And then the upper bowl and the nosebleeds are also full. Your eyes keep climbing rows of seats, and you never get to an empty row.

During the game, seemingly everything that happens has a corresponding cheer from the crowd. Players’ names are shouted in a call and response with the public address announcer. Josh Byrne recorded a first half sock trick (yes, fans threw socks on the floor), and after each goal, the PA says, “Goal scored by Josh,” and the crowd finishes the rest with a deafening, “Byrne!”

A hidden ball trick goal from Ian MacKay brought the building to its feet. Opposing goalies are jeered as fans chant the names in a similar fashion to how baseball fans used to chant “Daryl” at Daryl Strawberry. Elongated the name, chanting and pointing three times before a very loud, “You suck!” punctuates the jeer.

Banditland let both Nick Damude and Deacon Knott hear it all night, as the Bandits offensive explosion left the Wings switching goalies. 

All sorts of soundbites that include the word “milk” from TV and movies are played for Connor Farrell faceoff wins. Dhane Smith gets dog barks after goals, befitting of his Great Dhane nickname. Cam Wyers scored his first goal of the season on a breakaway, which ignited the crowd into a frenzy.

They even took the time to sing “Happy Birthday” to Tehoka Nanticoke, and a 19,000-person birthday song is an experience unto itself.

Every person is in on every bit. There are no outsiders. It’s closer to the coordinated singing and longstanding cheers of English Premier League soccer clubs than anything else I’d been around. 

The Bandits got out to a massive first-half lead, led by Byrne. They scored 10 goals in the second quarter and led by eight goals at the break before pushing the lead to as many as nine in the third quarter. The Wings fought back in the second half to draw within three goals, but a timely goal from MacKay stopped a Philly run and sparked the Bandits to the finish line of a 19-14 win.

Byrne finished with 12 points, Smith had nine assists and Chase Fraser had a hat trick. The Bandits held rookie sensation Brennan O’Neill without a goal.

The fans next to me were season ticket holders and had been for 23 years. They said there were a number of reasons the team gets so much support, least of all the fact they have won consecutive titles.

The Bandits are always competitive, they told me. It made it easy to show up and support a team that’s always a contender. Fans had been coming to games for decades, bringing their kids with them. As I looked around, it made sense. There were fans of all ages, from kids who didn’t look older than 8 years old to fans who were more on the senior side. Nobody looks like they ever miss a game.

Afterward, I walked over to Cobblestone, the popular postgame bar near the arena. I stayed for a while to talk to more Bandits fans. One told me a reason the Bandits are so beloved is because Buffalo neighbors two Native American reservations. The inventors of the sport are part of the community in Buffalo, and the Bandits have had Indigenous players on the team through the years — Nanticoke being the most recent.

It was easy to see how the closeness with the Indigenous community further strengthened the passion and enthusiasm for lacrosse in Buffalo.

After a while, players from the team arrived at Cobblestone. They moved through the crowd like anyone else there. Fans say hello, pat them on the back, congratulate them on the win and a well-played game. It doesn’t look like other fan-player interactions, though. They look like they know each other and have forever.

If you didn’t know who the players were, you could walk right by them like any other person enjoying a beer after the game. No one runs up for autographs, no one points and shouts when players arrive. The Great Dhane walked through the bar simply saying hello to people, as did Chris Cloutier.

The most common answer I got when I talked to people about how and why the Bandits seem to have it all figured out was a simple one. At Cobblestone, I asked a fan wearing a Bandits jersey that had belonged to his dad about the environment and how he got to be a Bandits lifer. His answer, after pausing for a few seconds, was, “It’s just [expletive] Buffalo, man.”

Having been awake traveling and enjoying the city for about 19 hours, I decided to call it a night. When I got home, I wondered if I really had answered my, “What is it about Buffalo?” question. I think I did, but I can’t tell you what the answer is.

It’s some special blend of passion, community, pride, history and maybe a few responsibly enjoyed Labatt Blue Lights. I don’t know if it’s possible to recreate Buffalo outside of Buffalo. Getting that mix just right is delicate and takes time and commitment. But everyone should be trying.

When I sat in my seat in Banditland, I got it. Experiencing the community, the fans, the entire night … I got it. I regret to say that I still don’t really know how to explain it. But I definitely get it now.

It’s just Buffalo.