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BY RILEY RADOBENKO
Columnist

Being a Buffalo sports fan really sucks.

I’m getting straight to the point because there’s no other way to slice it or dice it. For the last seven, or maybe 27 years, it’s most likely that no other fan base, in any sport, has experienced the same misery, heartache and disappointment as the Western New York faithful, or anyone else around the globe that cheer for these teams.

Throughout the last decade both of Buffalo’s major professional sports teams, the Sabres and Bills, have been God awful. Sure, there’s been a few select moments that have made us smile, but on a consistent basis, watching these teams has been more painful than childbirth.

In fact, I’d argue the best professional Buffalo sports team in recent years has been the Bandits. They play in the National Lacrosse League. At least they’ve made the playoffs within the past five years and have a championship within the last 10.

The last time the Sabres have made the playoffs was 2011, and although the Bills (barely) made the playoffs last season, it was a 17-year playoff drought before that. Neither team has won a championship either.

Yet every single year fans are filled with optimism before the season starts. Between a first-round draft pick that’s supposed to be franchise player to new coaches to a stable, returning core, the fan bases cry wolf that the upcoming season is going to be the year we not only make the playoffs, we also contend for a championship.

And then six to eight months later, we are once again left disappointed as both teams have a losing record and are near the bottom, if not the bottom, of the league standings.

Albert Einstein said: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” If that doesn’t sum up Buffalo sports fans, I don’t know what does. Every year we, the fans, stay faithful to these teams, hype them up as much as we can, hope for the best and all we get is a losing product in return.

On the positive side it’s starting to look, somewhat, up for the Sabres. The team has been rebuilding since like 2012 and it’s finally starting to come together. They are currently on a 10-game winning streak, while holding a record of 17-6-2. The team is full with a lot of young players that haven’t reached their prime yet, while also having a mix in of veteran leadership.

Newly-acquired Jeff Skinner has been one of the most productive players in the NHL throughout the first two months of the season, while Carter Hutton has been a huge step up in net, which is also a big ‘screw you’ to previous goaltender Robin Lehner, who was an absolute joke in goal for the Sabres.

These two guys have been huge factors in one of the best starts to the season the team has experienced within the last 10 seasons. A lot of the analysts have them finishing between places seven and 10 in the Eastern Conference this season. I have them more at the latter half of that, but if all goes well, the playoffs aren’t out of reach, especially if some teams in the division begin to trail off. Either way, the seven and 10 place predictions is a step-up from recent years, which is something I’ll gladly take, playoffs or not.

Which brings me to the Bills. I don’t even know where to start there. Every week, I just expect a fat loss. To the point that when I gamble, I almost always automatically bet against them. I’m convinced last year’s playoff appearance was a fluke. There is no way a team can possibly go from making the playoffs to being the worst team in the league. No quarterback, plays that don’t work, paying $50 million to guys who aren’t even on the team anymore and years upon years of unsuccessful football. Unreal.

When people ask me why I love the Red Sox so much, I jokingly respond with something along the lines of “I’m sick of watching my two other teams favourite teams lose.” Well it’s true.

Like I said, I’m somewhat optimistic about the direction the Sabres are going, but I’m still very hesitate of the Bills.

We’ve stuck by these teams through these grueling years. We’ve been loyal. Losing season on top of losing season with hardly any playoff appearances and no championships, yet we’re still giving them our money. We’re still buying tickets, we’re buying merch, and we’re still buying $17 beers.

Just give us a winning product in return. Us fans and the western New York faithful deserve it.

Give us that Super Bowl. Give us that Stanley Cup. We want it. We’re hungry for it.