This transcript was exported on Jan 08, 2021 - view latest version here. John Boccacino: Hello, and welcome back to the Cuse Conversations podcast. My name is John Boccacino, the communications specialist in Syracuse University's Office of Alumni Engagement. I'm also a 2003 graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, with a degree in broadcast journalism. I am so glad you found our podcast. Hi folks, today on the Cuse Conversations alumni podcast, we are pleased to bring on the long-time radio voice of the Buffalo Bills. His name is John Murphy, a Class of 1978 graduate from Newhouse, had a broadcast journalism degree. John Boccacino: He has worked for the Buffalo Bills for more than three decades. He's unfortunately seen more than his fair share of lean times, but the Bills are back. As Chris Berman would say, "They're circling the wagons." 13 and three, the number two seed in the AFC playoffs coming up. John, it's got to be quite the exciting around One Bills Drive for this Buffalo Bills squad. How can you describe it? John Murphy: Yeah, it is exciting. There's no question about that. I'm trying to myself get used to the new era of Bills football. This is the third time in the last four years the Bills have been in the playoffs. There was a 17-year playoffs drought that preceded that. It almost was like, "Okay, there go the NFL playoffs. Of course, we're not in it." Now, three of the last four years the Bills are in it, and this time they're not just in it, I think they are serious contenders to go deep in the playoffs and challenge for a Super Bowl. That's how good their season has been. So, it's amazing, I'm still getting used to this new era of Bills football. John Boccacino: How have you seen things change with the organization, with the games, and with the fans with regards to expectations? It almost seems like now fans expect the team to win, but that wasn't always the case. John Murphy: Yeah, and I think that ... well, let me ... the expectation of fans is very much still a work in progress, I think, because as I said, 17 years that preceded this last four years were really bleak. A lot of five, six, seven win seasons, and fans, I think, expected ... hoped to have a competitive team but didn't really have high expectations for the Bills. It used to drive me crazy to hear fans talk about well, same old Bills. And I would kind of challenge them and say, "What do you mean by that?" John Murphy: And they would articulate it. They would say, "Well, the Bills find a way to lose." And that's all gone now, and I think it's in the process of still being erased from our memories. One of the things, John, that I really enjoyed about the 2020 season is that there's a whole new generation of Bills fans that are finding the Buffalo Bills now. And that makes sense. My own sons ... I have a 32-year-old son and 29 year old that they grew up following the Bills, loving the Bills, went to a lot of games, but they never were rewarded with a good team during that time when they were really Bills fans. They were born at the tail end of the Super Bowl run, essentially. John Murphy Podcast (Completed 01/08/21) Page 1 of 11 Transcript by Rev.com This transcript was exported on Jan 08, 2021 - view latest version here. John Murphy: And when they started being aware of the Buffalo Bills they just weren't that good. But fans of that era, from the age of ... well, from younger teenagers to maybe age 35, this is the first taste they've had of a really successful Bills team, and I really enjoy seeing them respond to it and adopt it and putting their own stamp on the way the Bills are playing this year. I think that's maybe the best thing about the way Buffalo has played is they've grown a whole new generation of fans and a whole new generation of support among the fan base. And it's important to do that for the future of the franchise, but it's really fun to see that happening too. So, that's what I was saying is maybe the best thing about this Bills team this year. John Boccacino: No, you're right, and obviously expectations have been sky high. I think Josh Allen has ... If you had told me before the season started that Josh was going to complete almost 70 percent of his passes, the Bills would have more touchdowns and punts on the season. I mean, there are so many remarkable stats, but this has been so unfortunate where fans have not been able to watch the games in person due to the pandemic. What has it been like for you to be a broadcaster, calling games in the stadium without fans, knowing how raucous Bills stadium can be? John Murphy: It's been sad, I'll be honest with you. I'm looking at a schedule here, but going way back to September they had a good, solid win against the Rams, who I thought were a pretty good team, and it turns out they weren't that good. But a good, solid win against the Rams, and they were competitive against Kansas City. They beat New England. They were tormentors for the last couple of decades. They beat Seattle, a playoff team and a Super Bowl contender, at home. They beat Pittsburgh on a Sunday night game. They've had so many good games at home this year, and almost four or five times this year I'd walk out and say, "I can't believe nobody saw that game." The Bills fans weren't here to see it. And in a sports sense, and certainly not in a real life sense, but in a sports sense, it was a tragedy, I thought, that Bills fans didn't see that. John Murphy: It's weird to do games without fans. I really enjoy having real live games, which we have for the home games because there's a real live football game going on out there that we can call. But the road games, we have not traveled all year. We decided, and most ... I think almost every NFL team has done the same thing for the road games, we go right back to Bills stadium, we have a video feed, three different huge monitors with the video feed of the Bills at whomever, at New England, at Denver, whomever, and we call the game off TV. Which is different, it's not as much fun and you miss a lot, but that's the best we can do. John Murphy: So, there's been a lot of adjustment to both home and road games. I really welcome, even though it's only 6700 fans or so, I just welcome to have real, live people in the stands. I don't know how much noise they can make. They'll be hard pressed to make the noise that 73,000 people can make in that place, but I think it's going to be a good experience for everybody who is there, and I really look forward to having that this coming weekend. John Murphy Podcast (Completed 01/08/21) Page 2 of 11 Transcript by Rev.com This transcript was exported on Jan 08, 2021 - view latest version here. John Boccacino: We took so many things for granted before the pandemic, and not the least of which was the ability to go to football games and cheer on your favorite team. I've had season tickets forever with the Bills, going on 17 years, and there is something special about the family that gets cultivated by being at the stadium and the tailgating. Now granted, we can't tailgate on Saturday, we have to be very safe, and I respect that. It's great that we're at least getting to have fans in the stadium. What can you say about what you've experienced with the Bills Mafia and Bills fans? And being a broadcaster obviously you see it from a different perspective, but you mentioned earlier the passion. Just how passionate are the fans for which you're calling these games? John Murphy: Yeah, I'm going to get to that. First, I want to thank you for being a season ticket holder for 17 years. That's admirable, especially since they haven't been the greatest years. One more thing I want to say about this coming Saturday and the setup for this Saturday and basically the hoops that fans like you are jumping through to get to go to the game, I really salute that. And I've found it interesting reading about the governor's take about that, saying how we're going to use this as a model for maybe reopening Broadway shows and reopening concerts. We may be setting the template. It seems like it's working great here in Orchard Park. We're still a couple of days away from kickoff, but it seems like everybody's handling it well and going through the testing well. And I hope that he's right, I hope that they can open up other aspects of American culture.