HERMOSA BEACH, Calif. — Bills fans are known for going to great lengths to celebrate their team and the 2022 NFL season kickoff has been no exception.
Hundreds of people Wednesday night kicked off their festivities at a welcome party in Hermosa Beach hosted by two bars Baja Sharkeez and Tower 12. The party was hosted by the South Bay LA Bills Backers and after only a few hours, lines of Bills fans were out the door at both venues.
The party became a melting pot of people, many of whom traveled great lengths to get to Southern California.
Since 2010, Joanie Dekoker, or "Mama J" among Bills Mafia, has traveled to every Bills game from either Syracuse or Huntington Beach, California. She even made it to the few in-person games hosted during the COVID-19 pandemic. She's on track to attend 200 straight games this season.
"I haven’t missed a game home or away since that time. This is going to be number 184," Dekoker said.
The countless miles she's traveled are only surpassed by her years of fandom and a vast collection of Bills' pins. Dekoker wears a hat filled with them spanning multiple decades, some from down times, but most from good ole days.
"It's hard to believe Joshie [Josh Allen] was just a baby in diapers when Jim Kelly was playing," Dekoker joked.
Others can more easily measure their Bills Mafia-related travel. Blair Yaworsky and his wife made the just over 1,700-mile trip from St. Albert, Alberta, Canada to Los Angeles to attend the game and all the festivities.
It won't be their last of the year.
"This is my first of four games that I am traveling to this year. I’m the self-professed biggest bills fan in western Canada," Yaworsky said.
William Justiniano may hold that same title for the burrough of Queens in New York City. He's been a Bills fan since he was very young and booked his transcontinental flight as soon as the NFL schedule was announced.
In planning for the trip and seeking out fellow Mafia Members he's set to meet up with a Bills fan from Alaska at Thursday's game.
"The Bills, it’s like a family. You’re everywhere, you can always find a Bills fan somewhere in the 50 states, somewhere there’s a bills fan," Justiniano said.
Much of the same crowd that attended Wednesday's welcome party is expected at a planned 3,000-person tailgate at Hollywood Park Casino. The event is being hosted by Fans of Buffalo and kicks off at noon Thursday, five hours before the Bills and Rams also kick off at SoFi Stadium.