The Buffalo Bills first ever game in Orchard Park was 37-21 preseason loss to Washington on Aug. 17, 1973.

Everybody remembers the traffic jam, both the ingress and the egress, an unfortunate byproduct when you have 80,000 guests coming to your housewarming party with no idea where they were going and getting virtually no help from the under-staffed and overwhelmed deputies who were armed with a completely non-functional plan as the gridlock formed.

The confluence of those going to the game, others heading to the Erie County Fair in Hamburg, plus the normal summer Friday night rush-hour traffic and weekend vacation travel created a congestion nightmare and the stadium manager, Thomas Calpin, admitted, “We were operating under worst-case conditions.” Of course, that begged the question,

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