CINCINNATI — "Just got that first playoff win ... now we gotta go on the road and go beat the buffaloes."
Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase is just as confused as the rest of us. The Buffalo Bills might have a blue bison in their logo, and their mascot Billy Buffalo might also be a (you guessed it) blue bison, but the animal simply represents the city name — NOT its team name.
The Bills, instead, are named after "Buffalo Bill" Cody, a man who literally hunted bison. But why?
According to the team, the name "Buffalo Bills" was chosen during a naming contest for Buffalo's All-America Football Conference team. While the squad was originally named the Bison (which seems a little redundant), owner James Breuil wanted to switch things up. James F. Dyson wrote an essay comparing the team to a band of "Buffalo Bills" and Breuil, the owner of Frontier Oil Company, loved the connection to the American frontier legend.
William Frederick Cody was given his name for his bison-killing talents. According to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Cody is believed to have killed more than 4,000 bison in the two years he worked to procure meat for Union Pacific Railroad's construction workers.
Killing bison wasn't all he did, though. Cody was an American scout who fought for the Union in the Civil War and then served in the U.S. Army during the Indian Wars. Legend of his talents and adventures traveled far thanks to writer Ned Buntline's serialized story, "Buffalo Bill, the King of the Border Men." From those stories came more novels and plays, one in which Cody starred.
Cody created his Wild West Show in the 1880s, touring the country and sharing his stories. Bison, of course, were an integral part of the show.
While the AAFC collapsed, the Bills' name continued. Owner Ralph C. Wilson selected it for his American Football League team before the 1960 season and it has never changed.
So we should really start calling them the Buffalo Williams instead.
(And while we're at it, buffalo and bison aren't interchangeable — but that's a conversation for another day.)
