Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY EP.35 Feat. Bills Mafia Co-Founder, Del Reid!

Episode Date: May 12, 2025

Good News York Episode 35: Interview with Bills Mafia Co-Founder Del Reid In this episode of Good News York, the host engages in an enthusiastic conversation with Del Reid, co-founder of Bills Mafia and CEO of 26 Shirts. Del shares the origin story of Bills Mafia from a pivotal moment in 2010 involving a dropped pass by Stevie Johnson and a fateful tweet. He discusses the growth of the community and the subsequent creation of 26 Shirts, which sells limited-edition t-shirts to support charitable causes. Del also recounts meeting various notable figures, including NFL players and analysts. The episode rounds off with rapid-fire questions covering favorite Bills moments, opinions on the new stadium, and preferred tailgate spots. 00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome 01:31 The Birth of Bills Mafia 03:56 The Evolution of Bills Mafia 08:14 Full Circle Moments and Event Highlights 14:07 The Origin of 26 Shirts 20:19 Expanding Beyond Buffalo 24:50 Buffalo Bills Draft Insights 32:30 The Origin of Table Smashing at Tailgates 33:06 Generational Differences in Tailgating 33:47 Safety Concerns and Tailgating Culture 35:35 Memories and Souvenirs from the Stadium 37:12 Rapid Fire Questions with Del Reid 37:29 Favorite Bills Moments and Players 41:19 Underrated Players and Stadiums 49:58 Bills Mafia and Community Impact 52:57 Mafia Con and Future Plans 56:02 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

You're listening to a podcast right now, driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own podcast is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads just like this. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start your new podcast for free today at RSS.com. You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog.

If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this. Even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your self. Start free at RSS.com. All right, welcome to Good News York, episode 35, and not just any episode.

I think I am probably the most excited I've been so far. Everybody knows here. I am a gigantic Bills fan. And I am so pleased to welcome the dawn of the Bills Mafia and the CEO of 26 shirts. If you're a Buffalo Bills fan, you know them, you love them. Mr. Del Reed. Let's get him on here. My man, listen, I know the clapping is underwhelming.

It's just one of me right now. My co-host is not here. How are you, buddy? Great, man. I appreciate the invite. I hate Don. I hate Pete Talbin, Don. You know what?

I should have asked you that. I don't know what else to call you. Like, I feel like in the mafia, what do we call it? Like, the CEO of the mafia? What do you think? What is the right title? I usually go with co-founder Like Bree and Leslie

It honors them as well to you might go in that route So absolutely Shout out to Bree and Leslie of course Creators of the Bills Mafia You know, Del Thank you for coming on the show I told my kids before I left today I said guys

I'm I leave a Bills fan today And when I come back I'm going to be up into the next tier of Bills Fandom Because I'm I'm talking to the co-founder of Bills Mafia Now I know you've told this story a million times. I know it, but I feel like for the sake of consistency and for those that are listening and watching that don't know, take us back to November 2010,

Del Reed, Buffalo State Graduate, thinks he's going to be a computer, IT guy, and all of a sudden, something changes in your life. What happens? Yeah, so again, thanks for having me on this. Of course. It's going to be a fun conversation for sure. Yeah, so for the four people, I haven't heard the story. Stevie Johnson goes out for a pass against the Steelers in overtime. Steelers, I think, were the defending AFC champs at that point. Bills had started the season 0 and 8 and pushed these league heavyweights to the brink in overtime. And Ryan Fitzpatrick drops back, throws an absolute, broke, perfect pass to Stevie,

lands in his hands, and he drops it. Like, he, if you can pause it, like, he has the ball in his hand. Like, it's a catch. I was there. My seats were in that end zone. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, oh, man.

Yeah. So, uh, what a light down. But, but, so he goes on Twitter that night and kind of like questions his faith and, you know, questions God. And, uh, Bill's fans being the types we are, you know, in the week prior, he had just scored three touchdowns against the, uh, Cincinnati Bengals and a awesome comeback. Um. And so. we were a love of this guy. It felt like we had somebody special

because, you know, during the drought, there was a lot of Joe footballs, you know. A lot of jimmies and joes. A lot of jimmy's and Jaws, right? Just another guy, right? That's right. So, Stevie was far from a jag. So he was, and he interacted with fans, like,

more so, I mean, Twitter was, like, very different back then. It was much more organic, more real. now everybody has a, every player has like their own content manager and their, you know, brand advisor and all these things. But Stevie, to this day, it's just, he's just on there mixing it up with fans. So he was, he was, he was one of the originals that, you know, like you said, there wasn't a lot of interaction on Twitter. It was very rare that you would get direct interaction. So it was wild that he was so open to, you know, talking to people on there. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I remember fast forward a year or two, when the bills, uh, really. least their their uniforms, their updated uniforms. It was during the lockout with the NFLPA. And Stevie had snuck in to the stadium as a fan because you wanted to see the new uniforms. That's how engaged this guy was.

It really felt like he was one of us. You know, he really embraced those fans. And so anyway, so the next day, Anne Schafter retweeted Stevie's, you know, questioning God tweet. And for Adam, you know, he breaks all the NFL news. for him to share something, you know, a day later, was, word oversensitive bunch,

Bill's fans. So we're like, why are you dredging this all up? Like the whole day, I think everybody was like down because they lost the game. And at the same time, rallying around Stevie because we're just like showing him love. And then all of a sudden,

Adam comes in out of left field, like basically, you know, retweet right then. So yeah. Yeah, it was, so we started teasing him. hashtag chapter breaking news became a thing

and he ended up those of us that were making fun of open teeth I guess some people were vulgar I never saw those but like he said in interviews since some people were really being nasty which I mean if you've been on Twitter it's believable you and I are around the same age

I think you and I both know that there's there's drought era fans and then there's you know post and pre-drought era fans we were a little bit grumpy back then, you know? So that was probably part of it. Yeah.

So anyway, so he ends up blocking a bunch of us. And then, you know, you fast forward to, I think it was the leak of the draft in 2011. And I was just doing like a follow Friday tweet. If you remember those, you recommend people you follow to people that follow you. And I just named a bunch of us that got blocked. And I called us the Bill's Mafia. And it was a joke. And I was picking up a pizza.

It was a Friday night, I think. Picking up a pizza. And I was just waiting for the pizza to be done. if I'm just tweeting on my phone and then get in the car, I go home and eat dinner with the family and everything. And what did you know? We kind of caught on. And then we just continued to like slowly steamroll or slowly snowball over the next several months.

So by the time training camp rolled around, you know, players were using it. Other fans were using it. And then Bree and Leslie, who I mentioned a moment ago, the three of us, we kind of like saw something here. I'm like, should we do something with this? You know? And I always say I'm really blessed that they were the other two in this, these co-fathers in mind just because we all agreed that we did not want to make this about ourselves.

Because how often does something go viral? And then the person who is part of it, like goes out and tries to do something and make it about them. For me, I'm always like, I'm out. Yeah, Numa Numa was funny. It was a funny video you made. I don't care about what you're doing next. Right. So we just saw that there was an opportunity here to do something unique and different.

This is kind of like the advent of social media. We really, I guess we took to heart the social part of it. So we started organizing Calgates and we started a website. And it had like a blog aspect to it. And the one thing that I was responsible for was I called it Mafia Monday. And I would interview a different Bill's fan. every week, just random Bill's fans, like just, you know, because we're all, we all know it happens on the field, but so much to Bill's culture.

Yeah. Fan culture in general that doesn't happen where the game is involved. And so I just wanted to bring all these cool stories to light and started doing that and just our goal always to make it about the fans, not about ourselves. And it's kind of funny enough, fast forwarding nowadays here it is 14 years later. and I'm starting, I've been doing an awesome video podcast with Brockman Media called My Family Tide. Yes.

It's like back to Bruce. I'm just interviewing fans. Yeah, you went full circle. Yeah. So it's kind of cool on that all shape, I shook out. But that is, that is. Yeah, it's funny. And we're all unblocked now and literally cool with Adam Schaefter.

Got to meet him last week. That was crazy. Very full circle moment. We gave him a hat. We wrote Shepter breaking. news on the underside of the brim. It was kind of funny. He's a good sport about it.

That's amazing. That's actually, I was going to talk about that next. It was a Labat Blue event. It was a live event where you and the other co-founders of Bill's Mafia, 26 shirts, you guys finally came full circle. Stevie Johnson was there. You met Adam Schefter. It looked like it was an unbelievable time. Was Schaefter?

I mean, I'm sure he's cool about it now. Was he cool about it then? I feel like I remember he was kind of pissed off when it first happened and he was like, you know, kind of raging a little bit like these guys are on my ass, you know. How was he before you met him as compared to at the event? He's always been, I mean,

I don't know how he was immediately after. Like I blocked, right? That's true. I don't know if he was. I'm not ignorant or whatever. That's a good point. Within a few years, like my buddy Sean on Twitter, he petitioned Adam to unblock me, and he did. And then probably five years ago, I think I tweeted it at him. And I said, hey, just so you know, like, you kind of changed my life. So I'm like, grateful to you for that. And he says, no, you did it all yourself.

Really nice kind words, you know. And then it's kind of wild. and now going back, like, we're at home, you know, last Thursday, so we go today, that we did the event with Adam and Stevie, and I go home and I'm just sitting on the couch, like, before I go to bed, and my phone lights up and he followed me. No way. Yeah.

It's like, it's kind of funny. Like, I don't know if 2010 Dell ever expecting it. Well, it's just so wild, the world we live in now where, you know, you used to hear like overnight success or things can change in a minute. And literally with the send of a tweet, it can happen. And that's what happened to you. Tell me a little bit more about the event. You know, there were a lot of pictures.

I didn't see any videos. I don't know if any videos are coming out. It looked like you were on the stage with Adam Schaefter, Stevie Johnson. Was the event more of like you told the story and then took questions? How did it go? Yeah, there was a lot of that. Well, the ESPN did that piece back in January that Adam was a part of and everything. And, um, which was great.

So, oh my gosh. They were here for eight hours that day. It was great. They, like, I thought they were just going to come in, do an interview and leave. And I saw, I'm texting with the producer. I'm like, so how long should we expect you? And he's like, oh, about eight hours. I'm like, okay.

All right. Yeah. So we hosted them in 26 shirts. And I think Sal Capaccio came out and he was a part of it because Brie couldn't make it out. And so Leslie was part of it. And since Brie couldn't make it out, he lives in Virginia. we had Sal step in because that was the first

back when he was looking at Florida he had his own live streaming show and he was the first one to bring the free of us on and interview us so I'm like all right sell should be a part of it so that was cool but anyway so they showed that video and then

yeah they did like a a Q&A and like Maddie Glad moderated the whole thing so she had like set questions she was asking us and then they took questions from the audience I was there for maybe like the first third of it, just talking about that bit. And then, um, then I, you know, I stepped down to the audience. And then they had, it was, it was, it was Maddie with Stevie and Adam just asking questions more about, like, the team itself and, you know, and all that stuff. So it was awesome. It was great. It was very vindicating because in the early years, the team did not like, they did not like the term Bill's mafia. And they would, Steve was saying how they would actually tell players not to use it.

Really? Yeah, that's what Stevey said. And then I remember there was one time it was like maybe it was January, 2013. It was at the Pro Bowl. Uh-huh. And Jarrett's Bird, they're letting players tweet from the Pro Bowl. So Jarretted. Yeah.

Tweeted something about Bill's Mafia. And the Bills did like a manual retweet. If you remember those from back in the day, like RT space and the name and then those words. I forgot about it. And they, yeah, it was like, it was like R.T. Jarrett's Bird. Yeah. That one was for you, Bill's fans.

They took out Bill's Mafia and they put Bill's fans in it. So they literally scrubbed it. And I remember like the outrage and everything on Twitter. So for them to have been so not in not cool with the term. I mean, it's a different them, right? Different ownership, you know, from the top down. It's all different people there now. But still vindicating in that like for Bill's Mafia,

have to have been such a grassroots, like, almost like the real mafia, like this thing of ours, right? The travel is described like this thing of ours for that to have been fully embraced to the point now where the bills are doing an event, celebrating the origin of it, bringing in Adam Schaefter and Stevie Johnson. And it's just mind-blowing, like, to have been up there on the stage talking about it. It really is. But someday, I always joke. Someday I'm going to wake up and there's an all a bit of dream. But on the plus side, I'll be 35. some degree.

Well, dude, it couldn't happen to a better, dude. You're so down to earth. You're such a great guy. You do so much for the Buffalo community. Obviously, for the fan base. I mean, you gave us a name. And it really, like, honestly, the Bill's Mafia is kind of like the Buffalo's version of Woodstock.

Like, it was just this big mistake that ended up becoming this thing, this life-changing thing. And I give you a lot of credit. You know, so after this. You're listening to a podcast right now, driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own podcast is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and more.

Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads just like this. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start your new podcast for free today at RSS.com. You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more.

Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this, even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your podcast. this is your sign. Start free at RSS.com. Now, I don't remember if it's during or after. You start 26 shirts, which 26shirts.com, you've got to check this out. Just amazing. Talk to me a little bit about how that started.

And I'm interested, I read something about the name, how you got the name. I love that. Yeah, so a couple years into Build Mafia, so now we're in 2013. People, you know, we had a Twitter account that actually way back, Stevie told us to register. He said, you should create a special account just for Bill's Mafia. So we had the Bill's Mafia. It's since been renamed to Buffalo fan base for different, you know, reasons.

But people are always asking like, hey, can you share this fundraiser? Can you, you know, retweak this and things along those lines. And so just one day somebody was sharing a story with us. And it really just like struck a chord with me, you know. and I just felt moved to do more than just like share his online raffle, you know, and a little girl named Amber, she had a condition called retinablastoma, which is like eye cancer. And just was really moved by the story. And I said, all right, you know what, next time we do something, I'll share your fundraiser.

But next time we do something, you know, different with Bill's Mafia, like, I'll give you the money, you know. And that was coming right off. If you remember the legend of Kiko Alonzo. Oh, yes. Very much. So that was another, I think that was, that was another thing where I, I made a joke and just kind of went like, you know. You're killing it.

But it doesn't happen at often these days now, but like it's all good. So, um, so we had sold some Kiko shirts and, uh, that was, it was fun to just like, kind of watch it grow, uh, the sales and everything. And, um, get ended up giving that money to a little girl, I think in the oldian. But, um, have, um, um, had, um, um, um, um, um, had, so I had this idea, like, even in the middle of the drought, bills fans are hungry for merch. They were hungry because we love our team.

It doesn't matter, you know, like how they're performing. It matters, but it doesn't matter. We're still going to show up. We're still going to show up. We're still going to when you travel, when you go to Florida, Disney World Company, you're still wearing all your bills stuff, even if they went home 17, right? So I had this idea, like, you know, for like a one-year project. Like, I could probably do a different shirt every two weeks and help a different family.

At that point now, the amount of people are like, hey, can you share this? Can you post this? Like becoming pretty intimately familiar with the number of, you know, families in need in the community. And I said, all right, we're going to, well, let's do it for a year. Let's do a different shirt every two weeks. I love T-shirts, you know, so I'm just taking something I love. And I love the idea of being able to help people.

So just decided to go forward with that project. I remember putting, sharing it with some friends. It was in a Bible study on a Monday night. We'd let some buddies and just sharing this little girl's story and just saying how I want to do, I want to do more. I want to, whatever this platform is that, you know, God has dropped in my lap. I want to do something productive with it. And spit in all and had this idea to sell T-shirts to help, you know, families. And I said, I think I'd do a different one every week.

And my buddy, I forget which one said it. Like, you can't do that. Like, that's a, you're asking you were full time. You know, it's a lot of, it's a lot of, it's a lot of, work, that's a grind. I said, yeah, you're right. I can probably do it every two weeks, though. Like, I know my schedule. I know I could, I could probably do this every two weeks. My buddy Jake, he's sitting on the couch right next to me. I remember this. He goes, dude, that's like 26 shirts. I'm like, yeah, I know. I think I can pull it off. So I don't wake up the next morning.

And it's literally as if like, like the term 26 church is just like following me around everywhere I look, you know. So it's a weird name. So there's no domains. or handles or anything taken like that. So I registered all that and I posted about like on the Bill's Mafia blog that I wanted to do this project. And the next thing I know I'm doing interviews with the news. I got artists reaching out to me. And so a week after that Monday, I just mentioned. So one week later, I had a website up.

I was working with a local T-shirt company to produce the shirts. And I always joke now I'm 11 and a half years into my one-year project. Now I get to do it. I get to do it full time. You know, that's part of the story as well, too. So just blessed to be able to do this. Don't take anything for granted. I don't take anything for granted.

It's absolutely amazing, man. I freaking love you. That's, you know, and that's the thing, too, is this, it all fits together because, you know, the Buffalo Bill's fan base has been known. We give to charities all the time. And the fact that, you know, the co-founder of Bill's Mafia, Now his main gig is also involved in charity because a lot of what 26 shirts does is for charity. Am I right?

Yeah. That's why we exist. Yeah. That's our why. So I would joke if people wanted to buy, you know, limited edition hammers. I would sell limited edition hammers. I just want to be something that, well, I probably wouldn't be the guy to do it. But somebody would like somebody come forward to say, hey, I can do these hammers.

Yeah. No, but like that's just, it's an opportunity to use our powers for good. and, you know, fandom in the world, but especially Western New York, it's like a renewable resource. You know, you never run out of fandom. Sometimes it wanes a little bit here and there, and sometimes it's a lot more of output, you know, than other times, but that excitement, that love is always there.

You can tap into that, use that for, you know, good works. And that's what makes us, Bill's Mafia so great, man. And, you know, you're right. You just got me thinking. There is kind of a supply and demand. kind of thing with the fandom, you know, it goes up and down. Oh, I could, I could give you a dissertation. Oh, brother, me.

Me too, my man. You know, I noticed this, I'll admit, this kind of hit me in the heart, but I noticed, I'm so happy for you because 26 shirts is obviously doing so well. You now have branched out into other cities, and I clicked on the tab, and like one of the first things I saw was a chief's thing. And I'm like, you know what? I get it. As a business, you got to grow, but I can imagine that must have killed you to have to. You're probably like reluctantly like, all right, I'll make this chief shit. Is that what happened?

It just kind of, you got to a point where it went. I think we're ready to expand into new cities. Yeah, well, first things first, I hate the Kansas City Chiefs. Let's just be super quick. We know that. Nobody to defend your city. So New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs. Oh.

Yeah. But that said, there's people that need help everywhere. And when it comes to helping people, like, check your fandom at the door, you know. Absolutely. Because people are people. That's one thing I'm really proud of it. Sometimes I think people gripe about it a little bit or, you know, fans will gripe about it. Like, how come those fans are always helping other cities or are always helping, like, doing a fundraiser for like, it's.

I'm sure that help people. Yeah, right. And we do a lot of good here in Western New York, you know, but. um, Bill's fans in general, I mean, and, uh, people are people, you know, and listen, if, if, you know, we, let me start by saying, for the Buffalo 26 shirts, we make, we make fun of other teams kind of often on the shirt. I'm not doing it with these other shapes. Like to be like men and others. No way, no, there's no way. There's no, whatever, you know, uh, but, uh, you know, if they're going to, they're going to rock gear too, so they might as well.

year that goes back. Sure. That's the thought process there. No, and that's great. You know, and that's how I've always felt, you know, I'm certainly not going to get into politics, but it's the same way. It's like people over party, right?

And it's the same thing in sports. You know, it's people over your team. You know, people need help all over. And that just speaks to the person that you are, man. I thought I'd just something. Yeah, some of the best, some of my best friends that I've made through social media are patriots fans or Dolphins fans or even Chiefs fans.

And like, I never would have met them if it wasn't for my hatred of their team. So it's kind of funny how it'll like work together. Hate can bring us together too. I thought I'd do something fun. So I can't take full credit because I used AI, okay? You're probably against that. I have great ideas, but I can't draw. So I came up with four shirt ideas.

I'm not asking you to use them. I just wanted to show you as something fun here. See what you think. Live reaction. All right. The first shirt, Danny, let's do. Mad Max. Now actually Max Harrison liked this.

I pumped this one out. It's a little Mad Max. He's flying through the air, a little fire. You have high Wark Stadium in the background because it's AI. Blue helmet. Yeah, blue helmet, I know.

They're not perfect yet. My second design, let's go with the Bill dozer. I am pushing hard for this. My friend Brian Park who I wrote Where Else With he came up

With he said forget the tush push We need the bill dozer I love that that's great You know That snow clow I like the snow plow The snow plow shout out to Dionne Dawkins Of course But I like that buildozer

I like the bill doer And I'm glad you do too My third is Whatever Oh the built in Buffalo Let's throw that one up Danny I thought this is kind of cool you know we're built in buffalo right and then i like that and then you're going to hate this one

because you know you don't like to be called the don but there's adam shepter you can't really see but he's got cement shoes on and that's in lake erie then that's you which by the way uh i did want to tell you i think you've officially arrived you know like when i was playing music I was always like, if my song ever makes it into karaoke, like I've made it, you know? And I feel like I said in the AI picture, they sent me one back, and then I said, can you make the guy look more like Del Reed? And I swear to God, dude. I don't want that.

I do not need SkyNet knowing who I am or one. Believe me. And I hope I didn't contribute to that. That's funny. Moving on, I know I want to be respectful of your time. I could talk bills all day. let's get into it a little bit. What did you think about the draft?

I liked it. I liked it. You know, Brandon made a good point on WGR. Oh, yeah. I don't know if I would have expressed it quite the way he did. And I think, you know, Jeremy and Joe have valid points on their end as well. You mean Jerry, Jerry and Joe. Jerry and Joe.

That was funny. But they need to help on defense, you know, and either to fill holes that are there or to, You prepare to fill holes for guys that have one year left on their contract. I don't, you know, I don't love the idea of just putting everything on Josh's back all the time. But, you know, brand mates a good points. They scored a lot of points last year. And they had, they were really bad on third and long passing downs.

I, I won't. They weren't getting to a passer, you know. And they need, they need better coverage. They need better pass rush. So I'm, I'm happy with. how it went. Yeah, me too, man. I mean, we all knew it was going to be a defensive heavy draft,

including Jeremy and Joe. You know, I just thought when it got to the Dion Walker pick, I'm not saying they should not have taken him. I thought right there would have been a good spot to grab, you know, Trey Harris or Kyle Williams, which it killed me to see him go to the Patriots, by the way. You know, I just think. Go ahead.

No, no, no, go ahead. I was making a joke every time a division rival would draft somebody this year, I would just say that person sucks. Yeah, immediately. It felt bad typing Kyle Williams sucks. I know. It's so weird to say that. It's so weird to say that.

But yeah, I do the same thing. It's like someone gets drafted to a rival team and I'm like, well, I got to hate them now. But yeah, I thought, you know, to kind of back up with Jeremy and Joe were saying, I agree, we needed a defense, a judge. huge defensive draft. Because if you think about it, people that don't watch the bills like we do, they'll say things like, oh, well, you know, Josh, he plays amazing in the playoffs, but he just can't finish. And it's like, no, he can finish.

He finishes every time. It's just the coaching decisions or the defense lets them down. So what did they do? They went out, and not only did they fill holes on defense, but they bolstered it. We saw what the Eagles did to Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl. And that's what they went out and did. And I am beyond happy with that. Yeah, that's, they, they, they double down on, on the need.

And it was, one thing it was super interesting is I'm glad that, whether they realize it or not, that Jeremy and Joe kind of provoked Brandon, uh, being in, in, in, in leading into that air view. That's crazy. I don't think it was intentional, but, um, you, we got some really good insight into his thought process. Yes. Going into that draft. Like, were we going to, like, understand all of the nuances or all of, like, the, uh, his whole mindset was, unless he gets frustrated

and he just like spits out all this reasoning. Sure. I thought that was great. I thought it was fans. It's cool to know kind of where your GM's head was at in a situation like that instead of like kind of wondering like why did they do that? You know, so like he was very clear in terms of the decision making. That was great.

That was actually one of the things I was afraid of is I thought there would be so much blowback from being calling into Jeremy and Joe's show that it would almost like shame him into like, ah, I can't do that. and then he'd apologize, which I'm not saying they don't deserve an apology, but what I am saying... You're listening to a podcast right now.

Driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. Upload an episode, and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this. even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at RSS.com.

Taxes was feeling so stuck. Sitting in traffic, squeezing into a parking spot, all to squeeze in getting tax help during your lunch break. Now Taxes is a turbo tax expert who does your taxes for you, while you go about your day getting real-time notifications about their progress and the most money-back guaranteed. Now this is taxes. Intuit TurboTax.

See Guarantee Details at turbotax.com slash guarantees. Only available with TurboTax experts. Real-time updates only in iOS mobile app. The thing is I want the GM to come on and be that transparent. Like I want to bring that back. You know, I want to know what they're thinking. And I don't know if you watch the latest embedded, but Bean explains a little bit further on their process.

I won't go into it. But basically how they wanted to stick to a certain position and not switch positions unless the value is. right. So, you know, it was cool to hear. Look, I think the bottom line is, you know, we, they have a great, they have a good receiving core. I think it's better than last year. I love the Elijah Moore ceiling. I think, signing. I think, I mean, his ceiling could be wide receiver one or two and his floor could be special teams. I don't know what we're going to get. But what I do love is, is that we have a better unit. But more importantly, you know, I think the focus is that we don't really have

Like it's third down, you know, Diggs was our guy. That's, you know, it's like basketball. Who you're giving the ball to at the last second? And I don't know if we have that guy yet. And maybe we do and we're going to find out who it's going to be. But, you know, it's just people, you know, when Bean was like, well, we scored 38 points a game or whatever it was. And that is true.

And I agree with him, but I would just like to know if I had the time. How many of those points were Allen, you know, running it into the end zone because he didn't have someone downfield, you know. So, you know. But I love the draft. Do you have any thoughts as of yesterday? Any thoughts on Gabe Davis coming back or not? No.

I don't see it. I don't know he's got a good relationship with like in the culture and the the locker room and everything. But no disrespect to the guy, but I'm fine if he lands a while. 100%. That's where I'm at. You know, I would get if he came back for for chemistry reasons, maybe to help.

I mean, he is kind of a little bit bigger and veteran version of Keon Coleman, or at least his role, a power slot type. So, you know, I could see maybe with his development, but otherwise, I think the way it ended was the way it probably should have ended. Good on him. He got his bag. Yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure.

He earned it. Good for him. You know, I listened to Joe Marino, his podcast, almost every day. and he's always had some strong opinions on Gabe Davis, which I kind of like, and I usually trust Joe with what he's going to share. Oh, yeah. His opinion has often become my opinions. Yeah, that's how I feel about Jeremy White and Joe Marino.

They're both very brilliant. Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, just to kind of love on Jeremy real quick. Like, I've been listening to him since he was like the 7 o'clock show with Brad Ryder, like in 2003 or 4. whatever it was. Like, I've always, I've always enjoyed listening to it. And he does a really good job of it, explaining his reasoning and, you know, his thought process and everything. Yeah, I, that's the one thing I love about Jeremy is he's such a great football mind, but he's also, he's the kind of the

opposite of most of us. He's not knee-jerk. He's well-thought-out. And he always, he comes at a lot of these discussions with interesting angles. I'm just a big, I'm part of his text group. I, I absolutely, I, I, I suggest it if you, it's like three bucks a month. I really suggest it gives you a little extra. So shout out to Jeremy and Joe and all those guys at WGR. Absolutely. Absolutely love all of them. Sal, Nate Geary, you name it.

I wanted to talk to you, moving along again, I'm trying to be respectful of your time here. But, you know, people ask me about the table smashing, right? You know, that's kind of a thing. You know, Bill's Mafia and then usually the second sentence is table smashing. Now, you're one of the co-creators, they're co-founders, I should say, of Bill's Mafia. Now, as a fan who grew up in the Super Bowl era, you know, the four straight Super Bowls, and, you know, I had season tickets during the drought. I have an interesting theory on how the table smashing came about,

and I would love to hear, I trust your opinion on this. So people ask me about it, and I would say, listen, I'm like, I'm now, I'm 42. I don't, I never participated in tables. We didn't do the table smashing. You know, I noticed the table smashing. We used to tailgate in lot five, which I think is now lot six or seven now in the stadium lot. And I remember the porta-potties were always there. And while I was waiting in line, there's that grass lot right next there.

And nine times out of ten, I would see like a fire and I would hear screaming. And I'm like, what the fuck is going on over there? And I remember looking over and seeing someone jumping through a table. And I'm like, what the fuck are these guys doing? And then fast forward, I don't know, a month later. and now it's become a thing. So my theory is, and I tell people this, I'm like, look, guys like me come from an era of,

we want to get back to the Super Bowl era. Like, we want to go back to those days, the glory days. We're there for the game. And I feel like that generation that started the table smashing, I feel like they were all high school kids or whatever. They don't know what it's, like, they know that the bills always suck. We're just going to go to the game and part.

Like, I went to a tailgate and a football game broke out, basically. You know what I mean? Like they're there for the party and I think that's how it started because a lot of people that aren't Bill's fans would tell me like you guys jump through tables and I'm like, no, that's not, there's just a sector of the fan base. Yeah, I think you're probably right

in terms of how that came about, you know, yeah, I'm not a huge fan of it. Like me either. I always say people can get up for a game however they want. That's fine. I'm like a judge just not for me, not for this body.

I hear you there. 49 years old. It's not going through any table. No. But I always say, just be safe. Just be smart. So, but yeah, I've always thought that, especially when you can get tickets on Stubhub for like $8.

Yeah. To go to a game. People are going there and they're partying beforehand. And if they make it into the stadium, great. And if not, well, it's fine. You know, I feel like it's the same fans. I was there. Remember when the fans slid down the railing at the game?

and like fell onto the section below. I feel like he was part of that crew. And that was a game, we were beating the Jets. We were like way up. And at that point, we were not used to like, we're like, what do we do when we're winning? We've never experienced this. Let's slide down a goddamn railing.

You know what I'm like? It was just nuts. But I think that was the moment I realized I'm getting older because I used to laugh at that stuff, you know, jumping through tables. And I looked at it more from a father's perspective where I'm like, they're going to get hurt, you know. Yep.

I do want to. Yeah, I'm like, I do want to say... Oh, go ahead. No, no, no, go ahead. I apologize. I just remember if there's one away game in Tennessee, probably seven, eight years ago.

And a fan, like, jumped through. I think it was a cardboard boxes almost. Like, the tables went, and the guy was just laying in their emotionless. I'm like, what do we do? Yeah, yeah. What are we doing? You know? Yeah, dude.

There were a couple of videos I saw where they're on fire or they're, you know, they're breaking their neck. It looks like they're breaking their neck. It just not great. I got a question for you. The new stadium's being built. We're all excited about that. Someone proposed a question on social media of like,

if you could take one thing from the current stadium as a souvenir because there's rumors they might sell that stuff off. Do you have something in mind that you would want? I want my bench that I said on. That's what I'm set. That's what I said. I want my section. Or at least the four seats.

I don't need to have the whole bench. I'll share it with everybody else in our room. But like I would love that. The four seats that, you know, we have in. section 224. I love that. Shout out 224. My seasons were in section 119. And I said the same thing. I have written right here. Mine

would be the bench and it and you know why? Because you know that those, they have dents in them. Because you know on third down when we're banging away. And to me that is the coolest shit ever. Did you hear about the Hallmark movie? Did you sign up to be an extra

on that by any chance? Yeah, I have a casting agency reached out me so there may be something involved but we'll see oh that's how I met it I know that's not how you'll see we'll see we'll see you know I'm not a big Hallmark movie guy a big Bill's guy so I'll tell you what though my wife's grandmother when I told her about it she is pumped for the movie dude Hallmark movies to grandmothers are like you know TikTok to us you know what I mean like it's it's exciting for them yeah oh yeah she is but any news on the movie no graham yeah that's awesome i'll get you out of here on this i wanted to do

some rapid fire questions for you are you cool with that sure nothing hard yeah absolutely all right do it so i've got about 10 rapid fire questions for del reed co-founder of bills mafia CEO of 26 shirts 26 Shirts.com. All right. First question. Worst moment or experience as a fan, in person or watching? The loss to the Browns 2009. They lost 6 to 3, Derek.

And completed two passes. And the Browns won that game. Was that? Who was our quarterback? Kevin Cobb? No, Derek Anderson. Who was our? Derek Anderson was the quarterback for the Browns.

Right. So that would have been 2009. So that probably would have been Edwards? Yeah. I'm blaming to tread Edwards. Yeah, it's either him or Holcomb. Tool, I don't know.

Yeah, that was 05. So, this would take Jaron. So probably Edwards. Yeah, I think you're right. But it was terrible. I repressed most of that game. Yeah, it was definitely pre-Fitzy. Yeah, you're right.

Didn't they beat us? Like, he threw for like 100 yards, two for five? he said? Something like that. No, it was like two for like 17 or something like that. Like you complete two paths. I remember how many yards it was. That's right. I don't think it was a hundred yards, but...

What a great pick. That was not what I was expecting you say. I'm so happy you said that. All right. How about favorite moment or experience as a fan in person or watching? The playoff game against the Patriots when they scored every time they had the ball. I was there. I remember... I remember at the game and I told my friend was with me. I'm like, they have to score every time they have

the ball. We're walking at the stadium. I'm like, I didn't think they're actually going to do it. They hurt me. Yeah. That was great. I was there. That was my, I had season tickets during the drought, but I had never been to a

playoff game at home. So few of us. So few of us have, right? Right. Up to that point. And so my wife was like, we're going. And her and I went. I remember it was like zero degrees.

Yeah, it was incredible. Favorite uniform. I think I know what you're going to say, but I'm curious. I like the Stormtrooper outfits. the white head to toe. Really? Partly because, partly because,

first of all, they're clean. They're so clean looking. But I think part of it, and over the years I had this love for that look, I think what it is is, that was the same year, 2011 that they were in Jerusalem,

that Bill's Mafia kind of took off. And so this whole Bill's Mafia thing is growing, and they're wearing those, they wore those wades like a ton. So I think that's part of it too. Like, that's kind of like, It's like very formative, but also they look super clean. What a great answer, dude.

Yeah, it's kind of like nostalgia for you. It kind of represents the birth of what you started. Yeah. You talking about with the standing buffalo or still the newer buffalo? No, I like the throwbacks too, but like I'm talking about the new helmet. New helmet. You know, with the white helmet and like the head to toe, white. So, so clean.

It is so clean. I'm a hack. I'm going chalk on this. I love the 90s. the red helmets, but All right, here we go. As long as it's not the Donahoe jerseys. No.

Visiting stadiums that you would not go to or one stadium. I mean, I feel like the Eagles is one of the easier answers, right? I have, maybe the Patriots, but I would let me go there while the bills are still really good. Yeah. The Patriots aren't. But, yeah, I don't know.

I want to go to all of them. I've only been to maybe like six so far. You can get away with it. You're respected within the football community. If I go, they're just going to, I don't know what's going to happen. I'm going to get a box. I'd get a hat because I hate y'all or something. Yeah, there you go.

I hate your team. I hate your team. I got to stay in line what I was saying earlier. I hate your team. Hate the team, not the person. All right. Most underrated bills player all time, current or former. Oh, boy, wow.

That's a good one. Most underrated player. It took me a while when I was thinking of mine, but it cares about mine. Yeah, all time. I don't know. Taryn Johnson's been an all-pro, so I don't think he counts. No, he's amazing. People don't understand.

People don't understand how important he is to that defense. Yeah, dude. That's most underrated player. It's tough. I went through it. I mean, I'll help you. Let me hear you. Let me hear yours.

Mine is, who did I pick? Let me make sure I have it here. Eric Molds would probably be mine. I think, I mean, his stats speak for themselves, but I think he kind of gets buried in there because it was a time when the bills weren't so good. Yeah, yeah. I think Eric Molds is up there for me.

Eric Molds would be my pick. Honorable mention, you know, Lee Evans, maybe terrible. I thought of Lee Evans. McGee. It is like, who is. Now I'm stumped on my own question. Don't worry looking at it. There was a lot of, I mean.

So many. I mean, I guess puzzle. The 99 defense that they had. Like, if they beat the Titans in that game, they go to the Super Bowl. Dude, in my opinion. Like, whatever team was when that game was going on the Super Bowl. Without a game.

Without a game. Who was the tackle there? I always forget Pat or Ted Williams, which everyone was because a couple years later, and they'd be the other game. Yeah, I don't know. The defensive tackle Williams. Oh.

In that 99th season. Okay. Okay. I like it. Great choice. Two teams gone tomorrow. They're out of the league. I picked two because you've got to keep it even.

We can get rid of two teams out of the NFL. Who is it? Oh. Not kind of mean. You know what? It is kind of mean. My brain said Miami right away. Well, of course.

That's not true. You know, I want to be. And Detroit's kind of good now. So it's not like they're just like hanging on. Let's see. I go straight expansion teams. I'm like Carolina, Tennessee. goodbye.

I'll take Tennessee. They're a falsehood, so I'll take Tennessee. They bring out like Warren Moon and it's like a legacy player. It's like, no, he never means. For all we know, he never, I'm sure he did, but he never steps foot in the state of Tennessee,

which is, you know. Could not agree more because if you remember. And they look like a UFO team. Yeah, we do. They do. And if you remember, technically the Ravens are the old Browns. So that would be like bringing out like a Browns player.

is a raven. Love that you said that because that's like my favorite troll to do when we played a raven. Me too. But then pogged on the old Browns. I love that you said that.

I love it. Because that's why I used to do. I used to go, whatever you love it. I love it. You're the old Browns, you know? Yeah. They get so angry.

It's like, no, all the history he stayed in Cleveland. Well, the GM didn't and the players didn't. And like, you know, like, Ozzie Newsom, like what? He, so in, like, it's multiverse. He just switched over from being the Cleveland GM to the Baltimore GM.

No. They probably have the same employer identification number, you know, right? I don't know. It's true. You can probably the same incorporated maybe. I don't know. And you can troll both fan bases. I don't like control Cleveland because if you remember when they lost the team,

a lot of those guys came over across the lake and would support the bill. So I always have a soft time for them. The bills would have Cleveland Day. I remember that. Yeah, yeah. But I do. But I do. If you want to troll Cleveland fans, you can be like, you know, Lamar Jackson could have been yours, you know.

But I don't want to do that. How was that Super Bowl win in 2000? All right. One move you would take back. Organizational move, you wish they never did. Again, this is not about me, but while you're thinking, just to get the brain thing. I said the Marchand trade. I hated when the truth.

That was my knee-jerk reaction. We were to a rapid part. That was my knee-jerk reaction. I ruined it. Future Hall of favor probably, and he was on your team for three or four seasons and just squandered. Dude, and they gave him away for a fourth rounder. All right. We're almost done.

Favorite tailgate spot at the stadium? Where are you hanging out? What lot? I mean, that's going to chase soon. It's a good question because, like, my wife and I, like, we kind of, like, bounce around. Like, we'll, we stop at the mafia house, and then we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, to Lori's lot and, you know, obviously Kenny, uh, with, with, Hammer a lot.

Yeah. So, um, yeah, I don't know. Then we'll end up over at like the hotel off of like, like, Southwestern, whatever is because her cousins up to Calgary over there. It's like an abandoned hotel now or something like that or something. I don't know. But like, um, yeah, dude. That's it.

All the places are great. Like, I've never, I'm too scared to go into grass lot, though. Yeah. I'm scared. I, uh, I, uh, Remember when where the new stadium is is where it used to be the bus lot. I used to tell people like, everyone's like, oh, the hammer lot's crazy. I'm like, listen.

I was like back in the day, it was like a war zone over in the bus lot because it would be people who have been drinking since like 4 a.m. When the bus left, there's mounted cops. There was fights. It was just, it was, I saw a rock band just start playing. It was, that place was a. Was it you? Was it your man? What's that?

Was it your band? Actually, I think I did sit in. It wasn't my band, but I did. I sang smells like teen spirit with them. All right, best wings in Buffalo. Oh, man. So, I know. Here's the thing.

It's hard to find bad wings in Buffalo. True. I've only had 9-11 once, maybe six months ago, whatever it was, I forget. Those are really good. That's what I heard is the new. That's what I'm seeing now.

Like, for a while it was, I was saying it was Bar Bill and Gabriel's Gate, and now on social media, like, especially the last week, I've seen 9-11 taverns like crushing it. Yeah, so, so they're, my one time going there was great. Sneaky choice is, um, I like sneaky choice. In Kenmore, there's a moustachios called moustachios. And their wings, they're not, no, it's just a pizza place,

but their wings are really good. So a lot of times when friends are in from out of town, they want to get wings or order in my house, whatever. I'll bring those in And like every time You know My guest or whomever has been like You're really good

I'm like yeah I know It's why I ordered them But so And also a big shout out to wing nuts Because those aren't even like Truly Buffalo wings are like their own thing They're like chicken forearms anyway They're huge

Yeah Right So there's a lot of great choices in Buffalo It's hardly like I don't want to die on any hill to be honest I don't want to die on any hill When you don't think stuff But we'll find the crappy ones

But we'll shame them That's right You know, I guess the better question should have, I should have said, best like, like, you know, low-key underrated spots. So I like, would you say mustachios? Mastasios on Elmwood and Kenwar. I mean, who better to endorse it than you? People see, people focus on the sauce, which is obviously important. For me, it's like, you got to pay attention to the wing itself.

Is it, you know, is it meaty? Is it coated? Is it, you know, crispy? Like, there's a lot that goes into wings, which I will tell you. I live in Ithaca. The Ithaca alehouse is, other than wings I've had in Buffalo, are the absolute greatest wings I've ever had in my life. If you're ever in the Ithaca area, Ithaca alehouse, check that out.

They're not paying me. They're not paying me. I'm just speaking one bill's fan to other. All right. And last question, this is the most important. This has been trending on social media. But I kind of made it our own question. A hundred guerrillas versus one Josh Allen, who's winning?

I love Josh, but that's a lot of guerrilla, man. That's a lot of grueless. I think he would agree. Have you had a chance to meet any of the current player? Have you met Bean, McDermott, Alan, any of the main players? Yeah, I've met Brandon Bean, a super nice guy. Awesome. A very normal dude, you know.

Yeah, I met, I've done with Dion and Reed Ferguson and, you know. Yeah, he's a great dude. I remember those three. who doesn't like reverse you know yeah so those are the two that I've done

the most work with and you know I've you know you can go down the list with the players like I've met you know Josh and stuff like that

briefly real briefly with Josh he's a busy guy right but yeah I've had a lot of cool opportunities to mix it up with you know a lot of these players and over the years now

10 15 years you know like just so many cool stories, you know, like Jerry Hughes, great dude. Love that guy. Awesome. I mean, like I said, I'm 49. So Thurman, Jim, Andre, the opportunity to meet, you know, work with each year those guys has been super surreal. Yeah, man.

I never take it for granted. I met Jim Kelly back in the day. And the first thing I said was, I was like, Jim, I don't get starstruck very much. I just don't know what to say. What do you say to one of your heroes? and without a beat, man, he looked at me and he goes, what do you mean you don't know what to say to your heroes? You just say, hey, how are you doing?

How's your day going? Because my heroes are my family, and that's what I asked them every morning. I was like, whoa, what a Jim Kelly answer, you know? Yeah. But it's, you know, as fans, we all dream of, like, imagine if Josh Allen or Brandon Bean knew who we were, and you're in the unique position to where they do know who you are.

And, dude, it's well deserved. You've done so much free. Oh, my gosh. I guess, real quick. Stevie. Stevie, Steve. David Johnson. I love that, dude.

I love that, dude. If there's one player that's one of us, it's him. I love that dude. Yeah, so he's the core. Sorry to interrupt you. No, no, this is your interview. I'm interrupting you. No, but it's all the recognition,

whether you like it or not, is well deserved because not only did you give us something as fans, you know, especially at the time you gave it to us, right? We're coming out of the, we didn't know yet, but we're on our, you know, the last leg of the drought. You gave us something to talk about. to be excited about, to feel good about. And as a fan, I thank you for that.

But more importantly, what you do for the Buffalo community and for other communities and charity, it's absolutely amazing, man. Del Reed, Bill's Mafia, 26 Shirts, 26 Shirts.com. Before we go, any events or extra plugs you want to get in? First of all, super kind words. Thank you. I mean, I mean, it, man.

Very, I mean, like, it's just a bunch of weird, crazy accidents in my life that have led to this point. But very nice you to say that stuff. And I got a great team here at 27th shirts with the fundraising we do and everything. Great question. Literally, just as we were going live, we announced Mafia Khan 2025. So we started that last year.

Did you just fucking break a story on my show? About an hour ago we did it. Yeah. It's fine. I'll take it. All right. So last year we got our first Mafia con. at your Western New York Heroes event center in the city.

This year it's going to be at Seneca 1, which is the tallest building in Buffalo, so it's a big rectangle. And that'll be on July 19th. And we're partnering with TSE. We're going to have, you know, bills players there and,

you know, doing autographs and signings with on TSC and everything. We're going to vendors, exhibitors, live podcasts. It's going to be a blast. So very much looking forward to it. Last year was amazing. Super stressful going into it.

I'm not an event planner by nature. Like I said, I have a great team. But I was so nervous. And I remember it wasn't until like the day before we were finishing set up. And I was like, holy cow, I think I think it was going to go great. You know, so everybody welcomed me today. I'm saying, congratulations. I'm like, okay, I guess that means we need a good job.

So, again, great team here putting it together. We're looking forward to it. It's going to be a big celebration of Buffalo football fans. them and the big of time. Well, I can promise you. I will be there. And I'll have to stay in touch. Maybe, you know, maybe we'll actually do a live show from there.

And who knows? But I will be there. You know, I want to say, too, my friend and I, we wrote a Bill's Mafia anthem. We recorded it under the name of the K-gun. It's called Where Else Marv's Anthem. We shot it at the home opener. And we just put it out there for fun. We're putting like three or four more songs.

Our next song is going to be about beating the chiefs. You know, it don't mean a thing to win the East unless you finally beat the Chiefs. So we've got some other songs coming, but I want to say, you know, I kind of threw it out there. Like, here's our baby. You know, if one person listens to it before a game, then we win. Like, I don't care what happens with it. You were one, I sent it to you, and you were one of the only people that wrote back, you know, a higher profile within the Bill's community that wrote back and we're like,

Hey, man, that was really awesome. And I really appreciated that. And I wanted to thank you for that, man. Speaking truth. I really appreciate it. And that's what's great about Bill's Mafia. Del, I've taken up way too much of your time. Thank you for coming on Good News York.

26 shirts, Bill's Mafia. Keep doing what you do. Let's stay in touch. And we'll see you at Mafia Khan. Stay tuned for that. Let's go. Yeah, it was a pleasure, man. We've been talking back to forth on social.

I think it's one of the few times we've actually mixed it up, like, you know, face to face even through a screen. Yeah, no, I love it. You and I kind of have cross paths a little bit on social media, but this was like our first real conversation, and it was awesome. And I can't thank you enough. Say thank you to the rest of the team there at 26 shirts. And we'll talk to you soon, my man.

All right, take care, brother. Thank you. All right, that was a special edition of Good News York with the co-founder of Bill's Mafia, CEO of 26 shirts, Del Reed. Absolutely love them. What did we learn? You need to go to Mustachios for underrated wings.

And you got to go to MafiaCon. I am through the roof excited. I'm a little fanboy right now. Have a great weekend. Good News York. We'll be back Monday. Good NewsYork.com. We love you.

Go bills.