Does Following A Travel Ban Make You “Soft” In Buffalo

The last couple of days, the toughness of Buffalonians has been questioned.  Have we become "soft" over the last couple of years?

It all started with a game

The Buffalo Bills have earned their way into the NFL playoffs and have found themselves as the second highest seeded team in the AFC.  Which means they were given a home game.

Then, because of weather, that home game got postponed and some people are dragging the Bills (and Buffalo as a city) on social media.

Is Buffalo "soft?"

I'm not even going to give the guy any extra exposure here but if you were on social media over the weekend, you probably saw his "live shots from Buffalo, NY" posts that he was posting claiming that the weather was absolutely perfect for football and that we were ridiculous for having to postpone the game.

So, are we?

Here's what's wrong with his argument

He wasn't even at the stadium!  His posts were mostly from the city where he was staying.  He kept claiming that he was 12 miles away from the stadium.  Which shows that he has absolutely no clue how lake effect snow works.

For the rest of you who don't understand it either, it can literally be sunny in one part of a town and just two streets over can get feet of snow dropped on them.

We've been through it before.  We know what kind of havoc it can create.  Western New Yorkers remember the 2014 Winter Storm Knife that sat over the south towns and dropped about 8 feet of snow over a couple of days.

We've been through storms and blizzards and people have lost their lives.  Does it make you soft trying to keep them safe?

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a huge football fan.  I've sat through games in feet of snow.  I love the Bills, but no game is ever worth a person's life.

What some might call soft, others see as being prepared.

Why do they even have travel bans?

Travel bans were put into place to keep people off the streets when the weather gets bad.  There are a couple of reasons for that.  The first is to keep people from going in ditches and getting stuck in the road.  While many people are great drivers, that doesn't apply to everyone.  If you get stuck while driving in weather like that, not only is it dangerous for you, many times it takes someone else to get you out.

If you've ever tried to snow blow a driveway that has parked cars in it, you understand the second reason for the travel ban.  You know that it's easier to clear that driveway out when you don't have to work around parked cars.  Staying home helps to clear up streets faster and help cities and towns get back on track faster.

So does it make you soft to follow a travel ban?

Give me a break.  Time to grow up.  Does driving when everyone else can't make you feel tough?  People who drive unnecessarily during a storm (there are some people that just have to) often just make life harder on people who are trying to keep roads clear for emergency personnel.

If you don't have to do it, don't.  Stay home.  As Jimmy Griffin once said, "Stay home, enjoy your family, watch channel 7, and get a six pack."