I’m not sure what to say to be honest. I mean, it’s all well-chronicled. And anything I’m going to say, you’ve probably already thought yourself. But here goes anyway…

A member of the “Greatest Generation,” he earned the Commendation Medal (given for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service) after serving our country on a mine sweeper during World War II.

Thank you, Mr. Wilson.

A member of the “Foolish Club,” he helped found the AFL in 1960 and then floated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Al Davis the following year to keep Oakland’s Raiders afloat. It’s quite possible that without that loan, the AFL folds and therefore the NFL is a very different entity than what we know now.

Thank you, Mr. Wilson.

The man sunk a LOT of money into Western New York. UB Orthopaedics, HospiceBuffalo, St. John Fisher college, and Roswell Park are just the examples I know of off the top of my head. I’m sure there’s more that are just a Google search away.

Thank you, Mr. Wilson.

And, of course, he most surely had the opportunity to leave for greener pastures over the years (especially during those dark times in the mid-1980’s when crowds were smaller than 20,000) but kept the Bills in Buffalo. And before you reply to the previous sentence with a cynical remark, remember this: when the vote came before the league owners in 1996 to approve Art Modell’s Browns franchise to Baltimore, only two owners voted against it. Dan Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Ralph Wilson. It’s 2014 and they’re still the BUFFALO Bills.

Thank you, Mr. Wilson.

This team of yours, Mr. Wilson, is my favorite thing in the world. It’s the one thing, following my relationship with my Creator and the family He’s blessed me with, that brings me the most pleasure. I’ve experienced memories that are going to last a lifetime at that stadium that bears your name; and I’ve made friendships that I like to think I’ll have for life in the parking lots that surround it.

You know, people may poke fun at its performance over the years, but this professional football franchise was your baby and you shared it with us.

Thank you.

I want to sell 26 t-shirts.

No, not one t-shirt to 26 individual customers. 26 unique designs over the course of a year.

Why?

As this whole #BillsMafia thing has really hit its stride, I’m hearing from people with needs on a near-weekly basis.

Needs for help with things like…

A daughter who’s barely a year old and fighting leukemia.

Another daughter who has had an eye removed because of a rare pediatric cancer.

A family whose son was hit by a car, and now they have to commute between Buffalo (where they live/work) and Pittsburgh (where he’s being treated).

A foundation that struggles to serve and help people afflicted by an ultimately lethal, yet relatively unknown condition.

Ok, back to the question. Why 26 shirts?

If you look at my dresser drawers, you’ll see they are overflowing… OVERFLOWING with different Buffalo Bills or (Bills-inspired) t-shirts. And I want more. I’ll never have enough.

I know I’m not the only person like this.

So here’s my idea.

My plan is to sell a different “Buffalo Football” type shirt design every two weeks, and then never sell it again. (Kind of like how Woot used to do with their shirts daily.) The idea is that because the shirt will be rare, people will have a stronger interest in spending their hard-earned dollars on it.

By “Buffalo Football,” I mean we would obviously not be able to use any Buffalo Bills or NFL-related marks. Designs would not have to be directly related to “Mafia” but can be anything that you think a WNY football fan would view as a “must have.”

At the end of the two weeks, all profits from the shirts that are sold are given to a specific family or foundation with a need.

Here’s the catch. I’m just one person, and while I have done some graphic work in the past, I’m NOT a graphic artist. I want to work with a group of artists who are willing to donate a design (or two, or three) to Buffalo FAMbase, Inc. But not to us, but to the people with the needs I outlined above — and many others like them.

Artists can suggest the need, or just allow us to choose from the deep pool that we’re aware of.

What does the artist get from it? Exposure. With over 20,600 followers on Twitter and 4,300 on Facebook, we have a pretty significant audience. The design WILL get seen. The artist will also get full credit for the design. But most importantly, the biggest “get” is the warm fuzzy feeling of knowing that that the time spent in Adobe Illustrator (or whatever method) was used to help out someone(s) less fortunate!

If you are interested in participating and have a design (or designs) that you would like to submit, please let me know ASAP as I want to launch the first design on November 11th. If you’re an artist but have no ideas, hit me up anyway as I have concepts you can probably work with.

Del Reid (@mrdeadlier)
mrdeadlier@billsmafia.com