Losing football games often leaves fans wounded, no matter which team you root for—and Baltimore Ravens supporters are all too familiar with the feeling. But out of their blues came this sweet story from the NFL playoffs last week, after a heartbreaking loss to the Buffalo Bills in the final minutes of the Divisional Round game.
The next day, a Buffalo Bills fan group set up a GoFundMe campaign that raised a ton of money for a charity in honor of the Ravens player that fans were relentlessly blaming for the loss.
Late in the 4th quarter of the Bills’ home game, the Ravens put together a 7-play drive to score a touchdown with less than two minutes on the clock.
Needing a two-point conversion to tie the game, Ravens’ tight end Mark Andrews made his way into the end zone, then caught—but dropped—a pass from his star quarterback.
A barrage of hate was hurled at the tight end, both online and in the stadium.
Meanwhile, the fan base of the victorious New York team (who call themselves ‘the Bills Mafia’) are known for cheekily donating to charitable causes held dear by players on opposing teams that the Bills defeat. And this week, a pair of sympathetic young men wanted to show some love to Mark Andrews, the tight end who dropped that ball.
Andrews is one of several players in the NFL born with type-1 diabetes, and his success has seen him make donations to a global research effort called Breakthrough T1D that works to find a cure for the cureless disease.
Bills Mafia member Nicholas Howard set up the fundraiser, writing on GoFundMe, “As many of you know, the Ravens tight end wasn’t able to catch the game-tying 2-point conversion… On top of that, he has been receiving death threats and nasty comments after his performance last night. We want Bills Mafia to donate to Mark’s charity for Juvenile diabetes.”
Setting their goal for $5,000, the call to donate went viral after it was retweeted by the Ravens franchise, which replied, “Shout out to Bills Mafia for showing support to our guy Mark Andrews and donating to the organization, which works towards curing and improving the lives of those dealing with type 1 diabetes.”
Then, just like the avalanche of criticism online, the kindness snowballed to amass $140,000 for Mark’s favorite charity.
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The diabetes charity said in a statement to GNN, “Breakthrough T1D greatly appreciates the generosity of the Buffalo Bills community and the many fans who were compelled to donate after Sunday’s game. These donations will support research on behalf of the 1.6 million Americans who, like Mark Andrews, live with type-1 diabetes.”
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Football fans summed up the heartwarming campaign, after donating: “Tough game Mark. Bills Mafia has your back,” wrote Matt Beland.
“Thanks for your hard work on and off the field!” wrote Jarrod Caprow. “A true community player!”
WATCH the Andrews drop and a news report about the heartwarming donations…
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