And so it goes...

It was the summer of 2004, and Bills fans again were hoping this year would be different, hoping this would be the year when the Bills began making real progress toward pro football glory. Fans on the message board at www.BuffaloBills.com were no different. They talked about the new coach, they talked about Drew Bledsoe and Travis Henry and Willis McGahee. And they talked about the defense. The problem with the defense, they said, was that they didn't get any takeaways. Everyone knew takeaways were the key to winning in the NFL, and the Bills were worst in the league in takeaways in 2003. The question was whether this defense could turn that around.

One day a mysterious figure appeared on the message board. He called himself the Ball Burglar. Even by message board standards, the Ball Burglar was weird. His very first post began with a simple proposition:

"You want takeaways. I'll get more takeaways." Other posters responded "what are you talking about?"

The Burglar repeated the promise. He would get takeaways for the Bills.

Posters said he was an idiot. Posters said it was a joke. But people kept reading the Ball Burglar's thread. He was funny. He knew football. He knew the personalities of people on the board. And he kept promising to get takeaways.

The thread went on for days. It became clear that the Ball Burglar presented a riddle. Posters were supposed to figure out how the Ball Burglar would get more takeaways for the Bills. First someone guessed that we, the fans, had to PAY the Ball Burglar for takeaways.

Then he said it. Yes, we had to pay for takeaways. If the fans paid for takeaways, the Ball Burglar would deliver more takeaways.

"What!?!!" posters howled. "This guy's crazy. How is he going to get more takeaways? And why should we pay him." But that wasn't all. The Ball Burglar wanted the fans to wear burglar masks at Ralph Wilson Stadium and in sports bars. Burglar masks as a signal to the Bills to steal the football. So that was it. The Ball Burglar wanted Bills fans to wear masks at the game and to promise to pay for takeaways, one dollar, two dollars, whatever, per takeaway. At the end of the season, the fans would pay what they promised, and the Ball Burglar would give the money to two charities: Hunter's Hope and Carly's Club. Buffalo charities to help sick kids.

The Ball Burglar visited the message board from time to time during the 2004 season and kept promising more turnovers for money. And some posters promised to pay for takeaways. By the end of the season, 17 posters had promised to pay. Not a lot, just 17 fans who believed that if we all pay for takeaways, the Bills will get more. And a funny thing happened that year. The Bills led the league in takeaways! They went from worst to first in the year that the Ball Burglar first promised more takeaways.

That's how it began. Every year since then, fans have promised to pay for takeaways, and the Ball Burglar has delivered. Fans wear burglar masks at the tailgate parties and at the games. Fans in masks were on the Jumbo-tron in the Stadium. The Ball Burglar has been on television. The Ball Burglar has a theme song. The Ball Burglar now has a website (www.ballburglar.com) where fans join the gang and use their credit cards to pay for takeaways. Many promise just one dollar per takeaway. About $30 a year. Some promise more - $2, $3 or $5. Fans have paid thousands of dollars for takeaways.

The Ball Burglar has his own corporation, Ballbur, Inc. It's registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a charity, so every dollar fans pay for takeaways is tax deductible. The Ball Burglar's favorite charities are Hunter's Hope and Carly's Club. Hunter's Hope was founded by Jim Kelly's family to help children stricken with Krabbe's disease, the same disease that took the life of Hunter Kelly. Carly's Club supports care and research for children with cancer at the Roswell Park Cancer Center. The Ball Burglar isn't done. He won't be done until thousands of fans are wearing masks in the Stadium and thousands of fans are paying for takeaways.

When the Bills return to NFL glory, the Ball Burglar will be there.