All you can do is “Billieve.”

The Buffalo Bills have been breaking the hearts of their fans since the mid 1990’s. Fourteen years since their last playoff berth, coaches coming in and going out year after year, and does anyone remember the huge waste of a first round draft pick in 2009 on linebacker Aaron Maybin?

Yeah, it’s tough to mutter these words out for some, but for me I say it loud and proud. I lead the charge. I am a Bills fan.

With that brief background of the team I have been rooting for over the last 21 years, the fall of 2013 brought the opportunity that any lifetime Bills fan would dream of. Through my hard work and passion in the journalism/mass communication field at St. Bonaventure University I was awarded an internship within the Bills broadcasting department.

My dream became a reality.

How does one get an internship within an NFL organization? Simple. I went on twitter. Yeah, that’s right, a direct message to Chris Brown, lead journalist on BuffaloBills.com, landed me the gig at One Bills Drive. I originally applied for a journalism internship with Brown and he emailed back informing me that I hadn’t been named a finalist for his internship but said he’d pass my resume and application along to his colleagues.

I didn’t think I would be contacted but about two weeks after I received the email from Brown, I got the call of my life from Mike Adamek, Senior Producer for the Bills, who set up an interview. Two weeks later, I went to the interview and I was in awe. I was sitting in a comfy waiting room at One Bills Drive surrounded by four AFC Championship trophies, game worn gloves, and game used footballs.

“Am I dreaming,” I asked myself. No I wasn’t. I was there in the flesh and after the interview I received a call. “Michael, this is Mr. Adamek. I’m calling to offer you the position as video production assistant for the fall of 2014.”

YES!

This past summer I was interning in the PR department for the Bisons and the whole time I was so antsy to get started at One Bills Drive. Finally, of course after a great time in downtown Buffalo with the Bisons, the day in August came. I was a Buffalo Bill.

The first time walking into the office was quite surreal. My office (yes, I even had my own desk,) was right down the hall from the players’ locker room. The wall that has every players name to ever wear a Bills jersey engraved onto it lit up right in my wing, and on the first day I even got to share a meal with Russ Brandon, the president and CEO of the Bills.

Was I dreaming? No. This was real and it gets even better.

“Hey Mike, you know you’re working game-days too, right?,” said Adamek when giving me a tour of the fieldhouse during a live practice. “Field level and press box all game. I’ll make it worth your while.”

Yeah, I got to watch practice every day and I filmed during the open media portion of practice. Surreal.

First time walking into the tunnel and onto the field, after going to the media room at the Ralph first of course, was unreal. Week by week, I walked out onto the field in front of 70,000 screaming, dedicated fans side by side with the likes of EJ Manuel, Fred Jackson, Cam Newton, and Tom Brady.

Needless to say, in a matter of weeks I went from my season tickets in section 241, row 4, seat 8 to literally standing out-of-bounds on the 20-yard line next to the bench where Mario Williams’ sweat would blow on to me as the giant fan cooled him off after making a sack.

Oh, and did I mention the countless times I got spotted on CBS, NBC, or Fox by family and friends? The red Bills polo shirt always stuck out like a sore thumb on television. My friends would always call me and make a huge deal of it. It became a normalcy for me.

The locker room was the best part. Every day I would be recording press conferences at the podium that would be seen live on NFL Network and assisting in interviewing players on game-day strategies and how they were feeling on a given day.

All my friends were so jealous. Here I was, a 21-year-old college student working for his favorite team side by side with people that I idolize. Having my work seen by thousands was a pretty cool thing too as every video I edited made it on BuffaloBills.com.

Another cool moment was when Brady bumped into me at mid-field after Stephen Gostowski’s field-goal went through the uprights to win the game for the Patriots in the final minute. Yeah, that’s right. I said it. I may hate Tom Brady but it is pretty cool to say you “rubbed shoulders” with a future NFL Hall of Famer.

I also received a gift from Bills owner Ralph Wilson Jr. for Christmas with a signed card from him.

Again: just another exclamation point on an amazing experience.

From the office that I shared with the voice of the Bills, John Murphy to the field surrounded by 70,000 of my passionate neighbors and “Bills Mafia” members I underwent the experience of a lifetime last fall. Hopefully my hard work and passion that I put into the internship lands me a job one day. All you can do is “Billieve.”

The Bills are on the up and up and I hope to be in the locker room again one day soon enjoying the ride with the guys. This fall was a dream come true, but the dream is to have a full time job. Time to make it a reality once again.