CREENAN: Traveling the country for a good cause

Gazette reporter Robert Creenan met NFL YouTuber Tom Grossi, left, when he visited Buffalo on Sunday. Grossi is traveling across the country visiting every NFL stadium, raising money for St. Jude's along the way.

What NFL fan would not want to try and see every stadium in the league in their lifetime? Even more challenging, what if you wanted to see them all in one month?

This past Sunday, I got to meet someone attempting just that when Tom Grossi made a stop in Buffalo on his cross-county journey.

For those who do not know, Grossi is a YouTuber who makes NFL-centric videos, mainly about the Green Bay Packers, and live-streams with other football content creators. Among these NFL YouTubers who try foremost to be funny and say what the fans are thinking, Grossi is one of the more even-headed, analytical ones. Except when it comes to egging on his streaming co-hosts.

Last month, Grossi announced his plans to visit all 30 NFL stadiums over the course of the month of June, one stop per day, meeting fans at each stadium and at a local small business. This journey is also a fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, accepting donations in person and online, and a way to get the word out on small businesses in these respective cities.

Buffalo was Grossi's sixth stop on his tour after the NFC North cities and Cleveland. By the time he had arrived at the Bills Mafia house next to Highmark Stadium, he had surpassed the $50,000 fundraising benchmark, where he would jump through a table. If I had a say in it, I would have added doing the Pinto Ron ketchup and mustard combo to that.

Even before he arrived, he had announced he would work with 26 Shirts to make an exclusive "30in30" shirt, proceeds from that also going to St. Jude's. Fans wearing 26 Shirts were quick to point them out.

I arrived at the mafia house about a half-hour after his meetup started, Mr. Grossi still in a circle signing whatever Bills memorabilia was handed to him, posing for photos, and accepting gifts. Parents with their kids talked about how much they look forward to his new videos.

When it was finally my turn, I had to be the different one and put on a Detroit Lions-colored sweatshirt in my photo with Tom. Someone showed up in a Tom Brady Buccaneers jersey, so it was far from the worst thing there. Afterward, I told him I was a fan of his streams and my first NFL regular season game was the Bills vs. Vikings last season.

Grossi went to 26 Shirts’ HQ on Kenmore Avenue for another fan meetup. His next destination was Boston, into the den of the Patriots beast.

Over the course of his tour, Grossi will put out YouTube videos of each stop showing his experience. For those interesting in seeing him take on other benchmark challenges he set, like eating Kansas City's hottest hot sauce or doing the Skyjump in Las Vegas, feel free to donate to his cause either through one of his videos or on the St. Jude's website. As he said many times when getting a donation, "it's for the children."

Rob Creenan is a reporter for the Niagara Gazette.

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