San Jose Bills Fan

One of the ways they summoned the nuns to the office was using bells rung in a simple code. I remember whenever the bell would ring that I'd have to stop playing so she could hear if she was being summoned. The grounds there had lots of nice, big old shade trees and a large lawn. My violin lessons there were during the early 1970s and the same nun also taught music at Villa Maria.

Ah, an airport electrician. Especially because Lancaster is only an 8th mile strip, a lot of the street rods I grew up with had 4.10 and 4.11 rear axles so as a result, they didn't have a lot of top end. My 1970 Cutlass Supreme (350 Rocket) had me over 100 mph a few times. As a passenger my buddy actually tricked out a big Olds Delta 88 that his uncle gave him. This car had the 455 engine and we buried the needle on that one a few times which was pretty scary. With that soft suspension, you lost the feeling of control, especially in the passenger seat. That same buddy ended up dying in a motorcycle accident. My wife's Genesis Coupe has a rev limiter which keeps the car to 150 mph but I'll probably never get it past 90 mph. Nothing to gain and too much to lose.

I used to take violin lessons from one of the nuns at the Immaculate Heart of Mary orphanage. Seems like ages ago.

Regarding Ballard, besides being mocked the Cheatriots*** were also lauded in some corners for a shrewd move and they were also criticized by some for violating an "unwritten rule of honor" that you don't claim a player off of waivers when his team is trying to place him on injured reserve. And while Ballard has some nice tools, he remains an undrafted player so I'm not seeing where their offense is going to make up for all the firepower lost this offseason.

So… your name is actually NoSaint? Can a person plead stupid as a defense?

Also, don't be seen in a bar with the deceased the night of his death. In addition, don't kill someone who is dating the sister of your girlfriend. Seriously speaking, even if they didn't commit the murder, these 3 other clowns sure have done a good job of taking the finger of suspicion and pointing it directly at themselves. And if they did commit the murder, it would have been hard to botch it any worse than they did.

It's a bad habit of his… He wants people to know that he can keep a secret… and at the same time torture us with it.

I hope you're wrong too… but just because I like when you're wrong. :nana: :nana:

You're new here and you make some good points but as an older poster I'll tell you that the larger point is that the Bills have sucked for years therefore it's pointless to discuss these things. p.s. - Also keep in mind we can't talk trash about the Bills opponents because we suck.

Q and A: Is the Toronto game relevant in this discussion? No, unless one believes that the scheduling of one game in a way to accommodate the Bills wishes gives the NFL carte blanche to disregard any other scheduling considerations. Is the fact that the Bills have sucked relevant to this discussion? Only to some fans who are so self-loathing that they feel that because the Bills suck that they don't deserve to be treated fairly by the league. Is fan anger and emotion playing too much of a role in this discussion? Yes, obviously. To see why, examine the "logic" of the arguments. What then are the logical arguments being made by those who believe that the Bills shouldn't complain? The main argument is the "Self-loathing Argument."which states that because the Bills suck they don't deserve fair treatment. The second argument is the "Fairness is a moot point Argument" which states that if the Bills were better that the unfairness of their schedule would be irrelevant. This argument misses the point that an unfair schedule could cost a better team one win that could be the difference between making the playoffs or not, getting a first-round bye or not, etc. In other words, an unfair schedule can screw all teams, not just bad teams. The third argument is the "You can't have your cake and eat it too Argument" which states that the Bills have been accommodated by the schedule makers in a few ways therefore they have relinquished any and all rights to a fair schedule. Besides being beset by logical flaws in-and-of themselves, all of these arguments ignore the very concept of fairness as if it has no place in competitive sports. Should the Bills concentrate on winning instead of defending their interests? Only if one believes they are incapable of doing both at the same time or thinks that an article by Chris Brown hinders the Bills attempts to improve as a team. In the actual real world we know that the efforts of the PR, Marketing, and Media Relations Departments can be performed without hindering the Football Department's mission of winning. In other words, why shouldn't they do both? Should the NFL create a schedule that is as fair as possible to all teams? Does one really have to ask this question? One of the top considerations of any sports league should be to create a fair-as-possible schedule. Is the fact that some teams play 5 well-rested opponents while other teams play zero well-rested opponents unfair? Yes, it is unfair. Is it unfair to a significant degree? In this case it is. Besides the oddity that the Bills have in recent years played the Cheatriots*** numerous times coming off New England's bye, the fact of the Bills playing 4 well-rested opponents last year and 5 this year as well as having their own bye advantage nullified is significantly unfair. Would this be an issue if there wasn't a well-established pattern of unfairness in the schedule? No it would not be an issue. Can the NFL do better with their schedule making? This is the hard question. The league's schedule makers weigh and consider numerous variables in creating their algorithm. We don't know what they value so we can only guess at this answer. It needs to be repeated that half of all NFL games are decided by 7 points or less therefore arguably, nearly half of all NFL games are decided by one play. The difference between winning and losing in this league has always been razor thin. It is always in a professional sports league's best interests to maximize fairness. IMO the NFL can and should do better in this area.

The original Buffalo News report: http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121116/CITYANDREGION/121119402/1002 Recall that after he was ejected, he called his brother who was still inside the stadium. The deceased was asked by his brother if he wanted to be joined outside the stadium and the deceased responded, "No, we'll meet after the game at Tailgaters." One question in my mind is whether he resumed drinking after being ejected from the stadium.

Hmmm. I wonder what kind of papers. Rolling papers? Apparently by this account he wasn't being followed by a horde of guys wearing fedoras with cards that said "Press" in the hatband.

From Rotoworld FWIW: It's a scary thought for No. 1 receivers in the AFC East. Gilmore flashed true shutdown ability over the final 11 games of his rookie year, allowing a 53.5 completion rate on throws into his coverage and not a single touchdown while often shadowing opposing No. 1s.

Half of all NFL games are decided by 7 points or less. The difference between victory and defeat is quite thin, often just one or two plays per game. Last year the Bills lost 4 such games, by 6 to the Cheatriots who were coming off their bye and by 1 point to Tennessee who were coming off a mini-bye. People can be as dismissive of scheduling fairness as they want but if I was a team owner, being at a significant competitive disadvantage two years running would certainly be an issue for me. Last year Buffalo had four games in a five-week span in which their opponent had extra rest and prep time via a bye week or having played a Thursday night game the week prior. In that span the Bills also had their own bye week, but the benefits were nullified by the fact that their opponent (Houston) also had a bye the same week. Buffalo went 1-3 in those games in 2012. In 2013 Buffalo is the only team in the league in which five of their games are against clubs coming off extra rest. They’re also the only team with three of those games against divisional opponents. The only other NFL club that comes close is the Atlanta Falcons. They have four games against teams coming off extra rest including a pair of division opponents in Carolina and Tampa Bay. Six teams play three games against opponents coming off extra rest (Arizona, Carolina, NY Giants, Oakland, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay). Another seven have just two games against clubs with extra preparation time. A whopping 14 teams have just one game against an opponent coming off more than a week of rest leaving just three teams which have no scheduling disadvantage. As I said upthread, if the range was much narrower than 0 and 5, this probably wouldn't be an issue.

As Buddy would say, "Dagnabit, yer going out on a small branch with a big saw." Sorry, couldn't resist.

I wish they'd change their name to the Undocumented Workers.

Thanks to BuffaloBob for rescuing the discussion with useful facts by way of his link. With regards to useful facts and data, I wish I could find the spreadsheet analysis that one of our posters did on this subject. That analysis clearly showed that in recent history, the Bills have gotten the short end of the stick with regards to the bye/mini-bye week aspect of their schedule. Unfortunately the topic seems to be a case of the "Stiff upper lip" crowd vs the "Whiners," in other words it has become the quintessential polarized, oversimplified, and emotional discussion. Clearly the NFL starts the schedule process with a software program which uses an algorithm and weighted values. It seems that the bye/mini-bye week is not currently weighted very heavily. In a perfect world, the schedule is perfectly fair. We do not live in a perfect world. However in a highly competitive league with a very delicate competitive balance where small factors can have large impacts the issue revolves around what Chris Brown stated (paraphrasing) that "the NFL has to do better." When one team plays 5 of the dates in question and a divisional rival plays zero, that is clearly unfair. I doubt we'd be having this discussion if every team in the league played 2-3 of these dates each season. The question is, can and should the NFL increase the weighing of bye/min-bye weeks in their schedule-making algorithm? Unfortunately we don't know what their algorithm is so it's nearly impossible for us to answer that question but clearly it seems like this aspect of scheduling could be weighted a bit more to mitigate the very significant inequities that are manifested in the schedule every year. Without knowing the gory details and conceding that they have a challenging job, it seems like the NFL schedule makers could do a better job in this particular regard.

I find this to be an interesting reaction. The NFL is a multi-billion dollar business that employs thousands of people, some of them with questionable backgrounds and character. I can't really think of a scenario where I'd feel sorry for the NFL. You sir, are a very sympathetic person.

Garrison Sanborn

Garrison Sanborn.

Thanks for posting the update. Where will it stop? It sounds like Hazelwood is the last person between those who plead and Haslam himself.

Goldarnit, teaching these players the broad scope is gonna be like planting 10 acres by hand!

Two amateur writers from fan sites. Thanks for posting the link but I'm still trying to decide if the opinions were worse than the writing or vice versa. Not that all amateur writers are bad but the piece speaks for itself.

Yes. The AP report is that Roger Goodell showed up at the Hernandez residence and left with the security videotapes.