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sorry couldn't alert you folks earlier on this one, but busy dealing with other stories i had to file. glad everyone saw it. jw

while there are some agents who practice questionable tactics, many more are in fact looking out for the players' interest while also making a living for themselves. there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. and though i find many of the athletes i cover to be, in fact, intelligent -- and my encounters with Maybin indicate to me that he's very bright -- wouldn't it behoove them to get their market value. in fact, your argument is a little contradictory or confused at the least. if the athlete is not intelligent, then he certainly should follow the agent's advice. and if the athlete is intelligent, he then knows enough to hire a reputable agent and then follow that person's advice. i don't understand how the player is the bad guy in this. the system needs fixing and, once again, teams have a role in this as well. you'd hire a lawyer and real estate agent to buy a house, right? same deal. if you didn't, well, good luck with that, eh? jw

thanks. ... by the way my cable's been acting up. the damn "start over" function and some of the indemand stuff's been acting up. anything you can do about that? been back for a few days, actually had a discussion about all things Irish on the off the wall board and ready to head to camp tomorrow, which annually marks the end of my summer the moment i step foot on campus. wondering what the buzz will be about, eh? jw

a rookie salary cap would settle this issue at least for the rookie year. it would have the potential to complicate things later on depending on length of rookie contracts. as it stands, this is the way the system works and i don't begrudge rookies for not reporting until they get a fair deal. i do know that some teams in the past have truly attempted to low-ball first-round draft picks, which has complicated talks. and they low-balled them even though the players drafted immediately before and after them had signed. all i'm saying is though some here blame the player, there's also a team involved and it takes two to tango. jw

um, thanks? perhaps you should try that number again t-boy, heh, as this post might have been meant for another thread, unless i'm missing something in regards to the connection to 1) Dublin, 2) Jameson or 3) Hunter. you make a good point, though. jw

you're absolutely right. that's a good gauge to determine whether people are worth talking to or not ... the fear and loathing meter, perhaps. jw

with all due respect, the answer to the question is really who cares? from my vantage point watching minicamps this spring, T.O. might be among the fastest receivers i've seen. roscoe might be able to beat him in a foot race, but i've not seen anyone up close who has T.O.'s ability to accelerate to the ball once it's in the air and blow past defenders, and that includes McGee. and for someone so tall, Owens has this fluid almost effortless gallop. it's quite impressive for someone in his mid-30s. jw

what's funny is my memory of the line differs from the actual line, and i think might have actually improved it. rather than the vague "someplace," i always think the line was "We were 40 miles outside of Barstow when the drugs began to take hold ..." but it's still a great and inspired opener. funny, i've never seen the Murray version but went to the theatre to see the Depp version, which was a wildly strange affair. and by that i mean it was as true to the book as creatively possible, which didn't make for a great movie (especially if you didn't read the book) but certainly something to see. and of course, Depp developed such a close friendship with HST that he paid for the erection of the big fist-cannon and light show that marked the formal sendoff of Hunter's ashes. note: we did an HST vacation last year. Puerto Rico first and then Denver/Aspen. wound up having drinks at both the Jerome Hotel and then the Woody Creek Tavern, where i had an enlightening encounter with a regular. throughout our whole trip to Colorado, people would always ask us where we were from. and when we replied Buffalo, everyone responded by saying: "isn't it cold there?" well, for the umpteenth time, this happened at the Woody Creek, where i had finally had enough and launched into a mini rant (which i hope the good Doctor would've been proud of). it went something like this: "Cold in Buffalo? You folks, of course, realize where you are presently, in the mountains, where it gets cold, where it snows and where they don't plow the Independence Pass until Memorial Day. ... right, cold in Buffalo ... " it got a good laugh out of the locals at the bar and my wife and i both felt welcomed. jw

there are few better opening lines to a book than this: "We were someplace around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold." this trumps "best of times ... worst of times" and much of everything else in my book. by comparison, Rum Diaries is a far different book and might be Thompson's most sober (?) and straightforward account. it's a very good book in my opinion, though completely different than many -- perhaps all -- of the other things he's written. jw

interesting story on how Irish coffee came to be as told to us by a tour guide while we made a day trip down to the cliffs of moher (stunning, must see). back in the day, trans-atlantic flights would stop to refuel at shannon airport before heading to their final destination. during the stop over, travelers would be allowed to get out and stretch their legs (obviously, pre-9-11 times). of course, this was when people de-planed outside, and had to cross the tarmac to get inside. on one very cold evening, several travelers asked if the cook inside the restaurant could come up with something to warm them up besides coffee. imaginative cook poured a bit of Jameson into the coffees (not sure if he added brown sugar then) and voila. the concoction was so well accepted that he began making them on daily basis before it caught big. again, not sure if this is true or myth, but told to us by Liam, our tour guide. jw

didn't find dublin to be dirty at all. in fact, walking up and down Grafton Street, a pedestrian shopping mall, we had to keep dodging the street sweepers left and right never mind the hustle and bustle of people, who walk as fast and as aggressive as they do in NYC. as for architecture, i could see some resemblances to buffalo, but not as much as to make any great comparisons. the wonder of europe -- dublin included -- is seeing buildings -- libraries and museums and churches -- that date back to the 1200s. the buildings at Trinity College (built in the 1500s, i believe) were particularly stunning, especially the second floor of the library, which is a great long two-story hall with great big wooden shelves on each side for as far as you can see. the streets are especially narrow and extremely twisty, reminding me a little more of boston than anywhere else. but dublin is an extremely expensive town, moreso in some ways than london, which we found to be a bit of a surprise. am told by the locals that as a result of the taxes, dublin is among the most expensive places in the EU. it helped us that we were staying on hotel points. we'd go back, but now that we've been there, dublin's lower on our priority list as there are many more places we want to see: italy, spain and for some reason for me, turkey. i've always been fascinated by istanbul and it's location tying europe and asia. jw

my sincerest apologies on that front. thought i'd update you on what i used and didn't use the camera for. so will a hug do? jw

he did indeed. he and Charles Bukowski are among my favorites. in spring 2008, i picked up "The Kitchen Readings," an assortment of HST stories and anecdotes put forth on paper by Aspen artist and good friend of the doctor Michael Cleverly, and former Aspen sheriff Bob Braudis. cool, easy and enlightening read. this winter, i read McKeen's epic bio of Hunter, "Outlaw Journalist," which might tell be the most informative and complete book on his life. jw

why thanks.

yeah, i'm suddenly feeling kinda stupid on this front and realizing what i've been missing all these years. what a rut i've been in! i'll see about the Dickel, but i'm not a big fan of the U.S. whiskies, which have proven either too sweet or too tart for my liking. Wild Turkey has done well in a pinch, though. (hey, if the late Dr. H.S. Thompson liked it, it can't be all bad.) jw

the tulamore dew was still readily available in dublin, but didn't try it, as the wife and i were hooked on this jameson elixer. and as a whiskey drinker, i have been very loyal to wiser's for many years, ever since it was introduced to me by a friend in the mid-1980s. canadian club had a harsh taste, and always regarded as "your father's drink." and crown royal just doesn't make my cut. as for jameson, i never really tried it, because i had the pre- and mis-conception that it was a scotch. nothing wrong with scotch, per se, but it's always turned me the wrong way and became a drink that i generally avoided. so, i stuck with wiser's, which is still not a bad choice in my opinion, because i knew its strength and how to regulate intake for the desired effect. (note: i'm more of a beer drinker in public and reserve my taste for whiskey for late at night at home while enjoying my extensive library of music. and like the good Mr. Thorogood, i drink alone, all by myself, on these evenings to much delight.) but back to dublin, where the guiness also goes down very much smoother than the thick stuff you find in many places on this side of the so-called pond. my wife and i always take the "when in rome" approach to travel (rum in puerto rico, for example), so while saddling up to the No. 27 bar in the Shelbourne Hotel off St. Steven's Green (very nice place), we ordered a Jameson. my wife is not a whiskey drinker at all, but definitely no tea-toteler, so i expected it would be one drink and done for her. to my surprise, that didn't happen. she liked it so much that we wound up ordering two more rounds, and the bartender (really nice guy) also poured us one on him. we tipped him well, and the next night (our 10th anniversary), he was free-pouring us doubles all night. we wound up closing the bar and stumbling up to our room. very memorable (?) evening. dublin was great, though Temple Bar a little too chippewa strippish for our liking. far too many kids and tourists. found a couple of very strong watering holes, though. there was kehoe's, which was just off the fancy grafton street, but jam-packed with locals, who spilled out of the place on a nightly basis. then there was a cool dive called "cobblestone" just around the corner from the old Jameson distillery. it's on the corner and connected to a couple of old buildings that are physically being held up by I-beams strung across their front. we ventured in on a recommendation, and found a wonderful place (reminded me of the Swannie in Buffalo) with a bunch of local musicians jamming in the corner. and no, Whacka, we were not in california, far from it in fact. jw

ok, i made a sweeping generalization. maybe as mrags pointed out, to paraphrase, that many of the chicken littles flew the coop, so to say (heh). guess my initial response was a result of the endless string of stories -- and the reaction they generate -- about the bills on the move/in desperate states etc. etc. etc. i'm not suggesting anything one way or the other, but i'd rather see a little bit more proof beyond speculation. jw

folks: having just returned from Ireland, my wife and i have come to discover the wonderfully smooth taste of this drink called Jameson. it's a triple-distilled whiskey that goes down like water and carries a powerful punch. i had previously been a wiser's drinker (canadian, of course), but am considering making the big switch. any thoughts ... jw p.s. and for all those that contributed to my digital camera post, thank you very much. our "Coolpix" proved fantastic, though, StuckInCincy might be somewhat disappointed to find out that we had no need for it in any bar altercation

this is a town of chicken littles where the sky is always falling, and maybe, maybe one day it will. and maybe, maybe it won't. to answer some of the question raised here: Mr. Wilson told Jerry Sullivan that he wouldn't use the windfall money from the toronto deal to sign Lee Evans, though Evans was re-upped under the bills cash to the cap system that was once derided as being cheap but is now considered the norm around the nfl. as for naming rights, Mr. Wilson has maintained that selling the rights to the stadium would provide the franchise a negligible return in part because most of that money would eventually go toward increasing the salary cap and also toward revenue sharing. (i don't understand the intricacies of the cap and cba to know whether this is true or not, but i also do think Mr. Wilson does like the stadium to be named after him, and that's his prerogative, of course.) as for the article, i didn't read it only because it seems to be one of these self-perpetuated pieces that come around once every few months that hit all the predictable bases. i do know that with the toronto deal the bills are in a stronger position than they were prior to the toronto deal and are pulling in more real money than many other franchises, including the cowboys which are going into debt to build their new palace. who knows what the economic structure of the nfl and its teams will look like in 2-3 years, but the bills at this point aren't on the brink of financial demise, and won't be so long as Mr. Wilson is alive. jw

though i don't think there's a time limit on the decision, i'm pretty sure it might come early into training camp, perhaps the first week. if i remember correctly (and don't hold me to it, because i'm still on vacation), brandon marshall's appeal was announced in early august last year. jw

at 1-3, crayonz might argue that this would cement the bills as a playoff contender, eh?

the trouble is, it's the owners who need to rework this deal. the players have leverage this time because unless they get certain concessions from the nfl, the players can wait things out. it's not as if there's going to be a lockout or strike over the next two seasons. the current cba will work through this year and then we enter an uncapped year, which the players have no problem with. the owners, however, just might. and an uncapped year might well open the schism between big and small-market teams which just might lead to the nfl once again rushing to sign the first deal presented to them. i don't know if it's as cut and dried as you suggest. jw

glad someone finally got it ... jw or better (probably worse) chose to acknowledge it.

just got back from the fireworks -- happy Canada Day and happy upcoming 4th to all -- and catching up on the discussion. correct me if i'm wrong on a few points here, and i just may well be wrong, so bear with me ... -- if the NFLPA was such a puppy dog union and the NFL owners so powerful, how did the union manage to push through Plan B free agency? -- also, if there is a consensus that the union "won" the last round of talks because the owners stumbled over themselves to sign the deal, what makes one assume that something like this can't happen again? -- the union has an opening to play the big-market teams against the small-market ones even more this team around, but i don't think the likes of Weaver (Jax), Al Davis and perhaps Ziggy (Vikes) are going to play follow the Jones' as easily (and blindly as some might put it) this time around. Tagliabue was able to get most on his side last time and, according to at least one owner, rewarded Davis by giving him four prime-time games in 2006. Question: Does Goodell have the similar ability or is he handcuffed by how the owners felt fooled last time? -- again, don't discount Smith's ability and connections to Wall Street and to Capital Hill. I found it curious that weeks after Smith was elected, the NFL upped its lobby in D.C. thoughts to consider ... might have time to pick this up tomorrow, but otherwise, vacation (and computer shutdown) looms. good discussion. thanks GG for getting it going and all for contributing. jw ADD: by the way, there's one owner i've spoken to who thought the small-market teams voice was lost in the last talks when Weaver voiced support for the CBA.

if i might add, humbly. one disturbing factor here in the U.S. is the amount of bankruptcies that result from medical expenses. that was, to pardon the pun, foreign to me while growing up and living north of the border. jw