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you couldn't be more wrong. no professional writer with any thread of a conscience would do that. jw

NO! jw all quiet here at 1BillsDrive. playing the waiting game. it's like a mini-coaching search.

for cripes sake, the clock changed on Sunday. it took me three minutes to push all my clocks ahead one hour. SDS, what's up with this board. everything's an hour off. ... jw oh, anything going on?

no. jw and, to be fair, yes. jw

uhhh, that's not an ESPN article. it's an AP story posted on the ESPN website. also, the reason this is a story is because the NFL is investigating whether Williams ran bounties with any of his former teams. as for using bounties, the way it was described with the Saints, it crosses the line in making the NFL a bloodsport. as numerous players have told me, there is enough violence in football to create injuries without anyone needing to actually target hurting a specific player. bounties take the bretheren out of brotherhood and good sportsmanship, and make the game look more like it's video cousin than real life. to target someone's livelihood in such a vicious manner is wrong. Wire admits and regrets playing a part in that, even though his hit on James Stewart was legal and he was never "rewarded" for it. nothing wrong with having a conscience and owning up to it, even if it's after the fact, book or no book. jw

yes it is, but it's true. here's the AP story written before he got to 1,000 in the finale: even he found it hard to believe jw

no. why would i? jw

previous reports indicated that Stevie Johnson didn't expect the Bills to use franchise tag. the Bills have never said what their intentions were until today. and, in fact, the Bills still have said whether they will in fact use it. jw

perhaps, someone needs to launch a mission in order to probe uranus. ... volunteers? jw

been busy, so i missed this. thanks for posting, despite the sad news. Dunlap was not Bobby, and that was both good and bad. Bobby's stinging guitar playing helped establish the 'Mats anthemic and rambunctious style. and yet, Bobby had far too many demons to deal with to keep it together. Slim was more workmanlike and his approach was smoother, which helped round the 'Mats more mature direction in the latter years. that said, Dunlap could write some good songs on his own. one of my go-to CDs is Dunlap's second release, "Times Like This." jw years!?! jeepers. it's been mere hours for me.

i'll take that bet, Bill. jw

i would not use a source who has been "generally" reliable. as noted, we only quote sources who have direct knowledge of what is being discussed. that lessens by far any chance of there being something published that is incorrect. and, each time i use a person who has knowledge with the story, i am also required to answer a question of whether i trust that person. i answer truthfully every time. my reputation as well as the AP's is on the line each time we cite a person on the condition of anonymity. the key always is to be right rather than being first. and there have been several occasions when i've declined to go with a story -- even though others have had it -- because the person i spoke to didn't have direct knowledge. jw

because the person i spoke to didn't provide figures. in fact, even when numbers have come out, there's been a lack of explanation as to how much Johnson wants guaranteed and how much the Bills are offering. if i got those numbers, i would've reported them. jw

As Rogers Media President Keith Pelley told The AP, there's a yet-to-be announced event that Rogers has scheduled during that late-August stretch. It was Rogers that offered the game back to the Bills, and Brandon agreed, saying he could turn it into their annual kids day event. and the big news here, I think is Rogers not looking for more than 1 reg-season game in talks to extend series jw

more often than not it's the reporter making the calls to pry out information. on occasion, there are times when a person will call you to give you a heads up. it doesn't happen that often. in some cases, there's word out there about something going on from a source who's considered somewhat reliable or someone with no direct knowledge of this information, as in the person got it second hand. that's where the reporter checks in with the people who are more directly involved in order to confirm or discredit what he's heard. and the latter -- the discrediting of rumors -- happens more often than not. also, reporters try to check in with people in the know on a weekly, monthly or (when things are breaking) daily basis. these conversations also lead to potential stories, either breaking or something down the road. jw oh, and though i missed it, thanks for the cleanup. i don't understand what you mean by half-truths. the two sides are "far apart" though somewhat ambiguous is an update to the fact that the two sides exchanged offers a week earlier. that both sides are far apart, is an indication that a deal isn't imminent. i could have speculated in the story as to why, but that would lead to further speculation. a person familiar with discussions told me they're "far apart," and that's what i wrote. the whole process is open to interpretation because talks are ongoing. and who knows. but the fact that they're far apart isn't a good sign at this juncture, because they were far apart in December. jw

good topic. here's about as much as i can say on this: it's part of our profession to build relationships with people who are in the know to the point where we can gain their trust in which they allow us to quote them without printing their name. from the AP's perspective, the people we use as sources must have direct knowledge to what they are speaking to, before they can be used as sources. we also do push those people in the know to allow us to publish their names. sometimes, we get clearance, sometimes we don't. the key to the process is getting the truth out to the public. jw

That's The AP story. Just filed an extended version with more details. Should be out shortly. gotta run. jw

speaking of which ... jw

new methods? the corporations got all their new methods in figuring out how to get out of America and leave it nearly destitute of jobs. Americans don't really make anything these days, except for cell-phone commericals, and pepsi and coca-cola, and trips to the mall. but let's keep questioning the new math, which apparently doesn't exist, because we're all ostrich stuck in the sand. yes, we need new methods, and the privileged can't seem to accept that. jw

i cede to the media that makes the distinction between the entitled and the entitled, because there's no telling where the difference lies, which may well be the operative word. jw

at the very least, i can see why you need 87 rolls of toilet paper. jw

i live in the city of Buffalo, within stumbling distance of several good bars, including Coles, and several good pizza joints, including Casa and La Nova. jw nope, think i got it right. quick check of the on-line dictionary came up with this: "lacking and reflecting lack of pity or compassion." that pretty much sums up the mood of suburbanites in regards to us urban folk -- or at least some on this thread. jw why do you nitpick so. is it beyond logical reason to note that most people for most of history have either lived in a city or lived on farms. the suburbs are something manufactured for mankind over the last century. really, did i need to explain that. i don't understand why it's so difficult to make a point, and then have to go on and defend the minutia of it because it's unacceptable to concede anything on this end of the board. man ... jw

and what's wrong with the suburbs, what's right with them? it's a cul-de-sac existence, and created by a modern, gasoline-addicted society that at the same time complains about the long commute and yet continues to make the long commute, and then proceeds to complain about how much it's costing to run the bigass suv everyone seems to prefer to drive. yes, i'm generalizing, but i really don't understand the logic of living out in strip-mall and parking-lot surrounded "neighborhoods." if people want to live in the country, get away from it all, i'm all for it. but to choose the middle ground -- a place where there's no there, there, except for an occassional applebees, best buy and dicks -- well, what's the fun in that. it's the ashley-fi-cation of the furniture world. thick-legged, oversized pieces of furniture based on what you might find on the set of the Tudors or Borgias, and yet having no style or real substance. i'd rather live in a 100-year-old Victorian, than in a 15-year-old "mega-mansion" with a cracking driving and a sinking basement. i'd rather live in a city where i can walk to the local bar, rather than head over to the strip mall wild wings and pretend it's got culture. i find the suburbs and their everything looks like everyplace else dull and bland and perfectly unnatural. i see no fun in going to a strip mall, where there's a michaels next to a dicks next to a starbucks next to a target next to an applebees and trying to figure out whether i'm in amherst, burnaby or dearborn heights. call me the contrarian but what's really out there? jw

because no Republican has ever raised taxes or grown government. puh-leaze. jw

funny, that a certain poster here was actually questioning whether any Canadian doctor liked the system and instead was merely lining up to head south. which is it, really? it's got to be one or the other, or at the very least something in the middle. and yet in this pish-for-posh debate one has to be completely and utterly wrong, and the other absolutely pure and right. and yet, you question someone who's actually experienced both the Canadian and American systems. but of course i'm a "liberal" so that makes any of my arguments moot because after all what would i know. gees, get over yourself. i know which system i would prefer, and has worked for me. but what do i know. jw