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can't hardly wait for the tribute to The Replacements' night show. jw

still rooting for the cowboys, who impressed me more and more last episode. unlike others through this series, who have disparaged India as a dirty, ugly place, i found the cowboys take on how they love India to be interesting. they strike me as two pretty cool guys. jw

my guess, is they'd have to make her wear shoes in the hospital for sanitary reasons, thus ruining her raison d'etre. heavy is the burden of these nicknames. jw

why? jw

as it has been noted here in an earlier post, the compensatory pick was awarded by the NFL. under some rule, once all compensatory picks are doled out to teams that earned them through losing free agents, an additional number of picks are awarded to teams so to equal 32 picks in total. the loss of Terrell Owens had nothing to do with the Bills being awarded this pick. jw

i don't know if a "framework of a deal," as you put it was in place. and the NFL has actually come out and stated that it's last offer could be pulled. as for the "union not allowing it on the table," that's not how negotiations work. both sides can put anything on the table, whether or not the other side likes it or not. there was a deadlock, here, that may or not be broken come April 6. jw

few notes i couldn't squeeze into that piece, which i can expand upon here. -- Flutie suggested that an 18-game regular season would work best with two bye weeks. -- as i noted in the piece, an expanded schedule means bye bye to having one running back carrying the load. and there is a serious belief one quarterback will not likely make it through healthy during such a campaign. -- to the point of playing into January, it's more than likely the NFL would like the Super Bowl to be held in February, when there is a downtime in sports (though i'm not sure what they would do during a Winter Olympic year.) that said, with an expanded schedule, games will either be played in the big heat of August or in the blustery cold of January in some markets. the heat's not condusive to players, who have had difficulty with heat stroke during training camp. and the cold is not condusive to fans following teams with nothing to play for. -- as has been noted here, the NFL pulled back on its proposal to expand the season in its last offer. that doesn't mean it's off the table. the NFL proposed keeping the status quo for two more years. and the NFL has also stated it may pull the last proposal it made once talks start up again. jw

it all comes down to "fair share." and when the numbers we're talking about add up to $8.8 billion (give or take a couple of hundred thousand), fair is a tough nut to get your arms around. and i don't buy this "they're playing for the love of the game." i love my job. i love it even more that i can make a good living out of it. sure, i don't make a million. but i don't work in a business in which people make millions. i do hope i get my fair share -- though i'd like a little more. who wouldn't? players, as employees, are no different. and they do know that people spend billions on the product they deliver. the owners know this, too, because they are making millions off of this game every year. i don't begrudge players getting what they can. i don't begrudge owners for trying to get the most they can. was the last deal tilted away from the owners? sure. as much as they're saying? probably not. trouble is, they agreed to it. jw

the answer is none. buffalo don't have wings. jw

i like buffalo. i like new york city. if i was 25 with no ties, i'd likely move there. and if i was 48, as i am, but also with say plenty of money at hand, i'd likely move there, too. i like living in buffalo. if i could, i'd enjoy living in NYC. to quote Stevie Johnson: "Why so serious?" jw

as noted here, bon jovi is not enitrely wrong about what ITunes did to music, but he's well off target on several counts. the greedheads at the record labels and at radio conglomerates had far more to do with the shift in the entire landscape that has occurred since the 1980s. -- it wasn't Steve Jobs who pushed CDs down everyone's throat at the total and full expense of vinyl. -- it wasn't Steve Jobs who caused music labels to eat themselves up until there we were left with four or five "major labels," mostly interested in pushing safe, tepid, radio-friendly, baloney for the tin-eared in order to bolster what's left of their bottom line. -- it wasn't Steve Jobs who bought up a majority of music radio stations and then had them programed (and de-programmed of identity and authenticity) from some corporate, windowless room in some suburban Phoenix office park. -- it wasn't Steve Jobs who brought us the genre best known as some conglomeration of NickelCreedDoughtry and had it played over and over and over and over and over again to numb what remaining brain cells we have left. and if poor jonny can't compete, well, too bad. it's evident he was too busy worrying about: -- his hair. -- his acting career. -- attempting a shift to some watered down country baloney, that didn't hold a candle to 38 Special for cripes sake. -- his hair. when bon jovi begins crying about what's gone wrong with music, then it leads me to be believe that something has actually gone right. and here's the fun part: bon jovi has essentially lost out in this groundswell of accessible singles because it could no longer keep up or find a voice in this new strange wilderness, where in some ways, the democratization of music succeeds because the listener has a choice in the matter. you like this song, you download it. you don't like this song, you move on. the fact that bon jovi doesn't resonate is partially bon jovi's fault. not Steve Jobs' or the masses. get some self respect and play something you enjoy playing without worrying what suits the suits. ... oh, sorry, originality really was never your style any way. i'm not saying ITunes is ideal. i have issues with it myself. it's narrow and directed focus for popular songs is stilting. why must i have to weed through "Yes," and "Genesis" just because i have 1970s songs by T-Rex, Television and Peter Gabriel in my collection? and why is some of Paul Westerberg's music listed as Pop and other as Rock and other as Alternative? ... actually, why does genre matter in the first place. but enough. the best news that could come of it this, is jon bon jovi gives up, goes home to new jersey, from where we shall never hear from him again. could we be so fortunate. or am i simply living on a prayer? jw

some players might be a little slow but, to a man, i have witnessed them all moving. jw

any pickled/fermented cabbage is, well, pungent. jw

kimchee is a sourkraut type dish served in asian countries, most notably in korea, where the spiced cabbage is traditionally placed in a pot dug into the ground and allowed to ferment. as strange as that might sound, kimchee is quite tasty. it's one of my wife and my favorite side dishes when we hit the Korean Grillhouse in Toronto at least once a year. it's a little spicy and pickly, but very good. jw

go cowboys! jw

ummm, we lost the hour this weekend. jw

in theory that's a possibility. the players are essentially now on their own. however, in the absence of a CBA, this doesn't work because it would be a signal that the owners are breaking ranks. and that's to the players' advantage. the other problem here is where would this new league play as current NFL stadiums are controlled by current NFL owners. of course, there's college stadiums that are available, but then it comes down to money and how many people out there want to risk establishing a new breakaway football league. we're a long way from that, though i'm sure in the coming months there will be discussions and proposals of someone wanting to form an upstart league in the absence of an NFL season. i could be wrong, but didn't the USFL form out of something like this after the '82 dispute? (dunno, i'm old and my memory's fuzzy.) again, there's a possibility to this, but i can't see current NFL owners doing this. jw

ummm, creamy. jw

neither does the Swannie House, which is my place of choice. by the way, do they have a last call in Anchorage? i'm working the Sabres game, so it's immaterial. don't know how it works for those rare folk who would work a midnight-8 a.m, shift in this modern day and age. and i've been banging this lose the hour on Friday drum for some 20 years now and even brought it up on 'GR once, which got a laugh even out of Rob Ray. though many people like it, i've yet to generate a groundswell support for change. jw

nah, seat at the bar. closer to where the stuff you want is being served. jw

GL, there are too many options here to hazard a guess, aside from my belief -- and i wrote this a few months back -- that the best case scenario is for a deal to be reached by july 31. eventually -- because i don't see a court ordering a deal here -- it's going to come down to 1) the two sides hammering something out. 2) one side caving, leading to the two sides hammering something out in favor of the side that did not cave. the worst case scenario is i think there will still be a season, but it won't start unitl middle of october. there could be other options, but i'd wait to see what falls out over the weekend. i'd sit tight and not worry too much. as George Wilson told me this everning: (i'm paraphrasing) have patience, take a breath, it's March. and, before anyone starts laying blame, read up on the issues and get a perspective on what's going on. (good advice) jw

ah, there's the rub, my all-night club is the one without a last call. but i fear for the amateurs out there, who do require the guidance of a last call so i wouldn't have to stumble over them on my way out of my watering hole, eh? jw

are there bigger priorities? jw

and it looks like the nfl is going to lockout the players, so what's your point. decertification was an option, and the players elected to go that route to protect their legal rights. is it the smart move, i don't know. we'll see. there is a great risk involved here. and in speaking to numerous people in the know, it's a gamble some would not take. even one union rep informed this evening that there's a 50-50 chance that the courts will side with the players. in the thread in question, i had raised the point that the legal route is frought with obstacles and risks. that has not changed. ADD: and in re-reading that thread -- don't really know why -- i happened upon a point that remains as valid today as it did then. i wrote: jw

i then look forward to be revivied on June 12 as i have my tickets. jw