ICanSleepWhenI'mDead

I don't know how they name their school districts in Florida, but the Phish only recently signed Losman, and Edwards was just there LB position coach (if I recall correctly) before he became our defensive coordinator. So I think your suggestion is unlikely. OTOH, I vaguely remember something about Losman having a Mexican heritage, so if he really lights it up in Miami, maybe the Cuban Latinos will put him on a pedagog and eventually name a school after him. But unlike Jasper and Troup, Edwards and Losman weren't with the Dolphins at the same time, so on balance I don't think it will happen. Crazier stuff goes on every day in South Beach, though. Now if we were talking about naming one of those Coast Guard rescue helicopters that takes 50 Cuban refugees off a 5 person boat, you might have a point.

France?

C'mon man, take a closer look at the link you provided. First off, the URL shows the text is from a book - - if you were a stoot you would realize that you are relying on a work of fiction. At the very top of the web page it says "Post Card History Series." There are times when you can rely on post cards for accurate information (like in that Ken Burns documentary about the Revolutionary War that tells the history of the common soldier through the post cards they sent), but this aint one of those times. Besides, you are relying on a web page that shows a post card from, I kid you not, "John S. Babbit and Sue Babbit." Now I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I can tell a prank when I see one. Johne Babbitt is a guy from Buffalo, NY. The "S" stands for "severed." He was not a cartographer (look it up). He married the wrong woman and paid for it with a fairly important body part (he remarried Sue later): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_and_Lorena_Bobbitt If you read MY link, it says: So if you want to rely on a prank site by a guy trying to CAPITALIZE on being d*ckless for your geographical information, go right a head. But the Jasper-Troupsburg Central School District is real: http://www.jt.wnyric.org/ In a rather ironic coincidence, one section of the school's website is called the "schooltool:" https://schooltool.jtcsd.org/

Jose Canseco, parts deaux and tres (without the steroids).

This much I agree with, and all of that $14 million goes to the state. This part I disagree about. Two points: First, I'm unclear why you assume that any tax money paid to the state gets divided up, with 55% of the total going back to Erie County, and the state keeping only 45% of the total. How do you justify that asumption? If the state paid ANY money back to the County, why is Collins talking about the County running a $1.5 million deficit per year with respect to the Bills? Second, you, me and Collins are all using annual figures. Collins said that the annual direct revenue to the County from all Bills-related activity is $10 million, and the annual direct revenue to NY state from all Bills-related activity is $22.5 million. So when you and I try to figure out exactly where that money goes, and we break it into different categories, at the end of the analysis it still has to total $10 million + $22.5 million = $32.5 million per year. My breakdown still adds up to a total of $32.5 million, just like Collins. But your numbers don't. You ultimately wind up concluding that there is $18.5 million in sales tax (just like me), but $31 million of "something else." That makes a total of $18.5 million + $31 million = $49.5 million. How can that be right? I agree that the best we can do here is make estimates, and I also agree that SOME sales tax revenue would be lost on a net basis. Precisely as you point out, Canadians and out of state visitors are not likely to spend money in NY state if the Bills leave NY. You suggest that the percentage of non-NY residents at the Ralph can run as high as 40%. Even if your 40% estimate is correct, that still leaves 60% of the game day fans who live in NY and will make at least some substitute purchases that generate other sales tax revenue. But Collins assumes that NONE of the lost sales tax revenue would be replaced by other in-state purchases. That can't be right. Just because we can't precisely calculate the replacement sales tax revenue, that doesn't mean we should assume it doesn't exist at all. Why do you assume that the replacement activity has to take place on those 7 Sundays? Doesn't sales tax get paid on purchases every day of the week? We know that Collins use of gross sales tax figures, rather than a more accurate net loss figure, is inaccurate. I'd like to see the details for his analysis of other types of tax revenue before deciding if public funding of the proposed stadium improvements makes financial sense.

So you're saying that it's just some coincidence that the school district has the same names as not one but TWO Bills linemen? Seems more likely to me that it was a choice. Just more of this political correctness stuff run amok. Look kids, it's OK to be 300 or 400 lbs, just like Jasper and Troupe - - everybody's beautiful in their own way - - here's a participation trophy, even if you're so fat you can't make it up a flight of stares. If you're gonna name the school district after overweight football players, at least pick guys that are good at it, so the obese kids have something greater to aspire to.

Sorry, I got off message there for a minute.

Did you go to Missouri? http://www.ehow.com/about_5275585_stockbroker-salary.html Let's say Fitz's Harvard classmates make 10 times what the Bureau of Labor Statistics says a top paid stockbroker makes in Stamford, CT, just because they have a Harvard undergrad degree, which is a wildly optimistic assumption for someone Fitz's age. At $1.62 million per year, that's still a lot less than Fitz will be making.

http://www.newyorkschools.com/districts/jasper-troupsburg-central-school-district.html The Jasper-Troupsburg Central School District? Really? I like the enthusiasm of naming our School Districts after role models like the Bills' D-linemen - - after all, we have enough schools named after dead presidents and astronauts. But why use backups? It sends the wrong message to kids about how high they should aim in life. It would have been a lot more sensible, for example, to name the school system the Dareus-Williamsville Central School District. At least those guys start! Aim for the stars! If you fall short, you're still in outer space. Go Bills!

Since you specifically asked for it: http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/137337-bills-hire-firm-for-stadium-facelift/page__pid__2293731__st__120#entry2293731 You also might want to read these: http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/1997/06/09/story4.html http://www.brookings.edu/articles/1997/summer_taxes_noll.aspx

We have some new information: http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/bills-nfl/article608931.ece So it's pretty clear that Collins is simply using the estimated "gross" sales taxes generated by Bills-related spending, and totally ignoring the fact that people would spend at least part of the same funds on other things that would generate sales tax for Erie County anyway even if the Bills left. We also know that in Erie County, total sales tax is 8.75% - - split 4.75% to the county and 4.0% to the state: http://www.earthodyssey.com/sales_tax.htmle So if Collins estimates that the County gets $10 million in sales tax each year related to the Bills (at 4.75%), then he must figure that the state takes in $8,421,053 (at 4.0%) in sales tax on the exact same sales. The Collins estimate of "direct" tax revenue to the state somehow jumped from (i) $20 million, to (ii) $20 to $25 million. So let's call it $22.5 million. Here's how it breaks down so far on an annual basis (according to Collins): 1. $10 million to the county in sales tax; 2. $8.421 million to the state in sales tax; and 3. $14.079 million to the state in unspecified other taxes. So based on Collins' own comments, annual sales tax revenues for the state and county combined amount to $18.421 million, while all other taxes add up to $14.079 million. We still don't know exactly how Collins calculates the $14.079 million figure - - seems like it should include NY income taxes paid by players and other employees of the Bills' organization (excluding those employed in Michigan), and any corporate NY income taxes paid by Buffalo Bills, Inc. on the team's annual profit. But if you believe Collins' own description of the "study," it appears I was barking up the right tree after all.

Short answer - - he was considered a DE/LB "tweener:" http://www.buffalonews.com/incoming/article47389.ece

FWIW, Ellis Lankster is another Bills castoff on the Jets roster.

Kind of ironic that as a teacher of Advanced Placement calculus, the Collierville coach may have been a nerd when he was in high school.

I've been under the impression (maybe erroneously) that high school coaches typically make most of their salary from their teaching jobs, and get some sort of small extra duty stipend for coaching. The reporter for the Memphis paper says the coach was neither fired nor asked to resign, but offered to resign the coaching position at his own initiative. Now maybe that's just spin to make it more likely that he will be allowed to keep his teaching job because he was put on adminstrative leave. My guess is that he gets to keep his teaching job and nobody goes hungry. But yeah, they can take it way too seriously. Then again, maybe you're just trolling. Hard to judge.

Are you sure you didn't inadvertently hit the "back" button on your browser and wind up here?

I realize that the above calculations are intended to be just a "rough" look at the numbers, but I think you've made several assumptions that make even the $1.11 million figure too high. If we limit the analysis to just income taxes, and use this week's game against the Redskins as a concrete example, then there are three categories of player salaries involved: 1. Bills players who are considered residents of NY state for tax purposes; 2. Bills players who are considered residents of some other state for tax purposes; and 3. Redskins players, all of whom I will assume are residents of some state other than NY for tax purposes. For each category, how much income tax will NY state lose this year because the Redskins game is being played in Toronto rather than in Orchard Park? Category 1: Any Bills player who makes his "permanent" home in NY state falls in this category. But so does any Bills player who rents a house or apartment in NY state and spends more than 183 days in NY state during the calendar year: http://www.hodgsonruss.com/Home/Practice_Areas/Alphabetical_Listing/State_Local_Tax/NoonansNotes/TheMultistateTaxQuandaryForProfessionalAthletes So how are the NY state income taxes of Bills players who fall in category 1 affected by moving the Redskins game to Toronto? Arguably, not at all. http://www.hodgsonruss.com/Home/Practice_Areas/Alphabetical_Listing/State_Local_Tax/NoonansNotes/TheInsandOutsofNewYorkNonresidentAllocationIssues So the category 1 guys may see no change in the NY state income taxes they are required to pay, even though the game is played in Canada. Hypothetically, if the Redskins game had been moved to Erie, PA, the category 1 Bills players would have to pay some income tax to PA and would then get a dollar-for-dollar credit for such PA taxes on their NY returns. Is there a similar dollar-for-dollar credit for Canadian taxes? I don't know, but maybe not. Uniformity of tax treatment between NY and Ontario seems less likely than unformity of tax treatment between 2 US states. And does the province of Ontario (as opposed to the Canadian national government) even have an income tax? I don't know. If the extra Canadian tax mentioned by George Wilson is imposed at the Canadian federal level, I could see how NY state might tell George Wilson (if he falls in Category 1) to seek a dollar-for-dollar credit on his US federal taxes, not his NY state taxes. Category 2: The Bills players in this category pay NY state income taxes based on how many "duty days" they spend in NY state. The total number of duty days for the year remains unchanged at let's say 180 days. Moving the Redskins game from Orchard Park to Toronto means these players will spend maybe 2 "duty days" in Canada that they would otherwise have spent in NY. So these players will have to report 2/180 or just over 1% less income to NY. Category 3: Redskins players will avoid paying NY state income tax at all, because they will have no "duty days" in NY state. But even if the game was played in Orchard Park, the Redskins players would probably have no more than 3 duty days in NY, so they only would have had to report 3/180 or less than 2% of their annual salary as NY income anyway.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/highschool/blog/prep_rally/post/Chicago-coaches-players-charged-with-battery-fo?urn=highschool-wp7703 Your thoughts on the situation? - - would it make a difference if positional instruction was being simultaneously provided?

I think you may be on to something here. Take a close look at this recent Kyle Williams video interview about his current "injury:" http://www.buffalobills.com/media-center/videos/Kyle-Williams-on-His-Injury-Situation/9010ea88-0d32-481b-b286-130f338e1f30 If you look over his right shoulder you can see that he has a dollar bill prominently displayed on the wall of his locker. This raises some interesting questions. Did he have any money on his locker wall BEFORE he signed the big contract extension? Or did it show up around the same time as his current streak of games missed due to injury? Since it's only a one dollar bill, maybe it's a reminder that Ralph is cheap and Kyle needs to make as much as he can in every contract. There's too much of this crying about "Ralph is cheap" on this board - - we don't need it in the locker room, too. Anyway, I'd sure like to know if Fitz and Stevie and Freddie have any currency tacked up on the walls of their lockers, and if so, in what denominations. If they do, it's a red flag. We don't want any of them to get a big money contract extension and turn into the next Kyle Williams.

Based on the following December 13, 2010 article (written by a tax partner in a Buffalo law firm) that gives specific examples under NY state tax law, I think you're correct about the 2/181 - - although my off-the-cuff guess is that total "duty days" for an NFL player might be closer to 210 than 181: http://www.hodgsonruss.com/Home/Practice_Areas/Alphabetical_Listing/State_Local_Tax/NoonansNotes/TheMultistateTaxQuandaryForProfessionalAthletes So if a "visiting" NFL player gets good tax advice, (1) he may not have to pay NY state income tax on any of his signing bonus if he maintains his domicile in FL, TX, TN, WA or NV, and (2) he may need to pay NY state income tax on about 1% of his base salary. So even though 2 teams play each game at RWS, players on the visiting team pay a lot less in NY state income taxes than the Bills players do for the same game.

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/apr/12/sports/sp-jock-tax12 http://zzrllp.com/28.htm

Well, at least we know who bought a Supercolloquial Mundane Adjectival And Onomatopoeic Accentuator: http://www.theonion.com/articles/amazing-new-hyperbolic-chamber-greatest-invention,1321/#

I was going to suggest that maybe you meant a hyperbaric chamber, but after considering the reference to TO and thinking about how TO claims to be the most dominant force in football, I decided you were right and I was wrong. With so much public money invested in the development of the single most revolutionary invention in the history of not only mankind but all other intelligent lifeforms anywhere in the universe, the Bills definitely absolutely must be the very first sports team to buy their own hyperbolic chamber. http://www.theonion.com/articles/amazing-new-hyperbolic-chamber-greatest-invention,1321/# Uhh, wait a minute, I think Chris Brown already has one of these things to promote the Bills, and Roger Goodell has one to promote the NFL in general. The above quote is just a taste, and I can't do it justice. If you want a good laugh, read the whole link!

The previously posted link to the official 2010 NFL rulebook confirms that no tee can be used on any field goal attempt, including the "fair catch kick" variety.

Technically, I think a "free kick" is one where either team can recover it after it goes 10 yards - - i.e., after 10 yards, either team is free to grab it and try to advance it, resulting in offensive possession for the next play from scrimmage. In any event, the official 2010 NFL rulebook describes a "fair catch kick" as a type of field goal, and specifically states that it is not a "free kick." See Rule 11, Section 4, article 3 near the bottom of page 72 here: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B_uI2zLhGzaRMWMyZjkzYjUtZjRiYy00MTU5LWE5OWQtMjc1ZDEzNTFlM2E4&hl=en_US Among other things, it states: