zonabb

My friend delivered some construction materials to his house the other day and met him, said he was in real good shape. I wouldn't be surprised to see him back with the Bills. Not that I want him.

Just one more reason why sports is slowly dying.... the NFL can market the heck out of Urlacher, sell his jersey and make even more AND they can tell him what to endorse or what to drink? Apparently NFL players can't make a choice on their own. So basically what the NFL just said is that Urlacher as an NFL player can't profit individually from a product that the NFL doesn't also make money from. They need their cut, they're like the mafia. The person who made the obvisouly inequality with the Vick middle finger episode nailed it... this league is concerned with one thing and one thing only.... money. They don't care about the fans as long as the and revenue increases. I love the sport, hate the people, hate the greed and hate the corporate mentality. Funny because I've railed against the BS in this league for the last 5 or so years and about 2 weeks ago I emailed the Bills about seasons and today I replied back with a link to this story telling them "no thanks."

I said in a post yesterday that VY is the next Mike Vick, an overrated running machine who the league will catch up to. For some reason, people on this board and especially ESPN and the national media love this kid, despite his TD-INT ratio, poor passing rating and poor completion percentage. Sure he won a couple games last year with his feet (remember, that doesn't win Super Bowls) but this league with the scouting they do will catch up and make this dude a one-dimensional overhyped below-average QB like Vick. Anyway, he's the new Madden poster boy despite a handful of starts and no playoffs. Nice.... this is why the NFL is becoming more of a joke every year..... money, money, money and skills and character and winning be damned. Now it’s Vince Young’s turn to take on the Madden Curse. The Tennessee Titans’ quarterback was selected to appear on the cover of EA Sports’ “Madden 08” video game. Last year, Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander appeared on the video game cover and became the sixth consecutive cover star to suffer an injury during the season. Major Adams, Young’s agent, said that he and his client didn’t fear the socalled curse. “We don’t believe in no jinx,” Adams told the Nashville Tennessean. “People said when they put Vince on the cover of Sports Illustrated [that] it was going to jinx him in the Rose Bowl game, and [Young’s Texas team] won the national championship.”

AGREED! Why everyone has anointed VY the next Brady or Montana is beyond me. Yeah, he own some games but when you look at the numbers, they're what I'd consider "superstar" ... 12 TDS, 13 INTs, 51% completion and a 66.7 rating doesn't flatter me. Let's see what he can do when coaches in his division get an offseason to scheme for him and the league catches up. I'm not saying he's a bust, but he's the next Mike Vick... overhyped, running machine that ESPN and the NFL market the hell out of to sell tickets and merch and TV commercials. Mark my words, he's not going to end up the best QB in that class. I equate him to a hot prospect pitcher getting his first 10 MLB starts. The top ones usually perform well until the scouting reports come out and people figure him out.

As a yearly vacationer in Rodanthe, I can only say WHO CARES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Enjoy Nags Head and thank yourself for not being in Buffalo!!!!!!

You're still wrong. The way the NFL and other entities using ranks is by why the US Census Bureau calls Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), which for the sake of brevity is the "region." It's not a city proper, like just the city of Buffalo for example. Our's is called the Buffalo-Niagara MSA and consists of Erie and Niagara Counties. The ways that is developed has to do with commuting but that info is too boring to deal with here. And for the "do they have the 6th largest fan base," well how would you measure that? The tried and true method is the assumption (right or wrong) that the MSA or regional population is your fan base. I've argue on these boards that Buffalo is in fact not a small market if you looked at the geography of our region and included greater Rochester and Canada as far west/north as Hamilton. Take that area and add the population (I have the data at work) and you end up with a very large top 10 market for the Bills. However, the archaic "commuting" methodology use by the Census to determine the MSA leaves the Bills shortchanged because our actual Bills "region" is larger. And making it even more unfair is the fact that if you take the geographic area (square miles) of say Atlanta's MSA and created a new Buffalo MSA using that area, you would HAVE TO include most of Rochester and southern Ontario!!!

Not to get picky but you're both wrong. Houston is the 6th largest metro, just announced last week!!! As anyone who knows me from this baord, I'm a stickler for using data right data, especially demographics (it's a part of my line of work!). http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/4689569.html

This is why watching, reading and listening to what media honks have to say, especially the more animated and louder talkers, is worthless. Last year Levy was a buffoon, now he's a trend setter? Todd McShay on ESPN Insider on draft myths. The myth this comes from was "Don't Waste a High Pick on Tight End or Safety." Safeties who can do it all (support the run, match up one-on-one in the slot and hold up in deep-middle zone coverage) are worth big bucks. That's why it should be no surprise that after the 49ers took Davis No. 6 last year, the next two players selected were Michael Huff (Raiders, No. 7) and Donte Whitner (Bills, No. 8) -- both 203-pound safeties who hit like linebackers and cover like cornerbacks. The recent shift in this trend bodes well for LSU safety Laron Landry and Miami TE Greg Olsen, as both could be top-15 selections. Also, not sure if this has been brought up, but in another McShay insider piece there are some major rumblings now about Lynch's maturity and durability. Probably not unknown to this board, but his sources say teams are downgrading him now, which is driving the interest in Turner.

Besides the fact that this channel is filled with obnoxious, insecure local homers, I continue to laugh everytime I hear their shameless self-promotion about being the number one "rated" or "ranked" sports station in America. It's amazing what people will "sell" and what people will "buy" because the first time I heard that I knew it was bogus. They never tell you by who or how that came to be, do they. They don't tell it on their website either because basically, they just want you to take their word for it. It's the concept that they own a radio station and that automatically gives them credibility. Kinda like Jeremy White using his Syracuse degree as his credibility when in fact he's just some tool from rural America who thinks that having an opinion means he knows what he's talking about or can speak intelligently about a topic without shouting. Like Marv Levy says, the louder you talk the less I hear you. Anyway, let's just look at some simple facts to dispel this ranking. 1. The Buffalo radio market is ranked 52 in terms of size. (Source: Arbitron) So these hosts who think they're so great, knowledgable and professional need to realize (and probably do) that they're in the minor leagues when compared to other markets. 2. In the fall of 2006, WGR55 ranked 8th in THIS MARKET in terms of listening share (Arbitron) behind WBEN and a bunch of music stations. 3. I was unable to find any data supporting WGR55s claim they're ranked no 1. You have to subscribe to get this data from sources such as Arbitron. However, I have a pretty good guess how that was derived. The most important issue here in any ranking of radio or television is viewers or in radio's case listeners. Then there is the share of listeners in any of a variety of ways to measure. So how could WGR55 be rated number one in the country? Could it be that they are the only sports radio station in the region and that by that, they always have 100% of the people listening to sports radio listening to their channel? One way or another, this was determined through simple analysis of data. Also, this rank or rating was determined was definitely not determined by a survey of listeners where they were asked to rate the station for quality. There is no way that enough listeners would rank this station highly. I work in an office where sports are many people's lives and no a single one likes WGR55. Every single friend I have that is an avid sports fan hates them too. If it was based on a survey, it was likely one question on a larger survey of local media and went something like this "When you listen to sports locally, what channel to you listen to." Trust me, I have a degree in journalism and a masters degree in a social science. I know how the media slants things and I certainly know how surveys and data can be developed and created to make anyone be anyting they want. When WGR bought out WNSA, they created a monopoly whereby if you want sports news or talk or boradcasts, you're forced to listen to WGR. That doesn't mean their good or anyone likes them, it just means they control the means of production!

Who is Jeremy Green and why should he matter?

If anyone is familiar with my hatred of poor use of statistics, they should expect a reply here! But no need to elaborate since the first reply nailed it. Big deal on yards rushing. Do you want a yardage winner of a RB who can win you a SB? I'm a big "brains" guy (and I'm happy with Marv's approach to brains and charcter) and believe that if someone is intelligent and has enough skill to be drafted, they can be great. Steve Tasker said on the radio recently after they traded that unintelligent RB, that Levy always believed that a player with useable skills would get better if they were intelligent but a player with great raw talent wouldn't. Basically, you can teach brains but you can't teach idiots. That being said, if anyone wants to see a true measure of intelligence and its correlation to winning, find all the Wonderlic scores you can online for QBs and the look at the QBs who won SBs and their score. I had it in a file but can't remember where it went. Invariably, SB winning QBs score well. Only one or two didn't score about what the consider the "janitor score" which is in the mid teens. BTW, that worldy, fine dining lovin', skank bangin' RB in Baltimore scored a 12. Oh.... I expect that once the league catches up to Vince Young, he'll come back to earth once he has to "learn" and not just wing it out there. Last season when he was the second coming in some people's eyes, he was shooting from the hip and it was working. But an off-season for his divisonal rivals to catch up will bring him back and steepen that learning curve. Remember, he had more INTs than TDs, so he still has some "learning to do" and that's why he comes back to earth.

Who is Jason Cole?!!! And why is he somehow credible? The internet has really destroyed journalism by giving us access to way too many hacks with little credibility.

Brains. I like brains. And so does Marv. http://www.darwinwalker.com/business.htm

Ahh, because Vick is the most overrated QB in the league. If the guy didn't have sick athletic skills, he'd have been cut a long time ago because he's lacks the smarts to play the position. He just doesn't show the ability to be a good QB on a consistent basis. The NFL, the Falcons and ESPN have so much invested in this guy's hype machine, they can't cut him loose. It doesn't matter who they get, this guy isn't a legit NFL QB and he'll never win a title, mark it down. If anyone other than Mike Vick put up these numbers over 6 years, they'd be a back-up somewhere, if they were even given 6 years. 53% completion percentage; 71 TDs (less than a TD per game, he has 74 starts); 52 picks (he's averaging 12 a year the last 3 seasons); a passer rating of 75.7 and 11,505 yards passing. By comparison, David Carr is getting label as a bust (and he is) and his numbers aren't much worse over 76 career starts. 59 TDs; 65 picks; 75.5 rating; and a 60.0% completion; and 13,339 yards. So basically, Carr has a better completion percentage and almost 2,000 more yards. Vick he better TD and INT numbers and they have the same rating. And forget about the running ability. Ask Cunningham how well that worked for his title chances. QBs win because they are smart and are efficient in the passing game. Vick isn't and never will be.

Yeah, because one no-name backs another no name, that's reason enough for me to be certain of the credibility of both of you. Bodol is no more credible than anyone else nor more credible than some honk at a newspaper. And no more credible than me and this little rant...... The only loss on this team that should be a concern is Clements. As for taking a step back, I just don't see it. Any back behind a seemingly improved OL can do what McGahee did... 990, 1+ catch a game, and poor blocking. I don't see the loss in Fletcher as a fatal blow. He's undersized and wasn't a run stuffer, he was easily handled by lineman. He made his money making tackles 5 yards down field. That might be on the DL somewhat but if a RB gets free of the DL on a team like Chicago, you can bet Urlacher is plugging the whole. So where exactly is this team gonna slip aside from possibly CB? I just don't see this major collapse from a team on the rise to a team on the decline. I've said it on this board many times..... give me brains and character over superior skills and a pea brain. And Steve Tasker basically made me even more steadfast in that believe last week on the radio when he said that Levy used to say that guys wth brains can learn and get better, guys with skills and no brains leave the same as when they arrived. Wait and see. I trust the guys who attended class in ivy covered buildings.

Let's remember, anytime someone goes against conventional wisdom, they're scoffed at by those who fail to understand. And secondly, reporters, columnists and other so-called experts (can you be an expert in something you;ve never actually worked on?!!!) are basically playing fantasy football with fantasy dollars and making decisions based just on football and not on economics or other organization efforts. So, it's ease to blast away at decisions that you don't underestand. These people are no more qualifed to make decisions about the Bills moves than they are about what Coca-Cola does. Everyone laughed at Darcy Regier for loading his team with fast, skilled players. Who's laughing now.

Yeah, he may be effective in space, but he has to CATCH the ball first and make a move up field. That's where he sucks.

All you need to know about JW is that this morning on my way in, he was talking about who sang some particular song.. Amy Grant, Ani DiFranco or Sarah McLaughlin. Any guy that knows these three and their work is obviously an emotionally needy wreck. Sickening. Aside from that, he's one of these guys, like Schopp, that was more than likely the Strat-o-matic dork in school, failed miserably athletically but still idoizes these guys. JW's idolization of WM really shakes any credibility the guy may have ever had (doubtful). Sorry guy, going to Syracuse for journalism does not in and of itself grant you instant credibility in your field. All it means is that during high school, you did well enough to get in. But what kills me is that he just lacks an understanding and objectivity. He sees the guy as some sort of all-pro. Let's just quickly look at what he really is... a downhill, upright runner that is good inside when given a hole but he lacks the ability to get outside and turn the corner; he can't block well and maybe most importantly he can't catch. Look at guys like LT, Gore, LJ, Jackson and they're a threat BECAUSE of their ability to catch, they add a dimension to the offense and give the defense something more to defend. Thurman did the same thing. WM doesn't. I agree, he's a serviceable RB but he's not an All-Pro. Being a project manager myself, I value hard working, team players with inteligence. Football is really no different and ML and DJ know this. They're getting their guys, a la BB in NE. Brains win, I'd bet my life on it. Steve Tasker made a good comment yesterday about ML when he was a player. His genius was his ability to know when to get rid of guys and who NOT to draft as much as who to draft. And he used the comment that smart players get better, dumb players are the same when they arrive as they are when they leave. WM rocked an 11 or 12 on his Wonderlic, below the score attirubuted to a janitor! So maybe he just can't even read the playbook. That school is also associated with professional and emotional immaturity.

"This is a runner who can make people miss and has the explosion and speed to take it the distance," Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said. "He also has the power and size to run inside. He's a viable receiver out of the backfield and is a good pass blocker, not something every back can do. He also plays physical and with toughness, which are things we pride ourselves on here." Agree on some points but he's selling fans and the media a line of crud with this one. First off, McGahee doesn't make a lot of people miss (runs very upright) and how many times did he take it the distance? There was a comment in the ESPN article, in the sidebar by someone I've neve heard of, that McGahee can run outside. What? This guy got stetched out all the time, he can't turn a corner any better than tandem tractor trailer. That's why his average is so bad, he can't turn the corner when getting stretched out. And the term "viable" is another way of saying "he'll have to do." He's got some bad hands and is horrible in the passing game. And a good pass blocker? Is this the same McGahee the Bills had? The media has created such misinformed hype on this guy. Wow. Stop thinking McGahee the Hurricane and think McGahee the NFLer. They're not even close to the same. I'm so happy this guy is gone. We lose really nothing that can't be gained by someone else. Plus, anyone who can be effective in the passing game and be able to block is an immediate upgrade and brings added dimension to the offense.

Man, this board is laughable. Everyone wants a link or a confirmation. What, to some website that has the same info that 99.9% of time turns out to be BS anyway? The link doesn't make it happen so where is the importance, especially when it's something like this? I can understand a signing or a cut, but a discussion? Get a grip. This entire board is a fantasy where people make stupid comments, idiotic trade ideas and have hypothetical discussions about possibilities. Why are rumored discussion somehow held to a higher standard?

Fitting the Bills? <Mar. 7> Dillon, released by the Patriots on March 1, will visit the Bills on Thursday with hopes of landing a job, reports ESPN.com's John Clayton. Dillon has been in conversations with several teams over the past week. Buffalo is his first visit. Dillon's agents made contact with the Jets and Eagles along with other teams, but the Bills are the first team to show viable interest.

McGahee Baltimore bound? <Mar. 7> Trade talks between the Bills and Ravens continue to heat up for McGahee. McGahee has been on the trading block for the past few weeks and the Bills are trying their best to move him. McGahee is entering the final year of his contract and wants out. Over the past two days, the Bills had visits from Dominic Rhodes and Chris Brown. They are going to look at Corey Dillon on Thursday. If the Ravens are going to make a trade for McGahee, they will likely get it done soon.

Who is Jeremy Green and why does his opinion matter? However, the perception that Buffalo is "cheap" doesn't bode well for attracting free agents or other teams really caring about small market teams that refuse to help themselves.

Everything is cyclical. In the 80s you couldn;t get a seat for a Celtics game, now they can't give them away. I used to go to Boston every year in the mid 90s for Sox games and get seats no problem, no forget it. Winning makes a team popular and produces sellouts. Other areas, with lots of corporations and businesses do well because of those sales. Right now we're bleeding people and businesses and the team sucks, it all adds up to no sellouts. Sorry but I'm not supporting a team that loses and loses and loses. It's simple economics. Entertain me for forget it.

NO. He lives in Snyder in a very large house on a very prestigious street.