R. Rich

I don't live that close; it's a 6-7 hour drive for me, depending on how fast I want to drive and what the weather is like. You're going to the Rams game? Where did you find tickets?

Okay, here's the deal folks. DATE, TIME, PLACE The tailgate will be Sunday, October 24th, 2004 at Sliders Bar and Grille, which is located at 504 Washington Blvd in Baltimore. It's across the street from Oriole Park at Camden Yards and just about a block or so away from M&T Bank Stadium. The tailgate will begin at 10:00am and will last until about 1:30pm. Those who plan on staying at Sliders to watch the game are more than welcome to stay beyond 1:30pm. COST The cost for the buffet will be $10.00 per person. Payment must be made IN ADVANCE so that we can pay the deposit required beforehand. I will include my PayPal email address to send payment. Please remember to put your TBD username, real name, and address information (also names of accompanying guests) when submitting payment, so that I can keep a record of who has paid the fee. MENU Here's the menu (all included in the $10.00 fee): Burgers Sausages w/green peppers and onions Chili Potato salad Cheese and vegetable platter Chips Pretzels Sodas and, oh yeah... WINGS!! DRINK SPECIALS In addition, there will be drink specials (not included with the $10.00 fee): 2 for 1 beers (Yuengling and Miller Lite) 2 for 1 rail drinks (rum, gin, and vodka, which should make my wife very happy!) I've been told that Miller Lite will also be doing a giveaway from the tailgate (keychains, T shirts, etc.). We have decided not to have a live band there, but there may be an individual performer for the outside like last year. Hope to see you all on October 24th at Sliders! [PayPal email information: RRich@GoBills.net]

It's certainly a busy month for me: 10/10/04 Cleveland Browns @ Pittsburgh Steelers 10/24/04 Buffalo Bills @ Baltimore Ravens 10/31/04 Arizona Cardinals @ Buffalo Bills That's usually as many games as I go to in a season, and I still have the Steelers @ Bills game in January to attend.

I think I replied to it. Anyway, I cleaned out nearly half of the junk in my inbox, so there's room...........................for now.

0 for the weekend, thanks to Dell!

Leatherface

I'll get a good look at the Gophers this weekend when Penn State plays them. It might not be a pretty sight.

I doubt the Cards would give up Jones and a first for Travis.

100 Lindell FGs (76 of which are 50+) 46 TDs (19 by the defense); Lindell misses every PAT one safety (Posey is held in the endzone)

Campbell, Neufeld, and Euhus have shown absolutely nothing this season, other than the fact that they can drop passes and cannot sustain their blocks. I hope someone lit a fire under their a**es and that they come out and give Bledsoe some kind of saftey valve; it's not like he couldn't use one, you know! It's still early enough that they can turn it around, but they'd better start now.

2 Days In The Valley is a good movie. I actually bought the DVD at a flea market for $3.

578-2 Bills win!

He had a few decent throws. The thing I like about Roethlisberger is that he doesen't get rattled easily, by pressuring defenders or even by making mistakes. After throwing that INT, he could've just let that affect his game the rest of the way through. He didn't. This guy is for real.

USC was very close to losing the top ranking. They're still a good team, but right now there are teams that are playing better than they are, such as Oklahoma and Georgia. It's still way too early to think they're overrated or if they're just playing good teams that are giving them everything they've got since USC is the defending national champ. As much as it pains me to say, Notre Dame is starting to look really good now. I can't believe they haven't slipped into the Top 25 yet, though they were the leading vote getters for unranked teams. West Virginia has looked impressive so far. I'm really looking forward to their game against the Hokies to see what they've really got. Same goes for Auburn. Beating LSU was very impressive; next up are the #8 Vols. It should be a great one. Is Texas really as good as their #5 ranking? I dunno. Virginia is looking good in the early going as well. What a great LB corps they have! Kyle Orton is just lighting teams up! He put a hurtin' on the Illini Saturday with 366 yards passing and 4 TDs. Now, the fun begins as the Boilermakers' schedule gets a lot more competitive with Notre Dame, Penn State, Wisconsin, Michigan, Northwestern, Iowa, Ohio State, and Indiana all waiting to take their shots at him. Buckle up that chinstrap, Kyle. As for Penn State............oh boy. Since I've been saying that I think they're a year away from really contending, the one thing I hoped for was a relatively injury-free season. Yeah, right. Chris Ganter is a nice kid and all, but I really don't want to see him running the 'O'. Not at all. Best game I watched last weekend? Without a doubt, it was this one! The Utah Utes can score!! Urban Meyer's spread offense is really exciting to watch: it's like watching the Bills' no huddle offense on speed! QB Alex Smith was sharp and their WRs have blazing speed. I was also watching OG Chris Kemoeatu, who I hope the Bills will look into drafting next year. He had some really nice run blocks and a couple impressive blocks in pass protection. Plus, he's got a mean streak!

I won't be there. I sold my tickets for that game to a fellow TBD regular. I will be back for the Halloween game against the Cardinals.

I guess seeing the animals is pretty big at all the state fairs. A co-worker here took the day off on the first day of the MD state fair so that she could take her children to see the animals and ride the rides before it got too crowded. My wife and I went a couple times and we had a nice time.

Anything special going on there? Any musical acts playing there? Usually at state fairs, all they get are country groups. There's only a handful of country acts I like and I don't think any of them would play at state fairs.

I will be watching the other games on the Sunday Ticket. I'm sure there'll also be some drinking involved. I do have to cut the grass, but I think I'll do that early tomorrow.

I still like ya, even if you do watch baseball. Keep a lookout for a little 'surprise' to go with your Rams game tickets.

We're at an impasse here. You're right that the refs shouldn't affect the outcome of a game to that extent ever, but it still should never get to that point and it shouldn't be used as an excuse. Had we been better at moving the ball and putting points on the board, the refs were a non issue. That, to me, is the major problem. It does suck to come out on the wrong end of a call, but we need to get past it. Again: score points, and you don't need to rely on getting the benefit of refs' calls. Plain and simple.

What I may not be conveying to you all is that I too dislike the blown calls. Now, that said, I don't consider them THE reason the Bills are 0-2. Correct the problems on offense and give this team a shot at winning big. Without improvement there, there's not much hope of a title of any sort for this year's Bills. Again, my point is this: when I look to the reasons for a loss, the first thing that comes to mind, for me, is NOT blown calls. It's on the list, but after the other things I mentioned. It's not an 'either or' situation as far as I'm concerned.

I found that movie I was talking about. It's called Beyond The Mat and it's pretty good. Check it out if you get a chance. Yeah, I have begun cleaning out the PMs. I'm still working on it, but there's enough room to send/receive messages now.

I'd love to see the team go out and win the games and not put the refs in the position where they can even be a factor. The blown opportunities, the 3 and outs, the sacks, the dropped passes, the missed blitz pickups, the poor pass protection, the missed tackles, and the poor pass coverage all get to me more than a few blown calls. The calls we had no control over.

I missed the A&E show, unless it was just his Biography, which I've seen before. The documentary I referred to was a movie about pro wrestling and one of the segments had Foley at home watching a tape of his wife and daughter watching one of his matches. He saw just how horrified they were at what he went through. That was a pretty good movie; the segment about Jake Roberts was especially good. Depressing, but good. I can't remember the name of it, but I know I did rent it a while ago.

I thought there was a company that made throwback jerseys for NFL teams. I could be wrong on that, but check to see if there is such a company. If so, I'm sure you'll be able to find a Ferguson jersey through them.