Buftex

Yeah, I love Wannestedt and Lee as Bills coaches, but the Jets are already a few years ahead of the Bills on a "rebuild" project. I am not saying the Jets coaches are better than the Bills coaches, at all...I just think that Sparano will focus on making the Jets a running team...and their defense has been pretty solid over the last 3 years. Laron Landry will help fill their biggest defensive weakness, at the safety spot. I think, and I hope the Bills defensive overhaul goes well, but it has a lot more variables than what the Jets are dealing with, on that side of the ball. I am not compariing Sparano hiring to our hirings, I just think he will be an upgrade, for them, over Brian Schottenheimer...their offense will look a bit different...

You may be right about the Jets, ultimately, but I am not sure you can count them out either. Tebow, IMO, is more a negative for them, but, I think Sparano was a pretty shrewd hire for them. I would just say that they are not assured of missing the playoffs, and more than the Bills are assured of making it. For some reason, something like 22 of ESPN's "experts" have the Bills pegged as a playoff team this coming season...based in part by the improvements they have seemingly made (all on paper at this point), and the notion that, for the last 10 years or so, 5 teams that didn't make it to the playoffs the year before, make it every year. The Bills seem to be the "sexy pick". I recall the Lions being the "sexy" pick 2 years ago, and missing the playoffs....the next year though! I share the optimism about this team, but we have been down so long, I worry that a greatly improved team, that doesn't make the playoffs will have people (Bills fans) disillusioned...I think they are on the right track, at this point, whether it is this year, or next, I can live with it, as long as I see continued improvement.

Sounds like Payton's mid-life crises was impeccably timed with his suspension... and he knows he gets his job back next year!

Hugh Douglas and Tim Hasselbeck, on NFL32, yesterday, seem to feel the same way. Douglas wasn't as emphatic, but Hasselbeck thinks it is "a leap" to assume that signing Mario and Anderson makes the Bills a playoff team...he seems to think they are a year or two away still. The thing that worries me, amid all of the raised expectations for this year, is that unless the Bills win the division, them making the playoffs is not a sure thing, by any stretch. I can't dismiss the Patriots that easily. The Bills could win the division, but we are assuming a lot of things will go our way. I am excited about the season, mind you, but I do think the Bills could be much better, and still miss the playoffs. The entire AFC West, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Tennessee, Cincinatti, Jets and Patriots could all have teams with legit playoff hopes...at 10 or 11 teams, obviously all won't make it...I may be in the minority, but I also don't particularly like the way the Bills schedule is layed out. Sometimes, as some coach said somewhere over the years, it isn't always who you play, but when you play them.

Geezer!

As one who leans left, I agree with you...I hated "West Wing" and I thought the pilot for "Newsroom" was pretty bad too. For some reason, political dramas don't work for me...

Joe Ferguson, Joe Cribbs, Jerry Butler and Chuck Knox...

RIP. If by "knock hockey" you mean "rod hockey" (what we called it) there was nothing better... electric football was never as fun for me. The rod hockey game (and to a lesser extent, the basketball game) were amazing... I remember my brother and I playing an entire Sabres season on rod hockey, during the blizzard of '77. My brother was always good at models, and painting them very intricately...he did the same with our rod hockey set. One team was transformed from the Maple Leafs, into the Sabres, while the Canadians were transformed into the Flyers...names on the back of jerseys and all... we flipped a coin at the begining of the season, winner got to pick if they were the Sabres, or the oppostition team on the real schedule. You got to be the Sabres, until you lost, and then the other got to be the Sabres...we kept talley of of goalie W-L records, as well as goals scored....Gilbert Perreault had well over 160 goals that "season"...and of course, our one dimensional Sabres squad (the only time the Sabres being 1-D was an advantage!)won their first Stanley Cup during the blizzard of '77.

Well, the problem really is that there beyond the first three picks in the draft, and an odd 2 or 3 later (there are only 60 picks in the NBA draft) most of the drafted players will have little, or no impact on the team that drafts them. A good dozen or two will bounce around the league as roster fodder for 2 or 3 years, never to be heard from again...it is tough to break into the NBA. The Lakers traded, I think, 3 first round picks for a gray-beard Steve Nash, and they got a tremendous deal. In what other league could you make that trade? The Lakers will be a playoff team while Nash is there, so the three picks that Phoenix gets, from where the Lakers would pick (likely in the 22-30 range) will likely not even be in the NBA more than a year or two. Other problem is, a teams best player is, ultimately, the de-facto GM of the team. Somebody here (can't remember who) was saying that the Lakers were done, the window for Kobe winning rings was over, when they were eliminated. That was absolutely false...as I pointed out then. As long as Kobe is playing, he will be able to lure other talent to play with him. The "salary cap" in the NBA really gives every team a chance to re-shape their team every summer...but there just isn't enough talent to go around. If I was FA, wanting to win a ring, I would be begging the Heat to sign me, or head to one of about 4 teams in the West that have a good chance to make the finals next year, to face the Heat. No other league embraces the concept of players luring others to their franchise, as the NBA does.

A little sad to lose Ray Allen, especially to Miami...but I think it was coming...the signing of Jason Terry, IMO, was a signal that the Celtics didn't think he would come back....oh well..he didn't like losing his stating job, but he was injured, and his replacement (Bradley) was just playing too well to take him out...and, he and Rondo had a tough relationship...gonna be hard for me to root against him...but I will!

FYI: TV Land is having 11am to 8pm eastern "Andy Griffith Show" marathons Satuday and Sunday (July 7th & 8th)...get your VCR's set(or Beta's for you elitists). btw- The Andy Griffith Show theme, with the lyrics, as sung by Andy Griffith: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9BvKREK1rU&feature=g-vrec

ieatcrayonz has been my life-coach!

People in certain positions will always have more value, and influence than others...thus the opportunity to increase their net worth. The average member of the senate earns a salary of $174,000... obviously a fraction of their net worth.

Thanks...that was exactly my point about the OP's numbers.

That was intentional...and it is funny.

Yes, I realize that...why I stated "income" rather than salary.

On my first day at my current job, I found nearly $1,800 cash (a little more) sitting on top of a pay machine in a parking garage. It was about 7:30 in the morning. It was just sitting there in a brown envelope, along with a college text book, and a notebook. My first instinct was, honestly "holy crap...I could use this money!" I was just coming off of being really under-employed for nearly a year, and bills were piling up. The notion of keeping it crossed my mind, for a second, I have to admit. But it was only a second. I started thinking more, about how ****ty I have felt, losing far less money than that. As there was no name on the text book or in the notebook, I called the university police (I work at a university) to report it...not more than 20 mintues later, a university police officer, and a young girl, who had obviously been crying came to claim the money. Apparently, she had left it there the night before, and was frantically searching for it all night...she was preparing to make her first tuition installment, which is why she had the cash on her. She wasn't particularly grateful, almost grabbed it, like I had stolen from her or something... I just chalked that up to stress.

Average US annual salary, 2011: 43,460.00 Average US CEO annual income 2011: 11,400,000.00 Income of CEO of United Health for 2011: 102,000,000.00

Great video...but man, that song is awful...it almost sounds like Howard Simon "singing"...

I knew this dude, years ago, who used to collect youth size NFL jerseys from all the NFL teams. He said he hung them on his wall, in his tv room...for some reason, it always gave me the creeps!

Loved the highlight package of Dareus from the Redskins game. While I saw the game on tv, I didn't appreciate what a monster that guy was, and how relentless he was...the one sack they showed, slow-mo, where he is sliding forward on his knees, all his momentum going one way (and he has a lot), but reaches backwards to drag Beck down with him was awesome! btw- I have nearly every one of the higlight films from every Bills season...you are right, they did go in a more chronological order...but if there was a 7 game losing streak, like last year, they would just kind of brush over it showing one or two bad plays, and say something like "all balls did not bounce the Bills way over the next seven weeks".

Okay, I am getting old, so my memory can be a little hazy at times...I do know, for sure, that Stevie played on the bill, of UB Fall fest, right before Cyndi Lauper...I was just becoming aware of SRV, and couldn't believe he was opening for Lauper... I went to a few of those things, so I am not sure if Black Uhuru and Yelloman were on that bill, or from another year...this would have been, likely 1983-1984. EDIT: So, I tried to do a little on-line research... still not absolutely sure, but it looks like Lauper played the 1983 Fall Fest, so it was 1983... Black Uhuru, Yelloman, from what I can tell, was 1984...but this article is so poorly written...it could be the other way around.... http://www.ubspectrum.com/arts/music/legends-of-the-fall-1.2878854 "The fests only continued to grow. After singer Cyndi Lauper drew in 15,000 attendees in 1984’s Fall Fest, UB brought reggae band Black Uhuru in 1984, Chuck Berry and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts in 1987, and singer Pat Benatar in 1988. The talent cost rose from $40,000 the previous year to $50,000 in order to bring in the popular ’80s singer."

Great stuff...I realize we are feating And here, but Knotts was hialrious. Anyone remember his flick "The Ghost Of Mr Chicken"? That was "can't miss tv" back in the day when WKBW would have their "Movie For a Sunday Afternoon"! And, then, of course, there was "The Incredible Mr Limpet"... what happens to those old movies?

I actually saw the yearbook last week...there is a few minutes about the off-season in there! Mention Mario and Mark Anderson IIRC! Also, a nice chunk of time spent on Dareus rookie season. And, unfortunatley, Ryan Fitzpatricks' chipmunk dance/scream during the Raiders comeback (or whatever you want to call that!)

Okay...if you missed the airing of the Buffalo Bills Yearbook last week, it is on again tonight (or tomorrow morning depending on your pov. When: Wednesday, July 4th @2:30am eastern on ESPN2 It is verified by both the ESPN, DirecTV, and Time Warner listings...unlike the airing last week which had multiple discrepancies: http://sports.espn.go.com/espntv/onair/index?start=7-03-12-10:46-PM http://www.directv.com/entertainment/channelguide/index.jsp?lpos=header&DPSLogout=true&_requestid=318738