Dan

I'd completely agree! Is it just me or is the season starting extremely late this year? But, you know the players will be arguing for all that money. Again, I'd say the discussion is currently centered around what makes everyone the most money; when it should be centered around what gives us the best sport in the world.

And the chances the Bills let their franchise, probowl LT become disgruntled and trade him are pretty slim as well. I'd say don't bet against the Bills' FO when it comes to paying large sums of money to players. I'm only suggesting that the Bills may very well not budge, whether he sits all season or not would be his choice.

If I'm an owner, I want to see some assurances that the increased TV contract would make up the difference. There's no way you can count on ticket sales. Imagine the Bills selling out 2 meaningless games in the dead of winter.

But there's absolutely no guarantee you get that extra money. If you just showed up to work you would have gotten $2,000 for those few weeks (in example 1). So, do you go with the sure thing or hope to get the extra money, knowing that if you hold out for the extra cash, you may get fired?

So where do these smaller market teams get the money for the increased salaries? You'll almost certainly have pay each player more. Plus, you'll have to increase the roster from 53 to 58(?) or 60(?) to account for injuries. That's significant money.

Sure it does. The significance is surely debatable. But, 18 is greater than 16; therefore, you're diluting your product. I think the question becomes what's the tipping point. At what point are you decreasing the fan experience just for the sake of making more money. I'd argue we're getting dangerously close to that now.

More games equals bigger player contracts equals significantly increased salary caps equals increased difficulty for small market teams to compete. My question is what's the goal of the league? To make as much money as possible? Or to remain the most watched, most popular sport in the country? IMO, more games does little to make the sport more popular, its all about more money.

Agreed, again. The Bills have signed all of their draft picks this year and in previous years, right in line with the salary slotting. Why would they suddenly devalue Maybin and low ball him? It makes no sense. The holdout almost certainly has to be initiated by Maybin's agent to see if he can get a few million more due to Crabtree. What Maybin should be thinking is.. is it worth it? On the surface yeah, a few million bucks is a few million bucks. But, what if the Bills don't go higher? What if they say take the standard offer? Both of those are bad for him. And both are highly likely considering the Bills recent contract talks with players demanding more money. Sure if the Bills are offering him less than the #12 guy, he's got a beef. But, as I stated, I'd find that extremely hard to believe.

There are several things that have made the NFL the greatest sport to watch. Among those are the relatively short season and having most all the games on one day of the week. By only having 16 games, you maximize the importance of each game. In baseball, say you miss a few weeks in June - who cares. In football, if you miss a week or 2, you've missed a significant portion of the season. Also, by having all the games on Sunday, you allow for football parties. As well as the ability for people to plan their week around this one glorious day when you can get all your football. It's simple, its easy, its fun. All they're doing by adding more regular season games and adding more playing dates (Thurs. and Sat. games) is diluting the product, IMO. Yes, you see some increases in revenue. But, you see a decrease in the rabid nature of fans that dedicate themselves to the sport. I guess it comes down to what's more important for the league - more money or increased fandom? I'd say that spreading the draft out over 3 nights, playing games in London, playing games 4 days/week, moving the Pro Bowl, and now possibly extending the season is all about making money and caring less about fan appeal. IMO, Goodell is all that's wrong for the league. Why not make the Superbowl a best 2 out of 3 series? Imagine all the money you could make on 3 games as opposed to one.

Care to give a synopsis for those of us to cheap to register?

I would have kept them out there... you know you're ready for the season when you can outrun lightning strikes.

I'd agree completely. There's no way Ralph and the Bills pay Maybin more just because Crabtree got more. OF course, that doesn't stop his agent from trying. We all know it won't work - just ask Peters. But, I suppose they gotta try. It just sucks, because the guy has now missed all of training camp and half the preseason games. I'd guess it's a very short list of rookies that have missed this much off season time and had any sort of productive rookie year.

Beautiful. And if they had caved and paid Peters $11mill/year, they'd be at every agent's mercy that wanted more mercy as well. So is there any way the Bills' FO could have "won" given Peters' demands? Maybe if they just refused to pay, but also refused to trade, and just let him sit on the bench taking up a roster spot for 2 years? Regardless, its beyond time to get Maybin into camp. He's lost considerable valuable time and few rookies make an impact after missing the majority of training camp.

Thanks!

Found this site for radio. But, haven't tried the links yet.

Seeing as how the game is in a few hours, does anyone have a suggestion that doesn't have a 24hr registration time period? (Not that I don't appreciate the link for future use. Thanks.)

In all seriousness, your credentials, professionalism, and history of providing accurate (early) information has earned you the right to some serious love by all posters of this board. Thanks for all the insight you provide.

It would appear you're trying quite diligently to achieve your stated objective. I guess its good to have goals, huh.

I'm not ready to anoint Stupar the next great thing, yet. However, Shouman and Fine have done very little to impress in actual games. So, I'm all in in. Seeing what we have at TE, I'd say keep 2 of them (Nelson and someone), and give the roster spots to someone that might actually contribute something.

Exactly. How hilarious is it that after the very first preseason game, one in which the starters didn't even raise a sweat, is enough to start making people jump ship? What's that saying... good riddance to bad rubbish.

OK.. so here's my miscellaneous thoughts on the game, day, and weekend in general.... Yesterday was another great day! Sure, it would have been nice to see the 1st stringers play more than a series. Sure, it would have been nice to actually win. But that just wouldn't be Jauron's style now would it. We started the day by touring the Hall. I could have spent about 2 days in there. Entirely too much to go through in a few hours especially with a few thousand people streaming through. Great displays. Given that it was about 92 outside, it was a good day to stay in the AC and tour the hall. Then we went to the official tailgate. It cost $55 (if I remember correctly). I wouldn't recommend it. It wasn't bad, but just too many people, bad music and not near worth it for the money. We had fun and all, but if I go back, I'll tailgate on my own. Main reason we went was my parents got the package and we wanted to spend time with them, so it was worth it. Then back to the car to drop off the swag. We had great parking in a guy's lawn just outside the stadium. Super great guy and an excellent sausage stand on the corner. Back to the stadium, just in time for the game. It was a great evening with a nice breeze in the air. We had Titans fans, Bills fans, Browns fans, and unbiased Canton residents (although they loved TO) sitting around us. All were super nice and great fun. We had a good time ribbing them all back and forth with each Titan penalty. From my seat, which wasn't very good seeing as how all the action seemed to be at the other end of the field, the game looked great. Given that it was the first preseason game and others have broken the play down far better than I could, I won't comment much on the play. For this Bills' fan the game capped off a great weekend. For those getting bent out of shape over the game, keep in mind that it was just one part of a great weekend. There's still plenty of time to get the plays worked out. I'll give it a few weeks before I panic too much. In the meantime, I'm going to revel in the enjoyment of being a Bills' fan. I posted another gallery with a few pics from Sunday. Enjoy. Dan

Good to know. thanks.

Thanks. It does do ok. But, the night pictures aren't great and I can't zoom. But, I love the convenience. If my sister emails me the nicer pics I'll post them. But, no guarantees there.

This thread is starting to suck.

I just create an album! My first ever online album, so tell me if I screwed it all up. I posted a few pics from the ceremony yesterday. My sisters have the nice digital cameras. All I roll with is a cell phone camera, so I don't have any nice zoomed in, high rez pics. I didn't edit these in any way, for size or color. So, SDS, I hope they're not too large. I figure they're just from the cell phone, so they shouldn't be too big. It was a fun day. A little wet in the afternoon, but not too bad. We hoped to tour the Hall prior to the game, but didn't realize they closed it at 5. I guess to get ready for the ceremony. No worries though. All in all, a great day. Not sure this is the right link... but here goes.... linky to gallery.