Augie

Are you a player for the Bills? Maybe a coach, weight room or cafeteria guy? We had two boys. They both excelled, but in opposite ways. We learned not to take too much credit, or too much blame. I was NOT US. It was them. I didn’t get up at 5am to hit the gym before two a days, or go to a trainer who would make you puke so you are fresh late in the game. I would thank people politely but say it was all on him. If I’m going to be “competitive”, I’m going to do it in some fashion where my pure existence actually matters. With the Bills I’m hoping for entertainment with a happy ending. Life is too short to let relatively small things upset me like that. That doesn’t mean I don’t love them, because I do and I have since the Rockpile. For me it’s a matter of life perspective, but to each their own.

So, “Winning” currently has 50% of the vote. Many of you have been here a LONG time, like me. We have gone thru LONG painful stretches of NOT WINNING, yet we are all still here. Therefore, “winning” is not what keeps us here. We are being entertained, whether we admit it or not.

Serious question: if you (oops…WE) won ONE would you let up? Or is it this way forever? What keeps my fandom is being entertained and having an even better time when they win and advance.

We are GOOD! If you chose to live in the past, why don’t you just go back to the early 90’s? 😋 I mean, this is true too. You grew up in the Bills Family where I was from. It was in your blood in elementary school.

I don’t see how people can say they are “competitive” about something in which they are not participating and have no affect on the outcome. The team is competing, and we are fans. Sure, I want to win and I love our Bills, but it’s mostly just entertainment. Both on the field and during non-game days like this. Nobody is competing today, but I’m still here messing around for fun. It’s much more than just having a team to cheer for, and I certainly can find other things to do. .

How is AI going to affect our lifespans. It’s already affecting our lifestyles. Things will start moving even FASTER! On a similar note, my iPad will select certain topics or time frames and run a slide show for me. It could be sunsets, summer trips in the mountains, pets, etc. It just ran a series of photos (with music, of course) of our trip to NYC with our grandson last month. It probably played 10% of the photos I took, and I swear it was the best 10%. Those were the photos I would have chosen. It picked the ones with a great smile or the best angle of the WTC, etc. There are some I should delete, but they were left out. How do it know??? 🤷‍♂️

This does not shock anyone. 😋

They carried the skinny dude away, do you think one of the big guys can play OT? 🤷‍♂️

A little light reading from my high school days. https://www.gradesaver.com/kurt-vonnegut-short-stories/study-guide/summary-tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow

You know this could be a little reflection into yourself, right? 😂

Damn! I just saw that last night!

Thank you for your blessing. 🙏

I like to avoid the cutsie stuff, at least until they have proven their worthiness. But I have to agree. I think he is going to be a BIG deal.

The Patriots* do not approve of this message.

I think Know probably has dual citizenship. Knows both secret handshakes and everything.

I would say……maybe Dawkins is TOO hungry! .

If he was hoping to be a backup and collect a check, last night seemed to change the complexion of things. We would need the old man to EARN it. There ain’t no easy money! Nobody knows that better than you! 😋 (Pro tip - bad backs are hard to pin down.)

Self awareness, I like it! 😋 I kid, but here are a few thoughts: * I’m just now watching the game, and while it’s popular to beat up on Gabe (who I expect to have a much more focused and productive year) but Gabe looks good out there. I read this right after the beautiful sideline catch. Contract year, no high ankle sprain and I have high hopes. I hope somebody pays him a FORTUNE, because that means we did well. * The Oline. I can’t bring myself to dwell on how awful this is. I didn't think we could look WORSE than last year, but it goes to show I know nothing. Praying Torrence becomes a long term stud. *Allen is great, and we all know that, but he has to be smart. * Kincaid WILL be great, I believe that. * You don’t like McD as much as I do. He has done nothing but produce since he arrived in town. No, it’s not perfect and I hope he is grooming his DC as we speak so he can focus on being a HC. Not in love with his split duties, but I’ll wait and see. * Dorian Williams flies to the ball. I wonder how we get him out there without another player who I love get injured. He’s a football player. I don’t get the “fit”, but that’s not my job. * I can’t panic after a single preseason game, but the penalties really bothered me. It’s one thing to get beat, it’s another to beat yourself. Sloppy is sloppy, and that was sloppy. And that is my two cents for the latest state of the Bills thread. .

This illustrates an important point: it’s not just the individual who is affected, it’s their entire universe of people, family, friends, co-workers, etc. Bipolar was thrown around when we were dealing with our son’s addiction issues. It seems they often go hand in hand as people self-medicate trying to find their “normal”. At the first rehab stint they had a mobile, like you would hang over a baby’s crib. If you apply pressure to any one object, all the other objects get shifted. (Great visual tool I just butchered!) In our case, for example, the older son had serious issues and required a great deal of emotional and financial attention. Hence, his younger brother learned to be one of the most independent and self-reliant young people I’ve ever seen. I dropped him off at college and never went back until he was finishing his Masters 5 years later, and only then to see an FSU football game. It also changed my relationship with my wife, which was rough in the moment -everything was - but now stronger than ever. There is often a ripple effect if you look for it. Among the things we learned was we can try all we want to help him, but only HE could do the work. We could give him love and tools, but that’s about it. What we wanted didn’t matter, especially with addiction. Adding drugs removes reason. Good luck with your challenge of finding the right path, then staying on it. For better or worse, that experience changed how I see the world to some degree. I am less apt to judge, and I have less patience for people who do. And little stuff like a preseason football game seem like silly things to get upset about. .

Ask the fans of ANY team in the NFL and they will tell you where they are thin. Every team has holes. That’s just how it works. Now, how do we find a way to overcome it with player acquisition and scheme to get wins? That is the question. Last year Knox did more blocking than would have been ideal, but we went 13-3. You have to find ways.

I’ve heard big coaching names actually say it can be a benefit because you know they will have the full attention of the team. I’d rather NOT be sloppy, but if looking for the bright side they clearly know what needs work. I haven’t seen the game yet, but McD handling both positions was a concern for me ever since it was announced. What are the odds that we do NOT have a full time DC next year? I think pretty low.

In the movie Contact that was to be Jody Foster’s question to the aliens. Something like “How did you do it? How did you survive your technological adolescence?” That’s a darn good question!

Cute, did your grandmother teach you that? Mine used to say stuff like that. It was DEPTH. Nobody has All-Pros at every position and OL talent across the entire league is generally lacking. Should that have seen Shell was on the edge of retirement? IDK, because I was not behind the scenes. Regardless, they will continue to make moves. People who think quality talent is just littered all around and we refuse to address it generally started with a bias. They can’t wait to say “LOOK! I told you so! They are incompetent!” The fact is, we are one of the best teams in the league. We need help at OT and MLB in particular, but fixing that not as easy as it sounds.

You might want to see somebody about that if it happens. My mother is 95, and unless they can improve the quality of life, I have no interest in lasting that long. BUT, we are growing our knowledge and capabilities at a rate that is almost alarming. Things keep advancing at an accelerating rate. I can’t even imagine what my grandkids will see, much less 50,000 years from now.

Losing Shell to retirement and Doyle to injury is just plain bad luck. Like the defensive backfield last year, you hate lose them at all, but especially all at one position.