DriveFor1Outta5

I'm a huge rock fan, but technically almost every rock band is a "has been". Many of them are still able to sell large amounts of tickets. GNR has attracted large crowds since Axl and Slash reunited. Tickets sales this low are somewhat of an anamoly on this tour. Wednesday night isn't exactly the best day of the week either.

I don't think they did, but we can agree to disagree. Not many kids if any played soccer in the 50's. If you don't think that many upper class suburban soccer players wouldn't have been football players in the past you are mistaken. Do you seriously think that a 1950's suburban parent would discourage their child from playing football? They had no reason to. Doctors smoked in exam rooms back then for crying out loud. No one regardless of class was worried about things being "dangerous".

Life has risks. That's my problem with the CTE issue. I don't doubt that signs of CTE are shown in former football players. I also won't be ignorant enough to claim that it isn't real. The issue I have is people who make it seem as simple as saying football is bad. It is a far deeper issue than that. There are too many unanswered questions. At what point do cognitive problems begin? How severe are they compared to the normal aging process? Lets not use examples of criminal behavior as being a result of CTE. Sadly that is what the media has done. I don't doubt CTE, I just question if we can quantify how much it really impacts former players. What about all the former college players who don't make the pros? The type of guys who become doctors,lawyers, and CEO's. There are millions of professionally sucessfull former football players. At what point does CTE "ruin" their life? It's far more complicated than just saying football shouldn't be played by humans. Then people will say that Ben doesn't seem mentally sharp. These same people who probably didn't hear him talk when he was a rookie.

What's laughable is that you don't think upper class suburban parents are more likely to cringe at the idea of thier child playing football. What explains the popularity of soccer with northeastern yuppies?

If you were to tour neighborhoods where many NFL players grew up you'd see why a parent would allow their child to play football. Playing football is a far healthier outlet than roaming the streets. This still holds true even when taking CTE into consideration.

I agree. Dementia and Alzheimer's is a major epidemic in the world today. Sure, there are stories about domestic violence and the like with the elderly, but it is far from frequent. Yet every time a former NFL player does somentimg stupid we blame it on CTE. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Good points, but many times he was also the reason we lost games. Sometimes stats don't tell the entire story. Guys like Stevie Johnson are good players who have major flaws in their game. He could put up all the numbers in the world, but still cause his team to lose. Johnson was very good at times. He was also the type of player that winning teams don't have starting at reciever. Many of his big numbers were negated by the amount of errors he made. I'm willing to admit that he was a fun guy to watch. He was also very frustrating to watch at times.

That is why the trade was ridiculous. It put the guy in an impossible spot. Anything short of being league MVP and Super Bowl champion will always be a bust to some.

To play devil's advocate it's an easier decision for a guy with a PhD to walk away. Football presents many other guys with the best and often times only options they have in life. I don't want to debate the merits of CTE as I am not a professional. There remains a lot to be learned about CTE. My issue is the way in which the media has presented the problem. Condemning the sport of football isn't what should be happening. The focus should be on creating safer equipment. The sport of football has provided millions of young men with the best years of their life. A life that many could only dream of. There is a downside with this blessing as is the case with everything in life. That doesn't mean the sport of football should be torn down.

He was one of our best players on teams that were lacking real talent. He was also one of the main reasons we lost many games as well. For every good play Stevie made he responded with a bad one.

This is why diva recievers are rarely worth the trouble imo. NFL teams win titles without elite recievers. These guys are just too much of a distraction.

I agree. Any random rookie can play just as well as these journeymen backup players. However, NFL teams are very conservative by nature. They always go with the tried and true option. Why don't more coaches go for forth and short? The answer is the same.

I agree, but the OP stated that he would rather win three games with Peterman than three games with a thirty something QB (Yates). Basically the OP believes that Yates and Peterman playing would yield the same result. The issues is that the Bills FO likely disagrees with that sentiment. They might simply think that Yates would give them the best chance to win outside of Tyrod at this time. I don't necessarily agree, but I don't think it's too ridiculous of an idea either. Yes, my cat is more likely to go .500 as a QB than RG3, Kaep, or Ponder. I agree with you regarding Hill and Whitehurst.

First of all to answer the original question, I love classical music. Sadly it can be quite difficult to find live performances of composers whom I like. This is why your comment caught my eye. I've noticed this with almost every city outside of NYC. Classical is one the form music that has survived every trend that has come and gone. Unfortunately it's becoming increasingly difficult for companies to profit with classical performances. Many well to do aging baby boomers prefer Lennon and McCartney to Bach and Brahms. Classical music will survive, but those who are traditionally its biggest supporters are dwindling imo.

Good point. This is why it's challenging to define regions based on culture. If one were to base regions on culture it would have to be done from a historical prospective. Historically people in the rural north such as Vermont would be culturally different from their peers in the rural south. In modern times the real cultural divide exist only between city and county. Mass media has worked to create homogeneous culture. A redneck/white trash culture tends to exist in rural America across the board these days. Similiarly the urban/suburban yuppie culture is mostly universal as well.

The guy just isn't a football player. The 170 lbs issue is the least of his concerns. Guys like Cole Beasley who are 170 lbs are real football players who understand the game so they don't get "lit up".

Wait, I thought CJ Spiller was supposed to give us the same ability.

I'm not sure that I agree. They both get a ton of respect on this forum for what it's worth. Both of these guys are very well liked by fans. You can't expect a defensive player on losing teams to get national media attention although both guys are/were perennial pro bowl players.

I honestly think that many guys who will be mentioned on this post as being underrated are probably overrated in reality. Most people think that the same few guys were the underrated ones. Guys like Schobel,Moulds,Jackson,Fletcher etc. I believe that most of these guys are properly rated already. They are neither overrated nor underrated. During the drought we had many very good players, but I'm not sure if we had any true greats. In some cases I think that playing for this crap franchise actually inflated the value of some guys.

The only thing the Bills and Browns "do to" young QB's is draft crappy ones.

This is why I have so little hope for him ever becoming a good pro. A receiver that is uncomfortable with the ball is like an inaccurate quarterback. It's a problem that can rarely be corrected in the pros.

Geographically I agree that the south is everything below the Mason Dixon line. Culturally it gets much more challenging just as the Midwest does. There is no way that I'd consider the northern panhandle of West Virginia southern.

I just commented about posters who claim that Polian was overrated. That is ridiculous imo. It is fair to question his judgment. Just because Polian was a great GM doesn't make everything he says accurate. The same is the case with the opinons of retired players and aging rock stars. However, their flawed opinons in old age don't diminish their accomplishments.

This ^ I can't believe how many Bills fans refer to Polian as being overrated.. Fans are entitled to dislike Polian as a person, but don't try to tell me that he is overrated. His record as a GM speaks for itself. The 90's Bills were one of the greatest teams in the history of the league. It is absurd to marginalize his accomplishments.

I don't consider WNY or Western PA the Midwest. However, I don't see how anyone can include Western PA without WNY if you are using the cultural criteria as opposed to the geographic criteria.