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SoMAn

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Posts posted by SoMAn

  1. 24 minutes ago, WotAGuy said:


    This brings back memories!  Moved to Syracuse in the 80s and found a newstand that had the Buffalo News Sunday edition the same day and the weekday editions a day or three later. You could reserve a copy by having them write your name in a big red ledger book. 
     

    Home and most away games were not always shown on the Syracuse stations, especially when the Bills were terrible and the Jets or Giants were on at the same time. There was no local radio coverage so I could sometimes get the game on a Buffalo or Rochester AM station (signals carried a lot farther in the analog days), but usually it was just static and the game faded in and out. 
     

    It was an awful lot of work to follow a friggin 2-14 team. It was really frustrating when Kelly arrived and interest in the Bills skyrocketed, but it took a few seasons to consistently show the games on local TV. 

     Fortunately, the satellite revolution was coming in about the time the team was ascending into a playoff power, making it easier for us out of town transplants to witness the team’s rise.
     In the late 80’s Sports bars were discovering the advantages of catering to a dedicated team fan base, so in Atlanta there were a couple of ‘Bills bars’ that were sure to be a gathering spot for the pre-mafia fan base.
     Good fun and great way to commune with the fellow faithful.
     Eventually, residential dishes and NFL Sunday Ticket displaced the weekly sports bar. As convenient as the bars were at the time, it could get expensive and it was risky enjoying a few adult beverages unless you had a dedicated driver.

     As I get older, the comfort of my own easy chair and HDTV to never miss a game* are a luxury, though I’m hoping to join the mafia for at least one game at our local Anchor Bar in Kennesaw. 

    * about the only time my viewing was interrupted was when some doofus let a Mylar balloon loose, hitting power lines outside the stadium and it blew out all power for the broadcast of the Chargers against the Trent Edwards-led Bills. 
     

  2. On 7/8/2022 at 4:53 PM, Augie said:

    This game was during college for me. It was a bit of a down period trying to follow my Bills from out of town. The options today are incredible compared to not all that long ago. I mean, in the early 90’s I would go to Chili’s every Tuesday (I think it was) to have lunch and read the one or two sentences they had for every NFL team in the free USA Today at the bar. Now? I can watch the 1980 Bills/Chargers game on my iPad in my recliner!  Life is pretty good. 

     

     

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    Times have certainly changed. We are probably about the same age.

    Relocating to metro Atlanta in mid-80’s, finding a crumb of Bills news was a chore. A few seconds on ESPN or a sentence or two in USA Today if you were lucky.
    No sports bars with satellite feeds and still a decade away from practical smaller residential satellite dishes. No internet. No cell phones. 
    Around that time I found a large local bookstore in Atlanta where I could get the Sunday Buffalo News, usually by the following Friday. At least there was decent enough Bills’ content on the days leading into and throughout the season. 
    The difference in today’s instant access is analogous to having to cross the continent by covered wagon in months compared to jetting from NY to L.A. in a few hours. 
    You young whipper snappers with your fancy smart phones are the beneficiaries of a technical era in which you don’t know know anything other than immediate gratification. You spoiled little bastards! 😜

    USA Today can SMD

  3. After nearly 20 years dominating the AFC East and getting the better of the Bills in superbowk XXV, he and Brady still have the 'under the skin' lead on Bills fans by a wide margin

     

    As much we detest Belichick for being the architect of our misery, he's actually pretty gracious in his praise of Allen. The guy knows football inside and out and has respect for greatness.  He gets pissed off and doesn't mask his emotions when he doesn't get the effort he's accustomed to from his players.

    • Agree 1
  4. 11 hours ago, chongli said:

     

    In my year with them in Pennsylvania in 2005 or so I had numerous outages, included almost the entire game 7 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals between NY and Miami. I was sitting down ready to enjoy my evening, super excited for the game, and then it happened. It came back on in the final minute when the game was already over. That was the last straw for me, especially when they refused to re-air it in our area. This was for a game 7. Imagine if it was for the SB. And they tell me I'm out of luck? I've had very few outages with cable TV.

    Do you know why you've experienced outages? Most problems can be resolved. I realize you've gone back to cable, but for others:

    Start with having maximum signal strength. Have you called DTV about the outages?  Has your dish been 'peaked' recently? It may be as simple as getting a technician to re-point the dish to receive max signal.

    Do you have trees or other obstructions blocking the site line? If so, move the dish or the trees. Also, depending on the thickness of the foliage, you may get an ok signal in winter when trees are bare, but find the signal compromised in summer and more susceptible to weather-related outages when you're just barely locked in.

    If you're in an area that experiences frequent, slow moving violent storms, satellite TV may not be your best option. I haven't had an issue with it.

    • Like (+1) 1
  5. If you still think we (America) hasn’t made progress, consider how nobody today gives a second thought to a starting college or pro black QB.
    Briscoe and Harris and those who looked past color to give them opportunities were trailblazers. 

    We’re not perfect, but we’ve come a long way. 
    Briscoe was a great player. I was sorry the Bills traded him, but Saban was trying to get OJ to reach full potential, and to do that, the O-Line needed to be fortified. 
    Briscoe was recognized in Miami for his accomplishments and awarded by having the Florida baseball team named after him. 😉
    Thanks for the memories Marlin and for your part in advancing equal opportunity. 
     

    • Haha (+1) 1
  6. 4 hours ago, coloradobillsfan said:


    IIRC the Bills needed to sell a number of luxury boxes to trigger the new lease

    That sounds about right.
    Again, 20+ years since it all went down so don’t remember the sequence of events, but my sense is that the excitement generated by Flutie’s success which put the Bills back into the playoffs played a role in extending the lease. Up until that point, there was concern and the usual panic and hand-wringing among the Bills faithful that their beloved Bills could suffer the same fate as Modell’s Browns who departed for Baltimore after the ‘95 season. 

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  7. Actually, the success of the Flutie-led Bills of the late 90’s was probably more of factor in keeping the Bills in WNY. 
     

    I don’t recall all the details, but I believe the renewed interest, increased attendance, enthusiasm, etc was integral to funding for the necessary stadium renovations and extended lease. 
    Anyone  remember just how that went down? 

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  8. 2 hours ago, Kwai San said:

     

    There is ALOT to be said for this.....only part that sux?  Is when your buddies all start texting at once over a great JA play!!!!  LOL!

    Just gotta turn off the phone.
    But…that said…this past season I didn’t do that too much. Kind of got sucked into the social media vortex so I could tap into this forum and commune with the mafia when there were outrageous penalties or non-calls by the officials or phenomenal plays by the bills.
    Was curious to see if my fellow bills brothers and sisters were seeing things the same way I was. Time shifting isn’t an option when browsing the Stadium Wall during game time. 

    • Agree 1
  9. 8 minutes ago, Buffalo Boy said:

    I’ve called the last two years and received squat!!!!!

    This year better be different as a 24 year customer 

    Surprised. Sometimes you just need to hit at the right time or get a knowledgeable rep. 
    a lot of people received the email last year telling them it was being given free. I got something like that, then they billed me. Had to call and schmooze a bit, but got the ticket free and credits for  $$ off. 
    The password to get what you want is “cancel”.  
    On the plus side for those without the ticket or DTV- Probably at least half the Bills’ games (or more) will be available without DTV, depending on their market. 

    • Like (+1) 1
  10. 52 minutes ago, eball said:

     

    I was an early adopter of DirecTV because I moved to Atlanta after finishing school and wanted to see the Bills without always going out to a sports bar.  That was in the mid-90s.  I was satisfied with the service for the most part and agree that reports of outages are overblown.  I did, however, get tired of some of their practices in recent years, found their equipment upgrades to be a bit lacking, and I cut the DTV cord in January.  I haven’t missed it.  If you have a reliable high-speed internet connection (I have Google Fiber) there are no buffering issues with streaming services.  We now have YoutubeTV and love it, along with ESPN+, AppleTV, Amazon Prime, Netflix, and HBO Max that comes free with my wireless phone service.  I can’t imagine ever going back to cable or satellite.

     

    I’m hoping Apple or Amazon get the NFL.

     

    When Sunday ticket goes to one of the other services, I’ll look into those options. DIRECTV gets expensive, though they’re usually willing (or desperate enough) to negotiate better rates. I do like the recording options. A lot of the shows are now available on demand, but the fly in the ointment is the inability to fast-forward through ads. 

    During negotiations they’re always pushing the movie channels. Don’t have much interest in todays movie offerings.  Mostly Kids fare, low brow comedies, superhero retreads, sci-Fi fantasy-just not my thing. 
     

    Eball- are you still in Atlanta area? I’m in northern ‘burbs. 

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  11. 11 hours ago, Buffalo Boy said:

    https://news.google.com/articles/CAIiEJqdmR7AyyhK6x-yzuw_qk8qGQgEKhAIACoHCAow2Nb3CjDivdcCMMPf7gU?uo=CAUiANIBAA&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen
     

        Apparently, Disney Apple and Amazon are all trying to aquire the ticket.

       A somewhat dense article but my main takeaways are:

          The NFL ST is going to remain a premium subscription regardless of who gets it with a $300 price point. 
         I don’t see any mention of being able to purchase/stream individual games.

         DTV has been losing money on it’s $1.5 Billion investment but will possibly still be the way to see it as a pass through for the company that does get it (?!?!) due to streaming concerns. Also, the bar business model is based on DTV. 
     

    Mods…. Didn’t think this belonged in the ST 2022 thread.

    I’ve had DIRECTV for 24 years. Weather-related outages are infrequent. If the dish is peaked correctly and the line to the bird not obstructed by trees or other structures, outages are rare, but when it happens it’s usually very temporary.  It only occurs when a large storm system is passing in the line between the dish and satellite transponder. I’d bet that cable subscribers have more outages. 

    With satellite, there’s always ample bandwidth. It’ll be frustrating when the streaming services are overloaded and buffering becomes an issue. 
    I enjoy the multi-room and DVR recording (time-shifting*)benefits that come with DIRECTV. I don’t know that streaming has those advantages. 
    * while recording Bills’ games, I’ve often sat down to watch the game (from the beginning) an hour or so after real time kickoff.  This makes the most of my precious weekend hours. I can skip through all the lame advertising, halftime banter, and endless promos for mindless CBS sitcoms and enjoy all the Bills game in about 2 1/2 hours.  

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  12. I was there....sort of.   I don't remember exactly, but I believe the couple I was with gave up and wanted leave early to beat the traffic when it looked like the Bills were going down.. We were just outside the stadium when we heard the roar and cheers from the crowd who stayed until the end.

     

    I've learned to NEVER give up when there's still a chance, as slim as it may be.  Don't think I ever again left before the final gun.

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  13. There were some indicators last season that there may have been unrest on the domestic side. When a guy is suddenly not wearing the wedding band for several weeks and there seems to be a change in overall demeanor, there might be some issues.  

     

    I think it's a challenge for any spouse that has an absentee husband or wife with career that demands significant hours of their time. Professional coaching jobs are not for 9 to 5'ers. 

     

     

  14. On 5/18/2022 at 12:48 PM, shrader said:

     

    They've been dropping little hints at Omaha for her throughout the series.  This time it was the Nebraska license plate in her flashback.  I think she's alive and they're somehow going to bump into Gene at the end of the series.

     

    That’s been my thought- that the fate of Kim will be revealed when she appears in the post BB world with Gene in Nebraska. 

  15. 4 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

    Hot take: Kelly was a very good QB, not an elite QB. He belongs in the HOF because of his winning. He is in the Fouts/Moon/Aikman/Griese/Warner tier of HOF QBs not the Brady/Montana/Peyton/Elway/Marino tier.

     

     

    I tend to agree with the assessment, though I’m not as quick to put Marino in thr upper tier category. He was boy wonder coming out of the gates when Kelly was still in the USFL. He had inflated numbers in a pass-happy offense and was the media darling breaking records. But, he only made it to a single Super Bowl early on, then was consistently beaten by Kelly, who played in a balanced offense with 1000 yd runners (unlike Marino). Marino gained an early reputation as one of the best. 

    Kelly called his own plays and was far more successful in big games. Kelly was also a better ‘team player’. I can’t rate Marino higher just because he had a super fast release, great accuracy, and threw the ball enough to rack up big passing numbers. 

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  16. 1 hour ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

    I could be misremembering but I thought he was awful in the last one outside of the holeout

    They actually hit a lot of bad shots too because golf is pretty much impossible 😂but their recovery shots/short game is insanely good.

    Who came up with these par numbers? I’ve played golf and it’s my opinion par on most holes should be between 8 and 10. 😜

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  17. 10 minutes ago, Pokebball said:

    Funny you say this. I spoke to someone that works part time for the Giants, just this past week. He mentioned this exact thing. Said Daboll was going to do for Jones what he did for Allen.

    I believe Dabol did a good job as coordinator. But he can thank Beane and McD for putting the pieces in place to allow him to shine. Allen gave him a versatile weapon that allowed him to be far more creative than he could have been with a less athletic man under center. 

  18. 6 hours ago, Joe in Winslow said:

     

    I think Allen made Daboll, not the inverse.

    Ironic that I’m reading this only minutes after NFL Network talking about Dabol’s achievement as O coordinator and citing Allen’s success.  The feature was considering if Dabol can do the same with D Jones.
    I had that exact thought as you that Allen was more responsible for Dabol’s success than the other way around. 
     

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