UConn James

Hurrah, but base salaries are only a part of compensation packages. Don't be so quick to dismiss the notion that players demand more to play in Buffalo because of the higher state and county taxes. There's a real reason WNY's population has plummeted in the past 20 years. Footballers are not immune. Now, I'm not going to say it makes it or breaks it for guys who want to sign so they have a shot at starting, but it all enters into the picture of why they're making/must be offered more. Not mention that two of these on the Bills are Maybi-not and Chris Kelsay. Calling them "players" is a stretch.

Especially with the blue jerseys, I think red looks better. If it's white, tho, it ain't the end of the world.

Well, not to connor Hogboy Mickey beauxsox elegantelliot DaBigMan BishopHedd pBills. Sorry, had to get the aliases straight there. He's got so many to keep track of. Different posters, same schtick. One after another, once each gets banned, he's got another warming the bench.

There aren't enough legal dramas on teevee?

That's right, Faustus. Considering that the other 5 don't know Ralph has the idol. Thanks for clearing that up. I seem to remember a few thrown challenges in the first couple-few seasons. It's a strategy. They could've waited around for Russell to, as far as they know, get the idol and start picking them off one-by-one. They took the bull by the horns. And so far, at least, it's going their way. Alliances play both ways. Russell could've played it as I wrote upthread and there'd've been a good chance he doesn't go home this early. He chose to play the game the same way, so these guys know what's coming and decided to take initiative and get rid of their cancer. You may like Russell. But it was his strategy (and lying about the clue was a bad move) that got him booted. Looked like Rob is going with the same tack, finding the clue in the chair. We'll see how it pays off for him. The preview had the sound that something's going to backfire on him. Imagine that, tho.... Say Russell beats Matt at Redemption Island, then Rob is voted off by orange. Also, (I said it's been awhile) I wasn't aware there were multiple hidden idols available. Is it that each time an idol is played at council, it's rehidden in that team's camp?

My two cents: I'd be fine with the white helmets with the white jersey set. I'd like to see the red helmets stay with the blues. And it's not like they'd have to order new ones for this scenario or anything. Not sure when/if there's been a pro team that's had two different helmet colors to pair with their home and aways. There are a number of college teams that do it all the time.

Ohhh. So, when the Democrats in Congress rammed through ObamaCare despite many polls showing ~70 percent disapproval and even true-blue Massachusetts electors voting in Scott Brown so he would be the "41st vote against ObamaCare".... you know, that was different. That shoe doesn't feel so good now that it's on the left foot, huh? Maybe if you guys hadn't mashed it on the right foot.... But even then, the idea that this is about retribution is crap. How does the state deficit go down, and ensure that this situation doesn't happen again in 6 years after Gov. Tex N. Spend is elected and restores all wages and gilds the gold-plated benefits with another layer, just to make up? Walker is trying to cure the disease of what's gotten that state (and many others) in the mess it's in. Pretending like the $3B deficit will just magically go away in 2013 and then won't ever happen again is an Old Mother Goose story. Wait... so, does that mean that the bill didn't pass? How many votes does a bill need beyond the minimum so everyone can feel good about it's electoral cushion? Maybe that counts in a social issue vote, but this is a fiscal issue where there's not enough in the checking account to pay the bills. Nobody said getting back into balance was going to be easy, but that's what these governors and legislatures were elected to try to do. Yes, it's disgusting on many counts that 2 state legislatures' Democrats have now fled to Illinois so they can shirk their voting duties. Given that many --- especially Independents --- are now seeing firsthand the childish actions of these Democrats, you may just be surprised who's voted out of office in the next go-round.

There's only 32 teams in the league. It's not that hard to have an identifiable jersey, even without flashiness, an unchanged tradition, or workmarks/logos. To borrow a word from Charlie Sheen, "winning" takes away anonymity pretty fast. That said, I would bet there is going to be a BILLS wordmark under the V. Just about every team but the ones listed (and you forgot the Bears) has done that.

So, a thread about possible candidates in the Republican field managed to devolve into talking about the mid-east uprisings.... Back on track, it sounds all but certain that Newt Gingrich 2.0 is going to be declaring his run in the next few weeks (some are speculating it could be as early as next week). He's got a tough row to hoe even in the Republican bloc. A recent UNH poll shows 41 percent favorability / 39 percent unfavorability among NH party members... numbers that aren't out of line with his polarization of popularity in the late '90s. He is reportedly wooing religious party members --- he converted to Catholicism a while ago --- and is running on his record of being the main actor in balancing the federal budget.

There's been a lot of to-do about those designs in the past several months. Let's again dispel those "rumors." These were mock-ups ostensibly made by someone (probably a graphics intern) at Nike for their ProCombat jersey that features different kinds of cloth/materials. They are not "pushing" these designs on any team. Individual teams hold all rights to their uniform design. Nike's main/only role --- starting in 2012 --- is to transfer over teams' designs to their jersey style with team and league liaisons and then produce them en masse. Nike does not get veto power on anything. For anyone expecting big changes to every club's uniform set, they will be seriously disappointed.

It's up now, along with another animation. Link Not sure whether I should I put this in my sig line. I can think of plenty of +s and -s. I'd say that Ruffalo was maybe the weakest of the bunch that were nominated. Not to take too much away from him... it was a pretty strong year. But my judgment may be a little harsh. I tend to think of Oscar-worthy performances in terms of 'Could anyone else have done this just as well?' If the answer is no, well, there you go for your winner. As for Ruffalo as Paul, I've seen plenty of actors seriously f--- up roles like this. He handles it very well.

The only way it qualifies for the quote of the century is that the last 15 presidents' names have been inserted into that quote.

It wouldn't surprise me if the uniform event were tied to a ticket sale date. I'm not trying to start a debate over the propriety of this or any 'Ralph is cheap' talk, just that I think it's highly probable.

Perhaps the governor is interesting in curing the ailment rather than treating today's symptoms. What part of "a $3.6 BILLION deficit in FY 2013" isn't clear? What good is it for the state's fiscal health to get a single year of givebacks, and then be beholden to kiss-'n'-make-up collective bargaining payouts when/if the tide turns back toward Unions-Democrat mutual backscratching. You want to know how a democracy doesn't work? When the peoples' elected officials don't show up to debate or vote.

I do believe you're over-estimating the sensibilities/intelligence of the target demographic.

Free-range prisoners! or, Since it builds teamwork and bonding --- and could raise beaucoup bucks for states in fiscal trouble --- when does "The Running Man" start and more importantly, who hosts now? Is John O'Hurley available?

I don't need to see Russell's chigger-infested underarms a bit longer. He was undone by his own actions, both so far here (stealing the idol clue) and on past seasons. If he were going to play differently this time, as he claimed, that would've required him to play differently. So far all he's done is get in bad right from the get-go with the guys of the tribe. A winning strategy might've been him approaching the guys, and saying that he's changing his game b/c it didn't work twice previous. 'I've been here before. Rob's been here before and he's great at immunity events, you seen it every time he's been on the show. We need to keep this core group of able guys to win tribe immunity events. If we don't keep this core, we're going to get picked off by Rob every time, guaranteed. We'll pick off the girls as we need to. I'll do my part to help keep us all here through probably 8... 9... maybe 10 vote-offs. Then we go into the merge strong.' He did not use the fear of Rob to any degree. He needed to be the quarterback, but again, he was a conniving little bit--. I wonder what's going to happen when the orange team sees Russell out. Maybe they decide they don't need Rob as much now to counteract Russell. There were portents of this in the sneak peak.

It's against the Terms of Service to post articles in their entirety. Not to mention the illegality of copyright infringement, it really sucks for the writer and the future of content (free or otherwise). Provide a link and, at most, a few paragraphs.

How pathetic was Russell's bloc in pretending that they had the idol? The first part of the prediction proved correct, after a little bit of stutter. They tried to turn Leatherface McClose-eyes. At tribal, the larger group turned in one of the dumbest votes I've ever seen. If you're going to be a bloc, then act as a friggin' bloc. They didn't have their **** together --- half voted for loud-mouth Stephanie, half voted for Russell... and it very nearly cost Ralph. If my math is correct, Leatherface McClose-eyes didn't vote for Ralph; you could see the 'Oh ****!' look on Stephanie's face before the second vote. Wouldn't be very surprised if they don't throw the next immunity challenge just to get rid of her mouth too. They'd still be equal #s at the merge, and it's not like she'll ever be on their side, and most not after a merge. The Redemption Island challenge was pretty weak, but also presented another turn when they lied about who went home for good. Matt vs. Russell. We'll see if Russell's forecast of RI not being a terribly bad place to be comes to fruition for him.

With a nod to Martin Niemöller: When they came for the uber-wealthy, I remained silent; I was not uber-wealthy. When they came for the corporate executives' bonuses, I remained silent; I was not a corporate executive. When they taxed the upper-middle class, I said nothing; I was not in the upper middle class. When they started taxing carbon emissions, I said nothing; I did not produce enough to count (and I compost and burn wood). When they came for the small business owners' profits, I said nothing; I did not own a small business. When they started taxing gasoline through the wazoo, I said nothing; I own a diesel and ride a motorcycle that gets 60 mpg. When they took away Social Security and my 401k, I said nothing; I didn't expect to live until retirement age anyway. When they taxed my $35,000/year salary at 60 percent FICA, I squirmed a little; but I moved into a tent on the abandoned property next door. When they took the bread out of my mouth, there was no one left to say anything in my defense.

The last time a GB LB came to the Bills.... 17 1/2 sacks! ('Course, a few things changed ).

So, are you basically advocating for a DaVinci panopticon so everybody can see everybody and be able to sing kumbaya? And you know what, I retract my earlier prediction that this won't be ruled unconstitutional. Because this is just the sort of thing judges love to do, and that I'm sure some in the Colorado legislature (or is this a federal institution?) would love to spend ten million dollars --- that the state doesn't have --- studying designs for a prison complex that somehow paradoxically keeps dangerous inmates away from other inmates and guards but simultaneously provides intimate contact. And then they'll either say that after ten million bucks, no solution can be found, or they'll actually build something for hundreds of millions and this dude will murder another guard on Day friggin' 2. Because sh-- always seems happen like that, doesn't it?

There we go with that "target" rhetoric that the left wanted an immediate stop of --- except when they use it. Because that's different.

TT wasn't peeing in any cornflakes. That seemed to be a response to wawrow's posts upthread. TT is saying that, contrary to some poster's attitudes here, better uniforms and a better team are not mutually exclusive goals.

As Roberts noted, the ruling was narrow. Is there anything on why the parents chose an "emotional distress" suit over, say, defamation of character for a private individual/s? The FA doesn't protect libel. As it stands, as much as everyone hates it, this was the right decision based on the scope of the case. WBC was on public property, had a permit to demonstrate and no one was physically injured. Can't sue somebody just because they say cruel, stupid things. Now, please, somebody blow up the WBC already.