UConn James

I think his biggest problem was not selecting enough Top-5-Pick WRs in the draft.

A tap to the gut and disheveling his clothes is almost on par with cutting four people's heads off, burning them, dragging them through the streets and hanging two from a bridge. America's bending over backwards stuff is all well and good, but I think we're bending near to the point where the head is actually going up the ass.

For the reasons written and more, no, he's not leaving. Yet. Jacobs: Edsall To Kansas Unlikely

And they're fining the least little disparaging remark about officiating. What was it, $30K a pop? Total censorship is the last defense of a broken system.

It is a failure of congressional regulation that there is no a la-carte system for cable. Set up a checklist for every channel offered, set a price for that channel, and then let customers pick what they want and pay for what they want. Cable's package deal is like a supermarket forcing you to buy 10 gallons of cod liver oil so you can get the pumpernickel bread that you really want. We quit cable 15 years ago and went OTA-only. I am miraculously still alive, and count myself the better for not being exposed to the utter dreck of all of these channels.

Building through UFA is generally wiser for teams that are "one/two player/s away" from seriously competing, and are willing to overpay to fill a weakest link spot. These players aren't the best, but they aren't the worst. The conclusion: teams continually try to move the bubble gum around to fix holes in the dike, and some teams are better at doing this than others. Other teams use UFA to boost themselves marginally in areas where they've screwed themselves by not drafting well. Case in point, for over 10 years now, the Bills have used UFA to sign (second- and third-tier) OL b/c for whatever reason, they didn't put much stock into it during the draft. Maybe they didn't like rookie starters... maybe they felt snakebitten by Mike Williams... maybe they knew the scouts for OL were sh-- (OL was Linda Bogdan's area for a while, but what were they gonna do about that?!). Who knows. But what we do know is that we had a string of UFA Centers with Teague, Fowler, now Hangartner. There was Panos, Reyes, Walker, Dockery, Gandy, forget the name but... the aging backup T from the Steelers. Bill in NYC oft laments the fact (yes, it is a fact) that the Bills do not put great importance on building the OL in the draft. Instead, we've spent lots of coin in UFA on scrubs who didn't last long. Sometimes, it's a good fit. K. Mitchell a couple of seasons ago pretty much fits the mold of the first paragraph... generally a good pick-up that held his own and made plays to keep the D more competitive than it would've been without him. Our LB situation was --- and remains --- ****ty. There is next to nothing for depth, Jauron-ball (but then again, it was trending this way before DJ) turned our LBs into thinner and faster coverage types ---basically Safties who weigh a little more) meaning we're weak against the run. I fully expect demand that the D (minus the secondary, which has had such high investment due to Jauron man-love) be largely scrapped under the next coach, because it is not built for Buffalo or the AFC East. If you can pick up a guy/s who will fit your system that you can't find elsewhere, OK, but I wouldn't say that this is the norm. Otherwise, teams who build thru UFA are just spinning their wheels. UFA often ends up with a player who wasn't what was expected, and who eats a sizable amount of cap. We got **** lucky with Paup and Spielman... but even that was short-lived.

Since he's dead, I'm quite at a loss wondering how they'd do that, or what tests could be done to that purpose. Ummm.... Phrenology?

It's the city that owns the land now. Essentially, they kicked out taxpayers in exchange for empty lots. Many of the residents in that neighborhood were aging/elderly, so it wasn't like they had kids in the schools, costing the city; their taxes were pretty much above-board. The local media are trying to put a smiley-face on the situation, saying, 'When the economy picks up again, it'll be a very attractive property.' And being on the Sound waterfront... maybe it will. When's the economy going to recover? NL is going to be in a bit of a pickle in the meantime. They might shuffle some things around so the books don't look as bad as they are, but... losing all those taxes has gotta be a blow. What has happened should serve as fresh notice that "even the best-laid plans oft go amiss" re: use of eminent domain for non-traditional public projects/uses. Since the Kelo case, CT and several other states have re-visited the issue of eminent domain. CT legislature narrowed its allowed use for economic development projects... but did not prohibit it.

:wallbash:

And he wouldn't even have that much coin out of ~ 2 1/2 years of being a starting NFL QB. His contract was about $450K/yr as a 3rd round pick, no? If he's still having effects or if it was another concussion, tho, then it seriously is time for him to consider hanging it up and putting the Stanford diploma to work. Especially in light of the recent reports on head injuries. Just not worth it to be a mouth-drooler by age 40.

I last played Super Nintendo during summers when I was in the mid-teens, and even at that, just Super Mario, Off-road racing, and Zelda. My nephew, 9, has every game console there is. I tried an ATV game and could barely make it around the track. The Wii Sports one was kind of cool, and was pretty easy. But beyond that, yes, there are too many buttons, etc. for me to do anything. They left me behind. Oh well. Not a big loss.

It'll be interesting to hear what Cowher has to say during tomorrow's pre-game show. We may get the flat-out, 'I have not been contacted and I'm not interested' that I expect from BC. It'll be the first time this year I'll actually be watching it.

Well, they can... but it'll cost 'em. Teams that don't are fined. And no one will grant an interview when they know full well that someone else has all but already been hired. Also, the denial may be a thin veneer for Fewell's authority over the next several weeks. Any person looking to coach here would probably be a little offput by an owner/FO who would at least say 'We're looking for a new coach now' publicly even as a coach has been named, interim or not. Everyone and their brother knows that the Bills are looking... it's just a little crass to talk about it openly during the season. The timeline is that you do this openly after the season. In this respect, RW is saying the right thing. But, I'm with ICE on this. I'll believe Ralph is committed to winning/isn't cheap/will stop his detrimental meddling when I see it. (The lame "But... but... but... We signed TO!" be damned).

If memory serves, Ralph had JJ in for a chat after one of the previous firings... I think it was either post-Wade or post-Gregg. Not a job offer by any means. Just discussing the macro-cosmic view of the franchise. Banter. One-day consultation. Seeing what's on the radar, gauging interest of people JJ talks to, finding out what other people have heard. Talk is kind of important at this stage, and any good search would mean talking to many people who are at the top of the profession. At the NFL level, it's pretty insular, and this kind of stuff happens frequently.

It's traditionally a 1-year notice. That's been for wholesale change --- e.g. Bucs' creamsicle to pewter or Broncos orange to navy. For a historical jersey that the team has used before there might be an exception granted. Especially as it's in the current wardrobe room. IIRC from the ESPN UniWatch blog, I believe the Jets were granted one when they went retro, b/c the design was already in use as throwbacks.

Translation: Ralph gives Russ a buffalo nickel and says, "Now, don't spend it all in one place!"

Scrapping the navy blue abortions should be a symbolic part of the overhaul. A whole 'We are leaving this decade behind.' As such, the throwbacks have WIDE popular approval, and their legal stuff/trademark/copyright and design is already done. No fuss, no muss. It would be a relatively simple switch.

Taken in Vain : New London's Folly

Only, at the current rate of losing, this one might cost $80M / ~$32M guaranteed. Don't quite get the people who root to get the #1 pick. It's just as good odds of finding a good player at #10-15 as #1-5, and it doesn't totally screw over the cap. Look how much MW cost, both in real dollars and who could've been signed with that unusable money. If you get the #1 pick, if there isn't a FOR-SURE player, you trade down.

Yeah. Much better to leave the corporate whoring to the studio broadcasters during pregame, halftime and postgame. Can they make the SUBWAY signage on the CBS sportsdesk any bigger? It might help drown out Boomer and Shannon Sharpe guffawing on stage right. (This applies to Shannon only when his speech is decipherable. Which is about 20 percent, give or take.)

True, that. The only thing the past three changes in coaching staff has done is brought new faces to call time-outs, waste challenge flags. To wit, under Gregg, Mularky, and Jauron: CBs all this while have still played 10 yards off of the LOS. The lines all this while have been filled with mostly dreck. LB depth has been atrocious the past 10 years. No consistent pass attack, and a 'power rushing' style that largely gets overpowered itself. A great deal of resources and roster space has been put into STs... ~10% of the game The same type of coaches have been hired and/or their differences haven't been great enough to produce new/better schemes and results from what they're given. Nothing has really changed because change is not wanted. Truth hurts, but for this team to really start getting better, Ralph needs to go. Most everything else will follow.

Hmm. Someone had better send Nike, Reebok, et al. a memo about this....

This has all the hallmarks of someone who voted 'Present' 129 times in the Illinois legislature. When you're the Commander-in-Thief, you really ought to either sh-- or get off the pot. Our soldiers have been fighting and dying for a year there, buying time waiting for a strategy as AQ/Taliban/insurgents have taken more hold of the country. Word is that 10 different plans were presented, and apparently he's passed on all of them. Here's a very effective exit strategy. It's worked in the Revolution, the Civil War, WWII, Korea, et al. and by and large it kept working right up until one of the major parties in the U.S. became a bunch of pussies afraid to hit people who deserve to be hit and who are more interested in getting patted on the back by Old Europe at G-8 parties than doing what needs to be done to protect ourselves. Here's the exit strategy that had worked so well: WIN.

Hands-down, the Maine lobster plates. Even with the new design. Had 'em for a while myself on my first car commuting to college. Classic.

NYDN: ABC reporting that Hasan tried to contact Al-Qaeda: Intelligence services had been watching Hasan for months The hammer drops. Thanks for playing, Steely. Your consolation prize is a FAIL stamp set.