UConn James

As long as it's been paid for, I don't think Ralph cares if it's empty or filled with banana cream pie. If nothing substantive is done, his realization will come when people don't renew for next year. And even then, he'll just blame the economy and it'll give more ammunition to move. The best thing that could happen for this franchise would be for Ralph to sell now or die. I'd really just prefer that whatever is gonna happen, happens, rather than watch a team I loved be run into the ground like it has for the last 10 years.

"Oooo Oooohh!! Ooooo! Sorry, we just couldn't hear you that first time. Now that we know what Congress wants to hear, we come back two weeks later with our hats in hand, having flown commercial this time, and... everything's different. Really. You gotta believe us! Can we have our $30B now, Uncle Sam?"

I think Steely's discovered the FO's strategy! Brandon's looking for a comp pick for losing Losman.

I am by no means optimistic about the McGee-Ginn match-up until Terrence shows otherwise. Not to isolate it too much from the other 10 guys on the field, tho. Inability to get a pass-rush, per my above post, also puts an onus on CBs for prolonged coverage, and given enough time, seams open. Another version of this is the rush-8 Fewell's tried a few times in this stretch... and even that sometimes couldn't get pressure and then it leaves receivers wide open. Don't fall into the trap of over-analyzing one part when in reality, it's a mix of reasons on different levels of observation --- some of the component parts and then how they're used in the system itself --- that is to blame for the failing.

Unless it comes from the inside, I don't know that Pennington's jersey is scuffed by the turf on Sunday. Our DEs got nothing against him in the first meeting, when THE way to beat Chadwick Pennington is to rattle him and knock him down, even if you have to take a penalty. DJ likes to have tea and strumpets with the opponents' coach after games, tho. Truth be told, we have been a team of pussies since Wade and Gash left. Even if we had DEs who didn't run 10 yards straight past the QB before backtracking and circling in on most every play, they'd probably be instructed to treat him as if he's wearing the red/yellow 'off-limits' practice jersey.

What can I say? The season isn't joyous for everyone. At a time when people get together, it can remind you of those who aren't with you anymore. My grandfather (96, but expected) and my dog (my best friend and even with his age, it was a total shock) passed away about a week apart this summer and I'm still getting weepy when I think about it too much or see something that reminds me of him. Still have noseprints all over the basement door glass that I just can't bring myself to wipe away. I will miss our Christmas morning walk (we live in the sticks and usually just let him out the door and clapped him back and, boy, he'd come running). Just having a hard time adjusting, but it's one foot in front of the other. Pretending that the holidays are only happy is fake. Sometimes it's about lost happiness and where you need to remember the good times. In this vein: Otherwise, there's the old classics everyone goes back to --- Crosby, et al. Also, I really lament now that I lost/threw out(?) the 'language lab' cassette tape recordings we'd have to do for French class back in high school. For the session nearest the Christmas break, the teacher would sing some traditional French carols (Belle Nuit, Sainte Nuit; Minuit Chretians; etc.) that we'd have to listen to. She certainly was a tough grader but she had a great voice. Seconded for both. That Mariah Carey "All I Want For Christmas Is You" one gets old pretty quick too, and you hear it ~ 5 times a day (try telling me payola isn't alive and well). Commercial radio gets pretty aggravating after about a week. And now, they have to start playing it the day after Thanksgiving b/c the same people who own the stations owns the stores. I'm listening to those stations selectively and in small doses.

I don't like him. 1) Just his general hokie-ness (self-effacing to a fault; on the Today show segments, always says he can't do anything in the kitchen, which tells me right away that he's a fuggin' moron, so why should I be listening to what he says about anything else?). 2) Certain laziness and contentiousness I've seen of him in the Bush years (e.g. expecting the White House press office to do his reporting/fact-finding for him and spoon-feed it with the Dolly Madison sterling silverware, and getting downright pissed when they wouldn't). 3) His tendency for talking over people when they're trying to finish up what they're saying. This alone disqualifies him in my mind. The great thing about TR was he'd gather people and let them talk. He's not the worst in this regard, tho; I hate "The McGlaughlin Group" and I am certain that in the 6th Circle of Hell, that shrill %^&ing c--t Eleanor Clift's (of Newsweek) lips will be sewed to her *.

Can you say 'Behind the Times'? Geez! They're still hawking Satan and Kozlov goathead stuff.

There's a lot of times when that seems far preferable to getting kicked in the nuts a couple dozen times a year.

I don't think it makes much of a difference. Look at our last three hires and it's been 'Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss.' We still have CBs who line up 10-15 yards off the WRs. We still have an OL that collapses and has no mean streak and despite our size, does not even try to dominate (look at the Giants to see what an OL looks like). We still have OC who at times, run when they should pass and pass when they should run. We still have DEs/DL that can't put pressure on QBs (laughable that several times, we're rushing 8 and still couldn't even get a sniff). We still suck at game management and challenges. This goes far beyond the head coach, his assistants, the waterboys, etc. To borrow from Thoreau, instead of hacking at the branches, we need to strike the root. Which is, namely, how Ralph operates the team. Until he sells or dies, don't expect change.

And I am sure Ralph would set his colostomy bag on it. Things aren't going to change until he sells or dies.

This is pathetic. All cylinders misfired today. ST was sh--. Offense couldn't get it over the hump. D lost to Shaun Hill and, again, couldn't get pressure when it mattered (garbage sacks are just that). Penalties. Overall slop.

Sent just about everyone, and still no penetration. Unbelievable how ineffective this DL is (mostly the DEs who just run past).

Yup.

I've known a lot of vets from the current conflicts, come home, go out and find themselves in a fight. It's not a good idea to generalize that they were completely innocent in any altercation, just b/c they served their country. Lots of stuff going on in that mind, from anger issues, ptsd, etc. and then mix in alcohol? Nor is it a good idea to generalize that a current or former Buffalo Bill is without fault. We don't know who instigated it and so should reserve judgment, but then again, to borrow from "The Great Gatsby" a little, an incident like this (usually) takes two people making bad decisions.

You forgot to source your "facts". I'll do you a favor and fill them in for you. 3) Sarah Palin Well here, we know you're just making sh-- up. Sarah Palin believes the world is only 6,000 years old, youbetcha. <wink>

I think you've eaten too many Magentas. Jesus would tell people the misguidedness of their ways, often by relating a parable to influence how people thought and acted. (Eventually, people in high places got sick of this kindness, love & peace/hippie/commie spiel and hung his ass on a cross). But he also had no tolerance for consumerism in place of religion. Hence, when he flipped over the market tables that were in the church yard and said, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, render unto the Lord what is the Lord's!" Just in case you ran out of Burnt Umbers which stimulate your brainpower, "what is Caesar's" was money, "what is the Lord's" was people's mortal souls.

Survivor: Wal-Mart

Until the 2nd half of the Cleveland game, the run-blocking and our "running game" did look like sh--. Some ado about the concussion among the worrywarts here and the chicken-littles in the Buffalo media. But, the posters here with the most credibility and among NFL people were not shifting blame. Go back and read Bill's 'Thoughts About the Game' and it's there in B&W... Trent had stretches of bad plays in a few games, e.g. first 3 quarters of the Browns game before he got it together and gave us a shot to win before Jauron and Turk went into a shell with 1:30 left. Rough patches happen to any QB (was that Trent's 'sophomore slump'), whether it's their fault or if they just aren't getting help from the other 21 guys. I'm not expecting perfection, I'm expecting progression. If you're so disapproving of a modified dink'n'dunk --- a scheme that's been proven to win in the AFC-E, like it or not, while the Bills have tried just about every other type of offense and had a whole lot of 3-4-5-win seasons to show for it.... If you are are ill for one or two of JP's longballs per game (mind you, this is against teams who don't have good CBs) in between awful pocket presence (exacerbated by his always looking for something to open up DEEP when that kind of time is not a luxury) and an erratic short-game.... Well, all I can tell you is to follow JP when he goes.

As an addendum to the post above: I'm going to be instituting our aged-nuclear-family's First (with annual intentions) Very Merry Pajama Christmas with parents, two brothers, s-i-l and nieces (one is scheduled for early Dec) and nephew. Terry robes, long johns, felted lounge pants, even red union suits! Have the wood stove going, make some Candian Bacon strata and homefries, pop in "Elf" and "...Grinch..." and make it less about presents than usual. That is my aim --- don't know if that's what's going to happen. When you gather too many people, things tend to go their own way.

All of those are possibilities. I think if he has any choice in the matter (read: if he gets offers from them), he goes to either Minnesota or ... wait for it ... wait for it ... The Jets. Consider that his style of play is relatively similar to Favre. Then consider the respect/manlove he has for Favre. Then consider that the Jets don't really have a QB developing under Favre, who's been downright bipolar re: retirement (I think he plays another year or two). I have nothing against JP except that he didn't/doesn't fit in the system here and that the game didn't 'slow down for him' in the pocket, as the phrase goes. Whether Mangini and Schottenheimer feel they can work with him is the question, but I think NY is JP's landing place.

I've been shaking my head over the commercialization for about the past 15 years. Knock off a 0 from your estimate and you'll be getting a close approximation of what I'll be spending per family member. And I try to make gifts practical. I.e. my brother's Sailfish rudder broke this fall when he was out with it, so I'm going to be getting a nice piece of red oak, and shave it down, stain to match, and polyurethane it. In the past, I've given car safety, jumpers and med kits, toolboxes and one of those nice stainless rolling racks for my other brother's pantry (has since told me it was the most useful gift he's ever gotten). No need to go big. The giving of gifts in the last week of the calender year was actually a Roman tradition --- they would give small tokens of coins, nuts, oranges, etc. --- that, like many customs (such as the Germanic one of evergreen trees), was incorporated and adapted into Christianity. I guess for the last 50-60 years, the Church of Retail Economics incorporated, adapted, and supersized from Christianity in that same vein, with exponential growth in ~ the past 20 years as more and more stores need a longer season to get them 'into the black.' Just another symptom of an economy that has fed too long on markup from selling other countries' goods and wares and producing less of our own.

I think they forgot to add the "This policy was bought and paid for by State Farm, Allstate, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield." Seriously, there's no limit to what insurance companies will do to sign people up for their grand Ponzi schemes. Make no mistake, it's them who've raised the cost of medical care in this country beyond belief. Only way it gets better is to take the leeches out of the picture, and then, have a setup where doctors actually want to cure you and never have to see you again. As long as it is the way it is, if they do solve what ails you, they lose a really-well-paying customer. I've seen the business end of this, as I'm sure most of you guys have. Went to an ENT recently for an ear problem that all the research and an RN I know with 30+ years experience tells me is fairly common Otitis media with effusion/'Glue Ear'. The doctor's had me in twice, pushed some allergy pills on me, and wants to run a brain stem test to check for an acoustic nueroma (~2000 cases per year in the US and requires pretty major surgery) vice everything else that's telling me a 15-minute typanostomy tube placement to equalize the pressure. What happened to the days of doctors who came to you, told you what was wrong, did what they needed to do and gave a bill that didn't look out of place next to a mechanic, etc. I paid $220 for a 20-minute visit, which I could tell he wanted to wrap up in 5 minutes but I kept talking and asking questions. You're treated like a money pinata. I stopped taking the allergy pills a couple of days ago and the ear feels so much better it's unbelievable. My problem is, I've still got no access to the tubes that'd prevent this from happening again (chronic). There's actually a device online that uses the Politzer method (pinch one nostril, send air up the other and swallow) to solve the problem... the EarPopper. Look on there and you'll read that in the US it requires an Rx, while people in most other countries can just order it. There's not a thing the AMA and the insurance companies don't have their fingers in. There are so many gateways put up in this country to real medical care and solutions that it's disgusting. And it's not so easy as going to another mechanic; you'd have to jump through more hurdles, wait a month for an appointment for all the other people the doctor can't/won't cure and then there's no assurance they'll do anything differently. There's too much money to be made off of people who're in such a position of pain that they'll pay anything.

If only the DEs had a good DT like Marcus Stroud, then we'd see what they can do! Then the High Motor Duo would be unleashed on NFL quarterbacks! Oh.... Wait.

So the problem is that Buffalo --- like the rest of the northeast --- is about 90-95% ethno-white. Maybe the feds should institute a forced relocation program like they do for school districts/busing. WNY/Buffalo's done their part by driving a lot of their population to the South. Where's the recipro, yo? Rueben Brown has stayed in WNY. I'm sure there's others. But, I think the point is this is much less about race than you make it out to be. It's an attitude/preference of the South & West's (and NYC/Boston) big cities vs. the collection of smaller cities and rural that you find in WNY. Some people like life in a smaller, slower community and some people don't. That said, even, the football season isn't that long. The rest of the year, guys can go wherever they like. I don't get all the potshots. And seriously, if they don't find places they like to hang out, why not invest in some? Why not build a hip-hop/etc. club in the city?