UConn James

The stations here in Patriette-land are reporting this in the station-breaks as an 'Aww shucks, he's such a great guy' thing that Harrison's career may be over. My reaction is the same as yours, and it's not bitter gamesmanship b/c I'm a Bills fan --- this punk cheap-shot artist being out of the NFL is a good thing. I figure it's too bad he didn't die on the field or get his brain permanently scrambled (that would be cosmic justice, no?). I don't normally wish ill on people, but he is a terrible human being, actually trying to seriously injure guys and taking joy from it. Now he'll wind up on some pregame show, all of which are getting more and more stupid.

Players are given un-publicly-announced warnings when they fail a league-conducted drug test. I think it's on the third failing test that it is publicly announced and they get the 4 game suspension. This is what happened to Wicky. I would bet that Travis's problem also involves the chronic.

There are examples of producers not wanting to mess with viewers' minds too much when the going gets choppy and storylines get complicated and/or the specific timeline is something that needs or should be preserved. I'll throw out directly that "The West Wing" last season did this on the presidential campaign trail. There was not one repeat during the season b/c to break it all up with the Iowa primary one week, and then candidate deciding whether to run the next week in a repeat would be much too much too confusing. I think Lost is in very much the same situation. And if they have too much week in the season at the end of the episode, I'd prefer they skip weeks. I'll also add that they're making more $, and helping the viewers out a lot, by repeating the previous week's ep at 8. Don't know how long they'll keep doing that, and I don't object to airing repeats this way, but they're doing it this week. And yes, it was at least partly to do with the production schedule. ABC, and any network really, didn't want to commit to a full run until they knew what the ratings were for the Pilot. Hence, they were actually filming episodes as those repeats were airing. The turnaround postproduction time is about two weeks.

B/c if this is all a vast gov't conspiracy, causing jet aircraft to break apart and fall out of the sky, sucking people out willy-nilly and killing numerous persons, they'll be bothered involving children by their sense of ethics?

"The play stands!" I don't know 'bout you, but I don't care what it takes, if I'm the QB or the receiver, I make that play work.

<sniff>

Not that I'm disputing that call, but the fact that Vick has one of the loosest chinstraps in the NFL (despite having the temple strap too) outside of kickers doesn't help.

Am I the only one who, when the color analyst said "Someone call Johnnie Cochrane!" after that play, first had an expression of from seeing the play, then when what he said sunk in, turned to a ? That guy apparently subscribes to Behind the Times.

A great question that has yet to be adequately defined in the NFL rules wrt the current Vick-style player. Hitting them in the backfield on an obvious running play, if a guy has a superfast release like Vick, you get hit with roughing the passer calls.

Where is that columnist and the mouthbreathers here who, in training camp, said we have "possibly the deepest LB corps in the NFL." I called BS then, and I call BS now.

He appeared to trip over his legs while trying to cut to the outside of Moulds' block. Spray of the black rubber pellets. Me shouting at him to Get up! while he stayed down. I too was wondering where his breakaway speed went. At 'The U' when he had those types of breaks, he put on the afterburners and didn't slow down until he got to the end zone. The weight he put on took away that burst.

JP - it's the hair. Really, #89. My s-i-l is a hairdresser. If he can't afford a haircut at this point (I would charge him ~$400 for the gas to run the lawnmower necessary to cut through that rug), maybe I can make an appointment for him at my own special yardwork or apple pie exchange. She will, of course, ask about his love life and try to foment soap-opera drama while he's sitting in the chair.

First, a space ship? That would be one big craft, with some pretty steep cliffs. Nevermind the pesky question of where the organic material, rocks, soil, etc. came from? It doesn't just rise out of the ocean floor. I don't think it was a ruse. They wanted Claire for the baby and Ethan killed Steve(?) with the specific goal of getting her back, thinking that the survivors were spineless and would just give him one of their own. Six bullets to the chest amply showed he thought wrong. The Others and whoever else just want a child, any child. Claire's baby, Aaron, is not suddenly safe. The pyschic said that if anyone else raised him, there would be bad things; nothing that said everything was in the clear once he was born. The baby's father is the stooge who told Claire, 'Why not have a baby? We can do this' and that he would be there for her. Then when her stomach started getting bigger, he came home with a six-pack and was like, 'I can't do this.' At which point, Claire looked into adoption.

From the Business First article, linked from the frontpage: Pardon me if $100M-200M+ in public money chipped in for building a new stadium (probably more after every politician will include his/her own little side projects e.g. how the Vikings stadium will have housing, nature preserves, and an alien spacecraft landing site) is a damn expensive way just to extend the lease and get rid of the escape clause. Nevermind asking how the WNY economy and businesses will be able support the stadium's luxury boxes (the cash crop of the NFL) when it's already stretched pretty tight with what we've got.

Saw there were 31 million viewers last Wed., which I believe is ~ 10 million more than the ratings had at any time last season. Probably a big part of that is many people got the DVD and became hooked. At times last season, it was really difficult to follow the show's timeline as it jumped around with repeats for three weeks here, four weeks there.... Mostly to do w/ the production schedule and being behind b/c of having to wait to see how the Pilot did in ratings. They started shooting in July for this season, and we should all hope that the eps are shown in the set order.... especially as the storylines and mysteries become more convoluted.

I've been advocating that since training camp. Let JP and Duke learn to play together now, rather than start from Square One next year. Teague, if he ever had it, has lost it. Was it any coincidence that we started passing better, running better, and winning last year when Tucker(?) came in at C for several games when Teague was injured? Wonder of wonders, that was the same time when the bull-rushes up the middle stopped. Word is out on how to beat Trey.

Horrible to say? No, just realistic. The OL weakness hasn't been adequately addressed in a long time, and I think it's hammered home to everyone but TD (I think he knows it, but the pickings were slim in the offseason) by now that you can't draft one first-rounder and sign a couple of drift-offs and think everything's fixed. We've been paying the piper for several seasons now. McNally may be a great OL coach, but you can't make bricks without clay.

How does BR look right now? In this order...

Not if they can just bull-rush JP b/w our very own matadors, especially Chris V, but ESPECIALLY Trey Teague. They had a time-clock and the D was on him in 0.9 seconds. That was just ugly. What is the common link from where Ds were pressuring Drew last year? Say what you want about Teague and his knowledge and leadership but he's either getting pushed to the side or into the backfield. He wasn't worth that $2M roster bonus and he's not going to be here next year.

I've just been wondering now whether it refers to that button. Maybe you have to lift it up, instead of pressing it down, as Walt was saying....? I don't think it's just (or, even) about spiritual belief; I got the impression that there was some specific thing being mentioned. Can't wait for Wed.

Vick had 5 safety valves on every play. He'd calmly budge sideways from our blitzers, make a throw you thought was going nowhere, and BAM! Complete. Excellent pocket prescence, and barring that, excellent scrambling. If you compared the QBs today, one's got it down, and one just didn't (tho I think it'll just take him time to learn it, as it did for Vick). I don't know if Everett can come right in and be that kind of guy. Campbell actually had a chance on one dump-off pass, that he usually catches, but he was tripped up.

Would that you're right, but since Evans and Moulds aren't making much of a difference, how do you figure two rookies will? Apparently Josh Reed is turning into JP's first-look guy. Josh Reed.

Thanks, it's a Duracraft three-speed. Low, medium and Arctic. I left it on one night last week and woke up with frost on my lower peaks.

It doesn't matter that you spelled it wrong intentionally, or that you put the face immediately afterward. That phrase can never be uttered unless the playoff implications means that Miami team must win in order for our team to get into the playoffs (and even then, it must be preceeded by the admission "I want to kill myself for saying this, but...." BiB, as acting V.P. of the TBD Anti-Capitulation Agency, will be sending you a mailbomb this week. I'll pick Thursday in the betting pool. Tough to get those gov't boys going on Mondays, and then there's the requisite three-day waiting period for C4 in most supply companies.

Yes. The human tragedy of being optimists is coming back to haunt everyone here as everyone's homes are burned to the ground, our dogs have all run away and the November issue of Popular Mechanics will be delayed by three days. We must all bow to BB, b/c he tried to warn us all about the outcome of the life-or-death situation of watching an oblong ball being advanced on a field of turf.