RochesterRob

True enough. Plenty of candidates for this list.

Last I checked you did not have to go to church at gun point. Try ducking out of the "great leader's" rally in North Korea, China, or Russia and see where it gets you. Guys such as George Soros would love to have a chance to convert you over to their way of thinking.

I disagree about your take on Kelly but if you grew up in a house that adored him and your friends and neighbors revered him then you are apt to feel the same way. There was a huge amount of resentment towards Kelly and it carried through our playoff win over the Oilers of which quite a number were hoping that Reich would bump Kelly to the bench for good. I think that your perspective is too greatly influenced by your youth.

I'm guessing that your list is influenced by your youth which means there are Bills that you know little about. My five in no particular order and maybe it should be 10. Jim Kelly. Today he is revered but when he came in 1986 many thought he was haughty among other things. Too good for the local folk. Then there was the bickering Bills of which many thought the blame laid with Jim and a fair amount of it was resentment that Jim was doing well and quite a few were not. Fred Smerlas. In order to even play the game you have to have a high degree of bravado and determination. Associated with that often is being opinionated and Fred never lacked for an opinion. It was put out years ago that Fred talked his way off the team after having increasing hostility emerge from players such as Chris Burkett. Love him or hate him Fred was a leader and if he were on the SB 25 team the outcome may have been different. Ralph C Wilson. Lou Saban. His AFL Championship teams created a permanent loyalty from WNY and his exit during the mid 1970's placed a spotlight on one of Ralph's least desirable qualities in being a team owner. Cookie Glichrist. Outspoken and simply out there. The team's earliest encounter with a free spirit who barely functioned in terms of team protocols.

There are plenty of options within the Catholic Church. I just did not see it as a younger man. The priest we had until I stopped going around age 17 pretty much did the fire and brimstone routine but not quite to the drama level of a Southern Baptist preacher. At the time I thought that was mandatory by the Church. The priest does have latitude in delivery the Homily. The guy we have who is latter middle age talks like Gabe Kaplan's Mr. Kotter in terms of making the Gospel reading analogous with somebody from his life and usually a family member. The priest who proceeded him liked to talk about historical figures even if it was somebody obscure. More than once I found myself looking up that figure to get the full story. Further, this same priest was a bit of an intellectual so you had to listen closely but there was a payoff in doing so. The big issue for any person is their emotional and intellectual growth and if they are ready to absorb what is coming from the pulpit. Some people just will not get anything out of a service because they are not ready inside but that does not mean as time progresses that they will not grow as people. Having said that if you are sitting there and your mind is open to what is being said but it is not resonating with you then maybe it is time to try a different parish or maybe a different branch of Christianity.

Further, with the recent moves Spotrac has us at just under 63M for the cap versus being at nearly 100M just a few weeks ago. That will get eaten up by signing a fair number of players who will just below top shelf in terms of quality. Who knows? Maybe a valuable vet QB will be available via trade and we will need nearly half of that for reworking that QB's contract. The top 4 of the draft are far from the only options.

All GM's look at a multitude of players from different positions because the draft can unfold in a variety of ways. Looking at Smith could mean a lot or could mean nothing.

Or just a deception on the Pats part to make Rosen look more appealing than he really is. Goad some team such as the Bills to invest heavily then regret it later as the prospect never lives up to the hype. Hopefully, our Batman in the form of Beane can see past the cunning display put on by the Pats version of the Joker.

Interesting that you mention photos. I never had a dorm or curriculum mate take pictures but always thought my yearbook and dorm pic were not flattering. Last night I felt a little better about all that. I can remember faces and buildings fairly well so there is that. I have to be fairly careful as to what stories I relay just in case an old dorm mate or classmate is on here. For one I always seemed to draw girls that came with complications.

For the moment I will be a little guarded as to where but will say it was a junior college in the region and the time was at some point during the 1980's. The main theme for this post is maybe I am at a little more peace as far as what transpired in the past. I used to second guess my curriculum choice a fair amount but now accept it was something I wanted to do for the sake of learning versus being a high salary generator. Second, people sure dressed shabbily when I think about it today even though the clothes were considered trendy for the day. Third, I am grateful for the instructors even though a few were not perfect. I had a falling out with a person I revered back then as this person in my mind got a little big for his pants years later. Fourth, time can sure be a big equalizer. There was a girl I liked back then and she thought she was too good for me at the time. I saw her maybe 15 years ago and she looked like she weighed 400 lbs which made me feel better about how things worked out. But in keeping with the spirit of the thread today I see her as just another person with human failings just like everyone else myself included. Last, for the start of this thread. There are certain people I miss but glad that socially I did not peak during college.

I'll inject my experience at this juncture. I was raised Catholic and as of the last dozen years attend Mass every week. I went through a period of questioning of what I was getting out of it and thus a 25 year absence from Mass. It seemed like the parish priest had his own agenda that he pushed which did not encourage me in the least. If I had kids I would hope that they would experience it and if it did not suit them at a young age to maybe give it another shot in middle age as I did. I get so much more out of it having lived life for quite a while versus being a kid receiving a lecture w/o context. As others have said there are both good and bad people in the Catholic Church as there are in other institutions of humanity. You just have to seek out the good in any situation.

I knew plenty of Jack Arnold's growing up as feared heads of the family.

Philly had more of its pieces in place when they made that trade. For a lot of those 17 years we used high picks on "high ceiling" guys such as Mike Williams, McCargo, Parrish, Whitner, and Maybin to name a few players who underachieved or flat out did not work out. Why trade McCarron if he is playing at a highly productive level? Why insert an unknown quantity into the starter's role just for the sake of doing so?

UGH!!! We are back to calling people who have differing thoughts "stupid, or annoying, or wrong." Can people who think that gambling away the future on one draft pick be considered in those terms? I for one believe so.

There can be a difference between 17-21 true first round picks and players who will be taken later but will round into capable starters early in their careers. It's nice to think that we can load all of our starting 22 with All-Pro's but the reality is capable starters are players every team has to rely on.

I don't see the term "franchise QB" stamped on any of these guys' foreheads. Instead we have a bunch of guys with both a high ceiling and a low floor due to in part personal attitude. If there were truly a franchise QB there then the Browns would have been presented with "we'll give you not just one farm but two farms" for the number 1 overall pick.

The saying "there is safety in numbers" is especially true during the draft. The more the picks the more likely a productive player or two (or more) may be found. Look at our own drafts back in 1979 and 1987. Those two drafts set the team up for playoffs right after those respective years. We had more than capable QB's in Ferguson and Kelly respectively at those times and getting into the playoffs based on the contributions of those players alone most likely would have not gotten us into the playoffs.

Your logic is faulty. There is a risk factor in any pick and it is compounded if multiple picks are used to obtain one player. It is not only if the one heavily invested player that is lost but the opportunity lost on the others. I would bet that many of the riverboat gamblers here today were crying on the old BBMB about giving the Jags a pick when we obtained Rob Johnson that turned into Fred Taylor.

Stop being intellectually dishonest. Not all those teams used multiple picks to get one player. Not every last one contributed to their team in a meaningful way (Mahomes) last year.

I get dark humor jokes just as much as the next guy but posts such as that should mean a suspension of privileges. Hess, Goehring, Himmler were no jokes to millions who suffered under that regime. My family on my father's side lost a lot including life. In the end it really did not matter who or what you were. It was get with the program or die. If a similar joke was made using a KKK figure I would imagine that it would not be allowed to stand. Or at least the tone would clearly show that the KKK figure was being made fun of.

Could all be a smoke screen for either the Bills or another team that has an agenda near the top of the draft order. Until I see a press conference by Beane or another GM I will file this under speculation once again. I don't know why people think that anybody would put the truth out there this time of year because it sure as heck is not to placate a vocal minority of fans.

There are quite few cut downs and put downs coming from the trade up to the top 4 picks for one of the top 4 QB's crowd. If you don't want to talk about Roquan Smith then you don't have to click on a thread about him or some other prospect to tell people "how stupid they are" or "Enjoy the next 17 year block of no playoffs." Further, these same people come off as their opinion is taken as gospel over at OBD. People that question other posters' "manhood" as far as not being afraid to take a chance often have doubts about their own manhood. I can relate to the OP as some days it is pointless to come on here to express an idea. I come on here in part to take a break from more stressful goings on in life and find no such relaxation.

I was not sure where to throw in this nitpick but here goes anyways. Other than being from the same era I don't know that Ralph and Art Modell overly compare. Modell owned a small set of department stores in Cleveland not unlike Sibley's in the Rochester, NY area. While Ralph was not a titan in a financial sense his wealth was greater than Modell's. This gave Ralph more flexibility in the 1960's and 1970's such as bailing out the Raiders. While Ralph was not the only one of means in the AFL as Bud Adams and Lamar Hunt were considerably more wealthy Ralph was the only one inclined to prop up the AFL. I don't think that it was even possible for Modell to do the same if necessary. Also, Modell was in a different situation stadium wise with Cleveland Stadium being nothing more than a county fair grandstand that was dated even for 1970. Contrast that with Rich Stadium opening in 1973 with a capacity of 80,000 fans. Sure the original Rich Stadium was not a palace but it was leaps and bounds ahead of Cleveland Stadium. While Modell made the most noise about a new stadium from around the late 1980's onward my understanding is that he was engaged in polite talk with local politicians considerably earlier than that.

We are heading into the time of the year when many teams sign camp bodies especially WR's.

This is assuming that this alternate owner would have kept the team in Buffalo especially if you went back 25 years. Ralph may have been "business first" in a lot of respects but he had an affinity for Buffalo the way many people have for their first house even though the current house may be nicer, better built, and more energy efficient than that first home.