Sen. John Blutarsky

No, I'd prefer they not do that either. People also keep coming back to "how do you know your doctor nurse, etc don't already do x,y, z". You don't, but the point of the conversation is do you care if they do. Yes I care. If they do x, y, or z and I find out about it they will no longer be my doctor, nurse, etc. If my pilot turns out to be the guy I saw stoned/drunk/whatever out of his mind the day before I'm sorry I'm not getting on the plane. If that makes me horribly close-minded so be it. Ditto if my kid's pediatrician does an interview in High Times. I'm going to be shopping for a pediatrician. In the case of the vascular surgeon, here's his problme. Lets say they are on their "leisure time" and decide, you know what I'm gonna get high after all I'm on my leisure time. 5 minutes later there's an explosion at a factory and hundreds of people are injured. The hospital he works at calls in all the doctors, and being one of the few vascular surgeons in the area he gets called to help put some people back together. At that point, because of what he chose to do in his leisure time he's either in the OR high or not in the OR at all. Either way people who would have benefitted from his expertise and training will not and will die because of it. Such is the life of a surgeon, particularly that kind of surgeon. When you have a job where other people's lives depend upon your dexterity, coordination and judgment you have a responsibility not to engage in behavior which can impair those functions. Drug and alcohol abuse do that. I'll keep coming back to the other point that, for me, it shows poor judgment if you have a job where the consequences of getting caught are dire as in suspension, dismissal, potential loss of licensure which you have worked years to earn, inability to work in your chosen field, etc. This relates to football in that the consequences of getting busted are pretty severe. You get one freebie, then it costs you 4 game checks which is hundreds of thousands of dollars, the third time it's a year minimum. Given the half life of the detectable substance in question it's just too difficult to know when you can and when you can't without being in danger of severe penalty. If someone in that situation does it anyway don't you have to call that judgment into question?

and for some jobs I just don't care. My surgeon, my pilot, my air traffic controller, these people can find other hobbies.

Technically, weed is illegal in every state because possession violates federal drug laws. You won't get busted by state or local cops in Cali of you have a script but you can still get hit by the feds. I had a moderately funny encounter with a card carrying medical marijuana user. Believe me. Don't believe me. Whatever. This happened. He had just moved to PA from Cali and his cover story was that he was coming to us to continue his mental health counseling. He went on and on and on for like 20 minutes during his intake about how great it was, culminating by confidently pushing his card across the table and asking me how long it would be before he could get a new script because he was almost out. I had the duty to inform the gentleman that his card was only valid in California and that he would not be receiving any prescriptions for marijuana from us or any other doctor in PA because weed still is quite illegal here. It was like I ran over his dog. "Well what am I gonna do to get more weed??" "I'm sorry Sir I really don't know what to tell you." "This is BS, who can I call to get this straightened out?" "Uhm, nobody Sir it's against the law in this state." "Do you think they could mail it to me from California?" "Probably not, Sir that would violate Federal Law by transporting it over state lines and people have been FedExing illicit material for a while. Don't you remember when Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island got busted for doing that?" "Right...well, why am I here then?" "You said you wanted counseling, Sir." "F that, I just wanted the doctor to write a script like I got in Cali." Don't get me wrong, that office prescribed way worse and more addicitve crap every day legally. It was the guy's expectation that he was gonna get hooked up like right then because Cali said it was ok that amused me. On the scale of screwing up the universe weed is pretty low, IMO. It is however fairly illegal and since on at least some level your personal beliefs about something must bend before the law until it's legal it's not a good idea. I could believe that polygamy, underage drinking, and exportation of nuclear materials are totally OK but that doesn't make it so. Oh, and for the guy who knows a vascular surgeon who smokes regualrly PM me his name so he's not my vascular surgeon if I need one. That's just universally stupid given how expensive a mistake can be for him. Whether it's the weed's fault or not if he screws up and kills somebody and a good malppractice attorney has him drug tested he's f'd. He'd be a very poor non-vascular surgeon very very quickly. I personally know of an anesthesiologist who got canned and lost his license for getting high off his own supply. Just dumb.

The best all ROUND athlete of all time...

Tim, any scuttlebutt about Jon Runyan's knee? He was supposed to be out 4-6 months which is now-ish.

Well, apart from actually moving the game up 2 weeks to be played in Mid-January thereby eliminating all playoffs and allowing the league to perpetually nominate New England and New York to play each other, that'd be a great idea. I think you mean President's Day which is in February.

Runyan is currently broken and rehabbing after microfracture surgery on his knee which puts him out 4-6 months (June - August) Don't be surprised if he gets signed after he shows that he's healthy again. Runyan's Microfracture Surgery via Philadlephia Inquirer

Buffalo's a nice place to visit but I'm not coming back until they fix the systemic problems with the state. There are enough nice places to live that have easier, less expensive, problems to deal with. Honestly, I don't miss the snow at all. I get one good snowstorm a year here which is plenty. All the little annoying snows close school here anyway so now it's actually fun for me again when it snows (I teach school). Schools never close up there short of biblical events so you are forced to deal with the snow (shoveling multiple times a day, driving on nastyness, being cold and wet in general, etc.) way more often which makes it suck 4 times as bad. Here, I'll get my one 8-12 inch snowstorm a year, be off work for two days, have a good time playing with my kids and go back to work when it's 45 and sunny. Speaking as someone who grew up in WNY, the best month for me now is March. March in Philly = springtime. Sure we get the odd snowstorm and it can be gross on occasion. But in general it starts getting warmer and sunnier on March 1. By March 20 it actually IS springtime down here. Green comes back soooo much faster and the skies aren't 15 shades of gray for 5 months. For me this climate is perfect. I get 4 seasons, it's not too too hot in summer like DC gets and it gets just cold enough in winter that I see snow. Spring and Fall are long and wonderful. It would be hard for me to go back to winter up there. It's not bad when you're used to it but it's tough when you aren't acclimated anymore. I think the best scenario for me to "come home" would be in summers when school is out. if I could afford a little place on the river and a boat I'd be in heaven for June, July and August.

Anyone who signs TO to anything more than a 1 year deal and/or does so more than once does it at their own peril. I know the Bills are stupid and I tell them as much often but I don't think even they are that stupid. After the coming 5 win debacle they're gonna need more than clever marketing...

But don't forget. Vick should be banned for life. Life I say... [/sarcasm] In other news, Obama killed a fly and PETA is going berserk...no I'm serious...a fly. Dont ya think it hurts your cred just a bit when you take a stand for a fly? Honestly? I mean really, how did these people drive home at night without killing any insects? Even if you walk or ride a bike you're bound to run over or step on SOMETHING in your way.

And he was a 3rd round pick of the Bengals. I'm still confused.

If Maclin pans out the Eagles may move up. But right now Brown is terrible and didn't dress half last year. Baskett is mediocre at best. Curtis is a nice posession guy. Jackson is a smurf and Maclin is unknown. By my count, they have 2.5 WRs I'd like to have. In order to be top 5 you need to have at least one great WR. I'd rather have the Texans with Andre Johnson, Kevin Walter, Andre Davis, and Jacoby Jones or the Saints with Colston, Henderson, Meachem, and Lance Moore than the Eagles. No doubt though, the Bills have targets. Can we get them the ball in places they can be successful is the question. For example, Roscoe Parrish is waste of space right now. Put him on the Pats and he's Wes Welker with more wiggle.

If it's not Chase Daniel I don't care... I hate this part of the year. We wax endlessly about the virtues of UDFAs and #4 QBs. Ugh.

Yup. which is why I chose B. Personal feelings about MJ aside, if you play sports you can't do it. The penalty for getting caught is intolerably high.

Now can we just make those our goddamned regular uniforms please? Ralph? Anyone? PLEASE?????

Whaddya expect them to say? "Yeah we know it's only June and we're trying to sell tickets and all but man I've gotta tell you...we just blow. I mean seriously, don't even bother. I don't know how we're going to block a man and our defense is completely useless. We're considering forfeiting now and saving you the trouble." For the record I think Jauron sucks, has sucked, and will continue to suck well into the future.

So really, what he's saying is that there aren't any FA QB's available.

White on white with the schlong bison logo would rule.

Steelers got Jerome Bettis from the Rams along with a 3rd rounder for a 2 and future four. Rams felt the need to draft Lawrence Phillips. Terrific move. Actually this move created the need for the aforementioned Faulk trade. BTW: How nice would it have been to have Faulk in the backfield starting in 1999? Only cost STL a 2 and a 5. Also, the Dickerson trade was a disaster for the Rams because they wasted all the picks they got. Buffalo No. 1 – 1988 (Gaston Green, RB, 14th overall) Indianapolis No. 1 – 1988 (Aaron Cox, WR, 20th overall) Indianapolis No. 2 – 1988 (Fred Strickland, LB, 47th overall) Buffalo No. 1 – 1989 (Cleveland Gary, RB, 26th overall) Indianapolis No. 2 – 1989 (Frank Stams, LB, 45th overall) Buffalo No. 2 – 1989 (Darryl Henley, DB, 53rd overall) Dallas fleeced Minnesota in the Walker deal and the haul they got won them 3 Super Bowls. The Rams just got bad.

Worth a 4th or 5th round bid IMO.

That might be the case, but not for the reason you stated.

OK, so the Bills told him he would start and that's bad?

Rob? Is that you?

Buffalo under 7.5 I'm sticking to 5-11 until I'm proven wrong.

I wonder how RJ would shake out in the metrics.