The Senator

Dear "The Dean" - Despite your usual snotty tone, you are clearly of a superior mind and I couldn't agree with you more. It is completely unheard of for a successful college head coach, with no NFL experience whatsoever, to jump directly to an NFL head coach's job and be successful, much less win a Superbowl - or two. Stupid Senator. Signed, Jimmy Johnson

Probably not - I don't think Taylor Potts will come out early. But maybe in 2010 - even if he does lead the NCAA in every stat for 2 years and wins the Heisman - we'll be able to pick him up in round 7 or as an UDFA since, after all, he plays for... Mike Leach

As I recall, Spurrier eschewed the long hours of your typical NFL HC , preferring the golf course, and it was reflected in his team's on-field performance. He was a freaking disaster in DC. The real Mike Leach, OTOH, embraces long hours and - unlike Spurrier (and certainly unlike Jauron), gives great post-game pressers, like his response to this incident... Tortilla Touchdown Said Leach... "I have a real problem with us getting penalized with the throwing of tortillas, especially when you don't know who is throwing them anyway. At no level do I see where the Red Raider football team is responsible at all for any tortillas being thrown. We watch over them very carefully, and before they ever go on the field, we ensure that none of them have tortillas."

But you can bet RW is now kicking himself for not heeding The Senator's advice to replace both Jauron AND Schonert with - while he was still available - "The Mad Scientist of Football" himself...

See now I thought Jennifer's Body was going to be about... Jennifer's Body

Actually, Marv couldn't even search that far - Marv was Marv's first choice, after Mularkey abruptly resigned, but Ralph said no. In hindsight, Marv might have been a better choice.

Actually, the next casualty might be Trent Edwards.... The Three Amigos

The burning question on Ralph's mind with now - At 84 years old, can Marv give me one more season?

I would like for Dick Jauron to show up one morning and find this where his parking space used to be... link

"Last straw" is probably just what it was - I'm sure RW has been second-guessing the stay-of-execution he granted both Schonert AND Jauron the entire off-season, and what he saw this pre-season - starting in Canton - was the proverbial 'straw that broke the camel's back'. Too bad Ralph didn't follow his gut last winter. If he fired Schonert then, Jauron may have quit out of principle, and Ralph could have gotten a 2-fer - a head coach that doubles as his own offensive coordinator, namely...

As a coach under contract who was fired, Schonert receives full payment of his salary, regardless of whether he works or not, so Ralph saves absolutely ZERO dollars by this decision. As was said, Ralph's mistake in deferring to Jauron and not firing Schonert at the end of last season like he wanted to do. At least now Jauron knows RW is pissed, and that he's next on Ralph's hit list.

Again, Ralph wanted this done (firing Turk) at the end of last season - his mistake was deferring to Jauron. Dick's gotta be feeling the heat now too.

Couple of weeks ago would have been nice, yes, but end of last season - when Ralph wanted to do it - would have been even better. At least we would have had a shot at...

Simple, yet profound - and sounds a bit like... Mike Leach "We've focused on playing to the best of our ability, becoming the best team we can be, rather than really focus on them," said Leach, who is starting his 10th season with the Red Raiders. "And we kind of do that every week. Focus on us and become the best team we can be."

No, the guy we're gonna want won't be coming out 'til 2011... Taylor Potts

Amazingly, some Poles thought they might fare better under Hitler than Joe Stalin - whose atrocities were every bit as barbaric as Hitler's, if not as well-documented. Stalin, who made a secret pact with Hitler to divide Poland 'down the middle' , invaded from the east 17 days after Hitler attacked from the west. My father was 13 he joined the Polish Underground - his accounts of sickening, wanton depravity by both the Germans and the Communists are too disgusting to think about. He never saw any of his family again - when he returned to the village of his childhood, it was completely gone, burned to the ground. When offered the choice of returning to Poland or coming to the US, he chose to come here for fear the Russians would kill him in retaliation for his activities during the war. Even decades later, he was afraid to visit his homeland for fear the communist regime would seek him out for reprisal. One can just imagine how brutal the Communists must have been to instill a fear that lasted so long after the war ended.

The Poles were the first to fight back against Hitler's barbaric aggression, and also the first to throw off the yoke of communism. An article about the commemoration ceremonies from this week's AMPOL Eagle... Poland - First to Fight

Turn that baseball cap around.

Couple points of clarification, SJBF... Lou Saban & Chuck Knox were not fired - Lou quit on Ralph twice (the second time, in mid-season); Chuck Knox chose not to remain with the Bills, and left for Seattle when his contract was up. It's debatable whether Lou or Marv is the Bills greatest coach - but Lou's name would be on the Wall of Fame with Marv's, had he not quit - twice. Cookie was only here for one of the two AFL Championships and only here for a total of three seasons. Don't know he's considered "the great Bill ever" - but his name probably belongs on The Wall. I think that Ralph recognizes the Gilchrist's talent and contribution to the team, but is probably ambivalent because Cookie caused so much havoc off the field... "He could be an All-Pro today, Bills owner Ralph Wilson said. He had the size, 250 lbs., but could run like Thurman Thomas. He had only a high school education, but he could be very, very entertaining. He was smart, but he was hard to control. He gave us three years and he was very instrumental in our success back in those days." It's probably behavior and commenst like this that make Ralph fell ambivalent about putting Cookie on the Wall... In that first championship season in 1964, things began to unravel. In November, Cookie was cut by coach Lou Saban after refusing to take the field in the first half of a game, against the Boston Patriots. Just before halftime Saban told Gilchrist to go into the game, even though the Bills were just going to kneel on the ball. Gilchrist, upset that he wasn't getting the ball enough, refused. The Bills went on to lose their first game after winning nine in a row and some say Gilchrist was used as a scapegoat by Saban in a ploy to ignite the team and to solidify his hold on the team. If Saban wasn't afraid to cut one of the best players on the team, if not the league, no one was safe. Gilchrist had also blasted Jack Kemp in an interview with Sport magazine. "Kemp passes too much and then we get in trouble and Lamonica has to come in and straighten us out. The trouble with Kemp is he uses me 18 to 20 times a game. Lamonica uses me, boom, boom, boom, three or four times in a row, 30 to 35 times a game and I stay hot. Kemp picks his plays out of a hat. Lamonica is smart." Incidents and comments like those, coupled with some off-the field personal problems, led to the Bills trading him to Denver for Billy Joe - the 1964 AFL Rookie of the Year, and caused Lou Saban to say of the trade... "It had to happen. The situation between Cookie and the Bills had become impossible. He had been a great player, I wish him well in Denver." Polian was a hothead who brought in on himself. Ralph 'put up' with Bill's temper tantrums, until the proverbial 'straw that broke the camels back' - calling Ralph's late daughter a c%nt. Ralph did fire Butler, but Butler was as good as gone anyway - in his mind, he was already headed to San Diego. Ralph repeated asked Butler about his intentions after the season (Butler's contract was set to expire) and, when he felt so uncomfortable with Butler's refusal to commit, Ralph felt he was going to have to go get another GM anyway, so he shot Butler and (unfortunately) brought in Whitey. If the Bills won just one of those four Superbowls - and I don't think Ralph suited up for any of them - you probably wouldn't disparage him so harshly. But I understand your frustration. This playoff drought has got to end. Ralph needs to put a parking space at OBD for... Mike Leach

In that case, you want to replace Dick Jauron with... Mike Leach

Well, if Trentie goes 3-and-out on his only series, or throws the INT that allows the Lions to score the 1st TD, he'll have done nothing to make fans feel more comfortable about him as a starter - especially if Fitzpatrick come in and gives a solid performance.

Damn funny. (Unless you're one of the folks that predicted Edwards was 'the guy')

Well, that's one way to get out of paying $500 million in debts. He's likely had more plastic surgery to alter his appearance, and is now in Thailand buying and molesting young boys to his hearts content.

You need to check out the Bleacher Bar at Fenway Park - relatively new (open a little over a year, I think) - enjoy a Cape Codder (they tend to skimp on the cranberry juice, but make it up in vodka) while gazing out at the surreal Fenway Park vista from the warning track at center field... Beacher Bar - outside Bleacher Bar - inside The Bleacher Bar

and you in your own delusions