Bob in STL

Probably because no real NFL players were playing ?

Stan Kronke coming in at #11 kills the whole thing.

Great news. Beane and Josh appear to have struck a win-win.

Beasley asking Pfizer to compensate his wife if he gets vaccinated. Beasley is now a distraction.

Ed Oliver

The kids in my neighborhood used to play “NFL Highlights” on the front lawns or in our back yards. It was a slowed down tackle game with several of us taking turns at QB and announcing the plays in a Facenda voice. It was a tribute to the best players of the late 60’s and early 70’s. Gale Sayers and OJ Simpson running sweeps, Larry Csonka blasting straight ahead for yardage, Fred Bilitnikof on the sideline, Lance Allworth with a one handed grab, Roger Staubach throwing deep to Bob “The Bullet” Hayes. Facenda helped us to learn and love the game.

Awesome trip down memory lane. Cookie was a great football player. Always concerned about money and getting his share. What a handful on and off the field. Paul McGuire had a great story of how Cookie once got permission from Ralph Wilson to sell Christmas trees in front of the Rockpile before games.

Great points. I respect his courage.

Why should they be “celebrated”? They say this on TV news and talk shows all the time. The word celebrate is used much too often in these circumstances. I will respect Nassib for his courage, and I think we as a society need to someday get past this, but I hardly think this is cause to celebrate.

Jim Kelly had been lobbying for Tasker to play WR more for a long time. He ran great routes and had sure hands. Kelly said, numerous times, no one in practice could cover him. I think back to SB XXV, Don Beebe was out and Al Edwards played in his place. Edwards was mediocre and was a huge drop off. I wish Tasker would have got more reps even back then, but it took several years for that to happen.

Oh. Thanks for this update. Play in Syracuse then.

Not sure there is a correct direction for every game. ?? Part of the charm of “Rich Stadium” was the wind and it is a real advantage if the home team gets the right kickers and learns how to play there.

I don’t like any possibility of playing in Toronto or at Penn State. Seems very Pegulish, even ridiculous, to mention Penn State, when all they have to do extend the lease until the new facility is built.

Yes. It’s the tip of the iceberg too. We are polarized by everything. 24 hour news channels, sponsored by who knows who, is only helping to divide us. When I was in school we all got vaccinated for MMR and other things. Form two lines. Boys here, girls over there. It was simple. Takeoff your shirt, alcohol cotton ball, jab, done. Put on your shirt and go back to class. I have 6 siblings, same thing. Never heard of any problems, maybe a kid got sick later that day but no lawsuits that I can recall. No parents demonstrating either. They were the post WW2 parents so they believed in the school system, the health system, the government, and the greater good. I miss them and those days. Today people seem to like to be offended, they like to talk about their rights all the time (even when they don’t understand them). So many threats, so much violence, so much litigation.

It’s pretty simple. If he doesn’t take the vaccine he is obligated to follow the protocols. If he doesn’t want to follow them then he can choose to retire. He says he doesn’t need the money. Millions of people who do need the money have been affected by this virus and by the protocols. He is one of the lucky ones in that regard.

I think these “great player that got away” threads are a testament to our scouting (college and pro). Beane brings in a lot of talent and good competition every year. Sometimes a good young player gets away. It least we can find them.

Once you build a good team it should be very hard for rookies to step in and make an impact in their first year. Yes, there are exceptions but overall this is the norm. In camp, Marv always said he was excited to see last years rookies.

I was at that game. Loved the uniforms and Coach Knox decision to wear white jersey at home on a sunny and beautiful September day.

Sounds like you confuse the fans with the local media. The fans did not hurt the teams culture. Far from it. Buffalo fans are Buffalo fans, they root for both teams with great passion. The toxic environment you speak of was something that ownership fed and made 100 times worse. You don’t win in the NHL by signing expensive free agents. You win by good drafting and developing players and being smart with the cap. Unlike the NFL, this takes more time. You add free agents to fill holes and you don’t overpay. To attract the best and not overpay you need a winning culture. Pegula got lucky with McDermott and Beane. He actually passed on McDermott once, listened to Russ Brandon, and hired Rex Ryan instead. Prior to that the Bills were “toxic” too. A 17 year playoff drought made the team irrelevant. Players did not want to come here or stay here. The ones that did cost us dearly. McDermott and Beane changed the culture. The Pegula’s are fine people and great for the city. The best they can do is find the right people to run their teams and step aside.

You are totally wrong. Pegula inherited a marginal playoff team that was mediocre and out of gas and in need of retooling. The team was stuck in mediocrity and Pegula came in with brash promises of winning Cups when he had no idea how to do it or who actually did. Regier originally sold Pegula on the Tanking but he was fired and never got to orchestrate it, hence his remark that the “fans will have to suffer for awhile”. I was at that game when some fans booed, and it was minimal, and the large majority of us were not happy with it either. The fans wanted to draft McDavid, which never happened anyway due to the lottery. Terry is 100% at fault for the dismal performance of his team. The buck stops with him. 1. He first gave Reiger a blank check to overpay on two terrible free agents in Ville Lieno and Christian Erhoff, which set the team back against the salary cap for years. 2. He fired Lindy Ruff due to impatience and yet he kept Darcy Regier who promoted the unqualified Ron Rolston to head coach. 3. After he fired Regier he set up an overly complex organization that had too many strap hangers from Pittsburgh and Penn State, and they had no vision. 4. He hired Pat LaFontaine on a whim, then he found out that Pat actually wanted to win, not tank. He approved the Ryan Miller trade against Pat’s wishes leading to Pat’s resignation. 5. After Pat resigned Terry approved of Terry Murray gutting the team and stripping them of veteran leadership. There was no one left with any pride to wear the jersey. 6. He hired 3 straight GMs, all of whom had never been an NHL GM before. 7. He is on his 7th coach in the last 10 years. These are the things that ruined the culture. The fans did nothing to hurt the hockey culture in this town and deserve better. Terry and Kim are 100% responsible for the mess they made of the team. To even suggest the fans played a part is ridiculous.

This is the most bizzare take in the Sabres problems. The fans are the cause? Wow.

We can say this but let’s be honest, appearance matters until proven otherwise. I liked JW’s work and his posts here on TBD until recently. I started to change my opinion on him when I saw how quickly he got agitated with certain posters and his willingness to do battle from the keyboard. I thought he could rise above some of that stuff. Next, I saw him on the Zoom interviews and I was shocked. The poor verbal communication skills aside, his unkept appearance at work, and on camera, tells me “I don’t care”. Sorry , I’m old school and I’m sure some of my values sound dated to many here. He is a veteran journalist, I expected more. I give him a pass on his first attempt to talk about the vaccine, even though Poyer respectfully requested not to discuss it. His repeated bumbling and mumbling on the topic came off bad for him.

The very first season he showed the ability to prepare and get the team ready. He showed the ability shore up exposed weaknesses from week to week. Right off the bat he showed he was no nonsense and had a vision for the players he wanted on the team. “Earn the right to win” - he wanted players that believed in that and were willing to do the work.

RIP Eugene Marve. Solid player who gave it his all.

I have done lots of hiring and recruiting. You almost never know if you have hired the exact best, especially for an entry level position, which this one is. Typically for an entry level position, you are happy when you have a pool with several candidates that are all qualified. Then you look can look beyond the basic job requirements and into what else they bring. Yes, diversity is something that you look for. To accept this you have to understand the benefits that diversity brings to an organization.