Lori

No worries. That particular play, it was third-and-forever from the two. Wasn't much doubt that they were on the way, and changing up the snap count would've been nigh impossible because of the crowd noise. Personally, I thought they should've run up the white flag on that play, handed off, and sent out Moorman. As it was, I ended up with, "Well, at least it was ONLY a safety, and not a sack/strip/touchdown." (And as we saw at the Meadowswamp, he could manage that just as well ... )

Not if it's the play I remember, where the Bills line caved so fast that the Pats d-linemen almost beat Losman to the spot he was dropping back to. Either way, he didn't run out of the end zone -- he tried to GET out of the end zone, but ran into Ty Warren, who was already finished using and abusing Chris Villarrial. Here's how I broke down the replay: http://www.stadiumwall.com/index.php?s=&am...st&p=770220

Dragging this out of the depths of the Stadium Wall archives, to inform you that Mr. Beck is now a free agent. http://myespn.go.com/blogs/afceast/0-7-163...-24-months.html And the first one to say "Git 'er done, Russ!" gets smacked upside the head. Oh, was I ticked when CamCam came to his senses and yanked Beck out of that game in Buffalo. Otherwise, he may have set new records for offensive futility that afternoon ...

Posting PMs: not cool. Thanks.

Nope, at least not in the bricks-and-mortar sense. Parking lot across Abbott Road from and slightly south of the stadium, owned by this guy. Although I have heard you can probably find the legal beverage of your choice in said lot on gameday ...

Sarcasm ... Jack claims bragging rights for being the first one at Hammer's every year for our TBD Tailgate. (Or at least he did until Rockpile started camping out overnight there.) And of course, for true Bills fans, 6 a.m. merely marks the Opening Ceremonies for the crew waiting to get into Lot 1 ...

Huh. Might be an "allow" setting. Worked in FF for me, but only on the cached site. In addition to all the graphics, it also adds words to the heds -- I now have "Fun" Bill Simmons, "Cute" Rick Reilly, and "Glittery" Grading on a Curve (in a nice shade of lavender, I might add. Someone had some free time, obviously ...

Deadspin I think it might be fixed now -- just tried it on Graham's blog, and it didn't work. That's why I included the cached version. Unicorns and rainbows, man. Wow.

Cached version: http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:ssdn4...=clnk&gl=us

Sorry, WHDL doesn't come in too well down here. Chuck's teaching a class on sportswriting at SBU now, you know. (And yes, still telling students that if making money is important to them, they may be happier going into a different field.) I don't think I know anyone who loves their job more than he does, though -- and watching people congregate around him in a room containing some national columnists and sprinkled with a couple of Pulitzer Prize winners, I'm not sure I know anyone more respected by his peers, either. After about the 20th person stopped by to say hi, Budd Bailey laughed and told me, "It's like walking around with a senator."

Not ahead of Dubenion. Chuck Pollock picked him (ahead of Moulds, not Duby) because he figured anyone in the HOF automatically deserved a spot. I respect that, but to me, he got into Canton because of his Packers career, not his 3.75 years here. Honestly? I might have put Jerry Butler on the team ahead of him, too. I will say that Lofton was a lot easier to accept than putting Nate Odomes in ahead of both Bob James and Booker Edgerson, though. That's just foolish talk.

That'll teach me to assume. So going back to your earlier post, you do like Parker more now that you've heard a better sampling, but Schopp is beginning to wear on you. Think that's where I'm at, too. I will add this, though: all bets are off regarding Bills postgame shows, because you'd have to have the patience of Job -- or a lifetime supply of Valium -- to sit through some of those drunk-and-belligerent calls. Preston, Mike also ticked me off when he suggested that if Jim Ritcher was worthy of a spot on the Wall of Fame, guys like Greg Cater and Mark Brammer should also get a shot. (Nice pull from the Bills' 1980 draft list, by the by.) If you'd like to handle that one while you're here, too ...

Nope, they have electricity and indoor plumbing now. And the people who came in from all over the country for last week's sportswriting symposium at Bona had plenty of nice things to say about the area, as well. Hopper, you're roughly the same age as Vaccaro and Wojnarowski, right? They were both back, of course ...

(getting the popcorn ready for what looks like an entertaining evening)

Nope. Rule 6.1, last paragraph: "No playing Coach or playing Manager or goalkeeper shall be permitted to act as Captain or Alternate Captain." The Canucks can call Luongo whatever they like, but he cannot wear the C or deal with referees during the games.

Sad part is, I could totally see that happening. I still remember his incredibly athletic pick-six against the Cowboys on MNF, and wonder where that is the rest of the time ...

Wait. I encouraged someone to listen to Schopp? Was I ill that day? Guessing I was responding to someone who was bashing him without listening to him, and I do still have a problem with that, as well as some of the personal attacks I've seen here and elsewhere. Morning drive: You've been here long enough to know that Howard is one of my favorite people in the business. Jeremy still goes a little too much for the "edgy" sound IMO, but I don't mind that as much as I used to, and I always make sure I tune him and Sully in on Sunday mornings as I'm driving in to the stadium. That said, I'd just as soon hear Howard go solo (and preferably in the afternoon slot), but I think he likes having someone there to banter with. Afternoons: I'll be dead honest -- I don't listen much. I didn't mind Mike on WNSA (although for some reason, his 15-minute rant on why Hasek should be the Sabres' captain, until McManus finally cut him off by reminding him about the rule that says a goalie CAN'T wear the C, still sticks in my mind after all these years). Parker is a vet who plays his "voice of the fan" part well. But for some reason, when the two of them get together, they grate on my nerves. I actually enjoyed Parker's take when Brad would fill in; haven't heard him much with Nick, but I'm guessing I'd have a similar reaction. Wouldn't mind seeing Nick take a bigger role with the station, in fact. As for Schopp's current on-air personality ... not my style, and I think I'd best leave it at that.

Hey, Denver needs help in the front seven. Think they'd take Kelsay? Oh, wait. McDaniels has seen him play. Scratch that idea ...

http://lightningstream.surfernetwork.com/M...n%201230%20WECK Talking golf right now, but only until the bottom of the hour -- it's a regular show, on every Monday night. Brad's on until 7, and then Allen Wilson and Rod McKissic host an hour-long show after that ... Oop, never mind. Forgot about the Yankees game.

Seems odd that they wouldn't get something done during the draft, after trading back up into the second round to take Richard Quinn, then do another 180 shortly thereafter. Then again, it's already been an ... interesting ... offseason for the Broncos front office. Because it IS right after the draft and Denver still has some holes to fill, do you think they might be looking for a player-for-player swap instead of picks? And might Buffalo's interest have cooled -- if it was ever past lukewarm to begin with -- now that Shawn Nelson is in the mix?

Funny/strange that the Bills made him the lone Rochester representative on the Wall of Fame selection committee instead of Maiorana, then.

It's been corrected. Hmmm. Almost like someone from ESPN read this post. They didn't recompute the averages, though, and I'm far too lazy to check all those links to see if they're correct. (Actually, I have a game to go cover right now, but I wasn't planning on it anyway ...)

That was the excuse, especially for the defense. (I've been told the members of the committee tried to argue both decisions -- with one suggesting they dump the TE if they wanted to keep the third WR -- but the marketing dept. wasn't having any of it.) To me, it's difficult NOT to think there was an ulterior motive behind only allowing one player at a position where there were two Hall of Famers to choose between.

Guessing they built that page before the draft, planning to come back through and update the links, but missed that one somehow. At least I HOPE that's what happened, because otherwise, that is pretty bad. This year's USAT link, which has the Bills at A- and the Fins at C: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nf...ft-grades_N.htm

... except that the 25th Anniversary Team was selected in 1984, when Bruce was still at Virginia Tech. DEs on that team were Ben Williams and Ron McDole. --As already noted, the "strangeness" of a one-RB set disappears when one thinks about the possibility of having to announce O.J.'s name. --They should have broken down the OL into 2 tackles/2 guard/C, but with two HOF guards and Ruben, they weren't going to do that. My five, from right to left: Wolford, DeLamielleure, Hull, Shaw, Barber, keeping together the left side of that dominant AFL line. --Biscuit and Talley were obvious choices along with Stratton; I went with Jacobs over Haslett, and Spielman only played one full season here. --And of COURSE they were going to include Tasker.