Lori

After watching this team, Lord knows I need a few shots of something. The higher proof, the better.

... says the guy with the "8-8 forever" screen name ...

Where do you think I work now? Kidding, boss, just kidding. Our ME actually kicked ass and won statewide awards for his coverage of the Adelphia/Rigas mess, was instrumental in getting some trailer-park Nazis to pack up and leave his county, and battles the county commissioners on an almost weekly basis. Yeah, we've been known to run a few cute-kids-with-ice-cream photos ... and in a small town, stuff like that does have its place. (Their parents and grandparents do buy the paper, you know, or at least we hope they do.) But I've seen some -- not ours, of course -- that read exactly as you describe. In my specific genre, the football team may have gotten waxed by 50 points for the ninth game in a row, but "the kids played hard and we're still proud of them." That kind of stuff, more appropriate for a booster-club newsletter than an allegedly impartial newsgathering operation. Bleah.

As do I, minus the "humorous" part.

Right up there next to the ones from TWA.

Sure he wasn't told to call a "safe" play (like the end of the Cleveland game)? I'm still convinced he had someone whispering in his ear before those decisions were made. And with the call coming in as late as it did, there must -- MUST -- have been some discussion beforehand. A few weeks ago, I posted a column from Chuck Pollock which asserted that Mike Mularkey had changed (and not for the better) after two years of working for Tom Donahoe. I suspect something similar here, because Schonert, the guy who talked about being "more aggressive," ended up being anything but that. The way I see it, such a drastic change in philosophy doesn't happen without outside influence. Again, I'm not saying Schonert would be a lights-out OC with a different team after failing in Buffalo ... but if that ever does happen, well, it wouldn't be the first time, would it?

Ouch.

Nice Royal-Friggin' Lonnie analogy. And I agree. I'm not entirely sure about this, but I think I see a trend developing ... (Yeah, that was sarcasm.) That's why I'm not heaping all the blame on Schonert; it was bad before he got here, and if Jauron stays and he leaves, it will probably be bad regardless of who calls the plays next year.

Does Lombardi realize that despite the late-season shutdown, the Bills offense actually IMPROVED under Schonert? 2007 2008 Points scored 252 336 First downs 248 287 Third-down % 33.33% 39.90% Tot. net yds. 4434 4882 Rush yds. 1800 1842 Net pass yds. 2634 3040 Comp. % 59.10% 64.51% Penalty yds. 633 538 Sacks allowed 26 38 Fumbles-lost 20-7 33-15 Even those exceptions are merely a return to the typical performance from seasons prior to 2007, rather than the abnormally low numbers from last year. Now, mind you, I'm not saying this year was good, or even acceptable. Not by a long shot. But when changing the coordinator and drafting a couple of WRs were the only differences from last year's dreadful showing, well, how much improvement could we have reasonably expected?

Somehow, I missed this on the first readthrough. You are a sick, twisted man, Dean. That's what I like about you.

<========= Have I mentioned lately how much I dislike Gannett? Bet they didn't drop the price any, though. I expect anywhere from 20-24 pages in the Times Herald, my daily paper; we live in a rural area, and there really isn't that much local news unless they turn it into a "community" newspaper. (Read: pictures of babies and puppy dogs, and cotton candy for the mind.) Twenty-six pages for a metro in a one-newspaper town (R.I.P., Cincy Post)? Yeah, that's a different story.

Absolutely. I was telling Lee about it tonight, in fact, and he said the same thing -- "They were doing that when I was in school."

All well and good if it's a tailwind, not the crosswind we had. And the Hawk claims yet another victim ...

You take that back.

So all I need is an "in" ... like maybe a Super Bowl win and some Miller Beer commercials on my resume? I'll have to work on that. Swerving this thread out of the ditch and back on topic, a reliable source suggests that Brad will be moving to afternoons at the beginning of March. Now, if I could only get WECK/WLVL in my car anywhere south of the stadium ...

Yup, that be me. I decided spending some quality time in Danny's was a better option than standing in Lot 1 trying to keep from being blown away by the gale-force winds. When I got there, Howard was doing his show prep. He asked me about the game with Camarillo's backward punts -- he couldn't remember exactly when it was played -- so I directed him to that (and the Jets/Raiders cold games) in the media guide. I've known Howard for several years, although it would be presumptuous of me to claim him as a friend. He's a good guy, as is Brad. Speaking of which ... for those of you on Facebook, you can join up with the Brad Riter Radio Network if you're so inclined. VA, my friends here are too kind, but I have a face made for radio combined with a voice that would be perfect for silent movies ...

Well, at least the ones inside the stadium stayed in one piece. Here's a look at the practice field, and a video of the fieldhouse roof. (Let me know if you have problems viewing either one; they're posted on my Facebook page.)

You've heard me speak, correct?

Selling ads, doing voice-overs, stuff like that. Think Jon Summers at WKBW. It keeps him in Buffalo and in the industry, and no doubt pays a little better than the radio gig, which was just supposed to be a part-time add-on (before WIVB dumped him for Murph). And since GR decided to scrap the evening show entirely, I think "Extra Points" was his only remaining airtime at the station. Now that the season is over, obviously, so is the show. Best of luck, Dennis.

Catching up with this thread ... Tim is a regular guest, but not an employee of the station. That should narrow it down. And thanks for the support, Bill ... but I'm a print hack, not a talker.

Well, he didn't threaten me with the golf club he was carrying at the time, so I took that as a positive. More along the lines of, "tell them to take it easy on me over there," said with a laugh. He knows the deal -- his job makes him a lightning rod. I've told this before, but the first time I ever met Sully was at a TBD tailgate, back when GR still set up in Hammer's lot (and Brad Riter still worked there). A few of us ended up on the broadcast, with a little talk about this site. At one point, Brad looked at Jerry, pointed at us, and said something along the lines of, "You realize all these people HATE you, right?" Of course, that was several non-playoff seasons ago ...

Agreed. These last few years, there's been no shortage of stuff to be negative about, eh? And on a totally unrelated note, I got an interesting (but not exactly unexpected) reaction when I mentioned TBD to Jerry yesterday ...

Tim suggested this scenario last month, and from the Pats fans' response, you would've thought he'd committed capital murder. Check out some of the comments at the end of the first link:

Don't know about any specific plans, since I'm not in on this trip, but we found a good bar when we were up there for the Bills game. (Actually, the same place had been recommended to me by some friends from T.O.): The Loose Moose It's on Front Street, not that far west from Union Station, on your right-hand side (north) as you're walking toward the Rogers Centre.

Not even counting the 20-point beatdown of the Pats, the Chargers were an 8-8 team that would have been 9-7 without Ed Hochuli's blown call, and lost in Carolina by 2, at Pittsburgh by 1, and to the Colts by 3 on a 51-yard FG at the buzzer. Pats and their fans can B word all they want, but I would remind them that an 11-5 Denver team sat at home in 1985, while the Pats -- who had finished THIRD in the AFCE with the same record -- ended up in the Super Bowl. What comes around goes around.