Lori

Woof. Like I said, it's just cutting and pasting from the archives at this point; this ground has been well-covered. My only concern is that otherwise well-meaning people don't actually take the idea seriously. And considering ICE was the one who gave Flutie the classic "Circus Midget" moniker, I'd bet on Hogboy myself. ....mmm, bacon......

Corp, start saving your money for that plane ticket NOW, because TT is eligible for the Class of 2006. (That ceremony is only 15 months from now...)

I'm thinking Gilbride signed a three-year contract.... meaning the Bills are now off the hook for his salary either way.

Your reputation precedes you.

Mmmmmm.... bacon...... I'll try to answer this seriously, though. Why? Dunno, really. Maybe because I've already got the stats at hand, because I've had to answer this so many times before. And maybe because I'm still hoping that this will eventually go away if I answer it often enough.... First, you should know that because of the vast differences between the US and Canadian games, CFL statistics are not factored in when a candidate is considered for enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH. That's direct from Hall of Fame Vice President of Communications/Exhibits (and Buffalo native) Joe Horrigan. So here's the current book on one Douglas Richard Flutie: career USFL stats: 134-281, 47.7 completion %; 2109 yds, 13 TD, 14 INT, 67.8 QB rating. playoff record: 0-1 (20-17 L to Baltimore Stars, 1985) career NFL stats: 1172-2141, 54.7 completion %; 14686 yds, 86 TD, 68 INT, 76.4 QB rating. playoff record: 0-2 (27-13 L to Redskins, 1986; 24-17 L to Dolphins, 1998) overall career stats: 1306-2422, 53.9 completion %; 16795 yds, 99 TD, 82 INT, 75.4 QB rating. career playoff record: 0-3 Pro Bowls: 1. Top 50 rankings in any passing categories: none. This August, Steve Young and Dan Marino will become the 20th and 21st modern-era (post-World War II) QBs to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Think about that for a minute - out of the hundreds of quarterbacks who have played NFL football in the last 60 years, only 21 have been elected to the Hall. Of those, 15 led their teams to at least one league championship; here are the only exceptions: Dan Fouts - 43,040 yards passing, 254 TD. Six Pro Bowls, three-time All-Pro, 1982 NFL MVP. Sonny Jurgensen - 32,224 yds passing, 255 TD. Five Pro Bowls, three-time league passing leader. Jim Kelly - 35,467 yds passing, 237 TD (NFL stats only; add another 9,842 yards and 83 TDs in the USFL). Five Pro Bowls, four AFC championships. Dan Marino - 61,361 yds passing, 420 TD (#1 all-time in both statistics). Nine Pro Bowls, 1984 NFL MVP; eight-time 1st- or 2nd-team All-Pro. One AFC championship. Fran Tarkenton - 47,003 yds passing, 342 TD (NFL leader in both categories when he retired). Nine Pro Bowls, two-time All-NFL, three NFC championships. Y. A. Tittle - 33,070 yds passing, 242 TD. Seven Pro Bowls, four-time All-NFL, 1961 and 1963 NFL MVP. Now tell me where Flutie ranks on that list. College and CFL Halls of Fame? Absolutely. But Canton? Not in this lifetime.

You realize, don't you, that this is how the "official" TBD tailgates got started? A bunch of people were talking about which games they'd like to get tickets to, quite a few mentioned the 2000 home opener, and then some genius suggested getting a group purchase together for that game. (Guilty as charged.) Soon after that, the party was being planned... All you really need is a season-ticket holder to put in a group order for you... but you'd better hurry. Our presale starts May 18th (10/game limit per account), then opens up for real on May 21st (no limit, except for 100 tix/account for the New England game). Jay already has enough to handle with the Tailgate order; I've got quite a few myself from co-workers, so I'm not sure I'd be able to help, either.... but we're not the only two season-tix holders on the Wall.

FYI - they just promo'ed the JP piece again during the lead-in for the 1am EST Sportscenter. That means it'll most likely be in the morning re-runs, too, for those of you who missed it the first time through....

I blame the NHL for this, and for the sorry state of sports-on-TV in general. Seriously. ESPN and the Deuce should be filling my split-screen TV with playoff hockey right now, not 'ESPN Movie Night' and mediocre game shows. 'Teammates' ? 'Bowling Night' ?!?!? (channeling John McEnroe...) You canNOT be serious. What, poker season is over, too? My friend Hammer tells me Howard Simon is talking about Twister on the radio. (To be honest, Hammer - as much as I like/respect Simon, I probably would've tuned out at that point myself....) And over at the News, Sully's reduced to bashing Bud Selig and writing about the NBA - although come to think of it, the world can always use a good Selig-bashing. Still, it seems like everyone's just trying to fill time until there's something actually worth talking about. Instead of the chase for Lord Stanley's Cup, we've got early-season baseball. NBA playoffs, which I believe drag on till sometime in August. Racing. *sigh* So....... how long until training camp opens, anyway?

Good point.

'Zactly. Bob McAdoo for John freakin' Gianelli?!?!!?! :shaking head in disbelief:

So let's see, that makes 'guru' a BostonCollege/NJGenerals/Bears/Pats/BC Lions/Stamps/Argos/Bills/Chargers/Pats fan. (Did I get all the teams right? And did you ever wonder why there are so many of them? Hmmmm....) Hollywood, Thurm'sHelmet, you're welcome to him. Enjoy. Should I give him the link to patsfans.com?

Ah, man. Best wishes go out to Fergy and family.

FF-S, I dunno who gave you the negative take on BAnderson. But if people see Anderson as the 'weakest link' on the Ravens line, then the other four guys there should be All-Pros. I tossed in the tape of last year's Ravens-Bills game a few days ago; while Anderson was more than holding his own singled up against Sam Adams all day long, Aaron Schobel had a great game against future Hall of Famer Jonathan Ogden. Hey, I'm not saying Anderson is the second coming of Billy Shaw... but I see him as a DEFINITE upgrade over last year's LG situation. But hey, that's just my opinion....

And I thought I'd been scarce around here lately.... what happened, they finally let you out?

Had to come out of hiding sometime..... October it is. We'll try to get you some better weather this year.

Sorry for the delay, gang - as those of you I talked to Wednesday night know, a late change in work schedule meant I ended up shoehorning the trip to Buffalo into the middle of a week's worth of 12-8 shifts. I'm just now starting to recover. Anyway... Lou Piccone was the first speaker, before he had to leave for another engagement. He's the new president of the Bills Alumni, and wanted to let us know that this year's Alumni Weekend will celebrate the 1990 Super Bowl team. I'm assuming it will once again take place the weekend of the home opener. Expect to hear more about this, as details become available... As previously mentioned, Van Miller made a special appearance (mainly to throw in a couple of one-liners at John Murphy's expense, I think.) More laughter when, after a glowing intro from Murphy, Tom Donahoe took the microphone and asked Murph "could you please send that introduction to the Buffalo News and WGR?" TD spoke mostly about the pre-draft process. When evaluating players, the entire coaching staff, scouting dept., and player personnel people get together and assign a "Bills" grade to each player on their board. He stressed that the Bills' criteria may be different than another team's, and certainly different than the various draft guides and such that are available. He ended by saying, "Regardless of what Mel Kiper, or Ourlad's, or some guy in some newspaper says, I'm going to go with my scouts." Coach Mularkey was next to speak. I see you've already discussed some of his remarks, so I'll be brief - he said everyone was frustrated with the result of the Pittsburgh game and couldn't wait to get going again. Rockpile pretty much nailed the "You've got to play every play like it's going to be the difference in your season" quote. One other item of interest from MM; when they were sitting at 0-4, he told the team, "Men, we're going to stick to the plan.... because there is no plan B." The first question from the audience concerned NFL Europe. The Bills are getting an in-depth report on each of their allocated players from that player's head coach, and they're constantly scouting the league overall to see if there's anyone else they might be interested in bringing in when the NFLE season ends (either unallocated players, or guys who might be released by the teams who own their rights.) OC Tom Clements was asked if his experience as a pro QB helped when tutoring J.P.; he thought it did, and said Wyche would agree. He complimented Losman for being here so early and working hard every day, and said, "Drew did some good things for us last year, but we feel J.P. can give us an additional spark." Bobby April was asked about the addition of Roscoe Parrish to an already-stacked PR position. He said all three players (Clements, JSmith, Parrish) have proven they can 'take it to the house', and said the eventual winner of the PR job will be the player who makes the best decisions - picking the right hole, protecting the ball, etc. In regard to the length of Rian Lindell's kickoffs, he thinks RL does need to kick off better. He added that the wind played a huge role in the home games, and that some of those short kicks - including the one Erik Flowers fumbled and Jason Peters recovered in the Rams game - were planned plays. Asked about possibly bringing in more help for the O-line, Mularkey said, "There is no position than we're not looking to upgrade." He then reaffirmed the current depth chart has Gandy - Anderson - Teague - Villarrial - MWilliams as the starters. And while he was smiling when he said it, I'm not so sure MM was joking when he talked about taking J.P. out to the sand v-ball courts at the Dock at the Bay to teach him how to slide.... The Quarterback Club officially presented Bobby April with his NFL Special Teams Coach of the Year award; the meeting then adjourned to Danny's South. We tried to talk the coaches into coming with us, but they said something about having to get ready for minicamp, or some such lame excuse... (And in response to another thread on the topic - while the Sam Adams White Ale was OK, I've always preferred the darker brews. They still had the Winter Lager on tap the last time I was in there; good stuff.)

Thanks, Jay. Will do. Question - did you also get a letter instead of an actual order form? I was counting on being able to show people the stadium map/pricing structure; guess I'll have to come up with something on my own for that....

I think you're right about Ki-Jana, Rich - New Orleans, maybe? And thanks for the egoboost, cincy.....

I wonder how much of that is Henry, and how much is his agent Hadley Engelstupid. The folks who met him after the Arizona game last year -- and watched him make a total fool of himself -- think Travis could probably beat him on the Wonderlic. Unless dear Hadley gets smarter after he sobers up....

Youse guys are seriously demented, you know that? Demented, but fun.........

Yup. They signed him at the end of July, right before camp started. He appeared to be doing well, had even gotten bumped up to second-team S, then just kind of wandered off a couple of weeks into camp....

How soon you all forget.... (except for BuffaloDenney, that is....) September 15, 2002: Bills 45, Vikings 39 (OT) "The Bills created three Vikings turnovers while committing none themselves and also benefitted from two missed PATs by Minnesota kicker Doug Brien." He missed a FG in that game, too. I don't trust Lindell. But I don't trust Brien, either - in fact, I brought up those missed PATs while watching that Jets playoff game with friends who are huge Stiller fans. (They now think I'm some kind of genius, and paid for my dinner after the game...) On the other hand, if the rumors about da Bearsss whacking Paul Edinger are true, now there's a guy I'd like to see the Bills make a run at. No in-depth analysis, just an opinion, although I will include stat links for each if y'all care to do the comparisons... Stats: Brien Edinger Lindell

C.T.M., you remain one of my favorite posters.

Better bump this up, and thanks for the info, Cindy. If anyone does want to grab dinner beforehand, let me know... otherwise, I'll see y'all at the stadium.

The Chicago/St. Louis/Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals have message boards? Strike that, they have FANS ?!??!?!!?! Oh, so THAT'S why they're moving home games to Mexico. And why the stands at the Bills' last game out there looked like a home game... for US. "Pathetic" fans? Yeah. Okay. Whatever. Son, that's not a window you're looking into, it's a mirror.....