RJ (not THAT RJ)

No, actually I am a College Professor on a Fellowship, doing research. Where are you?

Amen, brother!

Could be.... though it also can be the relative time lapse from satellite, no?

Zum Wohle! *clink*

This is true... it is certainly better than having to wait for the Tuesday morning paper for the score, which is what I had to do during my first time in Germany, way back in 1989....

You know, it is wild... I am sitting here in Germany, with this thread open, the radio feed, and nfl.com, and all three are timed differently..... with the radio coming in third. Oh well...

Well, they didn't call it a pull... they called it a tear, and everyone knew he was going to be out a long time... I remember watching that tackle... he had his foot planted and was bent over forward... ouch!

1 in Buffalo... noon in Chicago.

eeewwww... raw manatee.. that would be awful! Now, BBQ manatee...or fried manatee with some Frank's as a dipping sauce, that's another matter...

Neither do I... For so many people, the idea has become gospel that the only way to prove their are intelligent is by being as negative as possible. Whether it is a psychological defense mechanism (if I am already negative, I will not be disappointed) or just a manifestation of their deeper sphincterhood, it is annoying as hell....

I know... and thank you for proving my point.

He has always had a short fuse... which hurt his draft position. This case is but a glimpse of the reality we all avoid... that football provides a thin civilizational cover for human brutality, and every once in a while the brutality spills over beyond the limits of the game. We are shocked for a moment, then go back to cheering when "our" brutal borderline sociopath knocks the snot out of somebody else's brutal borderline sociopath....

I'm not sure if you are being sarcastic, Darin, but you just described how I spend my time watching Bills games.

Very true. He was also fortunate to have a couple of Hall of Famers among those pics. I know just what you mean about how he proved unable to duplicate that success.... I have made that argument myself a few times, that is the Johnson Corollary to the Bill Parcells Law of Diminishing Returns...

A basic problem in all of this is that every person has a bit of the @sshole gene; some of us control it better than others... but football, wonderful sport that it is, also happens to be a major @sshole gene enabler. It brings out the chest thumping, insult-hurling, fight-starting jerk that lurks in all our hearts. I love following football, and am no grandpa, but I have to admit that I am taken aback by how easily discussions about football--in person or online--get nasty. It can lead to a major coarsening of dialogue; indeed, I would say that in general football journalists and fans tend to be much more likely to be insulting about bad plays and teams that those who cover other sports. This relates to the discussion of fan behavior and to the Haynesworth debacle. Like I said, I am a football fan, but I wonder.... Is it possible that a sport that encourages brutality in the end brutalizes not only those who play it, but also those who watch it?

Indeed... What people forget about college coaches is that most top colleges play perhaps 1/3 of their games against teams that can actually challenge them; most of the time the games are decided before kickoff thanks to the talent disparity. Once a program has success, it can load up on good recruits, and virtually guarantee its dominance for years. This is also why it is so hard to judge college QBs, but that is another story line... Anyway, it is certainly possible for a good college coach to be successful in the NFL (JJ comes to mind), but if a college coach is brought into a situation where he does not have a huge talent advantage, it is by no means clear that he will be able to duplicate his success, and these days with the salary cap and free agency, there is no way to entrench the team as a powerhouse. Nevertheless, so many football journalists choose to avoid such basic realities in their drive to hype college coaches into the NFL.... EDIT: Windy's quote is right on as well.

She was, and Ralph invited her to sit in the owner's box with him at the first Super Bowl against the Cowboys in Jan 1993, just after Bill was sworn in the first time. She wore a Bills T-shirt and was quite excited... alas, it didn't help in the game, but it made for good press.

That is one of the chronic diseases of TBD... and other message boards as well... and radio shows. Men pretending that they can identify individual plays by OLinemen from watching the game... Glenn Parker and Dusty Ziegler can tell you how they were run out of town by those types of pseudo-analysts, only to thrive in other places.

An excellent point. Even a QB with a great arm like Drew Bledsoe has never been able to master the screen pass....

Well, he also does not appear to know that "Stats" are plural... but he is a fellow Bills fan, so we should cut him some slack.

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/live/NFL_20061001_MIN@BUF

See, not only does it sound good... it feels good to say, doesn't it?

OK, as long as we have clear criteria.

A good point. Forgive me for trying to feel good about my team's QB.

Too bad Losman will never have the awareness to be an NFL QB, huh? /sarcasm Edit: man, thanks for the bizz (ahem... buzz) kill, CTM