RJ (not THAT RJ)

Yes. Or, rather, the Bills chose not to re-sign him. Either way, it was not a matter of Fletcher choosing to leave BUF.

Solid points. Heck, Aikman displayed his ignorance of the Bills from the start by acting surprised that Fitz wore his wedding ring! Hey Troy, I hear he went to Harvard too? And did you know Fred Jackson went to Coe Co..... ah, forget it.

Polian Derangement Syndrome.... I get it that people here want to worship the ground Saint Bill, the Holy Winner, walks upon, but I ask you: Do you realize that implying that he is losing on purpose this year would actually mark him as one of the most dishonest NFL front office men of all time? and that, all joking aside, sucking for Luck is a violation of NFL rules? Worship the man all you want, but have some respect for the game, and for the possibilty that the Colts stink without Manning not because Bill Polian is a Genius, but because he and his son have done a mediocre job maintaining the team he has built. Sheesh.

I could only see the first half on TV, and actually have considered Aikman to be serviceable as a color man, but was struck by how stiff Aikman was on the subject of Gailey. Very early in the game. Brenneman lofted a softball about how Gailey had coached Aikman in Dallas and took them to the playoffs twice, and all Aikman could say in response was: "Yeah, but we did not win a playoff game under him, and he didn't last much longer after that." Nothing in that statement is untrue, but it really struck me as ungracious, as if Aikman was unable to say something bitter, at least to start. On the other hand, I do agree with earlier posters who noted that announcers are front-runners. This is especially true of national announcers, since their actual knowledge of the teams they are presenting is quite thin and based on obvious talking points. Once it is clear that one team is dominating, they can quickly shift into "everything they do is great" mode. That being said, I would consider Aikman's early comments more of a reflection of his actual feelings and thoughts, and it would not surprise me if he was told to dial that back over the course of the game.

Awesome post as usual, and this is the kicker. Cheers to you, Bill!

Yes, though the Ralph is only 13 years removed from a substantial remodel.

I think drinking game is developing here....

Thanks SJ. All of that can be true as well (though the "it's now believed" is an excellent example of someone using passive voice to suggest insider knowledge without actually commiting—I hate that!) , just as it is possible that the Bills can deal with other contracts and still get to Stevie in plenty of time, since I rather doubt that the contracts for Pears and Lindell will be especially complicated. My beef is with Florio acting as though it is news or at all dramatic that the Bills, having just completed one difficult negotiation in week seven of the current season, might decide to take a bit more time before wading into another one.

"Call me flatulent...."

+1 at least. The moving target complaints about Toronto are a cause of endless amusement. Many here complain that toronto "gets" an October game but the Ralph is "stuck with" three games in December, but if a December game went to Toronto the same folks would be wailing and gnashing their teeth about losing home field advantage for a game with playoff implications. Buy a ticket or don't, people. But don't pretend that relying on someone else to provide home field advantage makes you a great fan.

"…a full 48 hours..." That phrase right there shows how pointless and dumb that article is. (not you, SJ!) How do we know anything about anyone's plans in 48 hours? This is how the drive for immediate gratification and the illusion of instantaneous knowledge produced by our modern age is destroying logical thought. Grumble grumble grumble... damn kids.... grumble... lawn.... grumble.

Quite so. It is all about the lens.

Funny, my thought was Tom Modrak.

Too true, but as we all well know, the Ralph is Cheapers have been complaining about the lack of selling naming rights since time immemorial. They ignore the irony, and just fold it into a generalized "RW is evil" meme.

Of course not. But that does not exactly sound like a ringing endorsement of the "Bills fans are the best in the league" line, does it?

Your first two paragraphs were very good, but that last sentence brings up anew the point that Promo and I made above. Can we really say that Bills fans are so awesome and dedicated, and it is such a crime that they have been "cheated" out of one game, when those same fans will decide not to bother to buy tickets for three home games that are at the Ralph because of the weather/season or because of the opposition? Do people in Green Bay, or Pittsburgh decide to stay away from games because it is cold? Does this not strike anyone else as talking out of both sides of our mouths as Bills fans? I know, GB and Pitts have been better than Buffalo for the past decade. But to my mind, Bills fans either need to be honest that failing to sell out home games flies in the face of the efforts to tout themselves as the most devoted fans of all, or they need to shut the front door about complaining about having one game in Toronto.

Or they played a lot of weak teams. Amazing how many of the Vince Lombardis of youth FB love to pile it on the weak sisters.

Remember the Brett Favre commercial, with him walking around making obvious comments about people's mistakes? In one, he tells a father with a little boy who has just dripped chocolate ice cream all over his white sweater: "I would have gone with vanilla there." The point of the ad was to mock the smug hindsight of Monday Morning QBs. Sully's column today is a reminder of just how smug and lacking in any sort of reflection such MMQBing can be.

Quite so. Which is what I meant to say, and clumsily did not.

Ladies and Gentlemen, behold the ultimate example of Polian Derangement Syndrome.

No one who ever says they "hate to say" something ever means it. Ever.