RJ (not THAT RJ)

I'm just trying to take some of the, um, load off your shoulders, Dean.

I am sure he has held many balls in his day. Sorry, it needed to be said!

Thank you for noting that, Kelly. So much of the discussion of Crowell hinges on this phantom "3-4 week" statement, as if that were a given. He ended up needing and having much more intense surgery, he would not have been available in 3-4 weeks. Whether the Bills should have signed him anyway is another matter, but this fixation on poor Crowell being the victim of mindless pettiness has to end....

Alas, an ability to read is not required for people to post on message boards. At least that is how it often appears....

I doubt very much the Jets are interested in nibbling on Bills territory. Much more likely they have decided that Hofstra (the "podunk" college where they train now, in case you did not know) is much too close to NYC, and it would be better to keep the boys out in the sticks....

Trump is facing bankruptcy with his recent casino holdings, so the idea that he can/would want to scrape together the billion or so needed to take over the Bills is extremely unlikely....

war is peace freedom is slavery ignorance is strength [i know, I know, different cultural reference, but the rhythm of your last sentences needed to be continued.... ]

I am Jack's raging bile duct. Jack has been a Bills fan for 50 years....

Yes they were... in 1962... the famous Abner Haynes "We'll kick to the clock" blunder, for those old enough to remember, or to have read "strange but true football stories" in their school libraries...

Thanks for that. I did not read the article, but had hoped that the rule was written that way. It will be interesting to see how that enforcement proceeds... if they stick to the letter, this is merely an extension of what it means to "rough the passer." What used to mean just a hard hit/blow to the head (unless you are Mike Vrabel in the Super Bowl, of course...) now extends to hits at the legs, where the QB is at least as vulnerable after throwing.

I sure hope not.... This is the problem with making such modifications. The kind of hits that inspire rule changes like this are the hit on Brady (of course), but also the hit on Carson Palmer in the playoffs: QB stands in the pocket, starts throwing, DL is down.. crawls and lunges at the knee. If they are going to have this rule, that should be the only use for it... once the QB begins running out of the pocket the rule should be moot.

So Dave, what you are saying is that you can't be bothered to read what other people write, but rush in here to start threads for other people to read, the people you just insinuated were losers with no lives because they bother to read threads they do not start? Just checking to make sure I have that correct.

one could say this whole thread is Moff Ugging proof of how stupid people get when trying to be clever with their customized jerseys....

Indeed it is. And I am casting my vote for "making this up."

For the record, 41 years old here, and I think you sound like an idiot with this post, Doc. There is no "realism" in constant negativity. Certainly no more "realism" than exists in constant optimism. The difference is that optimists are a lot more fun to be around. Following sports in general, or one team in particular, is a voluntary activity, delightfully useless and irrelevant to any real world concerns. To choose to turn following a team into an excuse to run around like Eeyore making critical comments is the right of every free human being, but let's not pretend that it is some higher calling. It is more likely a sign of clinical depression... If one wants to be "realistic," there are plenty of actual problems in the world that require solutions. Sports are the toy department of life. Toys exist to bring joy. If being a wet blanket brings you joy, well, you might want to consider re-examining your idea of fun. Go Bills!

Not that I expect much consistency here, but do you suppose Mort understands the role the "late, great John Butler" played in creating the mess that St. Thomas Donohoe had to clean up? What a sanctimonious sphincter!

Yes it is... for better or worse.

Oh, I will certainly give it a close second. These last few years have been extremely trying. Nevertheless, as frustrating as the last nine years have been, remember that the Bills managed to hit .500 in 2000 and 2002, and 7-9, which is the source of so much anger around here these days, was considered a major step forward in Bills country in 1979.... I am not trying to say "you whipper-snappers don't know from pain," but I do think that historical perspective can keep people from running around saying that what is happening now is somehow completely unprecedented, or has to be the worst thing ever just because it is happening to us now. Think about it: a Bills team with a young and healthy OJ Simpson went 1-13 in 1971.... and another managed to go 2-12 in a season where OJ ran for 1503 yards (1976). Yes, I know other factors intervened, but from that perspective, a couple of years where one could talk playoffs into December is some kind of progress, no? That does not stop me from hoping for better days, or from criticizing bad decisions, but it keeps me from wallowing in negativity. I encourage my Bills brothers and sisters to keep that in mind.

They never have, though they went 13 seasons (1967-1979, inclusive) while only making the playoffs once (in 1974) while losing 10 or more games 8 times (67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 76, 77, 78) and finishing at .500 or better only three times (1973-1975). The other two years (1972 and 1979), they lost 9 games. Not once in those 13 years did the team win more than nine games in a season (they reached that level twice, in 1973 and 1974), and in ten of those years they won five or fewer. Those were the leanest of the lean years, when the team often was not just mediocre, but downright putrescent, which should help put the current streak in some perspective. Those also were the years in which I grew up as a Bills fan (born in 1967). They left a deep impression... rather like growing up in the Depression, which is why I tend to hoard and savor positive things and dwell as little as possible on the negative.

As far as salary from the Bills... I would guess around 30 million, but that is before agents, taxes, etc...

Actually, the TN is a small town paper owned by a large absentee corporation based in Alabama that has little interest in actually investing in the local economy, which is why they rely on young and generally inexperienced writers, pay as little as possible, and squeeze what profit they can while once-proud papers are run into the ground... They are Wal-Mart, in that sense, and the Dean is dead right to criticize them for it.

and post... and post... and post... and post....

If he insists on bringing bottles from home into the bar in his basement, and gets thrown out of the bar for bringing bottles from home, does that violate his probation?

Ironically, yes, you do. That is what league commissioners are supposed to do. Bowie Kuhn in baseball, for example vacated a bunch of deals back when Charlie Finley was selling off Oakland players.... Not that I am silly enough to think that Goodell will do or say anything here.

Quote heard from BillsNYC's workroom: "OK, mom, OK... geez... I'll go look for a job today.. just let me finish this post!"