RJ (not THAT RJ)

You sir have been drinking so much negative Kool-Aid that your faculties are clearly impaired. You would rather be a Cards fan? a Saints fan? Really? Then go right ahead. We can all be disappointed by the current state of the Bills, but the overall point of this thread is that there are very few franchises that have not caused plenty of dissatisfaction. Bill was trying to help put things in perspective; if you would rather wallow in self-hate, then that is your problem.

I'm not hanging anybody... that was just an addition to hold off on the flood of inevitable... "these injuries never happened when Rusty was here" posts. I guess it was not enough.

Those are excellent questions, Johnny. I want Edwards to succeed (he is the QB for the only football team I care about) but he has missed games in each of the past two years with injuries. His durability will remain a question until he can stay on the field. At the same time, though, I am not prepared to dismiss his successes as meaningless, and think he does have an upside greater than JP, whose deficiencies are manifest.

Try "Marshawn speaks to the media." Top of page 2.

I won't answer for the Doc, but for me I would say that Edwards' regression was one part sophomore slump, one part improved opposition (who had more film on him as well), and one part bad coaching. He is young, and can improve, but he will have to work through it, which is why I find this injury problem so worrisome, because it will delay that learning process.

Don't be shocked. I saw three threads on this last night. Then again, I bothered to look before posting.

Maybe you should read some newspaper articles. The BN today, for example, specifically says that the problem is with ligaments in his foot. These are very problematic injuries, that can take a long time to heal, but one never knows, which is why they tried to stay optimistic as long as they can. Shane Conlan had similar problems (during the sainted Rusty Jones era, I hasten to add...)

That team could be tough, but also showed up incredibly flat at inopportune times in 1980 and 1981-- against the Colts twice in 1980, against the Falcons in 1980, against the Cowboys and Cardinals in 1981, against the Phins in Miami both years, at New York in 1981. Then in 1982 the strike killed them. They were fascinating, but just as maddening as any Bills team has ever been

Was he laughing at Sullivan? Was it a laugh of hopelessness? of frustration? You still have no idea. You can choose to focus on the worst possible interpretation, but that says more about the interpreter than about Wilson, or even Jerry S.

It astonishes me how much people want to read into Jerry Sullivan's comment that Ralph laughed. How do you know what it meant? How does Sully? Was Ralph laughing ruefully, angrily, sarcastically, dyspeptically? You have no idea.

Actually, this thread would only make sense with the addition of a lot of booze.

It isn't. What the thread starter did do is provide an example of the cascading idiocy of message boards. I am waiting for someone to post on her blaming Jauron for the Lindbergh kidnapping.

Now THAT is a position I can agree with!

Marvin said back in 2001 that he did not want to come to Buffalo; that his wife did not like the schools or the area. At least that is what I remember. I also wonder whether his failure to manage the Bungles has taken a lot of the bloom off that particular coaching rose. Perhaps he is another coordinator who will not be a good HC?

Thank you, Mr. Glass Half-Empty. You are entitled to your opinion, but I think the question of which are the "real Bills" is actually still open, even if things are pretty crappy now.

The answer is yes, so that he could continually complain about how bad the cheese was and then go to TwoCheeseDrive message boards to complain about it. Don't you know that?

Because those people are full of fecal matter. Anyone remember the thread years back when ICE ranted about how he "had always performed at an excellent level" at his job and thus was right to demand it from the Bills? This from a guy who took time from work to post 10,000 plus times on a message board. Truth is, many of us, as much as we love the sports, hate and envy the athletes, and that is the source of a lot of the bile that gets aimed at those athletes when they disappoint.

The last thing this country needs is more people who think that simply cynically crapping on every idea makes them smart.

Both excellent points. The margin of success is so narrow, and the range of emotional mood swings is so wide.

Amen to that! And you can add to that question all those who are so sure that injuries are "faked."

Bill, You raise an excellent question. I do think that the higher expectations from the fast start plus the recent drain-circling of the economy have added to the disgruntlement, but I also believe there is a longer-term process at work on TSW and message boards in general, based on a combination of two factors: 1. Football is a great sport, but its very nature brings out the inner aggressive !@#$ that lurks within people, because they want to sound as tough as the players. Football writers, commentators, and fans all tend to be more hard-edged than fans in other US sports (we can discuss the relative merits of other, non-US sports another time). So there is an undercurrent in any football conversation that encourages people to use more extreme and aggressive language. When things go badly for a team, it gets even worse because the veneer of civilization is worn even thinner. 2. The Internet makes it even easier to go extreme in language because of the distance between people. In hard times, people want someplace to go where they can release all the frustration that comes from feeling powerless in the face of societal forces they cannot control or understand, without running the risk of getting either fired, divorced, or punched in the grill. I would also add that the increasing participation of younger folks, whose sole experiences with opinion discourse comes from partisan blogs, message boards, and the like, also adds to the problem, but that would make me sound like an even older fart than I am. I hope you will forgive this schematic attempt at sociology. Go Bills! RJ

Well, the 1990 fourth quarter miracle is always nice.... Or, for the masochists, game 2 of the 1977 season. Or, for the older masochists maybe the game from the late 1960s where the Bills blew a 38-7 lead and ended up in a tie?

None for me, thanks. I'm trying to cut down.

It wouldn't take much. Lobotomies for the front office would do the trick.

Not to mention the P@ts