MadBuffaloDisease

I liked hearing his comment about "proving a point...for the city of Buffalo." He didn't need to say that, and it shows me he meant it. I also like the fact that he's challenging other players to run sprints after practice and organizing acitivities like the passing competition that Chris Brown wrote about in his blog today. It shows me cares about building relationships with his teammates.

Forgetting comparisons to Mike Williams, is McKinnie WORTH that much coin?

Is there a Youtube video of that limp-wristed flag toss?

I thought Michaels said they were using Linehan's playbook. Don't know how they'd get ahold of Culpepper's playbook with the Vikes.

My condolences.

A large part of that was Mularkey's idiotic play-calling in the 4th quarter. With a 20 point lead, you RUN THE BALL every down, not pass 8 times. Now he's THEIR problem.

The Dols were the beneficiaries of some insane luck last night...and STILL lost. First Roethlisberger is out, replaced with the great Charlie Batch. Then the missed PI call before the Dols' first TD drive, which was a 10 point swing at least. Then the Batch fumble at the goalline, then that botch Mularkey call that SHOULD have resulted in a turnover, but the ball bounces right to Chambers.

For a frame of reference, JP threw for 54.3% during pre-season and 49.6% during the regular season. If there's a similar ~5% drop-off for JP, that's still almost a 63% completion rate. Let's hope.

Why not wait until gametime?

Lance Bass>Kirk

Multiply that $75 by a factor of 10-11 million and things change drastically. And possibly a group could look to buy the team and sell it to someone after a few years, but AGAIN the likely scenario is the Bills would leave town.

The Bills have the best ST's in the NFL. Last year they handled Welker with ease.

The number I got was by using the 2005 net operating income plus the Bills' net cut of the additional money brought in by the new TV contracts (i.e. after the salary cap portion). Again it doesn't take into account interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, which will significantly lower that amount. And as I said, naming rights would at best give Ralph another $2M a year, currently (if the Bills become really good, that number could jump to maybe about $5M). I appreciate what team value appreciation does for Ralph AFTER he sells, but it does nothing for him WHILE he still owns the team. Actually the more it increases, the harder it will be to find an owner who will be willing to spend what should be $800M by the time Ralph kicks, while figuring he'll make at best $50M a year (without raising gameday prices, which will alienate fans). And even a group of potential owners with strong local ties would find it hard to justify that kind of a business deal. I hope I'm dead wrong, but I wouldn't begrudge someone like Golisano for not being willing to do it. And Golisano could get a group together, like most owners do. However I've heard no recent talk about Golisano buying the team, whereas I heard a LOT of it prior to the new CBA. The best I've heard from him is a non-committal "I'll do what I can to help keep them in Buffalo." And Ralph didn't start complaining until the new CBA was passed. So something's obviously up.

Loved the almost flea-flicker.

Thanks for that!

Not re-signing Pat Williams in hindsight was a big mistake. He had a good year last year and looks to have another good one THIS year. Without him the defense fell apart as well. So given that, the release of Bledsoe, and crappy play-calling from Mularkey, the Bills were doomed from the start. Add-in Spikes' injury and you got a 5-11 season.

I think this is a stronger Bills team, and a weaker Patriots team, than what the Bills saw last year, when they lost 16-21 in Foxboro. I think the Bills will have a HUGE advantage on ST's, and the offense can air it out against the Patriots' secondary.

I ran the numbers. The NFL is making $1.785B more a year than before. That works out to ~$56M a team, of which the owners pocket $~22.6M (40.5%, assuming they spend to the cap limit of 59.5%). So Ralph's operating income is ~$53.8M ($31.2M+$22.6M), before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (*). That's assuming the money is disbursed in equal amounts which I don't believe it is, with less money being paid up-front and more later, and that jibes with the salary cap increasing only about $10M despite non-shared revenues also being added-in. As for "a football rabid market," are you kidding me?! That and a cup of coffee will get you a move from Cleveland to Baltimore for all that matters. Again do you really THINK that a prospective owner is going to plunk down $750+M and see an at-best return of $53.8M (currently, and it's not even close to that given * above) a year? Not without raising gameday prices considerably. Ah but then the fan base which only sells-out all the games in a season to the tune of once every 15 years on average will likely stop selling-out even most games of the season. See the problem there? Or do you think that the warm and fuzzies of "the rabid fan base" will prevent the owner from pulling up stakes for greener pastures? Face facts bud, Ralph's still in it BECAUSE of his initial $25K investment, of which the capital appreciation means nothing until he sells, at which point you get the above problem with potential new ownership. When Ralph first set-up shop, Buffalo was a MUCH bigger and wealthier city. It's now a shell of its former self, due to NOTHING Ralph has done or not done. He's pretty much squeezed every dollar he can from the fans, county, and state, except for naming rights which would get him at best about $2M a year. And for a frame of reference, take a look at Robert Kraft. He was making gobs of money in New England once he took over and started jacking-up prices, and just FOUR years later he started courting Providence and then Hartford because it wasn't ENOUGH money. Yeah, he had a "football rabid market" as well. And I never said that the bigger markets shouldn't make more profit, and neither has Ralph. Nice strawman. But frankly I could give a rat's ass about the bigger markets because without ALL the markets, the NFL wouldn't be what it is. MLB used to be the favorite pasttime, but it's been toppled thanks to "the top markets deserving more money" and making the game boring because only a handful of teams are in it annually. As the fan of a small market team, you should be more concerned with supporting your owner than dreaming up fanciful scenarios in which a knight in shining armor comes sweeping down to rescue the Bills from their doldrums, because the reality is that it's probably not going to happen now. I hope I'm dead wrong, but the new CBA was a major blow for the Bills long-term.

How do you get that he's making $50M a year? Those numbers I GOTTA see! And okay, let's make believe that the Bills are a cash cow for Ralph. What difference does it make to YOU that he's trying to squeeze as much money out of the other owners? Aren't ticket, parking, and concessions prices the lowest in the NFL? Or do you take offense that he's calling YOU out personally to come and see a game, so that the stadium sells-out for every game? Again, three complete sell-out years in 46 is pretty sad. And yes Ralph could have moved the team at any time, or could even sell. Instead he's keeping prices low, fighting with the other owners, and trying to keep the team because when he dies, it's NOT going to be easy to find an owner who'll pay $750+M for a franchise that makes maybe $20M a year.

Give me a link on that "$30-35M to each team this year more than last year." And here's a thought. If you live within the viewing area, instead of complaining about Ralph threatening to move the team, GO see a game, or convince other Bills fans to go see a game, so that the stadium sells out, a waiting list is generated, and then Ralph can raise ticket and gameday prices. Then we'll see who's bitching about what. Or you can stay away and watch the team move. Yeah, THAT won't cause any bitching.

I've read that Ralph MADE (i.e. with the old CBA) about $10-15M in profit a year. Now take the new CBA that jacked-up the salary cap about $10M overnight without Ralph seeing an extra dime, and his profits dwindle to 0-$5M. And all the while, Bills fans pay the lowest gameday prices of ANY NFL fans. And yet, the Bills have only sold-out the entire season 3 times in the 46 years of their existence, with last year being one of them (meaning that even during the SB years, at best 2 of the 4 years sold-out). Basically the new CBA was an embarrassment for an NFL that prides itself on being the best business model. They gave over 5% (5.3% to be exact) MORE money to the players than ever before and let the NFLPA tell them to figure out how the richer owners were going to pay the poorer ones. Real great job there.

You mean pricing tickets to fit the market, like he's BEEN doing?

Clements is likely a goner anyway. Fletcher is getting up there in years and will be a tough decision. Willis, who knows? But we'll get a better idea in a few months about the state of revenue sharing and whether Ralph will be able to compete or not. Hopefully Goddell picks up Tagliaboob's fumble.

Branch doesn't want to go to the Seahawks; he wants to go to the Jets (for some reason ). The Jets though don't want to give up more than a 2nd rounder, while the Pats want AT LEAST a 1st rounder, plus a little more, especially if he goes to the Jets. IOW, don't expect Branch to go anywhere and likely sit-out the 1st 10 weeks.

You're onto something, Mike. I have a friend who refs rec basketball games. He says that if he knows one team is better than another and thinks there's a foul but didn't exactly see it, he'll call it on the less-talented team. I told him that's bad officiating and a symptom of him not being able to see ALL of the action. Take is a step further in the pro leagues where you have world class athletes being officiated by lardazzes with non-20/20 vision, and you get the picture. That's why I think there should be full-time refs, so that in the off-season these guys are kept fit and working year-round on getting better.