RuntheDamnBall

The Bills ran well but situationally they sucked. They had a hard time getting critical yards in short yardage situations. They need to be able to win the battles at the line on those plays - the way NE, SF, SEA do - to be able to compete in the AFC East.

Do you mean Haslam and not Banner? I'm a bit confused. It might work out better for them but they have to prove that they aren't a complete sh-- show by sticking with the program even when things don't go as hoped. Easier said than done. For all the people on here who don't like what the Bills are doing, they are right not to follow the Browns' course. The people leaving the Bills are leaving for promotions and generally not to placate fans. Hopefully Marrone proves worthy of that trust.

round of applause for Mickey. I know this: people who tell others to "keep their bedroom business to themselves" sure like to think and talk about it in graphic detail.

And how surprising that the EJ hate brigade takes its crusade to another completely unrelated thread.

When I suggested that Pettine might come to regret taking this job, I was greeted with replies that anybody should want the job and that you don't turn down an NFL HC position. Pettine is going to be put to the test here. It's hard enough to run a football team. It is harder to report to several different competing bosses, especially when they have proven themselves to be whimsical.

I am not going to get into name calling or derision because I feel bad about it when I do, but I am going to take issue with the notion that any one poster here speaks for "most people," especially when they don't cite any statistics on the matter. Furthermore, you can go back in time to plenty of abhorrent perspectives that "most people" were OK with at one point or another. Many people, if not most, evolve - especially when they get to know more people from different backgrounds, worldviews and life situations. It's not your fault, the man was born this way.

Oh, here we go.

I wonder if any potential Buffalo owners have ever given thought to trying to bring on an MLS team. Soccer is fairly popular in the area, especially in Rochester, and it could help support a stadium that is dedicated to American football. It seems like there are places just as cold - Seattle, Portland, Toronto - that have teams in outdoor stadiums. I would think it would be worth it to look into the costs of starting a Buffalo version of an MLSE-style corporation to support this kind of initiative tied to the Bills or Sabres with a waterfront development strategy at the forefront of the proposal.

I think Prince wears them, and heels, and gets more tail than just about anybody.

Bruce was suspended for it. I would not be surprised if MANY more of the SB era Bills used and have heard rumors about some of them from Fredonia and otherwise. Who is she?

I'm not really sure about that. I mean, Tebow is as arch-conservative religious as it gets, it was clearly defined prior to the draft, and he got drafted in the first despite the many (legitimate) concerns about his ability to become an NFL player.

Despite what Blount did to us this past season, I can't believe that a run stopping LB that gets abused in passing situations is useful for a team in the AFC East (at least one that plays against NE).

Just because they sound like other words doesn't mean they aren't people, too.

How's he doing? Has anyone seen his girlfriend lately?

I agree. The solution is to up the post count by talking about how stupid this all is.

I can just see it now, Brady is trying to hit his receiver, Sam is coming after him, and in mid-rotation Brady gets an image in his mind a la Homer Simpson and "Stupid, Sexy Flanders." Sam sacks / strips the ball and Kiko runs it back for 6. We could deal with this, no?

It'll just be one arrow in the quiver of insults that fans of opposing teams pull out for everybody. As long as he is liked by his own fanbase - as Brady generally is - I doubt it'll be significantly different.

I just don't see it, and that's putting aside my personal distaste for the player. You have a guy in control of his own destiny, who has never uttered anything but trash talk about Buffalo (the place), who played his college ball at Florida, coming from a perennial playoff team. You're telling me that he is going to choose Buffalo because of a position coach, all other things being equal? A position coach may lure the Chet Reisenshines of the work to San Diego, but I don't see it with Spikes. If the Bills get him it will be because they overpay, and this just isn't the kind of player you do that for IMO.

As I understand it, the real crazy money is in TV, though, which would seem to make these additional charges gravy, and a case of bleeding the hardcore fan dry.

I think (presuming) as straight people we're not really tuned to the situation because it isn't ours. We don't walk down the hall with people whispering behind our backs or making jokes about that aspect of our lives; we don't think about how certain kinds of demeanors will be scrutinzed to the nth degree in hiring processes or in forming friendships. If (as is being suggested) he was about to be outed by someone else, or even if not and he was just going to be subject to these whispers and rumors on a grand stage over a career, the only thing to do is be honest about it. I suppose the other thing he could do is wait until someone asks, but now he won't be asked by draft scouts and he can essentially draw the boundaries about what is fair to ask. I don't know what else he could do besides stay closeted and hence open to suspicion - valid or not - or to just be who he is. Note that no one asks any straight person to never talk about their wife, girlfriend, etc. What Sam might also be doing is giving a rounder picture of the gay person / athlete as having more of an identity than whom and how they sleep with.

If we define Information as "a difference that makes a difference," it suggests that this matters... for now. It also suggests that part of the job that Sam is doing is to make it so that it isn't much of a difference, to the point where it doesn't matter anymore. It's definitely a burden but hopefully he'll be able to handle it with the grace that he has so far. I presume it'll be an issue for a little bit and that he'll try to just steer the conversation towards football where he can. A team with a good PR staff and a good coach in control could certainly handle it.

Right.

I don't, can't, and won't ever understand why attending a football game - even a baseball game in some quarters - has begun to resemble the expense of taking a vacation. I mean, I under$tand why, but it's certainly absurdity taken to its logical peaks. There is so much world out there to see that I'm not sure that the excitement of attending a game measures up to its price point.

I think there are probably players who have come out to a few teammates but asked them to respectfully keep it to themselves out of fear for what the larger group would think. So in that respect, yeah, I think that the locker rooms are probably more ready than this neanderthal collection of quotes suggests. Also, if you look at some of this other family insanity that Sam has had to deal with, I think a lot of players from rough places will look at that background and see themselves in that story. There will be players who can't handle it, but that is a reflection on them and not Sam. Sam is doing the most honest thing possible in being himself and being unapologetic for it (note: not "parading" it or "putting it in people's faces," whatever that means). Honesty can and should rule the day, and it will limit the ways in which someone can use his sexuality against him - in the locker room or in the court of public opinion.

Yep. Honestly, it's the most American thing of all to say that nothing in one's background should restrict someone from following their passions and excelling at them - and Sam's is football. It's a good thing to see a model for young gay athletes in the prevailing sport in our culture.