bartshan-83

You make valid points...often a "good/great coach" is someone who was put in the right place at the right time and did a good job keeping the ship on course. And often good coaches are backed by good management and good ownership. There is never a guarantee that a proven winner will be able to replicate his success in new environment. But given the past decade of Buffalo football, I can't imagine taking a different path. When I was a naive young'n, I remember griping about Marv not being able to win the big one. My dad told me to count my blessings because everything sucks when you have a bad coach. There is just no hope. Success is fleeting and doom is inevitable. I didn't understand what he meant until about 2004. While coaches (like QBs) may get too much of the credit and blame, there is really no way to win without a good one. Gruden (and especially Shanhan) looked pretty pedestrian at times during the end of their runs. But if this team is really willing to blow everything up and start again, rolling the dice on yet another unproven (or in DJ's case "Never Was") coach just seems completely unreasonable...for the players, the fans, the city and the organization.

Easy, guy...just busting your balls. Don't hate on the First State. Come down, I'll buy you a beer.

There's probably a much less gay way to say you think he's full of sht.

If you are a scout, you surely know what you are looking at more clearly than I. However, there is nothing about Clausen's tools or progression that is inferior to Brady Quinn's IMO. They were both tossed into bad situations as true freshmen and both struggled. The difference is Clausen was starting to put it all together last year until Floyd got hurt and we blew UNC. He lost his handle on everything for the rest of the season until putting it together in the bowl game. Since then, he has been nothing but brilliant. Brady had a weak sophomore year and if Weis never came around, he might not even be in the NFL. He stuggled for the first part of his JR year as well before putting it together around the USC game. But a lot of his success was on jump balls to 6'5" WRs (Samardzija and Stovall) and he always struggled on the short balls. In my fan opinion, Jimmy is on a way higher path than Brady ever was...and that's not a knock on Brady. He was great for almost two full years at ND, but I had doubts about his pro-potential. I agree that the results thus far are not very fair for him, but I don't see an All-Pro future. I think Clausen could achieve that in the right system. On another note, Michael Floyd is sure thing. SURE THING. His only red flag is his injury history...but he's another Larry Fitz.

Trying not to be ND biased, I'd take Clausen in a heartbeat. The arguments that his competition level is often suspect and that he plays with talent in a stacked system have some merit. But in terms of measurables, the guy is ridiculous. He's tough, moves well in the pocket and is absolutely surgical with the football. Taking away the Purdue game where he could hardly walk, he's missed on like 10 throws all year. If Floyd hadn't gotten hurt (vs. Mich and Mich St.), his numbers would be even better and we'd likely be 5-0. He's gutsy, tough, clutch and has a cannon. He's already better than Brady Quinn was at ND and he's still improving. Now about Jake Locker...I love him. I think it sucks he wasted away for two years on those terrible Washington teams. He's a great leader and excellent athlete. But I don't see how anyone who watched ND vs. Washington last week could come away with the idea that Clausen was the worse pro-prospect. Locker just doesn't have the arm. He doesn't have the accuracy and I'm not sure he has the strength (although I'm no scout). And ND's defense is soft...AGAIN. They tightened up in epic fashion for those goal line stands but they have let teams walk up and down the field all year. Locker didn't do anything that Forcier, Elliott and Cousins didn't do the previous three weeks. So at the risk of promoting an ND guy AND another SoCal kid, I'd heavily lobby for Clausen if Edwards can't put it together and the Bills were in a position to take him.

You're not implying...

"Blood is thicker than water." And?? Why the hell does non-family equal "water?"

BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCE!!! Great time out here! What an army of Bills fans in that stadium last night! Very cool and definitely felt like a home game. I've never been to one of these before and I don't think I've ever watched a ceremony in its entirety, but man it was way longer than I expected. Rod Woodson seemed like he talked for an hour. I expected Ralph to drag on a little with his slow talk, but he wasn't nearly the longest speaker. I think the whole video introduction AND personal introduction is a bit unnecessary. One or the other would be fine. I mean, the whole thing pressed almost 4 hours. It was cool learning more about Bob Hayes...I had never heard of him before this weekend. Bruce and Cottrell were the best combo of the night. I thought the Derrick Thomas/Bill Cowher stories were cool and Boomer's introduction of Ralph was very cool. No one circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills! All in all, a great scene. Is that stadium really used for high school? It's fuggin huge! A press box?? Highlights: - The sea of Blue and Red - More boos than cheers when the Mayor asked where the cowboys fans were at - FREE MARSHAWN! - The group of guys in front of us (maybe someone from TBD?) shouting at the current players sitting by the ESPN stage and chanting each player's name until they acknowledged them. Moorman, Evans, Edwards, Lindell and a few others. They even got Trey Wingo in the mix. - Rod Woodson's son's afro - "PS - I hid your helmet Thurman" :blink: We also hit up that Loby's joint from the pinned thread. Cool place...I liked the outdoor area. Left my fuggin credit card there though of course. I guess a return trip is in the mix. Staying in West Akron so we're gonna ride up to Cleveland and do the Rock & Roll HOF this morning and then head back down to Canton for Round Two. Bring that sunscreen...weather channel says high of 92 and it already feels gross outside. GO BILLS!!!!

I was there too....GREAT show. Honestly though, I thought the crowd was younger than I expected. Tons of people between early 20s-early 30s. One weird thing was how they didn't utilize the jumbotron. I mean, I thought the screens they had were adequate, but we picked our seats partially with the idea that we would be directly facing the monster jumbotron. Seems stupid to keep it blank. But again, GREAT show. Concerts seems so expensive, but you really get a 2-for-1 situation here with 3.5 hours of music. Funny moment...this older guy two rows in front of us TWICE asked the people directly in front of us to "keep it down" because he was trying to enough the show. He directly told them that their "cheering was too loud." I've never been so confused. But then later on, his wife flagged down the frozen ice seller and RETURNED her half-eaten lemon ice because it didn't meet her standards. After that, the picture was clearer... :lol:

It's the second time he's done this recently...and he's dead right. I thinks Van Gundy gets too infatuated with 3-pt shooters. The offense should run through Howard and he should touch the ball every possession. There is no one in this league who can guard him effectively one-on-one. Now, it would be nice if he could add a little 10-footer to his game, but when he catches the ball anywhere near the block, he either scores or gets fouled. And here is the worst part...the Celtics are DYING at PF and C. Davis, Perkins....uh? Mikki Moore? Scalabrine is the only guy left on the roster with any size and he weighs like 230. No KG, no Powe. Howard should be fouling both Davis and Perkins out of the game. In the Sixers series, Dalembert, Ratliff and Evans were being platooned and fouling Howard like 15 times per game. The Celtics are so paper thin up front and Orlando seems content to launch away from outside. Makes no sense to me at all. You get Davis in foul trouble...now they lose a scorer. You get Perkins in foul trouble, now Moore has to come in. You get Moore in foul trouble, no one is left to guard the paint.

I think it's an interesting experiment. I get what you are saying, but I think the only way this harms race relations is if people view it that way. I look at it from the point of view that they aren't trying to harm "white business" but that they are (a) trying to see if it is even possible to find necessary goods and services from black businesses and (b) trying to support the growth of black business in a grass-roots kind of way. And I think your last sentence goes a bit far. People always support certain subsections of the population for personal reasons. "Buy American", "Buy Local", "Buy Organic"....Would you assume that the only reason Chrysler sells cars is because people refuse to buy foreign? ( ...okay terrible example). Would you assume the only reason your local farmers' market succeeds is because people refuse to buy non-local goods? Bottom line...these types of things tend only to become problems when people label them as problems. If the Anderson's project was called "Boycott Whitey" then I could see a legit beef. Until then, just look at it as a segment of our population engaging in a social experiment.

Uh...not lookin so hot.

Whaaa? Until we start getting 1.5 wins each time we beat an AFC East team, I'm going to still count them the same as the other 10. Why do we only need 1/2 preparation to split with non-division teams? How about we prepare 'extra hard' for those 10 games, win all of them and then split the division? We go 13-3.

Now you're just fcking with us... With the amount of parity in the NFL, where games are decided by a few bad plays, you think we can prepare 1/2 as much as our opponent each week and expect to split games? Are you saying that preparation isn't really that important if you have a "good" team?

What? This sounds like a crayonz post, but on the chance you are being serious: You think we should prepare for our 10 non-division opponents "only briefly a few days before" each game? Guess what that will mean? 10 losses. Go ahead and check pro-football-reference.com for the number of 6-10 teams that have made the playoffs...

going in the sig...

Holy shite....did Orlando choke that away or what?? This was their chance. They had their foot on Boston's throat and just couldn't finish it. Up 3-2 going back to Florida could have closed this deal. Not dead yet...but man what a blown chance. PS - Great job allowing Ray Ray to get the inbounds...

Yeah, me too

BINGO.

I agree with both you and Senator about the playcall, but there is no way this is anyone else's fault.

While I agree that CBs are probably one of the lower priorities to spend your resources on, I like defenders who can tackle. Winfield is the best tackler in the league and he has been for a decade. I would be willing to pay a premium for any defender (regardless of position) if I knew there was a 99% chance the guy he engages goes down. So many arm-tacklers and head hunters in the league who either don't know how to wrap-up, are too afraid to be kicked or stepped on or don't care if they miss 9 tackles as long as the 10th makes Sportscenter.

Ahem....Field of Honor™

Well either this dbag came to his senses and realized how ridiculous his "demand" was OR the NBA/Celtics/Magic came through with a little something to hush him up. I'd like to say that his actions were due to high emotions after the loss and not thinking clearly and that he came to this conclusion on his own, but I'm guessing he had some incentive. And I'm glad this story appears to be dying before it gets legs. Otherwise, one day when courtside seats are 15 feet off the sideline, we can all think back to the day the whiny father complained his son was brutalized by a "raging animal with no regard for fans' personal safety."

I believe they said it was strip-mined and now it's just forest and grass. So maybe that is a good price. Maybe $3 per acre is a good price though....I have no clue. It just sounded low. And I don't mean to keep dragging this stuff up, but this story is like the gift that keeps on giving. I'm not sure if this has settled by now, but apparently there was big dispute over who should get credit for the memorial design. I mean, there are actually professors out there fighting to take credit for this abortion. If there was ever a manual for how to completely screw up every phase of a project like this, it would be based on the Flight 93 Memorial. Wow

Washington Post Link from December This take doesn't swing the pendulum in my opinion, but at least it shows the ED was definitely not a surprise move. The article KD orginally linked has been updated a bit (just more info) and what I gather from both of these pieces is that the individual landowners knew ED was coming, but thought it would be coming for the big parcels first (and perhaps only). I'm also guessing that the Park Service got tired of negotiating with Svonavec and thought "Hey, while we are condemning his land, let's just go ahead and pull the trigger on the rest of it." Grimy... Interesting that Svonavec rejected offers of both $250K and $750K and then he is accused of wanting $10MM. I'm no land appraisal expert, but $3K per acre seems pretty low (750K for 278 acres). And perhaps I assumed too much of the families? The article makes it seem like they have been in favor of this action for awhile. And a final note, have you seen the plans for this thing? I completely missed the whole "it looks like an Arabic crest" controversy, but even keeping that aside, it looks bizarre...and HUGE! To paraphrase Bob Uecker "Juuuuuuuuust a bit over the top." http://www.nps.gov/flni/parkmgmt/the-memorial-design.htm