smokinandjokin

That's right, I forgot Campbell signed. I can't imagine the Sabres extending too much for Connolly- I wouldn't be shocked if he doesn't play again. I certainly wouldn't look for him this year. Lydman had a VERY solid season and was a part of the #1 defensive pairing. If you say Talinder is the team's #1, Lydman is probably the #2. What was McKee, then? Arbitrators look at the marketplace. McKee's $4 million will hurt with Lydman (if the Sabres don't lock him up before the arbitration.) I agree with your comments about Kalinin and Gaustad. IMO, they should try to lock up Gaustad on the cheap for several years. I think he is going to be a hell of a two-way player, great faceoff guy, and future captain. Max, Pville and Dumont will not be cheap. The problem with all of these players going to arbitration is that I heard the hearings get quite nasty. Basically, it is the player and the agent sitting on one side, while reps for the club sit on the other side, and the club tells the arbitrator all about the players flaws and why he's not worth X-amount of dollars. I would imagine that can get a little uncomfortable.

Thanks

Perhaps the UN should just seize some land and create an independent Jewish state. That should calm everything down.

Including Briere's salary, the Sabres have ~$26 million in contracts for next season. Last year's team played for ~$29 million. I believe the Sabres still have 9 players eligible for arbitration, including Max (if Briere got $5, what's the leading scorer get?) Kalinin, Lydman, Campbell, Dumont, Connolly, Gaustad, and Pominville. All are due BIG raises. I heard Darcy reference $33-34 million as the targeted total salary this year. There is no way they are at that number, considering where they already are, and the players yet to sign. The only savings I can see is that they should be able to free up ~$2 million by dealing Biron. Locking up Ryan Miller to a long-term deal needs to happen. He is the key. But if they have to keep developing players and then trading them when they become too expensive, the team might as well move to Kansas City and call themselves the Royals.

I don't think there is one person around who feels Kent Hull is underrated. He signed in 1986, the same day as Kelly. The two of them played together for the Bills for 10 years and both retired after the '96 season. He played in 170 games, missing only 2, and along with Thurman and Kelly, Hull was considered a key reason why the Bills no-huddle offense was able to succeed. He was a three-time Pro Bowler, was selected to the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame in 1997, received the Ralph C. Wilson Distinguished Service Award in 2001, selected to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 2002, and has his name (and legacy) on the Wall of Fame at the Ralph. He is certainly a top-3 all-time Bills lineman, and it would be tough to argue that he's not the best they've ever had. Underrated???? What are the standards here? Shane Conlan? Come on people. He won two NCAA championships, was a two-time All American, the #1 pick of the Bills, was the 1987 AP Defensive Rookie of the Year, and played in three Pro Bowls and two Super Bowls in six seasons in Buffalo. I don't think he was underrated. My choice? Pat Williams. He brought it every game. I'm not sure the Bills could've afforded to pay him what Minnesota did, but I think they underestimated how much he'd be missed. They always assumed they could throw any fat-body in the mix to do Pat's job.

No doubt McNally did not have the greatest, or even mid-level talent to work with. But the fact that the line was "lost" speaks to the coaching. If players are adjusting and calling the correct schemes, but are just not good enough to execute, that's not the fault of the coach. But for the coach to say the OLine was "lost," shouldn't he be asking why? McNally's most recent stint with the Giants produced some pathetic OLines. It's pretty clear he's like 99.9% of the other coaches in the NFL- you're smart with great players and you're an idiot with average to below-average players. Nobody is a miracle worker- the talent shines through on Sunday.

The three-week cycling season is now over. Everyone can go back to not caring until next July. BTW, did anyone see Landis' parents? They are devout Menonites and they don't own a TV, so they had to go to a neighbor's house to watch the Tour. And they didn't see their son cross the finish line in what was probably the most important and exciting moment of his life, because they were on their way back from church. Yikes. They seem like genuine, nice people who love their son dearly, but sometimes the God-squad is scary.

How 'bout you stop going? Ever since you've been heading there they haven't won a playoff game!

It was 4am and we were pretty drunk, and not yet tired. That would normally be motivation enough, but we all thought it would be hilarious if our friend had to drive over to this heffer's house and start swapping tires. Actually, when we went back to our buddy's house the second time to put the girl's tire on his car, his neighbor was awake and did call the cops because he saw flash lights shining around the car. We were gone by the time the fuzz rolled up, but the police were ringing my friend's doorbell at 5am. That's how he found out, which is also pretty funny.

Less than stellar, thanks for asking! Said friend from above somehow got his company's box for the Bisons game tonight and invited all of us idiots, so I have to pull myself together before then. I can't be feeling down in the dumps when there are free beers in the box's fridge!!!

That's what I heard. I think I was just reading an article the other day about the rediculous number of requests compared to the number of tix available. That's good- last year's team gave everyone the reminder of how things used to be (and are supposed to be.) I love the USC-ND rivalry...USC-UCLA has some serious hate; USC-ND has a little hate, but a ton of respect. I was at USC from fall '97 to spring '01. Some lean football years. Paul Hackett- need I say more? Carson Palmer didn't quite have his game figured out. (Point of reference: They lost to Utah 10-6 in the Las Vegas Bowl my senior year. ) Of course when I leave they go on one of the best runs in history. I usually get out there for 1 game a season. Last year, it just happened to be Fresno St, because the Bills were in San Diego the next day, so I went to both. I wasn't that excited about seeing the Fresno St game, I figured it would be a laugher. What a show! 50-42 with Bush's 500+ yards. Incredible. (Luckily I was extremely intoxicated for the Bills-Chargers game the next day and only vaguely remember that 48-10 disaster.) Haha, I get that a lot...Family business in the Buff, so I came back to suck off the family tit for a little while. Hopefully in the near future I will have saved enough millions to buy a piece of sh*t 1800 sq foot house out there!

A few months ago, a friend of mine hooked up with a gal (she occasionally hung around with us but not very often). It was pretty much a one-night stand type of thing, my friend had no intention of having to see her again. Well, about two weeks later, me and two other buddies went to our friend's house, jacked up his car, and removed his tire. We slid logs under the axle and took the jack out. Then we went to the chick's house, jacked up her car, took off her tire and slapped the tire from our buddy's car on there. We returned to our friend's house and put her tire on his car. They were different sized tires, but the lugnuts matched up. His car looked like it had a donut on it, while her car had a slightly oversized tire on it. It was great! Both parties were very upset and embarrassed when they had to meet up to swap tires. So that started it. Since then, it has been some small pranks here or there. I mistakenly left my car unlocked one night and he moved it down the street into a neighbor's driveway. I went to the pet store with the idea of buying a talking bird, and training it to say "!@#$ Danny" and then giving it to him, but the birds were too expensive, so I bought a rabbit and some rabbit food and placed it under his bed. It was three days before he saw it, the rabbit was leaving pellets all over the place, he thought it was a rat! The first time he saw it, I was with him, and he walked into his room and the rabbit was out in the open, and it darted under his bed. He was scared schitless!!! (The rabbit has since been given to a kid we know who's family has a farm.) Well last night, we won a big softball game, and of course had a big victory celebration. My friend in question is a teammate of mine. I ended up over-indulging a bit and stayed out until 3am. Needless to say, when I woke up at 6:30am for work I was not moving at a rapid pace. So, after a few snooze buttons, and already running late, I walk outside and rub the eye boogers out of the corners of my eyes. As I walk to my car, I notice on the bumper- one of those rainbow stickers that people place on their cars to signify gay pride. Hilarious! That bastard must've stuck it on there last night. With no time to spare, I had to hop in and drive to work, proudly supporting the gay community. I guess I'm up. I'll come up with something good.

Because you've seen the 2006 line play where?

I think you can post pics in the PPP forum, and then attach a link to that thread in Off the Wall or Stadium Wall.

It is certainly not the post I am most proud of...I will serve my penalty like a man. "You go to the box, and you feel shame."

I was never a big Opie & Anthony fan. They just didn't do it for me. And they, like everyone else, always tore on Buffalo when they got a chance. Well, a few years back, I went down to the lake for T&A with O&A...This sh*t was scandalous!!! What was supposed to be a bikini contest quickly evolved into young women getting buck-nekkid and jamming objects into their various orafices. I was curious who brought the zucchini. Anyways, it was out of control, and absolutely hilarious. I heard that the following Monday O & A were going nuts. They said, "I know we've dogged Buffalo in the past, but they brought it! That place is out of control!" They spent about 20 minutes glorifying the Buffalo party scene. Friends of mine who do listen regularly said that any caller who says he's from Buffalo gets bumped onto the air immediately! Finally somebody is recognizing this area for things we do well!

I devoured a man twinkie with a love mayonaisse filling. I did order a hot dog, but I didn't eat it, I just slapped it around on my face for a while.

I've got 8 Pit Bulls and 6 Rotties!!!

Anything concerning a penis the size of mine is certainly not frivolous. Burning the skin off of that thing would be like clearing rainforests in the Amazon.

I was hoping beyond hope that the truth about Wide Right was that the kick was actually good, and that through extensive research, Gary Anderson was able to prove that it was in fact the goalposts that were Wide Left. Bummer. Next time I'll just stick with my own thoughts instead of actually opening and reading threads.

The old logo entered an in-patient program for alcoholism rehab. You know there's nothing to do in Buffalo besides drink...

If Leinart is the weak-armed QB that you suggest he is, I would assume Arizona is the best place for him. Dry, warm air, a semi-enclosed stadium, two receivers in Boldin and Fitzgerald who can make a QB look good, and a horse RB who has proven he can get the job done. It may not work out long-term, but like I said, those moves equal $$$. The Cards hope that in the future the moves equal wins, but in the meantime, they'll settle for $$$. Besides, Denny Green may choose to play Kurt Warner over Leinart. He sat Culpepper for a full season when Daunte was a rookie in Minnesota.

Believe it or not (and somebody feel free to call me on this because I'm not positive) I think the Arizona Cardinals are sold out via 100% capacity season ticket sales. Leinart + Edge + Sweet new stadium = $$$

Teddy's already forced out the GM...Now all he needs to do is get bombed off the firewater every night and sleep with Yashin's wife, and it will be like he never left the league!

Perhaps they need to compile a similar criminal record to the DI draft prospects. If a WR at Brockport St could rack up a few assaults, maybe a rape, and throw in a disorderly conduct or two, I'm sure that Oakland, Cincy, Miami, or Dallas would give him a look.