smokinandjokin

Evil DL is great also! Both he and the fake Arnold have their impersonations down pat. I love when Stern brings a chick in to be interviewed, and he lets Evil DL stay in the studio. Evil DL says the absolute raunchiest things to these girls, but it's hilarious because it sounds exactly like the real Letterman. Usually it is just a stripper or porn star, but sometimes he busts out on a famous actress. Stern just laughingly plays along and tells him he is inappropriate.

I've never played one millisecond of fantasy football, but I saw this article on CBS Sportsline about Willis and his fantasy season. It basically says the things we've been talking about on this board-- Willis was hyped coming into the season, started strong, finished weak, and in the end, his numbers weren't that bad considering his QB's and O-line. He also makes the good point that for all of the injury concerns coming out of college, Willis has taken an NFL beating for two years and appears to be very durable. He does get dinged during games and stay down, and the stadium is hushed for a second, but he always seems to come back. The guy says Willis could be a value pick next year if he falls to around 20-30 and has the year he's capable of. He was a consensus Top-10/Top-5 pick this year.

What's thinking big for this team, 8-8?

I didn't hear it, but I can guarantee it wasn't. I didn't make the Sirius move, but Stern always had the Arnold impersonator on his old show. The guy does sound just like him. A few months ago, they had fake Arnold on, and he said he was trying to summon money from the state of California to blow up the moon. He said he was tired of women getting PMS and being bitchy, and their menstrual cycles are determined by the moon. Therefore, blowing up the moon would stop thier bitching and moaning. Well, one of the 24-hour news channels, MSNBC I believe, picked up the story and reported that the real Arnold was saying this stuff. Stern was beside himself laughing the next day.

The Sabres have suffered a rash of injuries this season, including Miller, Briere, and Dumont. I thought losing Briere and Dumont would really bite them in the ass, especially because of their lack of proven scorers on the roster. Well, I was wrong...Drury, Kotalik, Connolly, and Max all lifted their games, and they got contributions from young bucks like Vanek, Roy, Gaustad, and Campbell. They managed to play a gritty style and outhustle teams to win a lot of close games. However, watching the Sabres lately, teams are playing them much tougher. They will no longer sneak up on anybody or be overlooked. Coaches will start breaking down Ruff's system and figuring out where it is beatable. That brings up the question: Do the Sabres have enough goal scorers? Watching them against New Jersey, with their top three returning scorers from '03 out with injury (Dumont, Briere, Drury) they appeared to have very little punch up front. Even with those injured players, while their power play has been lethal, they have struggled scoring in 5 v 5 situations this season. Those tight, hardnosed games against a conference rival seem to be the ones where your money players need to score. If you have a 40-goal scorer on your roster, a decent chunk of those will be game-tying or game-winning goals (unless you are Miro Satan.) I think Vanek can be that player, and the goal he scored late against NJ showed a glimpse of his potential greatness. But as the stretch run begins, teams are going to realize that the Sabres are deadly on the PP and impotent at even-strength. Without Dumont and Briere, and with Drury already nursing a groin strain with the Olympics and a very busy schedule coming up, do the Sabres have enough "offense by committee" to either catch Ottawa, or at least hold on to the #4 seed and get home-ice in the 1st round? Getting those guys back for the playoffs will be huge, and I don't think home-ice a big deal, especially with the way Ruff has them playing on the road. I don't think they should trade for a forward...If anything, they need a defenseman more. But can the "Senior Amerks" keep the ship afloat until the snipers come back?

To be included at a later date: Definitely Bush, and possibly LenDale White and Winston Justice (OT) from USC.

Really??? What a clown. That's pretty pathetic. Did Maddox actually fess up? I would've loved to have heard that apology.

It was an uncalled for statement, but the same B.S. happens everywhere, not just the Buff. In fact, just earlier this year, when Tommy Maddox threw that pick that was returned for a TD in OT (when Big Ben was hurt,) kids were all over Maddox's kid at school, and people even whipped a whole bunch of toilet paper into his trees and front yard. Not saying it's right, just saying it happens everywhere. With all the job rumors, moving from city to city, and constant criticism, it cannot be easy to be an NFL coach's child, especially from the ages of 11-17, when kids can be the cruelest. Dungy's son showed that what can be viewed from the outside as a priveledged life may not always be a bed of roses.

Bruce was the man. He earned his training camp hiatus. He'd be home in Virginia during the offseason cranking out 3 hours everyday on the Stairmaster. When your perennial Pro Bowler and best defensive player shows up for training camp with 3% body fat, I think I would let him slide by in the tedious drills as well. Marv was solid with the veterans...Almost the anti-Mularkey. Marv knew Bruce put the work in, and he didn't need to practice a speed rush drill in July when it's 94 degrees. The vets knew Marv was in charge and respected him, and he gave that respect right back. He didn't need to make a point by being a hardass and forcing your Pro Bowlers to do "rookie" drills. I get the feeling MM hasn't grasped that yet, and is determined to show everyone, vets included, that he is the boss. That being said, I don't see anyone on this current Bills roster who has earned enough distinction or is disciplined enough in their own workout regiment to get the "Club Marv" treatment during training camp. Moulds probably has the skill and you know he shows up in terrific shape, but it appears the attitude is lacking, which is probably the most important part.

Don't give the school too much credit. They brushed his latest traffic infraction from mid-December under the rug so that he could play in the bowl game. Then, the QB coach and offensive coordinator saw him stomp on the Louisville player's leg, and both were extremely upset and wanted to pull Vick from the game. However, they were losing at the time, and guess what??? Their actions speak louder than their words: They didn't pull him, and VT came back to win. The dude has been a mess since he got to VT. I think he would have been better served going somewhere else, further away from home, to play in a stadium where his brother's jersey was not hanging retired in the rafters. By the way, he was suspended for VT's ACC title season last year. Does anybody think that if VT did not have Bryan Randall returning at QB, somehow Vick would not have been suspended? I do give them credit for booting him, but not too much. I agree, not one of his incidents was shockingly horrible, but added together, they show a kid who thinks everyone owes him something and he doesn't learn from his mistakes.

C'mon Rich, you're better than that. YPC is the biggest hoax stat there is. Willis' 3.8 vs. Edge's 4.2 works out to 8 yards a game over the course of 20 carries. Are you telling me you see a huge impact between 2nd & 5.8 yds and 2nd & 6.2 yds? Two long breaks by Willis, or a couple of non-penalties on a few longer runs that he had called back, and he would have been up over 4.0. Would that have changed the Bills' record? Listen, I'm not saying McGahee is the second coming of Walter Payton. This Bills team needed him to put them on his shoulders, and truthfully, he didn't. But he had 1250 yards and we all seem to concur that he had a bad year. What if he did carry the team? Would he have had 1900? Is that really what we were expecting? Don't discount the fact that JP struggled completing a pass in his first go-round as starter, and Holcomb had trouble looking further than 6 yards downfield. Add to that, the fact that half the time he ran, McGahee ran up the back of Shelton who was getting blasted back in his face, and I'd say he did okay. Not great, certainly, but I don't think he had a bad season. When Willis was running up 110 per game last year during the winning streak, that was not the upper echelon of the NFL we were playing. Yards are hard to come by against good teams, and even harder to come by when you are playing from behind and have no passing attack.

In the end, the media and fans have taken off running with the "I am the best in the NFL" comment. Willis did utter those words, but taken in context, he also listed LT, Edge, and Portis as great backs. When asked which one was the best, Willis said something along the lines of, "I think I am the best. You always have to walk on the field thinking you are the best." The fact that Willis finished 10th in the NFL in rushing with 1247 yards behind a pathetic, makeshift line, and without a complementary passing attack, seems like he did pretty well. He would have had more than 5 TD's if MM didn't have a love affair with Shelton when they get inside the 5-yard line. I guess what I'm saying is that Willis didn't have a great year, but he was not the reason we were 5-11. He doesn't deserve to be above the Vikings cruise as an "Ugly" part of the NFL season. If the media wasn't so obsessed with him saying that he was the best, it would be looked at as a solid year.

Pissed off......and fresh. Two weeks off could help, with the schedule in March (look at that! 17 games!) and the upcoming playoff push. It will be nice to see Drury, Max, etc. playing for their countries, and it would be nice to see Miller as the best U.S. goalie, but that is going to be tough. Flying overseas, playing in a high pressure tournament, and then coming back and playing March's schedule, finishing up in April, and entering the playoffs (the most demanding postseason in all of sports)- I hope they (especially Drury) leave some gas in the tank!

Wootchie wootchie, give me the cootchie!

Yeah, the dude is on fire. In four of the six games since his return, he's held the opponent to one goal. Can't quite get the goose egg. Quote from Miller: Solid.

If you want to grab a bite to eat, I suggest the Swannie House on Ohio St in downtown Buffalo. It is very close to the arena (5 min walk or less) and you can park for free in their lot. They have a mighty tasty burger there. Pearl Street Grill and Brewery is also a pretty good spot within walking distance to the arena.

Miller is on point right now. He was all over the dekes on those breakaways. It took a crazy bounce and a swinging shot out of midair to beat him. He's got a 1.48 GAA and a .944 save percentage in his six games since returning from the injury. No question he is the best goalie on the team. He proved it once this year already, got injured, and then came back and overtook the hottest goalie in the NHL to regain the #1 spot. I know this horse is beaten down, and Darcy is not known for his quick trigger finger, but they should be shopping Marty. His value is as good as it's gonna get. I'm not sure what they would want...A big bruiser defenseman would be nice. I wouldn't pick up a forward, because getting Dumont back followed by Briere a month later will be equivalent to picking up two big-time scorers at the trade deadline. I know Noronen is obviously the lesser of the three, but Miller has proved he can go all the time and be effective. I have a feeling the backup is only going to play once every 10 games if Miller is the starter. Mika is adequate in that regard. The tough stretch will be in March, when the games are packed tightly together after the two-week Olympic break in February. But the Sabres aren't the only team with a crowded schedule. There will be a lot of backups around the NHL seeing action that month.

The only thing weird about this combo is the massive increase in season ticket sales that would immediately follow the announcement of their hiring. Defensive Coordinator Offensive Coordinator

I'm sure that just sounds like it hurts a lot more than it really does. What if the dude was gay, or was thinking about Major League Baseball to prevent a hard-on? That seems like one way to play a little defense. But it does bring up an interesting question: Do the midgets in Al Qaeda conduct their beheadings below the belt?

My left and right testicles are the coordinators, and they never stray far from their head coach, who wears a firefighter's helmet.

Or...Instead of bitching about every article he writes, just stop reading them.

All you girls who get your panties twisted over every Jerry Sullivan article, ENOUGH!!! We get it. He's a no-talent hack. Here's a novel thought: STOP READING WHAT HE WRITES!

The Bills passed on McKinnie and drafted Mike Williams out of Texas because of his character.

I don't mind the crowd yelling shoot...at least they're into the game. I think even the most novice fan knows that you have to shoot to score. It manifests itself on the PP because guys have so much more time, and the fans want to see them unleash one. It would be pretty funny to hear everyone yelling "Pass it! Pass!" It's hard to criticize this year's Sabres PP. They do shoot the puck quite a bit (and get it on net!) but their patience has been the key. They are getting the puck to the right players at the right time to uncork a shot.

I don't think any other team in the country can score enough to keep up with USC or Texas. Penn State's defense would have performed better than USC's no doubt, but there is no shutting down Texas. Your offense has to score, which PSU would have had serious trouble with. Ohio St proved that the key to stopping Young is athletic linebackers, which Penn St has (and USC definitely doesn't have.) However, Young is still going to break a few off. You have to look at USC and Texas differently. 'Shutting them down' effectively means you hold them in the low-30's. You have to outscore them.