post modern age

I suppose we'd have to begin about educating you on the difference between Republicans and Conservatives, as well as the difference between extreme social conservatism and moderate social conservatism. Of course you implied yourself that you're not that smart. So, hey.

Why don't you take a stab at it?

That's quite Bushian.

No, I don't think I have actually. I don't think it's a valid arguement to imply that there was no one else in America qualified for the job.

It means there is nothing more typical of the Bush presidency and philosophy than to run your enitre election campaign blasting Kerry for being a flip-flopper, going out on a limb with a nomination, and then tucking his tail between his legs and going back to his teat when it fails. What happened to making progress? Staying the course? Etc, etc., etc?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9874588/ There is of course, nothing more Bushian to do once your own party rejects your woman nominee for the seat than to nominate a nerd with wholesome conservative values. MSNBC had a headline running today with the phrase "Supreme Pick". Seems to me they forgot an "r".

Your lead is 16-7. You have a defense that has proclaimed itself one of the best in history. The opposition has to score against you twice. The quarterback for which you traded your first round draft pick to Dallas for is on the bench. The quarterback who served backup to Jim Harbaugh, Tim Couch and Jeff Garcia is in the game. There's no one there to help you. The quarterback of the other team is a 3 time world champion, whose was the backup to the former quarterback of our team, who we also gave up a first round draft pick for, who is now in Dallas. There's no one there to help you. It's third down. Your running back who was a first round draft pick, who replaced a 1500 yard rusher with a habit to endulge in cocaine, pedophilism and steroids, is not in the game. He has recently proclaimed himself also to be the best in the league. It is instead an undrafted free agent from Alabama in which your fates rests. There's no one there to help you. At offensive line, Jason Peters starts. He has no real position, and this is mostly a bad thing. He is too small for a typical offensive linemen and too fat for a tight end. Alas, he has only one less touchdown reception than the team's leader. There's no one there to help you. And meanwhile, Holcomb's inability to move shall be brought into question, and yet, in the same amount of games, Holcomb has been sacked two fewer times than the younger, more mobile Losman. There's no one here to help you. Earlier in the game, a missed field goal by your kicker, Rian Lindell, TBD's proclaimed team MVP, means that New England can now put the game virtually out of reach by scoring two touchdowns, forcing the Bills to score another. Lindell, 17 for 19 on this season, has two missed from 40 or greater. There's no one there to help you. And yet still, my friends, we have an 11 point lead. And we look further, and on the stat line, two of the top 5 team tacklers are cornerbacks. There's no on there to help you. -- Yet, here we are, with a two point lead, and 6 minutes to go, and the ball is in our possession, and on our 20. Here friends, we are again, in a meeting with destiny. IN a meeting with destiny such as against Pittsburgh in 2004, and Dallas in 2003. A meeting with destiny such as the Chiefs in 2002, and Tennessee in 1999. A meeting with destiny such as the four superbowls in the early 90's. Here we are, once again, our season so close to being completely on the line, and it comes down to one drive. In my time as a Bills fan, I've seen some tremendous things, friends. Winning 4 American Football Conference Championships in a row, a practically impossible feat, seeing our heroes in Levy and Kelly elected into the hall of fame, seeing the death and rebirth and death and rebirth and death and rebirth, and again, death of a franchise. So here we are: 6 minutes, ball on the 20, and it is in our hands. Holcomb under center with Peters to the left. An aged, and now downhill veteran in Eric Moulds and a man with the intelligence and foresight to leave a year before his college team would win the national title in Josh Reed on the wings. For once in a moment of anxiety, Willis is on the field. And now I pose one single solitary question: Four years ago, when Tom Donahoe took this organization over and changed the path of the ship when names such as Johnson, Price, Centers, Brown, Wiley were household, was this where you imagined we'd be? Was this where YOU imagined we'd be, Mr. Donahoe? The ball is in the hands of your backup quarterback, looking to throw to your aged receiver while dodging the pressure allowed by your slash linemen, Peters. And of course we know the result. The unfortunate thing though, guys, is this: That backup quarterback, the aged receiver, Peters... those are the things... that Donahoe actually got right.

I think that in a way, forums ARE often a sad, irrational place. In general, though not always, there is a specific type of person who posts on forums regularly (20-30 times a day) and those are people who are much comfortable finding non-physical validation socially than in person. This is usually limited to Off the Wall crowds and that sort of thing, but in tight knit community forums, that can spill over into the other sides of a forum. This forum is used to talk football and in that sense, in most respects, it does a good job, but in many other respects Mike Schopp does have a point in that a forum like this, outside of its intended purpose (football) can act much more like a support group than a community. I'm an idealist and so I have to say that when I join a forum it's general for the purpose of discusses (usually) solely the topic, in most cases, in MOST cases, sports. Over the last month or so, I've tried to get into the whole chat online for fun thing and it seems more damning than anything. For the most part, it caters only to a specific type of person, and beyond that is, like every other social corner, not very inviting to those of which it does not like. The tendency most obviously apparent on forums is the tendency for its users to unite when their character is challenged -- as many people who post on forums do so because they are uncomfortable displaying the same sort of banter elsewhere, and they find that to be a character flaw, they react most viciously. Yes, Mike Schopp is a know-it-all who is rather daft and not as sports savvy as he thinks he is. At the same time, the people on this forum are giving him the exact reaction he wanted -- piling on... patting each other on the back about how big of an idiot he is, and not looking outside themselves for any sort of validation. TBD especially, some forums have tremendous potential to be outlets for good, APPRECIATED anaylsis of buffalo sports. When forum members take the forum more seriously than it really is, though, they lose that edge.

Both Manfredo Jr. and Bassonti were absolutey screwed tonight, and I think the ESPN screw was in shock. I don't know what was going on, but Manfredo Jr. landed about 3 times as many punches as Mora...

Man, it's a good thing for the conservatives that everyone in America is planning to die or retire before 2008.

I'm absolutely positive that this letter is real. I mean, it had an official letterhead and one of those pre-paid envelopes and everything!

Selfish bump

Hey I’ve got a project that I’m putting together that I thought I’d let everybody know about. Whether or not you’re interested is up to you. I’m sure some of you have heard of dynastymanager.com, yes? Well, if you haven’t, basically what it is, is people who play sims of games (Madden, MVP Baseball, OOTP Baseball), and do their own miniature dynasty report websites on them. They’re all very similar and shallow in detail. What I’ve tried to do is take that to the next level – a virtual franchise. The franchise will play two full length games a week, there will be fan club multimedia, contests, prizes, a lot of interaction and some ‘decent’ reading. The idea is mainly to have fun, but also to take the dynasty idea to another level. The concept, if you’re unfamiliar with it, may seem a bit sketchy at first, but there’s a lot to be gained – the first prize for the first month’s contest is an unopened copy of NCAA Football 2006. Also, you can enter yourself into the free agency pool in 2007 by creating yourself with the Join the Team option that will open with the regular season, and other interesting things. If anything, give it a look. Sign up for the forums, let me know some of your positive and negative feedback. www.safranchise.com

i really didn't think i'd care that much when hockey returned, but in the last nhl season (03-04), empire was no longer apart of the time warner package and so i was in the minority of people who was without sabres hockey. all of a sudden our cable company shuffles last week, msg is on the lineup card now, and bam, sabres hockey. was quite refreshing and enjoyable. lots of scoring!!

We will draft somewhere around 8th or 9th and get a Williams type offensive linemen, but for a little less cost. We will then throw out a 'curveball' by drafting a cornerback in the 2nd, hopefully to blossom into the #2 in a few years. Then, we shall big a TE, LB, and HB in any given order in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th, we will choose the SEC's 4th or 5th best QB in the 6th and wrap it up with a white, high motored defensive end to push Mr. Denney.

I don't think there is any tangible explanation. In another thread, buffalo mike pondered aloud the injustice in John Lennon being murdered while O.J. Simpson was left to go free after killing. Aside from the fact that one person is alive and another dead, I don't really see anything that can compare the two. Maybe he just doesn't make sense very often.

Not that I'm an advocate for the Liberal Party anymore than the Conservative Party, but I can tell you quite frankly that while the Conservative Party does its best to masturbate itself into a pending loss, and the Liberals lose all sorts of rationale, post modern socialism is going to sweep the country very soon. The blatant ideological and social conservatism that Conservatives have used as a withstanding party line for eight years now is a fading trend -- when the Evangelicals money stops, so does your influence, and just as impractical as the Conservative idea is the Liberal idea that the world has any remaining capability to be a vast and open wonderland. You're both wrong. The only reason the Conservatives are winning elections is because they have the ability to screw the current system up faster.

The presence of an undersized retired running back on opposing defenses is a perfectly logical explanation, of course.

There's nothing official about injury reports. Teams are free to edit their injury report whenever and however they please.

A selfish bump.

This is my analysis. It is completely subjective, and it is based on what I saw with one look and what I feel about the status of this team after watching the game. I am perfectly comfortable with saying that some of what I say may be reactionary because I am very disappointed with the loss. Offense J.P. Losman, for the second week in a row, did not show anything other than what could be considered expected. Aside from one play in which he missed a wide open Eric Moulds, he IS, in fact, finding the open man. We can attest to this because he is not making throws to wide open receivers. He is missing short on short routes and long on long routes and I believe this is just from indecision. You miss short on short routes because you don’t want to throw a pick, and you miss long on long routes because you only want your guy to have a shot at the ball. It’s much better than him missing short on long routes, and long on short routes. That would make for a very, very long game. Losman is not a statue in the pocket, but some people are now attributing this to indecision and nervousness. There was a play in the game in which he had 0.9 seconds before the first defender was in reach of him. This is not enough time. Daimon Shelton needs to stay on the ball. He is following his assignments and blocking where.he is expected to, but the simple problem with this is that McGahee is not a route runner. He audibles in his head, literally, the second the ball is snapped. McGahee had a good game. He found holes and made some where they weren’t. There are still some occasions where his mind slips him and he is dancing in the backfield. These instances seem to be most pertinent on third down. This is not acceptable. McGahee must become a route runner on critical running plays, because he is giving up good blocks otherwise. Willis McGahee is a fantastic running back, we saw that today. He still needs to recognize when the appropriate time to turn his juke switch off, is. The Wide Receivers need to catch some balls. I don’t know what Eric Moulds problem is. Age doesn’t mean you lose your hands – that is usually the last thing to go. Despite the fact that they picked up the Pass Interference flag when DeAngelo Hall put his hands to Moulds face, Moulds had two hands on that ball, and needs to come down with it. The Wide Receivers also need to try and make up for some of Losman’s mistakes. I know that it is impossible to do that on overthrows, but on underthrows they need, at times, to make an attempt to come back to the ball. In this units defense, I do not recall a single reception in the last two games in which J.P. Losman has afforded his receiver the opportunity to make a move after the catch. Every effort, EVERY EFFORT, has to be put into catching Losman’s passes. Additionally, much of this would go away if our tight ends had a presence in the middle of the field. They need to start proving themselves worthy of a look. The Offensive Line is the worst unit on the field. They simply do not give J.P. Losman the time necessary to make anything happen. I understand that you can’t give him time on every down, or even every other down, but about 66% of the time in this game, J.P. Losman had under 3 seconds in the pocket before it collapsed. Three seconds is not asking too much. There were a few instances in this game in which I saw Teague and any given collection of other offensive linemen assigned two one defender. Two linemen, one defender, and they let them go through. Trey Teague has got to be off the ball quicker. He is not getting off the snap fast enough, and our guards are not looking until their right until the defender is already past them. I do not think anyone expects this unit to win the war in the trenches week in and out – they are simply not that good. However, they can at least stay in the fight for a few seconds each play. Defense The blitz schemes that Jerry Gray has concocted is allowing for tons of penetration into the backfield, however, our defensive linemen and our linebackers just seem too slow to be effective. As Vick is a speed quarterback, obviously, last week is a better example of the fact that the defensive line is not beating the Quarterback to the punch nearly enough. Our defensive ends, with the exception of Schobel, are very un-athletic in the sense that they have a lot of moving parts that they have to get going forward before they can garner any sort of momentum. I understand the idea of a defense that doesn’t generate a lot of turnovers is upsetting and frustrating, but at the same time when our defense was simply containing other teams they were not having performances such as the last few weeks and this weeks. By the time our defensive lineman and linebackers reach position, the ball is either in the arms of a halfback seven yards downfield on en route to a single covered wide out. Ron Edwards, also, is not the problem. This entire defensive line is losing the push on run plays. The linebackers played alright, okay, I give them that. They did alright, but they need to make open field tackles. Most of this linebacker unit, including Mr. Fletcher and Mr. Spikes, suddenly get their feet stuck in quick sand when they are needed most for an open field tackle. Takeo Spikes is a fantastic defensive player, and I understand that he recognizes certain plays where others may not. Maybe he is Quarterbacking this defense, I do not know. It is absolutely inexcusable, however, to be turned completely around, instructing Troy Vincent, and lose track of the snap, and in turn, your position also on the field. The linebackers need to be the most consistent unit on this defense every week, for this to work. The defensive backs need to start playing up to their name on third down. I can’t understand this. This unit is the best team on the field 2 out of every 3 downs, but suddenly, they become the Kings of Buffer on 3rd down. Our defensive backs give their receivers three to four yards of breathing room every third down because they do not want to be beat with a move, and are giving up a lot of close first downs. This unit is a playmaking unit. Nate Clements can turn the face of an entire game around, we’ve seen him do it. Terrence McGee has tremendous agility and, for his size, can stay with receivers very well. DO IT. Special Teams This unit is consistent, but I can’t get a solid read on them. Moorman has not been as fantastic this year as normal, though he had a tremendous punt today, he also had a terrible punt that people aren’t going to be talking about because Hall coughed up the ball. That punt would have had a net of like, 30 yards, or something awful. Rian Lindell should not be the foundation of our offense this year and yet so far he has been. The cover game has been decent so far, however, I can see us giving up a touchdown or two this season. There are a lot of second to last, and last man tackles, and the rest of the unit is just quick to jump on the tackle, and so it looks like we’re smothering everybody. I am concerned there. The return game has been fantastic so far. If you give Terrence McGee time back there, he can make things happen completely by himself. Fast Freddie did okay today with some punt returns, but I can’t see him breaking one. He made some bad choices by fielding punts on the 3 and 5 yard lines. Coaching Unpredictability eventually becomes predictable if you do the same thing, and we saw that eventually playing towards your own weaknesses by as a surprise eventually wears our. Yes, we ran successfully to our right side initially, because the Falcons were overloading the left side, and then they stopped, and the running direction leveled off. The Bills aren’t a bad team right now. They’re not a good team at all, however. There are a few items of concern that can be fixed with scheming and coaching that can allow us to turn this thing around, but that is up to the coaching to recognize and be up front about. The Fix The problems with this team are vastly spread out, and the parts are greater than the whole of the problem for lack of a better term. When it was 14-13 Falcon flavor today, I said to myself that even if we won this game something didn’t feel right. We weren’t hitting the line hard, and we weren’t doing anything remotely impressive. Of course, neither were the Falcons, and maybe that’s why it was only 14-13. To me, the fix is to get McGahee to run the play verbatim in 3rd down situations, and work his magic elsewhere, its for the offensive line to work more on their vision and quickness than strength and endurance. The first team offensive line had two backups on and off today and they certainly played like backups. If you aren’t as talented in Week 3 of the season as your opposing defensive line, there is nothing that is going to make you as talented as the Week 4 opposition. You have to play smarter than they do. If we can establish an ability to make the same kind of 3rd down runs as we are making 1st and 2nd down runs, than the passing game will open up a little more, and even J.P’s mistakes will be a little less glaring with more open space downfield. The defense simply needs to finish the job. They are wearing themselves out by allowing countless 3rd and 7, 3rd and 8, 3rd and 11’s to convert. sh-- or get off the pot. A defense this good should not crumble on third down, and its depressing to see that they do.

A lot of the time he doesn't have much time in the pocket, to be fair.

Good god that was close. Rian Lindell has to be made of iron this year if we have any chance. Expect alot of 12-15-18 score point games.

Losman has come as close to completing passes to the Falcons DB's as any he has thrown to our guys.

McGahee. Please. Stop. Trying. To Make People. Miss.