Lurker

There are nearly 80 million adults over 55 years old that regularly read the newspaper (one of every three readers), so newsprint will always be an option, even in the major media markets...

UB 2020 was the brainchild of former University President John Simpson. Now that he's retired, it's been scaled back to essentially be the new downtown medical school, which is great, but not nearly the game changer Simpson envisioned. Here's a link to keep up with what's going on with the plan...

I'm waiting for the $100 average ticket price if a privately-funded stadium deal goes forward...

Good Karma--the last time Murph was on the airwaves nightly, the Bills were in the Super Bowl(s)...

Loved it visually but the script holes were a disappointment for me as well. My son said "it was like an episode of Lost," not even knowing that Lindelof was a co-writter...

OAO...

Here's one quick example I can think of right off the top of my head--have the refs be as athletic and in as good a phyiscal shape as the players. It would help them get to the right spots on the field faster and make critical calls from a better vantage point. Better athletes typically have better reaction times, eyesight and coordination, giving them a helping hand on bang-bang plays. And as the players have shown, being in NFL shape is a 12-month a year job today, not like the old days of players coming to training camp to get into shape. Would that mean the 40- and 50-something refs would be at risk? Yep, and I'm cool with that. There are plenty of ex-college players who'd love doing anything football-related full-time for $160K, given what their alternatives are. I suppose the phyical conditioning could be done by guys with full-time day jobs, as I'm sure you'll point out, but how come we see so many marginally athletic refs on Sundays? Here's another quick hit. If full-time refs were conducting 'training camps' for college or high school officials 3-4 months a year, their heads would be totally in the game. And as any good teacher knows, the more you teach, the more you learn. That's a lot more valuable training than working on legal briefs and balance sheets, IMO. We can belabor this point 'til Kingdom Come and both sides will undoubtedly hold fast to their positions. It's likely the "No Fun League" will stick with part-timers forever, but moreso due to saving a buck than anything else...

(Took two asprine and my head feels much better) Is "fine" a standard that can't be improved on? Accepting that officiating is as good as it can be "because full-timers won't be any better" seems to fly in the face of virtually all historic evidence surrounding the pursuit of excellence, whether it be athletic, scientific, legal, medical, management, etc. Now if the argument is "officiating is good enough," that's another thing. However, we'll never know if that's true because we'll avoid change and everything should continue to work out fine (sounds like the official motto of the City of Buffalo, doesn't it?). Finally, I'd amicably point out that the posters who seem to have their panties most wadded up are those defending the status quo...

Vince Young is our developmental QB...

Try stopping it. Anyone crazy enough to go there isn't going to be a stickler for the 'rules'...

Bad analogy, since the crossing guards are peripheral to the education process--the way the down and distance flagholders are to an NFL game--and can be replaced at the drop of a hat. As a profit-oriented private sector business, the NFL has the ability to improve it's on-field product for its paying customers. IMO, it's silly to spend $165,000 a year on guys who aren't full-time employees and treat Sunday's like a hobby, since the list of candidates willing and able to do the job--as well as anything else the NFL would ask them to do 200 other days of the year--is at least a mile long. You can have the last word, though, as I feel a throbbing in my temples...

No, I've got no need for a headache. But it doesn't take a lot to poke a pin in the arugment that "full-time" refs can't work. With average salaries in the six-figure range, I don't see why it shouldn't be possible for the NFL to get more for their money...

Just like the players have to make the 46-man game day roster, so should the refs. The best ones make the team, the rest get cut on an annual basis. If they want to stay employed (as refs), they do everything a player does to get better--including focusing on their NFL career 24/7 rather than worrying about their law practice, sales quota or "real" day job. You can bet that kind of pressure would have the most physically fit, knowlegeable guys rising to the top and the frumpy 50-year olds falling by the wayside. So give them more to do. Or adjust the number of hours worked per year. I don't buy the old argument that because there's not enoungh for them to do now there can never be enough to justify full-time employment.

Why do they have to be active employees just on game day? Just brainstorming, but why couldn't the NFL marketing wizards come up with something like a "football officials training academy" where their employee refs would be "professors" and spend the offseason giving seminars to college and high school officials (maybe even making money on the deal), conducting regional "training camps," working with the TV networks to develop more effective replay camera coverage, reviewing film like the players, having regular physical training requirements, etc. Or how about giving them three months off per year (like school teachers) which would attract a LOT of candidates based on the lifestyle. Just saying something "can't work" is no way to move forward...

Pretty easy to smack down that guy's rant...

Thank you for putting Bleacher Report in you thread title. It's a real courtesy...

Tom Donahoe, Jeff Littmann...

I wasn't ripping you per se. More like the whole premise of this thread--that Fitz's deficiencies are all due to a lack of technique and coaching. I'm sure Chan has worked on his fundamentals, given his own experience at the position and heavy input on the offense. It would appear that Lee just takes it to another level--and I wouldn't be surprised if that would be the case with any other NFL QB he might coach as well...

Why does it have to be so black and white? IMO, it's no different than Butch Harmon vs. Hank Haney or Angelo Dundee vs. Cus D’Amato. Lee puts a lot of emphasis on footwork and lower body positioning. So we hear about how Fitz has never had a coach like this before and go, "Heavens, the Bills organization is full of dufuses for never having a coach like this!" or "Now I know why Fitz can't throw!" They could just have easily hired a QB coach like Jim Caldwell and we'd be hearing about what his "secret formula" is...

Are your reffering to this? "Mentioned Sheppard a bit in terms of hoping for his development to run and hit."

What makes you think the Pats are doing something different in terms of QB coaching? Virtually all reports indicate that Brady's technical skills are due to the training he received from his late QB guru, Tom Martinez--and NOT any members of the New England coaching staff. Working on technique is fine. But if you could "bottle the formula" for making every NFL quarterback better simply by hiring a guy like Dave Lee, then coaches like him would have been the highest paid individuals in NFL a long, long time ago. Unfortunately, it's not that simple--and the 6-inches between the ears remains the most important physical quality for an NFL QB...

15 minutes is all it takes...

I'd wager that being a big fish in the Monsignor Martin league doesn't impress Stoudt (who's dad Cliff had a fine NFL career). He played in central Ohio and set numerous records against better competition: Before Clemson: Passed for a school-record 4,393 yards and 52 touchdowns against just 11 interceptions in his career at Dublin Coffman High School...broke the school career passing yardage and touchdown records that had been held by former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn; Also established school records for career completions, career wins as a starter quarterback, and passing touchdowns in a game (5)...completed 163-250 passes for 2,159 yards and 22 touchdowns against just six interceptions as a senior...conference player-of-the-year as a senior...had consecutive games when he passed for at least 300 yards...completed 20-27 passes for 370 yards and three touchdowns in a win on Oct. 22... #21 quarterback in the nation by Rivals.com...#23 quarterback in the nation by 247Sports.com...#28 quarterback in the nation by Scout.com

Which is why posts like that should just be ignored. TSW would be a lot more interesting if more people took a few seconds to verify their facts rather than farting out an opinion that does nothing but smell up the room for a few minutes...

Who cares about his contract status if he's fully participating in the OTAs and learning the offense...