John Gianelli

The thing I like better about today's game than the 1964-65 vintage is... ............................................................................................................... ................................................................................................................ hmmm.................................................................................................. ........................................................................................................... ............still thinking............................................................................. ................................................................................................................ ..........................if you can think of anything, let me know!

An Emory University study. Wait, the Patriots fans are 2nd? The Chiefs fans are last??? https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/esma/2017/06/17/nfl-fan-base-and-brand-rankings-2017/

Scrolled down until I found this, because that's exactly what I was thinking.

Arrogant Patriots fans! If it were a Bills fan writing that, you can be sure it would have said "ineptitude at it's finest".

He also out-threw J.T. Barrett flat-footed (see the bottom of the page): http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2017/4/15/15314014/cardale-jones-ohio-states-spring-game-2017?yptr=yahoo&ref=yfp

Comic strip for March 23 features a Bills fan. http://www.gocomics.com/tankmcnamara/2017/03/23

Thanks, Scott, for all you've done to support Bills fans, going back to the late 90s in Maryland. As I recall, we watched the games at Randy's California Inn in Laurel, right? Did we also meet at the Greene Turtle? I remember being swept up in the Flutiemania of the time. Though I love being back in Buffalo now, I miss some of the expatriate feel of the Bills Backers gatherings in Maryland, and in Philly at McFadden's, especially the win over NE in 2011.

Just saw this. I am so sorry for your loss. God bless you, and your son!

Actually, Preston Ridlehuber! 158.3 passer rating. 45 yards PER ATTEMPT! Anybody else remember that game? From Wikipedia: His most notable Buffalo Bills highlight came during a game against the 0–5 then called Boston Patriots. Preston was a backup running back with the 2–3 Bills. O.J. Simpson had been concussed in Houston the week before and was not dressed for the Patriots game. Fullback Wayne Patrick (number 30) had run 17 times for 131 yards. Max Anderson (number 22) also known as Mini Max Anderson had 10 carries for 46 yards. Mini Max was injured during a collision on the field. His face mask shattered and Anderson's teeth were broken and lying on the turf. While medical personnel were administering to Max, Bill's coach John Rauch called for Preston along the sideline. The score was tied 16–16 late in the 4th quarter. Rauch knelt down and drew a play out in the dirt. The play, a halfback option play, had been practiced for the last couple of weeks. It was originally planned for O.J. to throw a short pass to the Tight end. The Bills were in a short yardage situation, and this pass completion would keep the drive alive. Preston took the play into the huddle and the play was set in motion. On the snap, Ridlehuber who had been a quarterback at Georgia, noticed that the Patriots cornerback was closing in on the Tight end. His better judgement told him, to look elsewhere for an available receiver. He then saw Bills wide receiver Haven Moses wide open. He tossed a pass to the open Moses and he scored a touchdown on the long 45-yard pass completion. When he returned to the bench, Coach Rauch congratulated him, and said: 'Be glad it worked.' The play gave the Bills a 23–16 lead. This touchdown stood up and was the final score. Notably, during that game, his regular jersey number (37) was ripped; as such, a replacement jersey with the number 31 was given to him to wear instead. The number 31 was retired for most of the team's history to represent a generic player and the "spirit of the franchise;" Ridlehuber would be the only player to wear the number for the Bills until it was unceremoniously put back into circulation in 1991.

In response to the incessant whining of players who think the ref blew a call, and in order to speed up the game, here is a proposed new penalty and new rules for reviewing a play. - 10-yard penalty for questioning the call, or non-call, of a penalty. Not sure what happens if a player questions the penalty for questioning a penalty. - give each coach two chances to review a call per half. They can be used any time, including in the final two minutes, but they can only be used on scoring plays or in the red zone. - no more automatic review of all scoring plays, or any other plays So, what about teams that think they have been screwed by too many non-reviewable bad calls over the course of the season? Your reward will be great in the draft. - since all game film is already reviewed in the evaluation of officials, have the people who review the officials keep a tally of blown calls. A blown call that goes against your team results in a point; if it's in the red zone, two points; if it's on a scoring play, five points. The team with the most points at the end of the season gets a compensatory extra pick at the end of the first round. The team with the second most points gets an extra pick at the end of the second round, and so on, through all seven rounds.

After reading about how much Spanos will profit for moving from SD to LA, even if they play in front of just 30,000, it's a certainty that any owner without extreme loyalty to Buffalo would have moved the Bills in a flash. While I cringe sometimes at what Terry Pegula says, we have to acknowledge that he turned down hundreds of millions of dollars by keeping the team here. He deserves some credit for that. I am probably in the majority by also thinking that if/when the day comes that the Pegulas are no longer willing to turn down those hundreds of millions, I will say bye bye not just to the relocated franchise, but to the NFL.

With Boston's 35 major league sports championships to Buffalo's 0 (much as I love the AFL, I'm not counting the Bills' '64 and '65 titles), nine in this millennium alone, I am grateful that the writer did not take cheap shots at us. I got the sense that he was saying, enough is enough. Competitive franchises in Buffalo are good for sports.

Why do I have a feeling that the Bills will trade up to get Leonard Fournette? Tell the truth, based on our track record, would anybody be surprised by that?

Interesting points, but except for the idea of hiring full-time, younger refs, won't all of these ideas continue to slow down the flow of the game? Do you really want to sit and wait (either at home or in the stands) while all these reviews are taking place? Maybe you do. A key reason for my suggestion was to improve the flow of the game.

Proposal: instead of challenges, and reviewing every scoring play, eliminate in-game reviews and let the refs call the games as they did in the old days. In the end, everything evens out, right? But what if it doesn't? What if one team gets screwed more than the others by bad calls? At the end of the season, award the team(s) that had the most blown calls go against them a compensatory draft pick(s). What round depends on how badly they were screwed. The officiating crew is already graded after each game, so it shouldn't be too hard to figure out if a team had more calls work against them rather than in their favor. This would speed up the game. And if a team really gets shafted during the season, justice will be done.

There are very few football announcers whom I enjoy listening to. Don Criqui was one, but he's lost a step. In all sports, Rick Jeanneret is my favorite. For lots of the announcers I hear on ESPN, I think they have to attend a mandatory workshop on "Best practices in sounding excited" and it comes across as just not genuine.

By may calculations, it's Buffalo by a year if you don't count AFL titles but start with the AFL-NFL merger year. Bills 48 years, Sabres 46 years, Braves 8 years = 102 Chargers 48 years, Padres 47 years, Clippers 6 years = 101 However, if you count the AFL titles as the equivalent of winning a Super Bowl, it becomes Buffalo 105 years, San Diego 106 years without a championship.

At least Buffalo has good weather all year long!

Would anybody else prefer a Bills version of The Instigators? I'm not a huge hockey fan, but any time I've heard those guys, they've been great. Honest, spontaneous, funny, and they all know what they're talking about. What would be a Bills equivalent? Thurman, Ruben and Jim?

Speaking of a bit too high, I think it's time the NFL moved the nameplates to below the numbers. With so much long hair these days, you can't read a lot of the names regardless of whether they're a Jr., Sr., II or III.

I think you're confusing Jim Richter with Jarius Byrd.

I turned off the radio after three consecutive days of hearing solely about 1) to stand or not to stand during the National Anthem, 2) medical marijuana and 3) Crohn's disease. That was on 550, 1270 and 1520. Not a single word about offense, defense, special teams, or the Ravens.

Guest Services by the Brew Pub on the 100 level had a big orange cooler on the counter, from which you could refill your water bottle with water as many times as you wanted. For people who didn't have a bottle, they provided a paper cup. Don't know if the other Guest Services had that. Anyone know if it was a record high temperature for a Bills home game?