Nirvjam

I will use this thread to get on my soap-box to state that it is criminal that Roger Maris is not yet in the Hall of Fame. People often say that one good season, even a great one, doesn't merit Hall inclusion. I agree, so let's look at the whole record: Here are some supporting points from this very good website: Elect Roger Maris to the Hall of Fame 61 Single Season Home Runs (1961) This record stood for 37 years, longer than the record Maris broke, the immortal Babe Ruth's 60-homers of 1927. Roger remains one of only four players to ever hit more than 60 homeruns in a season. Two-time American League Most Valuable Player 1960 and 1961 Only 11 players have won consecutive MVP awards -- all of the others (who are eligible) have already been inducted into the Hall of Fame -- Jimmy Foxx, Hal Newhouser, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Ernie Banks, Joe Morgan & Mike Schmidt. Other than those seven, no other Hall of Famer has achieved this distinction, including (to name just a few) Hank Aaron, Johnny Bench, Roberto Clemente, Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio, Nellie Fox, Lou Gehrig, Reggie Jackson, Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth & Ted Williams Lifetime 5.39 Home Run Percentage Better than Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio (5.29), Hack Wilson (5.13), Johnny Bench (5.08), Yogi Berra (4.74), Larry Doby (4.73) Billy Williams (4.56) and recent Hall inductee -- Bill Mazeroski (1.78) Lifetime .983 Fielding Average and a Gold Glove Better fielding average than most Hall of Famers, including Hank Aaron (.980), Joe DiMaggio (.978), Roberto Clemente (.976), Harmon Killebrew (.976), Ted Williams (.974), Billy Williams (.973), Babe Ruth (.968), Willie Stargell (.961) and identical to recent Hall inductee -- Bill Mazeroski (.983) Maris had a better fielding average than Mickey Mantle (.982), who was considered a truly superb outfielder. Maris earned a Gold Glove, even though he played in an era filled with Hall of Fame outfielders. Lifetime Batting Average Comparable to Many Hall of Famers Roger's .260 lifetime batting average is higher than that of Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew (.256), identical to Bill Mazeroski (.260), and in the same range as many other Hall of Famers, such as: Reggie Jackson (.262), Brooks Robinson (.267), Mike Schmidt (.267), Al Lopez (.261), Willie McCovey (.270), Luis Aparicio (.262), Johnny Bench (.267), Pee Wee Reese (.269), and Bobby Wallace (.267) Selected to, and played in, 7 All-Star Games The Baseball Hall of Fame has this simple criteria for election by the Veteran's Committee: "Voting shall be based upon the individual's record, ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contribution to the game." Based on the Hall's own rule, Roger is certainly qualified for induction. Roger Maris' record of achievement and winning deserves to be honored by the Hall of Fame. The site listed above provides a link to enable people to remind the Committee on Baseball Veterans to consider Maris. Bobby Doerr is in the Hall of Fame. Ok fine, but it is doubtful that we'll be seeing an hour-long special soon about him. Yet cable sports channels have had special documentaries, quite well done in fact, on Maris. Or to pull a thought completely from left field (pun intentional) consider this: on an episode of Star Trek: the Next Generation, Commander Data, the android, is kidnapped by an art/treasure thief of the future. Among the thief's exhibits, encased in glass (not far from the Mona Lisa), sits one of his prized possessions: a 1962 Roger Maris baseball card. I liked the fact that you could push a button and an "authentic" bubblegum smell was released, but, hey, gee whiz, do ya think anybody noticed that the scriptwriters didn't use a "real" Hall of Fame player. It is criminal that Maris is not in the Hall of Fame. Period.

Hi Bill, I don't remember the event specifically, but according to this web page it was during the 1977 ALCS: Inner City Press Bronx Reporter Look for the Dec. 31, 2001 posting. Here's the relevant quote: And, in a detail that has become iconic, Merola describes the broadcaster Howard Cosell, while doing the play-by-play of the 1977 American League baseball championship between the Yankees and the Kansas City Royals, pointing out several simultaneous fires raging in The Bronx. This moment is often described as a "wake-up call" or as a "death knell."

Don't forget George C. Scott's monologue at the beginning of Patton: Now, I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country. Men, all this stuff you’ve heard about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of horse dung. Americans traditionally love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big league ball player, the toughest boxer. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn’t give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That’s why Americans have never lost and will never lose a war. Because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans. Now, an Army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team. This individuality stuff is a bunch of crap. The bilious bastards who wrote that stuff about individuality for the Saturday Evening Post don’t know anything more about real battle than they do about fornicating. We have the finest food and equipment, the best spirit and the best men in the world. You know, by God I actually pity those poor bastards we’re going up against. By God, I do. We’re not just going to shoot the bastards, we’re going to cut out their living guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We’re going to murder those lousy Hun bastards by the bushel. Now, some of you boys, I know, are wondering whether or not you'll chicken out under fire. Don't worry about it. I can assure you that you will all do your duty. The Nazis are the enemy. Wade into them. Spill their blood. Shoot them in the belly. When you put your hand into a bunch of goo that a moment before was your best friend's face, you'll know what to do. Now there’s another thing I want you to remember. I don’t want to get any messages saying that we are holding our position. We’re not holding anything. Let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly and we’re not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy. We're going to hold onto him by the nose and we're going to kick him in the ass. We're going to kick the hell out of him all the time and we're gonna go through him like crap through a goose. There’s one thing that you men will be able to say when you get back home. And you may thank God for it. Thirty years from now when you’re sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee and he asks you what did you do in the great World War II, you won’t have to say, "Well, I shoveled sh-- in Louisiana." Alright now, you sons-of-bitches, you know how I feel. Oh, and I will be proud to lead you wonderful guys into battle – anytime, anywhere. That’s all.

In today's Buffalo News, there's the great quote by Moulds talking about Buffalo: >Moulds, who lives in Hamburg, said, "I've been here 10 years, and I'm part of > the community. I know how great the city is and how much the team means. I >talk to a lot of people down South about Buffalo, and I tell them Buffalo is one of > the most beautiful cities you've ever seen in the summertime." That reminded me of a very good article from the NY Times that appeared last August. Here's the link: 36 Hours in Buffalo I like the line in the first paragraph that states: "The time to visit is summer, when Buffalo gets a glorious payback for its snowy winters with some of the best weather in the nation" -------------- Go Bills!!!!!!

12 regular season games (11 with Bill from NYC and friends.) (One of the games was the Flutie "bootleg" game vs. Jacksonville in '98) 1 Pre-season game 1 Playoff Game (The last win -- 37-22 vs Miami on 12/30/95. Ran all over them all day long. Too bad Bruce had the flu the following week vs. Pittsburgh.) Go Bills!!!!

Ahh...memories..... In 1982, I bought the Commodore Vic-20 In 1984, I bought the Commodore-64 In 1988, I bought an Amiga 500 In 1990, I bought an Amiga 2000 In 1994, I bought a PC (Pentium 90 mhz) In 1997, I bought a PC (Pentium 300 mhz) In 2001, I bought a PC (Pentium 2.0 ghz) Except for the Vic, I've bought a version of Flight Simulator for each of the above. (I'm not counting 5 laptops I've had since 1991 - provided by work.) Pre-electronic computer-related items included my 1968 plastic Digi-comp 1 (lots of fun doing simple programming), Think-a-dot, and Dr. Nim. (I also had a Geniac electonic brain in the late '60s. Very hard and I didn't like it much....)

I enjoyed the "Best Debut Album" thread, so I thought I start a new one for the greatest live albums. Here's my list - feel free to add: 1. Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsys 2. The Who - Live at Leeds 3. Allman Brothers - Live at The Fillmore East 4. Grateful Dead - take your pick from 3 albums: Live Dead, Grateful Dead (i.e. Skull & Roses), Europe '72 - all classic 5. Nirvana - Unplugged in New York 6. Bob Dylan - Live 1966 7. Rolling Stones - Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! 8. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Four Way Street 9. Concert for Bangladesh - George/Ringo/Dylan/Clapton/Leon/etc. 10. Woodstock 11. Cream - Live Cream 12. Led Zeppelin - How The West Was Won 13. Beatles - Live at the Hollywood Bowl 14. Stones/Lennon/Who/etc. - Rock & Roll Circus 15. McCartney - Unplugged

I have to correct my own post - "Carole King - Writer" came out a year before Tapestry - so my list is back to a Top 20 (rather than 21)

Top 21 Greatest Debut Albums: * Hendrix - Are You Experienced * Beatles - Please Please Me (or, alternatively "Meet The Beatles" - the U.S. debut) * Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin * The Doors - The Doors * Crosby, Stills, and Nash * Carole King - Tapestry * Pearl Jam - Ten * Oasis - Definitely Maybe * Traffic - Mr. Fantasy * Alanis Morrisette - Jagged Little Pill * Chicago - Chicago Transit Authority * Emerson, Lake & Palmer * Dave Mason - Alone Together * Elton John - Elton John * New Riders of the Purple Sage * The Police - Outlandous d'Amour * Allman Brothers - the Allman Brothers Band * The Traveling Wilburys - Volume One * The Mamas and The Papas - If You Can Believe Your Eyes and ears * Loggins & Messina - Sittin' In * The Who - The Who Sings My Generation

Hi Bill! Cleeland signed a one-year deal with the Rams on June 4, 2004. The contract was for $565,000, which includes a $25,000 roster bonus, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. See link at: Cleeland link Talk to you soon... Go Bills!!!

Check it out at: King's Corner Video: Jets-Rams preview Go Bills!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and go Rams!) (...and Colts!)

Show just started 10:00 EST. McGahee should be on at half-way point....

Maybe the link on the page itself was incorrect. It's working now. Here's what Theisman says about the Bills making the playoffs Joe Theismann Fact: The Bills are one of the hottest teams in the NFL. They've won eight of nine games and are 9-2 since their 0-4 start. If the Bills win Sunday and the Broncos or Jets lose, the Bills get one of the AFC wild cards. Buffalo hosts the 14-1 Steelers in the season finale, seemingly a tough game. But Pittsburgh has already clinched the AFC's home-field advantage, so regulars (like injured quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who is doubtful) probably won't play as much.

Here's an interesting animated video of "Tomorrow Never Knows." Very cool! Beatles Video - Tomorrow Never Knows Go Bills!!!!!!!

I too also picked up the Capitol Albums box set. "Meet The Beatles" was the first album I owned at age 9, and I am particularly fond of the running order and flow of the songs on this album. Whereas Capitol has often been accused of "butchering" the artistic intentions of the Beatles, I think they made the right decisions on this one in particular. As long as we're on a Beatles topic, here are some videos for your enjoyment: Beatles - Help! (from Ed Sullivan Show) Beatles - I Feel Fine (anim video) Beatles - Revolution Beatles - All You Need Is Love ("colorized" Anthology version) Beatles - Two Of Us (This is a "new" music video - and it is awesome!) Video - The Beatles record Let It Be If you have trouble with the last two, try copying the URL, then open a new browser window, and paste in the new window. It's worth it....

I believe there's some revisionism in Peyton's recollection here. This was the final game of the 1999 season and it is incorrect to say that there was no ramification to Indy whether they won or loss. While they were assured a first round bye, a win in Buffalo would've clinched home field advantage for Indy throughout the playoffs. (By losing, they failed to clinch such advantage.) Furthermore, rather than the Indy starters resting that game, Manning was 18 for 29 and played most of the game. Yes, Manning was replaced by Steve Walsh midway through the 4th Quarter, but this was mainly because the Bills were kicking their a$$es to the tune of 31-6. For a walk down memory lane, click below to read the recap of this game from the ESPN archives: Bills end Colts' 11-game win streak Go Bills!!!!!! (and go Colts and/or Rams on Sunday!)

I used Paint Shop Pro. First I used the interactive "crop" tool, starting in the upper left corner and retaining as much of the original picture as possible, keeping an eye on the status bar to make sure the aspect ration was 1.333 to 1 (otherwise the picture will appear distorted when stretched.) Then I simply resized the resulting picture to 800 x 600 and 1024 x 768.

Done! Happy to help out. I cropped it slightly to get the aspect ratio correct, and have made it available in both 800 x 600 screen resolution and 1024 x 768 resolution. Just click on the appropriate link below, then right-click to select "Set as background." Bills Wallpaper - 800 x 600 Bills Wallpaper - 1024 x 768 Enjoy! Go Bills!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's a link about that infamous Jets-Seahawks game from December 1998 where it was ruled by the refs that Testaverde scored a touchdown on a 4th down play. He never got the ball even close to the goal line as can be seen by the photo. (There was no instant replay challenge that year.) The Seahawks "loss" ruined their playoff hopes Let's hope the Seahawks exact revenge against the Jets..... The 1998 Jets-Seahawks Fiasco The Photo -- This is a touchdown????????????

The Twilight Zone "Night of the Meek" episode, with guest star Art Carney in a terrific performance as a drunk department store Santa,who discovers an unusual sack of presents, and ultimately discovers something unusual about himself... This episode was first broadcast on Dec. 23, 1960. Twilight Zone: Night of the Meek

I agree that the above is the lilely scenario for each individual game. If we look at the 3 other games with teams fighting for the 6th spot, we could conservatively assign probabilities of 80%. That is: Baltimore over Giants (80% probability) Jacksonville over Chicago.(80% probability) Denver over Miami. (80% probability) However the probability that all three events ocur is .8 * .8 * .8 = .512 So there's about a 50% chance (48.8 to be exact) that we will gain on at least *one* of these three teams.

R.I.P. John..... Here's a cool animated video: Animated Video A good Lennon-specific sites that's been online a ling time can be found at: Bagism Finally, a very unusual site. An Artificial Intelligence site where you converse online, and the responses are programmed to respond in John Lennon's conversational style. Just go to the page below and click "Chat with John" John Lennon Artificial Intelligence Project

To accomplish the original request of finding neighbors surrounding a particular address, go to: Infospace.com On the menu click on "Reverse Lookup." Then click on "Address Lookup." (A direct link to this point is:) Reverse Address Lookup Note the format of the request display - the first line is the house number and the second line is the street (followed by city & state.) If you leave the house number blank, and just put in the street name, etc., it will display all those who live on that street. If you did put an explicit house number in the first box, and then street/city/state info, you will get the name of the person at the address (just like other telephone search sites.) However if you then click on the person's name, you will get to a page that has a link "Find Neighbors." Clicking here will provide a similar list as above. Hope that helps! Go Bills!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Bill, Excellent points. Regarding playing a playoff game at home, here's my take: There are 4 division winners - best two get a bye - and 2 wildcard teams. The 2 division winners that don't get the bye will host the two wildcard teams. Thus a wild ard team can *never* host a first round playoff game. Regarding the second round, if a wildcard team is seeded 5th and wins their first round road game, and if the 6th seeded wilcard also wins, then they each would play the division winners who earned the bye. So again, a wildcard team can never host a second reounf game either. If the wildcard teams both win *again* then the 5th seed would host the 6th seed in the AFC championship game. So the only way an AFC wildcard team can host a playoff game is in the AFC Championship Game assuming the 5th seed and the 6th seed knock everybody else out. (P.S. Not very likely.) The Bills slim playoff chances have them fighting essentially for the 6th seed, To be the 5th seed, they have to win out at 10-6, and the Jets, Ravens, Jags, and Broncos have to collapse to 9-7 records or worse. If all of the above happens, and the Bills host the AFC Championship Game, then I will be sitting next to you at RWS. You might also buy some LOTTO tickets as the probability of hitting all this is about the same. Go Bills!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Cindy - Have a terrific birthday! Click Here!!!