Albany,n.y.

PFW isn't that thrilled with Okoye. In the Senior Bowl analysis they called grouped him with the enigmas & said there are scouts who grade him as a second rounder.

Listen up pal, I posted because you got on another poster calling him a wiseguy and then proceeded to talk about stuff you are totally ignorant about. You're the rude one, throwing curses in your posts because you have nothing intelligent to say. Now I'm going to try to educate you so next time you can post something intelligent instead of getting on other people's cases because of your ignorance. Here are the rules when it comes to drafting players, read them, learn them & next time you want to post something related to the draft, remember them. ARTICLE XVI COLLEGE DRAFT Section 1. Time of Draft: There shall be an Annual Selection Meeting (the “College Draft” or “Draft”) eachLeague Year during the term of this Agreement and in the League Yearimmediately following the expiration or termination of this Agreement, with respect to which the following rules shall apply: Section 2. Number of Choices and Eligibility: (a) The Draft shall consist of seven rounds, with each round consisting of the same number of selection choices as there will be Clubs in the NFL the following League Year, plus a maximum number of additional Compensatory Draft Selections equal to the number of Clubs then in the League, with such Compensatory Draft Selections reserved for Clubs losing certain Unrestricted Free Agents. Each Draft shall be held between February 14 and May 2, on a date which shall be determined by the Commissioner. (b) No player shall be permitted to apply for special eligibility for selection in the Draft, or otherwise be eligible for the Draft, until three NFL regular seasons have begun and ended following either his graduation from high school or graduation of the class with which he entered high school, whichever is earlier. For example, if a player graduated from high school in December 2006, he would not be permitted to apply for special eligibility, and would not otherwise be eligible for selection, until the 2010 Draft. © If a player who was not eligible for the Draft in any League Year becomes eligible after the date of the Draft, he will be eligible to be selected in a supplemental Draft, if the League elects to conduct such a Draft, on or before the seventh calendar day prior to the opening of the first training camp that League Year. No player may elect to bypass a Draft for which he is eligible to apply for selection in a supplemental Draft. Any Club that selects a player in a supplemental Draft must forfeit a choice in the same round in the next succeeding principal Draft. (d) No player shall be eligible to be employed by an NFL Club until he has been eligible for selection in an NFL Draft. Section 3. Required Tender: A Club that drafts a player shall be deemed to have automatically tendered the player a one year NFL Player Contract for the Minimum Active/Inactive List Salary then applicable to the player pursuant to the terms of this Agreement. The NFL or the Club shall provide the player with notice of such Required Tender before or immediately following the Draft. Section 4. Signing of Drafted Rookies: (a) A drafted player may accept the Required Tender at any time up to and including the Tuesday following the tenth week of the regular season immediately following the Draft, at 4:00 p.m. New York time. In the event the exclusive negotiating rights to the drafted player are assigned to another Club through the NFL waiver system, the acquiring Club must immediately extend the Required Tender following assignment. If released through waivers, the player shall be treated as an Undrafted Rookie Free Agent, with the right to sign an NFL Player Contract with any Club. If the Club that drafted the player signs the player after he is waived and becomes a Rookie Free Agent, the player’s entire salary shall be counted against the Entering Player Pool, in the manner described in Article XVII (Entering Player Pool). (b) If a Drafted Rookie has not signed a Player Contract during the period from the date of such Draft to the thirtieth day prior to the first Sunday of the regular season: (i) the Club that drafted the player may not thereafter trade to another Club either its exclusive negotiating rights to such player or any Player Contract that it signs with such player for the player’s initial League Year; and (ii) the Club that drafted the player is the only Club with which the player may sign a Player Contract until the day of the Draft in the subsequent League Year, at which time such player is eligible to be drafted in the subsequent League Year’s Draft by any Club except the Club that drafted him in the initial Draft. (After the Tuesday following the tenth week of the regular season, the player and the Club may only sign a Player Contract for future League Year(s)). © If a Drafted Rookie has not signed a Player Contract by the Tuesday following the tenth week of the regular season, at 4:00 p.m. New York time, the player shall be prohibited from playing football in the NFL for the remainder of that League Year, absent a showing to the Impartial Arbitrator of extreme Club or extreme personal hardship. The determination of the Impartial Arbitrator shall be made within five days of the application, and shall be based upon all information relating to such hardship submitted by such date. The determination of the Impartial Arbitrator shall be final and binding upon all parties. Section 5. Other Professional Teams: (a) Notwithstanding Section 4(b) above, if a player is drafted by a Club and, during the period betweenthe Draft and the next annual Draft, signs a contract with, plays for or is employed by a professional football team not in the NFL during all or any part of the 12 month period following the initial Draft, then the drafting Club (or any assignee Club) shall retain the exclusive NFL rights to negotiate for and sign a contract with the player until the day of the Draft three League Years after the initial Draft, and shall thereafter have a Right of First Refusal as described herein, and the player may receive offers from any Club at any time thereafter. The player shall notify the NFLPA and the NFL of his desire to sign a contract with an NFL Club, and of the date on which the player will be free of his other contractual obligations of employment, if any. Within thirty days of receipt of such notice by the NFL or the date of the availability of such player, whichever is later, the NFL Club that drafted the player must tender a one year written Player Contract to the player in order to retain its rights to that player, as detailed below. (b) For a player to whom the drafting Club retains the exclusive NFL rights to negotiate pursuant to Section 4(a) above, the Club must tender a one year Player Contract with salary of at least the Minimum Active/Inactive List Salary for players with less than one credited season, as defined in Article XXXVIII (Salaries), within the thirty day period specified in Subsection (a) above. The amount of such tender and/or any Player Contract entered into with the player shall be subject to the Entering Player Pool, as set forth in Article XVII (Entering Player Pool). If the player is released through waivers, the player immediately becomes a Free Agent, with the right to sign an NFL Player Contract with any Club, and any Club is then free to negotiate for and sign a Player Contract with such player, without any Draft Choice Compensation between Clubs or First Refusal Rights of any kind, or any signing period. © For players with respect to whom the drafting Club retains a Right of First Refusal pursuant to this Section 5, during each League Year the player shall be treated as if he were a Restricted Free Agent not subject to Draft Choice Compensation, as described in Article XIX (Veteran Free Agency), Section 2, except as otherwise set forth in this Section 5. For such players subject to a Right of First Refusal, the Club must tender a one year Player Contract with at least the Minimum Active/Inactive List Salary for players with two or more Credited Seasons, as defined in Article XXXVIII (Salaries), within the thirty day period specified in Subsection (a) above. The amount of such tender and/or any Player Contract entered into with the player shall not be subject to the Entering Player Pool. If the Club does not make or withdraws the Required Tender, the player immediately becomes a Rookie Free Agent, with the right to negotiate and sign a Player Contract with any Club, and any Club is then free to negotiate for and sign a Player Contract with such player, without any Draft Choice Compensation between Clubs or First Refusal Rights of any kind, or any signing period. Section 6. Return to College: If any college football player who becomes eligible for the Draft prior to exhausting his college football eligibility through participation is drafted by an NFL Club, and returns to college, the drafting Club’s exclusive right to negotiate and sign a Player Contract with such player shall continue through the date of the Draft that follows the last season in which the player was eligible to participate in college football, and thereafter the player shall be treated and the Club shall have such exclusive rights as if he were drafted in such Draft by such Club (or assignee Club). Section 7. Assignment of Draft Rights: In the event that the exclusive right to negotiate for a Drafted Rookie under Sections 4, 5 or 6 above is assigned from one Club to another Club, the Club to which such right has been assigned shall have the same, but no greater, right to such player, including the Right of First Refusal described in Section 5, as would the Club assigning such right, and such player shall have the same, but no greater, obligation to the NFL Club to which such right has been assigned as he had to the Club assigning such right. Section 8. Subsequent Draft: A Club that, in a subsequent Draft, drafts a player who (a) was selected in an initial Draft, and (b) did not sign a contract with the NFL Club that drafted him or with any assignee Club during the signing period set forth in Sections 4 through 6 above, shall, during the period from the date of the subsequent Draft to the date of the Draft held the subsequent League Year, be the only NFL Club that may negotiate with or sign a Player Contract with such player. If such player has not signed a Player Contract within the period beginning on the date of the subsequent Draft and ending on the thirtieth day prior to the beginning of the regular season, the Club loses all rights to trade its exclusive negotiating rights to such player or any Player Contract that it signs with such player for the player’s initial League Year. After the Tuesday following the tenth week of the regular season, the player and the Club may only sign a Player Contract for future League Year(s), except as provided in Section 4© above. If the player has not signed a Player Contract by the day of the next annual College Draft following the subsequent Draft, the player immediately becomes a Rookie Free Agent, with the right to negotiate and sign a Player Contract with any Club, and any Club is then free to negotiate for and sign a Player Contract with such player, without any Draft Choice Compensation between Clubs or First Refusal Rights of any kind, or any signing period. Section 9. No Subsequent Draft: If a player is drafted by a Club in an initial Draft and (a) does not sign a contract with a Club during the signing period set forth in Sections 4 through 6 above, and (b) is not drafted by any Club in the subsequent Draft, the player immediately becomes an Undrafted Rookie, with the right to negotiate and sign a Player Contract with any Club, and any Club is then free to negotiate for and sign a Player Contract with such player, without any Draft Choice Compensation between Clubs or First Refusal Rights of any kind, or any signing period. Section 10. Compensatory Draft Selections: The rules and procedures regarding Compensatory Draft Selections set forth in Section 2 above shall be as agreed upon by the NFL and the NFLPA. Section 11. Undrafted Rookies: Any person who has not been selected by a Club in a College Draft shall be free, after the completion of a College Draft for which he is eligible, to negotiate and sign a Player Contract with any Club, and any Club shall be completely free to negotiate and sign a Player Contract with any such person after such date, without any penalty or restriction, including, but not limited to, Draft Choice Compensation between Clubs or First Refusal Rights of any kind. Section 12. Notice of Signing: Promptly following but no later than two business days after receipt of notice of the signing of any Drafted or Undrafted Rookie, the NFL shall notify the NFLPA of such signing.

Henson was picked in the 6th round, pick 192 (out of 262). At the time Casserly said that since a 6th round pick has only a 10% chance of making it, Henson was worth a flyer there. As it turned out, Henson joined the other 90%, but Houston got a 3 from Dallas for his rights.

I'm going to repeat a post that I have in a different string that explains why you don't draft him at all: You don't understand some of the nuances of the draft. A team can only keep a guy's rights for 1 year-if he doesn't sign a football contract he goes back in the draft (see Bo Jackson who was the 1st player taken in the 1986 draft then was taken in the 5th round by the Raiders in 1987). Since it will take more than 1 year for Jeff to bomb out in baseball-and he has a contract that forbids him playing football-he's a totally wasted pick in this year's draft. Now go to the Drew Henson scenario-he was bombing in the minor leagues, to the point the Yankees were desperate to get him into the NFL and off their payroll. Henson played another baseball season after he was drafted, but signed his Dallas contract PRIOR to the next year's draft. Dallas had to make the trade before Henson reentered the draft. By the way, if a player goes through 2 drafts & doesn't sign, he can't be drafted a 3rd time & becomes an unrestricted free agent. So even if he bombs in year 1, it's to his advantage to stay in baseball another year where his bargaining position goes way up if he becomes a "draft dodger". I hope you now understand why this would be a totally wasted pick.

Houston traded his rights & he signed with Dallas. Houston didn't want his signing bonus on their cap because it would have accelerated onto their cap the second they traded him. So what happened was Dallas worked out a contract, Houston then traded his rights, and he signed with Dallas. He never signed a contract with Houston because of salary cap rules.

You don't understand some of the nuances of the draft. A team can only keep a guy's rights for 1 year-if he doesn't sign a football contract he goes back in the draft (see Bo Jackson who was the 1st player taken in the 1986 draft then was taken in the 5th round by the Raiders in 1987). Since it will take more than 1 year for Jeff to bomb out in baseball-and he has a contract that forbids him playing football-he's a totally wasted pick in this year's draft. Now go to the Drew Henson scenario-he was bombing in the minor leagues, to the point the Yankees were desperate to get him into the NFL and off their payroll. Henson played another baseball season after he was drafted, but signed his Dallas contract PRIOR to the next year's draft. Dallas had to make the trade before Henson reentered the draft. By the way, if a player goes through 2 drafts & doesn't sign, he can't be drafted a 3rd time & becomes an unrestricted free agent. So even if he bombs in year 1, it's to his advantage to stay in baseball another year where his bargaining position goes way up if he becomes a "draft dodger". I hope you now understand why this would be a totally wasted pick.

I'm proud of him for not crashing his piano on the way to midfield, but his singing sucked.

I was too busy thinking how bad he was singing to notice if he missed a line. That was the worst Super Bowl national anthem ever. Billy, I was there when Whitney Houston sang, I heard Whitney Houston. Billy, You're no Whitney Houston.

I think that was the late Howard Cossell.

Pyrite: I think you give Bledsoe much too much credit for thec Pats 1st SB win. Publically he played the good soldier, privately he was very bitter and went to Kraft demanding a trade rather than sit behind Brady. He's only been a team player when he is playing. Kordell Stewart contributed more to the Patriots winning the game when Bledsoe replaced Brady than Bledsoe did. Just because he slightly outplayed Stewart when put in the game, doesn't mean Bledsoe was an essential player that season. Chances are if Damon Huard had been put into the game instead of Bledsoe, the results would have been the same. Sure Bledsoe was an upgrade in both Buffalo & Dallas, but as I said in the followup sentence to the one you quoted, he was the guy you are always looking to find someone better to replace him with. Bledsoe made the Pro Bowl in his 1st Bills season based on his 1st half of the season play. He faded badly in the 2nd half. He was lousy in Bills season 2 and adequate in his final Bills season-Hardly HOF like credentials. In Dallas, it took only 1.5 years for him to get benched. I don't think it matters if some guy pulls out tapes of some of his better performances in the HOF voting room or if there is a gap in time when the last QB was inducted. The poster above who compared Drew to Boomer Esiason was dead on. The fact is that in 11 years as his team's primary starter, Drew's teams only made the playoffs 4 times and the two years he was benched his team made the playoffs after the guy who replaced him upgraded the position will not be foregotten among the HOF voters. In fact the only time his team made the playoffs in the last 8 years was with him on the bench.

Super Bowl I, I watched it on NBC because I liked the AFL better. I also remember watching the AFC Championship game that was played in the Rockpile on TV & seeing a sign that said "Bills in Super Bowl, Chiefs in soup bowl" Years later when I heard the revisionist history myth that the 1st Super Bowl wasn't called the Super Bowl I knew it was a lie because of the sign at the Rockpile. I looked it up in the library & sure enough, the papers were saying that the Chiefs had just earned a trip to the Super Bowl. All anyone has to do is go to a library & look up a paper on microfilm from 1967 & see everyone referring to the game as the Super Bowl.

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20070204/1024548.asp As for the quarterback position itself, not until 1978 when Tampa Bay drafted Doug Williams of Grambling in the first round was the game's most important position opened to blacks. Like any young quarterback, Williams struggled. It was at the time Iranian radicals captured the U.S. embassy in Tehran and the joke around Tampa was "They ought to send Williams to Iran; he's the only one who could overthrow the Ayatollah." Williams' unhappy time with Tampa Bay ended with his release and for three seasons he played no football. Washington's patient Joe Gibbs, seeking a reliable backup, brought him back into the NFL. Three years later in Super Bowl XXII against Denver and John Elway, Williams had the greatest 15-minute stretch, the second quarter, in Super Bowl annals. He threw four touchdown passes, including bombs of 80 and 50 yards, in a 42-10 rout. Felser is so far off the mark, I don't know where to begin but... 1)Williams may have struggled early, but by his 2nd year he had the Tampa Bay Bucs in the NFC championship game and Tampa went from laughingstock to playoff contender during his 5 seasons in Tampa Bay. In fact, Williams' last year, 1982, they went 5-4 and without Williams in 1983 fell to 2-14. 2) Williams was not released, he was a free agent & when he felt disrespected by Tampa's offers, signed with the USFL in August 1983. Therefore he missed the 1983 season, just like Jim Kelly did. In addition, not only wasn't he released, but in August 1986 he re-signed with Tampa & was traded for a 1987 5th. 3)Larry, "for three seasons he played no football", get real-he played 1984 & 1985 for the USFL and while he didn't see action in 1986 except for one attempt with the Redskins, he only missed 1 year-1983-due to the spring USFL seasons. 4)"Three yeats later..." Again a mistake. Williams was brought back to the NFL by Gibbs in August 1986 (right after the USFL gave up its hold on their players) and 17 months later had the great Super Bowl. I'm usually one of Felser's biggest supporters around here, but I don't think it's too much to ask that he get his facts straight when he has only one column to prepare each week (and sometimes he takes weeks off).

Bledsoe will never get elected to the Hall of Fame. The voters have seen him play on the field & will have tapes of him throughout his playing years. He may have some decent stats, but over the last 7 years he's been a liability instead of an asset to the team he was on. He was the guy you are always looking to find someone better to replace him with. Phil Simms is a better candidate for the HOF than Bledsoe and he's never come close to getting elected. Vinny Testaverde has better stats than Bledsoe because he's played for almost 20 years & nobody is thinking of him as a HOF QB. The only way Bledsoe is getting in is if he finds another career path in the NFL after his retirement and excels in it for the next decade or more. I give the HOF voters more credit than just looking at a stat book on a QB who rarely, if ever, carried his team to heights that another QB couldn't have done with the same team. Just look at the guy's win % instead of yards passed for & he's a lock to be in the HOF only when he buys an admission ticket at the door. I have nothing against Drew,like some of his haters do, he's just not HOF material, it's that simple.

My last car lasted 13 years and over 170,000 miles doing this & the engine was in great shape when I retired it-due mainly to rusting. The cost ia about $80/year extra. Anyone who has to save $80 extra a year probably is in a pretty good struggle to keep their car. I paid over 30k for the car over 6 years ago and since I may never be able to afford a car that expensive again (I bought it before I owned a house) I figure a little extra maintenance may help & certainly can't hurt.

Only personal experiences are driving rentals on the job & my answer is hell no! I've driven these cars on bumpy dirt roads and I've seen a change oil warning light go on as I pulled out of the parking area when I rented the car. People who buy into the idea that these cars are maintained better than owned ones are kidding themselves. They might be maintained better than the real lazy drivers do, but that's about it. My owner's manual says change the oil every 10,000 miles, I go 3,000-4,000 between oil changes-I doubt the rental agencies, where everything is bottom line, do any unrecommended maintenance. Under our contract, I can get a compact car for around $32 with unlimited mileage-I put about 200-300 miles on per day when I rent-the bottom line is too close to the edge for owner type maintenance. So, if you want a poorly (by my standards) maintained car driven by a lot of different people who could care less about the car they are driving, go ahead & buy a rental.

The big difference is that JP PLAYED an entire season. This was something Rob could never do. He even got hurt mopping up in the 3rd game of the 1999 season & was out for weeks. Rob had to be the most injury prone QB I've ever seen. In his NFL career he must have injured every body part.

It was Polian's fault. All he had to do was draft Steve Christie in the 11th round (we traded the 12th rounder) in 1990 instead of Al Edwards & the kick would have been good.

The city that those planes hit the buildings in didn't panic. The blame rests squarely on the people who decided to shut down a city due to their incompetence. When you're the only one of 10 who reacts hysterically, it's you who has the problem, not the other nine. Arresting the guys who put them up is ridiculous. I'm sure this will show up on Boston Legal sooner or later with Alan Shore saying how insane the panic is while Denny Crane sides with the mayor.

The Giants were kicking the ball off the line of scrimage to slow down the no-huddle. Marv didn't do enough complaining to the refs demanding delay of game penalties on the Giants & the refs let it go all game.

I didn't read the attachments in the other answers, which may include the answer you seek, but here goes without any attachment. They thought they could save the fractured leg. However, within the process, his other legs, specifically his feet, went bad due to laminitis (described above). Maybe if they had cut the leg off to begin with, he might have had a shot, but I doubt it. Chances are the horses you saw were a different breed that were much more docile than a thoroughbred. Thoroughbreds are wound really tight & do not have the demeanor that some more docile breeds have. Chances are almost 100% that it would be impossible to keep a thoroughbred happy & healthy with an artificial leg. Edit: I opened your attachment & noticed the horse with the artificial leg was a filly. Barbaro is a male with a full set. Male thoroughbreds are often so out of control that they have to be gelded just to calm them down enough to race them. Generally, if an owner thinks that a horse has little to no future stud value, they geld him to calm him down. A complete male thoroughbred is one of the toughest horses to keep calm. Putting an artificial leg on one would probably require a prior gelding-defeating the purpose they tried so hard to keep Barbaro alive.

Q: Why is Okoye only 19? A: Because he was born 6/10/87, making him 19 until he turns 20 later this year. The real reason is (from NFL Draft Scout) "Born in Nigeria, Okoye was tested into the ninth grade as a 12-year-old when his family moved to Huntsville, Alabama. Okoye signed with Louisville and was playing at defensive tackle at only 16 years old, making him the youngest player in the country."

I just watched the Senior Bowl game from there, thanks for the link.

One of the more interesting things about the law was that if the kids had intercourse, the penalty was much less severe. So, the reason he's been sentenced so long is because they did an act that the original law was put in place in order to punish homosexual acts more harshly. That's the only reason that anti-sodomy laws, which include oral sex, are on the books with harsher penalties than the same two people having intercourse. There are plenty of places that still have laws where a husband & wife could be arrested for the same activity that this kid is in jail for-but imagine if a prosecuter wanted some couple to "take their medicine" and plead out an oral sex arrest. It still is the DA's job to prosecute cases fairly & not press every case that some obscure law can be used if you wish to raise your conviction win %.

The frightening part about the Dobler interview was the part where he cryptically said that when things get worse he's going to kill himself.

He's under contract & they have to pay him. So rather than give him a few million $ over the next 2 years, they are 1-Making him work for his salary & 2-Saving $ on another assistant they don't have to hire.