Albany,n.y.

Also, April said that kicker Rian Lindell, who has had both ups and downs in his time with the Bills, is looking better than ever. "This offseason he's looked fantastic," April said. "He really was way, way out ahead of where he was a year ago at this time and way out ahead of where he was during the season. He's certainly kicking better than I've ever seen him kick and I think he's going to have a big year." http://www.buffalobills.com/news/news.jsp?news_id=3271

They had Brett Favre rated as the best player in the entire draft, but had spent their # 1 on Rob Moore in the supplemental- draft. They tried trading up but nobody would trade with them. Atlanta picked Favre 1 pick before the Jets and they settled for Browning Nagle. The guy who had rated Favre so highly then took the GM job in Green Bay & traded for Favre the next year.

KFFL says he took a pay cut this season. I don't know who is dumber-he or his agent. Lamont Jordan played good soldier behind Martin & earned a ton more. If TH had only been bright enough to keep his mouth shut and back up Willis for 1 more season, he'd have been a lot better off. Titans | Contract Update: T. Henry Sat, 23 Jul 2005 20:04:11 -0700 Updating previous reports, RB Travis Henry's four-year contract extension with the Tennessee Titans will pay him the following base salaries: $1 million (2006), $1.25 million (2007), $1.5 million (2008) and $2 million (2009). As noted earlier, the extension reportedly included a $4 million option in 2006, which brings the total value of the extension to $9.75 million. Henry's base salary for 2005 was lowered from $1.25 million to $540,000. It's not clear if Henry received any additional bonus money for 2005. Here's Jordan's contract #s: The Raiders finalized a five-year, $27.5 million contract with the free-agent running back. Jordan's agent, Alvin Keels, said Jordan will receive $11 million in guaranteed money and $17.8 million over the first three years of the contract, including $15.7 million in bonuses.

Not necessarily. If McNally is so good, there are a lot of other candidates on the roster to choose from if/when Gandy doesn't cut it at LT with the pads on. I think too much emphasis is placed on whether Gandy will succeed, just because the pre-training camp depth chart has him #1. He could be an utter flop and we can field a good OL with either Teague at LT & Tucker at center, or one of the other guys from camp. Why do so many think that McNally is good enough to get Gandy to be the #1 LT, yet are so skeptical about his ability to coach up Teague to be the #1 LT?

The only problem is that all indications are Gandy has always been a model citizen, has the smarts & never had weight problems. Most of the "got it" types either struggled with weight or maturity. In Gandy's case, he's going to have to improve on his natural abilities-a tough thing for a guy with no other problems.

I wish John Kerry would stop running for president already. He's constantly sending e-mails to anyone who contributed to his campaign and he has this delusion that he can both get the Dems nomination & win the election in 2008. It's over, John. You proved that you don't have what it takes to win an election on a national level, and you're getting too old. Get out of the way and let someone who can actually win the presidency get the nomination. That means someone who is not from the northeast (this means you too Hillary) and does not have the baggage that causes so many people to hate you and vow never to vote for you. If the Democrats want to win the presidency in the forseeable future, they'll have to go to someone who has proven he can win elections in a red state. That excludes Kerry, H. Clinton & any other candidate with delusions of grandeur. I'd also throw Edwards out since he was a total dud (and he was an embarrassment on some of the Sunday am talk shows) during the campaign. I don't care who it is, just give me a moderate candidate from either party and stop running far right & far left candidates. Somehow, I doubt the Republicans will do this until their right wingers start losing and the Democrats may be too dumb to realize the far left is certain defeat.

Here is Gandy's 2004 season: 2004: Started the season as the Bears starting right guard and started five games at the position: vs. Det (9/12), at GB (9/19), vs. Phi (10/3); vs. Wash (10/17), and at TB (10/24) before being released by the Bears on 11/8/04. From everything I've heard about the guy, he may be an adequate guard, but he's overmatched at LT. It's still a long way to opening day. If Gandy is our LT, we're in the same boat as the year The Condo, Jerry Crafts, opened the season as our starting RT after Ballard left. I expect that we'll be better than that & Gandy is only the starter on paper as of pre-pre-season.

Tucker will be the opening day center, not Preston. Preston will be eased into the job, not thrown into the fire. Drum Gandy will never start a game for the Bills. If not Teague, then McFarland, Peters, or even Sobieski or Smith may emerge in camp to beat out Drum. I expect McFarland or Peters to end up ahead of Gandy on the depth chart. Gandy may not even make the team. Our #1 pick next year is definitely an OT.

The interest rate is different because a 30 year loan gets a higher rate (more risk) I used a .25% difference, even though it's really around .50% different at my credit union. I ran a 30 year mortgage at 6% for $147,600. The money still owed after 15 years of payments is $104,868. I rounded this #. 15 years from the start of the mortgage, when my mortgage is paid, I'd still owe $104,868-it is not my savings on the loan , it's the added equity I have on my home by having a completely paid mortgage. Likewise the present value of paying $885 for 15 years @ 6% is $104,868. The $104,868 difference using 6% interest rate is a sure thing. I do not have to speculate on anything-zero risk unless my home is worth less than $104,868 in 15 years-which wouldn't mean a bubble burst but an outright depression. Meanwhile, any "investment" regardless of its past performance has some risk. Also-I don't know the answer to this-I'm $104,868 ahead and I don't have to pay 1 cent in income tax on the money. Is that true with the other investments that would yield me more than $105,000, or would my profits be taxable, possibly causing the $140,000 that AD quoted to fall below $105k?

Oh no! I never though of our RT!

I'm founding the organization DRUM (my official nickname for Mike Gandy) Defenses Runaround Underachieving Mike

I don't quite understand your statement. Here's what I calculated. I took the 1st year's interest (to keep the calculation simple) on a $147,600 loan at 5.75% 15 years & a $147,600 loan at 6% for 30 years. The difference in interest x 30% (rounded for fed & NYS taxes) tax break ended up being around $170/year. I added the $170 to the $4,080 to equal the $4,250. I referred to this $4,250 as the after tax difference since $4,080 is before extra tax breaks. I'm not an accountant, so if an accountant would call it something different so be it. Edit-I forgot to add the last step. I then took the FV of $105,000, payment of $4,250, plugged in 15 years, hit i on HP12C & got 6.76% on the non rounded #s. It's 6.78% using the rounded #s.

Without the if I sell part, I get an extra $885/mo in my pocket when I need it by investing an extra $340 /mo when I can afford it.

To losmanera: By your original post's logic, (before they cut him) Tampa Bay's signing of Akili Smith was equal to getting the 3rd pick in the NFL draft. Once a player is cut (like Gandy was in Chicago) his value is the same as signing any street free agent, the player's value isn't equal to his original draft position.

Time to climb out on the limb. By the end of preseason Dylan McFarland will be ahead of Gandy on the OT depth chart. Now this is not necessarily a vote of confidence in McFarland. I don't think Gandy is going to start, & once "Drum" Gandy is benched, I'd say it's 50-50 he doesn't even make the team. I remember last year at this time there was a lineman who was #1 on the depth chart at LG-Mike Pucillo. Gandy is this year's Pucillo.

In rounded #s I'd rather spend the extra $4,080 (before taxes) a year to make my payments on a 15 year mortgage than have a 30 year mortgage & still owe $105,000 on my house with an $885 mortgage for the next 15 years when I retire. In order for me to break even using the $4,250 (includes income tax break differences)per year to invest, I'd have to get a 6.76% Return On Investment. I don't know where I can get a certain, zero risk 6.76% per year ROI. However I do know that by spending that extra $4,250 I'm not investing, I've assured myself of an extra $885/month or an extra $105,000 (rounded) in my pocket if I sell. By paying my mortgage with a 15 year loan @ $1,225/mo instead of a 30 year loan @ $885/mo, I am building wealth-I've got a present value of $105,000 in 15 years by "investing" an extra $340/mo into my mortgage. ...and that extra $885/mo (or $105,000 in my pocket) certainly will go a long way towards paying my bills.

The one thing the article completely fails to address is that you want your mortgage paid by the time you retire. He states a mortgage is a loan on your income. When you retire, your income drops-so your best choice is to have your housing cost go down, not up. If you're still paying a mortgage at retirement, your housing cost is rising because taxes always go up. He completely ignored this issue. Also, a 30 year unpaid mortgage isn't a good thing if you buy later than the average purchaser. I was almost 50 when I bought my 1st house. Having a 30 year loan was a guarantee that I would be carrying a mortgage well past retirement. I chose a 15 year mortgage to coincide with my anticipated retirement.

Robot You are 85% Rational, 14% Extroverted, 0% Brutal, and 42% Arrogant. You are the Robot! You are characterized by your rationality. In fact, this is really ALL you are characterized by. Like a cold, heartless machine, you are so logical and unemotional that you scarcely seem human. For instance, you are very humble and don't bother thinking of your own interests, you are very gentle and lack emotion, and you are also very introverted and introspective. You may have noticed that these traits are just as applicable to your laptop as they are to a human being. In short, your personality defect is that you don't really HAVE a personality. You are one of those annoying, super-logical people that never gets upset or flustered. Unless, of course, you short circuit. To put it less negatively: 1. You are more RATIONAL than intuitive. 2. You are more INTROVERTED than extroverted. 3. You are more GENTLE than brutal. 4. You are more HUMBLE than arrogant.

1000% better than that ESPN insider article. I especially liked: And while Losman, who tossed 60 touchdown passes at Tulane, must prove he can make good decisions against NFL defenses, he can't do any worse than Bledsoe, who had 43 turnovers in his last 32 games as a Bill.

Totally unprofessional article that a 5 year old Bills fan could have done a better job on. Some have already been mentioned, but I wrote down all the mistakes to skewer them with: Holcomb is 32 (just turned 32 7/9) not 33 If they wanted Woodbury to be #3, they wouldn't be wasting Shane's time by resigning him. As noted, the didn't mention Rashard Lee They don't know that Moulds will have to be restructured again because his cap hit is huge for 2006, so the signed through 2007 & probably a career Bill is tenuous at best As noted, Everett won't be playing in camp (he'll probably be PUPd) Mike Williams is in the best shape of his career, contrary to their statement that he needs to get in better shape Bannan is slated to go back to DT. After signing Anderson & drafting 2 OL, Bannan will have to make the team as a backup DL. Lindell made big strides-IS HE ON CRACK? Pochman & Rheem have already been cut & won't even be in camp. As noted we were 9-7, not 7-9

At this point the team realizes that all decent kickers are committed to teams for camp. We'll be scouting tapes of games with every kicker who plays in preseason being evaluated. We're either going to pick up someone on waivers or trade a late rounder for a kicker who has a good preseason & gets caught up in the #s. Unless Lindell kicks like Superman in preseason, he'll be cut the week of the opener. He may be on the team at the 53 man cut, but he'll be gone by opening day.

It's John Roberts

Before he fished the kid out, he got him to sign on & Drew gets 10% of the kid's lifetime earnings.

I used to listen to Rush all the time when he 1st started his national show. He used to be a pretty funny guy before he started to take himself too seriously. He also used to talk about sports a lot. I don't get to hear him too often so I don't know if he still does. I'm usually in the office so I don't get the radio going. Today I was in the field & he was on the clearest station. I listen & watch both sides. I'm not registered with any party because I prefer to have an open mind than follow robotically to what either Democrats or Republicans say.

I was in my car today & started listening to Rush Limbaugh. Today he got on a rant about how they won't get Karl Rove. I thought OK, I expect Rush to be supporting Rove. Then he kept on how not only won't they get get Rove, but they won't get Bush either, like they did when Richard Nixon was forced to resign. Is Rush back on drugs? When has there ever been a link to any of Rove's leaking (whether he did or not is not relevant to this post) & people forcing Bush out of office. Bush is is zero danger of losing the presidency, so WTF is Rush babbling about when he says they won't get Bush like they did with Nixon?