MattM

Remember also that very shortly thereafter Kraft redid Belicheat's contract on a "terms undisclosed" basis. Dollars to donuts Kraft paid every bit of that fine himself.....

Plus 1--in addition to the obvious (Spygate), they've also had the Rodney Harrison HGH scandal (imagine, a team full of wizened vets, many of them over the hill elsewhere, come to New England and miraculously play like they did 5 years earlier--coincidence? Take a look sometime league-wide and find halfbacks over 32 years old. The Pats have three of the 5 I could find of any consequence) and an article in the NYT quoting team oficials from several other NFL teams on the Competition Committee saying that almost any time they got a call about skeazy behavior "it was one team, really", i.e., the Cheats. Don't even get me started on the officiating in their games, from "just give it to them," to the Tuck Rule, to the Ravens Monday nighter two years ago to my personal fave, our opener against them a few years ago that even TMQ wrote up about the awful (and always one-sided as it always is in their games) officiating in that game. There's an awful lot of smoke around that team.....

The Samsonite episode two weeks ago was one of the best things I've ever seen on television. Matthew Weiner just "gets it".....

Do you just show up for the tour and buy tix or can you do so ahead of time?

A-bot, I had to log in just to tip my hat to you--well played, sir, well played. PS As to the topic at hand, I made my wife agree that we weren't getting married during the season since it would be rude to those who want to watch the game(s) (college or pro). She felt I was pushing it a bit when I declared that the wedding had to also be after mid-April since you never know if a snow storm would prevent my WNY relatives from flying out before then (we got married in California, where her folks live). We settled on May and the rest is history....

I won't say that I can't stand him (I read and often enjoy his columns), but this is not anyone who would ever have the sports journalistic courage equivalent to "speaking truth to power"--instead he mainly glorifies those already overglorified and serves as "league cheerleader in chief", particularly for the more prominent franchises and players.....

Differences from last season-- Negatives--no Schobel or TO. New scheme on D. Other losses miniscule (Josh Reed, for ex.). Tougher schedule perhaps? Positives--Gailey over Jauron, added Spiller and Troup, relatively more healthy (fingers crossed, but it would be tough to have more injuries than last year), added Edwards and Davis in FA, another year for our younger guys (Byrd, Wood, Levitre and Maybin all come to mind) and O-line to gel. On balance, I'd say the team is better than last year by one to two wins, but the schedule may screw that up. My prediction 5-11 to 7-9, with possibilities of 4-12 or 8-8..... I also read the King article (coincidentally on a flight back from LA yesterday) and he does indeed have us at 2-14. He also has the Steelers winning the Super Bowl (I predict they won't make the playoffs myself--the Ravens and Bengals will both finish better than they do.) As I said to my wife on the plane, "now remember, this is the guy who had Miami winning the Super Bowl the year they ended up 1-15"......

While trying not to sound too mean about this, you do realize that not knowing that Houshm. is a tall receiver without having to look it up made a whole bunch of us automatically discount anything your write about this topic (or pro football generally)? I mean the guy's only been one of the best receivers in the game over the last 5 or so years and yet you don't seem to recall seeing him play apparently, or couldn't recall who he was..... That said, I do agree with your later point that the fact that he's been cut and doesn't have Seattle picking up his salary this year makes it unfortunately unlikely that we'll get him this year. I also suspect that the Seahawks would have taken no less than a 3 or 4 to not cut him and trade him while picking up the vast bulk of his salary this year.

Went a couple of years ago and had a great time. Tailgated with an old college buddy who lives in KC and his Chiefs fan friends. Wore my Bills colors proudly and had no problems at all, even after we stomped them badly. A great time all around. Not much else to do in KC other than the game, however, but the game was enough for me....

No, he wasn't. I think you're giving him way too much credit. He, like some of the other staff at the D and C, doesn't actually like the Bills. He's too busy gushing over the Yankees, as he does in most columns. Wow, that's a lot of fun--I'll bet he rooted for Goliath, too.....

Plus one

Maybe, but I'm not so sure about that. Their D was a weak link last year and has gotten progressively weaker in the offseason (for ex., losing Adalius, Warren and now Bodden) and really adding nobody to replace them. Combine that with weak draft classes the last couple of years on D and I don't see them stopping too many people this season. Their O will still be potent in the passing game, but I'm not so sure that the losses of Mankins and Kaczur (2 of 5 line starters from last year) isn't going to make everyone else's job there (including Brady) that much more difficult. I still think they struggle to run the ball by their ancient committee (HGH is a helluva drug!). If Sanchez is even an average QB I think the Jets should run away with the division, but I'm not sure if he is such a QB. Can't wait until the season starts.....

Thanks for both the posting and the playing--I went to my first game at the old Rockpile in 71/72, so probably caught you at the tail end of your playing career. My dad was a huge Bills (and AFL generally) fan and passed it along to me, thanks in large part to our from then on annual pilgrimages to Orchard Park. Despite their records, I loved those old teams and my introduction to pro football--heck, I probably had your picture on my wall as a kid, since I used to put up the team picture. Good times, so thanks for helping me get to know and love this sport, even if it hasn't been too kind to the Bills lately and hope you stop back by more often than it sounds like you plan to. Don't let the buttheads get you down.....

Uhh, other than that, I got nothing/no one, at least as far as Bills fans go.....

Davone Bess is a good receiver, so I don't think Camarillo will be too missed, absent injury to Bess or Marshall.....

He's one of my favorites as well (despite being a Princeton guy!)--he brings a very different perspective to covering the sport and mixes that with intelligence, wit and good writing, along with a self-deprecating tone that gives you the strong impression that he's a good guy who'd be interesting to hang out and have a beer with. It also doesn't hurt that he's a former Bill who seemed to really enjoy his time in Buffalo (he's on record saying it was his favorite place to play--other stints included the 'skins, Pats* and 'boys, I believe). I look forward to his columns every Wednesdays and Fridays on si.com.......

Our own Freddy J. being the exception to that rule.....

Fair point, although I thought I'd recalled some discussion here on this board about that at the time of the signing, with some folks raising the character issue at that time on the basis of the charge against Green. I wasn't judging their reaction to the signing, but merely the lack of discussion about the wife-beating charge over there.....

I was curious about this as well, so went to a Pats* message board--interestingly almost no one there even mentioned the wife-beating thing. 75 posts on the topic and only two or three seemed to mention it at all. A very odd "fanbase" (I use the term "fan" loosely any time I apply it to Pats* "fans", since they were an endangered species before 2001) over there--you'd think that people would at least be discussing it, but in reality it looks like "not so much".....

Ruben Gant, anyone? Maybe his stone fingers have become more supple over time.....

Druckenmiller just announced this week that he's retiring from running his hedge fund (Duquesne Capital)--frees up his calendar to run the Bills!

That was a great team--Isaiah Robertson, Smerlas, Haslett, Fergy, Shane Nelson, Jerry Butler, et al were great fun to root for after so many losing years.....

Never like to see that.....

Interesting point, but I personally still suspect that they're hurting just the same, even taking your point re: packaging versus pure paper since packaging is still heavily tied to the level of economic activity--economic activity goes down (as it has the last two years), so does your business. I'm also not sure that there's much future growth in pulp/paper considering potential tech alternatives, but I'm no expert. I did find the recycling business part of interest and that may become a growth business based on current "green initiatives". None of the above relates, however, to the other two businesses listed--commercial real estate and PE. Of course, since Kraft is a private company, none of us will know for sure how he's doing. I still do conjecture (and that's all it is) that some of his recent football decisions (like not paying Mankins or Brady) may be impacted by the health of his other businesses. Kraft may not be cheap, but he has in the past benefitted from players taking less than market deals to get a shot at winning a SB--I suspect that that may continue to change as well, particularly after this season.....

Especially now, considering they laid out for the improvements at Gillette and Patriette* Place (which sounds like it's a commercial bomb) and Fat Vince, all while Bob Kraft's other main business is paper, a dying industry, with his website listing his other ventures as "commercial real estate" (another mess at the moment) and private equity (also a big victim of the recent financial crisis). Since it's a private company he doesn't have to publish his financials, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if he's got a lot less money than folks think these days. Some of his competitors in the paper biz have either declared or threatened bankruptcy.....