MattM

I'm not so sure about that. I've been a season ticket holder for the last 7-8 years (I live near NYC, but give them to my dad) and in the past few years had trouble getting an upgrade. This year, no problem at all--I went from about the 45 in the 11th row of the upper deck to the lower bowl sixth row up on about the 30. They also had lower level seats, 20th row on about the 10 to 15 as well, both unlike years past.....

I've said before and will say again, the media treats us like we've gone 3-13 four years in a row, instead of three years of 7-9 followed by a 6-10 (which could easily have been a 7-9 yet again had Leodis not braincramped against the Pats*). We're not a good team, and may not even be a mediocre team anymore, but I'll bet we pick no better than 5th or 6th in next year's draft, and more likely 8th or 9th. We've lost TO and probably lost Schobel, but we've also added Spiller, Troup, Edwards and Davis and lost Jauron, while our young guys including our 2009 rookies, who, other than Maybin, played pretty well last year (Wood, Levitre, Byrd and Nelson all come to mind) all have a year in the NFL under their belt. All while adding a coach who seems to know how to mask a QB's weaknesess, of which ours admittedly have many. If we can keep our QB upright and generate any kind of passing attack, I think this team will suprise some people and may win up to 8 games this season, although 5-6 is probably more like it.....

Hard to argue too much with our rating--we're probably somewhere between 20 and 30--but from reading most sportswriters you'd think we finished 3-13 3 years in a row rather than 7-9, followed by a 6-10. We've been a mediocre franchise, not a horrible one, at least record-wise. Groupthink lives nowhere better than in sportswriters, who seem to regurgitate each others' nonsense year in and year out. Look who Schein has as number 1, the Cheats*. Not the Colts or the Steelers, but the Cheats*, a team that really hasn't done jack squat or lived up to expectations over the last five years or so and whose prior "accomplishments" we all now know were tarnished by cheating. The Steelers have two Lombardi's in that time and the Colts have one, plus a SB appearance, for ex., while the Pats* didn't even make the playoffs two years ago and got blown out in Rd 1 last year. Another example of groupthink, that what happened in the past will somehow project itself into the future ad infinitum. Critical thinking is not a strong point among that group.....

Ex-Bill and great SI.com columnist Ross Tucker recently wrote that despite fan's views, his estimate is that it's only about 5-10% of players who use some form of PED. I'd believe him a bit more than most on topics like this, FWIW. Anyone else notice from the ESPN article that there were two folks in Boston that Galea visited last August, including one he visited twice that month? Who knows, maybe Tommy Boy needed a little extra help recovering from his knee surgery before the season and his buddy Rodney hooked him up with a sure-fire way to get better quickly? (Then again, it could just be Big Papi needing his fix.) Also noticed that Galea treated an eye-popping 11 athletes in Cleveland. If those were NFLers and not Indians, Mike Holmgren might have stepped into a big mess.....

Nothing--they don't have to, they're the Patriettes*, and have been getting a pass from NFL beat reporters for years. Personally, I think this is the year those wheels fall off.....

What people seem to forget is that we didn't really lose much outside of perhaps TO (not worth much with no QB to throw to him) and Schobel if he doesn't come back. No "end of the line" vets playing one year too many. Our young team is one year older and more experienced. The coaching change is almost certainly going to be a positive, if only because the bar was set so low by Jauron. We added two upgrades at LB and DE and potentially one at RT in FA, while adding Spiller and two potential front 7 contributors in the draft. IMHO, if we add Gaither somehow at LT, this team will be a good bit better than last year's team, although due to the tough schedule, it may not show up in the W-L column right away....

Pats* fans are going to go absolutely nuts with him ranking them 14. Even I'd rank them more in the 11-12 range myself. He's usually such a Pats* homer that he must be trying to even things out somehow.....

That's awesome--we went last year when Eric Wood was there and had a great time, but no can do on the babysitter front this year (we had another event in the city last year after McFadden's to justify it to my wife). Great to hear that these guys are just normal dudes without the attitude that you hear so much about in conjunction with pro athletes. Too bad that the Ben Roethilsberger's of the world get most of the ink....

From Wikipedia: "After graduate school, she went to work for a major chemicals manufacturer doing market research. While traveling for work, she met Bob Slaughter, in San Antonio, Texas, and later married him. After marrying, the couple moved to Fairport, New York, a suburb of Rochester, where Bob had been offered a job. However, to this day, Slaughter still speaks with a pronounced Kentucky accent. They have three daughters Megan, Amy and Robin." Sounds to me like she came to WNY as young adult well before running for office, so I wouldn't call her a carpetbagger. I agree with you on Kennedy and Clinton (and Ford, had he decided to run).

Actually, from reading the article, it doesn't look like a publicity stunt at all to me.....

My dad and I will probably be going, doing the stubhub thing. Any suggestions for other places for tickets, or is that the best bet?

Banks was such a joke even before this--he and Peter King, the Pats*' homer duo. They both live in Beantown and, at least for King, lately, that seems to be about all they typically write about. Check out King's MMQB this week for a perfect example--Brady for about half and then a bunch of off-topic non-football Boston stuff at the end. It's getting pretty tired, especially when their favorite team hasn't really done squat (other than SB choking and getting caught cheating) in about 5 years.....

What an absolute joke......

Fixed it for you. That game singlehandedly got me really wondering about what else the Pats* have been up to in addition to Spygate, even before Spygate itself was known (cue Mr. WEO calling me a conspiracy theorist in 3....2....1.....).......

Anyone else notice how "New England"-centric King's columns have become since he moved to Boston? I'm not even talking about the NFL or the Pats* (like leading off with a big story on Brady this week), but even the little things like his non-football thoughts of the week nearly all relate to the Boston area and Boston sports teams. Anyone have any doubt about which teams this guy rooted for as a kid in Northern Conn.?

Better late than never--I, too, bear him no real ill will. We all grow up eventually, some just do it faster than others, and it looks like our boy's growing up, just too bad he's doing it for someone else, after burning his bridges here.....

John, does that bother you that the picture of Tim Graham they superimpose almost into the body of the article might give the casual reader the impression that Tim wrote the article? It would bother me.....

Plus 1, especially if they can lock him up for 3-4 more years with a reasonable extension (being in the ballpark of $10-15 million to sign and $8-10 million per year.)

What exactly is his "much worse track record of being a malcontent and slacker"? Ozzie Newsome and Jim Harbaugh saying they don't like his effort and work ethic after they picked a LT prospect to replace him in the draft? How does that compare AT ALL to a guy holding out until absolutely the last minute and then giving a half-hearted effort the rest of an entire season, all after the team had already renegotiated his deal (a deal he signed) once already?

My father flew back seated next to her from a game a couple years ago and said she was also very nice (in addition to smoking).....

Bless you, my good man (or robot), bless you--you've made me cry tears of joy if this is true!

Who knows how long it takes to get that stuff out of your system--ever see the "before" and "after" pictures for Merriman? Night and day, or "Pro Bowl" talent and JAG. I'll believe it when I see him do it again in his JAG physique.....

Lessons learned, perhaps? No way do they trade a 2 plus for him (likely to be his going rate) without a new extension in place.....

Uhh, did I miss something--aren't those two guys now third year players? McKelvin basically missed the year, but he's still technically entering his third-year, right?

I agree--I think they're likely to get a lot more for him (just not this year) compensation-wise, when something bad happens to someone's starter in camp or early in the season. In the meantime, you ride herd on him in the locker room....