Ned Flanders

This is an annual issue for Skins fans here in DC. Peter King is the one voter who has kept Monk outta the HOF. King gets up the day of the final vote and contends that when he was covering the Giants for Newsday, the Giants always feared Gary Clark more than Art Monk...he claims Monk's catches were no more than "seven yards and a cloud of sideline chalk dust." I dunno, but if you leave the game with the most catches all-time, why should you always be measured vs. Jerry Rice? Put the SU guy in Canton.

I'm sure I missed something, but did anyone hear during the game why it took San Diego THIRTY FIVE F'N years to recognize Lance Alworth? Bad feelings (ala Ralph and Cookie) or something like that? PS: Thought the single bar helmet at mid-field was a good touch (the only highlight of the day). Reminded me of the old KC Municipal Stadium, where in the AFL days, the groundscrew, led by legendary George Toma, used to put the KC and opponent's helmet at each 40 yard line.

There is no more "grooming" process in the NFL...there was a day where a QB, or any other player, could spend a couple, three years on the bench, watch, listen and learn. Think pre-free agency. Now, a player, whether drafted or FA, has to be plugged in immediatly. The learning curve is over. You're expected to show up in shape and contribute from the first day of mini-camp. Brees had a breakout year last season...he simply played his way into the Pro Bowl. Rivers will not be "groomed" for anything...he will likely be gone for a high draft pick after the season, ala "can't miss" Jacksonville backup Rob Johnson.

Said it after the Oakland debacle...it starts with Ralph and filters down to the hockey kids selling candy in the parking lots...they're ALL to be held accountable and forced to face the music. TEN years since a division title...(before anyone had cell phones) NINE years without a home playoff game...(before anyone had an e-mail address) SIX years without ANY playoff game...(Larry King was only on his third wife) We've become the Lions. Note to NFL: Schedule Buffalo to host a Thanksgiving game next season; we look so much like the Lions, we might as well act like 'em.

"We just have to execute better." To paraphrase the late, great John McKay: "What do I think of my team's execution? I'm all for it."

Saw a study a couple of years ago where Buffalo leads the NFL with highest percentage of homes with at least one piece (or something like that) of NFL-licensed apparel in the household.

Are you sure you don't mean Kenny STAPLER?

"There has to be interest in keeping a historic team like the Browns in Cleveland. With Akron/Canton and Columbus nearby, the team has to make its fair share of money. Sellouts are the norm, and the fan base is rabid, as I have seen..." I just tweaked your quote a little and made it sound 1995ish...little scary, huh? Buffalo is NOT safe by any means...with last week's announcement regarding LA, the Bills may not be the choice to move to Hollywood, but I fear, needlessly I hope, every year that the Bills will bolt for greener pastures.

Watched the ND-USC game at BTI the Saturday before the Jets game and a local was complaining about the prices being jacked up every home game weekend...stumbled across the street to Danny's around 9:00 or so and that place was a morgue, the eight of us doubled the population.

Jeeziz...it's been 25 years?!?!?

Thanks for the props, but I'm no longer on active duty....got out over 25 years ago. All the credit and thanks go to those currently deployed...God speed.

Which leads to the question: Did the AFL circa 1960-69, black-out home games, even if sold out? As you recall, the current NFL rules only go back to 1972...meaning prior to that year any game, no matter if it was sold out months in advance, was blacked out in that team's home market...Giants, Packers, Colts, etc fans only saw their team on TV if they were on the road. Hence, Ray Scott was the "voice of the Packers" since Packer road games only went to Wisconsin and various other markets...every market but the home team in many cases. If the Pack was playing the Bears at long-sold-out Wrigley, the entire country may have gotten the game, except people in Chicago! It took the Redskins' success in the Lombardi year, 1969, to wake up national politicians to pressure the NFL to televise sold out games. Skins games were sold out, like now, but you had to be in the stadium to see it. Pols were pi$$ed and put the heat on Rozelle and the black out rules as exist today, were born.

Pi$$es me off everytime I see it...like he's created some sort of a moniker for the winds I've only heard described as "Colder than a witches t_t."

“Word definitely got around: If you are going to shoot at the Marines, it's going to be the last day of your life,” Capt. Brian Gilbertson, outside Husaybah, Iraq

I have never heard anyone else but Dr. Z refer to the WNY November/December winds as "The Hawk." I grew up there, did I miss that day in school or something?

I actually thought DeRogatis and Curt Gowdy made a good pair...so much more professional than the carnival barkers they have today. BTW, do you know that Don Criqui has been in the booth now almost 40 years?!?!?! Criqui

Granted, Simpsons is one of the all-time greatest, but I think it lost some its edge when Phil Hartman died and took two of the best cameo characters, Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz, with him.

I never knew there were so many Rudolph spin-offs... And I wonder where I can find the Kenny G Christmas special: "Happy Birthday Jesus, hope you like crap." Norm MacDonald

I'm partial to the episode regarding the "Leftorium" myself....

And what it comes down to, is that the mighty NFL, of all the major pro and college leagues, remains the only one with a 'blackout rule.' Incredible.

OJ (wearing Bruno Maglis?) telling Bob Costas at halftime: "...the Bills just look out of it, and I don't know how they can come back." (Or something like that)

At 3-5, EVERYONE'S job is in jeopardy...from TD to the guy selling Labatts in the concourse, right down to the hockey kids selling candy bars in the parking lot. In a 3-5 environment, NO ONE is safe, as well it should be.

Suggest getting the DVD from Fezmid or the NFL Films version via the Bills proshop.

Thanks...sometimes we lose sight of the fact of just how good that '90-'93 team actually was, and need to face the same fact that we will never see a team as dominating playing in Orchard Park again in our lifetimes. I think that on Sunday, rather than flipping through the games on the Ticket, I'll pop in the tape from the '92 AFC championship vs Miami...and maybe next week, when KC is in town, pop in the '93 championship game with those same Chiefs. It's sad to see the troubles facing this year's 3-5 bunch and think back, and actually see on tape, the teams, and more importantly the MEN, who brought Bills fans soooo close to final glory.