Gordio

I go to NYC for business all the time & imo the weather sucks there. It is too hot in the summer, it is always raining in the fall/spring & although they don't get much snow it is always in that 30-40 degree range in the winter so big deal. It might be an 18 degree diffence once or twice a winter season between buff & NYC but it certainly not the norm. I will take Buffalo's weather over NYC anyday especially the winter like we had this past year.

It is a step in the right direction. With that being said if the true intent is to find the best team in college football & crown them NC 4 teams is sufficient. Very rarely is there more then 4 teams in a particular year that have a legit claim to be playing in the NC. It just does not happen. & with the emphasis now on strength of schedule as one of the factors your going to see more & more teams knocking each other out because the big conferences will be scheduling out of conference games against each other to boost their SOS my guess is in some years it is going to be tough to even find 4 teams that have unblemished resumes. For people that don't understand college football or don't watch it it is not that easy to just setup a 16 team playoff. There is alot of factors going into this. They wanted to keep the bowl structure in place. I know alot of people think bowls are stupid but there is a loyalty there & they have had a partnership & have made alot of money off the bowls for a very long time. Everybody is saying 8 teams but if you read Mandel's article in CNNSI if there were 8 teams last year the 8th team would of been Kansas State. They were 10-2 & had a nice year but in noway were they NC contender material. The other thing I think they want to avoid putting a 8 or 16 team field in place is the ambarrassment of playing in empty stadiums when a USC as a one seed plays Arkansas State as a 16 seed in the Colliseum opening round. This just was not going to fly. Also, they wanted to protect the importance of the regular season. The great thing about college football is for the most part every game in the regular season for national Title hopefulls is like a playoff game. This & the atmosphere of college gameday makes College Football superior to the NFL imo.

Words can not describe how bad I feel for you & your family. May god bless you all.

Could not agree more, making fun of their history when your a Bills fan is even more ridiculous. So what, we beat them during our Super Bowl runs, I am sure there really distraught about that as they admire their league leading 6 Lombardi Trophys. There fans are obnoxious & arrogant for the most part. I guess that comes with the territory when you have won more Super Bowls then any other team in the league.

I suppose anything is possible. Like you have stated their defense should be unreal. There offense is going to take some time to develope though. They are only returning 4 starters & starting a QB that is pretty talented in JR Andrew Maxwell but he is unproven at this time. Looking at their schedule they have a tricky opener at home against Boise State. I know Boise has lost alot especially on the offensive side of the ball but they are still talented & still dangerous especially given the fact that Peterson has a whole offseason to game plan for this one & this is going to be a tough game. The good news is if they come out of this game looking good & get the W that should catapoult them right into the National Title discussion. Looking down the line they have Notre dame & Ohio State at home. I like their chances in both of those but later in the season they got to play at the Big House, @ Camp Randle & then come home to play a tough Nebraska team to end a brutal 3 game stretch. I doubt they make it thru that without a loss. I also doubt they play for the NC if they do not go undefeated. It seems like only SEC teams are allowed to lose a game/games & play for the NC.

I decided to call back today. I got them down to $100 after calling a few weeks ago. Well I asked for the retention & I just layed it all on the table. Said I think it is a disgrace that you are treating new customers better then loyal customers that have been spending their hard money on DTV for years. I said it was a slap in the face to guys like me. After putting me on hold for 5 minutes the lady comes back & says & I quote "Mr. Taylor, I could not agree more, where are going to give you an instant $100 credit towards your bill, would that suffice?" I said yes it would. I can not emphasize this enough when you call. 1st, ask for the retention department, this is a critical step. 2nd, be polite but firm & lay on the injustice as thick as you can. I have been with DTV for 9 years so don't know if seniority plays a role in this & my monthly bill is $110 I believe so not sure what that will get me rated as a customer. Man, I never felt so alive, this is better feeling then having sex(or at least having sex with my wife haha) I definately hear ya on that point, not sure how old you are but as you get older there is just something about going down in your basement & flicking on the tvs & having the the mini fridge stocked with your beverage of choice & not having to worry about drinking & driving, lines for the bathroom or having some idiot bartender controlling the tvs. When I am not at the stadium I have learned to appreciate staying at home & watching any game I want on Sundays in the fall.

Yeah back in my college days there was many of nights where my friends & I went out & the next day we all wondered who drove home because none of us could remember. The one night middle of winter I am home from winter break & drove home & passed out right in the middle of my parents driveway. It was about 20 degrees out. Thank god my dad was up going to take a leak & saw me. He lugged me in. There is no doubt if he did not get me I would of froze to death that night. Back then I had the mind set it wasn't a good night unless I blacked out & could not remember most of the evening. I never drink & drive anymore. If I know I am going to be out drinking I always make arrangements on how I am going to get before the evening starts. Just to much to lose nowadays.

Exactly, I am a big Mets fan but I really don't see them finishing much above .500 in a best case scenerio. That is just not a major league lineup that they are trotting out there everyday. They will be competive in some games because they have good starting pitching & Collins is a good manager but their bullpen stinks, they really don't have a major league caliber shortstop on their roster right now & there are too many holes in that lineup. At the deadline if I am the Mets front office I consider depending how many games they are back holding an auction for Santana & Wright & blow the whole thing up.

I never even mentioned Fitz in my post. What is your point? I would rather have Fitz over Falco, Cassel, Dalton.

& I hate when people downgrade how important the QB position is. In today's NFL, if you don't have reliable triggerman under center you really don't have a chance. I compare the importance of a QB to a pitcher in baseball or a goalie in hockey. Yeah they are not the whole team but it makes every part of the game alot easier if you have a probowler/allstar at that position.

You hit the nail on the head with ACC. The engine that drives that conference is basketball. That is good for the schools on Tobacco Road becuase their interest are going to be at the forefront. Not so good for schools like Miami/FSU/V Tech/Clemson who are definately football schools first & foremost. Money will dictate how this thing is played out obviously. If you think about it though the path to getting into the 4 team playoff/NC would be alot less rocky for FSU if they stay in the ACC where they do not have to play Oklahoma/Texas/TCU. FSU should never have strength of scheduling problems even in a down ACC year due to the fact that they play Florida every year & my guess is if they want to boos their schedule they could get South Florida/Central Florida to agree to home an home series if they desired. If they go 12-0 with that schedule that should be enough to get them into the playoff.

The weather was pretty bad Friday night. My son had a soccer game & the whole 2nd half was played in a monsoon. As far as that concert, they have had this concert for several years now & man I don't where these girls come from but there are some good looking women that go to this concert. I was at Pearl Street after work for a drink Friday night & the place was loaded with hot girls. All in their skimpy jeans & shorts & tight shirts. Man, I really wish I did not have my son's soccer game to go to, I would have stuck around a little longer.

So sorry for your loss. I have 2 sisters one younger one older & we have good relationships & I love them dearly but man I always wanted a brother. & hearing memories like the ones you just shared makes me realize I really missed out on some fun stuff not having a brother.

agreed with everything everybody has posted. On the ride home from work last night that (*^*&%^$^#Schope was blasting callers that were calling in outraged by the verdict. His claim was you guys were not in the courtroom, you don't know the case. Like one caller said the 2 facts were he was drunk & he hit the girl which ended up killing her. What other stuff do you need? How can he not even be convicted of a felony in this & only be charged with a misdeameanor. Those jurors/the defense team & the doctor all should be ashamed of themselves. There is a special place in hell for Corasanti & his attorneys.

Best wishes to you & your family. Hang in there man.

Yeah I am definately calling back. I am going to give it another month & call them back around the 4th of July.

I take it you don't gamble? During the commercials I usually flip to another game although it is amazing how most of the games commercials are on at the same time. I always wanted to get one of those electronic score scroller ribbons that you see in the casinos/some sports bars and have it hooked up around the whole outer edge of the basement. I wonder how much one of those would cost?

You are correct sir that was only for the basic package. However with that being said I have 3 tvs down in the basement so I usually don't use all that extra stuff. At least I have not in the past. I pretty much plan my Sundays around football which is to say I am down in my basement with a case of beer & usually stay down there from noon to 8 or 9 at night doing nothing but watching football. Yeah Yeah I know some people call it a waste of day, I like to call it living the high life.

Update--------------------- Just called Direct TV. I got the lady to give me the Ticket for $99. I did not even have to pay for it all upfront. She said when I start to get billed for it I will receive a $20 credit for 5 months of the billing cycle. The only thing I had to do was sign up for paperless bills. I am still not satisfied though. In August I am going to call back & tell them it is a disgrace that they are giving the ticket for free to new customers & threaten to cancel my whole god dam service if they don't give me the ticket for free. If they call my bluff I will just hang up on them. Man I love pulling one over on the man. As the great Gus Johnson would say "Ha HA!!!".

Wow interesting. When I usually call this early they tell me to call back in August. Maybe I will try that today. Thanks!

I agree. I have always had great service when the guys come out. I don't understand why people complain. Their service is 10xs better then Time Warner. I switched over 9 years ago & have not regret it once. Sometimes when it is a wet snow(in spring) the signal goes out but I just got to brush the snow off, not a big deal as my dish is only about 12-15 feet up on the side of my house. Thunderstorms, up in Buffalo we don't get to many severe ones like they do in other parts of the country & the signal will usually go out 3-4 times a year for maybe 5-10 minutes. Certainly not the 15xs for 3-4 hours like other people are claiming. I love sports & noone offers more packages for sports then Direct TV. As for them not discounting the price I am afraid you maybe right. I have gotten the NFL Ticket for free or pretty close to free for the last 5 years. I call them up, give them a sad song about how it has gotten too expensive & after haggling for 5 minutes they have given it to me for free. I am going to still call this year & see what they can do. It is worth a shot. If not maybe I will just charge my free loading brother-in-law who comes over every Sunday to watch the games & drinks all my beer & eats all my food $100 & tell him we could split it. He has offered that in the past but I have gotten it for free so I have always told him it is not necassary.

This is the best post I have read in awhile. I have been going to games for 25 years now & I have never had a beer poured on me, never seen anybody puke, never got in a fight. I am sure this stuff happens but I just don't think it is common as alot of people would like you to believe. I also have had great memories of my dad taking me to games. The first game he took me to was Kelly's first game against the Jets in 1986 & I have been hooked ever since. You could shelter your kids & not take them to the stadium & that is certainly your perogative, but keep in mind your also depriving them of seeing an actual live NFL football game & costing you & your children memories that will last a life time. I think that reward is certainly worth the risk of having someone pour a beer on you or your kid or puking in front of them, which is probably has a chance of less then 1% of happening. I took my son to his first regular season game last year against Philly. He absolutely loved it. I did not sit in my normal season ticket seats either. We sat in the upper deck row 30 & we had no issues. I already have plans to bring him to the New England game this year.

Well that is one way of looking at it & I am sure the cliental you have is at the very least in the upper upper middle calss & has a large portion of disposable income to invest in but for the middle class & below who are for the most part living paycheck to paycheck & scraping to get by I don't know if getting a financial advisor is really worth it. I mean I have my 401k & I put in the company match which is 6% & I have been in it for 14 years but I have to be honest with you I don't have any other money to invest/save. I have a savings account & that is about it. So I really don't know why I would need a financial advisor.

Especially with a 401 K where your investing options are limited in a particular plan just follow the graph on what your age is & your tolerance for risk is & diversify your portfolio that way. Chances are you will do just as well as if you meet with a financial advisor & he tells you what to do. If the market goes up your going to make money if the market goes down your going to lose money. If you can not stand the day to day volatility of something the guy is not going to touch for 35 years put your money into less risky stuff. It is basic common sense if you ask me. Why should he pay a guy like you for pointing out the obvious. This is not rocket science. I know your a little different from a stock broker but when I was younger before I got married & had kids & actually had a little extra money to fool around with every month I used to play the stocks. My friend was a broker @ a brokerage firm in Buffalo & he got me in there. Normally they would not except any clients without at least $100K to invest but he waived that exception for me since I did not have anywhere close to that. I swear, every stock I told him to buy for me made money, every stock that I listened to his stupid analysts that I bought lost money. This went on for about 3 years. Finally I had enough. I cashed out, our friendship suffered & I have not talked to him since. I just feel in your industry as a whole alot of the advice you guys give has ulterior motives for you guys & always is not given with the customer's best interest in mind.

I kind of agree with 6 pack that him demanding $24-$25 million a year & being the highest paid qb is a little out of line. With that being said, I think him & his agent are looking at it like he totally outplayed his last contract(I think it was 5 years, 10 million per year), delivered the Saints their first super bowl & has the best numbers of any qb in the league over the last 5 years. I think now he wants to be compensated for all that. You would think 18-19 million would be good enough for him though. He is kind of being greedy at this stage of the game.