Whites Bay

Probably, given that it's from 2014. I'm surprised that the Giants footprint extends so far up into the North Country. I don't see a lot of license plate rims and other Giants memorabilia up here. Definitely a lot of Giants fans in the Mohawk Valley.

Hard Pass. F No. My best childhood friend is getting a trach tube today having fought for his life on a vent for two weeks. Only a true and utter idiot would take this thing lightly, or consider it a "simple flu". Good luck with that. I'll send flowers. Maybe dead ones. And there's not going to be a vaccine this year anyway, so it doesn't matter. Now, as for televising games without a crowd, they'll essentially be like the first week of college bowl games in December, when Northeast Central Missouri A&T plays Mount St. Mary's Sisters of the Blind. The game looks good until they pan away, or get a field level shot. And then you realize there are 4 people at the 50 yard line, and three of them are the coach's siblings. But with clever camera work, you don't even know.

You and I have PM'd in the past. I trust your opinion on matters related to commercial air travel. Thanks.

If it's a Bears-scale renovation, it'll be interesting to see where the Bills would play. The Bears had to play at the University of Illinois stadium for at least one season. Was it two? I can't remember, and can't find it anywhere. But I remember it taking FOREVER.

I'm simply going to enjoy watching the games, and not investing myself in them emotionally at all.

Good question. The answer? George Seifert. And that all works for awhile until it doesn't. Speaking of Seifert, you raised a good point about people under 30 not even knowing what the NFL would be like without the Pats* being on top of the division, and essentially the league. I remember rooting against the 49ers after awhile back in the 1980s because...like ENOUGH, ALREADY. But even that was NOTHING compared to what the Pats* have done - through talent, great coaching, abject outright cheating and a LOT of really rancid calls by a LOT of officials. I cannot WAIT for it to crumble, and it's exactly because of that vapid, self-entitled moronic fan base. They have NO idea how hard it is to get all the components lined up. And said components are about to become misaligned.

I've thought about this, but rejected it when the Giants fired Shurmer and kept Gettleman. I'm probably wrong on this, but doesn't Belichick have the GM responsibility as well as the coaching end of things? If so, there's simply no way that he goes to the Giants as "Coach". Uh uh. Now...if Gettleman were suddenly dismissed this week? Buckle up.

Activity? Depends on the weather. It's supposed to be on-and-off snow showers up here. I have a huge maple that I had dropped a couple of months ago, and I'm slowly reducing it to usable lengths. So I'll want to get the chain saw work out of the way before I get into the alcohol. Kids, don't try this at home. Menu? Despite the weather, I can barbecue outside under the porch roof (and I'm a charcoal guy - the hell with propane). It's beef ribs and grilled asparagus. Why? Because I'm alone, and I can. Alcohol? Probably a really nice bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, but I might go off the rails and get the best damn bottle of Zinfandel that I can lay my hands on. The poor thing isn't going to know what hit it. And, like so many on this board...I'm going to pace, pace, pace, pace...

If you REALLY want to start the week with a smile, think of the Bills beating the Texans, and the Pats* losing to the Titans next week. And then imagine the Pats* fan board thread by about 11:30 Saturday night.

I hear they're going to play "Spin the Bottle".

Agree with much of what's been said here, but definitely with your Point 1. I'm finished with Frank Gore. I know that causes great umbrage to the purists. But he's done, he's toast. The only time I want to see him out there is as a decoy, and then have him stay in to pick up the blitz, which he does really well. Stick to your strengths - keep Allen on his feet, Frank. And watch for heavy - almost EXTREME - efforts on the part of the Pats* to strip the ball from Singletary. Singletary has a fumble problem, the league is starting to understand it, and there's no other team that would focus on simply getting inside an opponent's head and giving him the mind f**k like the Pats*. Singletary HAS to hold on to the ball. I could see this one factor being the entire key to the game. Singletary succeeds? Bills walk off the field blowing kisses to the (remaining front-runner) fans and pointing at the scoreboard. Singletary starts fumbling and doubting himself? Long flight back to Buffalo.

So...this pretty much describes the NFC East this year!

I'm surprised Nsheke is even in the discussion in that article. That looked like a pretty bad injury. Good to see that he might come back.

It's a lot of good memories, man. A lot of good memories.

Imagine them at 6-6, and the Bills being the team to hand it to them. Let that sink in for a minute. I would just thank whatever higher being might be out there that I'm alive to witness the moment.

It's all unfolding according to plan. DAMN THAT BROWNS GAME.

Impact crater.

I don't mean to pick nits, but this is the second mention of Montreal in this thread. Just...no. I can't see it happening. Not just because Montreal couldn't hold on to the Expos. It was worse than that. The frigging MLB had to take ownership of the Expos. NOT a way to engender trust and good will. I can't imagine the NFL wanting THAT situation exploding all over their tuxedos. Question - are there a lot of Vancouver license plates at Seahawks games like there are Ontario plates at Bills games? I've never been to a game out there. But I would imagine that any group of potential Vancouver owners lining up to attempt THAT stunt would have to deal with the Seahawks. He's gone now, but I think I recall Paul Allen having been the wealthiest owner of any NFL franchise. A formidable obstacle.

99.9% true. But there are a couple of flights that leave the East Coast at 8:00-ish in the morning and arrive in London about 8:00-ish at night. It's actually an almost sane feeling to get off the rig, clear customs, head for the airport hotel (a.k.a. "bar") and go to bed at a normal time. You're so wiped out by the jet lag that you get a decent night of sleep and wake up in the morning when the rest of the country does. This doesn't work for the West Coast, however. That's where the system would break down. I know these guys are tough, young athletes, but it would just F**K with their metabolisms. Vegas would rightly have them as dogs every time they went to the West Coast.

There actually was an incident a few years back (10+) in which a passenger thought they were going to "Oakland", when the flight was heading to "Auckland". The poor SOB took a 13+ hour transpacific flight. Guess the airline put him in up in a hotel, and schlepped him back within 24 hours. That hurts just thinking about it.

That's an interesting post. Thanks for that; I hope you're correct. Starting to see the finish line through the haze...

Not to be morbid, but I think (well, I wouldn't be surprised, let's put it that way) that whole Jets/Cortland thing was put together to set up a beach head in Upstate as Ralph neared the end of his life, and there was just so much uncertainty as to where the Bills would end up. If the Bills had ended up in Toronto or San Antonio...PRESTO! Instant NFL Franchise! This place would have been "Gang Green del Norte". It's a fading memory, as it's already been 10 years since they set up shop in Cortland, but - let's face it - the Bills were BAD in those years. Why not scratch around in someone else's turf? It just didn't work out that way. Pegula purchased the Bills in 2014, and the Jets disappeared from Cortland like a fart in a hurricane as soon as the purchase was announced. Makes you feel a little bad for the city fathers in Cortland, but I'm not going to lose a LOT of sleep over it.

I feel this way as well. I'm glad no was watching me enjoy that game the way I did. I need some space away from football for a few days.

Two thoughts: 1) I just don't see this coaching staff letting the team lose focus on the opponent at hand. And that's not something I could say about the Rex Ryan era AT ALL. McDermott is NOT going to let Miami sneak up on them. Will they run up the score? I doubt it, but... 2) Related thought - I could TOTALLY see this Defense pitching a shut out next weekend. It wouldn't surprise me if they're already talking about this among themselves.

Okay, so that was pretty funny.