Whites Bay

THIS post cracked me up! As did the "crazy people" post. Well done. Skooboy, it's okay. Take the chip off the ol' shoulder, take two deep breaths, and revel in the moment. The Bills might be 5-2 in 48 hours, and these will have been hours wasted whilst worrying about a bunch of overpaid talking heads who know NOTHING. Let's be grateful for what we have. The bad times will be here quickly enough.

"Baseball is a game for louts" - Ernest Hemingway (from "In Our Time"/The Three-Day Blow) Gives me a chance to go to bed early, and give the liver a rest. I wonder what the 4:00 P.M. game will be? "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" - The Beatles

A million years ago, I remember being in the van, listening to the pre-game rants on WGR, as we trundled from our Caledonia meeting point on the way to (then) Rich Stadium. The time was January 1991, and we had (to use a trite phrase) a rendezvous with destiny. The AFC Championship Game with the Raiders. This game was the culmination of several years of pain, faith and patience, starting in 1985 with the drafting of Bruce Smith. So many hopes dashed, so many close calls, but here we were. And it was only at that moment, as we crawled along Route 20 in the grayness, 5 people already half-in-the-bag at 0845h, that the electricity of the moment reached me. "Oh, my God", I spoke to my brother, "Do you realize that if we win this game we're going to the Super Bowl?". Such was the focus of the day. It was no longer just another game. It was a really BIG game! He reached over to the cooler, handed me another beer, patted me on the shoulder, and grinned. I relate this story not in hopes of engendering a cascade of "Yeah, I was...(fill-in-the-blank)" vis-a-vis the first AFC Championship game. I relate this story instead to those on this board who were not of age when it happened. If this team makes it to the playoffs, be so grateful. It's Everest-like in its challenge. I so hope to treasure it again. To quote Glen Campbell "Tears of joy might stain my face".

Guess my last transmission failed. Gotta love these Verizon Broadband antennas up here on the edge of reality. The key is the run-blocking. Check the weather. Things are about to go over the cliff over the next 10 days, and the Bills are simply going to HAVE to crank up the running game. Perhaps the outside pitch-outs will help, but I remember them doing THAT a few years back, and it lasted.....about a week, before everyone figured it out. I'm thinking about the Cleveland game. Wouldn't it be great to - you know - actually win on the ground in bad weather?

Deanster, I have three things on my mind right now, and should probably start threads on all, but bandwidth is bandwidth: 1) Future-Think #1: I really think that the Bills are going to follow through with the confidence earned through the San Diego game and prevail against the not-so-hapless Dolphins. I'm not writing that team off by a long stretch, but I think the Bills are going to take it by a touchdown and field goal. 2) Future-Think #2: I read the SportsLine article (or whatever the !@#$ it was) that quoted Dick Jauron as not getting exercised about the Pats* going for it on fourth-and-whatever while being up by three galaxies. URRGGHHH!!!!!!!! I know - KNOW - I'm not supposed to look ahead, and I know - KNOW - that each game is a brick-in-the-wall....but OH BABY am I circling 9 November! Miami's important. The Jets are important. But 56-10. Truly the Bills must have this game laser-locked-and-tracking. 3) Future-Think #3: The Titans. The Titans. Need more be said? Two more games and we're at the midpoint. Yes, I know it's too early to be thinking about......no, I won't say it. But know that somewhere out there in Football Kharma, there's a guy named Whites Bay who is rooting for every possible catastrophe to befall The Titans (short of the obvious selections of, you know, plane crashes and horrible stuff like that). The point being that the damndest thought finally popped into my pygmy intellect this weekend...... Hosting a playoff game. Oh, God. I've said it. There goes the season. Anyway, it's another Friday night, and time to compare libations. Molson Canadian. Yourself?

God, I love that avatar. I have issues.

It's been a long, long time since I gave a rat's hairy@$$ whether some national reporter picked "for" or "against" the Bills. I mean, give me a break - when things are going well, are they in my livingroom high-fiving me? When things are tanking (as they have been for quite some time), are they sitting there consoling me and getting me another beer? Those are trick questions. The answer to both is "No". This having been said, doesn't Dr. Z have some sort of curse? Remembering back to the glory days of (yeeps) almost 20 years ago, I seem to recall that he used to pick the Bills over-and-over, and dammit, they never won the big one. Getting a vote of confidence from Dr. Z is genetically linked to the SI cover curse. No thanks. I want him screaming for Miami with both lungs.

Certainly accept my condolences.

I read the blog, and quite frankly, it doesn't seem like there's a lot therein. That having been said, it amazes me that there's ANYTHING out there that could have made me despise the Dolphins more than I do. Rush Limbaugh as an owner? I have to actually read the words as I type them. Rush Limbaugh as the owner of the Miami Dolphins. The rivalry becomes eternal!

Ooogh, Dean! Reading this, I'm oddly feeling good about myself, in a warped way. You and yours will please accept the best wishes of those of us who have miraculously reached our 50s. Let's hope we're still writing in our 60s. Enough of the Maudlinesque prose. To the point of the thread, reading posts like this puts Brady's knee in perspective. I don't mean to be a boob, but it's hard for me to find a lot of sympathy for the guy down there in the depths of my soul. Kraft et al will have to get on with it - and it WON'T be Cassel.

Both Staph and Strep do tend to attack heart valves. I wish your brother well. I've read your past posts in which you have said that you live in Florida to take care of your father and brother, and wish you the best of luck.

Er....I'm IN the medical field, but when I talk to myself, people look at me in a strange manner. Or maybe it's just me. That is, of course, a distinct possibility. I'm not dismissing you, or your wife, or your collective opinions vis-a-vis MRSA, okay? My point is that we ALL - yes, including me - have to be damn careful about throwing around words like "epidemic", or "death", "doom" and "destruction" on an internet web forum Look, there are (I don't know) about 10,000 posters on this board. At any given time, there are perhaps 1% who have a loved one/relative/fellow employee that are going under the knife. Jesus, I'm pretty hammered on a really bad Riesling, but let's do the math. .01 x 10,000 = 100 people, right? (I'm terrified that I did that incorrectly). One hundred people. That's quite a little community Here's a thought - YOU'RE NUMBER 42! Would you like to get your information vis-a-vis MRSA off a Bills web board? Goodness gracious! The point being is that I would fervently admonish people NOT to throw things like EPIDEMIC out on forums like this. Whilst I don't disagree with your wife's observations. please make note that she most likely works in ONE hospital. Correct me if I'm wrong. But I'm going to guess that she doesn't work in as many hospitals as I do, in as many countries as I do. MRSA is a problem. Yes, indeed it is. This having been said, however, there is NOT an epidemic of MRSA. Believe me here. There's not even anything approaching epidemic proportions. I'm not saying for a nanosecond that I'd like to contract MRSA! But I walk in-and-out of hospitals every single day, and I'm still here, and am able to contribute irritating posts like this one. Let's just inhale deeply....that's all I'm saying. "Cry Baby Cry" - The Beatles

Bill, it is, of course, quite possible that you're correct on this point. Sick, but possibly true. "Yer Blues" - The Beatles

Get back to me when you've re-read....and understood.... the definition of "epidemic", will you?

Don't let 'em get you down, Dean-o. For what it's worth, I get it, and your sentence structure almost matches your analysis. Damn fine of you. "Isn't it a Pity" - George Harrison

Okay. I'm not calling "B.S.", but I'm calling "Let's try some decaf". We all know what MRSA is, okay? And if we DON'T know what MRSA is, we should. Your description might be technically correct, but I would direct the reading public to the last sentence in your thread, which states that there have been: ISOLATED cases of vancomycin-resistant MRSA. Jesus, don't get people thinking there's a goddamn epidemic of this stuff, okay? Because there's not. Please. And where there IS MRSA in a hospital (and, therefore, I'm supposing, ANY medical facility, such as an athletic training facility), there is NO - REPEAT NO NO NO NO - ambiguity about it. It's pretty goddamn well marked out. Been into an isolated OR lately? Please. Don't toss stuff like this out there, okay?

I'm torn between the "fanatic" and the "humanistic". The "fanatic" (the origin of the word "fan") in me says "F-ing good, you limp-wristed pantload". There simply is no NFL franchise - from urinal washer to General Manager - that deserves this news more than does the Patriots*. The "humanistic" (the origin of the word is....er...."me", I guess) part of me says "Jesus, that has to hurt, Tom, and I wish you the best in recovering.......but not quite enough to ever be as good as you were in 2007". At the end of the internal argument, he's a friggin' millionaire, he's sleeping with a supermodel, and is being treated by the best healthcare providers on the face of the planet. He'll be all right, of this I'm quite certain. I just hope he never plays again. Period. "This Boy" by the Beatles

There, now, you see? THAT'S the reason I post here, because THAT'S useful information! I hit a dead skunk a couple of years ago on the way up to the lake. Hit the damn thing so hard that I could hear its bones go *crack* on my undercarriage. Holey moley, smoley. I didn't think I was EVER going to get that smell out of the car. It even made the beagle sick (so I guess there WAS a side benefit after all). I could have dipped the car into a vat of Ozmium and I don't know if it would have helped, but thanks for the tip.

This thread's been fairly interesting, but I couldn't get away from this post as hard as I tried. While what you say may be correct (particularly after a six of Genesee Cream Ale), WTLF does it have to do with the Chargers? I'm having the hardest time trying to tie this together! Work with me here - I'm fart-impaired.

Wow, Bill. I had a dream where little blue men came out of an ice palace, and I wasn't able to get back to my daughter in time to save her. I'm not kidding. Which one of us needs to change medications, or start yoga?

There's truly no way in hell you're reading my comments. That having been said, in the event that one of your minions is tuning in to TBD this evening... Good job, Mr. Wilson. Please know that we wish this team to remain here. It is, of course, the core of our being. You must understand this. Happy Birthday, Sir, and know that we hope you have many, many more.

Praise where praise is due, criticism where criticism is due. In my case, it's criticism. I was CERTAIN McCargo would be given an injury release a couple of days ago. I'm still scratching my head that he's with the team. Which makes me.....oh, wait a minute. It makes me just-another-internet-blogger. This all having been said, okay, he's with the team. I love a happy ending. If they're going to keep him, I'd love to see the kid get out there this weekend and break some bones. Wouldn't THAT be something? I don't pretend to know whether the guy is motivated or not, but I can tell you how the attempted trade would affect ME. I'd get out there and send someone off the field on a cart. Not because I'd give a schit about Ralph Wilson, Buffalo or TBD, but because I want someone to get me the hell out of here!

If I was a betting man, my money would be on the injury settlement, a quick handshake, and some heart-rending piano solo playing softly in the background as the rain patters down on the hood of John McCargo's luxury SUV while Ralph Wilson Stadium grows ever smaller in the rearview mirror. The is the dreaded "bulging disc" problem. Perhaps in years past McCargo might have attempted some sort of comeback, or some team desperate (and I'm using that term intentionally) for help in the interior line would have taken a flyer on him. Hell, Indianapolis did before they knew of the injury. Two players come to MY mind when I think of "bulging discs": Eric Dickerson Peerless Price I'm sure the compendium of TBD posters could come up with a lot more. The point is this - think of how long those two players lasted in the league once the announcement was made that they had a bulging disc. About as long as it took to finish the press conference, right? The risks of permanent injury - including quadriplegia - are too great for any front office to risk. Even Jerry Jones or Dot-Com Snyder don't want the cameras focusing in on their luxury suites following a horrific hit resulting in a Kevin-Everett-style moment. Nice knowing you, John. Hope you invested wisely, and we'll see you soon in a Subway commercial with Jared.

Cheer extra loud for me, Olivier. It's ironic - you'll be able to watch the game in France, but I'll be stuck at a trade show booth next Sunday in Orlando, and WON'T be able to watch it. Damn it!

I second the motion. If this O-Line doesn't learn how to run-block this week, get ready for a miserable afternoon. Keeping SD's defense off Edwards' now-addled brain would be a nice touch as well.