notwoz

Been a DirecTV subscriber since the Bronze Age. Sunday Ticket (with its access to Bills' games) was the draw. But the past few years, I find that I've been recording the games while getting on with my life on Sunday afternoons. I check the final score. Bills win and I'll watch. Bills lose and I hit delete. I don't have any real issues with customer service, but if the Sunday Ticket package becomes available on another platform, I'm done with DTV. Their pricing is getting ridiculous, but my wife's employer partially subsidizes the cost (as well as the cost of our internet connection, Netflix and other streaming services, and her cell phone), so I can't grouse too much. But like I said, if Sunday Ticket goes, so do I.

Don't put 'em on a pedestal, either.

I occasionally called the Sabres post-game show on the now-defunct Empire Sports Network. My favorite reaction was when later in the show, they referred to me as "the gentleman from Virginia." It's been years since I called WGR for anything.

It's not that I'm embarrassed to wear any team s**t. I just won't waste my money on that stuff.

The Baltimore Ravens play in M&T Stadium. M&T is headquartered in Buffalo. Taco Bell couldn't afford the naming rights to a AA baseball league ballpark.

Ok. I get it. It's not your "skill." it's the gloves. Thanks for clearing that up.

Well. it's been decades since I played flag football. And even then, we only played it when we played co-ed football. So I guess I'm not as "wonderful" as you.

Here's an interesting article that explains why catches we once thought to be impossible to catch are now possible. I have noticed the increased number of highlight-reel one-handed catches in recent years, but never thought that it was the gloves. Silly me, I thought receivers were just getting better (that's a joke, BTW). Also I never realized that the gloves are made to be a bit "stickier" than bare hands. Makes sense, but I never thought about it. Now if only someone could make those helmets more concussion-proof (that's sarcasm, BTW). https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/20/sports/super-bowl-nfl-gloves.html

An interesting look at the evolution of the passing game in the NFL. My thoughts? Nobody (or nearly nobody), wants to see defense. They want to see offense ... especially touchdown passes. My interpretation? The NFL wants to become the CFL. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/19/sports/nfl-offense-records.html?action=click&module=Editors Picks&pgtype=Homepage

Because we don't care about them once they leave the league. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/sports/football/the-nfls-obesity-scourge.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Nobody needs drunks.

I filled out the survey. They won't take my response seriously. However. I voted for a downtown stadium every time it came up. I voted for the most expensive options every time. It's time the Bills lose the 20-year-old drunks in the crowd and get respectable customers.

I'm not making a case for either tax regime. I'm just saying you don't know how the tax system works. It works for the rich. The rest of us are hosed.

Income tax and sales tax have nothing to do with each other. If you make $100k a year and I make $50k year and we both buy an iPhone, we pay the same tax. It has nothing to do with income or even net worth. Sales tax is a consumption tax. You buy something, you pay tax. You buy something expensive, you pay more tax. You buy something cheaper, you pay less tax. As for income tax, have you ever heard of the marginal tax rate? Anyone who makes $1 million a year and pays $300k in income tax needs to shoot his or her accountant. https://www.fool.com/taxes/2017/12/13/your-guide-to-tax-brackets-in-2018.aspx

Where did you get this example? Because none of it makes any sense.

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-pol-trump-lies-gambling-speech-odds-35-bet-20190108-story.html?fbclid=IwAR3yQUE5EhJMJK0jLwYXqfCDQOqjopqLLX_PJLs226nu2NlHL4ZhRaG4GcY

I've been in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC, for 35 years. I never cottoned to the 'skins or the Ravens. However, after Joe Gibbs and Bobby Beathard left the 'skins, I had to grudgingly admit that they were a great GM/HC combo. Curiously, the one thing I do miss by not living in WNY is access to CFL games. I've long found the CFL to be a lot of fun to watch.

Who is McDermitt?

Throwing this out for discussion: I wonder if the OBD brain trust shouldn't focus on a top-shelf tight end.

Or the case of Bobby Bonilla, who collects $1.19 million a year from the Mets (every July 1, from 2011 to 2035). It's part of a deal deferring the $5.9 million the Mets owed him from the 2000 season, a year in which he didn't play for the team, because they released him in January. Bonilla's agent worked out a deal that deferred payment (with an 8 percent annual interest rate). Pretty shrewd move. http://www.espn.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/125162/happy-bobby-bonilla-day-his-annual-1-19-million-payday-is-here

I tune in to WGR's website on occasion to listen to portions of a Bills game or Sabres game. But I stopped listening to Schopp and his knob-polisher Bulldog a year ago or so. They only offer opinions, not insights. Working in Washington DC for the past 35 years, I've had to endure more than my share of "the smartest man in the room." I don't need to listen to another self-important jackass on my time.

Regis?

An interesting story in the Washington Post. It doesn't add a lot by way of analysis (or at least what most fans already recognize), but the fact that the topic is being discussed is significant: "The deluge of incompetence and/or surrender poses a threat to the product. The league is littered with terrible teams that have either given up hope or dropped the delusion they had any to begin with. Those teams, time and again over the next eight weeks, will pollute the schedule. Ready for Giants-49ers on Monday night?" Has the league killed the goose that laid the golden eggs? https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2018/11/06/nfl-gap-between-haves-have-nots-is-growing-wider/?utm_term=.4db00ca19b77

Because he shouldn't have been signed in the first place.

Byline on the story says Dennis Waszak Jr. Not John Wawrow.