BRH

Except they'll be making RIT a good team real quick...

Well, considering that there are now (or will be) seven New York State colleges in D-I hockey (Clarkson, St. Lawrence, Colgate, Cornell, RPI, Niagara, and soon RIT), I think UB is smart not to make the jump, particularly since they have absolutely no hockey history of which to speak.

I believe you! I'm just saying I don't recall it happening.

I actually DON'T recall Gretzky ever doing this. I do remember, however, that he would occasionally bank a shot in off the goalie's skates while stationed behind the net. In an Amerks game a couple of weeks ago, Thomas Vanek (stationed just behind the goal) banked a shot in off the skate of an onrushing Amerk. I couldn't tell whether he meant to do it or whether he was trying to get the puck cross-ice to the defenseman at the point. As far as I know, he didn't try to take credit for it, though. Unlike LaSalle's Lionel (L-Train) Simmons, who in a 1987 game against Princeton, launched a shot from 35 feet away at the buzzer. The ball hit the rim, went 10 feet in the air, and dropped through the basket to give LaSalle a 63-62 win. I was at that game and remember Pete Carril afterward saying something like "I never saw anything like it. You had to wait ten seconds for the ball to come down just to see your team lose." In the paper the next day, L-Train was quoted as saying "I make that shot all the time in practice." Yeah right.

WAY cool. Thanks!

RMPL.

I believe Sidney Crosby also did this in a junior game either last year or the year before. Still (if I may change sports for a second here) nothing beats the "Air Gait" move that first Paul and then Gary did at Syracuse in the late '80s, prompting the NCAA to ban the move. (They started from the end line behind the goal, ran full-tilt toward it, launched themselves in the air at the crease circle, flew OVER the goal, stuffed the ball in the top corner of the net while passing the goalie, and landed outside the crease in front of the goal.) I wonder if a video of that shot is on the net anywhere.

Yeah... if they throw him in San Francisco Bay!

And boy am I glad he's no Zach Thomas.

And the mid-'90s. Don't forget us giving them a third-round pick for Billy Joe Gunrack. It'll be a cold day in hell before Ralph trades with Al again.

Let's not forget that Dan McGwire, David Klingler, Andre Ware, Kelly Stouffer, Todd Blackledge and Todd Marijuanovich were all first-round draft picks.

Wasn't Aundray Bruce a #1 draft pick one year? How about the Colts taking Steve Emtman and Quentin Coryatt 1-2 at the top of a draft in the early '90s?

I'm just annoyed that we seem to be getting called out this offseason for no real reason. First Jerry Jones says "Buffalo's loss is our gain and we think we'll get to the Super Bowl before they do" and now Gruden says he's not going to "give" Simms the job just because Buffalo "gave" Losman the job. Did I miss some big press conference where Donahoe and/or Mularkey specifically called out other organizations for their personnel decisions? Jones and Gruden ought to mind their own damn business.

I own a Flutie AND an RJ jersey. How many people can say that? I also own a Bledsoe. I'm not buying any more jerseys.

His fiancee sat next to my daughter and me at the Sabres-Devils game in Rochester last year. Cute girl and great with kids (she allowed me to actually watch the game while my daughter talked her ear off). He'd have to be a good guy to get a girl like that. Sorry to hear about this, but I'm glad he's going to be able to enjoy life and kids of his own.

He did say that the ring he won in New England wouldn't mean as much to him as the one he was "going to win in Buffalo."

But is he "plenty" smart?

Trust me. The fact he went to Dartmouth does not make him "plenty smart." And even if it did, the kind of "smart" you're talking about has absolutely no relevance on the football field. It doesn't even show UP on the football field. That pick'n'go he threw to Takeo at the Ralph, for example. Was that "plenty smart"? How about the pitch he threw to nobody in particular that ended Miami's last-ditch comeback in the Jets game? Was that "plenty smart"? I seem to remember a quarterback who was reportedly so dumb he couldn't spell "cat" if you spotted him the C and the A. That guy won four Super Bowls. If "plenty smart" mattered so much on the football field, how come Bob Holly, Jason Garrett, John Witkowski, Marty Domres and Brian Dowling (just to name a few) have a big fat total of zero Super Bowl rings as starting quarterbacks? And this thing about Jay being a leader who grooms young quarterbacks. Yeah. He did a great job with Ray Lucas and Brian Griese, didn't he? NO. He was too busy whining about how he should be starting to groom them. Believe me, I've followed his career pretty closely. I still haven't seen any evidence he would easily accept a backup role. I think he still has a huge chip on his shoulder from the six years he sat on the bench and played in the World League, and he's not ready to admit he can't get it done anymore.

Yeah, it was all his fault.

Not to start another useless debate, but could Warren be a replacement for Phat Pat?

Has anyone seen Todd Marijuanovich lately?

And what do you think our net result would have been with Kenyatta Walker at guard and Alex Van Pelt at quarterback, no Nate Clements, and no Travis Henry?

Travis Henry, gone after three 1,000-yard seasons and traded for a starting left tackle who comes at a reasonable price. Drew Bledsoe, gone after three seasons in which he made it possible for us to franchise Price, trade him and take McGahee, with a minimal cap hit and with a first-round QB in place. No first round pick in 2005 because we used it in 2004 to take Bledsoe's replacement and got to groom him for a year instead of being stuck in 2005 with the current crop of FA quarterbacks and a weak QB draft. Honestly, it amazes me that people continue to perpetuate the myth that we somehow "lost" a 2005 first-round pick.

Let's see. In 2001, we traded our first rounder to Tampa Bay for their first and second round picks. Tampa Bay picked Kenyatta Walker, and we picked Nate Clements and Travis Henry. In 2002, we traded our 2003 first rounder for Drew Bledsoe. We used our own first rounder that year to select Mike Williams. In 2003, the Patriots used our first rounder to select Ty Warren. In 2003, we franchised Peerless Price, who had the best season of his career in 2002 with Drew Bledsoe throwing him the ball, and traded him to Atlanta for their first rounder. We used that pick to select Willis McGahee. In 2004, we used our own first round pick to select Lee Evans and traded our 2005 first rounder to Dallas for their 2004 first rounder, which we used to select JP Losman. In 2005, the fact we have Losman made Drew expendable, so we cut him and Dallas signed him. The fact we have McGahee made Travis expendable, so we're on the verge of sending him to Arizona for L.J. Shelton. In 2005, we'll have Nate Clements, L.J. Shelton, Mike Williams, Willis McGahee, Lee Evans and JP Losman to show for the first round of TD's five drafts in Buffalo. Does anyone think we could have parlayed Kenyatta Walker (whom everyone wanted us to take in 2001) into a lineup like that by now? No Bledsoe, therefore no Price breakout year. No Price breakout year, therefore no McGahee. No McGahee and no Henry, therefore no Shelton.

Who hijacked FFS's account?