May Day 10

The Titans as well

I have Season Tix, and I would absolutely renew go to the same number of games (usually 6 and skip the meaningless frigid December/Holiday ones).

This is how I feel, and how I have felt for what seems like an eternity. The Bills have been a leaky dam throughout this drought. They are good enough about plugging holes on the fly, but as they plug them, new ones pop up.... and depth always bites them. The offense and defense kind of teeter-totter back and forth. Trading up focusing on a position or player is another franchise-undermining symptom. This has gotten them nowhere, save maybe one or two meaningful December games over the course of the 2000s This gives me an appreciation for what the Browns are doing. They tore their dam down completely... then started to build it from the foundation up, taking their time, trying to increase the likelihood of building a much more sustainable dam. I know 'tanking' is a dirty word, and I don't think it would work in the NFL. The Browns' 2016 record was a byproduct of their organizational enema, tearing it down to the studs. They have Hue in there who has time and assurance to build his program. The Titans also did this to a degree and it started to pay off last season and they are setting up for the long-term. A bold long term plan would be so refreshing to see from the Bills. I wouldn't mind only a few wins over the course of a couple seasons.

His own words as acting team president: "the brand has been tarnished". Since then, the time that he promised to fix everything and create a "synergistic" and "forward-thinking" organization... the franchise and brand has gotten even more tarnished if that were possible

he is the cat with 9 lives

They werent chasing 1-15. The goal was to clear the deck and accumulate assets with the long-view in mind. Like has been posted, they have 22 picks in the next 2 drafts, and just had 14 in 2016. The Bills have done the opposite of that... traded up in the draft for little value and spent foolishly. It has gotten them nowhere. The Browns have a real opportunity to build a solid football team, possibly as soon as 2018

How are people not understanding that this is a good deal for Cleveland? Getting Osweiler doesnt put them against the cap in any way, nor are the committed to him. They are free to do what they want with him, pretty much penalty-free as far as competing goes. They landed a 2nd pick in 2018 and a 6th for a 4th. They keep accumulating picks, and when the time comes, they will have many options dealing with their bountiful cap space. They werent spending to the cap this season, and the plan is not to compete as of yet. This 'costs' them nothing as they need to get to the cap floor They are doing what the Bills should be doing. Tear it down to the studs, accumulate picks and quantity, look at a 3-5 year plan (currently in year 2), with the goal of being a perennial contender for a decade+

This. It is very intelligent, and I wish the Bills were thinking like this and rebuilding this way as opposed to chasing 8-8

basically got a 2nd round pick to eat a contract and get closer to the cap floor while they rebuild from the ground up. Smart.

I really like Williams. I hope he finds success in whatever he does. If he does retire soon... I believe he could have a future in football in the way of broadcasting or administrative. He is a bright, likable guy

pass happy league, and the Bills ignore WR, CB, and S

He was really, really bad last season

I think i posted 1x in the bbmb and the comment was deleted. Never returned

This sums it up well. The sequence of events from the moment the rex rumors started the morning of the Pittsburgh game to the Pegula damage control 'interviews' were amateurish, unacceptable, and not surprising. I do believe these things have an indirect effect on the on-field product as well. The organization appears to be dysfunctional with self-inflicted and unnecessary errors such as these. It hits the mainstream. NFL media on a National level were hitting the Bills hard on how they forced Lynn to twist in the wind, and that Whaley "thing". These things weigh into decisions NFL personnel make when they look at Buffalo vs Denver, Tennessee, KC, etc... You want a well oiled machine. I also really think the organization.... especially on the PR and Marketing side, really are/were in need of fresh ideas and modernization. This seems like a great step

That is 1992. Pre internet sales, and pre John Doe can become a ticket broker Ticket sales in 2010's are a completely different business. Just the injection of Pegula insta-sold December games. A decent team with playoff priority and resale ticket value will have an indefinite waiting list. Anyways... it is a farce for any representative of the team to tell its fans that, let alone the team President. Very bad message, especially with a keystone capers organization.

I think this is great news. The more fresh air the Bills allow in the room the better. Berchtold represents the stale, egg fart-smelling air in one bills drive. To me, the Bills' public image have been abysmal and a lot of that falls on him. As mentioned, the sequencing and production of those recent press conferences was inexcusable. Stuff like that has been going on for years and years. It isnt hard for a PR executive to help get a couple guys to get their stories straight. Another one of their greatest hits was them saying during the playoff drought that Toronto games were justified because Bills fans and the market cannot sell out December home games anyways.

Ultimately, bob rich's arms got short when they told the bidders how much the expansion fee would be. At the time, i believe it was down to buffalo, denver, orlando, miami, and new orleans. They ended up talking to the gm and owner of the san francisco giants. They were fed up with candlestick park. The Riches had dinner with them and pitched the idea of them moving the team to buffalo and re-assume the "New York Giants" name. They were interested, but i dont think it got past one other meeting.

My Raspberry Pi/Retropie has been nearly flawless. 2 bluetooth controllers have worked and the whole thing has been pretty much seamless with 800 games for a few months. I also have a NES Classic that I got. It was very easy to hack and you can put up to around 90 games on it. I have about 80. I would give the nod to the Raspberry Pi though tbh for a few reasons. Obvious being, you also have Sega and SNES, atari, etc capability. Second, the bluetooth and controllers I have (8bitdo) is great. They run $30-$40 each though, I bought 2. The NES Classic's cord is like 2 feet. Mine came with a 3rd party wireless that has a split second lag (which makes the very challenging games impossible), and also will lose connection every now and then, resulting in certain death. They do have 8bitdo available now with an NES Classic Adapter. I dont want to spend another $60-$80 on controllers. Also, with NES Classic, you have to get up and press the reset button to change titles and/or save your game. With Retropie, it is all basically hot-keyed. However, I think I read that with the 8bitdo controllers, you can hot-key the reset button. So basically, if you want an NES Classic, get 1 or 2 8bitdo controllers. https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Controller-Bluetooth-Nintendo-Entertainment-System/dp/B01MTQ9QPB

To be honest, it would diminish fan-dom if my team went on a run like that. Most boston sports fans deep inside probably agree. You cant replace that first one, and the big games along the way. I am sure some of the playoff games, such as that raiders tuck rule game were more highly anticipated. Probably still was exciting for the runs vs carolina and philly. After that, it just seems expected and routine. The regular season is devoid of meaningful games. Playoffs... somewhat meaningful, but home playoffs games. If they lose, there is always next year. I am close friends with a few pats fans from ne. They dont seem to really get up for playoff games and superbowls like the past. For anyone else... the world stops at those events. For these people, its an excuse to don the brady jersey, gloat a couple days, then move on to next season that they feign caring. Living in ct in 2003, i used to root for the red sox a bit... as i loathe the yankees. Talking to red sox fans, we would all agree that being a yankees fan with the deck stacked and constant championship aspirations couldnt possibly be as fun as rooting for any other team. I wonder if they still agree. Its a diminishing returns thing. There are 21 year olds who know nothing else other than wild sports success. I think of this person as much less a fan than the old guard on boston who had to go through the crap. When things do turn south, these new generation of fans will have a lot of difficulty remaining engaged, and im sure many older fans have become a bit detached as well. The rallying cry is "bradys got 5 rings now!". Really not inspiring. They may try to claim that "this one is the sweetest"... but everyone knows it is not true. They will never again have those feelings and swings of those first runs.

That was nice of the players' families

The nfl is also a pinball machine now

With little research, I could probably write an essay on why/how buffalo is too small for the nfl, and how much more lucrative cities like toronto would be... they are most likely safe for the near and long term. The shadow of the stadium negotiation still looms a little bit, but i would say the pegulas' secrecy and silence on that front is a good sign. This article does not really make any valid points. He actually points at the attendance "problems" as a reason... ha.

I like the Pegulas a great deal... they all seem like nice, down to earth people for being a billionaire family. and I really appreciate the stability they provide these franchise in Buffalo. I also very much appreciate the resources provided to the teams... and take them at their word that they want to win championships. However, That does not give them a lifetime pass to continually fall short on the field. The Sabres, mainly due to Pegula's initial bumbling, are in the midst of their franchise-worst playoff drought... solely on their watch. They continue to refuse to employ someone to run the hockey organization, other than LaFontaine for 5 minutes before some kind of closed door disagreement ended that, and it was sealed shut by NDAs. They made the exact same mistake with the Bills, and I fear with current management, the team is headed toward darker days before the ship is righted. Like the Sabres, I feel the Bills need someone to run the football program. I fear we may have a form of Dan Snyder, who likes to be involved in, and make major decisions. The man with the money makes the rules, right? In both organizations, the most senior man on the operations side, is basically a glorified head scout. At what point does a drought fall on the Pegulas? Year 4 coming up for the Bills. We are almost through year 6 with the Sabres. Both teams desperately need a rudder IMO.

The Pegulas vs the Buffalo News have a 'blood feud' that stems back to when Pegula made the ludicrous suggestion that if TBN printed nothing but positive articles, Tim Connolly would play better. TBN made fun of him and it has been downhill since. WGR was in on it too. They started to play nice with the Sabres/Bills and as a result were given lots of access to Ted Black, Tim Murray, Whaley, and Pegula himself. WGR balances being critical and fair, while TBN is a bit one-tracked and vindictive. Also, that the three ring circus that the Bills pitched with Anthony Lynn and Doug Whaley was not the media's fault. That was piss-poor PR and a failure on the organization to provide a cohesive message. Self-inflicted wounds and it provided the media with lots of fodder. Either be secretive and be good at it with a closed ship... or just be straight forward. The bills try to be secretive, but with all the leaks and awful projection of their message, they end up with egg on their face.

Dont understand why the column would bring about such over the top criticism. It serves 2 purposes 1, to show what schopp is thinking pegula is thinking (which imo would be a good outlook) 2, to show how easy it could be to maybe put to rest the strange contentiousness between the bills and media. Even besides the adversarial role, often times the organization can appear foolish, even if they do have a plan. The column, if anything is pro-pegula and bills