May Day 10

A lot of the issue is the employees' management of the lines. Normally, you get to the front of the line. You get some stupe. You order a couple beers. They take their time operating the register, complete the transaction. After that, they will either grab the cup(s), wait to get someone's attention (who is dealing with a different order) for a minute. Then slowly pour the draft beers themselves if the other person ignores them for long enough. Then they ask you if you would like the lids, followed by putting the lids on like they are splitting the atom. Then onto the next person. Or you will order like a hot dog and see a similar transaction, but the person operating the register will need to walk to the opposite side of the stand to retrieve the hot dog, maneuvering through the other workers, then slowly walk back. There is almost no efficiency when it comes to Bills, Bisons, or Sabres games. I have gone other venues where they have it down to a science. At one of the Blue Jays games this year I went to the beer stand and they had a woman taking orders and another one pouring, staying ahead of the rush. The line moved as fast as people could check out. It was amazing, I could have hugged the workers. Instead I tipped them like $5 Most of the time, at these Buffalo venues, they have the lines go straight back to the opposite wall. OMG, it creates several pinch-points throughout the concourse and creates misery. Every civilized city has figured out you do the zig-zag rope system, feeding into every register. Beer-only lines seem like a wonderful and under-utilized idea here

Just looked at some 2009 and 2010 December home games (in the true teeth of the drought). For the most part, they were about 68K, 69K for those games. There was a Browns game that was just over 50K, which was the only 1 out of the 5 I looked at that was under 68K. That was during the awful 2010 season that they started off 0-8 or whatever. So 60K just to prevent the possibility of a game in a terrible season not selling out doesn't sound like a legit excuse.

People always point to the 90s era blackouts too, but the lack of internet sales, a week-window, and a humongous capacity has a lot to do with that. The weather was a factor to some degree, and we were getting a little bit spoiled by the end of the run. IMO, outdoor, with a little more protection from the wind, rain, etc will keep attendance up all season. Looking through 2019, i was surprised to see the attendance at a lot of places. It seems most crowds are about 64-69K. The average was 66-67K for the whole league. I think we need a stadium that seats 65K here at a minimum. We have a gate-experience-driven fanbase, and to purposely stifle supply, especially in the name of cost is a terrible idea. They made a lot of concessions to save some $ for Crossroads Arena and in hindsight, we have a terrible arena in 2021, one I wish we could raze and build anew.

I just looked at attendance figured for the 2019 season December 29th vs jets had 69,016 December 8th vs Ravens had 69,134 The opener vs Cincinnati had 69,448 according to football reference.

Yeah, that blue helmet is really un-pleasing to my eyes. It isnt about some personality flaw how I am afraid of new things. It just looks terrible. In fact, the black helmet posted is somewhat sharp. I personally hate the alternate uniform obsession that has taken over most of NCAA football, and I would rather not see the NFL teams go to wearing 12 wildly different sets of uniforms during the course of the season. For the Bills, I like their current sets a lot. I love the standing Buffalo throwback.... and if they need to do some sort of color rush for 1 game a year, Id be fine with that.... perhaps try some variation of that black/carbon helmet out. I actually do not think the 90s uniforms are great. Its good nostalgia and encompasses a great time. I dont think the look aged well and looks neither modern nor retro.

Perfectly fine with the current kits. Standing buffalo throwback 1x a year.

IMO 65K-72K is probably the sweet spot. 60K seems pretty small. The good news is, maybe it can be a fairly intimate venue for the 60K fans in attendance. It also means the tickets will be more exclusive, less supply = much more expensive

60K would make it the lowest capacity in the league. Sounds like a bad idea.

My gut tells me to fear everything the Patriots are doing. I certainly have some sort of PTSD from watching the 'match-up' from 2001-2019. The fact of the matter is that Mac Jones isnt someone I really fear, and starting him with no safety net in year 1 sounds like inviting disaster. If this were the Jets or Dolphins, we would be laughing at them. I rated (which means nothing) Jones pretty low. I mean he came from an absolutely dominant program who had like 7 players selected in the 1st round of the NFL draft. He doesn't have any high-end traits. I mean, they have a pretty good team around him, but when are people going to stop fearing/expecting that Bill Belichick is capable of molding the next Tom Brady? I really put zero stock in preseason either. It is a different world than a full speed NFL game with actual stakes. I rememeber thinking Jeff Tuel looked like Tom Brady after a preseason game years ago.

The AFC in general is a bear right now. McDermott was able to sneak the Bills into a flukey wild card spot with Tyrod in his first year with some thanks to the AFC being very mediocre at the time. That gained him some credibility with players and fans as well as created some nice momentum (although they took a step back by design in year 2). There is no hiding in the AFC now.

It reeks of this guy not knowing anything and just latching onto the 1 main headline because that is all he knows

Panthers Bills direct pipeline

Giving away 3 1st round picks and 2 2nd round picks is no joke though. Not to mention get bumped up to the world of a $40 million cap hit team for 2022 And then on top of it, the major uncertainty of the legal status/availability of Watson.

TJ Watt or whatever his name is, is the one who kind of bothers me.... well, bothers me as much as I can be bothered by such lists. Last season in a playoff game where their defense allowed 48 points to the Browns, Watt contributed 2 tackles, 1 assisted tackle, 1 tackle for a loss, and 1 pass deflection. Seems like a pass rushing/sack 1-trick pony.

The problem with WNY/Buffalo is a lack of Fortune 500(s) anchored downtown. If that happened, everything would change fairly automatically.

all that stuff just reeks of this guy's own opinions to basically push the narrative that he doesnt like Tua, and Watson provides nearly automatic Superbowls. Should Houston consider taking the 1st round picks even though they are guaranteed to be at the end of the draft order every year??? hah

That just looks like one guy's opinions masquerading as coming from some "source". An "8 year scout" wouldn't know all the thoughts and feelings of everyone in the nfl. As well as nailing hypothetical trade compensations

So there is speculation that the Big 12 is going to look to add to itself. Possibly Cincinnati, Boise State, BYU, Houston, etc? Then the AAC is going to be degraded a few notches. I do wonder what the end result of all this is going to be in 3-5 years. You wonder about the mid-majors for sure, but you also wonder if the Big 12 will still exist. Will we see things like some of the teams like the Washington States, Oregon States and Illinoises of the world be dumped I wonder if the MAC can make a play to appeal to expand its conference from above... or merging and/or aligning with AAC or CUSA.

Seeing how the guy has celebrated it on multiple anniversaries, has "Nevermind" tattooed across his chest, and has done many appearances and interviews, I will call BS money grab.

Big 12

It sounds cliche, but a song of ice and fire is fantastic, although, who knows if it gets completed. Dark tower series by Stephen King. I started reading the first law trilogy and it is really good so far

I watched the Malice in the Palace doc last night. I thought it was great

Im the same way. I wasnt a huge fan in the 80s, but generally knew what was going on. I caught on in the attitude era and watched ECW a bit a rode it into 2004-ish until it seemed to get a bit stale and repetitive. I did try to watch a few times and just cant. I did catch a build-up to wrestlemania and saw CM Punk and thought that this dude had it and was the one 'charismatic' wrestler who brought me back to the era that managed to hook me. His departure from WWE was right then and there though and I was like 'figures'. I have tried to like it numerous times. I just cannot get into anything they are selling. 3-hour Raw episodes on Monday? good god who has time for that? Not to mention uninteresting and boring. I also dislike the huge push for the women's division. Dont really care, although I admit the 1 Wrestlemania I saw's best match was Charlotte Flair vs someone... but they took bumps way tougher than any of the male wrestlers. My hope is AEW gets some of these cult figures like Punk, Bryan, and Wyatt and takes a huge chunk out of WWE... Then has the follow through to get some good writers and managers to do it all the correct way and give people what they want. That would force McMahon to respond by pushing the envelope again. Like hopefully we are past the point when they get threatened or slip and they have The Rock appear to lob a bunch of his catch phrases out one time, or bring back zero-charisma Brock Lesnar for a boring premium PPV match that he will win and then disappear for another year or 2.

theyre going to ruin NFL uniforms like the did NCAA, arent they?

I just watched the Woodstock 99 doc on HBO. It was good, although I do feel like it missed a lot of stuff and would have liked a bit more from attendees as opposed to some of the unnecessary and obviously cynical media members used. It was a nice look back to the times, and also shined a lens on some interesting cultural takes I had not thought about. One of my biggest regrets was not attending, as I had a few opportunities to go and I was a 20 year old (about 2 weeks from 21). Watching this though makes me feel like I may have been fortunate not to go. I know I would have showed up with like $40 and maybe a tent, and been in serious difficulty with the heat, sanitation issues, sleep deprivation, etc...