May Day 10

ESPN is a victim of the internet and saturation of sports TV and other media.

Its bad decisions, not the 2013-2015 'tank'. There is also a culture of losing There are also bad attitudes. There are terrible hires and people with no business in their positions (Adams) Many things combined to make this the worst-run pro sports organization. How come the Astros dont have a 'culture of losing'? Nothing will be fixed until it is fixed. Adams has accomplished nothing but steward one of the worst seasons (again) in franchise history. He failed to anything with goaltending, they had none under contract a little while ago, and signed a 40 year old (I had no idea he was still in the NHL), and a complete nobody sharing a name with the Kingdom on Frozen, both for the league minimum. The organization has 2 modes under Pegula: Go for it at all costs and waste all the cap and burn through assets.... or tear it all down until you hit magma. There is no in between because Pegula is a simpleton and running the show.

I think a lot of it is the mixing of Hatfield's voice and how synthesized it sounds... as well as that little tail-thing he does after words sounds really hokey nowadays.

Yeah, Im a Nirvana guy, but it isn't aging particularly well. Alice In Chains on the other hand is absolutely brilliant and gets better and better.

I was never a huge fan, but it seemed cool at the time, but Metallica studio tracks haven't aged too well IMO.

I drop my kids off at school in niagara County and can see the Toronto skyline clear as day, including the rogers centre/skydome.

The Cowboys are, mainly because they were the only team televised Nationally for awhile and were also really good during that time period. Many people around in their 50s, 60s and 70s right now are Cowboys fans due to that exposure. Itll really fade over the next couple decades though. Especially since they have been groping around for a long time with little success. The Packers is a good one. Besides people in maybe Chicago and Minnesota, I dont think many people really dislike the Packers. A lot of people probably pull for them over other, more 'metropolitan' teams. They have a pretty long and wholesome history, and kicked off the Superbowl era.

After digesting it for a few days, it's not bad. It's jarring for a name change, especially in baseball where you have had teams named the same thing for over 100 years. But guardians is very similar in cadence to Indians. The C letter mark, which I assume will be the primary logo and on the hat, is an improvement over the drab block C they currently use. The color scheme and aesthetics are basically the same. In 2 years, nobody will notice the difference or care

I don't care how they feel or their views. I dont base our players on that at all. But stop being a distraction, getting in the news and swatting the hornet's nest. Its one of the few things that can really derail this team this season.

Call me crazy, but the Big 12 would be a good landing spot for USC, UCLA, and/or Colorado (if they are hell bent on leaving the Pac 12).

I dont like it

So I wonder if the Pac 12 lost those teams if it would go for Boise St, SD St, San Jose State, Nevada? Sounds like a mess.

Its interesting, I wonder where the next dominoes will come from, whether it is the Big 10 making a play for a few teams, or if the Big 12 goes for American teams like Houston, Cincinnati, Memphis, Boise, etc. I also wonder if this could be the thing that could possibly inspire UB to move up into the American or CUSA, depending on how the map looks. With that said, it would be likely CUSA and the American would be diminished into nearly mid-major status anyway.

I dont believe Ontario is Bills country. There are fans from many different teams. A lot of people from there root for the Bills and go to games though. I do think that if the Bills sustain some success here, people of Southern Ontario/Toronto will identify more with the Bills Erie PA is a good swing position between Bills/Browns/Steelers. Central NY about Syracuse is too

Belichick was a defensive coordinator in 1986 and 1990, no?

Moats

Wilson didnt insert the NRA fee amount. That side of the negotiation would be pressed by the county. That would be like negotiating for higher rates on your car. The Bills ask for money, the County/State demands more assurance. What happened, was Wilson passed before the paint was dry on the renovations, creating a daunting lame duck period for an out-of-town owner, or a pricey buyout to be combined with relocation fees, new facility, and purchase price. The most important factor in the Bills remaining in Buffalo is/was the existence of Terry Pegula and his financial situation. Wilson always said the Bills would be sold to the highest bidder, and that they were. The perfect storm of the timing of his death created an ideal situation that didnt make this thing overly appealing for out-of-town bidders. Had he passed away in 2008, 2011, or 2020, it would have been a much different story. Without Pegula, who knows? Wilson never moved the team, and good on him. I do think over the years he was wasnt wired to make a huge splash and up-front financial commitment it would take to relocate an NFL team. Instead of dealing with a brand new stadium and forking over relocation fees, he seemed content to just collect his yearly profit and watch the team value increase steadily.

Pretty much this. Everyone talks about it and posts threads on football message boards, and a fellow baseball coach asked me what I thought about it yesterday. I watch zero MMA, nor care much at all. The only name I recognize if Conor McGregor.

Like most people, there is both good and bad with Ralph Wilson. I appreciate that he is the founder of the Bills... and by all measures, the team remained here for 50+ years of his ownership and still remains. Great sports-businessman and a 'founder' of the true NFL. The AFL story is a great one. Also appreciative of the philanthropic contributions to the community. As far as putting a winner on the field though, he was not a great owner for that. If we had to endure another 10-20 years of how the team was run from about 2004-2013, then why bother? Results on the field were often held back due to Wilson's personal involvement. When they were humming under Polian, wilson put a stick in the spokes, then again under Butler. Late 60s through the 70s were also really bad. I truly believe Wilson had figured/planned on the Bills getting sold to Ted Rogers and moved to Toronto upon his passing. The Toronto series was basically a dry run and showcase for the city of Toronto. I don't think it was ill intent by Wilson, just the logical direction everything was pointing. Rogers, though had passed away earlier than expected, his family kind of a mess, and the pricing structure and irrelevance of the Bills hurt the optics of the Toronto series. We also got very fortunate the Bills were able to remain with the perfect-storm timing of the new lease, NRA, and Mr. Wilson's death. That along with Pegula coming onto the scene as a guy with like $7 Billion, much liquid and loving sports and Buffalo made it virtually impossible for an outside interest to buy and move the team (and build a stadium elsewhere). Overall, I look at it like the Bills are a thing I love. Wilson is the father of the Bills, and they are still here. As much as I sounded off on Wilson during the whole Russ Brandon pretend-GM era, I view him in a positive light.

I dont have need for Sunday Ticket, as I attend pretty much all home Bills games at this point. I would, however, consider a pay-per game type of option. If I dont want to watch the Eagles/Cowboys 4PM game, and the 49ers play the Cardinals and I have a bunch of fantasy guys playing... I would consider paying a few bucks. I had Directv for a long time. Once AT&T bought them, they stopped caring. CS reps were basically told to stonewall anyone looking for discounts and they really tried to push their AT&T packages as well as the Directv streaming option as opposed to satellite service. Cut the cord on that awhile back and its been great. Had Hulu for awhile, switched to Youtube TV... but now we actually dont have anything besides Prime, Netflix, Disney, and HBO Max (we had those things anyway). Apple is awful though. I hope the NFL doesnt give them any sort of exclusivity. Apple's entire business model relies/leans on exclusivity and high pricing.

I think it was all but determined that Ted Rogers was going to buy the Bills and they would relocate to Toronto once Ralph Wilson passed away. We ended up getting 'fortunate' at a couple junctures there, first with Rogers' passing and his family not being in lockstep (nor sharing his eagerness for the NFL). The pricing model in Toronto and the general irrelevance of the Bills also hurt the optics of Toronto's appetite for NFL football. Then you had Ralph Wilson live long enough to need to renew the lease and upgrade the Stadium, which came with getting a nice amount of public money, which accompanied the NRA. Pretty short by NRA/lease standards, but Mr Wilson passed away near the beginning, before the paint was dry on the renovations, which was a far point from the end of the NRA which came with a pretty harsh buyout (along with the relocation fee, purchase price, and a new facility). At the same time, you had the emergence of Terry Pegula, who cashed out several billion dollars and really was/is passionate about sports, and just happened to invest heavily in the sports landscape here. It was a perfect storm.

As mentioned a lot, cost downtown is a huge obstacle, with marginal payoff. Also, remember, there is going to be an ask for the KeyBank Center. Weddings, conferences, business lunches, concerts are all adequately housed there. If they ask the city/county/state to kick in $500 million in road and other infrastructure upgrades (and get it), good luck getting public funding for the facilities themselves. Traffic is a giant elephant in the room there. The narrow street grid approach to the not-so-convenient 190 on ramps create gridlock. Subway isn't a reasonable answer. That is also a billion dollar project, all for a city with limited commerce downtown and whose wealth is concentrated in the 2nd ring suburbs. I'm sure their surveys sorted it all out, but I would bet a small amount of people who attend bills games live in buffalo proper. What buffalo needs is for economic development in the way of multiple fortune 500 companies to headquarter downtown. There isn't a magic pill for that besides steady leadership, continued smart progress, and trying to be as favorable to business as possible. Our access to freshwater and climate seems like it will be an increasingly appealing feature.

The big problem is, you cant really luck into success in the NHL like you can the NFL. At least sustained success. NHL there is a lot more depth to the front office in the way of amateur scouting (16-18 year olds across the globe playing in apples to oranges leagues) and development. The CBA/guaranteed contracts are not forgiving at all and you pay for mistakes for many years with no relief. Maybe you can get lucky and hit on a goalie on a hot year who can carry them into the playoffs. Thats it. The whole organization needs to be bleached at this point and someone who knows what they are doing needs to build a professional outfit from the top-down Kevyn Adams as an NHL GM is an absolute joke.

Prosecuter messed up. Cosby wasn't treated fairly. Doesn't mean he isn't a monster... but our legal system failed in giving him his rights.

Have the patriots ever bowed down to their own player's demands? Gilmore is good. I get that... but with a new deal, you would be paying him top cb dollar well into his 30s (he is 31 now I think?). The wheels come off at cb pretty quickly in the 30s. I would especially be concerned coming off a lower extremity injury. 1 year raise to keep him happy and you have the space? Sure, I'd do it