CodeMonkey

It's a great time. Even better if you have kids. But you and your buddies will enjoy it as well. The shuttle to camp is good. However the lines to get on the shuttle back to your parking lot can take a while.

Only vanilla. Toppings are extra.

I think that his entire first draft has been a whiff. A #9 overall RB should contribute immediately. But with 2 seasons under his belt Spiller has managed to find the field only due to an injury the second half of the second season. It's not all his fault, he showed signs of life last season as he got more touches. But you do not draft a project "waterbug" RB at 9 overall. You pick one of those much later and lower. That's why I call that pick a whiff as well. Hopefully the Spiller pick starts paying dividends this season and Spiller wows Gailey so much in camp and preseason that Gailey loses sleep over how to get 2 outstanding RBs enough touches during the season. But so far, eh. Totally agree about the other 2 drafts.

For business I have traveled around the country and around the world and I do not remember one time being asked about the Bills. I live in Rochester though and not Buffalo so that I'm sure has an impact. Wings yes, Niagara Falls yes, but never the Bills. I generally don't hang out in sports bars on the road either though. I have been recruited by companies in many cities over the course of my career, some big and some small. And I do not remember a single recruiter (head hunter or company recruiter) mentioning a sports team. Time was spent talking about the job, the company, benefits, compensation etc. But the subject of a sports team did not come up. Not that I am saying you are wrong. Maybe as a recruiter in the Buffalo area you know of many instances where the Bills were a factor in someone accepting a position. I just cannot even imagine a circumstance where that would be true, unless the position was working for a Bills related industry in some capacity. I mean when considering a life changing thing like relocating is the city having or not having a NFL franchise enter into your decision making process? If it does you are a far different person than I. Your comment on "highest percentage of people in ANY NFL city watching a game" in intriguing though. Where did you get that information? I googled quickly and came up empty.

Lets just hope we never find out for sure!

Yeah I made the mistake of having my headphones on as well.

I think Arrowhead Addict has a man crush I remember thinking at the time that it was at the very least a incredibly brain dead play by Johnson. With the whole bounty-gate thing still lingering I doubt there is anything being said out loud in the Chiefs locker room. But football players being what they are it wouldn't surprise me at all if Johnson finds himself in the locker room getting medical attention prior to the end of that game. I guess we will see how much Gailey likes Johnson by how often Johnson gets sent across the middle that game

Really? To me major league franchises are generally associated with "big time" cities. GB and Buffalo being exceptions. I think a city being big time depends far more on it's economy, size, and quality of life than a sports franchise. The Bills do increase the quality of life for a relatively small percentage of people, but makes Buffalo "big time"?

I doubt this. A lot of people would be annoyed for a short while but that would be about it. I figure that only the hardest of the hardcore Bills fans would let that affect their vote. So figuring that season ticket holders represent the hardcore fans, that is about 40,000 - 50,000 voters. A significant amount of season ticket holders are outside the Buffalo area (Canada, Rochester, and Buffalo transplants). But even if every season ticket holder lived in the politicians district, was an eligible voter, and was pissed off enough to not vote for that politician, we are still only talking about 50,000 votes. It would give the politician a black eye for sure, but hardly guarantee non-reelection. However the "probably worse" could happen. All it takes is one psychotic !@#$ with a gun. Just ask Gabrielle Giffords.

It's OK, he is just excited

I suspect a lot of that is for the networks to be able to adjust their plans and send people to different places depending upon blackouts.

The autograph tent schedule also gets posted on the web site once they have it settled. 3 players a day right after practice and usually by position (QB's one day. RB's another etc). Only kids are allowed into the tent, no adults. But for a 2 year old they would make an exception I'm sure ... particularly if your hot wife is holding him . In fact my 13 year old son will probably join her in whatever line she is in

Get your boy up to the fence by where Johnson is when they end practice. A lot of the players will go right to the fence to sign stuff. I do not remember Stevie particularly, but Fitz does for sure and gives away the QB waist towel etc (my youngest got one last year and was thrilled! ). My wife has noticed that two groups of people get things signed at the fence, cute kids and hot girls (go figure ).

I will also add that in the evenings if you go to the Pittsford Pub or JoJos wine bar (same building) not far from SJF you are apt to run into players. Particularly very early in camp and at the very end.

Everything you need is right here: http://www.buffalobills.com/team/training-camp/home.html I will add that if you have never been, you do not drive to SJF. They have locations where you go and take a bus (yellow school bus ) to and from SJF. The bus costs $1 for adults (at least that's what it was last year) and kids are free. Admission to camp is free for everyone. Parking and everything is also explained on that web site. Enjoy!

The NFL baffles me sometimes. Why jerk around with every team setting their own percentage and adjust the revenue sharing based on that percentage? Sounds like too many !@#$ing lawyers involved to me. Take some percentage, even if it is 100%, of the stadium with the lowest seating capacity and use that number for every team. How difficult is that to come up with?

I think the NFL is is just aggressively trying to maintain interest in going to the stadiums in every way they can. Like you have said, there is so much dead time during the game at the stadium with all the commercial breaks for TV they are trying to give people options. For the fantasy football people for example, they can keep tabs on their teams. Others can stream replays of the game they are at if they want to see the plays better. Wi-fi in the stadium simply makes sense these days. It's not 1960 any more after all. Last season the only games I watched live on TV were Bills games. The few others that I watched (my interest in football other than the Bills has been decreasing dramatically in recent years) I recorded and stripped out the commercials automatically. Watching those games became very tolerable and did not take up nearly so much of my time (I also fast forward manually past halftime). I have been toying with the idea of doing the same for Bills games this season. That way I can enjoy the afternoons with my family and we can all sit and watch the game during or after dinner.

You wouldn't be referring to any particular team this coming season, would you?

I could see him being the backup/mentor to Luck or some other kid QB. The Bills? That's crazy talk.

I agree, it is mainly a matter of perception. For example some people here (even some non rabid homers ) think Gailey is a great coach. Though there is nothing specific in his resume, in my opinion anyway, that you could point to to defend that feeling. "Great coach" is in the eye of the beholder.

Depends upon what you mean by greatness. It cannot be just as simple as say winning a SB as the GM generally has as much to do with that as a HC by staffing the team.

VY is now a Bill, no?

10 more minutes of commercials so the TV revenue can increase in coming years ... sweet.

I agree that this is much ado about nothing. They got their sound byte, and the Bills got some free advertising that might whip up even more excitement about the upcoming season which leads to ticket and merchandise sales. There was no stupid "dream team" proclamation. Everyone wins.

They are probably waiting for something to comment on. A player during the off season saying his team is a contender is hardly noteworthy. You are taking it as some kind of vindication from the sound of your comment Talk is cheap ... but unfortunately that's all there is for another couple of months. Sounds like he handled himself well though, particularly by not taking the bait on number of touches etc.