Steve O

One time my father took out the belt, started whacking the kitchen table and told me to start crying so my mother would think it was by butt he was whacking. Told me next time it would be my butt. There was no next time.

From what I've seen, the common denominator for the failures is not putting in 12-14 hours a day. If you're simply looking for an investment but not really looking to work, buy a penny stock and take your chances. Common denominator for the successes is the owner working the bar and being sociable with the clientele.

Indeed...I'm sure he longed for a do-over.

One of my good buddies brothers made it pretty big back in the 60's and early 70's selling ski equipment. Sold the company for 4M. His good HS buddy, Tom Golisano, asked him to invest in the ground floor of Paychex. Instead, he went west to start a restaurant with Olympic skier Billy Kidd. Came back several years later, not penniless, but no longer a millionaire. And certainly not the billionaire investing with Golisano would have made him. To Tom's credit, he didn't take things personally and always take care of his old friend, at one time making him marketing (or was it business?) manager of the Sabres.

only read the headline and comments...shouldn't one be allowed to take a high end vibrator on a test drive before shelling out the big bucks?

So for an eerily similar story with a more uplifting ending, watch the 30 for 30 on Maurice Clarett. From big 10 superstar that set school records to NFL bust, his story has many parallels. Came close to ending his life during a police chase. Turned his life around while in jail, during which time he refused to be sent to a lower security prison as he knew the max security provided the structure he needed. By all accounts he continues to do well as a much sought after motivational speaker.

Two Ton Tony the pizza guy? Everyone in my neighborhood knows him.

Met Van Miller at my uncle's 50th wedding anniversary. During Van's last year of broadcasting Bills' games he shared a memory every week. One of them his stories was about a spotter who was in the booth with him. The spotter, who had had a little too much to drink, disagreed with the ref's spot and started cursing on the air. That was my uncle. Since he had season tickets since the Bills inaugural year, my uncle was also asked to be one of the fans to accept the 12th man induction to the wall of fame. He had been dead for six years at the time, but we still had tickets in his name.

I must have a small opening to the basement somewhere because every 4 months or so one ends up in a trap I leave set. I use the tomcat trap as pictured in another reply. Don't see the need to rebait the trap though, even after a few months the little varmints still go for it

So here's my solution to balance things out. Almost every rule change in the past 30 years has benefited the offense. Add a 12th man to the defense. Extra player can't come within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage until the ball crosses that line. The idea being to give the defense a chance. Just off the top of my head here are things defense can no longer do Head slap Chuck anywhere before pass is in the air (must be within 5 yards of LOS now) Defense can be called for baiting offense lineman to move...used to be defense could do anything, offense had to stay still. My favorite, the clothesline tackle is no longer allowed No head first tackles Only tackle between...what, knee and shoulder? not sure any more Hitting defenseless receiver...okay, maybe that one was needed. But how the hell are you supposed to tell that the ball is past the receiver when you need to keep your head away from receiver and hit with your shoulder? Only intentional grounding inside of pocket A few ridiculous ones about not putting your weight on the person being tackled... I'm sure I've missed plenty

Bartender says get the @#$% out of here. (helps if you've seen Gran Torino)

Hope you like it. I'll take the credit if you do, won't pay the bill if you don't!!

I'm sure if I had two cups of coffee to sample I wouldn't be able to tell which was Don's and which was Joe's. But if you spread out two pounds of coffee beans in front of me I could identify who roasted which pound. My favorite is the Flores.

No doubt Java's sells great coffee but Don doesn't put the same TLC into roasting the beans as Joe did. Definitely noticed a difference since Joe died.

Heard an interesting alternative explanation on the ride home yesterday. Both McD and Peterman are in to the Lord big time. Not that anything is wrong with that, unless you are letting the common bond affect coaching decisions.

I didn't care that much for Peete's French roast either. Hope you like the Italian

Heavy metal and rap.

Peete's Italian roast. Usually around $9 for 12 oz. Value wise, four sisters is the best I've found. $5 for 1-1/2 lbs at Big Lots and not that much of a downgrade from Peete's. Just been a bit more price conscious since getting laid off back in March.

Not exactly a store but a during a recent trip to see an orthopedic I arrived at 9:25 for a 9:30 appt. Went through the check in quick enough, was in the waiting room in less than 5 minutes. At least 5 people checked in after me and had their name called to go back to the exam room. Finally at 10:00 AM my name is called, and I'm told that they aren't sure they can fit me in as my appt was at 9:30. Told the kid that I had been in the waiting room since 9:30 and he was right, they can't fit me in, I'll get my co-pay back. So I gave that Dr's other office a try. This time only waited 15 minutes and got called back to an exam room. Waited 35 minutes in the exam room and still no Dr. People were going in and out of the two rooms around me. I left. Receptionist asked me to wait in line to check out, told her I was done waiting and I would let them know where to send my file.

I was thinking about the way the season has gone and our current quarterback situation. Suddenly remembered this video that someone posted a couple years ago, didn't take long to find it. Since once again we find ourselves in the familiar situation of looking forward to the draft at the halfway point of the season, thought I would put it up again. We need to be able to laugh at these things.

Not quite as electric as the 07 Dallas game but that was a beautiful indian summer day combined with Columbus Day vacation from this side of the border, Canadian Thanksgiving from North of the border, and a 14 year hiatus from MNF. Took me over 4 hours to get to the game from Rochester back in 07, just the normal hour and a half yesterday. Two man band in my brother's lot was nice. Even got them to do a parody of the "We don't give a damn about the whole state of Michigan" song that Ohio state fans sing before the annual Michigan game, replacing Michigan with Massachusetts and Ohio with Buffalo.

It took 3-1/2 pages for someone to mention this? With gang connections and more recently his car being involved in a hit and run, I seriously doubt he is even a blip on the McD radar.

1992 Bills Win AFC Duke wins second straight NCAA BB tournament (led by local Christian Laettner) Sabres comes close against Bruins in playoffs Braves win National League pennant BIlls make playoffs setting up comeback game to start 93 We got the live Canadian feed in Potsdam. Thrilling, nerve racking.

Think I'm going to do myself a favor and not click on the link...probably have nightmares just from the little piece of the article quoted in the OP

Great stuff, thanks for posting