uncle flap

Thanks, Mr. Berman

Feeling real good about picking Germany to win the whole thing right about now! Update on the fan violence: Russia fined for fan behavior and is threatened with losing qualifying points for the next Euro. http://news.yahoo.com/russia-fined-fan-violence-euro-2012-match-160852397--sow.html

I'm not sure where to start. Yes, I do think unions lobby for funding of their services. Actually, I know they do; what makes you think they don't? I doubt you have any idea what the population of Buffalo Public Schools is like, or else you wouldn't have brought that up. The graduation rate is a manifestation of a number of factors. Read the article you linked. Let's not forget about the drop outs. Hard to graduate students that don't show up. Is that the teacher's fault too? The performance review standoff was not to "take a stand for the kids" as you sarcastically imply. You're right, it was to protect teachers... from being having their performance judged by students who don't fulfill their part of the bargain. That goes on the parents; I won't blame a child, they don't know any better. New York State's top priority is not improving the education of the kids. They are interested in generating data driven statistics to justify policy. NEWS FLASH: Public education is not a profit driven corporation and the politicians need to stop treating it as such. Schools are in trouble so they deserve LESS $? GTFOH! Your lack of respect for the institution of teaching and education speaks volumes. Why would your kid listen to some selfish goldbrick? Read this with an open mind and tell me what you think:No Dentist Left Behind

I knew there was a reason I liked your posts. GO CENTAURS!!

:lol:

I'm stupid? Aren't you the guy who works a week in a factory for what a teacher makes in a day? I guess you made a real smart career choice. Tell me what's to stop more and more funding cuts to essential services? Voters? Give me a break. No one wants to pay for essential services until they need them. Aren't most people going to vote for the guy who promises the lowest taxes? It's a slippery slope. Ultimately there will be chaos but hey, at least your taxes are low.

I must be missing something here. Both private and public union's purpose is to advocate for common goals like better pay, working conditions, etc. right? Why shouldn't policemen, firemen, and teacher be able to fight for themselves? Because they've been successful? If it weren't for public unions, you'd have a hell of a time filling these essential positions. So you guys would like to see these unions abolished? You better hope there's enough cops on duty when you call 911. I sure hope the firetruck has enough gas to get to your cousin's house when it's on fire. There's sure going to be a shortage of public AND private school teachers if the market rate for salary is peanuts. Good luck having your kid learn anything in a classroom with 50 other kids and no textbooks. Who would want a job as a teacher with those working conditions?

I also don't think there's anything wrong with sitting back and countering, if that is indeed one of your team's strengths. I am skeptical when supposedly (or actually) weaker teams use it and more or less hope to get lucky. You see it all the time when there's an obvious favorite - the underdog does their best to stop the other team from scoring at the expense of trying generate any sort of possession based attack. What I meant was that I didn't think Ukraine was built in the mold of those Italian teams that made counter attacking their bread and butter. I realize they have been a counter attacking team as of late, but I wasn't sure if that was out of necessity, or if it was indeed an actual strength. Well, it turns out they do have a dangerous counter attack. But I was even more impressed with their ability to possess the ball and generate balanced offensive pressure. I did expect more out of France today. Hopefully they don't find their form until next week!

That was an awesome game. I was worried Ukraine would be content sitting back and counterattacking. Even though most of their best chances did come on the counter attack, they possessed the ball more than I expected and showed flashes of a neat midfield passing game. I also didn't anticipate such a diverse/dynamic attack. I especially liked the push from the wing backs. I'm still riding an emotional high. Not only did they win, they looked pretty good doing so. No flukey stuff or cheap calls. Kudos to the referee. Ugh did I just say that? Maybe Sheva and the boys can give France a run for their francs! Can't wait til Friday!

Ще не вмерла Україна http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHzHlSLhtmM OUR ENEMIES WILL VANISH LIKE DEW IN THE SUN!!!

You're absolutely right. I wish more people understood this. BTW, Hondo, did you see the Mayor of Boston shout you out?!? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6dVyQ3BfHU

My mistake, that was a poor choice of words- prob since I had been drinking all day Maybe I should've said unproven or something. Like you said, it's not as if the players are on the decline, it's a whole new bunch. What I took away from the pre tournament coverage is that while Italy is always strong (basically because they're Italy), they currently aren't that upper echelon team that we've grown accustomed to seeing. At least, it would seem that way. If they win a few games here, they'll prove me and the doubters wrong. Honestly, I wouldn't even consider myself a "doubter." I'll never count Italy out with their suffocating crowd-the-back-and-counterattack style. I was just defending my pick in good fun. This England France matchup should be interesting. France seems to be on the upswing. After embarrassingly hitting rock bottom (per their standards), they haven't lost in 21 games I believe. I think Benzema and Ribery will be too much for England to handle.

Spain Italy was a hard fought game. What a wild formation. Im not sure who I wouldve sat but I wouldve started Llorente. Not a big fan of Torres what the hell happened to him he fell tf off. I kept hearing how Italy was on decline but besides Balotelli they looked better than I expected. oh yeah? What was that about Croatia? That is gonna be a big game vs the azzuri! I'm looking forward to the games tomorrow. i got the day off so i can watch my Ukrainian kinsmen wax the Swedes. hope they brought their bikini team too, although they shouldve been waxed in advance And of course England France is always a good one- no love lost there.

Ha! I don't hate him like many do, but I'm def rooting for Germany to stomp them, so, HEYAL YEAH!!!

Same here. For a US team where individually every player looked a tier or two above his counterpart, you'd think they would've absolutely destroyed them. Against that level of competition, I would hope the US could've put up at least 5 goals, not to mention record a clean sheet. You are correct, sir.

HOLLA! Croatia is the 8th ranked team in the world! Plus, even if you go with the conventional wisdom and consider Italy better anyway, the tournament never goes with the chalk. Gotta go against the grain in a few places! I can't believe the Netherlands haven't scored yet! Jeez, how many chances do you need?

I've been seeing the same things too. It looks like Chandler and Nelson are tying up the middle and allowing for the sideline routes to be single covered or the RB or H-back to be wide open underneath. It seems like the checkdown is a viable option here. Whoever is coming out of the backfield is working back toward the middle where Chandler and Nelson have cleared out the LBs. Not just chilling in the flat as a last resort like we've seen in the past.

That was the worst throw. Not quite a duck since it had decent velocity on it, but man, it was wobbling so much it looked like an end-over-end punt! Still, nice to see Graham brining in a well defended pass. Between the bb.com videos and the local news coverage, it seems like Graham has had more drops than catches. OTOH, in general, Fitz's passes have looked pretty crisp in the limited videos we've seen thus far.

All you guys agree that the Euro is better than the World Cup right? At least in terms of competition? Did any of you fill out brackets? My buddies and I do a point system that increases each stage (with bonuses for picking the correct score). I've got Greece and Poland coming out of Group A B: Germany and Netherlands C: Spain and Croatia D: France and Ukraine with Germany winning it all. My bracket is a combo of what I want to happen and what I think will happen - if it were all about the $ I'd def pick differently, but it's only a $20 buy-in. Who do you guys think will win it all? Any upsets or sleeper teams you wanna call? I've only recently been reading/posting in Off the Wall, and I'm happy to find out there's some soccer fans around. :thumbsup:

I respectfully disagree. I seem to recall that they have proven they could NOT run when defenses knew it was coming. The high YPC of the RBs was due to running out of 3 and 4 wide sets, when the defense couldn't stack the box. Ever wonder why Fitz was so quick to audible to throw on those 3rd and shorts? Because he had single coverage from the defense and was more confident in his arm and the likes of Donald Jones to beat his man than Fred "MVP" Jackson to get a yard or two behind the questionable O line - even when they were healthy. Also, for those saying that McIntyre's value is being a good blocker, he was hardly on the field. No more than 4-5 offensive plays per game, I'd guess. If he is such a great blocker, wouldn't it make sense to use him more than a handful of plays? Even if just to run behind? I like McIntyre, but I think the writing is on the wall. He seems to be an average run blocker and above average special teams guy, but not an offensive threat. Dickerson or Onobun could take his place as a more versatile threat in the backfield, and a number of recent additions to the team are alleged to be impact special teamers.

Because he knows people with money who are interested in keeping the Bills in Buffalo. Or so the story goes...

It is. But what's funny to me while the French don't consider their language divine per se, they (or at least the powers that be) are extremely protective of their language. I couldn't find a link during a quick search but I remember reading that there are dozens if not hundreds of new words added to the English language every year, while the French are reluctant to add any to their dictionary. It's and odd idea to standardize what is and what is not a word. If you understand what the word means, what's the big deal? Just adds to the image of the pretentious French I guess. PS I do understand the reason for standardized spelling of words, I just mean: Why try to prevent a word from becoming part of the vernacular?

lol, guilty as charged

No. The English language was created in it's present form sometime in the last 10,000 years. Somewhere around the time King James wrote the Bible, before he left Cleveland, IIRC. Then again the dinosaurs in The Land Before Time spoke English. Now I'm confused. When did the Yeah, who in their right mind would mock her? Kinda NSFW