hondo in seattle

First game I ever attended, with a friend and my friend's dad who bought the ticket for me. I was 14 at the time (1973). It seemed OJ was always a shoestring tackle away from breaking a long one. Every time he touched the ball, the people around me were on their feet.

Wow! I have to say, that's impressive fandom! My earliest memory (mini Max Anderson swallowing his tongue) doesn't compete with yours

Fred is a stronger, more versatile running back. C.J. is elusive and has crazy acceleration. But he needs space, and the OL and OC didn't create that space. For CJ to live up to his potential, we need better run blocking but we also need better offensive coaching (better play design, better preparation, better play calls).

Back in '88, I was serving as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army on the DMZ in Korea. Although I was an armor officer, I was for some reason tasked with working out the logistics for a visit by the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders - including helicopter rides to soldiers in the field. Their accommodations were far from first-class but the ladies never exhibited anything less than good cheer. My own soldiers were salivating over their arrival. When the Dallas cheerleaders showed up at our company toured the end of their visit, one of soldier's looked stunned and blurted out "Sally????" Turned out one of the cheerleaders was a high school friend & classmate of his. Since then, I can never say anything bad about cheerleaders.

Thanks for posting. Interesting in a sad kind of way. I read every post by the doc and the prognosis doesn't sound good. And apparently Jim's condition is extraordinarily painful. Best wishes...

I don't know Jerry personally and he might walk old ladies across the street and donate half his pay to charity. But after reading some of his columns, I'd expect him to be like this: * If you took him out to dinner at the Buffalo Chop House, he's nitpick the meal and tell you it's too bad Buffalo doesn't have a real steakhouse like Ruth Chris. * If you took him to Delaware park on a beautiful summer day, he'd comment on what a shame it was that Buffalo ruined Olmstead's vision over the years. * If you took him to a live Les Miserables show downtown, he'd find flaws with the performers and tell you the original London cast was better. * Even if you took him up to TO to see the National Ballet of Canada, he'd tell you why they aren't as good as the Kirov. In Jerry's world, every silver lining has a dark cloud. And I think his 'negative contrarianism' is journalistic gimmick. He goes against the flow and pours down rain on a sunny day just to be provocative. I'm okay with PR cheerleaders like Chris Brown. I enjoy balanced reporters like - nationally - Peter King or - locally - our own late Larry Felser. I don't enjoy Negative Nancies like Jerry and that's why I don't read anything with his byline anymore.

Mary is the trustee... which means she has a fiduciary responsibility to the trust. Legally, she can't just pick a lowball offer because she likes the bidder. Unless of course, there's some verbiage in the trust (or Ralph's will) that favors a buyer intent on keeping the team in WNY.

Time for a new TV

I'm really surprised that some people find Jerry honest. According to that paradigm, many of us don't like him because we're Buffalo cheerleaders and we don't appreciate his frankness. I'm okay with brutally honest journalism. But oft times Jerry says stuff that's so negative and unreasonable that you just know he's doing it to stir the pot. While some of his articles are well-reasoned and well-written, I think more often than not he's a whining, Negative Nancy. And the thing is, I'm pretty forgiving of most folks' foibles and actually like virtually all sports writers. Jerry and Skip Bayless are the two exceptions. They're both cut from the same mold.

I'm hardly young - I remember when Mini Max Andersen played RB for the Bills. And while I won't say Fred's as good as TT, I think he's up there. I think if Fred had the supporting cast that Thurman had, and stayed healthy, he could have been a HOF candidate. I really think Fred was that good in his prime. He really carried the team on his back for a couple years earning us some wins we wouldn't have got otherwise. His stats were limited to a certain extent by a poor O line and lack of other threats. If I'm not mistaken, he led the NFL in yards after contact one year. He was making something out of nothing.

Would Fred be a HOFer if he played on the Bills in the early 90s instead of Thurman? (Assuming he stayed healthy). Fred was an underrated beast in his prime and still a productive player. He remains my favorite Bill.

Good find. Nice to know there's some national sentiment on our side. I'd be happy if not a single NFL franchise moved over the remaining course of my life. Tradition ought to mean something.

If Casserly wasn't a smart guy, he wouldn't have lasted 3 decades in the NFL. I think he was the Assistant GM for 1 or 2 of the Redskins Super Bowls. Then again, as GM he once picked Heath Shuler with the 3rd overall pick. Even smart personnel guys are often wrong about QBs. We all remember who Bill Walsh liked. EJ only played 10 games last year. They weren't great games. Then again, most QBs have poor-to-mediocre rookie seasons. No one can yet say with any certainty what kind of QB EJ will be in his sophomore year. All we can do is wait and learn. In my mind, QB is neither a strength nor a weakness for the Bills. It's a question mark.

We haven't had more than 1 productive WR in a long time. Last year, none of our WRs really shined. We need more good WRs, not less. OBD seems to be collecting WRs to create competition and see who emerges... and I'm all for it.

Thanks for posting. Under Ralph's leadership, the Bills won something like 46 or 47% of their games. He wasn't great at fielding a good product. But his loyalty was awesome. And my bottom line is I'd rather have the Bills go 7-9 in Buffalo than 9-7 somewhere else. So I have to be thankful to Ralph.

Thanks Ice Bowl. It's great to see class and graciousness aren't yet extinct.

Interesting idea. But exactly how does this keep the Bills in Buffalo?

The fans cannot keep the team in Buffalo. There aren't enough fans. According to Peter King, Buffalo was the 18th biggest market in the U.S. when Ralph created the franchise. Buffalo's now the 49th biggest market. Not only is Buffalo already a small market team, comparatively speaking, it keeps getting smaller. In another 50 years, we'll be the 75th biggest market. Buffalo just doesn't promise the same bright future that other cities might. On the other hand, it's far, far cheaper to keep the Bills here than move them. No relocation fee. No fee for breaking the lease. No stadium expenses to be had by the owner. Depending on who's dong the math, this could be $1 billion in savings by keep the team local. So while we fans can't keep the team here, one rich fan could. A billionaire with a connection to WNY could have a reasonable business case for buying the Bills and keeping them in Buffalo.

Forbes values the Bills at roughly $900 million. If media reports are true, the league will impose a maybe $200 million relocation fee. Then there's the $400 million fee to break the lease. So an out-of-towner will have to pay 1.6 billion to buy the Bills. Realistically, I don't see any market supporting that price other than L.A. But L.A. has it's own problems, particularly a stadium. Bringing the Bills to LA could cost $3 billion - including roughly $1.4 billion for a new state-of-the-art stadium. Not sure any of LA's billionaire's want to reach that deep. Another way to look at it, local bidders are getting a roughly $600 million dollar - or more - discount because they won't be assessed any fees and won't have to fund a stadium. Even without a 'no relocation' provision in the trust, the Bills have a good chance of staying here.

Good post. Sometimes people simplify Carroll's defense - especially after the WSJ article came out - by saying they have aggressive corners who commit PI on every play knowing they won't be called for it. There's so much more to what Pete's doing with the Hawks and, given their success, I'd love to see Schwartz incorporate some of their concepts.

The ad hominem stuff wasn't necessary but you make a good point. Pettine's D was very flexible with a variety of alignments. Many D's use multiple fronts. With teams passing more than they run, defenses these days play nickel and dime about 50% of the time rather than a standard 4-3 or 3-4. No team runs the same defensive alignment play after play. So until I see what Schwartz actually does as the Bills DC, I'm not going to worry about how our players fit his scheme.

Forbes ranks the Bills as the 30th most valuable NFL franchise. Back when Ralph bought the Bills, Buffalo was a major, thriving city. It's now a second tier metropolis and it's relative strength as a market is declining. Regardless of TV ratings, the franchise would have more value somewhere else. On the other hand, I'm really hoping Ralph instructed the trust to sell the team to a party willing to keep the Bills in Buffalo. Hopefully we hear that in the next few days. Some other considerations. The purchase price of the Bills will be maybe $900 million. But anyone considering moving the Bills will have to pay $400 million to break the lease and a maybe $200 million relocation fee to move the team. That brings up the price to 1.5 billion - perhaps a little discouraging to an owner from L.A. who would also have to win a 3/4 vote from the owners just to purchase the team. There are hurdles for an out-of-town buyer if the trust considers that option.

The argument isn't whether or not Britt is better than Stevie. He's not - or at least, he's never shown it. The question is whether or not he's better than the worst WR on the roster. Would he make our WR corps better - at a reasonable cost?

He's a McGill University student and McGill is sometimes called 'The Harvard of Canada." It's a very good school so, yeah, he's a very smart kid. Good luck to him!

I don't like when people use the expression "dirty Sanchez." Maybe I'm wrong, but it sounds racist to me. I personally don't care what race he is. Nor do I care about a lot of the complaints I've heard about his personality. I think some of those complaints are overstated. But I do care about his stats. Sanchez completes only about 55% of his passes with a modest 6.5 yards per attempt. His QB rating is a humble 72. In this day and age, you really need more from a starting QB. So if we'd sign him to be a backup - and he's certainly well-qualified to be a backup - the question becomes what kind of mentor would he be for EJ?