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cwater10

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Posts posted by cwater10

  1. "Seldom turns out the way it does in a song

    Once it a while you get shown the light 

    In the strangest places if you look at it right"

     

    Thank you for your reliable wisdom Jerry.  The world misses you, but we remember your words... if not all of the shows...  

     

    And I see you Daggers.  Tongue in cheek?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  So yeah, unexpectedly 2020 has stepped up. In its own tormented way, 2020 has shown us Bills fans some light, and with a look at the goodies that humanity might just throw our way when we are open to them.  This hell hole of a year... left us all just shaking our heads in dismay for so many months.  For many of us, myself included, things got too real to even want to talk about yet .  Yeah, it's still too soon in so many ways, but the door is swinging open.

     

    So yeah, I see you too,  2020.  And while I want to scream a loud "expletive deleted" in your direction, I'll just put it defiantly in text.  We'll be back!  And just like The Hoodie figured about himself last night, you won't be.  Ha! Details spared, but by February, real life had visited my household with devastation that would shake multiple families.  By late February, I didn't know what was hitting me, and from what direction it was hitting.  Surreal is the only word that comes to mind of the start to this year.  And then 2020 really got untracked.  It came in waves.  It all sucked beyond anything speakable.  The misery seemed unending and unbearable.  And then, just when the dystopia was completely having its way with me, there was a fragment of unexpected goodness.  

     

    Some way, somehow, and out of somewhere that I wasn't even looking to, The Bills, this year, brought back something to smile about, something worthwhile to be distracted with.  Watching Belichick throw the phone last night made me laugh out loud.  Man that felt good.  This Bills season... It all feels so damn good, it has so restored my psyche to some memory of normalcy, of fun, of community and something good.  The Josh Allen/Oisheis Hospital story, the airport scene, the beatdown of The Hoodie last night...  These will be the goodies that we get to take away from 2020.  The miserable crap will eventually fade away.  Life has a way of healing us or forcing us to pick up the pieces and move forward.   Real life good news has been starting to trickle into my home for a few weeks now.  That is real.  That is more than a goodie.  Thats real life, sometimes all too real, sometimes remarkable and good in surprising moments.  There is still pain.  There are still scars from this horrible year. There remains a sense of permanent damage and there will forever be loss from 2020.  But hope... yeah that might be creeping back in too.  

     

    Thanks Bills, and thanks Bills Mafia for being my vehicle though the debacle that has been 2020.  You delivered.

     

     

         

  2. 9 hours ago, ticketssince61 said:

     

    Does anyone remember WHY we switched to red helmet?

    Joe Ferguson was throwing too many INT's and the jets, dolphin and patriots are all had white helmets. The thought it would be easier to spot his receivers with a helmet that stood out

    This!  At the time, the red helmets were not received well at all.  They were ridiculed as an eyesore, laughed at a symbol of our QB flaws and ... rightly so.  They ruined a classic uniform.  They should remain in storage until we ever lure Fergy out of retirement.

  3. O.J. made me a Bills fan in 1973 and I was hooked for life.  He was bigger than the team at that time.  If you ran into someone who didn't see a game, the questions in order would be:  

    1). How many yards did OJ have?

    2.) Who won?

     

    However, the Chuck Knox Bills were my favorite Bills teams ever, and just as heartbreaking as the Super Bowl Bills.  My emotional bond to those teams was similar to the '75 Sabres.  Thank You Bills!  I have yet to witness anything like the on field insanity after breaking the Miami curse on opening day in 1980 or later that same year after beating The Rams in OT in the fog. Ferguson to Butler was like watching poetry on a football field.  Those two are easily my favorites from those teams.  I still think about Ferguson's broken ankle in the 1980 playoffs in the same way as "wide right".  Just so unjust of the football gods!

     

    I think a great deal of these answers depend on when we were born...  Obviously!  Thanks St. Doug, you didn't make the list.

     

    ***. A special shout out to the guy who did the goal post high wire act against The Giants on Monday Night Football in 1975!

  4. Love this exercise.  For me, some guys were simply too damn fun to route for.  If it's about favorite, they beat out other more talented or more accomplished guys. 

     

    First Team:

    2 - Steve Christie

    17 - Josh Allen (yeah, I said it.  Kelly not even favorite 12)

    20 - Robert James

    34 - Thurman (OJ, you were great, but not sorry)

    46 - Leonard Smith

    55 - Jim Haslett

    67 - Reggie McKenzie

    78 - Bruuuuuce

    80 - Jerry Butler

    97 - Biscuit (So much talent and so much fun to watch)

     

    Second Team:

    8 - Brian Moorman

    12 - Joe Ferguson

    27 - Tre White

    32 - O.J. Simpson

    41 - Jamie Mueller

    59 - Shane Nelson

    67 - Kent Hull

    76 - Fred Smerlas

    83 - Andre Reed

    95 - Kyle Williams

     

    Third Team: 

     

    7- Doug Flutie (Could not thing of another former New Jersey General)

    12 - Jim Kelly (Could not think of a better former Houston Gambler)

    20 - Joe Cribbs (Could not think of a better Birminham Stallion)

    33 - Ronnie Harmon... No, Not Really!  Of course its Sam Gash!

    43 - Tony Greene

    54 - C Spielman

    68 - Joe DeLamielleure

    72 - Holding, #72 Ken Jones (Noses out Offside, #76) But it was close.  

    89 - Steve Tasker

    9X -  All of the "High Motor" guys that played through the drought.

     

    Alternates:

    5 - Nick Mike-Meyer

    13 - Stevie Johnson

    20 - Travis Henry (the runner, not the passer)

    34 - Jim Braxton

    44 - Derrick Holmes

    51 - Brian Campbell (All time leader in goals scored at Bills Stadium)

    69 - Conrad Dobler

    70 - Eric Wood

    80 - Eric Moulds

    92 - Mount Washington

     

     

     

     

    • Like (+1) 1
  5. 3 minutes ago, Billsfan1972 said:

    Anytime the much, much better team struggles to win a game that comes down to the last second, you were outcoached.

    C'mon man...  When you find yourself in a hole, just stop digging.  By that logic, the 2009 Belichick was out-coached by Dick Jauron (fired at mid season that year) on the Monday Night Football opener when McKelvin (coached by Dick Jauron, I remind you) foolishly decided to bring the ball out of the end zone and fumble.  New England struggled mightily to win that game.  Sometimes overmatched teams just rise up to a moment.  The NFL is a week to week league.  If you try to live by ought to be's, shoulds, and formulas of expectation as an NFL season unfolds, your head is going to explode.  Don't do that man...  It's not just a buzz kill, it's unnecessary and It's painful to watch.  "Why so serious?"

  6. 5 minutes ago, Billsfan1972 said:

    We get it the Bills won & I'm happy with a 6-2 record.  Not happy how they've got there.

    I'm not convinced that you do get it.  Being prepared and forcing breaks that turn pivotal moments in your favor is how you get to success.  We should be very happy with that.  It's how most successful teams transform 3-5 or 4-4 mediocrities into 6-2 winners.  I'll leave you with a quote from a Hall of Fame coach and then call it a day.  Go Bills!

     

    "Failures are expected by losers, ignored by winners." – Joe Gibbs, former Washington Redskins head coach and three-time Super Bowl champion.

  7. You want a quick two words to chew on with your breakfast while you ponder who out-coached whom yesterday?  Here you go: Tyler Matakevich!  Let that tongue twisting name wash over your palate for a moment or for several minutes if that's what it takes for you to get it.  Put that name, that salad of iambic pentameter like sounds in your mouth over and over again before you take your coaching review to the keyboard again.  

     

    For at least twenty years, we have coined the phrase "Billsy" applied it to creative new ways to achieve heartbreak and losses.  Yesterday was again "Billsy", but not by us.  Mediocre coaches, and we've had our share, never saw these moments looming or approaching.  They, and we were devastated time and time again as these little moments turned into the bigger more obvious turning points that turned wins (and winds) to losses into Bills Mafia ulcers and our team's successes into failures.  Think, if you can stomach it over breakfast,  about McKelvin bringing the ball out of and end zone, or a defensive scheme responsible for leaving Dallas receivers uncovered near a sideline with only seconds to play.  These little ominous moments were our way of football life for so long that we became almost numb to them.  These were our trademark needless, unforced errors based in fear and desperation.  Yesterday, our perennial perpetrator of these moments came calling with another of these potential kicks to the crotch.  And McDermott had his team ready for it.  Tyler Matakevich never blinked at the moment.  He never flinched as he embraced as he embraced the attempted dagger of an onside kick from Belichick.  In that moment, the tables turned on the coaching equilibrium in the AFC East.  McDermott had his team prepared and they made New England pay instantly on the scoreboard and ultimately with the game and their season falling hopelessly away from them.  It was an foolish coaching decision, an unforced error by the Pats, based in fear and desperation.  McDermott and his team caused them to go there.  And he had his team prepared to make the Pats pay for it with their season.  

     

    I like being on this side of the equation.  I like winning the close ones.  I like causing the heartbreak for a change.  I'm getting comfortable with it.  Why can't so many of you enjoy this?    Trust the process folks.

    • Awesome! (+1) 1
  8. I'll take one and done this year while living to see them follow up a great year by reversing the 90's curse, winning the ensuing 4 consecutive Lombardi Trophies.  Bass will win the first one by drilling a 47 yard field goal, on a carom shot off the right upright in the closing seconds to clinch the win over Tampa Bay.  I can live with this...

  9. 1 hour ago, Gene1973 said:

    Allow fans, but ban alcohol. Would be a true test of fandom would it not?

    Quite possibly Gene...  Been there, done that... of my own volition.  And it was great.  Not to get all preachy, not at all...  I've partaken in more tailgates than I can remember (literally lol...) You bring to mind one of my favorite moments on the journey to sobriety many years ago.  I'm not sure why I feel compelled to share it this morning, but what the hell... here goes.  

     

    As a long time season ticket holder, and fresh into sobriety, I recall calling my sponsor repeatedly from a payphone in the stadium concourse under the upper bowl on a Monday Night game back in '89 when Frank Reich pulled a game saving miracle in the closing seconds.  In was my first sober night game, about 6 months into sobriety, still sitting with the insane, wonderful and completely out of control crew that I had my seasons with for many years.   It was the 80's and it was a Monday Night game.  You can fill in the blanks and sense the moment and the atmosphere.  I was sure I was going to fall off the wagon at any moment, prompting me to call said sponsor repeatedly throughout the second half.  I can't believe he kept answering the phone, but he talked me through it.  Miraculously, the Bills pulled out the win and I didn't drink.  My fandom not only survived the test, but I later realized that it brought me to the point of putting my best interests in jeopardy.  Going to the game was a bad decision driven by passion for the Bills.  For the next several years, I gave up my season tickets in the name of preserving my own and my familiy's best interests.  And you know what seasons those next few season ticketless, only watching on TV years turned out to be.... yep 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993.  Damn!  Talk about timing!  Did I feel like I was missing out?  Yeah, a little bit.  But my inner Bills fan dominated, and those years as a Bills fan were still so freakin' fantastic and they still put a huge smile on my face when I think about them.  In many ways, The Bills games and the joy that they brought during those years, even on TV, were the "port in the storm" that I relied on to experience some occasional joy during what felt like some fairly joyless times in my own life.  I can only hope that this year's "TV only" Bills games will serve as the same touchstone to others who may be experiencing their own otherwise joyless times during this horrific year.  

     

    31 years later, I have continued to experience every joyous moment, every nail biting wretched "Billsy screw up", and the absolutely unique experience of commited Bills Mafianess.  I wouldn't have considered missing a moment of it.  I've been one of the lucky ones.  I have never really felt tempted to drink since that Monday Night back in October of '89.  My life has since normalized and my life has brought happiness beyond my wildest dreams.  Your post struck an emotional chord in me and I thank you for that.  It was that "test of fandom", going to a Bills game without alcohol, that was probably one of the biggest turning points in my life.  Again, I say with all humility that I know that I am truly one of the lucky few that come through such moments, that come through addiction and move on to happy and healthy lives.  In those 31 years that followed, I have survived the loss of both parents, the agonizing illness and death of that treasured sponsor that talked me through that Monday Night and became a treasured best friend and the loss countless other friends that were not so fortunate.  I have watched my business fail and lost everything during the recession of 2008.  And I survived it.  I never drank.  I never got high.  Life got better.  Way better! It can and does normalize.  

     

    I can smile now and have been smiling for years.  When the Bills win, my smile is always wider.  And I do smile a grateful and humble smile when I think about how petty it feels that in light of all that I have come through since that the last time I was tempted to drink, that my last real temptation to drink was because the thought of being at a Bills game with friends without drinking was too much for me to process in that moment.  I tell you from personal experience that we can get through a season of only having to watch The Bills on TV.  And we can do this without placing our own best interests and the best interests of those that we love at risk.  We can handle a great deal more than that, and come through the other side and celebrate together again.  Apologies for the ramble...  Something in your words hit me someplace deep when I wasn't looking.  Thank You Gene1973.  You made me smile this morning.

    • Awesome! (+1) 4
  10. 1 hour ago, Gene1973 said:

    I've read a study where 94% of COVID19 deaths were due to comorbidity as opposed to sraight up COVID19 deaths.

     

    I would say fans should be able to tailgate, and quite frankly attend games. We work in offices with recycled air, and only wear masks when within 6 ft, tailgating and game attendance is outdoors...

     

    When you are at work, do you also become progressively intoxicated and unhinged to the point where all inhibitions are lost causing causing outbursts of such good judgement that leads to various attentions seeking stunts like throwing selves on burning tables?  Not that there is anything wrong with that...  But heck, during a global pandemic, what could go wrong?  Besides, where are you ever going to find a healthier, non comorbidity having bunch of good fellas and gals then at a tailgate?  

  11. 6 hours ago, Locomark said:

    So basically Jerry just said he will do whatever the politicians say they have to do. So the “hell yeah” crowd love him because they think he is a rebel. In reality he knows he is talking with zero control or accountability because if the governor or mayors say no he has no choice but to comply anyway. He just wants to act like he is in control .  

    Why would anyone think Jerry Jones could tell his state elected officials that he will defy their mandates? He can’t. He’s just walking around like a peacock because he wants to be important. 

    Louie Gohmert will do the opening day coin toss? 

  12. 2 hours ago, Warcodered said:
    2 hours ago, cwater10 said:

    Unacceptable answer? Are you serious? Smoke is clearly demonstrating leadership here in calling out rookies for being ready and well prepared.  That IS just one way that he's helping them.  This should be obvious to all but the jaded.  Props to John Brown for showing how to lead as well...

    lot of people missing the Marcel Louis-Jaques joke.

     

    So I should take comfort in having company?  Damn..  Me 2 hours ago:  "why are Bills fans so miserable?"  Me walking my recyclables to the curb 10 minutes ago:  "Oh sh**, I think I've lost a few feet off the fastball....  I totally missed where FireChans was going there."  Well played FireChans and thanks for the gentle nudge from Warcoded.  Think I'll slide off to get ready for the big test...

     

    person, man, woman, TV, camera.  wait....

    person, woman, man, TV, camera.  cmon... one more try.  If I can do this, I'll be on Rushmore someday

    person, woman, man, camera, TV...   SCORE!

    • Haha (+1) 2
  13. 2 hours ago, FireChans said:
    Just an unacceptable answer here from John Brown. He didn’t even answer the question and he had ample chance to explain what he’s helped the rookies with.

     

    Unacceptable answer? Are you serious? Smoke is clearly demonstrating leadership here in calling out rookies for being ready and well prepared.  That IS just one way that he's helping them.  This should be obvious to all but the jaded.  Props to John Brown for showing how to lead as well...

  14. Jerry knows...

     

    "Hurts my ears to listen 
    Burns my eyes to see
    Cut down a man in cold blood, Shannon
    Might as well be me
    We used to play for silver
    Now we play for life
    One's for sport and one's for blood
    At the point of a knife
    Now the die is shaken
    Now the die must fall
    There ain't a winner in the game
    You don't go home with all
    Not with all"
     
    Jack Straw cut his buddy down and so will completing this season.  I just don't see it working out over the long haul of a season.  The stakes are just too high, larger than $$, and as Jerry says...  Nobody wins in that game.  The players already sense this.  Veterans are beginning to speak out.  Rookies are silent.  The owners fear it.  Right now it feels a lot like everybody is just whistling in the dark, pretending that everything will work.  How?  I just don't see it working...  I just don't get it right now.  And that sucks, but sucking doesn't make it any less real.
    • Thank you (+1) 1
  15. 3 hours ago, machine gun kelly said:

     

    My dad tells me his glory years were the Kemp days when Buffalo was “Talking Proud”.  The youngins won’t know that one either.  Just google it. It was our phrase before the 1988 Shout Song.

    "Talking Proud" era was my favorite Bills era, even more that the Super Bowl years.  I think that is just a reflection of my age at the time (College Years) Chuck Knox had some FUN teams, even as "Ground Chuck".  However...  If I am not mistaken, "Talking Proud" was a civic campaign that the Bills adopted.   That I believe began in 1980 when Joe Ferguson led us to first AFC East Crown ever behind #1 Defense.

    • Like (+1) 1
  16. 3 hours ago, Giuseppe Tognarelli said:

    I feel that routine cardiac imaging would be extremely beneficial as these tests actually reveal blockages. Otherwise, unsuspecting people randomly have fatal heart attacks. Bloodwork, EKGs, stress tests, and echocardiograms are nothing more than guesswork to predict risk, when we could be jumping straight to looking at the arteries but we don't for financial reasons.

     My personal journey agrees 100%.  It was surreal when it happened, but I experienced 1st heart attack at 51 after clean stress test 2 weeks prior.  Angiogram at time of attack showed 95% blockage of LAD (widow maker, the same one that took Tim Russert).  After that event scared the daylights out of me, promptly lost 50 pounds in 7 months, cholesterol and BP went from high to perfect... best shape of my life and then on successive weeks, chest pain on treadmill lead my doctor to order nuclear stress test which came back clean.  One week later, same thing happened again on treadmill along with a bit of shortness of breath.  This time we went for the gold standard, angiogram!  Showed main coronary artery blockage at 90%.  Triple bypass surgery on the spot.  Only thing that spotted either blockage was angiogram.  8 years later, all still good but I never feel secure when my stress tests come back clean...  Godspeed Nick!  Work hard, you can recover fully.  Daily baby aspirin and statins...  Thumbs up to the good docs of South Buffalo Mercy Hospital!  Forever grateful and humbled by the experience.

    • Thank you (+1) 1
  17. 1 hour ago, purple haze said:

    But I'm taking Jerry Butler over Lee Evans all day everyday,

    Oh hell yes!  It isn't even a conversation.  And if Butler didn't blow out a knee before he even reached his prime, this thread may have well have been about Butler.  Without the injuries, he would have probably been a member of the Super Bowl teams as well.  Lofton was drafted by Green Bay a year BEFORE Butler.  I'll never forget his 10 catch, 4 TD 255 yard show against the Jets in 1980... as a rookie on a Chuck Knox (Ground Chuck) team.  If you can find it, You Tube it for some quarantine entertainment.  He was unstoppable, ran the smoothest routes and had the softest hands of all of them.

    • Like (+1) 1
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