The Dean

No, that's not what I meant. But it's a good guess, as I am a well known music "snob". I actually thought this was going fairly well--well, you know, for the musical tastes of the hoi polloi, the "common man"---you know, morons. But as thing progressed, the masses showed their usual lack of taste. That's really all I'm saying. And, BTW, this isn't an "old music vs new music" thing. I think 95% of just about everything is crap. And, yes, I know I'm an a$$hole.

Sounds almost like we grew up together.

Are you serious? I said, and I was fairly serious, that I'd be dead by 25. I'm now 60. But I have to tell you, I try to think of every day as a "bonus day" and that I'm 35 years "in the black". But if I die in my sleep tonight (I mean, no better way to go, right?), I can say I lived a very full life. No major regrets--a ton of minor ones, though.

Sign this kid up for NASCAR! I used to steal my mother's car when I was 13-14 (but just to go get beer/booze). The difference? I never got caught.

Wow. I could live with some ink, but that crap is disgusting. If you have to have tats, use some taste.

Let me rephrase: You do understand getting a sack isn't the only "good play" one can make in the team's pass rush scheme? Right? If you didn't mean to say that, I'm sorry. I can't read your mind. EDIT: As with offensive linemen, many (most?) of the good plays defensive linemen make aren't reflected in the stats. They also go relatively unnoticed by the average fan.

You do realize sacks aren't the only "good plays" a DT can make. Right?

I don't want to get into a back-and-forth about this, because (as I'm sure you can see for yourself) that gets REALLY tedious. So this will probably be my last comment on the matter. McDermott made his comment in September. There hasn't been a negative peep from management, or any other players, since. Beane's complimentary (well, relatively) was made just a day ago. Now, I think it's important to keep in mind McDermott was probably trying to prod Marcel a bit in September, and Beane was probably trying to be a bit gracious on the day of his exit. Still, I don't find this as any convincing evidence he wasn't buying in, at least as the season moved on. See? Nuance.

I'd say "nothing to see here" in terms of evidence that Marcel hasn't "bought into" the program, or is a "cancer" in the locker room. I know Googling it will get lots of results, but no real evidence, except rumor. Beane also just said, "... "I give Marcell a lot of credit. I thought he made huge strides of late..." , so there's that. I'm not arguing he WAS buying in. I just think, before we simply echo things that are in the ether, but unsubstantiated, we give them a proper vetting . But I guess that is far too much to expect from mooks posting on a sports (or political) Internet forum. (And, I suppose I qualify as one of those "mooks".)

Just curious. Where do you get this stuff? What is your evidence he wasn't "buying in"?

Chip Kelly says to say, "Hello."

Pointing the finger at nobody in particular, here. But the longer this thread goes, the more I'm reminded of Sturgeon's Revelation (sometimes called Sturgeon's Law): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law Years before I ever heard of Sturgeon, I came to the same conclusion---but I wasn't as generous as Sturgeon.

Are you certain that's what happens to this year's cap savings? I asked this question earlier, and didn't get any response. I'm no cap expert, but I thought you had to make some sort of arrangement to roll over unused cap from one year to the next. But I could very well be mistaken. Agreed, you can only assume, because I've seen/heard no evidence of that---just fans concluding it. I tell you what, if he was a "cancer" it doesn't seem to have metastasized.

Really? I've never so much as received a warning. And I'm constantly shocked by what kind of posting isn't reprimanded, at least a bit, by the mods. But I'd be a terrible mod. I agree that, for the most part, it's best for the community to police itself. It just makes the board so hard to read, at times. Still the best damn forum on the Interwebs, though.

I believe they are ALL special cases---that's why it's the Wall of Fame, and not the Wall of Extended Service.

Liar! You were never on my list! I'm guessing that advisor/professor would take credit for your success now. He "motivated you" to be what you are today. I'm guessing this because, in my experience, that's how dicks like this operate.

Ever Role? Never saw it.

Bob Kalsu played one season. Van Miller never suited up (would have been a helluva waterboy, though). Cookie's value to the history of the Bills is far greater than 3-years of service would imply.

Good stuff, guys. Truth is, we don't KNOW, yet, if they do or they don't. We gonna find out, though.

Man, I hate to take the side of SP, but in this case.... It's always been my understanding the spread is set to attract a roughly equal amount of $$$ bet on each side, not what the majority of people think will happen. I suspect (but do not know) if you took a poll of football "fans" most would pick the Raiders in this game. As Kelly also posted, can you even think of a successful team that didn't have at least ONE questionable character on the team? Good managers know how to get to use the talent, and minimize the fallout, from these guys. Honestly, I think "buying low" is what Belicheat does best. See, I'm not sure if I agree with this. Dareus is immature, off the field. And, yes, he shows up late sometimes. But ON the field I see a guy playing pretty hard. I hear of him "taking a play off" sometimes. Maybe that's true and I just don't notice. But I can't remember the last time I thought, after a big play, "They would have stopped that play, had Dareus not been lounging around." Me neither, Yolo. Never have, this year. But I'll be very excited if things keep going the way they have been going. I'm not completely sure I believe it is because of the QB, in the Bills' case. There are several things going on. I actually think Tyrod is good enough to take you to (and even win) the SB, given the right team. I don't think Tyrod can put the team on his back, and lead the team to victory by the force of his will and performance, when the rest of the team is playing poorly. At least, not yet.

You should be. I know (well, think) it was a Lord of the Rings reference. But that's about it. I agree comparing ONLY Dareus to a typical 6th round pick isn't the most intelligent way to judge this trade. But let's not overstate the value of the vast majority of 6th rd. picks. Far more look like Vallejo than Brady. And so far I have seen ZERO evidence Dareus was a problem in the locker room. Does this D look apathetic and lazy? If the run D regresses, are you going to say "See, Dareus was holding that locker room together"? Didn't think so. I believe this was in reference to Sammy. If not, please ignore. But a WR has very little control over whether or not he gets the ball. He virtually never throws it to himself. He can control getting open, running good routes and catching the passes that come his way---and other contributions like blocking and such. And I'm not defending Sammy here, as I have not watched enough of the Rams, this year. But a good detailed analysis of the situation is far more valuable than just looking at stats, for a WR. IMO, of course.

NERD!

Never failed any class. In HS my biology teacher made us to this mind-numbingly stupid homework. The other bio teacher used to exempt any student with an 85 average, or more, from homework--but not this shrew. To make matters worse, she required you write out the questions as well as the answers. There was no way in the world I was going to do that nonsense. So I usually just did the homework in study hall, or at lunch. Just writing down the letter (for multiple choice questions) or answers for the others. She told me, even though I scored 100 (actually higher, due to bonus questions) on every test, she would not give me a grade over 95 on my report card, if I didn't do the homework the right way. "That's fine", I said. I never cared about the grade all that much. In college there were a couple courses that were either too early, or too boring (or both), to attend. I always managed to get an "Incomplete" for those courses. The worst was an 8AM Comparative Religion class I took to refill a requirement. What was I thinking? The teacher, and nearly all the other students were REALLY into Eastern religions. I think I went once, or twice for the first couple months. But I figured I'd take the first test. Did some skimming from the books the night before, and showed up to class, pretty hungover. I'm not sure I understood most of the words in the questions asked. Mostly sanskrit stuff. I left the page blank, and turned it in. "My Zen response", I said as I walked out. First time I ever saw the teacher laugh. He gave me an Incomplete, fortunately.

He did fine, but with talent. No SBs without Bill B. Was a worse coach in Dallas than Wade, IMO. But I always thought Wade was a pretty decent HC. Better DC, though. Then, the same guy who wanted to "shop for the groceries" went to Miami and started meddling in the groceries of their HC. Disaster. Lost a lot of respect for him, in those final few years. Like I said, Bill B was with Parcells whenever he had great success--but, OK, not always as DC. And you might be right about Parcells being instrumental in developing Belicheat. That's fair.

Fixed it for you.