JoeF

Just saw this and read the article about your mom. My deepest condolences. She was a great lady. She handed you your competitive fire and fierce loyalty. Many prayers to you and your family.

Prayers and condolences... Kraft has been a constant voice of reason at the labor negotiating table while this was weighing heavily on him...he is truly in this for the good of the game. I just read some of the tweets from former players and read about the philanthropic work of Myra Kraft--she will be greatly missed. Dammit--I don't want any reason to like the Pats--but Myra Kraft, like the Bills Mary Wilson, appears to have been a great First Lady of Football.

Lip and tongue activated.....

I think you are thinking of Rachel Madcow...

Kinston is home of King's barbeque--coincidence -- I think not. It will be King of Kings barbeque soon... You don't get much more rural small town than Kinston -- the Neuse Sport Shop is a hang out and a great stop on the way to the coast. Live bait of all kinds for sale. Kings is right next store. Its a God fearing little hamlet with all kinds of interesting folk. Its also the home of former NC State basketball star Charles Shackleford who once publicly uttered the quote: "Left hand, right hand, it don't matter, I am amphibious...."

Thanks JW. There is hope.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/football/nfl/06/28/goodell-nflpa/ Hard not to interpret this as being a positive. A deal may be at hand. Either that or Roger and D are planning to take advantage of NY's new law...

Diet coke up my nose...thanks a bunch..... No more Mr. Ed reruns for these two...

Richard Kiel could be Ovechkin's father... Martin Mull and Andy Reid...who knew

Preparing to follow the Katy Perry World Tour?

Fruitful talks yesterday in Boston Speculation is they are at the bargaining table in Boston until a deal is done....

Bought 6 tix to NE game on 9/25. Made the purchase on Saturday (2nd day of sale) and got prime seats in the upper deck. That has never happened before on the second day of individual sales for season ticket holders. I have almost been shut out of sales a couple of times. Hope it pays off to buy early and I hope the ticket office is prepared for a rush if the CBA agreement is announced in the next 3 weeks.

Southwest just cut fares into the fall to $40 per segment (< or = 450 miles), $80 per segment (451 to 1250 miles) or $120 (= or > 1251 miles). Just booked all my trip to Buffalo flights for $195 including all taxes and fees for RT... http://www.southwest.com/

Excellent Summary Excellent summary by Jason Cole of the critical nature of the week ahead....who'd of thunk Ralph would be grouped with Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder...

Great book and it looks from a 2 minute trailer like they did it justice......Cant wait to see it. This is a character made for Pitt - rebel, brash, a little dark humor--

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/05/gundlach-bills-buffalo-nfl-doubleline-tcw-bond-funds.html Quotes: “I’m trying to put a group together to buy it,” he said Thursday, adding that he has floated the idea to several wealthy clients for whom he manages money. The discussions are in the early stages, he said. “Now, I’m thinking about thinking about it.” “One of these days, maybe five years from now -- I hope it’s 20 years from now -- the Bills will have to have an ownership change. And I think it would be a tragedy to have the Bills go to some random city and be called, you know, the L.A. Multitude or whatever the hell they’d call it. I want them to be the Buffalo Bills.” Not a slime ball--but the king of bond traders who made money for folks in all economies in all situations. His income and livelihood would never be tied to the Bills.

I don't know if this would be tops on my list. The guy got away with murder and 90% or more of the population believes this. Not a mystery. I would rather see: - Steve Jobs on his deal with the devil - Trump on how he gets his hair to look like a badger - Clinton on the details of the fat intern saga and all his other trists - GW Bush on cocaine snorting - Calipari and Pitino on how to cheat and get away with it so often - Martha Stewart on why $80K meant so much to a billionaire Many other questions...Oprah use your power for good of humanity not to get some washed up, bad guy, attention whore to admit something that is commonly believed..

Agree to an extent Dwight. The Bills are the largest holding of RW Enterprises and the main driver of its value. This wasn't the case when Ralph invested $25K in 1960 on the franchise fee--but it is today. Littman makes sure they are in the black every year. It will be hard to do that if there is a minimum spend in the new CBA. I would argue that Ralph is not cheap but he has to be fiscally responsible on an operating basis with by far his largest asset. Its hurts the Bills on the field--but its his team and his asset. I think our wish is that the new ownership group takes the attitude that Jeffrey Grundlach expressed when it broke he was interested in putting together an ownership group..this is a side and fun business more than a hard and fast investment...if we can get an ownership group focused on the fun using their spare assets on something they don't expect a great return from -- that is awesome. Its worked for the Mavericks....

On the great side, the Schefter story implies that an agreement in principle is mostly in place and that the owners will see it next week. It takes 9 owners voting "no" to reject the proposed agreement. Doubt there is enough objection to reach this level so this "handful" of objectors is likely immaterial. Ralph or Russ Brandon will likely outline how the CBA could compromise the Bills future in Buffalo -- it will be interesting to see their take and analyze it. The Bills under Ralph are in a great balance sheet position -- no debt, lots of revenue streams and likely a small profit every year -- but they have little prospect for revenue growth from sources outside the TV money from the league and game day generated revenue (tickets, concessions, etc.). Other teams have 5X or 10X marketing and stadium naming rights revenue potential. The Bills are like a local dollar store and the Cowboys, Jets, Giants--are like Wal Mart...

ESPN Update on Talks This is pretty significant. If the players are moving to $141M annually dedicated to players costs/team -- that allows the Owners to reserve $1.5B and then do a 60% player favored split of the rest of the revenue. This is the first time the players have indicated coming toward the owners previous offers....

it frcs u 2 b brf n ur cmmnts & 2 spl lk n idit ownrs & plyrs ks & mkup <3 Tiger is moderating because he has nothing better to do...

In use this AM. Left it in a very warm car to attend church and came back to the ice still in the cup. Very cool. Also in NC so its a badge of Bills fandom as well for me.

Thanks PTR. Good stuff--maybe a little hope. Has he broken Pats or NFL news in the past? of course you were. I thought you were going to link the guy in the Peter Pan outfit...

http://www.eagletribune.com/latestnews/x2088983289/SOURCE-NFL-lockout-is-over Looks like the reports from a blogger last year that said Cowher was going to accept the Bills job.

That and drag racing down Murchison