KRC

No problem. Thank you for listening!!

Just one last self-serving bump before the show.

In radio interviews I have done in the past, the answer is no. I am not sure if this would be different. The focus is usually the host and guest. However, you can always ask me questions here.

Yup. Phone in interview. About 15 minutes. He was researching Bill Bergey (one of the nicest people I ever interviewed) and stumbled on the PFRA website. We just inducted him into our Hall of Very Good. He emailed me and asked if I would be willing to discuss it on his show. Interestingly enough, this was while I was working with one of the hosts on Sirius NFL Radio about appearing on his show in the near future. Nope. Retired from politics.

Kristy still brings that up and laughs hysterically.

Same here. He send me a picture of him and Darlene in Hong Kong.

John Murphy has invited me on his radio show. Date: Tuesday, May 21 Time: 8PM Eastern He wants to talk about the Professional Football Researchers Association, our Hall of Very Good and my book on The Original Buffalo Bills. We have a few Bills players in the Hall of Very Good. You can listen to it on either the WGR550 website or the Buffalo Bills app.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/ourlives/article.aspx?subjectid=426&articleid=20130303_Ob_obsl_8978214 One of the nicest guys I have talked to in my career. He was a member of the Buffalo Bisons of the All-America Football Conference in 1946. There are only two members of that team still alive: Ben Pucci and Al Vandeweghe.

I have seen it mentioned a few times in this thread. it is not sabremetrics. It is SABR-metrics, named after SABR. That is the Society for American Baseball Research. They are the baseball equivalent of my organization the PFRA (Professional Football Researchers Association). Now, to the topic at hand. Can you come up with a way to use statistics to improve the team? I say it is possible. However, it is far more complex than in baseball. As mentioned previously, baseball lends itself to individual player statistics. Football does not. Therefore, you have to look at how individual player statistics can be applied to the team. For example, I developed a rusher efficiency stat for Cold Hard Football Facts. It was very effective in determining how efficient your running game is in various situations. You can look at individual rushers to see if one is better in certain situations or you can look at it from a team perspective to see if there are weaknesses in your running game. This combines the running back, as well as the offensive line. When you analyze the numbers, you can see whether the running back is causing the deficiency or whether it is an offensive linemen. You can also break it down to see if it is that offensive lineman or running back against a specific defense, or in general. You can also normalize the stats to see if the running back is declining in efficiency over his career. I think that similar philosophies can be implimented, as long as the team approach is used, with the ability to analyze the stat in the context of a specific player in various situations.

Another original Buffalo Bill passed away. Chick Maggioli passed away December 20: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/SouthBendTribune/obituary.aspx?n=Achille-Maggioli-Chick&pid=161882492#fbLoggedOut Very nice guy I had the opportunity to speak with him a few times for my book. By my count, that leaves eight remaining members of the 1946-49 Buffalo Bills.

I had a face-to-face with him about 20 years ago. Very easy to talk to and easy access. A couple of years ago, I tried to set up a formal interview, and his assistant said he was no longer doing formal interviews. I imagine he is very selective now.

Yup. Asterisk.

He needs a few more years before he is eligible, but... http://www.profootba...rs.org/HOVG.htm

He was the first Bills player I met. A true class act. He will be missed.

I had the opportunity to sit with him in his office and talk football and football history. You could hear the passion for the game in his voice and see it in his eyes. He lived for football. He will be missed.

1. Graham 2. Unitas (Sorry, Rich) 3. Baugh 4. Montana All above Brady. The best he could do is fifth on my list, but I doubt he would make fifth. Top 10, yes. Top five, it would be tough.

I have spent a lot of time watching game film of Hutson. In my opinion, he is the best receiver of all time (yes, better than Rice). As far as your p.s., can you explain what you mean by "accomplishment in the NFL and nothing else."? Do you mean eliminating the celebrity factor?

If that is the criteria, Layne might be the guy.

I think that it was '78 when they changed the rules allowing for offenses to be more potent.

Friedman and Baugh were before them. Tittle started around the same time as Graham ( Tittle started two years later, IIRC). Graham: 10 years, 10 championship game appearances, 7 championships. If that is not franchise, I am not sure what is. Especially, when you look at the times he was not in the lineup and they failed miserable. I would toss Layne in as a franchise QB. I was only arguing who would be "first." To me it is Baugh, but it could be argued that it was Friedman.

I would pick Sammy Baugh. You can make a case for Benny Friedman earlier. Graham was also before Unitas.

It depends on the content that you have in the subscriber section. With my magazine, I have a free section and a section just for subscribers. Just by creating the subscriber-only section and adding unique content, I saw a 25% increase in subscriptions within the first few days. The subscriptions did not drop, and we continued to get new subscribers. As I continually added unique content and advertised the unique content, subscriptions increased. People specifically stated that they subscribed to get access to the stuff in the pay section. It can be an effective model, if you provide unique content. If it is the same content that people can access for free elsewhere, you will lose visitors. Just my $0.02 USD from my little world.

Nice job, Lori!! If you are reading this thread, we are hoping that you write for our magazine (PFRA's Coffin Corner) again. We would love to have you submit more of your work.

In his Monday column, he said he was not going to be in Buffalo. Did that change? http://sportsillustr.../05/mmqb/2.html From his column:

During the playoffs, the Pats* lined up Hernandez in the backfield on occassion. My guess is that they will do more of that this year and have Visanthe as the second tight end with Gronk.