Buftex

So, is this going to be a sort of Facebook for NFL fans?

Yeah, I was afraid you were going there...and you are wrong.

Wow..you are a little angry! While I happen to agree with you, to a degree, I think what keeps him out is attitudes like yours (on this subject) will only become more popular as time goes on. People will take his contributions out of context of the times that they were accomplished. As I said earlier, he won't have return touchdowns as a stat in his favor.. in the Fantasy Football era, TD's seem to trump everything else. Not sure what "particular demographic" you are referring to. I also get the impression that you really didn't see Tasker play, or were too young to realize how important a piece he was to the Bills success over the course of about 5 or 6 years. While I would never say he "re-invented" special teams, he stood out, precisely, because his ability to come up with big plays, smart plays (on the fly) and always mindful of the most obscure rules and nuances of special teams. He did it consistently. I would say, over the course of the 4 Super Bowl seasons, Tasker played a major role in about 5-8 wins...which easily could have changed the teams fortunes those years. You say "People blocked punts and field goals, and tackled returners before Tasker" which is correct. But Tasker did more than just those things. While he did not re-invent special teams, his contributions to special teams were considered unique and remarkable enough, that the NFL added a "special teams" player to the Pro Bowl, simply so Tasker could be included.

Which makes me wonder, why could no other team could do this?

For what it is worth, there is an article on Bleacher Report (TBD doesn't allow links to Bleacher Report), where Richard Sherman claims that the Seahawks deciphered Peyton Mannings hand signals. Edit: Here it is from another source: http://www.sfgate.co...Out-5201237.php "'We knew what route concepts they liked on different downs, so we jumped all the routes. Then we figured out the hand signals for a few of the route audibles in the first half.' "He demonstrates the signs Manning used for various routes, and says he and his teammates were calling out plays throughout the game and getting them right. 'Me, Earl [Thomas], Kam [Chancellor]… we’re not just three All-Pro players. We’re three All-Pro minds,' Sherman says. 'Now, if Peyton had thrown in some double moves, if he had gone out of character, we could’ve been exposed.'"

Would most definitely recommed Ken Crippens (twobillsdrives' KRC) "The Original Buffalo Bills"....excellent book. I purchased it for myself back in 2009, then picked up one for my dad at Albright Knox, when they had their Buffalo Bills 50th anniversary exhibit...he loved it. My dad mentioned the Tonawanda Kardex a few times (we lived in Kenmore/Tonawada)... http://www.amazon.com/The-Original-Buffalo-Bills-All-America/dp/0786446196/ref=sr_sp-atf_image_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391489688&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=buffalo+bills+cripen Couldn't help but notice that somebody on Amazon is trying to get $1934 for an original edition of this book....a more realistically priced copy can be had for about $35. Mr Crippen isn't one to boast around here, or self advertise, but the man knows his stuff!

I just don't think these kind of productions can really lead to anything musically satisfying for anybody, really. Trying to cram a bunch of genres of music together, in about 7 minutes, and please all the people, has, essentially, the opposite affect.

Ha ha!

I think, in general, the Super Bowl half time concert thing has played out...the only "classic rock" act that might get my attention at this point, would be Led Zeppelin...and I don't think there is a snowballs chance in hell that Plant would ever do that.. why not cirque du soleil or something like that...

I think they are all pretty cool...Tennessee is pretty sweet. I can tell you, if they were actually sell these (minis) they would sell like hot cakes!

Perhaps the NFL will move the Bills to Tatooine! These are pretty cool! http://www.buzzfeed.com/austinhunt/nfl-and-star-wars-helmet-mash-up

I think Mannings' critics were somewhat vindicated yesterday, and I also think John Fox and Gase (the OC) have some questions to answer. As was pointed out earlier in the thread, they couldn't resist the temptation to put the whole game on Mannings' shoulders. Just a bad game plan that didn't allow for the fact that the Seahawks might shut Manning and the passing game down. There was no offensive creativity... just a bad game for Denver. The Broncos are probably my second favorite team, but I had a feeling they were going to have a tough time winning that game yesterday, for those very reasons...Manning puts too much pressure on himself, and needs coaching that will alleviate that. He didn't get it yesterday, IMO. If Seattle needed to make Marshawn Lynch talk to the media more, Fox should have reminded Manning that he didn't need to make himself for every interview request over the last couple of weeks.

I agree with you...though I might quibble that it was over at 2-0. The Broncos offense just quit. Awful effort by every guy on that team... Manning seemed to be in full on head hanging mode after that safety. Seattle played every down, both sides of the ball, like they wanted to win, and knew they were going to. As somebody who was rooting for the Broncos (though I always felt Seattle was going to win by a narrower margin), I was kind of laughing at the notion that a loss in this game would hurt Mannings legacy. I never envisioned this kind of loss for him. All those whispers I have heard for years started getting louder...Manning is a great QB, but not a playoff QB. I just couldn't believe the shots of him, on the sideline, right from the opening minutes, with that "we lost" look on his face...very disappointed with Manning tonight... not the fact that his team lost, but his lack of composure so early in the game.

Honestly, I had very few issues with the officiating tonight. Seattle beat Denver to a pulp, but that was more the result of one team (Seattle) being prepared to play their game, and the other (Denver...the team I was pulling for) basically, quitting after their first offensive possession. Denver players just stopped playing, and they get the snot kicked out of them because of it. The Broncos efforts reminded me very much of pretty much every Super Bowl from 1982-1997...awful game.

I am guessing you are one of those who has argued over the years that Andre Reed doesn't belong either.,it isn't a choice of Levy or Polian...they can both go in, and they should. Same with Tasker in relation to guysz like Tim Brown and Marvin Harrison. One really has nothing to do with the other, No reason to walk around "stunned" for a decade... I thought only Pro Football writers voted on the HOF.

IMO the only guy that has a pretty strong chance is Bill Polian

Just saw the replay of the NFL Awards show, where they announced and introduced the Class of 2014. They showed Bruce and Jimbo in the audience cheering Andre on... it was the second time they showed Kelly in the audience. He is with a very pretty, young, girl..is that his daughter? She looks a bit like Jill...but if that is Jill, she has aged incredibly well, or had some incredible plastic surgeons. It was cool, Kelly looked very, very proud of Andre...almost looked like Jim was getting a little choked up. The only bad news, I would bet that Michael Strahan will get the last induction speech in August...great player, but I am not a big fan of the guy... also embarrassed to say I have barely ever heard of Claude Humphrey...I think I have an old football card of him from the late 1960's...first time I can remember having to look up a HOF entry to find out who they were...I guess I grew up in an AFL house... little early exposure to Philadelphia Eagles or Atlanta Falcons football. Isn't it Arlingtone?

Real country tune been unable to get out of my head the last week or so, the great Eddie Noack "Beer Drinking Blues", with the great line "if you love me, you'll understand, I gotta have beer in my right hand" and "before I die, I will raise my hand, I'll drink more beer than any man"

\ Thanks for clarifying that!

That is the reason you are the writer...you made a point I was trying to make earlier in the thread, much more succinctly than I ever could.... as music "evolves" the definition of what constitutes a genre of music become more and more murky. You pointed out that you though it was odd that out of Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee and Johnny Cash, it was JC who was dubbed the country guy. But, in 1955-56, Cash was the country guy of that bunch. What makes him so significant, and such an important artist, was that he helped to define the genre, rather than have the genre define him. I don't know it for a fact or anything, but I suspect, Johnny saw himself as a country artist. I get a ton of crap from people I know, for liking "country" music...my older sister, who probably had more influence than anyone over my passion for music, to this day (she is in her mid-fifties) swears that she "hates country music"...but practically everything she listened to when we were growing up was blurring the lines between country, folk and rock. Her favorite artist of all-time is, easily, Bob Dylan... he blood boils when I tell her that some of Dylan's best stuff is rooted in country music... she loves Arlo Gutherie.... his classic albums from the 70's are a who's who of some of the best country musicians around at the time.... What I find frustrating, as somebody who doesn't feel ashamed for saying that I like country music, it seems that when ever a country artist gets attention, musically, outside the narrow constraints of the country music industry, they are normally adopted by some other "cooler, hipper" genre of music. So, when I say I like country music, I am not talking about the cookie cutter stuff that comes out of Nashville (though I admit, I can appreciate some of that on a rare occasion), but I am talking about the country genre that, for me, is populated by people like Steve Earle, Lucinda Willams, Guy Clark, Kelly Willis, Johnny Cash and hundreds of other artists that most have never heard of.. If the argument is, "if I take every great artist from the country genre and put them someplace that works better for me, do you still like country music?" I mean, a point have made before, if I say "I love rock-n'roll" does that mean I live in some fantasy world where "classic" Nickleback should be critically compared to vintage Stones?

I think the only guy remaining from those Bills teams that has a really good chance of making it is Bill Polian. He is one a very small handful of great GM's of the last 30 years or so. It may take years, mainly because only one "old-timer" or "contributer" can make it per year...but he should get in. Also, I agree jboyst, Tasker deserves strong consideration...he was likely responsible, during that 4 year reign over the AFC, for about 5 or 6 wins, all on his own. And his football smarts and awareness contributed even more to so many of those games...all the comebacks...Broncos, Raiders... My fear with Tasker, though, once they start considering more special teamers (Ray Guy got in, today, so it is happening) they will look at stats...Tasker didn't really return kicks...he didn't kick field goals, he didn't punt the ball... so on paper, his contributions won't seem as great, especially as time goes on, and return men start getting in...unless he makes it in the next year or two, I fear, he will be waiting til he is very elderly to join the HOF ranks. Can only imagine the hand wringing in 2025 when Bill Bates (Cowboys) gets in the HOF over Tasker!

It isn't really that Williams got in over Charles Haley. They could have both made it. Both are very deserving IMO. Haley is one of those examples of a really great player (rings with 2 different teams, many Pro-Bowls at two different positions...a game changer. But, he was a bad/crazy dude off the field. Fair or not, that is a factor, I am sure. And for those complaining about Irving being in...I agree, Reed would have been in before Irvin. However, that doesn't mean that Irving doesn't belong. Reed and Irvin had comparable stats...Reed might even have an edge in some ways...but not that big of an edge...so to argue that Irvin doesn't belong is, in a way, arguing that Reed doesn't belong. We all know, rings impress the voters...Irvin has them, Andre does not...but they were both great players.

Actually Noodlearm, if you count Lofton it is 6: Marv Levy HOF 2001 Jim Kelly HOF 2002 James Lofton 2003 Thurman Thomas HOF 2007 Bruce Smith HOF 2009 Andre Reed HOF 2014 and...if you want to count Ralph...it would be 7! Other outside shots: Steve Tasker, Bill Polian!

To all of you who have repeatedly claimed, over the years, that Reed does not belong in the HOF (there are a lot of you at TBD): SUCK IT! An honor well deserved for Andre Reed, and long overdue.

I have really pondered these questions...I can think of few artists that I haven't seen (during my time) that I wanted to see...I have always been one to go the extra mile (or 100, 200, 300) to see live music. Getting out of work tonight, heading straight to Dallas (3.5 hours) to see one of my favorite bands at a club, and driving right back... I have gone to some rediculous lengths to see bands/artists that I really dig. After thinking about it hard: #1- Townes Van Zandt. I was lucky enough to see his final performance in the US, almost 3 months to the day before he died. I probably saw him about 20 times over the years, his music has always been important to me...I feel kind of blessed to have been one of the 75 or so people at that show. #2- Bo Diddley- I have pretty much seen all the early rock-n'rollers that were still living past 1980 or so..but I never saw Bo. I would also say, never saw the "real" Led Zeppelin. I still remember the day that their show was announced for the Aud in Buffalo...you had to mail your name in, to be put in a lottery to win the priveledge to get tickets. My best friend and I did our due dilligence to mail our names off....and not a day later (or was it two?) Jon Bonham died. No Bonham, not Zeppelin! Funny thing is, I think I like them more now, than I did then. At that age, I just wanted to see any band that played at the Aud... the bigger the better!