Buftex

Eeech....accidentally stumbled onto the PPP...

For me (I have been to 22 of the current stadiums for games, granted 3 of them were preseason games, not quite the same), there are some vaiables. as OP mentions, city, as well as stadium. For me, New Orleans is probably my favorite, becasue I love that city, despite all its' woes. I have not been there for a game since Katrina (hoping to see the Bills later this season, though finances may prevent it), but I have always had a blast, and I love the music. Pre-Katrina, ironically, I would have rated the stadium among the worst, however. It was kind of dumpy, dirty, and frankly, kind of sad...a second rate facility, IMO. But I still had a blast...the stadium (dome) couldn't ruin a Bills ass-kicking of the Saints, or a huge, nail-biter in 1992. Also saw a Chiefs/Saints overtime game there, during the Haslett era (2006? 2007?), which was really fun...great fans. The whole city is virtually one big tail-gate party, and, if you are staying in the city, you can literally walk up to the stadium fpr the game, and stagger back to your hotel room afterwards... But, honeslty, all the bells and whistles of modern stadiums, while nice, really leave me cold... when I was a lad, growing up in Buffalo, having season tickets from 1980-1987, the no frills of Rich Stadium kind of built my perceptions of how a game should be...we would sit in our seats, upper deck, and everyone in the section hung on every play, we all knew what was going on, all the time, without a mile long scoreboard and all that other stuff. The only technology involved were stadium lights, and normally, somebody had a "C" cell battery driven radio droning on, just audible enough to hear Van Millers call, if you really strained your ears. Still gives me goose bumps remembering Cornelius Bennett wreaking havoc on the Broncos in 1987, in his first appearence with the Bills...the place was shaking... almost as much as the opening day introduction of new Bills QB, Jim Kelly, on opeing day in 1986. Cowboys stadium is a great facility, granted, but I don't really enjoy games there, if that makes sense...too much going on all the time...way too expensive...football seems secondary. I live close enough to Dallas/Ft Worth that I have been there enough to know...I don't hate the city, but I don't love it either...I have been to a few games there, both Bills, and non-Bills. Don't hate it, but not my favorite.... I agree with MClem06...Raymond James, in Tampa is awesome! Cool, modern, facility, but a football stadium through and through. Hot as !@#$ in September (when I was there), but the upside to that is, lots of "eye-candy"! And, the fans are nice! Tons of transplanted WNYers! Of the modern "state of the art" facilities I have been to, I would also rank Reliant stadium in Houston right up there. Fans really do make a difference on game day. I have to say, going to see the Bills against the Giants and the Jets (in the same facility) the experience is completely different. Jets fans are just not a great lot to watch a game with...I have been to 5 Jets games at the old Meadowlands...I would be tempted to give the Jets fans some slack, because I am always rooting for (not in an obnoxious way, but in a visable way) for the Bills, one of their division rivals. However, I went to a Jets/Eagles game back in the early 90's, and it was a pretty horrid/tense atmosphere. I have seen the Bills play the Giants twice at the Meadowlands (the old and the new) and I found Giants fans, in general (always a douche or two in every crowd) to be a pretty decent lot. The new Medowlands is beutiful inside (not outside..it is still in New Jersey!), but, like Dallas, the fans don't always seem very engaged in the game...my buddy and I sat next to some very attractive ladies there a few seasons ago...they just kept getting up and down every 10 minutes to go get more concessions, or meet friends in other sections...that was kind of a drag...they were much less attractive by the end of the game...the Bills blowing the game didn't help. I suppose it is indicitive of the times thatn the place, but people seem to have their eyes on their cell-phones more than the game. Still though, their are hard-core Giants fans, and from what I have expereinced, they aren't out and out a-holes to fans of the visiting team. At Jets games, Firemen Ed aside, I just got the sense that there just aren't as many die-hard Jet fans, many are there to get pie-eyed, and to fight...sadly, I would probably have a similar impression of Ralph Wilson Stadium after my last few games there.

Chef, I know you love advice... I swear, if you ever find the time and/or desire to watch one televison show, give "Breaking Bad" another chance. The first season (only 7 episodes...writers strike!) is a bit dreary... but it is really an amazing show... defitely dark subject matter, and not super uplifting in its story...but uplifting when you step back and realize what a great piece of work this is, and that it has managed to transcend the medium of television, in a way that few other programs have. Don't know if you are a big movie buff, but to me, "Jaws" (a great movie) marked the begining of the slow, painful death of the American movie industry...it started a slow descent into "summer blockbusters" and awful scripts. Before that, say 1967-1973, Hollywood produced some of the greatest movies of all time. Now, IMO, all the great Hollywood "movie" makers, are working on the small screen, television, producing mini-masterpieces. Saw something the other day, where they were saying the "Breaking Bad" was the first series that, coneptually, set out to transform a character to its' polar opposite, over the run of the show. The whole notion of "breaking bad" is painstakingly laid out before you... For those of you who can't wait...pretty chilling trailer for the upcoming finale:

If this is true (and I don't think it is) than the Bills are more fugged (or just as fugged for some) as some think they are.

eball, for the most part I agree with your sentiment...but I hardly think this is just the "Buffalo sports media" that is guilty of what you speak of. Let's face it, sports get an obscene amount of attention from media, and it just entertainment. Condemn the reporter for getting under Marrones' skin, but look at the reaction from so many fans when it was learned that Mario Williams would miss the first practice...look at the embarrassing obsession so many had with Marios' off the field romantic woes...its' what we have become...ESPN has built an empire on this. These reporters just feed off of what we are interested in, as a collective. As Doug Marrone pointed out, correctly, they are doing their job... controversy, real or fabricated, is what seems to drive everything these days. Not to get too far out there, but we saw it with Tim Tebow and the Jets last football season... and we (I am as guilty as anyone, I am not talking down to anyone here) eat it up...until the next "controversy" erupts. I suspect (hope) all the hub-bub about Mario Williams will die down, as soon as he takes the practice field for a few days, and has no further issues...

Do we know if the first game is on live, on NFLN? Or, are we just hoping? The unusual Sunday afternoon time kind of lends itself to that...been checking the NFL Network schedule on-line...so far they only have their schedule posted through August 4th (normally they are a month ahead)....can't even find out the re-broadcast shcedules...I think Rich Eisen, Warren Sapp, Marshall Faulk and Ian Rappaport are going to host a 5 hour special on NFLN called "unveilng the 2013 NFL PRE-Season exhibition rebroadcast schedule" this coming weekend! Football is in the air!

I have been buying and selling on EBAY for about 15 years. I can honestly say, in all that wheeling and dealing (I have a 3700+ rating) I have had less than 10 transactions that have had problems. My biggest beef with EBAY, it is tilted completely in favor of the buyer these days. And, their fees have gotten so high (20% on high dollar items, plus a % of your shipping charge, and a PAYPAL fee...also owned by EBAY), in estimation, it really isn't worth selling cheaper items on EBAY these days...I make out much better as a buyer than a seller. PTR- I had something a little similar to you, happen last summer. I purchased a copy of Madden 13 for PS3 for a mere $30 (+ $5 for shipping)..most were selling it for about $50-65. The item was listed as a "USA" seller... So, it took about a month to get the game....it came from China, not the USA. What I got was a "bootleg" of the game with a poor reproduction of the cover art for Madden 2013, and the artwork for Madden 2012 on the disc. No instructions for the game, only an index size card with instructions, in poor English, on how to "rip" my PS3 player to play the game. I didn't follow the instructions...I didn't even try. I reported it to EBAY...my money (including postage) was refunded immediately, and the seller, I learned, had been barred from EBAY. I actually received an email from EBAY, right after I made the purchase, warning me that the seller might be fraudulent. I didn't have to mail anything back to the seller, my money was refunded right away. When I went to leave negative feedback for the seller, the transaction had completely been deleted from my account...I am guessing, as others have said, I am not out any money (just frustrated), and EBAY would like to keep negative feedback to a minimum...bad for advertising. As a seller I can tell you (not saying this is you PTR, your item was defective), pretty much any problem I have had with a buyer has been the result of them not paying for what they agreed to purchase, or from them not reading the listing. What sucks is, a buyer can leave you a negative feedback at their leisure, but the seller has no recourse. Not long ago, I sold a heavy, box-set of the Sopranos series to a guy in Brooklyn. This thing was massive, and weighed about 15 lbs. The guy took a few weeks to pay, I mailed him the item (he paid about $70 for the set, plus $10 for shipping...shipping was actually closer to $25), and gave me very emphatic instructions on how to pack his item....it was returned to me, as there was nobody at the address with his name. I asked him to verify his address...he gave me a completely different address (not the same as the listed on his EBAY and PAYPAL accounts)...he complained about how long it was taking....never acknowledging that he never gave me the address he wanted the item sent to ("I buy stuff all the time, have never had this problem" he claimed, though his feedback showed that he hadn't purchased anything in EBAY in over a year)...the guy was a complete dick....but knowing, as a buyer, I am !@#$ed if the transaction goes bad, I sent it again...so I paid close to $50 in shipping for something that I I only got $80 for...subtract the EBAY/Paypal charges I ended up making about $15... a complete waste of time...the guy got a great deal...

Didn't they start using replay around 1987?

Ridiculous.

It's funny, about Woods. Over the last couple of weeks the PAC 12 network has been re-running a bunch of "best of 2012" games, a number of which included USC. Having only read about Woods, and never actually seeing him play (that I remember) I watched a fair amount of 3 games. Honestly, as a pass catcher, Woods didn't really stand out as much as I was expecting...it seemed like USC's passing game was mostly Barkley to Marquise Lee (he is very impressive!)...Woods receptions were mostly short passes to the sidelines, or just over the line of scrimmage for short yardage. Where Woods really stood out, was in the physical aspects of the game....he really seems to enjoy mixing it up as a blocker, and making whatever contact necessary to make a short, tough, catch. He plays with an attitude that I can't recall any Bills receiver having in some time..maybe Eric Moulds (though he didn't look to have the big play potential of EM), before he resorted to just complaining about how he was interfered with on every play. The "film study" also gave me a nice look at Nickel Robey...I am surprised he went undrafted. Kiko Alonso was very impressive in one game against USC. The kid is fast, and really seems to relish making a big hit.

Hey, the way things are going, all Bills playoff games are classic...

I wish they would just unveil a nice, shiney, scuffed up, finger-print covered Stanley Cup....silver would be just fine!

Not trying to be contentious, but other than wanting to get paid an insane of money to stay, what else makes you think that Byrd doesn't want to be in Buffalo? Are the reasons just the money, or is there something that you have seen/heard that indicates he doesn't like being in Buffalo? From everything I have heard, he likes Buffalo a lot. Of course, a lot has changed since just last season. I don't want the Bills to break the bank to sign Byrd long-term, but I would hate to see him leave.To think, all the times the Bills have traded up in the draft in recent years, Byrd (if memory serves me) is the only one who actually panned out...

Beware the hoodie!

I am in sort of a similar situation right now AJ. Only difference is, nothing has been leaked, but I can see the writing on the wall. I work for the University of Texas...my job falls into the Parking and Transportation division of the University. Recently, the university president gave a "state of the union" address in which he stressed the pressures from the state to streamline operations as much as possible, make more income, without raising tuition. As I was listening, I was cognisent of the fact that our department makes a **** ton of money, but they could make a **** ton more if their prices were more competitive with that of the "real world" (ie: higher)...sure enough, within a month or two, I started reading about other large universities across the country contracting out their transportation services to the highest bidder. It isn't official, and we don't gossip at work much, but I am about 90% sure we are headed down that road in the near future. People have left, and not been replaced...cutting back on part-time workers... we are not any less busy than we were before, so these decisions, obviously are being made to stream-line for a sale... I am actively looking for something else. This is the first job I have ever had that I don't feel a ton of attachment too... I have seen this before.... from 1993-2001 I managed a Tower Records store...for about the last three years there, the company was always rumored to be going out of business...stores were shutting down every few months, with very little warning. Our store was always on the "stores most likely" to get the ax list...straddling the Mendoza line between being a money maker, or a money loser...we always made money, but never enough to meet expectations. Like Just Jack suggested, I just kept my nose to the grindstone for those last three years...it was difficult...morale throughout the company got worse with each passing month and store closure. I never dreamed of quitting that job, as I had some of the best times of my life there...but, after a few years of feeling like there was a piano always dangling over my head, I finally bailed...I wanted to stay through to the end (which was definitely coming), but after talking to my peers who had gone through the same thing, and their stores had already closed, I was convinced to do what was best for me, not for "them"... I had put in nearly 12 years with that company, but the people who hired me, who ran the whole thing were mostly gone at that point... the stress of knowing something bad was going to happen, but not knowing exactly when, was just too much for me. The store lasted about another year after I left...the whole company folded shortly thereafter. Good luck AJ....you will land on your feet, no matter what happens...just sorry to see good people going through this kind of thing.

Whoa...whoa..whoa....

The apple doesn't fall far from where you drop it!

I have not read this thread in its' entirety, so forgive me if this has already been said...I love Ron Jaworkski, the Buffalo guy and all...while he likely knows or thing or two more than the rest of us about playing QB, lets' not forget that he has been horribly off in recent years, in assessing QBs. His word is not "gold" for me. He has been working coaching, or tutoring (whatever word you want to use) young college prospects, and even some guys who are already in the NFL...it seems to me his opinions on certain guys are influenced by the guy$ he works with.

A nice set of EJ3 for sale! http://www.ebay.com/itm/181172965373?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_1052wt_1170A

Any word on whether the Browns will (or did) meet his request?

Chip off the old block...

And its' not even from the Onion! Just shared the story with a co-worker who actually has a Cleveland Browns tatoo on is arm...he got a pretty good laugh out of it... we have an on-going thing..we can both bust on eachothers' crappy teams, no harm-no foul...but we won't take any crap from the Cowboys fans that surround us...its' sort of the sports equivalent of: "its' okay for a black person to use the n-word, but heaven forbid a white person use it!"

They should run together as the Weiner-Spitzer ticket, yah?

Thanks for the info...let me ask though (forgive my techno-ignorance) if you use wireless cable for the lap-top, do you still have to run actual cords into the laptop to get internet reception? You say this increases the speed, do you mean that the picture doesn't buffer and lag, as is common with some of these feeds? I have been subscribing to NHL Center Ice and a half season of the NBA package every year...given that both my teams will likely suck this year (Sabres and Celtics) I would love to save a little money...I guess I need an HDMI adapter. I use firtstrow from time to time...frustrating thing about is the tendency to shut-down before a game is actually over. Happened a few times during Celtics games last season (missed a few "fantastic finishes")...for NFL, I subscribe to NFL Rewind...it is pretty cool. Granted, you can't watch the games live, but I prefer to go to the bar and watch with those simalarly afflicted...then I rewatch the game, in chunks, throughout the week...picture is perfect!