Buftex

Yes, the Bills/Lions have been playing a pre-season game for as long as I can remember... but the pics I am talking about are definitely the Bills and Bears. Bills are in all-white. I believe, that would have indicate the game was in Chicago...but, as I said, the stadium looks barren, leading me to believe it was a scrimmage...but maybe not. Have to do more research....

Nice find...1972 was the earliest Bills season I remember...but I didin't really remember Ken Lee either. Love the old highlight films. Love the first highlight "As usual the Bills were raring to go..." as the kicker misses the ball on the opening kickoff...40 years later and things don't change much, do they?

Well, we'll have to take solace that, outside of Darcy, most NHL teams fire coaches and GM's at the first sign of turbulance...Dudley will likely become available sooner than later.

Very cool pictures. My late uncle used to take a lot of Bills photos back in that era... he was a photographer, so they are really nicely done portrait photos, and some in-game action photos as well. He wasn't employed by the Bills, or by the NFL, so I am not really sure under what pretense the photos were taken, but they are really cool. We found an awesome stash, late 60's, maybe early 70's of what looks to be a Bills-Bears game. Strange thing is, though, from the backround, it looks like it might be a scrimmage, cuz there are few in the stands. He also took lots of celebrity portrait photos for Melody Fair. Any of you oldtimers know if the Bills/Bears did pre-season scrimmages in the late 60's early 70's? What I find interesting here (and most places where you see old photos) it that these "MEN" look much older than they would today. Maybe it is just the hairstyles, or whatever....but these guys (especially the white guys) are probably all in their mid-late 20's but they look about 10 years older. Flips me out every time I see a picuture of Hank Williams Sr...he looks about 60, but he was only 27 when he died.

Yeah, that is Billy Shaw in Pic #3.

#56 sort of looks like Schottenheimer...but IIRC he was #57.

I think, as much as anything, the new Bears regime really didn't want to bring him back, so they low-balled him..made him an offer they knew he would refuse. This is sort of a passive agressive way of trying to pass the blame onto the "greedy player", as his departure is likely to piss off some Bears fans. I think this type of thing happens a lot, when you see aging star players leaving their long-time teams. The Bears probably didn't expect him to go public with the dollar figures. With a new coach, are probably thinking long-term, and want to move on from the Lovie Smith era...Urlacher, maybe the most beloved current Bears player probably overestimated the value of that status. In truth, he is a very talented player, with a lot of mieage, and a long history of injury. I have no doubt he can still contribute (I think he was more overrated earlier in his career, and got much better over time), but investing a lot in him at this point doesn't make a lot of sense for the Bears. Under Trestman, it appears, the Bears are putting most of their eggs in the offensive basket...

I thought Buffalo was behind Detroit, as far as tv ratings go. This is kind of funny...

Is it me, or does it seem like a handful of teams (Patriots. Titans, Dolphins) seem to have signed, or be rumoured to sign nearly every high-profile FA...there seem to be a number of teams, this year, who hare sitting on the sidelines, waiting to see what is left. When you see the crawler on the NFL Network of top FA players available at each position, there are still a lot of big name players (not necessarily saying they are good players) available in FA. I am not saying that the Bills don't spend money, but with their new "moneyball" philosophy, it only makes sense to let other teams overpay for the big-name guys, and get decent players, later, when their price isn't being driven up by other teams. The Lawson signing, though not one that got a lot of headlines, I think, may prove to be pretty shrewd, and indicitive of how the Bills are approaching things. In theory, they aren't overpaying for a guy who, if all things go as planned, will enhance the Mario Williams investment they made last year. For all intents and purposes, Mario Williams was our "franchise QB" last season. When you get a franchise QB, you keep adding pieces to maximize his effectiveness. There are pretty good odds that a lot of the guys who are amongst this first wave of signings will be busts with their new teams. My frustration with the Bills right now is not so much the lack of signings (they will have a 52 man roster in Sept. like everyone else), it is just, for the first time that I can remember, I have absolutely no idea (right or wrong) about our new head coach. Maybe frustration is the wrong word..just mystified.

Thanks all...another year over, and a new one just begun...very much a "no frills" kind of birthday...I did a little too much SXSW this past week...I am getting old, I can still feel it...especially in my knees....may have to try that gin and white raisin treatment! Just got off the phone with my dad...man he can talk...my ear is sore! Funny, when I saw it was Venting Hogs birthday, the name looked Vietnamese....okay, I drank a few Shiners while my dad was yacking away! A fine choice Mr Boyst! I actually went to see Merle at the rodeo this past Sunday...he was great...but, like me, he is getting old! Still one of my favorites!

Yeah, I will agree with you there...I just don't see Dudley leaving the Habs, especially with the kind of season they are having...they seem on the cusp of some very good things... Roy would certainly be intriguing.

Not to go off on a tangent...but I subscribe to that NFL Rewind every year...I purchase the pre-season package, the regular season, and the playoffs. I like to go back to watch things during the season...based on your post, I went back, just now to see if I could access anything in the off-season..of course not..freaking NFL! They want 24.99 to go back and access this past season through July 31st, 2013. I love football, but I really resent the NFL's mizerly stance toward fans sometimes!

Yeah, that wasn't really the gist of what they were saying...perhaps I explained it poorly...sending Grigorenko down to Quebec would help insure Roy some success at that level, and open him up to coming to Buffalo.

Is that good or bad?

I would bet most of us root for the Bills because we were born into the blood.

Hey Lurker, not sure if you listen to GR55. This is in line with what Exiled In Illinois was referring to. The guys on the morning show are speculating that Grigorenko was sent down to Quebec, cuz the Sabres season is dead, and he could help the Remparts out in their title quest...this, they speculate, would be to help out the next Sabres coach, Patrick Roy. Not sure how much, if any stock to put into this, but it is nice to think about. Roy has been bandied about as a GM and coaching candidate for a few years now. Apparently, he, personally, wasn't ready to make the jump to the NHL just yet (family reasons), but now has interest. All that said, Sabres may have played their best period of hockey last night against the Habs, in the first period. They were flying...and then, played a decent second period (somehting they almost never do) before looking more like the 2012-13 (or is it just 2013 Sabres?) in the third, coughing up a two goal lead...nice to see Ott get the game winner in OT. But man, does every freaking game have to go into OT? What do you know, they did change the lines a bit last night, and it seemed to have a positive effect, overall...much more energetic team overrall.

Yes, I think all the Happy Days related shows were spin-offs of the orignial show. Now, I am pretty sure "All In the Family" had a spin-off or two from spin-offs, if that makes sense. "Maude" was a spin-off of "All In the Family" and, belivieve it or not, "Good Times" was a spin-off from "Maude". All pretty long-running and successful shows. This may not count, but an interesting bit of tv spin-off trivia...there was MASH...then you had the short-lived "After-MASH"...but you also had the even shorter lived "Radar" which aired for a whopping 1 episode.

At the start of the season, when the debate was whether to keep him in Buffalo or send him back to Quebec, the conventional wisdom was "there is nothing left for him to do down there....he isn't going to learn anything more in Quebec"... his first game back, he finished with a goal and three assists.

I am not sure if that is part of it, but I think it may be an unintended positive result of the move. Anyone know the rule here...does this mean they can't bring Grigorenko back this year? I don't forsee any reason they should (they aren't going anywhere, so the circumstances of his demotion to Quebec won't change, as far at the team goes), just curious. Heard on GR that the Sabres are shaking up the lines a lot, tonight for the Canadians game. We are going to see Hodgson, Vanek and Ott on the same line...that could be interesting. Pomminville to the second line. Enroth in goal.

Having someone take the time to point out a typo is a little bit better!

So, I just read this article on the Huffigton Post about this past weeks episode. I guess there is much more going on with this show than I realized...or maybe you have to read the comics to get the whole thing...it just confirms, for me, that the writing on this show sucks. Obviously, don't read this if you haven't seen this past weeks episode. http://www.huffingto...l?utm_hp_ref=tv

Not sure if he'll be great, but since the Bills are never going to get an "established genious" to come and run things, some of us are just crossing our fingers that Whaley is the next "dumb luck" move by the Bills...they hit with Bill Polian 25 years ago...it is bound to happen again. Polian had a little bit of a track record in the USFL at that point, but nobody was asking the Bills permission to talk to them about their GM position. Of course, we don't know if Whaley will be better, but there is a sense that the way things are going now is less than satisfactory. He is a young guy, who has been around for a while, and yes, he came up with a model NFL franchise. The Bills have not had a lot of success going with guys that the owner is comfortable with.

Hey, I would be happy if they didn't play any home game in Buffalo, as long as it keeps the franchise in Buffalo!

That may sound fugged up...but, unfortunately, our team has left us with little else to hope for...

Not too shabby....obviously took after her mother! http://www.athleteswives.com/2009/11/janet-jones-wayne-gretzky-wife/