AKC

A beer at the Wooden Nickel, ski boots at Howden's and a bong from the head shop across from the Central Hotel- Who says nothing ever changes in Olean :-( It's a party- as soon as the schedule comes out we'll get some time back there. It's been a LONG time since I had a decent BOW.

We've got to get you out just a leeetle bit more often ;-) Olean Beef on Wicks maybe August? We're trying to get some time in WNY this year. Big Bob'll send mustard with us.

As much as I loved his play on the field, I find his work in the booth rivaling the worst in the game- Theisman and Randy Cross. Some of his top bonehead statements today included the "He's as calm as a................fountain" Uh- perhaps a broken fountain might offer a "calm" look at standing water, but doesn't any functioning fountain pretty much promise some amount of chaos? How about the statement regarding a Titan first down at their own 27- "It's great field position" Huh? I won't go any further since the fountain thing is off the freakin' charts- Steve Tasker was always game on the field of play. Clearly though, he's overmatched trying to call a game.

Congrats SK- Good luck with the experiment at QB- today it worked out very well for you. I'll be happy if you can overcome the challenges to making the playoffs- good luck and Merry Christmas. Forgive me if I feel just a little like Santa ;-)

Merry Merry to you and your's Brother S- I'm trying to find that a fitting ending to the season but I'm not quite there yet ;-)

It's funny because with 57 seconds on the clock my first reaction was that it didn't appear to me there was a middle receiver looking for a 7 or 8 yard gift, giving us an easy spike and FG?

I'm with you on many things, but if the Lizard has to wear a Sports Bra I'll sit the season out. Jimmy Johnson was an awful NFL coach blessed with a "perfect storm" of draft picks coming out of a college program where he got to scout virtually every player's career the Cowboy's were looking at as a result of the Viking's imbecilic trade. He won on personell, not coaching. Which is why Switzer for God's sake won with the same talent and why Johnson never won anything after that.

Feel however you want about long time posters, but long time Bill's fans get no more respect in this forum than trolls. I need to know no more about Frez than he's been a Bill's fan all his life to respect him. There is a big value in it. As to the Royal end zone dance- I'm guessing that after 4 costly drops in the first half of the season, a team without a TE postions coach asks their WR coach to get in his head. And the simple thing for Tyke Tolbert to do then was to improve RRoyal's receiving skills by instrucing him to: Forget your feet completely, get the ball in your hands and pull it in to your body. If in fact that's been the strategy adopted by the coaching staff, it's been pretty effective. Royal has had a 5 or 6 game stretch of very effective ball as a receiver. He's in fact looked like a different receiver over the last 5 or 6 games. That change may have had a big price that we paid today, but overall that change has been a plus for the team. I'm personally reluctant to complain about something if it seems to be an overall plus. Just speculation- I could be wrong. No need to respect my guesses but I'm happy to consider yours.

The same argument could be made to cut the opposite way: 1) Let's assume (and I'd sign on to this) that big market players are more likely to get tons of votes simply because they play in front of a larger fan base. In contrast the smaller market players have to really have big games to get enough national attention to offset the homer votes for large market players. 2) And also let's adopt your conclusion that in many cases a Pro-Bowl selection inflates a player's salary prospects. A couple of reasonable assumptions based on the above would be: A) Many large market players of lesser skills but Pro-Bowl berths are being paid more than their smaller market counterparts who are actually better players. B) Small market teams benefit by retaining highly skilled players who in larger markets might earn Pro-Bowl slots and higher paydays, giving he small market team more flexibility in Cap structuring. Ain't parity a wonderful thing!

I had reservations about The Lizard over the opening 1/4 of the season, with all the trick and risky plays he was throwing out that arguably cost us a game or two. Over the season though it's become clear that we're not really a complete enough team yet to fully compete "mano a mano" against the best teams in the league and he was simply looking to gain an edge we weren't going to get playing some teams straight up. Giving up the first NE game after turning the ball over on 4th down at the NE 7 in the second half is still impacting our season, but the strategy he ran with this season might be the only way we'd be at .500 right now. With another strong draft to follow Marv's first, we could become a very interesting football team in 2007.

Playing Spyglass Wednesday the 27th ;-)

Vacation with the dogs- what's better than "America's most dog-friendly city"? The only art I'll see up there is the Canine Poker match hanging on the wall at Sade's. Urp.........

If anyone knows of a Bill's Bar in the area, please give me a head's up. Thanks-

The State of New York has an office called President?

I'd guess about 20% of their old LA fan base has remained loyal throughout, seeing the inevitable "Patriots effect" after their Super Bowl win with a whole new slew of "lifetime Ram's fans".

London is all football player, and he's been one of my favorite Bill's for a long time. His failure to make the Pro Bowl puts him in a long line of the deserved who will be bumped in favor of the guys getting national exposure through endorsements or media hype. All that being true, London strikes me as the kind of player who will go out fighting, and that really will be much better for him to do playing in a 3-4 in his final years. He'll probably get 2 extra seasons playing inside in a 3-4 versus losing ground to age in our cover 2 set. Unfortunately for London the clock for his next contract is on the less favorable side of his age, and methinks the team and his agent may have significant differences between what they both deem to be market value for him this off-season.

Tom Flores tossed 93 TD passes in his career- JP's father Greg is a white guy and an exceptional athlete- MLB quality. His mom is Mexican and American Indian, and proud for every reason about both. That makes JP an All-American. Not to mention that he's the first Bill's presumed starting QB in over 20 years to fully embrace the community from the onset and hope to make the town his own. I love JK, but we all know he had to warm up to Buffalo over time. JP has gotten into the town, bought a home in the downtown area, and publicly considered investment in the area near Children's Hospital. Forget the field- this kid is the real deal off it and no one should be confused. As with all Bill's QB's, I hope he matures into a historic Field General. At the same time I'm absolutely proud that the man starting at QB in our offense is clearly a huge asset to our community.

Actually, I see thay weren't even bailed out for all of those- one game they ended up donating 3000 tickets to get over the hump. Below is an NFL Press Release re: San Diego's Home Opener (and even this required a 24 hours extension from the league)- check out this line in the story- Every NFL game is sold out in consecutive weeks at the start of a season for the first time in league history. The Chargers game was the last to sell out. Chargers Bailed Out for Home Opener

Well then please, Archimedes, share with us those points of analysis leading to your postulation that total fans in seats has no correlation to fan quality. I had planned on watching Blazing Saddles tonight but your response will surely satisfy the jocularity I'm craving!

The 2006 Chargers are team who have been bailed out by local businesses 3 times already this season to avoid local TV blackouts, and that in a Stadium that only holds about 67,000 people. Tickets are available in their little stadium for anyone who wants to go to games.

I'd say you've adopted the only stat that is in any way misleading. We have more fans show up every Sunday to watch a team that's 5-6 than the Chargers have show up to watch a team who was in the playoffs last year and has a 9-2 record this year. Challenges to our fans: A) Lower per capita income/less disposable income B) A population base of only 270K versus 1.2 million in San Diego C) What most would consider far less attractive weather conditions for those who come to the game After all this, the Bills have more faithful fans than the Chargers- and I meanmore in every way. What's "misleading" about a clearly superior and more dedicated fan base who show up in greater numbers every week of the season? It's no wonder the Chargers are desperate to get away from one of the worst fan situations in the country.

Clearly if a 9-2 team can't outdraw our current product, their region has some SERIOUS fan problems. Can you say Mayflower Movers!?! 2006 NFL Attendance

The Bills attendance this season is higher than the Chargers, by about 5000 fans a game.

That appears to be the plan being pushed by the new fan group that's organized in Anaheim. Local company Disney is rumored to have offered substantial stadium funding in return for a Jimminy Cricket icon appearing on the shoulders of their player jerseys.

Your drive to see the Anaheim Chargers will only be about 15 minutes?