The Frankish Reich

And for those who joined late, a clarification: Not the Minnesota Vikings Football Club. No. The actual Norse Vikings of nine centuries ago. They would play Kick the Irish Monk's Skull in gale force winds.

I haven't followed that string of citations, but off the top of my head it wouldn't surprise me if this is correct. Yes, we have a territorial dispute. And yes too, religious fanaticism is certainly making it worse.

Checking the hourly on Wunderground for OP, looks like 80% chance of snow at game time right now, with 25 mph winds. That is ... debilitating. NWS says a "blizzard" needs 35 mph winds, so not quite there, but really close. But of course it is so localized that you never really know till morning.

I'm afraid you're right. Intense cold? Probably worse in KC. Snow? Could be just as bad in Green Bay. Wind? Well, NE and Chicago can give us a run for our money any given Sunday. All 3 at once? Now that's an Orchard Park Special.

Exactly. From a pure football fan's perspective, I'd like to see a game where each team's strengths and weaknesses actually factor into the result, rather than having the result dictated by a boomerang punt into the wind or a slick/frozen hands fumble or three.

So you would agree that the way the game played out was basically a roll of the dice. Nathan Peterman actually performed well (!). If that's not enough to convince you, nothing will.

Dome, no dome, whatever. But do you have to build the new stadium on the same Orchard Park site? How about somewhere a little outside the worst lake effect area?

I saw the story on the ICJ on CNN World this morning.

We were already in the playoffs. We'd have played backups. I don't think people are getting the difference between ordinary "bad weather" and the kind of conditions we played in vs. the Colts in 2017 (sustained massive snow but no wind; we pulled it off in OT with Joe Webb playing QB - that just shows how flukey the conditions made it) or vs. the Pats in 2021 on Monday night (they won with Mac Jones throwing 3 passes). THAT's the kind of weather I'm talking about. If we get that, it's basically a coin flip.

Well, it's obviously all hypothetical. But ... yes.

Weird, but this year is probably the best one for pulling the old Belichick Special - trading down to stockpile non-QB talent. They draft 4th in a draft with 3 blue chip players, including 2 QBs. True. The "rebuilding mode" is a lot quicker now than it used to be. Beane and McD tore it down pretty good and we were championship quality in a couple years. You gotta be smart and at least a little bit lucky (Allen, Stroud)

I still say I'd rather have Miami in Miami than Pittsburgh in a Buffalo blizzard. If only weather forecasting was an exact science one week out.

Too much uncertainty re: conditions in the stadium 49 hours from now. If the wind is 40 mph as kickoff approaches, run to/log on your favorite sports book if it still gives you those odds! And bet the under.

Only because my supply of German beer may be threatened if this continues. And some nice Riesling too.

Right. The Bills probably beat the Steelers 8 out of 10 times in a dome. In a snowstorm? Maybe 5 or 6 out of 10. It increases randomness, which plays to the benefit of the lesser team. Maybe we should've played Kyle Allen last week in Miami ....

Let's see: - we are in a shooting proxy war with Iran, via the Houthis in Yemen - Iowa is about to give it's primary votes to an indicted felon - The U.S. Government is less than a week from a partial shutdown - Hunter Biden just entered another plea after trolling Republican reps the day before - A massive winter storm is bearing down on over half of the country - There are still thousands of immigrants streaming in every day and being bused to freezing cities that don't know what to do with them - Russia continues to bombard Ukraine - Poland is having another minor constitutional crisis - Cartels are taking over TV stations in Ecuador Under these circumstances, I think the term is "bottom story of the day."

I'm not seeing any info about what they're doing for a GM. I assume Mayo won't get the BB full control thing.

Of all the former Pats, he's unfortunately one of the hardest to hate. I'm gonna have to recalibrate my brain.

Dammit. Weather is the great neutralizer. The better team should always prefer good weather. Cue the Joe Webb package.

And it gets worse with Romney leaving the Senate. And a lot of traditional conservative Representatives leaving under threat of some Trumpist primary challenger ousting them.

Posts right after this one prove your point. They - and I - would think it's absurd to say, "you're to blame for having your car broken into ... after all, you parked it in San Francisco and locked it, but without concealing all items in your trunk first." But apply that to January 6, and all of a sudden it's "there wasn't a National Guard presence there to deter them, so they can't be blamed." Or maybe "some old guys named Donald or Ray suggested it might be a good idea to storm the Capitol and I was powerless to resist."

I dunno. Maybe because most criminal defense attorneys are Democrats? Or maybe because hiring an attorney with ties to the Democratic Party makes you seem a little bit less of a right wing nutcase and may help you secure a better deal? I dunno again. Maybe because they are criminal defense lawyers and they're used to defending all sorts of unpleasant people, like drug dealers, fraudsters, sexual assaulters, etc?

That's it, Frank the Man. Or The Man Frank. And no need for divine intervention to crush those January 6 cockroaches. Just good old law enforcement.

Yep. Art is a weird world.

I actually think some of it is kinda good. Like, nice paintings to hang on the walls of a trendy coffee place. I would buy one at an art fair for a few hundred bucks. Not a few hundred thousand though ….