SoMAn

It’s obviously a serious condition, so regardless of the reason, my thoughts are with the Pegulas and praying for a complete recovery for Kim.

Do you know why you've experienced outages? Most problems can be resolved. I realize you've gone back to cable, but for others: Start with having maximum signal strength. Have you called DTV about the outages? Has your dish been 'peaked' recently? It may be as simple as getting a technician to re-point the dish to receive max signal. Do you have trees or other obstructions blocking the site line? If so, move the dish or the trees. Also, depending on the thickness of the foliage, you may get an ok signal in winter when trees are bare, but find the signal compromised in summer and more susceptible to weather-related outages when you're just barely locked in. If you're in an area that experiences frequent, slow moving violent storms, satellite TV may not be your best option. I haven't had an issue with it.

If you still think we (America) hasn’t made progress, consider how nobody today gives a second thought to a starting college or pro black QB. Briscoe and Harris and those who looked past color to give them opportunities were trailblazers. We’re not perfect, but we’ve come a long way. Briscoe was a great player. I was sorry the Bills traded him, but Saban was trying to get OJ to reach full potential, and to do that, the O-Line needed to be fortified. Briscoe was recognized in Miami for his accomplishments and awarded by having the Florida baseball team named after him. 😉 Thanks for the memories Marlin and for your part in advancing equal opportunity.

That sounds about right. Again, 20+ years since it all went down so don’t remember the sequence of events, but my sense is that the excitement generated by Flutie’s success which put the Bills back into the playoffs played a role in extending the lease. Up until that point, there was concern and the usual panic and hand-wringing among the Bills faithful that their beloved Bills could suffer the same fate as Modell’s Browns who departed for Baltimore after the ‘95 season.

Actually, the success of the Flutie-led Bills of the late 90’s was probably more of factor in keeping the Bills in WNY. I don’t recall all the details, but I believe the renewed interest, increased attendance, enthusiasm, etc was integral to funding for the necessary stadium renovations and extended lease. Anyone remember just how that went down?

Just gotta turn off the phone. But…that said…this past season I didn’t do that too much. Kind of got sucked into the social media vortex so I could tap into this forum and commune with the mafia when there were outrageous penalties or non-calls by the officials or phenomenal plays by the bills. Was curious to see if my fellow bills brothers and sisters were seeing things the same way I was. Time shifting isn’t an option when browsing the Stadium Wall during game time.

Surprised. Sometimes you just need to hit at the right time or get a knowledgeable rep. a lot of people received the email last year telling them it was being given free. I got something like that, then they billed me. Had to call and schmooze a bit, but got the ticket free and credits for $$ off. The password to get what you want is “cancel”. On the plus side for those without the ticket or DTV- Probably at least half the Bills’ games (or more) will be available without DTV, depending on their market.

When Sunday ticket goes to one of the other services, I’ll look into those options. DIRECTV gets expensive, though they’re usually willing (or desperate enough) to negotiate better rates. I do like the recording options. A lot of the shows are now available on demand, but the fly in the ointment is the inability to fast-forward through ads. During negotiations they’re always pushing the movie channels. Don’t have much interest in todays movie offerings. Mostly Kids fare, low brow comedies, superhero retreads, sci-Fi fantasy-just not my thing. Eball- are you still in Atlanta area? I’m in northern ‘burbs.

I’ve had DIRECTV for 24 years. Weather-related outages are infrequent. If the dish is peaked correctly and the line to the bird not obstructed by trees or other structures, outages are rare, but when it happens it’s usually very temporary. It only occurs when a large storm system is passing in the line between the dish and satellite transponder. I’d bet that cable subscribers have more outages. With satellite, there’s always ample bandwidth. It’ll be frustrating when the streaming services are overloaded and buffering becomes an issue. I enjoy the multi-room and DVR recording (time-shifting*)benefits that come with DIRECTV. I don’t know that streaming has those advantages. * while recording Bills’ games, I’ve often sat down to watch the game (from the beginning) an hour or so after real time kickoff. This makes the most of my precious weekend hours. I can skip through all the lame advertising, halftime banter, and endless promos for mindless CBS sitcoms and enjoy all the Bills game in about 2 1/2 hours.

I was there....sort of. I don't remember exactly, but I believe the couple I was with gave up and wanted leave early to beat the traffic when it looked like the Bills were going down.. We were just outside the stadium when we heard the roar and cheers from the crowd who stayed until the end. I've learned to NEVER give up when there's still a chance, as slim as it may be. Don't think I ever again left before the final gun.

There were some indicators last season that there may have been unrest on the domestic side. When a guy is suddenly not wearing the wedding band for several weeks and there seems to be a change in overall demeanor, there might be some issues. I think it's a challenge for any spouse that has an absentee husband or wife with career that demands significant hours of their time. Professional coaching jobs are not for 9 to 5'ers.

That’s been my thought- that the fate of Kim will be revealed when she appears in the post BB world with Gene in Nebraska.

I tend to agree with the assessment, though I’m not as quick to put Marino in thr upper tier category. He was boy wonder coming out of the gates when Kelly was still in the USFL. He had inflated numbers in a pass-happy offense and was the media darling breaking records. But, he only made it to a single Super Bowl early on, then was consistently beaten by Kelly, who played in a balanced offense with 1000 yd runners (unlike Marino). Marino gained an early reputation as one of the best. Kelly called his own plays and was far more successful in big games. Kelly was also a better ‘team player’. I can’t rate Marino higher just because he had a super fast release, great accuracy, and threw the ball enough to rack up big passing numbers.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard that term before, but the description is so perfect there’s no doubt what it looks like. And yes, one wrong move and…..

The best line was from Barkley after tee shots were continually sliced and hitting the viewers in the gallery. Paraphrasing: The people watching can stay safe from stray shots if they stand in the middle of the fairway.