Logic

I don't have the book here in front of me at work, but there are a few helpful websites. "The National Football League (NFL) was established in 1920. The newly formed National Football League shortened the ball’s length to about 11 inches, the size and shape still used today. Officially, the shape is known as a 'prolate spheroid.' It experimented with footballs for two decades until it found a reliable manufacturer, the Wilson Sporting Goods Co., in 1941. Wilson made its footballs with high-quality pebble cowhide and hand-sewed each one with lock-stitch seams, which set its product firmly apart from any other before it. Players quickly took a liking to Wilson's football, nicknaming it 'The Duke' after Wellington Mara, the son of New York Giants owner Tim Mara. The two organizations have been business partners ever since, and the handmade production process continues today." https://scoutlife.org/features/151034/how-the-football-has-changed-since-1869/ 1874: 1906: 1920: 1935 1941: As to your question...based on the following article by Robert Klemko, it seems that the ball may have been 22 1/12 inches in circumference when Baugh started. It is 21 1/4 inches today. The AFL's skinnier J5-V football by Spalding, which was easier to throw, played a role in this evolution. So it seems the ball of Baugh's day WAS more round by 1 1/4 inches. "In 1912 the all-important circumference was defined and reduced to 22 1/2 inches. Still, it took several decades until long-fingered pioneer quarterbacks like Sammy Baugh came along and redefined throwing accuracy. (At his first NFL practice in ’37, Baugh was challenged to hit a Washington receiver in the eye. Baugh asked, "Which eye?"). With the early success of ‘Slingin Sammy’ and a long line of others, the ball grew ever svelte, eventually reaching the 21 1/4 inches mandated by the NFL today." https://www.si.com/nfl/2014/06/17/nfl-history-in-95-objects-skinny-afl-football-spalding-j5v

Recreational cannabis is on the ballot this Tuesday in five states. 'Bout time to just end the federal prohibition and get with the times. https://time.com/6228003/marijuana-legalization-2022-midterm-elections/

Von contains multitudes. Let him do his thing.

I don't know about definitive proof, but several players and coaches insinuated this season that MetLife's turf specifically is dangerous. https://www.nj.com/giants/2022/09/more-complaints-about-metlife-stadium-turf-after-giants-sterling-shepards-season-ending-knee-injury.html Sterling Shepard’s season-ending injury has sparked conversations about the safety of MetLife Stadium. The veteran wide receiver exited Mondays’ 23-16 loss to the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife after getting hurt in a non-contact situation. Some people, like former Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. blames the turf as the culprit. This injury has people turning to comments made by Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh following his Week 1 game at MetLife against the New York Jets that left tackle Ja’Wuan James and cornerback Kyle Fuller with serious injuries. “Everybody in this league should do everything they can to put the best surface out there,” Harbaugh told reporters on September 14. “How much is invested in the players who go out there and play? Our league really is — it’s a player-driven league. And we want those guys to have the best of the best, especially surfaces to play on ... That turf [at MetLife] was matted down, it was packed down, it was a little tight. Maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be, I don’t know. But that’s what I saw. It was a little tough.”

Am I the only one who DOESN'T want Tre's first game back to be on the MetLife turf? I'd rather that his first game back be next week, on our home field against Minnesota. Announce the defensive players rather than the offensive players in pre-game introductions. Let him hear the roar of Bills Mafia as he runs out of the tunnel.

For whatever reason -- maybe the recent sloppiness against the Packers, maybe the Jets' solid defense, maybe the recent Jets vs Bills final scores -- I don't think this is going to be an easy win this Sunday. I think the Bills will win, don't get me wrong. I just don't think it'll be a laugher.

That's totally fair. Without Breece Hall and potentially without Corey Davis, and with Zach Wilson at QB, I'm still not so sure. I just have a hard time seeing Wilson meaningfully move the ball against this defense, with or without the guys I listed. Their run game could definitely have success against a Dodsen-Bernard duo, though.

Thanks for sharing this. I wanted to listen to it but am not a Sirius subscriber. Glad to be able to find out what he said.

I think the final score will be impacted by whether Milano, Edmunds, Poyer, or Miller -- or all of them -- miss the game. The outcome, however, will be the same either way: a Buffalo Bills victory. If most or all of the injured guys play, I predict a comfortable, spread-covering win by Buffalo. 31-13 Bills. If most or all of the injured guys sit, I predict a closer-than-expected win by Buffalo, with the Jets covering the spread. 26-19 Bills.

The Bills could realistically be without Tremaine Edmunds, Matt Milano, and Jordan Poyer on defense this week. Von Miller also missed practice today with an ankle injury. Luckily, the Jets offense is not at all imposing, and there's a decent chance the Bills defense can handle them even missing the above players. Still, the clean injury report didn't last long for Buffalo.

I didn’t go to the meetup, but I did see that set on YouTube, and it’s fantastic. I wanted to make everyone aware that there’s a guy named Cristopher Hazzard on YouTube who compiles and restores Grateful Dead performance videos. He upscales many of them to 4K, allowing you to see the Dead in a clarity and crispness that has never before been possible. There are dozens of videos, often full concerts, spanning the Dead’s entire career. There’s really extraordinary stuff from as far back as 1968. Full shows from peak years like 1974 and 1976, in HD picture quality. Mind blowing, the things technology can do. Below is a link to one I’ve been enjoying a ton the past few days. Click the guy’s name under the video to see all the other stuff he has to offer. If you have a Smart TV, download YouTube onto it and then you can watch these shows on your TV, and they look and sound exquisite on a big HD screen and with a home stereo system.

#75 and #13 are my favorites 😆

I totally agree about his last few movies. To me, the sweet spot was Rushmore through The Darjeeling Limited. Everything after that, from Fantastic Mr. Fox onward, hasn't done it for me. Also, I do think I'm in the minority in loving the Life Aquatic. It has its cult following, but it also has a 56% critic's score on Rotten Tomatoes. It's Anderson's least well reviewed movie. All I can say is that it just hits me right emotionally. I've always felt that art -- including film -- is highly subjective. I like the analogy of each person being like a radio antenna putting off a certain unique frequency. For whatever reason, certain art -- music, visual art, movies, whatever -- puts off a frequency that harmonizes perfectly with your unique frequency. Sometimes there's no logic or reason to it. It just...WORKS for you. Other times, you can see that something is technically proficient, possesses great skill and talent or whatever, but it doesn't move you. The Rolling Stones are that way for me. I accept that they're great, but they're not for me. They just don't move me. Same with Anderson's last several movies.

Taiwan Jones is core special teams player. I really doubt he's the one that gets cut. I'd bet OL Justin Murray, TE Tommy Sweeney, or DB Cam Lewis are all more likely than Jones.

I've been reading "How Football Became Football" by Timothy P Brown -- I highly recommend it. It traces football from its creation by ivy league schools in the late 1800s through the modern day, tracking all of the evolutions in rules, equipment, playing styles, personnel, etc. Aaaanyway.... I was surprised to learn that in its first 30 or so years, football was much more of a kicking game. Field position was king. Gaining yards was a slog, so teams often punted after 2nd or 3rd down. Punters used to be get the national acclaim and newspaper writeups that QBs get today. It was not uncommon to see tense, back-and-forth punting battles with a 3-0 final score. Anyway, I guess this is sort of off topic, since Guy punted many years later. Hearing you describe him as a weapon made me think back to the inception of football, when punters really WERE the pre-eminent weapons. At any rate, anyone interested in how football evolved should pick this book up. Great stuff.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. I realize that that's a weird answer, and is not many people's favorite movie. I don't care. It hits just exactly the right notes for me. The script by Noah Baumbach, the direction by Wes Anderson, the way the lines are read by Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and Willem Dafoe. It's funny, it has action, a great soundtrack by Seu Jorge doing acoustic David Bowie covers in Portugese, and it hits some strong emotional notes. When they're all in the submarine at the end and finally see the jaguar shark and the song "Staralfur" by Sigur Ros starts up and Zissou says "....do you think he remembers me?" and starts crying... Just exactly perfect for me. I've watched it AT LEAST 10 times, but likely more than that.

From The Athletic today: "[Zach] Wilson is 7-for-31 for 128 yards and three interceptions when pressured without a blitz." The Bills defense is ranked 9th in the NFL at pressuring the opposing passer, and as we all know, they do it primarily with just the front four. So if the Bills are very good at getting pressure without a blitz, and if Zach Wilson is VERY bad when facing pressure without a blitz....the Bills should not blitz.

Well said. I'm actually a little bit surprised that they didn't bring in a WR at the trade deadline. If it turns out there's a "wink and a nod" understanding between the Bills and OBJ and he winds up signing here, then I'll understand it more.

In reading Twitter and other teams' message boards, I've learned that many opposing fans feel about Allen the way Bills fans used to feel about Brady: that he whines too much to the refs when he gets hit. I don't see it that way, but then again, I'm a biased Bills fan. It's possible that if Allen were on the opposing sideline, I'd hate the guy.

Respectfully, I was actually referring to the recent thread absolutely filled with speculation and insinuation that Tre's recovery wasn't going well, that he was behind schedule, that there had been setbacks. To me, the general manager of the team saying, essentially "I've never seen ACL rehabs better than Tre White's" DOES in fact put that speculation to rest. At least in my mind it does. I wasn't aware that there was a large continent of people predicting that Tre would be ready to start the season. I've always assumed that a return some time between mid October and mid November was most likely. I didn't think this was really disputed. But the "something must be wrong!" and "I'm worried, he's behind schedule!" stuff got out of hand, and Beane's comments seem to indicate that there's nothing to that line of thinking.

Well played.

Moss joke aside, I don't love #20 as a number for Hines. I thought #22 was the correct choice.

Hearing that Beane checked in on Hines in 2020 reinforces one more time that Beane doesn't give up on players he likes.

"I have seen a lot of players rehab from ACL injuries. I don’t want to say Tre’ White’s rehab was the best, but I haven’t seen better. I’m real proud of him." Welp. I guess that puts THAT one to rest. Beane seems to disagree with all of the medical experts on this forum.