yungmack

The concept of revenue share began in the AFL (along with the emphasis on the passing game, the two-point conversion, the soccer-style kickers, opening the door to all black players, and on and on). And the first major source of that revenue was television. For all you young 'uns who diss Ralph for being out of touch because he has been rude enough to continue living, he was a key mover in both the television deal making AND in the concept of revenue sharing (not to mention helping to finance the Boston and Oakland franchises). I seem to remember also that the AFL pioneered the concept of full Sunday coverage of football through a national TV deal. Prior to that, the NFL teams had their own individual deals. In Buffalo, that meant the only NFL game we got was the Browns. We were lucky that the Browns were without a doubt the greatest team in the 50s and maybe in the history of the NFL, though you'd never know it by the way the present NFL overlooks that team. Probably because it wasn't an original NFL team but was brought in when the AAFC folded, then proceeded to beat the stuffing out of the "better quality" NFL teams. One other thing, if the NFL really wanted to shed its smaller markets, that would mean getting rid of around 10 teams by my count. Aside from Los Angeles, where exactly would those 10 teams relocate to that are substantially larger than the cities left behind? The only solution I can imagine is expansion to other countries, to Toronto, Vancouver, Monterrey and Mexico City (the NFL is hugely popular in Mexico, particularly in the north). Possibly London and Berlin? In the US, other than LA, about the only places I can think of that are even marginally possible are San Antonio and Las Vegas.

The problem for the Bills this year is that no player suitable for positions of real need this year rates a number 3 pick. So if the Bills can't trade down, they're going to wind up picking someone we're all going to say is a reach. Still, Cam Jordan is a great player with those NFL "bloodlines."

Buddy's already said they are going to add to the defensive line. Who, or how they do it, he didn't say.

The NFL is a strange mix of socialism and, until free agency, slavery. Of course the socialism is of the American type. That is, the owners get to keep any profits, and the taxpayers get to eat the losses (in the case of professional sports, that means they pay taxes that build stadiums, provide roadways, etc. while the owners get to keep all of "their" money). Kind of like the Wall Street bailout, the auto industry bailout (where the workers had to make massive concessions as the companies made billions on taxpayer money), health care "reform" which, to label it honestly, should really be called Health Care Industry Profit Maximization. Ya gotta love American Socialism, where Big Money/Big Industry is on the governmental dole, and the rest of us get to support them. This is Groucho Marxism.

Folks, please stop with the canard that LA fans didn't support the Rams or Raiders. The truth is, the Rams were wildly successful for decades, and the Raiders have never come close to matching the LA attendance numbers since moving back to Oakland. The reason the Rams left had nothing to do with the fans. It was all about holding up the taxpayers, which the people here wisely refused to do. So the Rams moved to Orange County where they got a chunk of the stadium revenue, parking, taxbreaks, etc. And they flourished there as well. But even that wasn't enough. So they went hunting for a city/state so desperate for a team that they were willing to give up ginourmous amounts of money to get them. The Sucker-In-Question turned out to be St. Louis which had lost the Cards to Arizona. A key for Al Davis in LA was supposed to be the money he'd make from local television with blackouts. I know a little something about that as I was a bit involved in those plans. However, he was unable to sell out the 100,000 + seats at the Coliseum (quite a number of those seats were in Siberia, far, far from the field...the place was built for track and field after all) and the league refused to let him implement his plan to eliminate about 25,000 seats by closing off one endzone and installing new seats down on the ground. Remember, the league has allowed Buffalo, Jacksonville and some others to downsize their seating capacity. Because the owners fought the move to LA (and were defeated in court), I suspect they refused Davis as a punishment. Davis also was rebuffed in his attempts to completely take over the Coliseum. That's a byzantine situation as it is "owned" by the state, the county and the city, all of whom have reps on the Board, all with different agendas. NOTE: Once Davis was gone, the Coliseum Commission did reconfigure the seating exactly as he once proposed. That's the situation now when you see USC play. As for the neighborhood, the area to the north on Figueroa is gentrifying rapidly, with Staples Center, Nokia Theater, new hotels, and a bunch of upscale condo developments, restaurants, light rail service, etc. That's the area where AEG wants to build it's stadium. The gentrification will no doubt continue down to the Coliseum and USC campus over the next few years.

Good research. Thanks for it.

Better yet, if SF is that desperate, let them keep the #7 pick and instead trade Patrick Willis to the Bills.

Jim Leonhard. Rex Ryan made sure to bring him from Baltimore to the Jets when he took over that team. And the Jets defense seemed to be less effective this past season after he was hurt.

Cookie Gilchrist

The jury did not hear nine months of testimony. I'd be surprised if the total amount of actual testimony they were present for in the courtroom exceeded a week or two. There were complete days when it was all arguing attorneys trying to get evidence before the jury, then more days while the judge ruminated, then after a decision the jury was finally permitted back into the courtroom where they'd hear a couple of hours of presentation, punctuated with objections, sidebars and recesses. And Bugliosi is hardly the gold standard of "fair and balanced" anything.

They do? Receivers and running backs? With Jackson and Spiller at RB, and with Easley and Parrish added to WR next season, how do you see this as a priority need? The key problem for the offense is that the defense can't get the opponent off the field often enough. It really doesn't matter how great your offense is if it's sitting on the bench watching the D flounder around. Fix the D so it gets lots more three and outs, and the offense gets at least two more possessions per game. I think you'll be surprised how "improved" the offense will look with two, three or more additional possessions per game.

Actually, there was NO real evidence upon which to convict OJ and plenty to set him free. And if you actually watched the trial, you'd know that much of what we saw in the courtroom (and the speculation and false info propounded by the media) the jury did not see or hear. They could only make their decision based upon testimony and evidence actually presented while they were in the courtroom, which was a fraction of the proceedings presented to Judge Ito. Here's one small example of the sort of evidence that people came to accept as proof of his guilt: The limo driver testified that the white Bronco was NOT present when he arrived, and that no one opened the gate for quite some time, and it wasn't opened until after he saw a "large, African-American person walk across the lawn and enter the house." The clear implication is that OJ wasn't yet back from murdering his ex-wife when the driver arrived (that's why the Bronco wasn't out in front of the house and why no one was around to open the gate), that he arrived later, parked on the street and walked across the lawn, went into his house and opened the gate. However, here's what the driver actually said: that the Bronco wasn't in front when he arrived, no one opened the gate for several minutes, he then saw the "large African-American" outside the house (but NOT crossing the lawn) placing suitcases in the driveway and going back into the house, and that when he left the property the Bronco still was not out in front on the street (where it was found parked later on). So, no Bronco when the limo driver arrives, no Bronco when the limo driver leaves, and the "African-American" NOT walking across the lawn but going in and out of the house with luggage. Quite a different story than what most people believe. While this one "little" inconsistency doesn't prove OJ didn't do it, it shows how the misinformation of the media can create a scenario that is then accepted as the true version.

Okay, here's a comment: They're both dullards, their vocal tone is in the same range so there's no contrast (which is tedious on the listener), Buck outright annoys me with his pompous delivery, and neither announcer has an ounce of poetry. Then again, the majority of sports announcers these days are drab non-entities, completely interchangeable cliche-spouting monkeys, Stepford announcers who are unplugged after a game and stored in a closet until the next time they're needed. But what else should we expect? The whole NFL control and presentation of its "product" has become weirdly plastic, inauthentic and animatronic, a manufactured and staged "production" from top to bottom without heart or soul, all based on market studies and consultant input. One example: A league owned and operated for the benefit of greedy billionaire ego-maniac owners sanctimoniously wrapping itself in faux patriotism with the reading of the Declaration of Independence precisely at a time when it is doing all it can to lower players earnings, increase their work load while ignoring the financial and physical suffering of its many "revered" ex-players. It was as cynical as Al Capone joining the Temperance Union, or the Czar reading the Communist Manifesto. How's that?

Yep, he did say that.

The commercials have been gawd awful (though I got a laugh at the old west Budweiser one). Aguilera stunk it up. The half time show is unwatchable AND unlistenable with the talentless Peas and their karaoke quality girl singer. Best anthem "soul/jazz" version ever? Marvin Gaye in the NBA finals. The game's pretty much fun though.

I don't think the O line is at all at the top of the To Do list. Nixley has made it clear that they think they have a pretty good line right now, including the right side. And they've also made it clear that the defense is their biggest worry. The addition of a "Maybe" player to the line, the WRs, the RBs, and even QB in the top two or three rounds seems to me to be highly unlikely (they might pick a couple later on). So far, they haven't done anything too foolish since Nix and Gailey arrived so I'd be highly surprised if they didn't spend their top picks on D.

Thanks for the great reports.

Mu using a $1 was of course an extreme example and I'm pretty sure that if RW were to sell the team for a buck he'd be sued by his potential heirs. However, while he's still alive he could sell the team for a price that would be less than what the market would bear in a post-mortem bidding situation but still substantial enough to satisfy his heirs, the league and be reasonable enough that the team could financially justify staying local. He could also have the satisfaction of choosing his successor, a not-insignificant consideration for the prideful RW. If he doesn't take steps before he dies to do that -- which it seems he hasn't done -- then all bets are off, though it's much more likely that the team will sell for far more money, probably to out-of-town interests who would then move the team.

If Ralph were to sell the team while he's still alive, he can set the price to whatever he wants, even $1. But if the sale takes place after he's dead, the courts and attorneys will play a major role in the sale price. My guess is that his heirs will try to maximize how much they make by putting the team up for bids. If RW's widow were willing to sell at a "bargain price" to someone who will keep the team local, it's likely that other heirs would sue. So the sale price after his death is most likely to be high, perhaps too high for the new owner to make money in the WNY market. If, as is most likely, the team is sold to the highest bidder, that new owner could very well be AEG as Los Angeles seems to be the only major market that both doesn't have an NFL franchise, and is capable of generating enough money to make a high sale price viable. If RW wants the team to stay in WNY after his death, then he should sell now.

In order to trade down, you need a partner who greatly desires to move up. I don't know enough about the needs of the teams further down the list. Perhaps some of you do. So, who do you think is deserving of being picked #3 overall, and which team(s) further down the list would be willing to make to swap to get him?

It's all about the cheese...

And just who would be that can't-miss QB prospect? As I see it, there is NO player available in this year's draft at a "position of need" for the Bills that is worth a #3 pick. The names I keep seeing on this board are either questionable or not what's most needed. The names brought forward that might help the Bills this year are all rated much lower than #3.

That's just factual nonsense.

That's just factual nonsense.

If you cannot stop the run, you will never, ever be a top level team. And the most glaring problem with the Bills for years now has been precisely that. Until that is corrected, adding yet another receiver, no matter how fantastically fabulous, never-before-seen talent, will be a waste of a pick. Said fantastically fabulous, never-before-seen talent cannot exercise those wondrous gifts if he is not on the field...which is exactly what happens when you cannot stop the run as the opponent inexorably eats up clock time. So, Job Number One for OBD is to do all it can to improve greatly the ability to stop the run.