UConn James

The nail just got struck on the head. Ben and Jerry (of ice cream fame) were on CSPAN many moons ago, and had a bar graph diorama set up, using Oreo cookies as the bar, of where the federal budget goes. DoD spending took up about multiple columns with the cookies piled so high they fell over --- there must've been about 200. The rest of the departments had single columns, with the next-highest getting seven or eight cookies, Medicare/ Medicaid had one cookie, etc. Our military is so unorganized it's pathetic. And you know why they are? B/c they get so much money, they don't have to be organized. Maybe instead of slash'n'burn, tho, for reasons you write, we're going to have to do a gradual decline of 2% per year, while instituting better accounting and methodology. Step 1 would be to pretty much copy Walmart's computer system and how they track inventories. Chide them all you want otherwise, but Walmart can literally tell you how many boxes of Strawberry Pop-tarts they sell in areas where Level 3 hurricanes are three days from impact. Ask someone in the Air Force how many C-130s are currently in the fleet and they wouldn't know whether to sh-- or turn purple. The most basic tenet of organization and efficiency is knowing what you have vs. what you need.

We started with a post about JM's asshat of a brother who apparently doesn't know what 911 is for and who says, "F--- you" to 911 operators.... and it turns into a sh--fest about who cares less about different branches of their family tree, far and wide, and vagaries about tax policy. In these last couple of weeks, this campaign is going to be dirty. A lot of the dirt coming from one side in particular as they get desperate. And it's not the heads of the campaigns that are doing or ordering this... it's just ordinary people who get caught up in the bullsh-- and fear-mongering and voice their opinions sprinkled in with a few things they think they know. They get pent up with endorphins and righteous indignation and there it spews in public for all to see. 'Obama's going to take away our dogs, our guns and give all our money to crack whores!' or 'McCain's going to start WW3 and nuclear winter, take away everyone's health insurance, and insult little children!' These emails try to plant a seed and see what grows. Everyone's trying to be a proselytizer, converting others for the generic values of their 'side.' You know, I normally love politics, but in this timeframe I'm going to refrain from talking about it in the course of my walking day, maybe other than to correct anything blatant, that if they don't like either of the candidates then don't vote for either, and then steer the conversation away. This is all getting to be too much. Let other people make up their own minds about these men, and woman --- b/c it's been shown in many studies that no matter what you say, they're going to vote the way they vote anyway. Bear in mind that whoever gets voted in still is just one person and they will not change the fabric of America very much or very fast. Keep a level head.

Mort is like the retarded kid who doesn't know he's retarded.

In something that was in an article a few months ago, Jim McNally, while he was in Buffalo, got a call from a coach who'd been fired the week we played them (I want to say Arizona in the last go-'round). We won that game pretty soundly. Does it violate the gentlemanly nature of the game and how it should be in a better world, sure. But, if you don't want people dishing on you as revenge, a) don't run them out of town and piss them off, at least during the season, and 2) change up at least some of your play-calling or formations game-to-game. And, then again, I find it a little dubious that so much could be gleaned that the coaches couldn't see and gameplan for themselves. There's nothing to investigate. Sharing information isn't against the rules. That said, Favre does come out of this looking like a world-class peckerwood.

Well, the truth hurts sometimes.

Regardless of the 'Everyone gets a golden star' attitude you're taking, Dean, I'll ask.... You're saying it's never possible to have a time when a great team can be dragged down by one poor performer (and, at such a key position)? All I know is, I watched the game last week and thought to myself, especially late in the game, "I've seen this movie before." Three-and-outs, sacks, fumbles.... In a football game, each play is built on the foundation of the plays that came before. There's something that happens when JP steps into that huddle that he's looking to play his game, which is long-ball to Lee first, anything else............ second. Far be it from me to second-guess the coaching staff that's playing the guy they're stuck with, but JP is not a good fit for this offense. Trent comes in today with virtually the same roster (actually, a weaker defense/ST) and manages the game, doesn't make stupid mistakes, and keeps their offense off the field. It's a completely different style of play that impacts everything else that's happening and that the team is able to thrive in.

And if there were a new stadium, guaranteed that the infrastructure around the stadium would have been upgraded. Nevermind that it probably would be near Buffalo waterfront, and not in OP.

If something had been done to construct a new stadium --- as has been discussed for how long? --- this doesn't happen. Ralph is doing the whole laissez-faire thing and letting the next owner do what they want. It's a perfect metaphor for an old couple who doesn't want to do repairs on their old home because... why bother? They're not going to recoup the investment and they'll be too dead to care.

Yeah, but 460 minutes isn't going to help us. !@#$ Ralph. Barebones investment in the stadium while he's waiting to die. Nice.

And, I would hope, it puts more of an imperative for us to run the ball, dink 'n' dunk, and execute long drives to keep SD's offense off the field. Minimize the time they can test our D/secondary. That's something that didn't happen in Arizona and we got pummeled.

I'd say this mental train wreck has a little more to do with it. Even if she was unprepared. Even if it was only her second big-time interview. And then, afterward, she (and the McCain campaign) had the gall to blame everyone but herself for her performance. Palin's gotten as much sh-- as she has b/c she invited it. I believe Dan was being a tad facetious.

The unlikely source being Peggy Noonan. (Reagan's primary speechwriter). All's you can say is, 'Ouch!'

Ehhh. But look at the Pats*' drafts under BB/Pioli. They've drafted OL consistently and are not afraid to take fliers on OL at most any round and at any position even if they already have quality starters. They target specific guys and draft them where they feel they need to draft them, eg Hochstein was a 7, Mankins w/ a #1, Woody was in the mid-rounds, I believe. They seem to get that you need depth and in this NFL you're going to be replacing guys every 3-4 years. Need to be ready. You can't let a bust from one or two or even ten guys prevent you from investing in the OL through the draft. Gets mighty expensive when you have to plug your holes via UFA and the insane contracts it takes to lure them. This is something that the Pats by and large don't do. If the Bills are to have much of a chance surviving, we need to start not being afraid to draft OL, and then not being afraid to cut bait if those OL aren't good enough eg Preston. We have a pretty high % of the cap devoted to those OL spots, and a saving grace in this regard is we have a competent QB that's making... ~ $500K/year. Until he gets his raise probably by the end of the year or during the off-season, the way things are going.

Huh? I don't see how this makes Goodell look bad. He delivered an appropriate sentence to someone whose conduct was bad for the league. Let the guy serve his time and hoped that he'd learn the lesson and come back as a productive player and citizen. Dude had a second chance and will get another punishment... hopefully another year and if something happens after that (assuming he can actually make it back in the league, physically), a permanent ban. I wouldn't fault the commish for not being the Strother Martin character in "Cool Hand Luke." No sh--. The announcers I've seen in the broadcasts have been falling all over themselves to call him ADAM Jones.

They've worn them twice already (including both times I've seen the Jests play), so those unis are done w/o special exemption from the league. For the life of me, tho, I don't get what they're trying to do with the whole NY Titans thing. They're not the Titans anymore --- and in fact, another team in the NFL is now called the Titans! There is a whole throwback thing going on now, mostly to sell more and different jerseys. For some teams, it has a purpose and their 'throwbacks' are actually (among fans) the preferred jerseys to their regular wear, as is the case with the Bills (tho, why the Bills refuse to change, I've written about elsewhere, namely that Ralph doesn't want to make any decisions for the next owner or spend $ on anything other than basic maintenance that a wholesale logo change would necessitate --- hence the reason the designers were forced to keep the charging buffalo). Tangent aside, the Jets full-time unis are throwbacks themselves, so I guess their people feel the need to throw even further back. Still, this case is similar to if the NHL's Carolina team were to start calling itself the Whalers and wearing the blue and green. On its face, there just feels something wrong with it.

Our offense has to keep their offense off the field, plain and simple. We all know how that happens, and we all saw how, for one reason or another (tho, one key reason comes to mind... *ahem* ) we didn't do that. Warner was on the field all day throwing slants, ate clock and by the end was shoving it down the D's throats. Let's see if Trent and Lunch can come up with some sustained drives and mostly dink 'n' dunk us to a W by keeping their best players on the bench.

Imagine the gall of JM, saying such a thing! The base wants to hear that Obama drinks babies' blood and laughs it up with bin Laden. Thing is, maybe if JM really believes this, he should send a memo to Palin to temper some of her rhetoric. Honestly, I believe JM has found out that the negative / ad hoc stuff on Obama isn't working and he needs to change tack. I wouldn't doubt that their internal polling is saying that the independents he needs to win have been turned off in droves by this stuff. The campaign fed off the email 'Obama is a Muslim!' crap earlier that people mostly just had in the privacy of their own head. Allowed this stuff to stew among the base, and now, as you can tell from the ratty haired lady with the Arab comment... now JM might realize how far-gone this stuff has become b/c he didn't put it in check. EII, the hick word is strong, but I think it's warranted here. McCain has really gone into a shell over the course of this campaign. The Straight Talk Express where reporters could talk to him about anything and everything was ended. Kaput. He's made some admissions and stances that have all but lost him specific states (Iowa and Michigan) and have people worried about him in the current climate (that the economy isn't his strong suit). I don't know if it's possible at this point. This country elects Democrats when they want to be mothered and elects Republicans when they want a father. America is running straight for mama's arms. You really have to wonder where the McCain camp goes from here.

And I believe I've read that the turf that was taken up before the most recent switch to AstroPlay in 2003 was donated to an area high school. Wonder if Ralph got a receipt for a write-off, and if it was more than he could've made selling it to fans.... Then again, Ralph just doesn't seem to like profiting from ancillary promotional things e.g. naming rights. People argue that it's not much (and maybe Ralph is waiting until we're halfway good again. Imagine if we won the Super Bowl, the naming rights value would quintuple, or more). And another then again, Ralph seems to not want to do too much to encumber the next owner --- no uniform change, no talks for a new stadium, just doing basic maintenance on the franchise until it's sold. Kinda sad, when you realize it....

I would add in that it was meant to be humorous. Tho, this may be along the lines of his "Thanks for the question, you little jerk " re: the kid who asked him whether he worried about getting Alzheimer's and dying in office (really, along with everyone who was in the room at the time, I thought that one was a funny quip --- a jokingly smartass comment to a kid who was also being a joking smartass by phrasing the question as he did). A sense of humor indicates a sharp wit, it indicates youthful spirit, both things that JM needs to counteract. No doubt in my mind that last night's was in the same vein. May be a different kind of humor, and maybe candidates shouldn't really attempt humor (b/c even for professional humorists, it can be hard to pull off). There were lots of times last night when JM tried to be witty/playful with Brokaw. I remember the "that one" spot, but don't remember specifically what he said after it when he referred to himself... At the end of the day tho, you'll never lack for someone to be retroactively insulted at these debates b/c it can score brownie points with your base. Cheney did somewhat the same thing in '04 after the moderator brought up his daughter, Mary Cheney. At the time, Cheney thanked Edwards for his words, and then a few days later when Kerry referenced the VP debate, the Bush campaign went all bullsh-- acting like Kerry outed her, huffing and puffing and about hoity-toitying 'Well, I never!" I didn't really see what there was to be quite so upset over in that exchange, even tho this small quip about what the on-your-feet word choice of "one" means, in comparison, is very small potatoes.

Better argument than I could put into words yesterday. TE managed to win with the same guy calling plays, and with the same defense. Would we have won if TE played the whole the game? Don't know. But I saw the same damn problems yesterday that we experienced before with JP. Short possessions which gave the D no chance and kept the well-oiled Arizona offense on the field when we needed to sustain drives with short passes rather than quick strikes. Sloppy one-read progression play, and sacks b/c he held onto the ball while trying to force the long ball that wasn't there. I'm sick of his style of play. It might get a couple of 'Ooooh Aaaaah's per game, but it's not what we need to do to win ballgames and by this point JP's got to know this. If Trent is out any more, I want Hamdan in there. See what we've got, and at least other teams won't know exactly what he's going to do and how to beat him.

I don't know, but there doesn't seem to be a lack of people willing to launder the sheets. Tho, you can still see the brown streaks where it didn't quite come out despite the bleach and OxyClean. The argument has been that if JP had the current OL, and Fairchild was replaced (with a guy that has called some good games), then we'd be able to make an evaluation. Well, there you go. Same results. It just doesn't occur to the JP fanboys that the infrequent long ball, tho nice when it works once every two games, combined with taking sack after sack, fumbles, and bad reads just isn't good enough. People will still line up to lick his ---- b/c they so desperately want that 1st round pick not to have been a waste. JP ain't a bad guy. I don't wish him ill. He's just not a good QB in the NFL.

44, the mods delete all threads created during the course of the game. They have no compunction about throwing the baby out with the bath water, in this regard. Despite being part of TBD from the Rochester D&C days, this is something that I learned only last year, and when I asked on the chat room --- which included many longtime posters --- no one knew this rule. So, it's not really publicized, and so, people start threads that get deleted, then get pi--ed that they were deleted b/c I don't think it's ever been stated out-and-out. It's not even in the Terms of Service. So, you need to either post in the Game Day thread where any point you want to make gets buried in about 2 minutes, or wait until that final whistle.

Nice. Keep sucking Losman's ----, fanboys.

Soon as Trent went down, this game turned into an abortion. JP can come up with 2 or 3 pretty plays a game and that's not enough. Same f---ing story now he's back in there. Short possessions w/ JP, which means the D has been out there most of the day. Turnovers, including a 'JP Classic' means they've been out there even longer. Sacks b/c the dude refuses to get the ball out quicker, hoping for the long ball that doesn't come very often. Warner has a hot hand and connecting everything even w/o Boldin. The JP fanboys have kept saying how much better he'd be w/ this oline, and Schonert. Well. There you go. Same results. If TE is out for any length of time, we are so screwed.

Well, that's another thing that the long ball does. Funny how we're seeing the same problems now that JP is back in. The D is gassed b/c all our offense comes on 2-3 plays per game, and the D is out there the rest.