UConn James

That's kind of what George Orwell was --- and I am --- afraid of.....

Like BRH posted, geographically and socio-economically closer.... and yet, when I think about it, all in all, I'm happy we stayed in the East. I'm happy that we didn't have to adapt midstream to a different sub-conference brand of football and following the style of play in the North, if we make the playoffs, we'd be pretty beat up (esp. RBs). Old rivalries have shifted a bit. Sorry, but the Pats* are our #1 rival now, especially per the Dean's definition of it being a rivalry every day, every week. Look at the posts here. It's always Pats*-hate. Been building steadily since the late '90s, while the Miami one's been on the steady decline in that same period. Can't really remember the last time a Dolphins-hate thread was started when we weren't w/in ~ one-two weeks of playing them. I'm not sure we have any intra-conference rivalries, either. Things like that kind of slow down when you haven't been good in a while... same reason why not much was lost when Arizona moved out of the NFC-East. I'd say the Jags or Denver are the closest possibilities, but nowhere near 'rivalry.' Yet. Give it time, especially as we improve.

More specifically, maybe he was trying to hide his jersey number?

.... Except that the throwbacks were commissioned by Donahoe. I think the only reason that Brandon/front office hasn't switched to the '65 unis is that it would take a lot of $ to redo all the signage, the cushioning at the perimeter of the field, the field logo (I believe the company that made/installed the AstroPlay went breasts-up), new paint everywhere, letterhead, business cards, etc. Hell, even the empty podium (!) would have to be redone to reflect the new brand. I think Ralph/FO are content to ride it out for this franchise re: facilities. Then let the next owner decide what to do. This puts the fate of the team in Buffalo in quite a lurch, tho. If Ralph were to start building a new stadium, that'd be quite a ball and chain to ensure the next owner stays in WNY... but then, that'd also de-values the franchise in prospective buyers' eyes. Long story short, I think we're only getting 2 games a year for the throwbacks 'til something happens.

More like: "Oh. Health care? Hmm. Uhhh.... Hmm. Lots of numbers here. Oh, look, a text message from Andy!...."

Bump.

Yes. The first largely feeding the second. Whence, people fall back on good ol' partisanship.

There was a much more thorough thread on health care earlier this spring/summer with some really good links. It died b/c everyone's too busy calling Obama a covert Muslim and saying there's nothing of substance or saying that JMac insults adolescents, has Alzheimer's and can't turn on a computer. And then people (especially here) have the gall to bemoan that candidates campaign with vagaries. Well, hey, there WAS something of substance to discuss, and yet it was largely ignored, even in a place supposedly devoted to politics. Sad fact that they can't hold Americans' attention spans enough to explain even a modicum of detail, even to those who say they want to hear the details (hint: they really don't). In fact, there was recently an update on the Romney & Massachusetts legislature mandatory health insurance plan that's now getting some positive reviews after some initial bumps in the road. As I remember, McCain's plan essentially encourages businesses to drop health plans and pay people the difference in salaries (As with 'trickle-down' economics I have my doubts about that happening), at which point, people will buy plans on their own initiative and then be taxed for plans over $5,000 (see: everyone who has insurance will be getting a tax increase. Yeh, Republicans!). He also wants to cut service costs (good luck with that) before encouraging enrollment of the un/under-insured. My read is that basically, it doesn't do anything to help the current situation and his taxing plan will likely contribute to the number of people w/o insurance. Obama, OTOH, wants to essentially allow/ensure people continue their employer plans, or get people enrolled (I forget if it'd be mandatory, but I doubt it) and pay into a govt plan, probably with a sliding scale, more or less a nationalization of the Mass. principle, but with certain differences. Then he wants to work on decreasing service costs. This augments the current situation and one would hope decreases the use of costly emergency rooms for routine problems... only question is cost (tho, that's a pretty important question) and if there is the political will in DC to enact this, even small-scale. (Edited)

Well, it's simple, really. 'LH shouldn't express her opinion, but I can express my opinion of her.' In a better world, people would realize that they should keep their mouths shut approximately 90% percent of the time. Doesn't mean that you get the right to be a hypocrite when someone does voice their opinions, political or no. When celebrities or even Earl down the street speak, take it for what it's worth --- roughly, a warm bucket of s--t. If you dislike this commentary or the celebrity culture in general, the best course is to ignore it, not propagate it.

Did Tina Fey out-Palin Palin? I didn't stay up on Saturday, admittedly, but this was

"Hey, wait a minute, this watch says, 'Polex!'"

Dick Butkis? Agreed that it was funny to see --- there's that story/legend about Howie Long turning the earhole into a vision hole for a rookie teammate who pissed him off during camp. This was even better than that. 'Course the only reason we can find this amusing is that no real harm was done. Straps not being on properly might have been the only thing that saved MJD from having a severe neck injury. Otherwise, he's eating his supper tonight with his back toward the table.

My point was that Bly's payoff came several seasons back, and by now --- with the increase in the cap --- those raw $s are probably closer to what Greer will see, especially if he keeps up this level of play. Even average players in UFA get big contracts, especially at the skill positions. I don't think we can justify that.

At least Poz got his money's worth on the facemask. MJ-D was wearing that thing backwards at the end of the play. Don't mean to flippant, b/c that kind of thing could've been serious, but it just highlights the stupidity of this year's all-or-nothing rule change. Guys will go for broke once they know they're gonna be flagged.

The way he's playing we won't be able to justify keeping Greer for what it'll probably take to re-sign him. We let Kiwakee Thomas go for the same reason. Then, when you talk about the UFA market where the money flows like wine, look at what Dre Bly got several years ago and we wouldn't be able to give Greer that. And especially not with a stable of young colts who are chomping at the bit. McGee, Youboty, McKelvin, Corner

I think that's the point. If Youboty keeps it up, he'll be in position to take over next year w/o a hitch. Greer will get a bunch of $ thrown at him in UFA, and good luck to him except when we play 'im. Marv's pick ain't looking too bad now, eh? Took a little while to materialize, but

Doubt this is going over well with the Pakistanis. Especially as their new leadership is already not liking us for the cross-border drone attacks. It may be intended as a slap in the face to Iran. A 'We will go to bat for countries that want to use nuclear for peaceful energy-creation purposes. That's not what Iran is doing.' We do reward those countries that come into the fold and play by the rules, even if they haven't totally done so in the past. But it could also be more selfish. Pollution on the west coast and what drifts over the US comes from China & India. Cut down on their dirty energy as their energy demand keeps skyrocketing and it directly helps us. And we get some brownie points with India --- in the midst of that key region --- at the same time. All in all, not a bad deal even tho it may have taken some browbeating.

Me too.

And rightly so. Dude almost got his QB killed b/c he wanted a little more money than the contract he put his name on. He's got a lot to make up for right now.

Oooo. No need to stop being a lady, Mickey!

Learning to come back thru adversity is something this team still needed to learn. This will pay dividends.

That's OK. Mickey swallows, too. Softballs right over the plate.

I'm sure Mickey will take care of it.

For this Big Least talk, my alma mater is 2-0 and put a pounding on Virgina last night.... It would have helped also to not have other conferences raid coaches, ie Rodriguez. It'll take some time to recover from that. NCAA-wide, as evidenced last year especially, parity is taking hold. But yes, they need to add 2 more strong football schools. If BC, Miami and VT weren't defecting bastards, we could actually have one of the strongest conferences. But they made their beds in the ACC... and see how that's worked for them!! Ha ha. UConn is starting a 10-game series with Notre Dame I think next year, which increases our national presence a little bit. I've long held that ND should join the Big East, even if it's a loose affiliation and they were allowed to set their own schedule. They're already in the Big East for most/all their other sports. Lots of basic organization issues that college football has simply refused to deal with for a long time (then again, when they do try to deal with things we get crap like the BCS). One hopes that they see the need for more structure and organized operations and that a playoff is instituted. Short of that, we've got the current helter skelter and a seriously uneven playing field re: rankings/championship.

I think that's going to happen regardless. If JMac wins, Lieberman's his SoS. If not, whether it's Joe caucusing with the Republicans by his own volition or possibly being handed his hat to be a true Independent since he won't be of much use to them anymore. He committed treason to the Democratic party; they'd have to be truly desperate... and they might not take him even if they are. He (and by extension, Connecticut ) can kiss those key committee slots goodbye.