UConn James

I don’t get to watch them much during the regular season, but when it’s tourney time…. It’s just been such a treat to see my alma mater team playing great 🏀 when it matters most, and for them to be so successful since I started attending there in ‘99. I’m hoping to go to campus on Monday night to the watch party at Gampel, along with a friend who designed the old 80s-90s UConn logo and sculpted the Husky statue outside of the arena. I mean, I’m not much one for big crowds, but it would be nice to experience it once in my life. I have some second cousins on FB who live in San Diego and who’ve been posting about SDSU through the tourney.

We did bring in Al Holcomb as a Senior Defensive Asst in early-mid Feb. who had been a DC before. That was the move that told me Frazier was on the outs. Might be that he will serve as McD’s defensive aide-de-camp the way Bienemy was OC to Reid, taking on DCish duties during the week, but the playcalling will be McD. I seem to recall McD did his Carolina DCing from the booth where he could see the field better. Doubt he can really do that as HC. Maybe the new technology stuff / tablets / etc. mitigates this?

McDermott’s distrust of rookies has been chronicled before.

Must’ve missed this when it first appeared. Nice thread idea and some great stuff. Two Kelly-era jerseys, one signed by the man himself in ‘95(?). The numbers came off in the wash on the other (and I spent about 3 years here and there picking out the vinyl of what remained) and I ordered a twill set on eBay with my own name (because I can’t be traded or cut, probably) and favorite number. I learned how to sew on my dear departed mum’s 1960s Singer machine and it came out quite nicely. Otherwise, an elite throwback from the Bills store again with my own name. And the past few months I’ve finally gotten around to getting the older style authentic Riddell VSR4 helmets. They seem to be disappearing from the marketplace and I actually had to get Jets ‘73-‘77 throwback for the white ones and ordered a white facemask and vinyl stripes & decals on the eBay. Socks of multiple kinds. A game-used short / pants set from the team surplus sale at Dave & Adams a few years ago. I don’t know if I’m going to do a full mannequin because I’m not sure I want to be that guy, or if I just set something up to look like a locker. Note: I blurred out my last name on the nameplates so all you rapscallions won’t know my secret identity and come rob me 😉. I also have a Kelly autographed 8x10 gotten in person at the same time as the jersey auto, a Kelly rookie card, and a little plaque of wood and leather I made in a high school art class with the logo. Those are in the garage bonus room but I’m not going over there right now 🌧️.

Hate is a strong word. Exasperation might be more apt. He stepped up in a couple of games in the past few years and he’s got a boisterous personality. That’s nowhere enough to keep him around. IMO, he single-handedly lost us the @Miami game this past season. Josh got him the ball at what, the 30 or so with the seconds ticking down. McK decides to juke / dance at the CB for 2-3 more yards rather than try to go out of bounds or just hit the turf and give up the tackle in exchange for what was about 4-5 seconds. We tried to line up for another snap, time JUST ran out before the snap, and Ken Dorsey became a meme throwing his stuff around in the booth in a rage. They didn’t say anything in the presser or anything, but McK cost us a FG attempt to win it (we lost 21-19) that is very makable for Bass. I don’t remember him owning up to it and I don’t think he saw his juking in that moment as a / the problem. Situational awareness just isn’t there. Via con dios, Isaiah.

That was predictable.

The only thing I truly understand about comp picks is that Buffalo never gets anything other than a 7th and it only happens every 17 years like the cicada life cycle.

I wouldn’t be averse to throwing a late round pick at Max Duggan from TCU. Smaller in stature but a similar playing style to Josh.

I’ve always heard that as “didn’t know whether to 💩 or turn purple.”

Glad you were able to get it back, AR. And Gugny FTW! Have those been converted to “Remembering…” if that’s possible? IIRC, one had to select a few people who’d have authorization to do that conversion. I use it mostly to stay in touch with family (I have soooo many cousins! Both parents were among eight kids) and actual friends. And some groups, like a town page for goings-on since the death of newspapers. … Not perfect by ANY means. I’ve had friend requests from new pages of deceased relatives. And some from older relatives who seem to create a new account every month. It’s just sick that some people have to ruin things with the same old lowbrow scams of ‘Help me, I’m in trouble and need some money.’ and it’s puzzling to me because you’d think the only people who might fall for this are people who would also have ZERO idea how to transfer such money online.

To cough the ball up at the 2 yard line in his ONLY job? Taiwan should have kissed Josh & Gabe on the feet for saving his @— on the next play with a 98-yard TD. There was another major flub he made on ST this season too, but it eludes me rn. T Jones is getting quite long in the tooth (34? 35?) and his play does not justify a vital roster spot. Keeping Kumerow on the roster when injured meant we lost Hodgins… who may or may not be a steal for Daboll & Schoen / NYG… and then we were forced to scrounge up John Brown & Beasley late in the year. ST is important and all that jazz… but… not as much as it once was.

She got a lot of crap from “fans” even tho she wasn’t the one who wrote the dialogue / story or the spacecraft charge against Kylo Ren that was like 400 feet but lasted 10 minutes. I hesitate to say that Rian Johnson ruined the sequels, but… he did them no favors. I had a gen-ed class at the U where I sat next to Sue Bird; most of the rest of the women’s team was also in the class, they won the national championship. Passed by many of the athletes at the time but just walked by, they were just trying to do school too. … Childhood best friend has been in several movies and shows. Not BIG parts, but decent, including scenes with ScarJo and Tom Cruise. Cool to see someone you know on the big screen.

When Edmunds does blitz, he runs toward & right into a blocker. Anybody ever tell him that’s not how you blitz?

There’s just more famous people getting to that age. RW was still from the old Hollywood era. Imagine what it’s going to be in 40 years with all the people who were in the cable channel explosion, reality shows, and then a bit later with YouTube / IG stars.

“Lovely Raquel….” hid Andy’s escape tunnel for 10 years (following Rita Heyworth). RIP

Anyone know what the Raiders are looking at dead-cap-wise?

That field is just gettin’ chewed up. Clumps everywhere. And it’s only the 2nd quarter.

Ugh. Up 2-0 after one, then UPL turns into Swiss cheese.

There's always a Buffalo connection, as Bills' Dawson Knox thankfully learns to retrieve lost wallet For anyone who’s lost their wallet and experienced the slight-to-major panic it can cause, this is a nice little vignette… and shows that social media isn’t all bad.

If they can’t keep nice grass in Tennessee into Nov.-Dec., I just question the logic / intelligence of this Bills stadium planning. Nice concept to play on grass. But the reality will kick us in the face in the first season of it. It’s not enough to keep a field warm to get grass to grow and be a stable playing surface. In the north, grass stops taking in nutrients in mid-October and starts to go into a dormant state. If you’re going to try to fool Mother Nature, it needs a lot of light, the right amount of water & nutrients, and sometimes it’s more art than science… and sometimes despite everything you do, it goes breasts-up and you’ll have to cart in replacement sod for one or two games (that in one year just for it, will cost 1/4 of what a monofilament turf would) like they do in GB and Pitt many times, and then it’s still unstable footing, sod coming up in clumps, and guys getting knees and ankles trashed. Prediction: we invest in all of the costs for grass, try it for two years and then have to switch to artificial turf due to feasibility & cost issues as well as pressure from the league & NFLPA. Again… if they can’t grow decent enough grass in Tennessee below the Mason-Dixon, what freaking hope is there in Buffalo?

Edmunds for the last four years when blitzing, actually SEEKS OUT and ENGAGES with a blocker. Has anyone informed him that this is not how one blitzes? The same is true about half the time for Milano. So it’s like… are they being coached to do this? I don’t understand it. There are times before Von where it’s like we send 7 and STILL haven’t gotten even a sniff at a QB, who then calmly hit a wide open receiver. It’s infuriating. McD’s response the few times reporters have asked him about Jim Johnson at pressers has been a mixture of a smile that indicates fondness and respect, but also an air of ‘I don’t do things quite the same way he did.’ McD was fired by JJ. So… I dunno.

I saw someone write that Frazier’s contract was up this year, so it may not be a matter of firing him but not re-signing. Anyone know if this is correct?

IIRC, the reason some teams didn’t wear a second helmet & throwbacks / alts this past season was due to supply chain issues and the rather late timing of the announcement by the league office. Paul Lukas of UniWatch has said previously that more teams will be involved next season. Some of the most looked-forward-to are a Kelly green set from the Eagles, red for the Bills, silver for Seattle throwbacks, creamsicles for TB. These will be for two games a season… possibly three since the 17th game was added. Houston seems to be approaching for a redesign in 2024, unknown if it will be major or just tweaks. The Cardinals may be doing a new set for next season depending on whether they initiated a notice to the league & Nike last year (the planning for these things has to be done at least a year in advance and notice must be given to the league a year prior). It’s been far too long with this set of pinstripes and color blocks and red yoke. Please let them go back to a classic look like the Tillman era Arizona flag on the sleeves with the new angry bird logo… rather than a complete redo that Nike has proved they cannot be trusted with. Rams may be ditching the bone-color duds, and introducing a new yellow jersey, which may be a throwback. Disappointing that we didn’t bring out the standing buffalo throwbacks for at least one game this year. I’m not sure whether they will have to be retired if the red helmets do re-appear as those would become our alts. Not sure if we could drop our red color rush and have the standing buffalo in their place. Dallas, for example, brought out two throwbacks this past season so it should be *possible*. I, for one, have never been a big fan of the reds / ketchup bottle look.

And, at that, there wasn’t an improvement. McKenzie doesn’t cut it as a third / slot. Shakir showed some ability but I’m just not sure where he would fit. Johnston out of TCU is a dream on the other side from Diggs and Gabe needs to step up — drops and inconsistency are maddening. Why do other teams complete EVERYthing and we’re always like “oops”?! Even Diggs has had hands of stone at times. KC can sign guys off the street and that week they look All-Pro. The idea that one guy can anchor the room is passé — elite O teams have two or three marquee guys at WR/TE. Jefferson, Theilen, Don Beebe’s son, Hockenson. Hill, Waddle, Gesicki. Chase, Higgins, Hurst. Evans, Godwin. etc. Time to upgrade the Center position and get some cap savings there. Morse is one bell ring from retirement.

Putting so much money and resources into the DL / defense in general has gotten us… this. Can’t stop ANYone in the run, opposing QBs who aren’t dog 💩 complete EVERYthing. … What does it matter to invest in DL when offenses are allowed to hold with impunity in today’s league? Let Edmunds walk, let Ed walk. Offense has been kept status quo with an expectation, maybe, that Josh will make chicken poop look like chicken salad. We couldn’t move the ball for anything. Need to invest HEAVILY in offense in FA and Draft. That’s where it is in the modern game. WR needs massive upgrade; Gabe is not who we thought he could be. OL needs upgrade at RT, LG, and C.