TigerJ

I really don't much care what happens to him. He's mostly about self promotion. In my opinion self promotion usually makes someone look stupid, and so far blackbear is working that to perfection.

What's the difference between an angry black bear and an angry grizzly? If you climb a tree being chased by an angry black bear, the black bear will climb the tree after you and kill you. If you climb a tree being chased by an angry grizzly, the grizzly will knock the tree down and kill you. Tough choice. This particular black bear is all growl and no substance, however.

Praise. Actually I haven't said a negative thing about McNally all season and lately have been giving him plenty of props.

I try not to stereotype fans of other teams, Miami Dolphins included. There are decent Bills fans and there is trash. There are decen Fin fans and there is trash. This is trash.

Billy White Shoes Johnson I'll second the vote for Dick Butkis. If there was ever a name that automatically made you tough, it's that one. Another old one - Deacon Jones The Bailey brothers: Boss and Champ

Saint Bonas is a lower tier of competition anyway and still feeling the after effects of an academic scandal and self imposed sanctions (approved by the NCAA) Bona shouldn't really be considered legitimate competition for Syracuse right now. They seem to have a pretty good young coach though, and he may be able to rebuild the program to some respectability in a few years.

The author of that article is Mark Weiler, formerly active on the Billszone forum, and before that the Buffalo Range. He actually would consider himself a Bills fan if you can believe it, though he is among the most negative Bills fans ever. When he posted as Wys Guy, his posts were known for wordiness and the exhaustive inclusion of statistics to back up his negativity. An interesting factoid, he was one of the most vociferous and stubborns supporters of Rob Johnson before his departure from the Bills. Now he is one of the most venomous Bledsoe haters around. Once he makes his mind up about someone (he hates Donahoe and Mularkey) he will not change his mind or back off, but will continue to spin things in order to support his twisted view. Sad really.

I saw your self inflated posts on BB.com, blackbear. I post on four different boards, and there are a few guys like you on everyone of them. I'm not impressed with them either.

I'm fine with a fair competition in training camp for the starting QB position. I suspect Bledsoe will win it. What I don't want to see is the coaching staff continuing to stick with Bledsoe should he prove ineffective. I think under those circumstances we need to see Losman sooner rather than later.

I think being coach of ND is a lose lose situation. The university expects a top five-ten team, but won't let the team recruit anyone who's not top notch academically, like all the top 5-top 10 teams do. It's, "win or else, and by the way, you have to play with one hand tied behind your back."

As far as I am aware, Buffalo signed Joe Burns as an undrafted rookie FA out of college, and he's never played in NFL Europe. As far as I can tell, he is a Travis Henry clone with less speed and less talent. He's tough, and if the line is playing well he can get you a consistent 3-4 yards and not much more. He's proven to be a good special teamer too. Guys like him are adime a dozen in the NFL. Shaud Williams probably has a little more upside

I took two puffs on a cigarette in third grade. That cured me. Count me among the anti-smoking zealots in the debate over smoking. It killed my dad (emphysema- pretty terrible way to go).

Buffalo also signed a quick pass rushing type to their practice squad, Uyi Osunde. Supposedly he's got some upside as a pass rusher.

I think a more accurate set of numbers for JP is 6'2" and 217. Losman is every thing you'd ever want in a QB from a physical standpoint. He did pretty much carry the Tulane offence while there, though they did have a decent running back, who has started some games in the NFL this season as a rookie. Mewelde Moore? The downside is that running for his life oft times behind Tulane's porous offensive line he developed some bad habits as far as his footwork goes. Amazingly, he was usually pretty accurate even when his footwork was bad. Tulane ran a lot of shotgun I understand, so he really hasn't spent a lot of time under center, and Tulane was definitely not a pro style offence. The bottom line is that coming out of college Losman was not as ready for the pro game as other first rounders. His upside is as good as any of them, but he frankly need this year on the bench, working with Sam Wyche in practice. Whether a year will be enough is anyone's guess, and will continue to be debated. As far as the image of cockiness put out there by the media, I don't buy it. He is very confident in his ability. A QB needs that. Swagger is a good thing. Back in training camp, however, he said all the right things, expressing comfort with the idea of Bledsoe starting and saying there was a great deal he needed to learn. He's always been very approachable and friendly to fans and seems like a really genuine, likeable guy.

Peppers is my guy too. Man, he could make the defense scary.

I thought it was short for Los Angeles BillzFan.

It's hard to compare QBs from different eras because the game is constantly evolving and changing. Some of the great QBs of the past might have trouble with today's NFL and vice versa. On another note. I think Buffalo cracks Carucci's top twelve within a couple weeks.

I agree with most of what you said, Ice. On Losman and Bledsoe, I agree that Losman is the future. I also agree that live action is an essential component of full development. However, some development can take place in practice. If I may I'd like to tell a true story about two of my three children. My oldest, now 21 began walking at the age of eight and a half months. It was a compulsion for him. He'd start across a room, fall down, bawl a bit, get up and keep going. I think he had more bumps and bruises than any nine month old everthat hadn't been physically abused. My youngest, a girl took her first step at fifteen months, after one step she decided she'd had enough, sat down and resumed playing on the floor. She never took another step until the day before her eighteen month checkup. Then she got up, started walking as if she'd been doing it for weeks, hardly ever fell or got hurt. I think there are parallels to learning to play QB in the NFL. Ben Roethlisberger is a freak. I don't think there has ever been a rookie QB come in and have the kind of season he's having. Most QBs who come in and play as a rookie get bloodied pretty badly. They are much like my son was learning to walk. He ended up even running before most kids are walking, but he paid a high price. The thing is in football, it's not just the rookie QB who pays the price, it's the team. On the other hand there is a guy like Chad Pennington who as a highly touted rookie sat on the bench. Then he sat on the bench for a second year. Then he started out a third year on the bench. Finally, when Vinnie Testaverde was ineffective, the Jets were forced to finally start Pennington, worried that he wasn't ready yet. He's a lot like my daughter, who let some development take place before she took the field, figuratively speaking. There were things Pennington's had to learn from "active duty" but all in all he has had a pretty smooth adjustment into being a starting NFL QB. I don't know that there is one right way to do it. I think I would like to see at least an open competition for QB of the Bills. I do suspect that if Losman starts, he will have some rough games, though fewer than he would have had had he been healthy this year and started at the begining of the season. It's also possible that he could sit another year and have a debut year like Pennington. I think I'm willing to trust the coaching staff on this. I just hope that the team has progressed next year sufficiently so that they can overcome most of Losman's new starter jitters if he is the starter. The good news is that it looks like the Bills, and their now hated GM, Tom Donahoe, has built a team that is not at all QB centric. The Bills don't need a great QB to win. I think the the Bills can probably win games next year with the QB passing the ball no more than 25 times for 100-150 yards. In that respect, it would be an ideal situation for Losman to take the plunge as a starter. That's one advantage that Roethlisberger has this year. The Steelers have a very strong team around him, so Roethlisberger only has to be a cog in the machine and not the man on the hot seat.

I think he's about 10 lbs above his college playing weight and I wondered if that might be slowing him a bit. I'm not worried though. However fast he is, he is very productive.

Attending seminary, some friends of mine were into inventing nicknames. Going to seminary in the south, some of the nicknames reflected a bit of southern culture. There was "Bear" because he was hairy, "Mad Dog because he was a little crazy. I don't recall why "Possum" and "Clyde" got their nicknames. Mine was intended to be ironic. I'm pretty laid back and quiet, which gave one guy the idea of an aggressive sounding nickname like "Tiger." I hadn't used it in years, but when I became active on the internet, it seemed like a handy username, and I figured if my friends could express humor in giving me the name, I could express it in keeping it and using it. The "J" is the initial of my last name.

Does the NFL allow freaks at the combine?

I agree that when she's active Meryl Streep is at the top. I also agree that Julia Roberts deserves consideration. One who has not been mentioned is Sigourney Weaver. She's done comedy (Ghost Busters), sci-fi/horror (Alien) and serious drama (Gorillas in the Mist).

I'll bet she doesn't eat one of those every day.

I'm not a fisherman, so I have to say I'm skeptical. It's better than nothing though. It's service sector, but no one's is going to put a manufacturing facility in the old Aud, nor should they. If they could only get a manufacturer to commit to the area. . . but then that would require a better tax climate, and that would require sanity on the part of the state, the county, and the city and that's probably not going to happen.