***PetrinoInAlbany***

Hey, guys ... You don't go to a Rome Tour Stop to take it seriously. You go TO goof! I went to the one at Dunn, and - to be honest - I wasn't sure what to expect. I remember thinking on the way, "How the hell can you do a live show in a stadium with nothing more than a sports talk radio guy and maybe a few local celebs? This could suck..." But it's a gas. Think Saturday Night Live meets SportCenter ... I wound up laughing at a lot of it. And the weird (and cool) part is that a lot of people tailgate. It was genuinely fun ... Even if you're not sure what to expect, go. I promise you, you will laugh hard ...

Bela Fleck Saturday night at the Palace Theatre. Sixth row, stage right. I'm very happy ...

- ---------- *** ODE TO THE QUARTER SEASON *** ------------------- - - - I entered this season with oh so much glee; -- A new year, let's forget two thousand and three. - The reasons that I had to have all this hope -- now taunt me and curse me; I feel like a dope. - - When in came Mularkey, from Pittsburgh no less! -- I thought now, with Gregg gone, we'll have some success. - The trick plays that Gregg liked and challenges failed -- would soon be replaced by clutch decisions nailed. - - I looked at our line now and though Ruben's left, -- I saw there potential, great desire and heft. - The fullbacks and tight ends that did make the team, -- suggested to me that running was the theme. - - I saw that we had a mature quarterback, -- a little slow footed but able to attack. - I said to myself, "Geez, he's just thirty-two" -- I thought of Jim Kelly and smiled over Drew. - - The draft went very well, at least in my eyes, -- Although, friends, Lee Evans was quite a surprise. - But when they took Losman, I said, "See? They're smart!" -- Benefit of doubt they had in my heart. - - I saw two great runners, two guns to be fired. -- "Run them to death," I said, "'til time has expired!" - Eric Moulds is still here, and he's the best in the game. -- And surely Josh Reed will step up and find fame..." - - But alas now the season is nigh quarter past; -- If it weren't for Miami, our offense would be last! - Mularkey's a bum now is what people say, -- and this line can't get out of its own damn way! - - We're putting up just ten points every game. -- Best player's our punter, and that's just a shame. - What of Lee Evans whom I pause to remember? -- Oh, wait, that's right ... They just don't call his number. - - The two running backs who I thought would raise hell? -- They go at each other; that they do quite well. - Each says trade the other, no thought of the team. -- Like Ali and Frazier going at it they seem. - - And Moulds is just one guy; he can't do it all. -- And Josh Reed forgot how to catch the damn ball! - We can't pass, we don't block, we don't ever score... -- The bye is the reason we're not oh-and-four. -- - -------------- ***PetrinoInAlbany*** -

I highly recommend it. The Tour Stop at Dunn was great ... legendary stuff with the Bronco chase entrance! It's a great time. We were having such a good time, we didn't even boo Rob. Go. It's a gas ...

Would you be happy if the 2004 Bills go 2-14 and beat Miami twice?

You guys remember the Songs From The Wood tour? It was the first show I ever saw at the Aud. Ian Anderson was on, man. Fortunately, it wasn't all geared to pushing Songs From The Wood, which was take-it-or-leave-it as far as Tull records. They played almost everything from Aqualung, and it was an amazing show. Is it just me, or did the Aud seem to be prominent in a lot of your best memories from growing up in Western New York? Whether it's the French Connection or the Fabulous Thunderbirds, a lot of my memories start out with the words "It was at the Aud..."

-- Section 219 ... with "albany,n.y." (Harvey) and a co-worker of ours named Juri who's never seen a football game. Juri is a trip, and this should be interesting... The first question I expect him to ask when they come to the line of scrimmage is, "Hey! Why does that guy have his hands up that other guy's ass?" We're on the Bills Express Train ... so we may not get a chance to stop by Pole 5 ... - -- I will raise a borboun toast to you guys when the Bills score their first TD ... If I die of thirst, it's been good knowing you all ...

I'm an idiot? That's original. Yet for someone who's allegedly NOT an idiot, YOU offer no argument in response. Only an insult, and a lame one at that. You'll have to do much better than that. Next ...

That's cynical and insulting. You seem to respond to a great deal of my posts - OK, every damn one - by calling me unintelligent. That suggests a lack of reasoned response and shallowness of thought on YOUR part. And if you're so devoid of hope that you're certain America's going down the crapper, then why don't you just move to Alaska or something?!? Oh, wait ... If you can one day respond to even one of my posts without being insulting, then perhaps someone will have an ounce of respect for your opinion. Next ...

- -- Again, you're entitled to be in a bad mood. Your candidate has screwed up everything he's touched in four years, and I don't have to be a "libber" to see that. relax. Chill out. President Kerry will clean up your guy's mess ... just like he fought your guy's war in 'Nam. Jesus, you refer to show over substance?!? Wow ... Apparently you have been misled into believing that Bush did serve during Viet Nam and Kerry did not. You have it backwards. "Show" over "substance"?!? MY guy was in 'Nam. Where was Monkey-Boy? No one seems to know. Next ...

- -Darin, Darin, Darin ... That's harsh, man. I can understand your being in a bad mood. Your candidate has screwed up everything since day one, and now he's facing someone who's got the fortitude to call him on it. Kerry made Bush look silly in the debate. And let's face it... Bush's entire presidency so far has served as a keen illustration of why it is that we don't give handguns to monkeys ... - --Bush lied to the American people. We're at was as a result. And, yes, that DOES mean enough to me to merit posting on the subject repeatedly. Sorry if that bothers you so much. I suggest you chill out, wait another year, and see if President Kerry can clean up this mess...

- - There's more wisdom in your response then perhaps you even know. Over the years, I used a variation of that strategy with success. My good friend "albany,n.y." pointed out to me once that there was a key factor working against a team trying to win and cover a fourteen-point spread. Simply ... common sense. How many times haveyou seen a team plastering another team, and then they'll switch to substitutes at key positions... Also, the "meaningless late score" syndrome. - -- I should also warn of the flip side of that, Tom. A "sucker bet" is a line that is very large (14 points and up is my standard) AND conceals a differential that is much higher. You see a lot of these in college ball. I generally stay away from them. For me, over the years, the exception is a game where other factors besides power differential can affect MARGIN and SCORING. Never, EVER spot fourteen points without checking the weather...

- -- Good point. My biggest problem with Bush always has been that pathological certainty that he's right. Despite mountains of reality suggesting otherwise, he never "flip-flops"... - - -STAFFER: "Um ... Actually, Mr. President, sir, the latest NASA satellite photos suggest that the earth may in fact be round..." - -- BUSH: "Then discredit and fire the guy that took the photos!"

Bush "looks straight ahead" and "keeps his hands on the wheel"?!? That's a good description of a suicide bomber driving a van full of explosives toward an embassy gate. I want someone with more depth of thought and reason as President ...

- - And the fact that Bush said this after 9-11 doesn't seem to you like he was leading people to make this link? Maybe YOU should think when BUSH speaks. If merely demonstrating a link - something the White House never did, by the way - is sufficient, then we should've bombed Rumsfeld. Or Cheney. Both were tight with Saddam before 9-11. Halliburton UK did tons of business with Saddam during the "embargo." - -- Look, we've beaten that one to death. Just pick one of the twenty-three main justifications and go with that. That's what the White House wanted you to do anyway. I went with the biggest one. The Reuters poll done three months after the war started showed that over half the US thought Saddam was directly connected with the terrorist strikes of 9-11. I noticed that the White House was not quick to point out the fallicy of that belief. They call Kerry a "flip-flopper"? Geesh ... that's like Cheney calling Satan "the devil" ...

Your beauty is surpassed only by your appreciation of great music. - -"You'll come runnin' back ... You'll come runnin' back ... -- to me-eee-eeee...."

My worry? Drew hasn't thrown for 200 yards in a game since Week 14 last season. I will steadfastly maintain my "Drew ain't done" argument, but I feel like time is running out on me...

The spread is ADJUSTED based on where the money is going. But it's NOT the over-riding consideration, despite popular misconception. It's figured into the opening number slightly, but quantitative, formulaic power ranking is first, injuries second, home field (which - again, contrary to popular belief - is NOT always three points, but rather a sliding scale number that can vary between one and five points) and FINALLY anticipated action. That's the ORIGINAL line. It is later ADJUSTED based on betting action. But most people don't realize that the BIGGEST adjustment for "action" is NOT the change in the number, but rather the practice of "laying up" by the people taking the action. - - Laying up is simple. You're a book in Cleveland. Say 75% of the bets on the Bills-Pats game are coming in for New England, and it represents $300,000 ... You fix the balance by calling your guy in say, Vegas, and offer him $200,000 of the action on the Pats. He'll take it and the vig. Unless HE'S got a 70-30 Pats/Bills ratio, in which case you call your guy in Boston. Someone will always be out of balance the other way, and that's who you "lay up" with... - - Remember this and you'll understand it better: The OPTIMUM scenario for a bookmaker to make money is a perfect 50-50 balance on both sides of a bet. - - Forgive the Bookie 101 lesson, but over the years I have known quite a few. (Did some small-scale booking myself a LONG time ago.) It's really a fascinating science.

Does anyone else think the line is way too low on this game? I think the books know something ... Based on the Scripps-Howard numbers, and even when including home field, the line on this thing should be way over five-and-a-half points. As a bettor of thirty years, I assume part of it stems from the fact that it is a division game. I can't imagine that the Deion Branch injury carries that much weight with the linemakers. Anyone else ponder this? Any thoughts?

Nope. Wrong. Don't you remember? It was one of the twenty-three different main justifications Bush gave for the war. The "clear link" between Saddam and Al Qaeda ...

You couldn't be more wrong. What I remember is a man following his conscience and objecting to an unjust war, even knowing it would be an unpopular choice. I remember that it took guts. Kerry followed his CONSCIENCE. George Bush cannot SPELL "conscience."

My favorite "shot" Kerry got in was the reference to "so Halliburton could reap the rewards..." - Second-best? "He outsourced that job to..." - - Give Kerry credit for making the most of the opportunity. According to the CNN poll, even though the numbers were pretty even on who won, a vast majority of undecided voters said that they thought more favorably of Kerry after watching the debate. That's all we were after ... Stay tuned ...

What blew my mind was that he did four miles in the oncoming lane without killing someone. This is a stretch of the Thruway that I travel frequently. The traffic disruption resulting from the five-hour closing was felt all the way to Albany. I feel for the guy, because one or two pills a day could've dealt with what was probably just a chemical imbalance. But sympathy aside, I'm glad this wasn't one of those similar stories that ends with the guy hitting head-on a van full of kids coming back from a field trip ...

Let's see ... October of 1977? ... I was a freshman at UB. - - It was a different world for yours truly, a different universe ... I had hair (long 'fro, ala Sib Hashian, the drummer for Boston) and muscles (believe it or not, I power-lifted six times a week and could squat 400 and bench 250) ... - - To the DAY (Sunday, October 2nd, 1977) the Bills were losing to the Colts, 17-14. The game in Baltimore ended in a sea of controversy as the Bills had one last possession to try and get the tying field goal. As Ferguson, OJ, Chandler, et al attempted to snap the ball, the referee placed his foot on the ball to prevent a snap while the Colts purposely took their time getting back to the line. (The previous play had been a Ferguson completion, and the Colts players walked in slo-mo upfield.) Even then, the rule should have been delay - but under the old system the Bills could have assumed their line stances and remained "set" for one second, then snapped the ball to an immediate whistle and subsequent Colts offside penalty. But despite very vocal objections from Jim Ringo, Ferguson, and cener Mike Montler, the ref kept his foot atop the ball while time ran out. I cannot remember if back then the NFL had already begun the practice of mitigating horrible officiating decisions by issuing meaningless apologies after the fact. Perhaps they felt that the Bills were DESTINED to go 3-11 ... Alas, destiny ruled. By New Year's Eve, Jim Ringo was gone. - -- Best concert that year? Boston at the Aud. The opening band, which played in front of what seemed to be just me & my friends and the 3,000 people who weren't still outside smoking, was some goofy band nobody had ever heard of... they called themselves "Cheap Trick."

That idiot Bush is probably better off NOT saying we beat Al Qaeda ... "Beat the snot out of Al Qaeda"?!?!? Are you serious? Osama is alive and killing our guys in two countries... Who's in custody? Cat Stevens. Yeah, mission accomplished all right ...