***PetrinoInAlbany***

I'd go "Michael Phelps" for about a month, man ...

When they put in the new hi-tech turf, our friend Hammer obtained a piece to share with his TBD brethren. Mine is part of the red, a piece about 8" x 14" ... and it sits proudly on my windowsill at work. The Ralph is my home-away-from-home, and it's nice to have a little piece of it at work. (Hammer, thanks!) Also, it has some value in annoying the Jets fans - and that's always a good thing.

Oh, God ... It's January, 1993, in the Georgiqa Dome. I am walking down the aisle to my seat holding two large, cold ones. My timing was - for once - close to perfect. I say "close" because the Bills actually received the second half kickoff while I was walking down the aisle. So as I am about to start walking down my row to join Harv (AlbanyNY) I see that Kelly is ready to run the first play. So I do the polite thing and stop at the end of the row so as not to block people's view by being that idiot (and there's one at EVERY NFL game) who walks in front of you WHILE there's a play being run. Kelly hands it to Thurman for the Bills' first offensive play of the second half of their third Super Bowl. I was smiling. I was happy. Why not; we were up a TD at the time. Thurman disappears into a crowd of players and I say "play over" and look down at my feet, trying then to negotiate my way around the size-seventeen feet of the clueless suit attending his first game of any type. So I hear a crowd buzz and I think "what, a fight after the play, perhaps?" So I turn around and see James Washington runing down the field, and he's got Jim Kelly and John Fina chasing him desperately. (*sigh*) Ever see a Dodge Ram and an F-250 street drag a Lamborghini Diabo when the Diablo has a half-mile head start? Yeah, same result. - Worst part was that the Bills started playing like theye were down, even though the play merely tied the score. Worse yet, they started ACTING like they were down. Heads hung, aggressive play-calling abandoned ... it was a benchmark play in my mind.

Where's the list of current enshrinees? I don't want to disrespect anyone by nominating them and then being told they've been on it for years... - Having said that, and with apologies if I name someone already inducted... - Lori - Lot 1, Pole 5 is merely an excuse each home game to find her. I'm pushing 275 NFL games now, and I've been a diehard since 1969. But I STILL learn something about the team EVERY time we get to speak... She's incredible. - Hogboy - He and I worked together back when I was at UB ... His sense of humor is unmatched. Both off and on the Wall. - AlbanyNY - Harv does one thing alone that merits praise. Whenever a ridiculous thread is started about "we should trade for this guy" or "we should sign that guy", he quickly restores sanity and reason, and always shares his incredible knowledge of the rules about caps, waivers, etc. Also, he saw Trent Edwards coming a year ahead of everyone else. - Bob Lamb - Just on principle, for being one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. I really miss having him at home games. - Ghost - see above. -

I might just drive out and spend the night at the Hotel Hyundai ...

How are you, man? Life down here's good ... but between working constantly and travelling to CT to help out Mom, no time for much of a life these days. Still got the seasons, but now that it's 800 miles round trip to HOME games, I've only averaged four home games a year the last three seasons. But I'll never part with the seats, Deaner ... Now with this Bills TicketExchange in place, I get my season tickets for close to free. I have been averaging 1.5 to 2.5 times face for the ones I sell. Could actually make money, but the most desirable games are always the ones I wanna go to as well! (Monday nights, anything against the Cowboys, the defending champs, or an original AFL team ... those I try not to miss. And assuming they retain the weighted Super Bowl ticket lottery at OBD, I'm a lock for Super Bowl tix when our guys get it. Everyone I know (except AlbanyNY (Harv) that is) thinks I'm nuts for keeping season tickets to a Buffalo team when I could kick a football to New York City from here. But you all know the drill ... I was BORN a Bills fan. That will NEVER change ...

Bills 51, Raiders 3 ... 'Nuff said!

Ralph and Bud Adams are the only two original AFL owners who still own their team. Hey, is TBD going to organize a trip?

Well written, my friend. We have much in common ... Only difference is if I stole your handle, I'd be obliged to change it to DieHard1968 cuz I started a year after you did. (*sigh*) Frustration abounds. You hit one MAJOR, MAJOR gripe of mine right on the head ... Who is OUR "great football mind?" Jauron? Modrak? Get real ... We don't even HAVE a GM. And as you said, in a division with Parcells and Belechik, it would seem that vision, wisdom, and cunning in running/coaching/managing a franchise would be the most important bullet in the gun. Having watched Jauron get "pants'ed" by Belechik in that last game drove the point home for me. - What works against me is my optimism. Optimism increases the pain of the eventual reality. We optimists live in a strange world. It's a world where Lonnie Johnson starts at TE for twelve magnificent years and makes people forget Kellen Winslow. It's a world where Drew rediscovers his youth and wins two Super Bowls before retiring a Bill. It's a world where Tom Cousineau leads a Bills D so dominant that we pass on Bruce in '85 because what few 'needs' we have are on the offensive side of the ball. It's a world where Dennis Shaw's rookie year was only a GLIMPSE of the greatness to follow. - Yeah, it's difficult. Three-peating 7-9 doesn't scream "optimism." Look at it this way, though ... We were terrible in '85, mediocre in '86 and '87, and the late 80's and early 90's didn't turn out so bad. Keep the faith, man.

I was surprised that my vote - Bledsoe - was in second. I was really expecting to be like one of maybe three people that picked him in the poll, considering how much negative crap we all heard about him when he was here. He was actually one of my favorite players in the NFL, both during his time here and while leading the Patsies. I got sick of people saying he was "over-rated." I would correct them all by saying, "No, you mean he was over-SACKED." Drew was a walking example of the number one rule regarding pure pocket passers: When throwing a ball ... upright is GOOD, prone is BAD. Drew was a competitor with a golden arm. Miss him.

Demand?!?!? Demand?!?!? Yeah, he'll be in demand the same way people are in stores right now scrambling to buy VCR's in time for Christmas. I was amused all week going into that game realizing it was on EVERYWHERE. Did you guys see the TV NFL distribution maps that week? You pretty much had to leave the Western Hemisphere not to have that as the CBS game in your market. Oh, yeah, I'm told parts of Canada and Mexico as well. So not only did Losman play himself out of an NFL job next year with that ball-handling spaz thing, but NOW he has no shot at being signed in ... The CFL, Arena1 (Arena2 is debatable ... I think I started a game once in Arena2, but I was drunk so I'm not sure.) ... They won't want him as a free agent in any English-speaking country, and probably not in LA, either. Yes I'm still angry. Sorry. In that situation, you protect the football. Aaaargh ...

There needs to be a new rule for Pro-Bowl voting ... If your quarterback has had his brain scrambled AND your team loses seven-out-of-eight, you don't get to start at tackle in a Pro-Bowl. Just on principle.

I used EDIT/COPY EDIT/PASTE to feed it this entire thread ... Their server crashed.

Aaargh ... On the one hand, yes ... I know ... a big part of the loss was that Whitner and Schobel didn't play. and that makes me feel maginally better about that long drive they had against us ... the one that lasted seventy-eight plays or whatever it was... the drive they started in October and finished in November. But on OFFENSE, we rushed for a TEAM total of SIXTY frickin' yards. That doesn't cut it. I'm in a bad mood. - Another comment, not meant to be confrontational or to single anyone out, but here goes... I was slightly annoyed by one thread telling me (us) how not to act when the season goes south ... no offense, PNW Bills fan ... but people who care more than most WILL say things like the hyperbolic "I'm done, that's it!" ... or my personal favorite, "I'm burning my tickets..." Look, no offense, but when you get 250 games under your belt, then tell me how to react after a season unravels. - Having said that ... The thing that bothers me most is the schedule the last three weeks. I predicted a while back on this forum that we could lose the last three AND still go 11-5. Then I had to back off to losing the last three and still going 10-6, which I believe would get us a home playoff game but not a first-round bye. Now I'm in a in a corner and do NOT want to boast about 9-7. Oh, and my question from last week may not be rhetorical any more: Has any team ever won a division with an 0-6 division record? (I know there's a bottle of Jack around here somewhere...)

I could not agree more! Not only did it not add a damn thing, it was a silly distraction. I've got nothing against holograms, mind you ... but I just prefer them accompanied by Pink Floyd music, that's all ...

My big concern is that we could lose the last three games on our schedule. (AT Jets, AT Denver, and the Pats at the Ralph) Now, having said that, here's the weird part... we could lose all three and STILL go 10-6. Here's a half-kidding statistical question: has any team ever won a division while going 0-6 in division games? Just asking ...

Do not TOUCH Hall! Jauron wants smart players. Visions of Hall personally accounting for 45 yards in dead ball fouls on ONE drive (with the Falcons) still haunt me whenever someone throws out the idea of pursuing him.

McCain's biggest mistake was never actually getting around to telling me what HIS plans for America were … what HE was all about. Instead, campaign ad after campaign ad … sound bite after sound bite … his campaign kept trying to tell me what Obama was all about. And frankly, I think Obama was already doing a good job telling me what Obama was all about. But nobody ever told me what John McCain’s vision for our nation’s immediate future was. And that is what we should have been getting from the McCain campaign. I refused to vote for “unknown” as a choice. And that's a shame, because I sense McCain is a good man. Just my two cents ...

... I suggest you turn on the Sunday Night Football game and familiarize yourself with Raymond James Stadium. Because I've got a feeling we'll be seing it again in early February ... February 1st to be precise ... All of us will be there in spirit, some of us in person, but we'll be in Tampa on January 1st. This team is special. Mitchell is a beast. Trent is now a legitimate top-tier quarterback. Evans is back in the offense big time. The D went INTO the game ranked 1st in the NFL on third downs. To those of you planning on going, I'll see you on the corner of North Mabry and West Tampa Bay Boulevard. Go Bills!!!!!!!!! I gotta settle down ...

I lived in Albany for fifteen years ... I don't want to imply that they're a little behind in covering the Bills, but I picked up today's Times Union sports page ... Top story ... The USFL may fold, and if they do, Kelly is coming here!

Miss a Bills opener????? Yeah, right ...and then I'm off to vote for a Republican. Section 219, Row 1, my home-away-from-home. See you all Sunday at the party!

Here's the complete list ... for anyone who wishes to apply the observations below to the picture-on-the-ticket mojo regression model. Remember to adjust the model for irony, the BFPI (Bills Fan Pain Index), and to trim 2.5% of the observations to minimize the disproportionate effects of both the sublime and the ridiculous: - Lions (pre-season) - Jason Peters Seahawks (season opener) Aaron Schobel Raiders - Bruce Chargers - Marshawn (shown in uni, not county jail orange jumpsuit) Jets - Trent Browns - Lee Evans 49'ers - Donte (in a throwback uni) Dolphins - Communist bastards stole the Miami game Patriots* - Chris Kelsay -

Blenda Gay ... insert own joke. I always thought it sounded like a good name for a mixer marketed to gay bars for making blender drinks.

This is why I love reading your postings. You understand! Not only was the Jones thing in my top three in all-time picture-on-ticket-mojo occurrences, it ranks right up there with the strangest Bills memories over the years. My top strangest memory ever was that classic shot of Jim Kelly lying on the turf ... near the end of our first home playoff loss in like twenty years ... and the blitzing Jaguar DB standing over his fallen prey was ... ? Bucky Brooks! Whom we'd drafted as a wide receiver with our top pick in an earlier draft! Personally, Lori, that hurt more than "wide right." (*sigh*)

Agreed. Hey, they have Trent on the tickets for November 2nd against the Jets. I don't like tempting fate, which their choice of players to place on tickets CAN diretly effect if you understand the mojo. When I first saw Trent on the Jets game tickets, I actually laughed out loud and said "Great ... you can bet Losman'll be the starter in that one." I was thinking injury more than choice, although on some level I can't say which would be worse ...