Nextmanup

Just reading the tea leaves and keeping an eye on all societal developments in this area... I would say we are on pace for them to allow *full* attendance at the games this September. I guess what would remain to be seen is what limitations are placed on those there. They'd probably require masks, still, at a minimum, but maybe even require proof of vaccinations, or even proof of negative test results. Not sure; but I think we'll see big crowds this fall. Even California is fully opening up again now.

Why is this news? It will be news when someone announces there have been no arrests in the NFL for a 365 day period, or something like that.

What's with the Boston hate? It is just b/c New England has owned the Bills for the last 20 years? Boston is one of my favorite cities in America; have a few good friends from that area.

Interesting! No one talks about that! Also: Former Bills LB Ray Bentley authored a series of children's books based around a fictional character named Darby the Dinosaur. Former Bills TE Nick O'Leary is the grandson of famous golfer Jack Nicklaus. The Super Bowl era Bills were known for their huge partying antics. At the start of Super Bowl XXVI, the Bills were without the use of star RB Thurman Thomas because he lost his helmet on the sidelines.

"Hear me out..."

LOL. I would say any player that IS a RB!

I got the first shot today; Pfizer. After about 3 hours, my arm started hurting a touch; it's still sore 10 hours later. No flu like side effects. I did it at a CVS and between the stores inefficient setup, and waiting 15 minutes after the shot before they'd let me leave to make sure I had no side effects, I was in there for damn near an hour. The actual act of getting the shot was less than 30 seconds, including cleaning my arm with an alcohol swab, being asked which arm I wanted, being told to hang my arm at my side and to relax, and then physically getting the shot. The actual shot didn't hurt in the slightest and was finished in less than 2 seconds I would say. It was over before it started. I'm scheduled for shot 2 in 3 weeks.

He's only 5'9" but then you have the speed factor. I like big, tall, physical guys who can catch any ball that is anywhere near their huge wingspan, despite being well covered. But we need a speed burner threat!

Yep. I was hoping they'd lose last night to keep that streak alive. We ran into the right team on the right night; Philly is melting down right now and I think their coach is gonna get fired.

That's much more sophisticated than the method I remember... A buddy drilled a tiny hole in a quarter, tied some type of wire through it, and on certain machines you could lower the quarter into the coin slot just enough to trip a lever in there to give you a life. If you did it the right way though, you could pull the quarter back up and then lower it again. After a few seconds of bobbing the quarter up and down, you could get it up to like 100 lives and play for an hour or 2. I remember one time doing this trick with my buddy at a pizza shop (LOL) that had a machine or 2. The guy working the counter realized what we were doing, came over, unplugged the machine from the wall to reset it, and told us to get lost. That was all probably like in 1982 or something. The good old days.

Now jumping a few years forward to 1970. Same venue, Royal Albert Hall. Zeppelin playing "Dazed and Confused". This clip shows zeppelin at the absolute height of their powers. The stuff JPJ, Bonzo, and Page do in this rendition is mind blowing.

Oh yes, I've seen Ginger's documentary. Yeah, he was a real douche bag but he was also one of the very best rock drummers of all time, largely because he wasn't just a rock drummer. He was more of a well rounded drummer who could swing and do jazz too. Jack Bruce was phenomenal! Note that fretless bass he is rocking in the 2006 RAH concert! If you watch the video of "Sunshine" from Royal Albert Hall but in 1968 that is on Youtube, you can see the unbelievable talent these 3 guys had in their prime. They were all over the hill in this 2005 concert, as good as that performance was. The torrid pace of "Sunshine" and the crazy hard stuff each guy was doing in 1968 is really something to behold. I'm a gigantic Zeppelin fan; they are the only band I can think of that can compete with Cream at its peak for raw musicianship. It's literally as good as rock ever got. This is the 1968 version I'm talking about (the introductory narration is absolutely amazing!):

Ya think? I actually like the gray face masks! They provide a little contrast to the overall helmet. The white blends in and looks too slick and cheesy for my taste, kind of like when athletes wear white cleats. Black cleats always look better.

https://www.audacy.com/wgr550/sports/bills/isaiah-mckenzie-fools-bills-teammates-and-coaches-with-hilarious-prank-calls

He's a solid journeyman depth player kind of signing with decent coverage skills.

One of my all-time favorite Clapton moments is from the 2005 Royal Albert Hall concert with Cream. As the band walks out onto the stage to perform Sunshine of Your Love, Clapton is just noodling around on his Strat basically warming up his hands. Jack Bruce does sort of the same thing on his bass. I've been playing the guitar now for about 10 years and I wouldn't be able to noodle around like that with that exact style to save my life. LOL. And he was just playing around on his guitar while walking onto the stage. Here it is:

I haven't bumped into this show, but will definitely look for it based on all these reviews. Sounds interesting, and is probably a better use of my time than The Curse of Oak Island, which never seems to find anything of substance and it's just the same disappointments over and over and over again.

Passing attack should be the overwhelming focus of every team in the league. Just remember, "best player available" is kind of a myth, b/c no one really knows who the best player available really is at any point in the draft, and more often than not, the teams are *wrong* in terms of who they take.

I listened to Chad's latest podcast on Sunday I think. I think his "sources" are questionable and I'm not so sure we will bring in Rutherford. I agree with Chad's co-host in that I don't want Rutherford in here, anyway, if he is actually going to making critical personnel decisions as part of the hockey department. He is 72 years old, over the hill, and was a failure during his last stint in Pittsburgh, which is not a franchise I would want to emulate regardless, despite their limited success during Crosby's era. If they bring him in simply to show them how to organize a franchise, what structures to create, teach reporting hierarchies and so on, that's fine. He should know what a functional organizational scheme looks like. There are better choices, though, if they are going to truly bring in a POHO type guy. I absolutely do think they are on the brink of hiring an AGM, however. It will probably be Karmanos based on everything we are all hearing.

Let's hope so! I would like to see this streak hit 25 if we can do it. My constant hope is that it just gets so ugly that at some point (soon), Pegula says "It's just not fun anymore. Sell it." And then he can focus on the Bills. The fastest, easiest path to righting the Sabres ship is to get new ownership. The last decade of Sabres hockey is *all* on Pegula and it's going to stay that way as long as he is the owner, unless he magically wakes up one day and completely changes how he and his wife approach the franchise. Rather than wait for Hell to freeze over, it's just a lot easier to hope he sells.

Never knew Rick was an alum of St. Joe's *and* Canisius College. So am I. Remember him well from my childhood, along with all the other big name broadcasters in WNY history.

I don't see the point in unlocking the run game. I see the point in making our passing game better, more explosive, and more consistent. We need home run hitter speed threats on offense and until Josh Allen can actually hit a deep pass, it's always going to be limited.

And people wonder why NFL players are fragile and snap like rubber bands just moving in the wrong direction, devoid of contact. There is a weird obsession with raw strength and power in the NFL culture, when in fact guys should be more focused on flexibility. They all look fantastic and like gorillas, but do all of them need to look that way? Look at the injury rates around the league. Guys should be doing yoga but that is not a part of the culture of the NFL.

The meatheads who run NFL football teams are *slowly* learning that the modern game of NFL football is entirely about the QB. Either you have one who can win it all, or you don't matter. It's just a question of when your season is going to end. As is almost always the case, look at the Final Four from last year, and look at the QB names involved. No surprises here. Because of all of this, you can't give up too much for a QB IMO. In fact, 10 or 20 years down the road, you are going to see QBs and a small handful of skill position offensive points scorers getting *ALL* the money, with everyone else on the field getting league minimum. Just watch.

I have found this story fascinating since the beginning, and have gone as far as looking at the canal in google map satellite view, finding the exact spot where the ship is blocking the canal to better understand the situation, and so on. A giant ship has become stuck in the mud, it's blocking an important area for world commerce with tremendous negative effect, and no one knows for sure how to best get the damned thing out of there. And it's not going to happen any time soon, either. What a mess, yet so simple at its core. There's a certain beauty to it.