Nextmanup

This season is about taking the next step, if we can, and actually winning a playoff game. I think your concerns here are generally a step or 2 ahead of where most Bills fans are right now, though this conversation will be more relevant if we lose our first playoff game, for the 3rd time. I've been wondering since this season began if we are a 1 and done playoff team, or better than that, and I still don't know.

No, no I'm not.

And yet this statistical milestone is more about how the structure of the game itself has changed as opposed to the athletes themselves. Having said that, 20 or 30 years ago a lot of the QBs couldn't run the way they do now, but then again, teams weren't asking them to, nor were they looking for that skill set in prospects. As the game continues to evolve, so does recruitment and development of the players. I swear to God, in another 5 years, running plays run by a RB are going to be rare in the league. Why throw away the down like that? Your classic marquis HB is going to go the way of the FB.

Your first photograph here--Reed and Kelly. Whatever they were saying to each other or whatever positive mojo/energy they were channeling through their hands definitely WORKED. I still say that afternoon's game (51-3) is the High Water Mark of the Bills franchise. We were the best team in the NFL at that moment and really, that season. Only an unlikely upset in the Super Bowl robbed us of the top prize and confirmation of what I just wrote.

Technically not a photograph, but Freddy's total domination and ownership of Chris Conte remains one of my all-time favorite Bills highlights:

If you're not a fan of either team and are actually watching this game, you know you are a hopeless NFL addict. The late game is the same, only worse. 😂

I'm a big sports fan but I am the same. The only reason I would even think to tune to ESPN (or any of its many sibling channels) is because I am about to watch a sporting event that happens to be broadcast on ESPN. Everything else on the channel pretty much is meaningless to me. Maybe ESPN can use that information to craft a better product.

Just heard of this news right now. What a shame. "The Goal of the Century":

I listened to the entirety of Iron Mike's recent podcast with Joe Rogan. His head is definitely in the right place these days and he has been seriously training for a long time in preparation for this fight. I personally LOVE Roy Jones (no one talks self-centered, self-promoting smack better than this guy)(LOL) and he used to be a great, great boxer... BUT...I have a feeling Mike, regardless of his age, is going to kill Jones. I love boxing but never pay for PPV fights. In the old days, I would always wait 1 week and then watch these big fights on HBO for free the following Saturday night. Then HBO lost the deal (Showtime now?) and I don't have that channel. I wonder if the fight will be available through other means after it initially airs.

This is my pick as well, largely because he is the only long snapper whose name immediately comes to mind. 🤣

We are all free to focus on whatever aspect of sports we chose. I have no idea why so many fans like to pretend they are GMs and get mucked up in the details of the CBA. That's the least interesting aspect to sports I can think of, and it has no relation whatsoever to the aspect of sports that makes me interested in watching them. I enjoy watching the moment-to-moment athletics on the field/ice. Everything else is a distant second.

I think the consensus on Biscuit has always been that as good as he was, he is not HOF material. I'm not sure if that's fair. I would personally love to see Tasker get in, if we can't have both make it.

I bet you will enjoy the book. It's probably better than the show, and the show was great!

I had Comcast cable for many years in the DC area, and have it now down in FL. It is the crappiest company on Earth. Avoid it if you can. They'll be out of business, eventually.

I'm a huge Red Sox/AL fan, and I had expensive Nats tickets when I lived in DC for several years, once the team became a thing. And yet my impression is that your average sports fan (not average person, but sports fan) can't stand baseball! The game is too slow and boring, they say. World Series games get worse TV ratings than some crappy Thursday night NFL matchup. For decades, baseball was the ONLY sport in this country that mattered. Those days are long gone. The economic structure of the sport needs re-thinking.

Especially with hockey, I think what we are experiencing is a function of the game changing as much as ourselves! The game of NHL hockey is now enormously different to what it was in the '70s, '80s, and '90s, when I was hooked on the game. Back then, teams did not like each other or pal around before/after games. The sport was filled with physical intimidation, and physical conflict. Real violence. Not every game broke out into a war, but it happened many times per season, and the actual playing hockey part often took second place to the war on the ice. For me, the intimidation/physicality of the game back then was hugely compelling! It was real life narrative tension on display for all to see. Crowds universally stood and cheered the loudest when stuff went crazy on the ice. The game itself was also hugely different; much more room/speed on display on the ice. Individual talent was easier to see/appreciate. It was more like a blitzkrieg. Today's game is WWI trench warfare. 1980s Smythe Division hockey was absolutely fantastic in every way! Today's game is nothing similar. And all the intimidation/physicality aspect of the game is almost entirely gone now. What you are left with is simply not a very compelling sports entertainment product to be consumed, which explains why the league is never in a particularly strong financial position. Back when ESPN gave up on NHL hockey, they pointed out that PBA bowling shows got better ratings than NHL hockey games. And the sport is a lot worse now then it was when ESPN quit on it. But we, as fans, have also changed, I'm sure. Sports (hell, everything) is a lot better when you're a kid! At least for me. The world seemed like a bigger, more interesting, mysterious place in many ways back then. I just don't bring to sports viewing the things I did when I was a teenager, or even in my 20s. I don't know that is true; tons of kids play sports today just as they always did. Do they enjoy watching on TV? I don't know; that's different I think. I live in SE Florida and I can tell you that my gated community neighborhood is FILLED with giant PACKS of young kids screwing around out in the street and on everyone's lawns all day long, every day! Riding bikes, skateboards, playing sports in the street... It reminds me in a very satisfying way of my own childhood doing the exact same stuff in the Town of Tonawanda in the 1970s. I always think "they are supposed to be inside playing video games! What happened?" They are outside all day long.

Well you hit on an ancillary point, which I find interesting... But as a rule, I have found that those who enjoy playing sports do not watch them at all. Conversely, those who enjoy watching them largely do so because they were not good at athletics themselves and appreciate the athleticism of those who play sports well. There are exceptions to both groups, of course. I always get a kick out of remembering that Dave Stieb, ex-outstanding Toronto Blue Jays pitcher, said that, when he was drafted by Toronto, he genuinely did not know Toronto had a team in major league baseball! LOL. There are a ton of pro athletes like that; they're great at playing, and do so for various reasons (probably mostly because receiving millions for doing what you naturally, easily, do well is not a bad gig), but they aren't really what you'd call "fans of the game." Of course, there are some pro athletes who are HUGE students of the game, interested in the sport's history, etc. Mike Tyson comes immediately to mind; dude is an encyclopedia of boxing historic knowledge, loves it, and was one of the greatest boxers of all time. I still think athletes like that are in the minority, however.

Flipping this around for a moment, for years now I have realized I follow the Bills and even more so the Sabres out of raw, sheer, force of habit. I.E., had I not been hooked as a kid, I wouldn't be following either now. My childhood brain was brainwashed to get excited over a Bills and Sabres game, and that's why I still watch, out of habit. The Sabres have been more or less unwatchable for almost a decade now, and I almost never miss a game. I literally think "Why am I watching this?" and it's just because that's what I do on a random Tuesday night in the winter...watch the Sabres, if they are on. My 2 nephews, both born and bred in Buffalo, do not really follow any Buffalo sports at all. They are HUGE English Premiership soccer fans, however, and both play soccer. Times are changing I guess.

Richmond Webb SHUT DOWN Bruce on many occasions. He was a great OL. So was Keith Simms on that same Miami OL.

So what's the point? That Brady is a douche bag? We already knew that. He's still the GOAT.

We have a LOT of non-traditionally timed games coming up! When was the last time it was like this?!

I have now finished "The Queen's Gambit" on Netflix and relished it slowly, only allowing one episode per viewing. It's only 7 one-hour episodes and it goes by quickly. One of the most enjoyable shows I've seen in several years. If you have Netflix, sit down and start watching! You won't regret it.

There was a thread on trading cards just a few weeks ago. I got into NHL hockey cards for a small period of time in undergrad, then never went back to it. Never got into football cards at all.

Aside from lots of obvious comments already made (about investing to get rich or nailing more chicks, etc.) I think I would say something about being more aware of my youth, relishing in it, and making the most of it because it won't always be around. How you say that in 3 words I'm not sure. Basically, I wish I was more aware and appreciative of the benefits of being young when I was younger.

This question is kind of like asking "of all the kisses you have given your sister, which was the best?"