Lori

Just so y'all know, the excerpts Frank posted don't do Gus's story, or the rest of the book, justice. You'll want to read the whole thing, especially if you need a pick-me-up after another frustrating Bills loss. Nice job, Frank. I found it at the Waldenbooks in the Boulevard Mall; I assume the WB/Borders in the area are all carrying it. Look on the "Local Interest" shelf. And while you're at that shelf, Western New York Wares has several other books you might be interested in - Sal Maiorana's Game Night In Buffalo, Eddie Abramoski's book, White Death (about the Blizzard of '77), Mason Winfield's books about the paranormal/supernatural side of WNY.......

Well....... yeah...... How about the meteor?

Not all, but a significant minority. Same with any championship-winning team. I thought about asking a few of the people wearing Dillon jerseys yesterday if they knew what position Steve Grogan played, but decided not to bother.... But you know as well as I do that up until the last few years, the Pats were no higher than third (and most often a distant fourth) in the hearts of most Boston-area sports fans. There has to be some reason a Patriots team with a winning record was drawing 15-20,000 short of capacity in a 60,000-seat stadium back in the '80s, when we've averaged over 67,000/game, in a less-populated area, ever since Rich Stadium opened in 1973. One of my trips to Boston happened to be over Memorial Day weekend 1993. Try as I might, I couldn't find anyone who wanted to talk about the Pats and their new #1 pick at QB, a kid named Bledsoe. Nope, it was all Sox, Celts, Bruins, and "nobody cares about the Pats" (even though they'd last gone to a Super Bowl a mere 7 years before).... Likewise, even though Parcells was there and they were coming off a 10-6 season, the Pats training camp was practically deserted when I went up there to watch a kid from my hometown try to make the team back in '95. Just my take.

"Leaving the utter hilarity of the call aside for a moment...." Post of the YEAR.

Not entirely fair. Between the RBs and WRs, we now have three #1 and two #2 picks. In addition to Bledsoe (and our #1 QB-of-the-future), they should be our "high-profile" players....... Them, and the #4 pick in the draft at RT (6 yrs; $38 M SB $7.5 M), and FA pickups Trey Teague (4 yrs; $10M SB $1.5M) and Chris Villarrial (4 yrs. $11.85M. SB $3.6M.) Other than the bargain-basement TEs and FB, there's more $$$$$ tied up in the offense than you might think. (Although you can't tell it by their production...)

Three-time national champion in 400m hurdles at Pittsburg State, NCAA Division II Track and Field Athlete of the Year in 1999. I can just see NFLshop.com overwhelmed with orders for #8 jerseys this week...

As a Bills fan, I automatically detest the Fish from now until forever. And while certain mouthy Patriots fans annoy me, I have no real deep dislike for their team. (Other than Rodney Harrison, king of cheapshotters ever since his Chargers days). So, while I grow weary of the media's New England lovefest (which will only continue to get worse if they break the record), I gotta admit I hope they win next week. Although option #3 certainly has its appeal...

Uhhhh........ I'll get back to you when I come up with an answer for that question. You may have to wait a while, though. A LONG while.

BADOL, you nailed it, bro. Hit it right out of the ballpark, and still going.... From the postgame discussion at Lot 1/Pole 5: IMO, physically, this team has every bit as much 'talent' as New England. Look at where each team's starters were drafted out of college..... (I'm going to list more than 11 for each unit, based on what set they decide to run) Bills offense: 1st-round - Bledsoe, M. Williams, Moulds, Evans, McGahee 2nd-round - Henry, Reed 3rd-round - Jennings 4th-round - 5th-round - Villarrial 6th-round - Shelton 7th-round - Teague UDFA - Campbell, Neufeld, L. Smith Bills defense: 1st-round - Adams, Spikes, Clements, Vincent 2nd-round - Schobel, Kelsay/Denney, (Milloy) 3rd-round - Wire 4th-round - McGee, Prioleau 5th-round - 6th-round - Reese, K. Thomas 7th-round - UDFA - Fletcher, Posey, P. Williams Patriots offense: 1st-round - Daniel Graham 2nd-round - Dillon, Matt Light, Christian Fauria, (Branch) 3rd-round - 4th-round - (Dan Klecko, LB started at FB) 5th-round - Russ Hochstein, Dan Koppen 6th-round - Brady 7th-round - David Givens, Patrick Pass 8th-round - Troy Brown UDFA - Joe Andruzzi, Tom Ashworth, David Patten Patriots defense: 1st-round - McGinest, Law, Seymour, Ty Warren, Wilfork, Poole 2nd-round - Eugene Wilson, Ted Johnson 3rd-round - Tedy Bruschi, Mike Vrabel 4th-round - 5th-round - Rodney Harrison 6th-round - 7th-round - UDFA - By my count (and not counting McGahee), the Bills started 8 first-round picks to the Pats' 7 yesterday. For a guy to get drafted that high, somebody along the line had to think he'd turn out to be a truly special player, no? So what's the diff? Between the ears. And I'm not talking IQ tests or SAT scores here, either. BADOL's quote, the one that's still bugging me almost 24 hours later: I'd give New England any two first-round draft picks off our current roster for Tedy Bruschi. Right now. And they'd be nuts to take that deal, because IMO Bruschi is the reincarnation of Chris Spielman. Why'd he last till the third round? Because his "measurables" didn't look so hot for a college d-lineman attempting to transition to LB. He was a "tweener", according to Joel Buchsbaum, who "may be better-suited as a pass-rushing end in the CFL than NFL because of size, but he can be a situational rusher in the NFL and might even be an inside linebacker in some schemes." Doesn't matter how tall he is or what Bruschi's 40 time was at the combine, the guy can play football. And Scott Pioli - although he can't take credit for Bruschi; he was in Baltimore when TB was drafted by Bill Parcells - has loaded up their roster with guys like him. Meanwhile, our front office - and the one that preceded it, for that matter - appears to be searching for guys who can run the 40 in 4.2 or set benchpress records. And when it comes down to making THE play at the end of a close game, it shows. We have players who think they're playmakers. They have players who just make plays.

I believe the guy that took the cheapshot at Moorman after he was down was #48, Banta-Cain. (Yep, he got nailed for a different 15-yarder, but not for that one.) Looks like Harrison is teaching him well.

Winning the $10 mill and the trophy is cool and all, but it isn't the entire point of the exercise. This is just the first step.

WoooooooooooooooooooooooooHooooooooooooooooooooooooooo As bummed as I am about the Bills, watching that made my day. As a NSS member since way back when, I've been cheering SSOne on in the race for the X Prize ever since I first heard about it at Dr. P's site (http://www.jerrypournelle.com). NASA's been too bureaucrat-icized for too long; if we're going to space, THIS is the way we'll get there....

Spoken like a true Nittany Lion fan. MAN, I wish Furman would've held on for the W last week....

For those of you in the Buffalo area, a reminder - Bisons "Championship Bash" at the ballpark tonight. Music, speeches from players and team management, fireworks, getting your picture taken on the field with the Governor's Cup, free Cokes and cheap hot dogs, all that fun stuff. And the weather's beautiful.....

Nope, if you're anything like me, they'll stick with you for a long, long time. Just hafta celebrate the happy anniversaries, and get through the bad ones. And you know we'll be here for ya on every one of them. Glad to see the boys are making you smile....

Actually, I can. My mom got promoted at work, and we didn't eat cereal for dinner quite as often. You want my childhood, jerk? You're welcome to it.

Yeah, but John lives in California. I hear they get actual sunshine out there. My results approximate yours, MM - I have one 4x20 panel for my 15x25 above-ground. If the summer is warm and sunny, it does great, but in a non-summer like this one was, we might as well have left it rolled up in the garage. Going to try a propane-fired one next year...

Likewise. I was 8. And living through the Carter era (on a lot of tuna casserole and PBJs) did a darn good job of steering me toward the GOP.

Rich, as they were wrapping up MR for the trip to the hospital, did you catch the "Oh crap, this means I'M next" look on Ganter's face? Ugh. Didn't even really watch the rest of the game after that; too many bad flashbacks to Taliaferro. At least it sounds like Michael's going to be OK. Overall, a horrid weekend in Happy Valley. Thoughts go out to the Paterno family - Joe + SuePa's son-in-law Chris Hort was still listed in critical condition Monday, after suffering a head injury in a bike accident Saturday. Also, condolences to the family of PSU All-American Bob Mitinger, who passed away the same day. Wins and losses don't get to Joe. This will.

Like banning mobile homes and RVs? That would be really, really tough to do. And as far as putting power lines underground? Yeah, I thought the same thing. And then I remembered how close most of FL is to 0' altitude, and how close to the surface the water table must be. Now, I'm no engineer, but I imagine any underground construction would have to require some MASSIVE sump-pumps.....

Where did you get the idea they don't? OK, now that I think about it, photo-ops like Blitz Builds, the JCWP, Building on Faith do get most of the publicity. But whether they're building new homes or rehabilitating old ones depends a lot on the housing/land situation from affiliate to affiliate. Out here in the sticks, our local affiliates do both. And to be realistic, if you're figuring up costs of ripping out/re-doing wiring, plumbing, insulation, all that, it might just be more cost-effective to build new. (And the standard Habitat house design isn't exactly spacious - no more than 1,050 sq. feet of living space for a new-built 3-bedroom here in the States. To compare, my house - nice, but not quite palatial - is 1,800 sq ft not counting the basement.) Remember, too, that HFH has corporate partnerships with many building-industry companies, and gets a lot of construction material donated. The HFH website has fact sheets, house designs, things like that, if anyone is interested in learning more. Oh yeah, and a way to get in touch with your local affiliate....

You'd think there'd be nothing but bones left by now, wouldn't you? ...sigh....

Right on, Indy. Like Smerlas said after that blocked FG - "I had a strange feeling we were going to block it. It's just something about this team." Or Kent Hull, after the 1992 AFC Championship game - "I've never been around a team that finds so many ways to win a football game. You can't coach it, and it's not bred. It's just a growing process. On this team, each individual player complements the other." You know what team that reminds me of now, don't you? Did you have any doubt whatsoever that Vinatieri would make that FG in the Super Bowl, or that McGinest would come up with the big sack to make Vanderjagt's FG try that much longer in week 1? Just like our SuperBills, this version of the Patriots EXPECTS to win, and seems to come up with the big play exactly when they need it. Dammit, I miss that. I want it back.

Oooh goody, more fun with numbers! Seriously, thanks for the topic, Dave. You put some thought into this; I'll try to do likewise. Many feel that the most important stat to measure a qb's performance is yards per pass attempt. I've cobbled together a bunch of stats for a lot of qbs, starting with a comparison of Kelly’s 11-year nfl career and Bledsoe’s 11 years so far in the league. Following this is a list of the ypa stats for qb luminaries of the past 15 years or so. I’m now concluding that Bledsoe may well be the most overrated qb of all time (especially considering the plethora of good receivers he’s played with - Glenn, Coates, Moulds, Price). Interestingly, neither Coates nor Glenn has ever made a Pro Bowl in a season where DB wasn't the Pats' QB. Coates was a non-entity in 1991 and 1992, before Bledsoe was drafted; he never averaged under 10.0 yards/catch through a season with Drew, or over 10.0 yards/catch for a season with any other Pats QB. Glenn had two seasons averaging over 16.0 yds/catch with Drew; 2004 is the first time he's gotten back up to a 15.0 average since he left New England. Moulds has caught passes from every Bills QB since Kelly, but had his season-highs in receptions and TD catches after Drew got here. Kelly – yards per pass attempt - career 1986 7.5 (top BUF WRs: Andre Reed, Chris Burkett) 1987 6.7 (top BUF WRs: Reed, Burkett) 1988 7.5 (top BUF WRs: Reed, Trumaine Johnson) 1989 8.0 (top BUF WRs: Reed, Flip Johnson) 1990 8.2 (top BUF WRs: Reed, James Lofton) 1991 8.1 (top BUF WRs: Reed, Lofton) 1992 7.5 (top BUF WRs: Reed, Lofton) 1993 7.2 (top BUF WRs: Billy Brooks, Reed) 1994 7.0 (top BUF WRs: Reed, Brooks) 1995 6.8 (top BUF WRs: Brooks, Russell Copeland) 1996 7.4 (top BUF WRs: Reed, Quinn Early) lifetime – 7.4 Factoid: in 10 of those 11 years, the team leader in receptions was a WR. 1993 (Metzelaars) was the only exception. Bledsoe – yards per pass attempt - career 1993 5.8 (top NE WRs: Vincent Brisby, Michael Timpson) 1994 6.6 (top NE WRs: Timpson, Brisby) 1995 5.5 (top NE WRs: Brisby, Will Moore) 1996 6.6 (top NE WRs: Terry Glenn, Shawn Jefferson) 1997 7.1 (top NE WRs: Jefferson, Troy Brown) 1998 7.6 (top NE WRs: Glenn, Jefferson) 1999 6.6 (top NE WRs: Glenn, Jefferson) 2000 6.2 (top NE WRs: Brown, Glenn) 2001 6.1 (top NE WRs: Brown, David Patten) 2002 7.1 (top BUF WRs: Moulds, Price) 2003 6.1 (top BUF WRs: Moulds, Josh Reed) lifetime – 6.6 Factoid: in 1993-94-95-97-98, New England's reception leader was Ben Coates. Indeed, Patriot WRs never averaged over 46% of the team's receptions until Coates' second-to-last season there, 1998. In comparison, Bills WRs averaged over 50% of total receptions in all but two of Kelly's seasons. Just a thought here: if you're a QB whose main weapon is a TE with a lifetime average of 11.1 yards/catch, then your yards/attempt will most likely be lower than someone who has Jerry Rice/John Taylor, or Reed/Lofton, or Bruce/Holt, or Randy Moss to throw to. Vincent Brisby? Michael Timpson? Will Moore? C'mon. Don't think they qualify for the "plethora" mentioned above. (And realistically, 11.1 isn't bad for Coates - even most Hall of Fame-quality TEs have lower ypc averages than quite a few middle-of-the-road WRs. Kellen Winslow averaged 12.4 ypc for his career, Ozzie 12.1, Shannon Sharpe 12.3, Dave Casper 13.8, Todd Christensen 12.7, Tony Gonzalez 12.1. John Mackey, of course, would be the exception - at 15.8 ypc, he's the only big-name TE I could find over 14.0. To compare, 30 NFL WRs averaged at least 14.0 ypc last season, and guys like Amani Toomer and Chris Chambers have career averages over 15.0.) Soooo..... just how significant is a QB's yds/attempt? Perhaps we need a better understanding of the numbers behind those numbers to be able to tell that. Was Coates getting all those catches because Brisby and Timpson probably couldn't have made any of the Bills Super Bowl-era rosters even as backups, or because Parcells had his own version of an "alarm clock" for DB, or because Drew would decide to dump it off to him instead of waiting for his WRs to get open? (And how different is the formula now, when IMHO Bledsoe doesn't have a TE or RB he really trusts to be a consistent safety valve?) And how do Bledsoe's stats compare with other QBs who had a great TE or passcatching RB to throw to? You mentioned Randall Cunningham as someone else under 7.0; how much do you think playing with Keith Jackson and Keith Byars (and a few really, really mediocre WRs, once Buddy Ryan ran Cris Carter out of town) affected his stats? Even guys like Steve Beuerlein (1994), Dave Krieg (1995), and Boomer Esiason (1996) didn't hit 7.0 yds/attempt back when Larry Centers was leading the Cardinals in catches. Ditto for Boomer with the Jets in '95 (a dreadful 5.8 ypc), when his three top receivers were Adrian Murrell, Wayne Chrebet, and Johnny Mitchell. One more sidenote, regarding the current Pats and Tom Brady: Don't be taken in by one or two weeks' worth of stats; neither David Givens (career ypc 14.0) nor David Patten (career 14.2) are likely to keep up their gaudy 2004 averages (19.8 and 20.8, respectively), especially now that Kevin Faulk (and his average of over 40 catches/season, 8.87 yds/catch the last four years) is back. Something tells me that won't bother them too much, though, as long as they keep winning games. Sooo.... is Bledsoe overrated? Very possibly, but I can't make that determination from looking at yds/attempt stats.

"Coming up small." Think BADOL mentioned that a couple of days ago, and it got me to thinking.... as did the "Empire Retro" broadcasts this weekend (right now they're showing the Thurman Show from the '93 Steelers playoff game)... I started flipping through the ol' copy of Relentless, to see just how many of those clutch performances I could find from the goold old days, and there were even more than I remembered. Whether it was Freddy Smerlas blocking the FG in '88 so Norwood could beat the Jets in OT, or Kelly's dive into the EZ in '89, or Frank Reich and Kenny Davis stepping up bigtime in the 'Comeback Game', this team was loaded with guys who more often than not made the big play when we needed it most. Now, until they prove me wrong, we've got a bunch of guys who can make the big hit on a first-down play in the second quarter (and then dance around to make sure everyone knows who it was), but when it comes down to THE play at the end of the game? When we need just one more defensive stop, or a clutch catch to keep a drive going? We've seen guys on other teams make plays like that, but where are OUR playmakers? I want somebody with this mindset: "We needed a big play. Somebody had to make it, and I didn't want to wait around for anyone else." "When it comes down to it, when you have to make the big play, you make it. I just said 'Guys, I know we can do it, let's put it all together.' " We used to have guys like that, but now I'm not so sure. I really, really hope they prove me wrong....