RJ (not THAT RJ)

Touché!

You are of course entitled to your opinion... and no one should automatically assume that the college one attends is the best determinant of that person's intelligence, but as a Harvard History Major (there, I said it), I would say that it does mean something to be smart enough to get into the school. Whether that makes one a good football coach is another matter, but I would think that someone with an education from any college, be it in the liberal arts or computer science, would be smart enough not to denigrate an entire discipline, or dismiss it with a yawn. Go Bills!

I will go one step further than that, Promo. Anyone who drafts Vince Young expecting him to be their starting QB in 2006 will finish last for the next 5 years....

The news story says that the games will be shown on local TV for local teams. Sounds like the way they handle it when a team is on ESPN. (G. Host is quicker than I am apparently...)

Thanks, I think. I guess I didn't kill the thread after all... at least not yet. Mwahahahahahaha!!! Go Bills!

Here we go again... Only the pessimists are realists... the optimists are pigeons, or morons, or something... Give me a @#$%ing break! I can't speak for either of the other two non-pessimists on this board, but I can assure you that I am not an idiot who buys every product. I am a Bills fan; I am happy when they win, sad when they lose. I am also smart enough to know that it is a sign of intense psychological pathology for someone to select a voluntary action such as being a fan of a particular team and then not only to go around looking for reasons to be gloomy but also to feel compelled to yell in the face of every other person in this voluntary activity that they should be gloomy too. Think about it, man. I don't know if Dick Jauron will win a championship for the Bills, but neither do you. You know what, he probably won't, because so few teams do win championships. So be it. Be a fan, watch the games or not, buy tickets and tschotchkes or not, but do not tell me or anyone else that it is somehow smarter to walk around with a self-created raincloud over your head. I am smart enough to know that following sports is supposed to be fulfilling, even the torment that all Bills fans are heir to. I do not post that often, but I imagine that about 90% of my posts have made this same argument. Maybe I will kill this thread too, but it bears repeating: Being repetitively, aggressively gloomy is NOT, repeat NOT in itself a sign of intelligence. In its most extreme forms, it is a sign of dementia. In its TBD form it is annoying as hell. Go Bills!

I agree, he has promise... Though those of us with longer memories know that Johnnie Lynn was the rookie CB for the Jets whom Jerry Butler torched for 4 TDs in September 1979. Remember the Big Ben? (Not a reason not to hire him, just a chance to flaunt some Bills history...) Go Bills!

Good God man, chill out. Lying? James Frey lied--claiming to have had a root canal without novocaine and all that, statements that can be contradicted with actual facts. Ralph Wilson said money was not an obstacle to hiring the best coaches, and we do not know that to be false. People here are assuming, based on other assumptions which are themselves based on rumors, that the Sherman/Jauron choice was about money, but there is no hard evidence of that. Nor is there (to coin a phrase) incontrovertible evidence of who is the better coach (is Sherman a Seifert? is Jauron a Belichek? who the heck knows?) With Bates, the situation is even more murky. Rumors are he turned down the Jets and Saints already; does that mean they are all cheap too? Not necessarily. There are many factors involved, and I have no idea why people would choose to cling to the one explanation guaranteed to make them unhappy when there are others available that are at least as convincing. Go Bills!

Exactly... how many subjunctive verbs can Clayton put in a sentence? He is treading water.

Amen!

Huh? Thanks for the kind words; I know we are all Bills fans, and hope we will celebrate victories soon, but your message confused the heck out of me. Basically, you say that you wanted Sherman (fair enough, so did I), but then you go into a series of admittedly unfounded speculations on JP's future, drawing all sorts of negative conclusions out of thin air, then have the nerve to condescend and say that I am holding to my opinion "throuh [sic] all the signs that point the other way." What signs? Which way? If you want to be gloomy, be my guest. But please, please drop the implication that you are the only one who sees things clearly.

Not true. There are many reasons why Master Bates might or might not be coming... to Buffalo or anywhere. But that is a dandy way to pre-rant about Wilson's cheapness, very trendy these days among the NNNs.

True, we all have a right to our opinions, but I always wonder why so many people think that having an unfounded opinion that is negative is automatically better than having a positive or hopeful view.... And yes, I know all of the "because life sucks and it makes sense to expect the worst" arguments. But does that really make sense in dealing with something as fun but meaningless as sports? I mean, I get as worked up as the next fan about the games, but I know enough to step away and not actually encourage myself (and others) to have agida. It's like the difference between people who watch Soap Operas because they enjoy the stories and people who actually talk about the characters as if they are real people and get angry at them....

That is an excellent point. It is a shame when talented players have their careers cut short by injury, which is what looks like is happening to Pennington. Shoulders and knees have cut short too many careers in the past in many sports; Gale Sayers, Bobby Orr, Ross Grimsley. I am afraid that Pennington is going to be added to that list, and maybe Carson Palmer, though in that latter case he can take advantage of much better surgical techniques.

Nice piece of history. Greg Cook stands as the poster child for how terrible a rotator cuff injury used to be (and still can be).

Thanks for the endorsement, Casey. Woof! Poeticlaw, you are also welcome to come live in hope as well... Save the "realism" for things that are real. Go Bills!

First of all, the tuck game was a divisional playoff.... More importantly, though, I must ask. Why is it a bad thing that Bates (if he is hired) was 4-12 last year, but that fact hardly ever came up when people were saying that the failure to hire Mike Sherman (who was, after all, also 4-12 with the Pack) meant that the Bills were, well, doooomed?

Fight fiercely Hahvahd, Fight Fight Fight! Demonstrate to them our will! Albeit they possess the might, Nonetheless, we have the will.... How shall we celebrate our victory? We shall invite the whole team out for tea! (How jolly!) Throw that spheroid down the field And fight, fight, fight! RJ ('89) Edit: Actually, I think it would be a stupid trade... but I like the song anyway.

Not true, not true. Yes, they were eventually cut, but they were paid large dollars up front and in their final years. There is no evidence that RW specifically has failed to pay OL men. Heck, remember the efforts to go looking for FA linemen. Joe Panos was not cheap (worthless, yes, but not cheap), nor was Trey Teague. I understand our frustration with the failures of the past years, but it is a mistake--practially and psychologically--to try to convince ourselves that these failures are the product of some ingrained flaw in Wilson. Players and coaches and GMs sometimes pan out, sometimes do not. That's why they play the games. Fans can choose to live in fear or live in hope. I invite all of you to join me in hope--at least until bad things happen again. Go Bills!

GG, you have forgotten more about the Bills than many of us know, but as a fellow Bills historian, I think part of your comment reflects a historical fallacy that has crept into too many stories lately. It is certainly true that Wilson has a history as a cheapskate and unimaginative in a crisis (Harvey Johnson twice for Pete's sake!), and I agree that letting Polian go was a mistake (even though I never had to work with the man, who is, by his own admission, difficult). Nevertheless, the departure of John Butler (and, by extension, AJ Smith who did not want to succeed his friend in Buffalo) cannot be hung on Ralph. Butler saw that the 2000 Bills were in need of a major overhaul with no money to do so, and had avoided all discussion of an extension for a year. SD, on the other hand, was in a nice location, and offered nowhere to go but up with high draft choices and no cap hell. Indeed, some hinted that Spanos in SD had dangled the job before him in the previous summer, a whiff of tampering that could never be proved. The evidence at the time was clear: Butler wanted to leave, and his subsequent reconciliation with Ralph years later confirmed it. That is no criticism of the man (de moribus nihil nisi bonum and all that), but a statement of the facts as they were actually quite commonly known at the time. To retrospectively blame Ralph for that fits into today's news stories, but is not accurate. If we want to attack Ralph, let's stick to firmer ground (Rashad's free agency, Tom Cousineau, Harvey Johnson, etc. etc.) Go Bills!

Ah, the good old days..... 1962-1965: Lou Saban 1966-1968: Joe Collier 1968: Harvey Johnson 1969-1970: John Rauch 1971: Harvey Johnson 1972-1976: Lou Saban

I'm glad some perspective is coming into this discussion.... MW has been a disappointment in that he is no Pro Bowler, but it is flat out wrong to say that this means that the choice was obviously wrong from the start. I also had to laugh at the requisite "TD was defending his ego" BS earlier on. Come on, people; it makes sense to make sure that the kid can play the position you drafted him to play. I would say that it shows how flexible and realistic TD and MM are that they are able to see that Jason Peters has skills and deserves to play over the higher-drafted MW. Does it make MW any less disappointing? No, but one has to try to see the whole picture.... Speaking of which, anyone who says Mike Williams is the biggest bust ever in the first round should have to sit down and write, in addition to Erik Flowers the following names 500 times each: Al Cowlings Walt Patulski Phil Doakes Booker Moore Perry Tuttle Not to mention: Stew Barber, which should be an additional 1000 times for all those people who think that TD is such a horrible GM. I could go on, but I think I am starting to depress myself...

Amen and Hallelujah! Someone offers perspective... Thanks AD!

Quoting: He could have taken it to the outside...lateralled...ugh. Just another day in the life as a Bills fan. I hear you there. That run pretty much encapsulates a lifetime of Bills fandom; close, exciting, disappointing, but one can always hope for another shot... In the meantime, chin up, we've won two in a row. Here, let me pour you some Kool-Aid. Cheers! Go Bills!

Campy, My compliments on your great website. Access to the video is so much easier than with the BB.com site. Thanks! P.S. It breaks my heart to see McGee go down on that kick return on the 3 considering he had 4 blockers around him.... man, if he gets in, I think we win that game against NO, even with JP struggling.... Water under the bridge, I know, but also a reminder of how many little things go into winning in the NFL.