Tolstoy

Hey, it may be true that the players like Dick Jauron because he is easy, but I suspect that they also want to win--probably even more than we want them to win. They see more of his coaching than we do, so I think they support him because they think he is a good coach, not because he is a pushover.

I think the offensive line--as so many of you have pointed out-- is like a cancer on this team. Its pathetic play has slowly destroyed the confidence and play of, first, the running backs (no holes), second, the quarterback and wide receivers (bad protection, no running game), and third, the defense (which has its problems) because it no longer has confidence in the offense, and is being put out in the field almost immediately after it gives the offense the ball. What is strange is that this line played so much better last year. Why is it so bad now? Two possibilities: the new coach, or the Jason Peters holdout. As for the new coach problem--I say bring Mouse back--entice him with a lot of money to come back for the rest of the year. As for the Peters holdout, Peters lost his confidence somehow. Perhaps he needs a temporary time-out to recover it. A return of Mouse also might help. Of course, no one will listen to me, so I don't know why I am wasting my breath. It is just so depressing to see this team actually going backward...

Nice analysis. Upon reflection, the Bills' drafts of late have been good (very few busts), but not great, for the simple reason that they have not produced the playmakers that you describe. At least so far. Maybe some of these players will emerge as stars, as another post observes.

Sorry if this has already been pointed out: I saw that Bruce Smith was nominated for the Hall, and I was led to reflect on how dominant he was. There were games that he would singlehandedly take-over. He was so disruptive that he would singlehandedly destroy an offense, even when they triple-teamed him (and because they triple-teamed him). Speaking of those Buffalo Bills, Thurman could bust out and run for 150 yards, and catch another 150. Kelly could throw for 400 yards and 3 TD's (to Reed) routinely. Kent Hull and Wolford were pro-bowlers on the O-line. What disturbs me: This edition of the Bills is a very good football team, but it arguably does not have one legitimate star, not one. Last year I would have said Jason Peters, but not at this moment. Evans is close, but not a star (yet). Lynch might get there some day, as might Paul P., Edwards and a few others. Does the 2008 Buffalo Bills have one pro-bowler, much less a hall of famer? If not, what does that mean?

I wasn't able to see the game, but I did notice from the stats that Hardy didn't get a catch. Was he on the field at all? Just wondering.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love MLS Graham Fox is a freelance soccer writer from Manhattan, Kansas. He is a KC Wizards fan, a du Nord regular, and an advocate for fun. Find him at grahamfox@gmail.com Do you know that: Eurosnobs look down on you for watching MLS? Low attendance is your fault? The level of play in MLS could be higher if you would have eaten one less pickled egg last night? You made your grandma cry when you told her the latest Columbus attend numbers? Many MLS fans worry so much about attendance and what people think about MLS that they contemplate harai-kari when they read the latest Kansas City attendance numbers. As a fellow du Nord and MLS fan I’ve composed this small guide to stop you from doing anything drastic. In Which I Start Watching Soccer I started following soccer the way most Americans do. I shelled out money for Fox Soccer Channel and started watching English Premier League games. I become addicted and started a ritual that many males my age in the US take part in: Waking up at 5am on Saturday mornings to catch the day’s games. I napped my way through a season before I decided to follow Liverpool. For the soccer fan in the United States, it is hard to pick an EPL team to be a fan of. We cannot experience regional pride or community pride, all we can experience is a false sense of belonging. Does that mean I woke up my roommate at 6am by jumping up and down and yelling when Peter Crouch scored his first goal for Liverpool because I had false emotions? No, but they were anchored in false connections. After a season of watching the EPL I realized something that those English chaps don’t seem to have a problem with. Only four teams have a chance of winning (or as everyone points out when they realizes I like Liverpool, three teams). In Which I Become Bored With the EPL As I watched and learned I became increasingly bored with the Premier League. What is the point? If you aren’t a fan of the top four you can hope your team will maybe make it to a European spot or crack the top ten but that is it. Everyone knows who is likely to win at the start of the season. They win. Everyone knows about who will go down, and they do. How exciting. I turned to Major League Soccer. I wanted to actually go to a game instead of watching it on TV. I wanted a league where more than four teams had a chance of winning. The more I followed MLS the less I cared about Liverpool and the EPL. My devotion to Liverpool was based on a vague connection to a team thousands of miles away that I had no chance of seeing live. Major League Soccer is solid and real. In Which I Start to Worry At the start of last season I started to closely following MLS and the Kansas City Wizards. Towards the middle of the season I headed to Arrowhead to cheer on KC. I could actually see them live, had a regional connection with them, and a couple friends who I knew would be at the game. After my first live game I was hooked. From that point on I join the rest of you in: Watching as many MLS games as possible Posting regularly on several message boards Arguing with anyone who made fun of MLS Worrying about the level of play Anxiously reading the latest attendance numbers Wondering what Europeans though of MLS Arguing about how MLS compares with other leagues Worrying about DP spots Hating Beckman for being a punk-ass and pretending to drop-kick the ball at Eloy Colombano Go look at BigSoccer and scan the general MLS forum. Everyone is worrying. Almost every thread is moaning about quality, refs, attendance, or the league in general. The more I read the more I became concerned about attendance and how everyone perceives MLS, especially those Europeans with their fancy leagues. In Which I Have A Realization Then it happened. As I was downing my Admiral Nelson in the sun pounded Arrowhead parking lot I stopped caring about all of that sh--. There was no reason to worry, the league was out of my hands, and all I could do for attendance is show up when I can scrounge the gas money. Be like me. Stop caring as much and enjoy the unique league that is MLS. Do yourself a favor: Buy a handle of Admiral Nelson Drink it Yell till your voice crackles at the opposing team’s goal keeper When he switches ends, follow and throw streamers at him until security tells you to stop Scream “Waiiiiibeeeelllll” whenever he runs near you Congratulations, you didn’t worry at all while you were doing that. Now go home and do the same (the not worrying, not the drinking of handles). Don’t stop caring, stay informed, keep reading du Nord, browse BigSoccer when you want to kill some brain cells, but remember to enjoy the game. It’s all we’ve got. Labels: attendance, mls, soccer POSTED BY GRAHAM AT 11:11 10 COMMENTS FROM MENTAL GIANTS LIKE ME & YOU (CLICK TO ADD YOURS HERE MUCHACHO!)

Think about it: roughly 5 million additional people in the Greater Toronto Area will now potentially consider the Bills their favorite team as well. They support the team we support; they will be cheering on Sundays for our very own Buffalo Bills. How can you not like this? Its like having other parents cheer for your own child at an athletic contest. As a result of this, the Bills will get increased exposure and coverage in the Toronto media, and probably in national media in both Canada and the US as well. How can we not like this either? Hell, when you put the entire Western NY population together with the Southern Ontario population, including Toronto, the Bills could have one of the most populous fan bases in all of the NFL. At any rate, it just struck me this morning that we now share a NFL kinship with Toronto, a truly great city that is not even in our own country. No other NFL team can boast that.

This is a good read. The Boston sports writers can surprise us sometimes. http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patr...most_revealing/

With nothing better to do, I was thinking: if I was King, what would I do to make the NFL better? Well, as I have stated before, the first thing I would do is reduce the amount of commercials. That doesn't really change the game (or maybe it does, since it reduces the time-outs), but it would certainly make watching it easier. What change would you make?

I'm with this guy. I appreciate the updates from DC, but I think it is a wee bit early to be judging this Kelly kid, and patting ourselves on the back for not picking him. And what is the evidence? A ball sailed over his head so he stopped running? Sounds sensible to me...

Right, I agree about the NFL now. But I don't think people need to have played soccer in order to enjoy it. While I enjoy watching any soccer, for the average fan, the MLS is like anything else: the more other people watch it, talk about it, and enjoy it, the more s/he is inclined to turn it on and see what it is all about. Imagine, for a moment, that we lived in New England, and all of New York and New England was talking about the upcoming match between the Red Bulls and Revs--newspapers, TV sports shows,radio talk shows etc. Imagine the stadium was sold-out, and tickets were being scalped at 300% there list price. Would I not be inclined to turn it on and watch? And even if it was a 2-1 game, I would learn to cheer each save, shot, tackle, etc. No need for high scoring games! I happen to think the "quality" of the sport, in itself, as viewable is hard to determine (though I personally think soccer is great fun to watch). What is more important is how much other people care about it. It could be watching paint dry, for that matter (I do think watching baseball comes close to this), but if everyone else made an issue of it, I would think it is high drama. I guess it is a bit like fashion: big, big sunglasses are really great right now, not because they really are better than the smaller ones, but simply because other people think so. Anyhow, because soccer is getting more exposure now, and attendance is going up, I think it will keep becoming more popular. Popularity breeds popularity. In twenty years, I suspect it will be the number 2 major league sport in the country.

Uh oh. I am getting out of the way on this one. Bullets will start flying. If I had to pick a side, however, I am backing up the soccer side. But not to get sidetracked, hey VABills, what do you think about hockey? On the rise or fall?

I agree with everything you say, though I will reserve judgment on hockey. You might be right. Oh, at the risk of sounding stupid, I have to ask: what is MMA? Is that mixed martial arts?

Heard this on the Dan Patrick show the other day, and it got me thinking. What sports do you think are in a slow decline in terms of popularity and interest? Which are becoming more popular? Here's my own preliminary list of each (with some help from Dan Patrick). On the Decline: Hockey (though not in Buffalo!) Boxing Indy Car Racing Horse Racing Bike Racing (after the Tour de France debacles) On the Rise: Nascar Soccer Football (can it get more popular in the USA? But it seems to be expanding internationally) Mixed Martial Arts (added after suggestions) Rugby?

Good post.

These are all good points, especially the one about Marv's view of character. Suppose, however, that Marv was looking for a player who is talented but also: has a strong work-ethic loves the game has a more or less clean legal record doesn't have an alcohol or drug problem is confident without flashy arrogance is honest with his coaches is loyal to his teammates isn't it the case that such a person is more likely to be one who has had a good upbringing, of one sort or another? Such a person is more likely to come from a good family, or from a family where the mother or father provided a good role model, strong work ethic, etc. While I do think, as someone said earlier, someone who has been through hard times is battle-tested, and "fired in the forge of adversity," these are rare cases. In the end, I think these sob stories about these athletes do not mean much until we have seen what they are made of, and that takes a few years! One final example from recent memory: McGahee came from a broken family, but he seemed to be a "character guy" when we drafted him. Now, three illigitimate children later, we find out he is an arrogant, licentious party boy who badly needed a good father figure in his youth (and now).

From Allen Wilson's article in the Buffalo News: "The Bills value high character players, and Willis has it in abundance. He has overcome a difficult childhood (his mother abandoned him and his three siblings when he was four) and personal tragedy (his 17- year-old brother drowned last summer) to be able to realize his dream of being an NFL player." My comment: This kind of inference is becoming increasingly common, but seems absurd to me. Somewhere, we have gotten the idea that the more tragedy and suffering in someone's past, the more difficult their home life, the more crime-ridden and poverty-stricken their childhood environment, the more character they have. Perhaps the assumption here is this: if X (fill in name of player) was able to make it to the highest ranks of college football despite his terrible past, then X must be made of very strong stuff indeed! While there may be something to this, this reasoning seems specious. My questions: Now I don't think you should judge someone on the basis of their past, but I do think it is fair to consider a person's past in the absence of close knowledge of the person. Given that, isn't it just as valid to assume that the more terrible a person's upbringing, the more likely it is that they will have problems and issues, and fail at the Pro level? Shouldn't we prefer individuals with a good upbringing? Isn't is better to be brought up in a stable home, in a good environment, and to avoid tragedy? In fact, I wonder how many of the NFL's criminal offenders were in fact brought up under circumstances similar to Patrick Willis. Perhaps Wilson's kind of reasoning is what has produced the high rates of criminal offenders in the NFL. Just a thought. Fire away.

Take the best player available in one of the most important positions on the team. Why? The only way to get ahead of other teams in the league is with superior talent. Plugging holes in the lineup will make a team competitive, but not superior. As I see it, the most important positions on the team are D-line, O-line, QB, RB, CB, and LB. As it happens, withe the exception of QB, they are all positions of need on the team. So, if I were Marv, I would take the player that is rated highest on their draft board at one of these positions (with the exception of QB). Since I don't have access to their draft board, I have no idea who that will be. No predictions here...

It looks like the administrator has required viewers to login in order to peruse Stadium Wall. I don't know the reasons for this (unsolicited solicitors soliciting things?), but I do know that is was required to log-in when I used a different computer. Anyhow, I suspect that many people have been reading the board as guests, but when forced to register, they thought they might as well post!

Jauron is a classy guy, much like Marv, and will not badmouth a player on his way out the door. However, it is fairly clear to me from his remarks (and Marv's) that this decision was about two things: (1) Willis' talent and character (2) a possible hold-out I suspect they got together at the end of the year, looked at the position, and thought they could do better: better receiving, better blocking, better at keeping assignments, and better perhaps even at running. They also looked at the character issues--not joining the team during offseason workouts, illegitimate children, failure to study the playbook, and these things factored in. Finally, it is possible that they have had preliminary contract talks with his agent, and demands were made, and they decided he is not worth the headache. Jauron struggled to avoid saying negative things, but it is fairly clear to me from the lack of praise for Willis, that they really thought they could do better. I think so too. Get a young guy with talent and work ethic in the draft, and a solid vet. through free agency. I like it.

Well, I don't think his soccer skills match up to the hype, but he is a decent player. At any rate, I do think the league can use some positive publicity, and Beckham at 31 is still a fairly good player who might help the players around him improve (e.g. Donovan). Now if Zidane signs with NY (as rumor has it he might), I would definitely go out of my way to see a game with wife and kids. I, too, have become more interested in English Premier League, but so too with the MLS. I may be wrong, but I think Soccer will eventually become King in the USA: it may not be in my lifetime, but it will happen. The combination of the popularity of youth soccer, continued immigration rates, soccer's dominance on the world stage, and the strength of the fledgling MLS (along with stupidity and greed in the other major league sports) all point to soccer's success. That is why, I think, smart business minds like Robert Kraft, Lamar Hunt, and many others, have invested in soccer. It was not for humanitarian reasons!!! (Though I do think it is a benefit to humanity...)

Link didn't work. Just go to You Tube and type "50 best goals."

When things get dull on 2Billsdrive, one can always appeal to a soccer topic to liven things up. I am a growing soccer fan. I would even say now that if I had to choose, I would watch a soccer game over a football game (unless the latter involved the Bills!). Part of that may involve the commercials in a football game, but part of it is also that I would rather watch the best players in soccer doing their thing over the best players in football doing their thing. If any of you need to know why, here is a clue: watch one person's choice of the 50 best soccer goals (link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeXoxNP8_xY). Any more soccer supporters out there? What do you think of the Beckham signing?

You are not making much sense at all. According to your logic, the NFC is a tougher conference, so it will have show more losses because its own teams are getting beaten up by each other in their conference games. Conversely, the AFC will show more wins because the conference is filled with a bunch of patsies which are easy to beat. Ask yourself. What's wrong with your thinking here? For every loss that an NFC team suffers against another "dominating" NFC team, there is exactly one winning NFC team, and one losing NFC team. And for every win that an AFC team gets against a patsy AFC team, there is exactly one winning AFC team, and one losing AFC team. So, the math works like this: After a full season, 16 AFC teams played 12 conference games for a total of 192 games. Since each game involved exactly one winning AFC team and one losing AFC team, there were exactly 96 wins and 96 losses (divide 192 by 2!). The same for the NFC: 96 wins and 96 losses. If there are more losses on the NFC side, it is because they lost more games to the AFC. Thus, the AFC is a superior conference.

Good point. I also like the draft talk, and would not want to discourage it at all. What prompted my message above was that I actually caught myself thinking about the draft, and hoping we get the lowest pick possible. That's when I woke up and realized I was hoping for something not at all good for this team. They need to win. Period.