RuntheDamnBall

At least he's got something of an NFL pension coming when he's 50, and an annuity from the NFL of at least $320K total when he's 35.

I'm going to remain hopeful that people who understand that a football team's success or failure is the result of thousands of small decisions – and who understand how regional differences can affect those teams' outcomes – can apply this same logic to the rest of life.

The one written by the guy from the Cato Institute? Yes, I did. I missed the part about corrupt leftist SJWs etc etc in his article.

Great. Since you're levying this charge, I'd like to see all the data that supports the hypothesis that this applies to Baltimore public schools at large and to Maybin's school in particular. Also, I'm remembering why I dropped off from spending much time here.

It's got to be great going thru life having all the answers. Myriad reasons not to cancel school and I am sure there are school- and district-level confrontations about this all the time. Maybe they've put in requests for funding or maintenance that have not been honored. Sure, let's see that reported out. But I'm inclined to listen to them more than I am someone who couldn't even be bothered to find an article about the situation and wants to reduce it to his worldview.

"All we have is this little puff piece." Baltimore closes public schools after students sat in cold classrooms 40 degrees per Maybin's first-aid kit thermometer. From the article: Took me literally 2 minutes to find this info.

I don't see what at all this has to do with a public education mandate to give opportunities to all students. This shouldn't really be about rewards. Funding isn't a reward or a punishment. You make the environment safe and one that promotes good learning habits. Full stop. Again "crying" - the first thing you do if you want your community to be better is to move? That's lucky for you to have that mobility. Some people "cry" or, you know, work, to help their community. Fine if that's not your way, but criticizing people who do make that effort is bush league. Guess what though? All kids deserve a better school than something like that. Not just yours.

I do appreciate the number of experts on Baltimore public schools that visit the board. I'll be glad to see their report.

Why is it "crying" instead of advocating? And why can't both sets of problems be worth solving? If your kids went to school and their heat was not functioning at the coldest time of year, they would deserve to have that problem resolved just as Maybin's students do.

Do you think, at all, that that money is evenly distributed across those Baltimore schools? Do you think, at all, about the level of PTSD some kids arrive at school facing? Do you think, at all, that they are receiving the kind of counseling they need when the ratios in urban schools are incredibly bad for these services? If you want to pin the issue on the teachers trying to solve the problem and the last line of defense in some cases, go ahead. Otherwise, I'd encourage you to spend some time with my friend, the school administrator in the capital district who is dealing with kids who have seen things from your worst nightmares. Thanks to the OP for sharing this article and showing us there is much more to life than football, and that representation really matters when it comes to who kids see teaching them.

That might have had a lot to do with their need to respect TT's legs.

It's been a long time lurking and basically being checked out as regards the Bills, since I moved to the West coast three years ago. I still pay attention but the time, proximity, money, and family life haven't aligned for me to be as religious about it as I once was. I'm also just becoming more unnerved by the injuries that are such a part of this game, and the way the league has handled them. It makes me uneasy being as full-throated a supporter of the sport as I used to be. That the Bills are finally here when my fervor for the game has waned is probably healthy for me, if bittersweet. I just want to say I couldn't be happier for everyone here who has waited for this, throughout the years of dashed hopes, football futility, bad QBs and coaches, new regimes, and this relentless, unbearable run from the Pats. Who knows what'll happen next week, but it's just fun to finally be here, to see Kyle Williams score, to see him hoisting his kids and crying, to see the fans greeting the team in frigid conditions at the airport in the middle of the night. You all deserve this. Enjoy it. I'll be ready to watch every moment next weekend and it's incredibly sweet to have the opportunity to best Marrone. Beat the Jags and take it from there! Go Bills!

I actually think Fitz is too smart to invest in the NFL. If anything I think the TV money bubble, the sweetheart stadium deals, and peoples' willingness to pay the equivalent of a couple of vacations for tickets, food and parking -- all of that is going to be on the decline. And this is to say nothing of the coming decline in the game itself given that a generation of talent is opting for safer sports.

This... is stupid.

I don't recall any (reported) DV issues with him.

Especially since he's a writer of an opinion column. He has a plum job -- crap throwing monkey in a sports-obsessed town. Ah, the Tim Graham playbook at its finest.

This. Unbelievably bad.

What Tom Brady does is decrease our margin for error. It's not an excuse, but the odds are that the Pats are going to beat the Bills. Their coaching and their quarterbacking are superior, and then Gronk is just like a nuclear bomb to the opposing defense when he's on and healthy. That means that the Bills can afford fewer other losses, and it also means that they are usually fighting for a wild card, never the division, where another team can possibly win its division at 9-7 or even worse over the past several years.

They shouldn't. Bruce took preseasons off and even held out, but he always came to ball for his teammates, often when hurt. I lauded the Mario signing at the time -- we all did -- but this will be addition by subtraction, to say nothing of the fact that they can get 2-4 decent players hungry to play for the price Mario commands.

I understand that the scheme may not have used him to his fullest, but he was flat-out taking plays off. That's inexcusable at his salary.

I don't know. Chan was just not a very strong figure at the HC position, and his DCs were just f---ing terrible. But they certainly had the talent to exceed this year's results. The excuses for the lack of success can be distributed pretty equally among discipline, ineffectiveness of scheme relative to personnel, newness of scheme / playbook, and injury.

Holcomb is just an example of how you can both be a bum and produce a 300 yard day. There is a litany of such QBs.

Wouldn't be scared about that in the least. I would be scared about concussion-related lawsuits, fewer kids playing the game and thinning the talent pool, and crackdowns on HGH.

Good post.

Too many cooks in the kitchen, questions of whose authority to respect... what if you disagree? Who is going to get Polian's magic prescription, and who won't be privy to this information? If Polian's suggestion is to blow it up, and we do, it's another blow to the continuity that Buffalo hasn't had for ages. When the Jauron and Gailey years are your model of relative stability, something is wrong.