sullim4

It's interesting, I'm 34 and my wife is 32 and we both recently started to watch the news in the mornings. In Seattle the print media has, for all intents and purposes, died. The Times is a shell of its former self and the PI has been out of print for 10 years now. The suburban local papers also died. The only digital "news" comes from retired folk and stay-at-home moms who moan and complain on Facebook and Twitter. No one is reporting on news in say North Bend, Snohomish, or Kent aside from the TV stations. I didn't watch local news until recently and it's actually kind of nice to get news that isn't 100% Seattle-centric. You can learn about what's going on in our neck of the woods from actual journalists instead of serial complainers. The internet is definitely the best source for international and national news. I think it has filled the gap for major metros like NYC, Chicago, LA, Seattle, etc. But if you don't live in one of those cities, you aren't getting local news on the internet. The TV (or the paper, if it still exists) is your only option.

That is very interesting, thanks for the insight. I agree - if McCarron wanted out, you had to get rid of him. But neglecting to replace him was indeed short-sighted.

The decision to keep Peterman over McCarron was a huge blunder on both their parts. I cannot possibly believe that McCarron's performance would have been worse than Peterman's.

ESPN was saying that this uniform was being considered as an alternative. If I'm a Jets fan, I'm really pissed that wasn't selected...

FWIW, the moment I saw Jussie Smollett for the first time (I don't watch much TV, so his legal troubles was the first time I had heard of him), I immediately thought of Doug Whaley. The guy looks damn near identical, sunglasses or not.

I agree. I'd be really surprised if Terry or Kim wanted a dome. I don't think they go with a retractable roof though - it adds significantly to the cost of the facility and it's very expensive to maintain. Out here, the Mariners asked for well north of $150 million from King County for stadium maintenance, a major chunk of which was tagged for repairs to Safeco's (now T-Mobile Park's) retractable roof. I'm sure the technology has improved over the last 20 years, but it's still a major long-term expense. The Bills would be better off installing those overhead heaters they have in the club areas in more places around the stadium if they're concerned about December temperatures.

I tend to agree... I think it's becoming clearer that they want a downtown stadium in conjunction with some improvements to KeyBank Center. The thing they are going to have difficulty with IMO are the PSLs. They are going to lose a lot of existing season ticket holders if the PSL is excessive, and other teams that have done this have been unable to sell tickets as seasons. They then get dumped on the secondary market by scalpers, often at heavy losses, particularly late in the season. Eventually scalpers stop buying and then the team gets stuck with excessive inventory. I could see them keeping the OP facility as the team's HQ and practice facility. Most teams with urban stadiums have this kind of setup in the suburbs.

This isn't exactly surprising. Tim doesn't take criticism against himself or his peers very well. I don't really have anything against Mike Rodak. He's a beat writer and has to deal with the ESPN conglomerate so I'm not really surprised if his articles are written through a particular lens. I don't hold this against him, but I would also say that he's not "one of us" like John Wawrow or Sal Capaccio. I don't think Rodak has any investment in the success of the Bills beyond any career advancement it might afford him.

Me too... which probably makes me a terrible person, but whatever.

Bally's is a dump... it's got a great location but the facility itself needs a lot of TLC. It's seen better days. Westgate is where I usually place wagers in Vegas. Many of the "big" casinos have de-emphasized their sports books (or cut way back on things like drink tickets) in recent years since the profit from them is smaller than other things like slots. Mirage has a good sports book if you don't mind reserving a seat. If off-strip is an option, I have heard that South Point is good.

Apparently Bowles was their interim HC for 3 games after they fired Sparano. Don't forget about Wanny either.

Agreed. I did the same last year with the Patriots* in the super bowl. We were in Hawaii and just relaxed poolside at the house we rented on the Big Island.

There is more truth to this than most would acknowledge. Their divisional games account for at least 4 wins right off the bat, if not 5 or 6 per season. The AFC East has been the most consistently poor division in the entire NFL over the last 20 years. The other three teams have 2 "guaranteed" losses each season and the Patriots* have 4, 5, or 6 easy wins. If they actually had some decent competition, it'd be interesting to see if they would have won as many division titles as they have.

I think they would have been better off playing at Sam Boyd Field than sticking around the Bay Area. Lame duck seasons rarely go well - the AFC West games (sans the Chargers) will sell out with opposing fans occupying most seats. Their home schedule is brutal this year - games against Detroit, Cincinnati, and Jacksonville will sell terribly. Add the Chargers to the mix too. Even the great Russ Brandon wouldn't be able to sell tickets to those games. For whatever reason, I didn't realize that the Raiders will be hosting Buffalo in Vegas in 2020.

Scott Berchtold looks like a kid out of college at that presser...

I see them sharing the Cardinals' facility in Glendale. After what's been happening with the Chargers I just don't see the NFL putting them in an undersized stadium. StubHub Center has been a disaster. It'd give the Chiefs and Broncos two away games that are essentially home games.

I agree, Chan is a good guy. I think he did a good job considering the talent level he had to work with. The defenses were awful but the offense was equally devoid of talent and was at least competent. He got the most out of Fitz that he could. Gailey is one of those guys that adapts his playbook to the personnel he has on the roster. That makes him a lot more flexible than the "system" guys that get run out of the league once defensive coordinators figure their playcalling out. I'd hire him as an OC, but not as a HC.

This is a good point. Would someone like Gruden trade a bunch of firsts for Wentz? I could see that.

Don't forget about Tolbert.

I agree, this kind of pickup would have BB written all over it. He wouldn't be as successful as Brady but look at what he did with Cassel.

I think I am with the majority here. If the guy is a good hire, then that's great. I would be curious to know, though, how many players, coaches, and front officer personnel we've picked up directly from the Carolina Panthers. Not just have ever been connected with the franchise, but how many were working for Carolina, that ended up directly in Buffalo.

FWIW, rumor has it that this guy is getting the Super Bowl assignment.

I'm with you... that would be a terrific Super Bowl. No one wants to see Brady, Belichick, Brees, and Payton again outside of the fans of those teams.

I was eight years old at the time - this is my earliest Bills memory as a kid. We were listening to the game and my dad and I decided to go to the car wash at halftime to get our minds off the game. Then it happened...

I have no horse in this race, I only watch college football games a handful of times each year. I went to a D-III school that had D-I mens hockey, that's it. The main thing preventing me from watching more college football is the lack of parity between the top programs and everybody else. That's largely driven by recruiting and the cult of personality surrounding a small handful of coaches. Saban, Meyer, Swinney, etc. Bowden was certainly one of these guys in the 90s. Since there is no draft (because, of course, these players are picking the school for academic reasons, not the football team...), the top flight players flock to these programs. They are stocked with talent that makes any other team pale in comparison. Add that to the out-of-conference cupcake games that these teams inevitably schedule and you get maybe 1 or 2 competitive games on any of these top teams' schedules before the bowl season. These coaches end up being the highest paid public employee in their state, and this inevitably leads to a culture where this guy has a ridiculous amount of power and sway over their university. Unfortunately, look no further than State College to see how that can corrupt a university, going all the way to the top. I mean, outside of Alabama and Clemson fans, who actually wants to go see this game for the fourth consecutive year?