sullim4

Simple poll.

Looks great. Kind of wish they'd put the NFL and AFC logos to the left and right of the "BILLS" text in the end zone. Lots of empty blue space in that area.

I'm just not into beer. The flavors don't appeal to me at all and I've tried plenty of variations. At dinner I'll usually drink wine but for a happy hour I'll normally have a captain and coke. But on the beach in Hawaii? Mai Tais all the way! I guarantee you anyone that disparages that selection hasn't tried it before!

Yeah white end zones will work really well with the white out of bounds lines.

RPI. I used to be ashamed until they made the NCAAs this year for the first time in 16 years.

And that tweet is almost 21 hours old.

Until the team gets a player whose jersey I'd want to wear, I'm staying on the sidelines. I instead spent the money on a game-used hockey jersey from my alma mater for $150. A few holes, stick marks, and board burns, and it's definitely on the big side size-wise, but it's got character behind it!

OR these monstrosities: http://www.instantreplaysportcard.com/items/helmets/%2794%20tb%20sp%20bills.jpg

They must be pissed off. Whom seems to be up to whom's old tricks again.

It will be broadcast live nationally on Fox.

Speaking of food in Portland. The hippies at Voodoo Donuts scared one of my friends from work. She wanted directions to I-5. Response? A snarky "None of us drive, we all ride our bikes. Ask someone in the lobby!" Apparently the number of people booking hotel rooms in Vancouver, WA for the Olympics wasn't insignificant.

There's a reason why the road signs around here say "Vancouver BC" for I-5 N.

Yeah, most of the advice in this thread is dead on. A few other tips: - FNMA is not likely to negotiate on price all that much. Like someone else said - the property is just a number to them, they have hundreds of thousands of distressed properties, so they really don't deal in the business of arguing down price. - Make sure you get an inspection contingency, particularly given that this is a foreclosure. The banks have lately been trying to sell properties "AS IS" and have been denying prospective buyers the chance to inspect a house without losing their earnest money. There are ways around this (like having your bank "deny" your loan and thus failing the financing contingency) but don't expect any of them to be easy. - Someone on this thread suggested looking at land records - this is great advice. Most locales have these online and are pretty easily searchable. These have the potential to give you some great insight into the property and its history (and, perhaps, how responsible/irresponsible the previous owners were). - http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com is an excellent resource for monitoring when to lock your rate in.

+1 for the Chinese jerseys. I love my knockoff Jim Kelly Super Bowl XXV jersey!

Grew up closer to NYC than Buffalo actually... but for whatever reason became a Bills fan. I now live in the suburbs of Seattle. Seattle is an AWFUL, AWFUL sports town. I cannot reiterate that enough. The Mariners are terrible and haven't been drawing anyone to the games. Seahawks fans are only into their team if they're on a playoff run. People look at my fandom here and think I'm insane - I drive around with a "GOBUFLO" license plate, I have Sunday Ticket, etc. Some have even asked me why I root for the Bills when I don't live there anymore, and that I should root for the Seahawks. Hogwash. It's sad - but I'd wager to guess that the most popular sport here is actually soccer. The EPL is talked about more at work than the NFL.

This has the potential go to down in history as one of the best threads in TSW history...

Good job.

Linebacker? Tackle? No! Russ needs to sell tickets! Bring back Donahoe! Ralphie has flashbacks Wide right, damn that Norwood guy! Let's draft a kicker.

This guy likes to bang the table: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa9LNPwZIGA

I don't understand why any team deals with Belichick. The other team ALWAYS gets fleeced...

BUF @ KC OAK @ BUF NE @ BUF BUF @ CIN PHI @ BUF BUF @ NYG BYE WAS @ BUF TORONTO NYJ @ BUF BUF @ DAL BUF @ MIA BUF @ NYJ TEN @ BUF BUF @ SD MIA @ BUF DEN @ BUF BUF @ NE

A grand total of 0 national games. No surprises there.

I don't think the 30-year lifespan is really accurate anymore. Yes, that is the case with the stadiums built in the late 60s to the mid-80s. However, almost all of those stadiums were built on the cheap, were cookie-cutter, and complete eyesores from the get-go. The "I need a new stadium" era was really ushered in by the tremendous success of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. That facility is now 19 years old. I don't think anyone's of the opinion that Camden Yards is within 10 years of needing to be replaced.

I think the better question is what has Ralph done FOR the fans. Pegula's group has made it clear that they want to please the fans - from the alumni night, to the chats on the website, to having a "slug" appreciation day where they'll destroy all signs of the old logo, to the very clear mission statement of winning a Stanley Cup with no financial mandates. They've done things like fix hot water in the bathrooms and correct season-long issues with the scoreboards in a matter of days after finding out about them. When has Ralph done ONE of those things, let alone all of them in a period of six weeks? Combine this with losing a regular season game to Toronto, the fact that he was so embarassed about the team's performance that he called off his HoF ring ceremony in the middle of a game, and the constant threat of the team moving. It's clear to me through these latest PR moves that the Sabres are trying to demonstrate that they want to earn their fans' money, while the Bills ownership isn't doing very much to show that they care.

I know this has been discussed before, but I think the events of the past week or so warrant another look. In the past week, we've seen the Sabres do the following: - Fly in any and all of their willing alumni, all expenses paid, to the home finale for a fan appreciation night. This is supposedly one of the largest gathering of alumni for a single team in NHL history. - Their President chatted with fans online for THREE HOURS, literally taking suggestion after suggestion and answering question after question. - Send staff across the continent to Vancouver to nail down upcoming facility upgrades. - Vault from the NHL's basement to get into the playoffs. This is all on top of Pegula's statements to do literally anything he can to produce a Stanley Cup winning team on the ice. He has literally said everything a fan has wanted to hear, and so far, he's lived up to what he's said. I also think most will agree that the Sabres have played second fiddle to the Bills in Buffalo. I am beginning to wonder if the tide is starting to shift on that. Throughout their history, the Bills have largely ignored their fanbase, and at times, alienated it badly by doing things ranging from banning negative signage to giving off the impression that they invest the bare minimum amount of money into the franchise - just enough to keep it operating. Combine that with the lockout situation, poor play the past 10 seasons, and constant threat of the team moving... and it's making the Sabres look better and better. Now obviously it's only been weeks, and we have no way of knowing what's going to happen with the Sabres over the next few years. But I do think that the Bills eventually need to do something concrete to respond to this. Russ Brandon signing an overpriced aging free agent isn't going to cut it anymore. The bottom line is that the Bills and Sabres are competing for the fans' money. Buffalo fans haven't known an owner with Terry's commitment to winning before. Now that they actually seem to have one, and Ralph is looking more and more like a doofus, one can only hope that it serves as a wake up call to this horribly messed up organization.