Dwight Drane

And now.....I'll pay $13 for the domain name. My Achin' Feet He sure looked ok in Baltimore. They already sold the stud rights, so there is no pressure on them not to run. It just would be stupid if he goes out there and we have another disaster.

I look at it as the alternative to the pirate. Now, you can use the pirate to hijack a thread, but I like using the pirate for a "salty" comment that most will probably agree with. ie. "I see Joe Namath is signing autographs at a sports memorabilia show up in Niagara Falls. I wonder if he'd sign an 8x10 of Suzy Kolber for me?" Now that one was harmless enough. Next, I like to use the devil for a more crass delivery. "I wonder with all that game tape if Bellicheck ever paid Matt Walsh to record Ol' Bill as he was banging that Soccer Mom from Rhode Island?" The "ninja" I use if I know I am going to ruffle some feathers and a good group of posters will not be happy with it. I think of him as a suicide bomber type. "Hey, they just closed down the Home Depot on Elmwood today because of bad financial projections. I guess JP is getting traded after all."

I'm thinking more like Bing Crosby, because he beats his kids. Oh...nevermind, I thought this was the James Hardy thread.

That alarmed me at first, but Edwards is just as enthusiastic as Favre out there on the field when things are clicking. If he looked at it as just a job, I would be worried. He already is a little older, so it just seems like he doesn't want to hold on at the end of his career for the sake of holding on. He knows much more than just football and wants to experience that as well. I hope he improves, turns into the franchise QB, then signs one last big contract for 5 or 6 years after this one. That's good enough for me! on the Texas thing....is there a real reason why these guys seem soft in recent years? Ricky Williams is a nice guy at heart, just really shy. Mike Williams seemed to charm the media and NFL scouts, yet he didn't have that extra gear. I don't follow college enough to know the details.

Right, but in the recent past, some real emotional flakes have come out. Just trying to identify a pattern, that's all. At one time Buffalo was the most progressive city in North America and hosted the World's Fair because we were one of the only cities to have the electrical output to do it. Things change!

I'm talking about dodo birds. The three guys I mentioned all wigged out. or are about to wig out in Young's case, and they are fairly recent.

Ricky Williams, Mike Williams, Vince Young, (help me out here Bluefire, who are some other Texas gems that crack under pressure?) Texas has to have the lowest long term return on investment when it comes to high draft picks. Heck, what ever happened to James Patton? Although we did get Roosevelt Leaks from there. That would actually be a great name for a band.

That guy looks like Ryan Miller after a 48 hour bender....which might explain what he's reaching for!

All I know is that I'd like to get me into a Cash game of Scrabble with our top picks this year.

"He isn't an astute student of the game." I don't know about anyone else, but I'd think that the special teams playbook would be easy for a returner. Why don't they just come out and say. "We don't trust him to know when to fair catch, let the ball go inside the 10, or turn it upfield."

I think the ultimate irony will be when James Hardy is taken down by Canadian Customs with a gun and a quarter of grass in his glove compartment. Then I will ask for the last three pages of circlejerking to be pinned.

"Why, if you eat that slice....it's as good as throwing a child down a flight of stairs." The world was a much safer place when we didn't have to rely on the government and big business to take care of us. On the negative side we have a city that has looked the same since 1972 because the pork from projects is sucked dry by the unions. On the positive side, Hookers, Booze and Gambling is the only thing that keeps us sane. One of the reasons Buffalo is still the city of good neighbors is because of the neighborhood breakdowns 50...60..70 years ago. There was so much pride, and groups did their own things, yet respected each other enough to make it all work. We still run off the fumes of those times while many other places are cookie cutter, or site "progress" for the sake of calling it progress. The NFL is only as popular as it is because of gambling. So, really, if you support the Bills, you support organized crime. Now how much crime is there in taking the Bengals and 6 and a half?

He set it up with a comment about Parcells taking money then coming up with an excuse to bail out. Then he goes on to say that Sexton's client is nothing special and it is interesting how his clients always get taken by Parcells. This is as close to a flat out accusation as you are going to get. Even if it isn't a kickback, it is blowing the team's resources in order to give cash to a friend. The guy gets drafted in the 4th and he's making $1.5 over 4 years instead of $5 mil over 4. That's $350K for his buddy. This goes on more than anyone knows. I personally found the Sabres situation interesting. The Sabres signed Tim Connolly to a 3 year $9 million deal while he was still recovering from his second major head trauma. Connolly went on to miss almost the entire next season. The exact same crew of Quinn and Regier wouldn't let Pat LaFontaine on the ice because he has two concussions in the span of two years and said it wasn't safe. They also went on to suspend Teppo Neuminnen after he needed heart surgery that was understood to eventually be needed, thus holding back his salary. Why is this interesting? Larry Quinn went to Canisius High School and was friends with none other than Tim Connolly's Father. Hmmmnnnn???????

The guy just called Parcells out for possible kickbacks. That is a serious accusation to just sort of la-di-da in a rumor column.

In the rulebook, it says a player may push or pull an opposing player with his arms when a loose ball is free. Does pull fit the general bill to make the move legal?

I didn't get it from the police blotter. I got it from the "sleepy eyes" as one unidentified AFC scout said in another thread. This isn't a hard call to make. If he was on the Dolphins this would also be a 10 page thread. It would be covered in a lot more gooey white stuff though.

I think there is no holding on a fumble. By the way, that game was the single best performance by one player I have ever seen. Moulds beat triple coverage that day. I was at that POS and still have no idea how they lost.

He paid $2.40 to show in the Preakness though. There is some room for a bridgejumper to jump on board and not be a problem. I think he was a much bigger lock to show in the Preakness than in the Belmont. They will make so much money on the other pools and admissions that even if someone did something crazy, they won't lose much on the show pool. If Big Brown was running at Suffolk Downs in a 50K Turf stakes, then you might want to hold back the show bets! The fun will be, how much will a Big Brown/ Casino Drive exacta pay? $5 for $2???

That's about the best balanced view you can take. It's the 3 week timeframe that was the kick in the pants. I'm more worried that the guy can only learn fly and fade routes by the time the season starts.

Very Good. There is no insightful commentary in sports anymore. The best thing I have seen in ages was on Bob Costs' show last week with a debate about much of what this thread incompasses, and the reason why you need to "detox". I consider myself usually a fair poster that may look a bit further into things since I have little trust that the truth is up front when real money is involved. I let myself get drawn into the usual trash on this one, and was so deep that I had no choice to stick it out. Look, you came to me with an unsolicited wager on the situation, so before we all slap each other's a$$es and claim higher ground, you may want to ask yourself why you did that, and felt the need to institute a $200 spread from what I said in "playin the dozens" fashion, in terms that Mr Hardy's supporters might understand. The thread was so vile, and my comment was so outrageous, yet you still went rate shopping! I just wanted to be sure we were good to go. If I lose, you'll see my money.

But why on earth would you bring it up in this context if you didn't have a gun at the scene? He says it's a misunderstanding yet goes on to say that where he was is horrible, is never going back, he bought a gun because it is bad, and anytime he goes there we hear of a "misunderstanding". I'll give you a comparison here. I think too many feel a few of us think Hardy is a total monster. James Hardy vs. Henrik Tallinder I think Tallinder is the scum of the earth. He is a huge athlete that plays with no passion on the ice and never sticks up for his team. That attitude crossed over into his personal life as he was part of a gang rape in Sweeden. Now, I'm sure we'll get the same crew crying "He was never convicted of it so it isn't a problem!" No, he wasn't convicted. He wasn't convicted because the girl was knocked cold and was coming to with three dingalings poking and proding her. Because she couldn't confirm who's dingaling was doing what, the original case was dropped and the three players involved agreed to a lesser charge of misconduct and a slap on the wrist. The national team went on to suspend Tallinder, Husilleus and Lilas. At a press cnference, Lilas was choking back tears and was begging for forgiveness after admitting he did a terrible thing. Tallinder.....he was PO'd that they couldn't play. He said they weren't charged so why should they be suspended? By the way...Tallinder's wife was at home, many months pregnant when this occured. Now the Sabres were lucky this happened during the lockout, as hockey was dead to Buffalo. I am sure some here are reading about this incident for the first time. I would have released Tallinder on the spot. Tallinder hasn't been in trouble since that we know of. I feel he is more responsible for his actions and more of a natural scumsucker than Hardy. Hardy is the case of a guy that doesn't know any better. He has a blurred vision of right and wrong. He only knows what he knows. What he has seen in his past that many would deem shady and crap is only second nature to Hardy. Can Hardy figure things out before he does something idiotic again? I'm guessing no. If Tallinder and Hardy were both dangling from a bridge, I would save Hardy though. Even though I feel he is much more of a threat to do something "violently stupid" again, he has no choice in the matter.

That has been my main point. I am not saying this kid is evil, he just has the perfect combo of hot temper, stupidity, and history. It sounds like he was told what to say today, yet was explaining off why he "could have shown a gun if he wanted to", because his dad says it's a good idea to have one. Sort of like "I didn't hit her, but the b!tch deserved what she got!" This should be interesting. Just the fact that the Bills are out 2 times on this subject already when it is really just idiots like us talking about it shows the Bills are paranoid about their image or are having a bit of buyer's remorse and are convincing themselves they did the right thing. The mainstream media for the most part just sort of blew over it as a stupid thing that happened but give him another chance. Note to Buffalo News...keep story handy as you may be able to reprint a few times going forward.

He is too stupid to man up. He has to be told what to do and is looking for someone to give him instructions at every possible second. Read the blurb today. He didn't have a gun there but he did buy a gun for when he goes home. He says he can't go home anymore because bad stuff happens. He has to abandon his family there. That's a good first step, but he is being told this by a handler or the Bills. He only believes it for himself to the point that he was told this is true. Let's just say that if life were a chess board, James would be in the front row. On a side note...the Buffalo News points out how amazing Josh Reed looks coming back from back surgery and how he was catching anything thrown near him. "STOP THE PRESSES!" "Hey guys, we're going to start inflating Reed here a bit since it looks like he's going to be the #2 for a while."

Useless or not...do we have a bet?

No, it isn't I guess. To me it's factual enough. If we all waited to see "all the facts" before we came to an educated decision, 50% of people would never get married, there would be no public stock market, the Bills would have never traded for Rob Johnson, and I would have worn a coat today. All I can do is project a forecast on Hardy. A forecast I am fairly confident in.