SectionC3

Reality.

It's upscale. I can't believe this happened, and I am particularly shocked that it happened there. I used to work in the Main Seneca neighborhood and walk through there a couple of times a week now, and I don't even think of stopping at City Grill for lunch because it's too expensive. FYI - it's also known as a place where people who are having affairs go for clandestine dinners because it's kind of out of the way given the lack of on-site parking.

You have no idea what my political beliefs are. Arguing with someone on the Internet never gets "you" anywhere, but there are a few things that need to be said. First, I didn't combat anyone with a political belief. The only beliefs that I espoused are that the tax burden on the middle class in this country sucks and that someone as dumb as Sarah Palin should never, ever lead this country. She's Alaska's problem, and I hope it stays that way. I bet nobody who reads this cares whether the next Congress and President are Rs, Ds, Is, etc. so long as they can fix the economy and allow us to keep renewing our season tickets. (Except maybe evangelicals, but that's a different story and God bless them for their conviction.) Second, the reason I'm writing is that people, and you fall apparently fall in this category, often conflate a minimal intellectual threshold for such things as elected office with an "ivy league degree." Personally, I think those of us who support an agenda that calls for reduced spending on education but can't practice proper grammar defeat their own argument. That's just me. One need not go to an Ivy League school to have half a brain. Moreover, just because one attended an Ivy League school does not mean that he/she has half a brain (see Dick Jauron on Sundays between 1 and 4). Finally, let's get to the "I'm dumb" point. The quote you referenced demonstrated nothing in the way of political belief. It speaks for itself, and if you can't recognize that, you may want to ask yourself a question similar to that which you have placed beneath your avatar.

I'm just about done with this because I've had my laughs, but here's a little insight for you. If Sarah Palin runs for president and wins the republican nomination, a democrat (Obama, if he chooses to run for re-election) will win the White House in the next national election cycle. She's just like Howard Dean would have been in 2004. Too far right (vs. Dean's left), and too stupid (vs. Dean's airy intelligence) to appeal to the middle. She's nice for all of the evangelicals who hate abortion and want to hear a pretty face articulate the message, but if she wins the Republican primary, Obama or any other democrat who doesn't drool on himself or herself will destroy her by following the Rove plan - let others make her look stupid, treat her with kid gloves personally and avoid stooping to her level. So, contrary to your point, come 2011 and 2012, all of those "liberals" for whom you show disdain will be busting out their "Palin for President" buttons. Bank it, and vote for her in the PA or NJ republican primary.

Dude, what about our apostrophe lesson?? Let's try it again: WRONG: Sarah Palin should sue her elementary school and many of the community college's she flunked out of for providing her limited educational opportunitie's. RIGHT: Go Bills!

Actually, it's an apostrophe. This sentence---Sarah Palin appeals to religious zealot's---contains an improperly placed apostrophe. This sentence---I am a democrat and I too dislike the federal income tax rates---properly avoids the use of an apostrophe.

This.

Yeah, that whole "liberal" bit about improving education, particularly the finer points of the use of the apostrophe, and not starting a war over some phantom yellow cake really stinks. If Al Gore had won, we'd probably all be drooling morons now, have blown away several countries that angered his dad and taxed the rich instead of the middle class. That would have been a real mess that Sarah Palin, as smart as she is, couldn't even clean up.

I don't mean to be cruel, nor do I mean to make light of what is probably a trying situation for his family (I too deal with elder care issues, and it is a difficult labor of love), but I am skeptical Ralph can still think on that level. That said, I don't think your logic is lost on whoever is running this franchise. I suspect, without anything to support the theory, that it dawned on someone that the $6.5M spent on T.O. could be better dedicated to a coach, and when the big game hunt failed, your logic was probably front and center on the mind of whoever helps Ralph run this billion dollar train wreck.

I'm turning in my fan card if this is true. Ugh. EDIT: AND my season tickets. I was hopeful that suffering through several years of Dick Jauron would lead to something positive, but it looks like we may have another guy who couldn't cut it somewhere else. I don't know if anyone saw the comments allegedly attributed to Ryan Fitzpatrick on another Bills board (e.g., Ralph talking into an overhead projector during a speech at camp thinking it was a microphone), but I'm starting to believe that the Bills are one gigantic mess. I realize that there are more important things in the world, like the suffering of the Haitians, but I find this very disheartening.

I was going to point out fourth and stupid as well -

Let me start by saying that I'm not doing this to cause a firestorm - I'm simply curious if someone can corroborate what I heard today. Someone to whom I am close and trust implicitly works in a "private" area of RWS told me this morning that Shanahan was at RWS for yesterday's game. Again, I don't know whether this is true, but I haven't heard anything on the issue and thought it was important (and interesting) enough to see if somebody else saw and/or heard something similar. For what it's worth, I have better things to do with my time than cook up fake or bogus reports of Mike Shanahan's presence in Buffalo, and am not trying to stir any pots here. I obviously did not see Shanahan (I sit with the masses in the lower bowl), but I was wondering if someone else did or heard the same thing I did.

I think with the high-end tax rate going up, Jauron would have been smart to take a buyout now. I'm not sure what the differential in tax rates is (I wish my income was high enough so that I would have reason to know ), but Ralph might be able to save a few points on the remainder of the contract by buying Dick out now -

On some level, you have a point. I'm not trying to be overly philosophical about the treatment of livestock, etc., but one could argue there is little difference between the electrocution of dogs and the constructive torture of pigs, cows, chickens, etc. raised for slaughter. That said, what distinguishes Vick's behavior from that of a farmer raising and ultimately killing livestock is that Vick's behavior was unquestionably sadistic and designed to be so. He places his own interests over those of society, he's dumb, he's a sociopathic and he's a lousy quarterback. He's also better off as somebody else's problem.

Vick has paid his debt to society, but that doesn't mean that I have to root for him. I'm really not sure whether Vick's crimes are worse than those that involve violence against or harm to humans. In some ways, his Ron Mexico "act" could be considered worse than his crimes of animal cruelty, but that's really not the point. Anyone who kills dogs for fun is sick, and I don't want him to wear a Bills uniform. Beyond the issue of Vick's past, the payment of his debt to society doesn't change the fact that he's an idiot with a significantly eroded skill set. Basically, he's a crap QB in addition to being a crap human being. We definitely need a new quarterback, but this is a bad idea and I hope they pass.

I agree with your point of view. I think there are two things that weigh heavily in favor of the Bills staying in Buffalo. 1. Chuck Schumer. 2. The full house at the Ralph. Like anything else, a product or a person is more desirable if someone else wants it. It's always easier to get another job if you already have one, or to get another girl if you're already dating someone. A game is much more attractive on TV if there is a full house and an exuberant crowd. Without articulating it any better or any more, if "they" (the fans) are that eager to watch something, "you" (the viewer) are more inclined to be as well. We have a full house that many other NFL markets can't match these days, and I while I don't think that Buffalo/WNY/Golden Horseshoe is one of the NFL's premier markets, there are a number of problem markets that the NFL would be well-served to consider moving before creating a problem by disturbing Buffalo.

I believe that we won the toss and "deferred" our choice of ball/wind to the second half. Basically, the way to get the wind in the fourth quarter is to win the toss and take the ball. The team that loses the toss then chooses the "wind" for the first half. The process is basically repeated in the second half, with the team that lost the toss choosing to take the ball or the wind in a particular quarter (I guess they could elect to simply kick, too, but not even we are dumb enough to do that). The long and short of it is, assuming we won the toss yesterday (I couldn't hear, but I thought we did), we should have taken the ball to start the game. Cleveland then would probably have taken the wind in the first quarter, and the ball at the start of the second half (lest it give us an extra possession). We then would have had the wind in the fourth quarter. None of this, of course, makes a difference because the Bills are terrible and the season is effectively over. Hopefully whoever the next coach is won't consistently put the defense on the field to start the game - we seem to like to do that, even though it generally gives away the wind and puts us in danger putting the offense behind before it even steps on the field.

I don't knock whatever it is that you do.

I take offense at your statement. I worked my *ss off to get through law school and spend every day I work in the legal profession wresting with what is the RIGHT thing to do. I work nights, I work early mornings and I work weekends to try and do what's RIGHT, and most attorneys I know do the same thing. There are certainly some bad apples out there, but most attorneys absolutely do not fit the arrogant, over-opinionated mold in which you try to place them. The reality is, they're worried about their clients and trying to do their best so that the person or people they passionately represent don't get the short end of the stick. I can't speak to the average "size" of an attorney's "junk," but, based on your "9 out of 10" statement, you seem to be have some experience in that area. How exactly is it that you are so well informed on that issue? Just like it is with cops, everyone (or many people) complain about attorneys until they need one--i.e., until they get the DWI they need to beat or get reduced, or until they get into the accident that prevents them from working.

Aside from a two-word sentence, I agree with this. Leodis is what he is: a guy born to play football, but not design rockets. He screwed up, but calling for his death . . . wow. People need to chill. It's a game - a meaningful game that inspires a lot of passion, but still just a game.

I agree on the first point - wouldn't Detroit have waiver priority based on last year's record anyway??

I think, but don' quote me on this, that they're burning vacation before the fall book starts (the book may have started already - I've been away from that game for a long time now). Once the ratings period begins, there are no vacations. I was thinking last week that GR is much more listenable in the afternoon without one of Schopp or the Bulldog. I usually will not turn on WGR, but I wanted to hear a sports update and left it on through the break while I took a call on my cell. Schopp alone was not that bad (how's that for faint praise), and I thought the same of the Bulldog yesterday. Honestly, though, both are still tough to listen to. Schopp is an arrogant jerk, and while part of it may be an act, I have bumped into him once or twice and found him to be consdescending (which is funny coming from a guy whose contribution to society is yakking on the radio about diversionary things that are nearly inconsequential in the grand scheme of life). Bulldog, on the other hand, is a real salt of the earth guy, but I have found him tough to listen to on a professional level after someone far more astute than I pointed out all of the "ahhhs" "umms" "ugghs" "yeeeaaahs" in his presentation. Greg Bauch is a funny dude, though, and a good guy.

I was thinking about that the other night. I was watching Channel 2 news at 10, and a story about the Jacobs Family's acquisition of some resorts in Australia preceded the weather report by Kevin O'Connell. I couldn't help but wonder what O'Connell was thinking as he started the weather. The victim in the "hammer" attack was a relative of O'Connell's - I believe his sister. I have never heard anything bad about the Jacobs family that isn't associated with a hammer, but I must say that the recent Chris Jacobs fundraiser for a seat on the Buffalo School Board rubbed me the wrong way. I know there are reasons for holding the fundraiser, but he's about the last guy in town who needs the bucks.

You are the man. I can't believe I'm actually watching the T.O. show, but I am. This show has cast Buffalo in a wonderful light, and is probably the best national advertising we've had in years. Talk about a job well freakin' done - excellent work!!

I heard the same thing - second hand, so I don't know the source, but the second hand info is usually right on the mark.