Sound_n_Fury

If that's the case, his opinion that JP won't "amount to anything good" is bupkis.

You're far from being "typical" ticket holder. About half of RWS is filled by Western New Yorkers. Another 25% or so is from Rochester and Southern Ontario. While there are some long distance travelers, the hotel occupancy in Buffalo certainly does not feel much impact from 8 home games per year. The impact from 100 visiting players, refs, TV crews over the weekend is also negligible. The thing most people fail to comprehend about the Buffalo economy is its size...$25 Billion (yes, billion) in total output per year. It may not be growing, but there's still a lot of economic value produced here. The Bills $111 million annual impact amounts to less the one-half of one percent of that total. I am an economist, BTW.

As much as we love the Bills, the actual dollar impact they have on the Western New York economy is quite small (last estimate was $111.5 million in 1996). http://www.ftballiance.org/stadiums/impact.php Most of the $$$ being spent on the Bills are just "recirculated" (disposable income already here) rather than "new" money (income from outside the area). Assuming 40,000 out-of-town fans attend 8 regular season games per season and spend $100 each, that only equals $32 million in revenue per year. Factor in six months of player salaries while they're here (maybe $40 million) and all the related "spin-off" activities ($40 million) and you really don't get that big an impact in a WNY economy that's $25 billion in size (2002 Gross Metro Product). The biggest impact the Bills have is psychological. If/when the team moves, the $64,000 question will be how the "quality of life" decrease will affect companies staying in Buffalo?

Ack! You can never have too much free publicity! http://www.star-ecentral.com/movies/buzz/b...&date=3/14/2005 http://www.ebookoasis.com/Exclusive%20eBoo...licity!.htm

Nothing but net!!

This is all about free publicy, not a $150 fine. Nothing more than the old Hollywood addage, "I don't care what they say about me, as long as they spell my name correctly."

I've had this same thought. I'm interested to see what Dylan McFarland, who seems like a brainy kid, might do in '05 after a year of weight training and learning under McNally. http://www.buffalobills.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=122560

Well, the posters on the Lion's MB I've been following make TSW regulars look like rocket scientists, particularly "ThemanwiththeplaN!" http://forums.detroitlions.com/boards/categories.cfm?catid=9

MW's contract is a byproduct of being the 4th pick overall in his draft class. No matter the position, top-5 picks are going to warrent large signing bonuses and back-loaded contracts that eventually throw per-position salary allocations out of whack (unless the original contract can be renegotiated, which MW seems unwilling to do). Being good year after year, and drafting near the bottom of the round, is especially important in the salary cap era. You may not end up with a lot of superstars, but if you draft well, the value-per position equation will be much better, helping the team stay together longer before it has to be torn down and rebuilt.

Juice? Nah, not Big Mac.... Before: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/..._salute_lg.html After: http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/stl/news/stl...s_stl&fext=.jsp

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/m...07-22-mnf_x.htm "ABC has been losing a ton of money on Monday Night Football," TV consultant Neal Pilson said. "ESPN can better afford the package." ABC reaches 20 million more households than ESPN, but ESPN has two revenue sources — ad sales and cable subscriber fees.

I think Green Bay's going to be really bad this year, and get even worse if BF retires after 2005. This may be a turn off to FAs who want to win now. The same logic holds for Detroit. If DeMulling wants to win, in addition to landing a bigger paycheck, the Bills offer the best opportunity.

The development of O-linemen's a funny thing. Two of the UFA's most people would love the Bills to sign (DeMulling - 7th round) and Vincent (undrafted) had pedegree's similar to Tucker, Smith, McFarland a few years ago. Both guys got thown into the lineup early in their careers and look where they're at today. Who's to say we don't have similar players already on the Bills roster. I'd love to find a starting LG/LT in free agency or the draft. But if it don't happen, I can see the Bills signing someone after the June 1 cuts and going with the current OL group for another year.

Sounds like his agent's planting stories to goose the Bills and Lions into making an offer. We know that approach doesn't work with TD, but Matt Millen's liable to panic and pull the trigger...

Sorry for posting something that doesn't mention 16' crocodiles or inane TV shows (it's a slow news day): http://cbs.sportsline.com/nfl/story/8270088 Best: ...But in terms of dollars and need you can't beat Buffalo's signing of Kelly Holcomb. He's a safety net for J.P.Losman, he can win if he has to start and he came at a relatively inexpensive price -- a four-year, $6.6 million deal that included a $2 million signing bonus. Worst: ...But San Francisco topped that by handing a $12 million signing bonus to tackle Jonas Jennings. He wasn't in the top five free-agent tackles of one NFL club I checked with and was No. 5 with another. He's big, he's young and he fills a need, but scouts complained that he wore down as the season wore on. Moreover, they said he wore down as games wore on. I know that happens, but it shouldn't happen to someone who just broke the bank.

Interesting the Bills' aren't talking up Womack's visit like they did with DeMulling (nothing on BB.com about him being at OBD today).

Breaking News: A high percentage of the under-25 set talk this way (it called hip-hop / urban culture and it crosses racial, income and city/suburban boundaries). Blame it on Eminin, MTV, etc. http://www.juyc.org/current/0401/hiphop.html

You're the father... My period's late...

Smoot signed with the 'Vikes. KC's having a very tough time landing any quality FA help. I wouldn't be surprised if they panic and overpay Law just to save face.

I'd be more worried about the croc being eaten by MW

Those were my thoughts, exactly! It's the JV version of TSW.

Well, Miller's off the market and his cap number for '05 looks like $2.2 million, so your prediction was right on the money. Maybe you should give TD a call about some of the other guys on your other FA wish list! http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/stor..._len&id=2007278 "Miller, 32, will sign a five-year contract worth $22.5 million. The deal includes a signing bonus of $6 million and base salaries of $1 million (2005), $1 million (2006), $3 million (2007), $4 million (2008) and $4 million (2009). There is a $2 million roster bonus that is due next March and roster bonuses of $500,000 for each of the final three years. The veteran blocker can earn a total of about $500,000 more in workout bonuses."

A big factor in MW's slow development was the inferior OL coaching he had his first few years here. He probably had better coaching at Texas. MW made good strides last year when he had his first professional coaching under McNally.

There's no way you can sign these three guys (especially the two veterans) with only $5 million in cap room. Miller's cap number with the Titans was $9.3 million, so even if you got him for one-third that amount, you're starting to bump up against your limit. Braham made $1.2 million last year, but he's 34 and coming off a knee injury. Vincent is intriguing and could be a good value pickup (he only made $628,000 in 2004). BYW, he was orinally signed as an undrafted FA. I don't understand the groundswell to dump TT. I thought he had a very good year in 2004 and his cap number doesn't seem that outrageous give the FA signings of the past few days.

I agree with points 1 and 5, but that’s it. The draft is always a crap shoot and I’m not ready to write off MW or RD yet. The Pats, Jets and Fins also had unproductive 2002 drafts, along with many other teams. Funny, but not many folks were wondering why DB was still on the team last season between weeks 6-16. The Bills were a handful of plays away from making the playoffs in 2004 (I still can’t get over how Pittsburgh was able to run on us in that last game). Maybe TD should have played DT against the Steelers and stopped a few of those running plays. Villarial signed a 4-year, $12 million deal which is not bad given what Guards are getting this year. TT’s deal is probably below average given the escalation in interior OL salaries over the past two years. $1.5 million salaries for CW and PP are high for reserves/special teamers, but they’re probably not far off the NFL per-player average. While everything starts up front, what winning team would you point to that’s been built by focusing their budgets on the OL and DL? The Pats certainly don’t have a high-price OL and Seymour’s probably the only DL getting big bucks. LBs and “skill” players have always commanded the biggest share of the salary pool will probably continue to do so in the future. I’m comfortable with the way TD manages the cap. He doesn’t do stupid things like the ‘Skins or Cowboys ($30 million in signing bonuses this year!) that’ll guarantee a rebuilding purge down the road. I still think he has one more FA deal up his sleeve, so let’s see how things play out before we mount our next “run ‘em out of town” crusade. Lastly, your comment that “…31 other GM's in the league could have done a better job in the past 4 years for Mr. Wilson” is pretty silly. TD has made his share of mistakes, but his batting average is probably in the top one-third of the league, with more hits than misses. Do you really think the Bills are worse off today than back in Wade Philips’ last year?