Fan in Chicago

Serious Q - How does this work now ? Combined score more than 34, did you make any money ? Is it all or nothing ?

And you say you are not rooting because you thought it incorrect for the Bills & DB to part ways so soon ?

Lori, m'lady, are you a descendant of Nostradamus ?

I also have had that opinion for a long time. It will really suck, though, if we start peaking in December and miss the playoffs because of our miserable start.

Why didn't he say that before then ? We would have given him a free lifetime membership to this board.

You are worse than me in recognizing sarcasm.

Takes a lot more than that to get me pissed (which I am not). I thought the smiley was for the last sentence and he was actually serious about the rest of it. Must be the uncalled for martinis on a Sunday night.

I argue that you can say that (last sentence) about almost every starting QB in the NFL today.

Either: - You forgot the sarcasm smiley - b.harami hacked your id - you are serious so which one is it ?

Next two weeks are tough as CAR is on a major streak. We can only hope this will be their letdown game. Miami and NE should be beatable. In fact, I think we will pound NE if JP continues to play as well as he did yesterday. So to answer your question - I don't think so. We will most likely go 2-2.

Awright, I am on board. Go crush them !

You might want to re-word that. You ain't no angel but a demon you are.

Okay, I am going to back off simply because this debate is getting too acrimonius. I will end by saying that teachers and scientists don't have to spend their valuable time because I am convinced the opposition comes from one group alone. It is not wide spread and their protests are not based in science. If the teaching methodology was wrong, we would all be confused by now which all involved in this debate in this thread do not appear to be. I say leave well enough alone. {exiting debate}

Too early to tell for MM , but can already proclaim Weis and Crennel as good NFL HCs ??

Yes, I appreciate that your point is to keep it out of schools. But, I am referring to the other point that you make - that a large enough section believes in it so science should evaluate it. To answer your question of how it hurts - it is time that scientists could be spending elsewhere. Resources are limited and the question is one of opportunity costs. If we had a boatload of scientists sitting idle twiddling their thumbs, then maybe their time is better spent on trying to analyze the merits of ID. As for the mass public, here is an example. A few years back, in India, many people claimed that statues of the Lord Ganesh was seen 'drinking' milk and that signalled the coming of an apocalypse. Given that a percent of population in India is much larger than that of KS and PA, shouldn't scientists try to analyze if an apocalypse is in the offing ? The arguments are similar, heck this is even based on 'observed' phenomena.

Okay, let me try something else. Back since the 40s, people believing in UFOs and existence/visits of aliens on earth were termed as 'conspiracy nuts', which they very well might be. By the same logic, shouldn't those advocating ID be called 'religious crazies' ? The belief of a fair section of the public in UFOs did not cause the scientific community at large to go about trying to prove the existence of aliens. Largely, scientific process looks at evidence and tries to build up a theory to support it. There was no evidence for UFOs besides visual sightings that could be misinterpreted. My point is, I am not convinced a large enough section of population believes in ID and even those that do have no real basis for making the claims save for theological ones. IF that is true, then it is a waste of scientists time to go about trying to prove it. given there is a lot more out there to be discovered.

I will add that the onus of providing proof lies with the person making a claim not on the person listening to it. It is like saying there is intelligent life out there but you prove me wrong. It should be up to me to go to mars, get soil samples, find biological material or a living alien to substantiate my claim. Why should scientists evaluate and try to prove what the ID theorists are claiming ?

You beat me to it and worded it a lot better too.

Totally agree. No proclamations go through so much voluntary and self-review as in science. Every theory comes under close scrutiny by institutions and organizations world-wide. This contributes to a healthy debate unmuddled by religious or capitalist interests. Try that yardstick for the ID theory ! I am entirely disgusted by this news. Thinking back to the time when I was in school, throwing a little seed of doubt would have confused my understanding of the enormous effort that has gone into the theory of evolution. It is not as if Darwin one day problaimed he had a theory and the world bowed in submission. Archeologists and scientists alike have pieced together a 10000 piece puzzle which is albeit missing one piece. But don't try to explain that one piece with a theory that does not explain the other 9999 pieces.

Fine, I am stupid then. Judging MM on one winning season and one yet to be decided is not fair. Billick had one great year with arguably fantastic talent on the D side. What else has be done to merit greatness ? And Jim Fassel ? Conversely, MM has not done much wrong considering he is in his second year as a head coach. He has shown the guts to make changes and largely tried to balance the lack of talent with creative plays. A little infusion of talent on both sides of the ball will have us as contenders. Grass always looks greener on the other side.

Dude, did you intentionally mess with Nick's ID ?

Talk about fickle fans, what did that say about Kraft's loyals ?

As Madden was saying last night "at some point everybody has to get beyond their own 'ya-buts' " Looks like NE is entering their ya-but era.

Counting from which year ? While I am slowly beginning to agree that TD may have made some critical mistakes, giving the Bengals as an example is not appropriate.

HD, I admire you for your bravery ! Getting bashed by fans of a team that sucks more than yours. I was among those that thought the run had to end sometime no matter how much the NE machine was primed with good drafting, good backups, good coaches etc. But finally it has come to pass and NE seems to be in serious decline. At such a time, previously dominating teams get smashed 'cos those that were formerly at the receiving end see their chance of getting revenge. See the Bills & Bulls in the 90s. But in all honesty, I wish the Bills will have a run like NE's and have the rest of the league hate/admire us. The Colts seem to be on their way to be the dominant AFC team but I don't think they will go undefeated this season. As a side comment, I really enjoyed the commentators and have aprpeciation for Al Michaels and Madden. They are levels above others of their profession. Name one duo that does such a kick-a$$ job.