UB2SF

Yes, that was her conclusion too. And I bow to your astute guess of when the quote might have happened. My wife was late to join the Cult of Lost, and has been catching up on the early seasons via Netflix... and she just finished watching S3!

I love the Jack=Jacob theory. I mentioned it to my wife last night, and she recalled a comment by one of The Others long ago that "Jack isn't on Jacob's list". I don't recall that quote/episode/situation at all, but that comment lends credence to the theory.

I thought of that, but it doesn't matter. The guitar is considered carry-on luggage, and if it isn't secured "in the overhead bins or under the seat in front of you", the plane isn't allowed to take off. Other really-starting-to-bug-me details include: - The ability of people to walk through a thick jungle in the dark of night. If they have torches, how do the torches stay lit without a fuel supply? If they don't have torches, how does the moonlight cast such an even glow under the canopy of trees? - Jin being "blown clear" of the boat when it exploded. I mean, seriously? Blown clear? - The bright light from the hatch creating a giant beam of light into the night sky. I mean, New York city used tens of thousands of watts to create the twin towers of light memorial to 9/11. That one emergency light in the hatch did that? OK, I'm just venting. My wife is sick of me venting to her, so it was cathartic to vent to y'all. I'll go back to biting my lip while watching the remainder of the series!

I reached the over-the-edge stage at the end of last season and only watch it now because my wife is still into it, and because I figure I need to see it through to the end since I've already sunk so much of my life and my neurons into the show. In losing my ability to suspend disbelief, I'm become increasingly annoyed about sloppy details. For example, Hugo sitting on the airplane with the guitar in the seat next to him? Never would happen. I'm a guitarist, and I know from experience that the guitar would have to be checked (or maybe, with a miracle, crammed into an overhead bin). So I guess we're supposed to not only believe the sci-fi/mystical stuff, but also believe that everyday rules and constraints don't apply?

The Bills make me want to SHOUT! - At my televison SHOUT! - O for the division SHOUT! - Salt in the incision The Bills make me want to SHOUT! SHOUT!

Thanks, Astro, for all the bowl-y goodness! I've enjoyed watching the games with your data in front of me.

Ah, the ol' Collinsowrth hyperbole is alive and well. For every astute thing he says (he's actually pretty sharp sometimes), there are 10 doozies like this to negate it. Let's see, dumbest things in the history of the NFL: - trading all your draft picks for one player (Ditka) - throwing away your career and your standing as one of the most highly paid players in the sport... for dog-fighting! (Vick) - failing to select Joe Montana or Jerry Rice in the draft (every team except SF) - adorning the helmets of a new franchise with a flaming swashbuckler with a knife in his mouth (Bucs) - forcing me to look at Janet Jackson's nipple

I'm cracking up -- and kind of tripping out -- right now. When I read the initial post, I was going to type this same reply. I mean, almost verbatim! My only change would have been a different spellling of our QB's name: Trint Etwerts.

As I watched the Monday Night Debacle 2.0, I held in my arms my new son, just three weeks old. As 3-week olds are prone to doing, my son spent most of the game screaming in frantic misery. My wife woke up from her much-needed nap and asked how everything was going. Without really thinking, I said, "I just realized that the only thing worse than watching my team get their a$$es handed to them for the millionth time, is watching them get their a$$es handed to them with a screaming human 12 inches from my face." At that moment I realized I really wasn't joking. I could literally feel my blood pressure rising with the combination of my screaming baby and my sucking Bills. I made a promise to myself at that moment, that if the Bills lost to the Browns, and especially if they lost in typically heartbreaking fashion, I would do something to relieve the stress that the Bills add to my life. So, starting this weekend, I am going to record the Bills games, and only watch the games if we win. If somehow we make it to the playoffs, I will return to live-action viewing. Part of me feels lame, like I've leapt from the bandwagon to the land of fair weather, wondering if I'm a traitor. But the rest of me feels relieved, and I'm looking forward to the first Sunday of a regular season in which I won't plan my life around the Bills game. Because, hey... life is frustrating enough as it is. My entertainment shouldn't be stressful too. Here's hoping, wistfully, that I will join you all in watching us in the first round of the playoffs. Go Bills!

I don't understand your question. Is there ever a bad time for a 100 yard game? I feel really bad for Marshawn tonight. Sure, he's struggled a bit this season and at times struggled against the Browns, but the dude put the team on his shoulders tonight. He deserved to win and was let down by those around him.

I think my BBQ is still aflame. (I better see a specialist about that.) Seriously, though, I disagree with your premise that pressure is a must. Over the past 4 games, Farve has just been playing badly, with lots of INTs, few long passes, and a low completion percentage. I think his old arm (and I mean McCain old) is just tired, and he's throwing up bad balls because sometimes those are the only ones he can throw. While you are correct that pressure could force Brett to become bad Brett, but I think it's just as important for our DBs (especially our safeties) to be constantly alert for the occasional wounded duck.

Indeed. To rewatch the play with Kawika's explanation of the coverage scheme -- exactly who was supposed to be doing exactly what on the play -- is to see 11 guys doing everything exactly right. From each player's first step at the snap through the time Kawika snatched the ball out of the air, everything was as it was supposed to be. Wilson's coverage of the endzone, Pozlusny shadowing LT, Bryan creating pressure from the perimeter, the corners running stride for stride with the WRs... Awesome.

He's looking awesome in those milk commercials, with the hair-metal 'do and the guitar filled with milk.

Chuck Norris, b*tch.

I love how various Bills are nominated for something seemingly every week. As I type this, Jabari is the top vote-getter so far. VOTE HERE!!!

Given Jauron's comments in the Monday press conference -- because he really went out of his way to praise Peters -- is your position that Jauron: 1) feels that Peters sucked and was lying during the press conference 2) doesn't know if Peters sucked or not, so he's assuming the best-case scenario 3) genuinely believes that Peters played well, and therefore is incapable of assessing player performance This is not a snarky taunt, it's a serious question. I respect DJ and don't perceive him to be a liar, clueless, or a poor evaluator of performance, so I'm having trouble reconciling Jauron's effusive comments with the prevailing opinion that Peters sucked a$$.

Yup, I noticed the swap real-time and it caught me off guard. (Or would that be off tackle?) Two other related observations: 1) Jauron went out of his way in his press conferences (especially Monday) to praise how well Peters played, while acknowledging that he had a few bad plays. I agree with that perspective: Peters had a few truly brutal plays, but he also had a number of really athletic plays both in passing and running situations. With the speed of the Raiders' outside rushers on pass plays, Peters was routinely pushing his guy to a deep (7-10 yds) radius behind Trent, allowing Trent to step up and deliver strikes. The downside, obviously, was when Trent couldn't step up, or when the radius wasn't deep enough, or when the downfield coverage forced Trent to hold the ball too long. I'm not going to say that Peters played a great game, but I think it's equally inaccurate to say he played a terrible game. I think it's wildly inaccurate to say he looked like Gandy. Those outside rushers for the Raiders are about as fast as we'll see all season. 2) Unless my eyes were deceiving me, I think Walker also got rotated out in favor of Chambers for a few plays or maybe a full series. Wondering if anyone else saw that.

Thanks for the on-the-fly transcript, JAMIEBUF!

QUOTE: I can hear it now. Rewarding winners is one thing, but putting the Bills in the top ten? Come on, now. I quote from the movie, Gunga Din, and for that e-mailer who complained that I only quote from movies 50 years old, this one is 69 years and counting: "Great generals, my friends, are not made of jeweled swords and mustache wax. They are made of what is here (pointing to his head) and what is there (his heart)." Dr Z's Week 2 rankings

This was one of the most encouraging aspects of the game. The fact that Fewell could put our DBs on an island to enable jail-break blitzes was a huge factor. (Granted, the Seattle WRs were recently called up from JV, but what better way to try it out and let McGee and Greer prove their chops?) Also encouraging was Youboty's active, disruptive performance in his first game as #1 nickel.

Week 1 NFL Defensive Plays of the Week

Jon Corto played like a man possessed on special teams versus the Seahawks. I just rewatched the NFL.com video of Roscoe's TD and noticed that Corto really showed his intellect and hustle on the play. As Roscoe caught the punt, Corto was closest to Roscoe and sealed off the initial lane. After his man was out of the play and as he saw Roscoe beginning to make something happen, he raced downfield like a wide receiver on a fly pattern along the sideline, staying out of the fray of Roscoe's jukes and spins. He ran essentially all the way to the goal line and then turned back toward the flow of traffic to pick out the best guy to block, and then launched himself like a missile at the last person who could possibly prevent the TD. There were a lot of great blocks on that play (Whitner, Digi, Scott, Bryan, Wilson, Jenkins) but Corto's was definitely the eye-opener of the bunch. Combine that with his forced fumble -- another instance of Jon Corto the human missile -- and I'd have to say he has made me forget Coy Wire and Sam Aiken.

About 10 years ago, there was an earthquake in Southern California, which occurred on a fault that was previously unknown. The local TV news had an interview with a geologist, who explained that many faults remain unknown until they eventually exhibit seismic activity. In response, the ditzy reporter asked: "Exactly how many unknown faults are there in California?"

As the game went along versus the Steelers, we saw more and more cut-back running plays from the Bills. At first, I thought it was just Wright's running style (glide with the flow and then burst North and South), but then Omon started doing it too. In hindsight, it seems to me that the cut-backs were designed that way, a la the basic running-game style of the Broncos, Chiefs, Rams, etc. I haven't rewatched the game to verify the hunch, but I hope that's the case. The Bills have been far too unimaginative in their running-game play-calling for years now, and my major beef is the absence of cut-back running plays. Back in the day, cut-back plays were the bread and butter of OJ and Thurman (please pardon my use of "cut" and "OJ" in the same sentence), creating a nice compliment the usual dives, traps, counters, and sweeps. Marshawn and Freddy are both perfectly suited to cut-back running because of their suddenness and balance, so I hope we see more of this in 2008. With the hints we're starting to see about Turk's offense, I'm starting to think that Lynch and Jackson will combine for 3,500+ all-purpose yards this year. Still wondering, though, how much of what we saw against the Steelers was just the running style of Wright and Omon -- because I don't recall seeing many (or any) cut-back plays called for Lynch or Jackson. I'd love to know if anyone has rewatched the game or noticed the first time through.

Over the weekend I was in Las Vegas, staying & playing at the Bellagio. I had a few leftover chips after burning through a large pile playing Hold 'Em so I decided to play a few spins of roulette. After winning the first few spins and building up enough chips to keep going for awhile, a beautiful blonde (and her hunky man) joined the table. Took me about 10 seconds to realize that it was Cynthia Watros, who played Libby on "Lost" and was also in "The Drew Carey Show" and "Titus". I always thought she was attractive, so her arrival immediately soothed my poker-loss wounds. She and her man stayed for about 10 minutes and then strolled off, lost in a sea of slot machines. She looked casual and fantastic -- wearing a tight white USC Trojans t-shirt and tight jeans, with her hair pulled back and just a little bit of make-up. Even prettier in person than on TV. And since someone will ask for a link, here's her IMDB page