The Avenger

As I recall, the rule/ruling had nothing to do with posession. It simply stated (states?) that a ball touching a player out of bounds is likewise considered out of bounds. Patten didn't have to have posession. The instant the unconcious fool touched the ball and part of him was out of bounds the ball was considered out of bounds and dead, therefore it could not be recovered by Bills the way it was. The ball was fumbled, then went dead by an out of bounds Patten touching it, leaving posession to the Pats (but not necessarily Patten). Again - I don't agree with the rule (I'm not even sure of the rationale behind it), but that's the way it was. My gripe is that the call was officially correct, but it called for the ref to know and enforce an obscure rule that went against common sense - the Pats seem to get those calls for some reason.

As I recall the official rules was (is?) that if the ball touches a player and any part of that player is out of bounds the ball is considered out of bounds. I'm not saying I agree with the rules and it seems really stupid in the case of David Patten, but that was (is) the rule. NE also was saved by the official rule when Brady was sacked against the Raiders - the infamous "tuck rule". Again, stupid rule, but officially correct according to the rulebook. I guess what bothers me most is that when it comes to simple rules like having to have 2 feet in bounds when making a catch or having to actually go past the first down marker to actually make a first down the refs seem to blow it but when there is some very obscure official rule that can save the Pats somehow the refs become rulebook scholars who know and enfore the most minute details - very troublesome. Have the Bills ever benefitted from a ref knowing an obscure rule that saved us from something that common sense should have been ruled against us?

The box score from that game - week 13 of the 1998 season. The receiver in question was Jefferson - it was before Patten was on the team. Coates got the gift TD after the phantom PI call - all these years later and I still never see PI called in a hail Mary situation, particularly when the infraction was nowhere near the ball. The 2 point conversion was by Vinatieri - they lined up for the extra point but with no Bills on the field he just took the ball and ran it in. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS 25, Buffalo Bills 21 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH FINAL --- --- --- --- ----- Buffalo 0 6 9 6 21 New England 0 14 3 8 25 Second Quarter NE-Edwards 2 pass from Bledsoe (Vinatieri kick), 9:44. NE-Cullors 12 pass from Bledsoe (Vinatieri kick), 4:37. Buf-FG Christie 34, 2:21. Drive: 11 plays, 60 yards, 3:16. Buf-FG Christie 26, :00. Third Quarter Buf-Moulds 84 pass from Flutie (pass failed), 10:57. NE-FG Vinatieri 44, 5:06. Drive: 11 plays, 34 yards, 5:51. Buf-FG Christie 22, :50. Drive: 10 plays, 63 yards, 4:16. Fourth Quarter Buf-Reed 4 pass from Flutie (pass failed), 6:14. NE-Coates 1 pass from Bledsoe (Vinatieri run), :00. Buf NE --- --- FIRST DOWNS 23 24 Rushing 7 4 Passing 11 16 Penalty 5 4 THIRD DOWN EFF 7-14 5-13 FOURTH DOWN EFF 0-0 2-2 TOTAL NET YARDS 428 259 Total Plays 71 61 Avg Gain 6.0 4.2 NET YARDS RUSHING 99 44 Rushes 31 14 Avg per rush 3.2 3.1 NET YARDS PASSING 329 215 Sacked-Yds lost 1-10 4-31 Gross-Yds passing 339 246 Completed-Att. 21-39 28-43 Had Intercepted 0 1 Yards-Pass Play 8.2 4.6 KICKOFFS-EndZone-TB 5-0-0 4-0-0 PUNTS-Avg. 4-32.0 4-47.0 Punts blocked 0 0 FGs-PATs blocked 0-0 0-0 TOTAL RETURN YARDAGE 77 114 Punts Returns 3-6 1-30 Kickoffs Returns 4-71 5-84 Interceptions 1-0 0-0 PENALTIES-Yds 12-107 9-80 FUMBLES-Lost 1-0 1-0 TIME OF POSSESSION 34:01 25:59 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING-Buffalo, A.Smith 21-58, Flutie 5-30, T.Thomas 3-5, Gash 1-4, Linton 1-2. New England, Edwards 13-40, Bledsoe 1-4. PASSING-Buffalo, Flutie 21-39-0-339. New England, Bledsoe 28-43-1-246. RECEIVING-Buffalo, Moulds 8-177, K.Williams 4-74, Reed 4-53, Riemersma 2-17, T.Thomas 2-6, Early 1-12. New England, Coates 10-70, Glenn 8-104, Carter 3-24, Cullors 3-24, Jefferson 2-18, Edwards 2-6. PUNT RETURNS-Buffalo, K.Williams 3-6. New England, Canty 1-30. KICKOFF RETURNS-Buffalo, K.Williams 4-71. New England, Cullors 4-75, Sullivan 1-9. TACKLES-ASSISTS-SACKS-Buffalo, Cowart 7-1-0, Perry 6-4-0, Jones 4-1-0, Schulz 4-1-0, B.Smith 4-0-1, Rogers 3-3-0, Hansen 3-1-0, Northern 3-0-0, Irvin 2-1-0, Greer 2-0-0, Simmons 2-0-1, T.Smith 2-0-0, Washington 1-2-1, Price 1-0-0, Wiley 1-0-1, Linton 1-0-0, Smedley 0-1-0, Pike 0-1-0. New England, Eaton 9-4-0, Bruschi 5-5-0, Clay 5-3-0, Milloy 5-2-0, Law 5-0-0, Sullivan 4-1-0, Whigham 3-3-0, Thomas 3-2-0, Israel 3-1-0, T.Jones 3-1-0, Spires 2-0-1, Stuckey 2-0-0, Slade 1-1-0, Canty 1-0-0, Carter 1-0-0, Edwards 1-0-0, Jefferson 1-0-0, Moore 1-0-0. INTERCEPTIONS-Buffalo, T.Smith 1-0. New England, None. MISSED FIELD GOALS-Buffalo, Christie 35 (WL). New England, Vinatieri 47 (WR). OFFICIALS-Referee Walt Coleman , Ump Garth DeFelice, HL Paul Weidner, LJ Dave Anderson, BJ Bob Lawing, SJ Tom McAuley, FJ Dick Creed. Time: 3:25. A-58,304. No-shows-1,988.

What, no Jerry Glanville? That dude makes Dierdorf a joy to listen to. Theisman, Dierdorf and Glanville - now that would implode the universe.

While there certainly is more to being a kicker than kicking field goals, kicking field goals is the main job of the kicker. It's great that other parts of Lindell's game are solid, but for my money I need a guy who can be reliable from beyond 40 yards. In his career with the Bills, Lindell is 4-10 from 40 yards or beyond. His longest field goal in his tenure with the Bills is 44 yards. In 2004 his season long field goal was 43 yards, the worst of any starting kicker in the NFL. These are really pathetic stats. A kicker who is good at kickoffs and onsides kicks but can't hit the field goals is like a QB who has good pocket awareness and executes the play fake well but can't make the throws - nice to have these things but when you can't do the main part of your job who cares?

Yeah - kinda hard to explain how you just happened to catch his performance in a Japanese video that's not even comercially available.... In all seriousness, that was one tremendously stupid thing to do. I know people do some stupid things when they are young, naive and in wanting for money, but how many would actually go and do a gay porno scene when they aren't gay? If he says he's not gay I believe him - but then that makes it really stupid. How much money did he get? Did yhe really think nobody would find out or that he wouldn't be blackmailed to within an inch of his life? The gay thing doesn't bother me, but the complete stupidity and lack of judgement does.

And for God's sake, don't accept any Candygrams!

Yeah - I think only people in Buffalo know that. It's like it was a secret - you had to give the special Bills handshake to get the word that the guy is done for the year. Mayb that's TD's plan - let everyone game plan for a guy who's not going to play.

It's illegal for an employer to ask your ethnicity, but I don't know that it's illegal to state your race on your resume. As a hiring manager, I'd be put off by anyone that stated their race on their resume - it's not supposed to matter so why is the candidate putting it on their resume if I'm not allowed to consider it? At the very least it's in bad taste and as a hiring manager I'd question the good sense and/or motivation of the applicant to begin with. In general you can be terminated from a job for lying on your resume about anything, but I doubt they'd fire you if they found out you lied about your race - it would show that race was a factor in your hiring and nobody wants to go there.

Would it kill TD to just release a statement saying we got a 3rd round pick for Hnery? Why does it always have to be this "undisclosed" cloak and dagger stuff? He's talking about it to the press so it's not like it's a secret - why say "undisclosed" in the release?

What does "undisclosed draft pick" mean?

I wouldn't say I'm defending Al Gore unless you consider trying to set the record straight on what he did and didn't say is defending him. What I am trying to show is that for every blowhard who likes to make a joke out of Al Gore "inventing" the Internet there is a person who either doesn't bother to get his facts straight or doesn't care. It's easy to make the other side look like a bunch of idiots when you make up your own facts and spread them around as the truth. Like I said, hate Gore if you want - but have a better reason than saying you think he's an idiot because he claims he "invented" the Internet.

Is somebody sore that I can make the distiction between what Al Gore really said and what people think he said because it was repeated a million times by the right? Hey - hate Gore if you want - that's your choice. All I'm saying is that you should criticize him for something real and not because he said something he never said (sorry if that robs you of a good punch line).

Everyone is entitled to believe what they want about how much Al Gore contributed to the creation of the Internet through policy initiatives and votes he had throughout his career. I personally think his statement was incredibly self-serving and made it sound like, but for his contribution, the Internet might still be the military ARPANet from which it evolved. I do take issue with those who attack him for claiming to "invent" the Internet - it never happened and people are too damn ignorant to believe anything other than what has been parroted by people like Rush who twisted Gore's words. Attack Gore for his contributions (or lack thereof), but not for saying something he never said.

By the same token, much of the U.S. currency tested in 1996 also had cocaine contamination. Odds are good that the money in my poket and yours would also test positive, but I hardly think that shows us to be cocaine addicts... Journal of Analytical Toxicology 1996

The words "create" and "invent" have distinctly different meanings — the former is used in the sense of "to bring about" or "to bring into existence" while the latter is generally used to signify the first instance of someone's thinking up or implementing an idea. In this sense, creating = fostering ("to bring about") rather than "inventing". Ike created the Interstate Highway system, he didn't invent it. JFK created NASA, he didn't invent the space program. It's not the soundbite Rush wants you to come away with, so Gore claims he "invented" the Internet.

I love the way that Al Gore is constantly bashed for claiming to invent the Internet when he never did. Typical conservative M.O. - take something out of context, repeat it enough times and it becomes "fact". So much "fact" that nobody ever bothers to look into it themselves. Gore said the following: During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system. He claimes he fostered the creation of the Internet, not that he invented it. Self-serving yes, claiming credit for a major technological invention no. Creation does not equal inventing. Gore no more "invented" the Internet than Ike "invented" the interstate highway system. Complete Link

I'd second this advice. Most women have a problem with these types of events because they don't understand the rules - look but no touching. They don't understand that in addition to the stripper showing up, a guy who's like 6'7"/320 pounds comes in to make sure that the rules are maintained. I think girls think when a stripper is involved anything goes and there are no rules because that's how many women are when they go out to see male strippers. You have women grabbing, getting up on stage, etc. Ever see a guy try that with a stripper? If you did you probably saw him get bounced out of the place and perhaps you even visited him at the hospital.

Wow - imagine that, a White House Economic Advisor (read - a guy who works in or for the administration) is telling us that things are going better than expected due to the policies of the adminsitration. He is predicting that the defecit will be below previous projections if the increase in tax collections and spending controls are put in place. Yes sir, that's some real proof that current tax cut policies are working. Of course he doesn't offer any numbers or real data to back that up (non-partisan numbers would be great). Nonetheless, I'm ready to declare victory - if only we could remember where we put that "Mission Accomplished" banner...

Just curious - why the different color helmets for guys on the same team?

Actually, the regular movie is at 6:15 - the enhanced movie with trivia imediately follows at 8pm. I love that movie! Can't wait to Tivo it at 8!

Make sure you take your comp time. I'm an IT manager and I feel people should get comp time for the long hours they work. Problem is, in most cases comp time isn't really official - it's between the manager and the employee. That means the comp time pretty much goes up in smoke if something changes. If you leave the company isn't going to pay you for it and if your manager leaves the new manager may not honor your comp time. As for the job security people are talking about, don't fool yourself into thinking anything you know will prevent you from being separated from the company (either being laid off or taking another job without a huge fight to keep you) - nobody is irreplaceable - it's simply a matter of how much pain it takes to bring in someone else and train them to do what needs to be done.

Now that's a serious fan - custom ordering a jersey for the backup QB. Do you have a Dorenbos jersey as well? I'm not ripping on you - I just think that's some serious dedication.

So it simulates weekly games to see how your players did? I'm a bit confused...

Sorry - my bad - it was on NFL Network. Guess I didn't check the channel through my pain...