Taro T

So what, now that some guy name Eye-gore took Abbie Normal's gray matter from his collection, he wants to use yours as a replacement? Glad to hear the test results show everything's well.

Well, they always have lived in the fire swamp. Looks like they're vacationing in Maine now as well.

While I hope you are right (boy, do I hope you're right) there are a few other differences between last year's Sabres and this year's Bills. The Sabres had one of the best records in the league in the 2nd half of the '03-'04 season, the Bills were not as successful in the latter stages of '05. With the lockout, the Sabres had an opportunity for many of their prospects (Miller, Roy, Pominville, Gaustad, and Vanek spring to mind immediately) to get significant action and responsibility on a very good minor league team in '04-'05. The combination of playing time and level of competition being stronger than in a normal AHL season would not have been possible in a non-lockout / strike year, and IMHO sped their development. The coach and GM got a chance to spend more time than normal watching their prospects and had a very good idea of what they would bring to the table. The Bills didn't have a chance to put their rooks - 3rd year players in staring roles working together in NFL Europe or the CFL. The Sabres coaching and front office staffs had been in place since 1997. The Bills have a totally new organization and the players and coaches are currently learning what each other can do and what to expect from each other. As I said, I hope you are right. I don't think the Bills will be dregs of the league this year, but I am not saving up for playoff tickets either.

Alex's sister had the hots for this guy that KG77 seems pretty high on too? Cool.

It definitely has become one of the more interesting theories I've read over here. I am still interested in reading Mr. Arm's responses. I wouldn't say this thread rivals clowns balancing on boards yet, but it is getting there.

A few comments / questions. 1. I wouldn't go praising Mensa's screening process too highly when morons like Mike D'ohopp made it through the process. ("No, no, I'm smart! I have a piece of paper that tells you I'm smart!") 2. What is your basis for assuming that measuring aptitude for carpentry (or any other useful skill) is "impractical"? And what does your aside about social skills have to do with your "theory"? 3. Why would your policies, necessarily, "increase the proportion of whites"?

Who the heck cooks pop-tarts? You're supposed to eat the darn things raw.

I would expect that rather than using them as detonators, they are using them as "single use" phones so that no one phone is used often enough for authorities to zero in on a particular phone, or more accurately, network of phones.

If you had seen the game, you would understand why everyone is on the "slam Holcomb bandwagon". In the entire 1st quarter, he never attempted to throw more than 5 yards downfield. His 2nd incompletion was a bounce pass about 5 yards down the middle of the field (so Kelly was about 8 yards away from his intended receiver) on a 3rd down. And the sack he took on 3rd and 3 (1st or 2nd "drive"), he HAD time to throw the ball but neither got the ball off (could have been due to coverage, I doubt it, but it's possible) nor did he attempt to move from the pocket at all (very Bledsoe-esque). The interception was a throw that only 1 player on the field had ANY chance of catching and he hit the man right in the hands, unfortunately the man was wearing a stylized black cat on his hat. It cut against what Kelly's strengths supposedly are - good decision making and accurate throws on short routes. It was by far the worst that I have seen Kelly look since coming to the Bills. And while the coaches did him no favors by making him go against Carolina's starters, they did give him the short plays that he normally can do well with.

Quality-wise they are comparable. They are both hilarious. But I look at AD as more of an updated "SOAP" and IASiP as what "Seinfeld" would have been if it didn't attempt to give the protagonists ANY redeeming qualities and it wasn't on network television.

Other than all the characters being flawed a-holes, not much. Oh, yeah. It's set in Filly as well.

That show is friggin' hilarious. I started watching it about 3 weeks ago and catch it every Thursday. To say it is "irreverant" is putting it mildly. The show skewers absolutely everything.

Point taken.

He can't be an idiot, he's in Mensa, and everyone in Mensa tells people that they are smart. They couldn't do that if they weren't smart. So he MUST be smart. Right?

Agreed. I think using video to make your travelling scouts much more efficient is an excellent idea. I think using video to reduce the size of your scouting department is a terrible idea. Hopefully, the department does function as well as it did in the past, but I'd much prefer the goal to be IMPROVING the function. Can you imagine how much it would mean to the organization to be able to go from the current effectiveness (typically 2-3 NHLers per draft, which given the crapshoot the draft is, is reasonable) up to 4 NHLers per draft or go from the current 0-1 studs per draft up to getting 1 top line or a #1/2 D man out of each draft? Oh well, most true innovators are laughed at initially. I can only hope that that is the case in this instance, but I fear the people laughing are onto something.

He seems like a good guy. Who knows, maybe the team will have some more cap room next year and will still be willing to spend to near the cap and they'll be able to work out a fair deal at that time. That's my hope, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for it.

To answer your ONE question: yes, yes, and yes. You seem to have it.

Had, not have. I was referring back to last season's payroll and profit when mentioning the $31MM. Sorry for any confusion caused.

Arbitration, as with most anything else, does have the potential to bite a player in the butt. (Of course, it also has the potential to bite the team in the butt.) There were 69 players that filed for arbitration this off season. Of those, 56 settled before going to arbitration (meaning contract negotiations that probably would have lasted until late September or into early October were done ~2 months quicker). 11 players got awards that the team accepted, so players like Briere and Gomez are now $5MM men. Only 2 players had their team walk away from the arbitrator's award (Tanabe and Dumont). The system "worked" for ~97% of the guys that filed for arbitration. Even for players that had the arbitrator side with management, they now have a contract and can report to camp on time and nearly all of them become UFA's after this season. Not having a season disrupted by negotiating through camp and possibly October benefits even those guys. You are absolutely correct that it is a flawed system, but if it didn't exist a lot more of the 67 that did get deals would not have them now. As for no one giving Dumont $2.9MM/year, that is probably true, but we won't know that for certain until we see what he signs for. I could possibly see Montreal or St. Louis offering him $9MM over 3 years, although I think he had a much better chance of seeing something like that if he was an UFA on day 1. Also, had the Sabres total payroll likely ended up at $43MM w/ Dumont signed rather than $46MM and over the cap, I think that the Sabres would have signed him even though they were unhappy with the award. When Dumont filed for arbitration, Tanguay, Gaborik, and Havlat had not signed their new deals. All 3 of those deals had an effect on the contracts awarded to forwards.

That is the entire purpose for including arbitration in the CBA. It gives the player the opportunity to get a contract in a very reasonable time period or it gives him UFA status. Either way, a holdout is unlikely. Especially with the new CBA including a clause that pretty much keeps players holding out into December from being able to play at all that season.

In the interview w/ D'ohopp, Darcy stated that he tried to trade Dumont but the only offers he got for him were for an NHLer coming back. Basically, they weren't going to get any salary relief. If they had signed Dumont their payroll (as used for calculating where they are in relation to the salary cap) would have been at $41.9MM with 20 players signed. They still have Miller and Kalinin to sign and 1 other player that could be on the team to have a full roster of 23 players. (Because the farm team is so close, they may only use 22 players to save ~$500k.) There is no way they could get those 2 signed for any deal that would cost less than the $2.1MM they would have had available. Teams can exceed the salary cap by 10% until the end of training camp. At that time, any team above the cap would need to reduce payroll IMMEDIATELY. It would appear that Darcy felt he would have even fewer and worse options at the beginning of October than he had now. Had he signed Dumont and then cut him on October 1, the team would have only saved 1/3 of his $2.9MM contract. They would have given him 1/3 this season and 1/3 next season. Instead of having $2.9MM of cap room this year and next, the team would gain almost $2MM in cap room this year and then get charged nearly $1MM next year. For a team that officially showed only a modest profit on a $31MM salary (which is what payroll was when IR'd salaries are included), throwing away nearly $2MM on a payroll that will be ~$7MM higher is not exactly fiscally prudent. Hopefully, the offer the Sabres made will be something that JP can live with and other teams don't beat. I'd be surprised to see that happen, though.

You are correct. It appears they did to reach an agreement prior to the hearing. When you had stated they reached an "agreement", I misinterpreted that to mean you were stating they had signed a contract. It's a kind of interesting negotiating ploy the Bruins used, which I will be interested in seeing if it tends to keep FA's from signing with them in the future. Basically, they still went through arbitration, they just both agreed in their written submission to the arbitrator that he was worth $1.275MM. Since they both were in agreement, there was no need for a hearing. Since both parties said he's worth $1.275MM, that is what the arbitrator awarded him. Once the arbitrator agreed with the 2 parties, that's when the Bruins' 48 hour clock started ticking. HAD the Bruins signed a contract with him, OR had they accepted the arbitrator's decision, THEN they would have been on the hook for 2/3 of the $1.275MM. Of course, had the Bruins and Tanabe agreed to tell the arbitrator that he was worth $1MM and had the arbitrator agreed with them, the Bruins WOULD NOT have been allowed to walk away from the deal. Or more technically, had they walked away from the deal, they would still have had to pay him 100% and they would take a 100% hit on their salary cap.

The Bruins were exercising their "walkaway" rights after the Arbitrator reached his decision. Had they agreed to a contract with Tanabe and then decided to dump him, they would have had to pay him 2/3 of the contract as a "buyout". Link

Millbank, my friend, once again your friends at TSN have let you down. They came close, but were not quite correct. The Sabres do have to accept the Mair award, but that is because it is less than $1,042,073 which is the actual walkaway threshold. The Bruins walked away from Tanabe's $1.2MM+ deal over the weekend. Starting next season, the walkaway threshold will increase at the same rate the average player salary increases.

Never been to that restaurant and I'm too tired to think of something witty to say about it's name. But the best Chinese food I've had in Ra-cha-cha is at Golden Phoenix on Rte 31 in Perinton.