granitestatebillsbackers
-
Posts
195 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Gallery
Profiles
Forums
Events
Posts posted by granitestatebillsbackers
-
-
Remeber the biggest reason Ralph makes money is b/c of no debt at all on the stadium. Add the debt of buying the team and the profit is gone....add in building a stadium and you are losing money.
They would need a robust corporate suite program and personal seat licenses--but can the market bear that?
-
Yeah, those aristocratic season ticket holders and sunday ticket subscribers with their HUNDREDS of dollars of disposable income! Who do they think they are threatening to withhold payment to Ralph Wilson? You are laughably pathetic. You do realize that those embarrassingly rich fans are the people who make it possible for you to watch the Buffalo Bills for free in your comfy chair, don't you? We get enough of curmudgeonese from Ralph, save it for your fellow broken souls.
I subscribe to Sunday Ticket, and I am hardly aristocratic--oh wait, that was your term, not mine. As for my being "laughably pathetic," I'd reserve that label for the geniuses who have characterized fans who refuse to showboat and threaten to cancel EVERYTHING as suffering from "beaten wife syndrome," or your clever reference to "broken souls," whatever that means. Another poster--Dr. Chimp, Mr. Chimp, The Chimp, whatever--suggested that I stop sucking Ralph Wilson's dick. Nothing affirms a poster's credibility more than resorting to that kind of thoughtful, intellectual response.
-
--there is a bit of the beaten wife syndrome with some of you great loyal fans
Give me a break. This board is full of posers who believe that their season tickets or Sunday Ticket subscriptions entitle them to throw out all reason and common sense, rattle their swords by threatening to cancel everything, and heap disrespect on fans who dare to speak in support of this team. Some of you were around during the late Sixties and early Seventies when there was season after season of crushing disappointment. What makes it so different now? The fact that you are spending money? As I suggested in my original post, nobody is forcing you to spend the money.
Let's call your posturing what it is: sandbagging. You're publicly bitching and moaning to buy an option on the right to tell the fans "nyah nyah nyah...told you so" next season if it goes badly. If it goes well, no harm, no foul--you fade back into the crowd of elated posters and all of this will be forgotten.
Here's the calculus, if your brain isn't too addled with delusions of omnipotent power and influence because you've had the same lousy RWS seats for the past 137 seasons, blah blah blah:
Bills fan DOES NOT EQUAL Dick Jauron supporter.
Bills fan DOES NOT EQUAL Ralph Wilson supporter.
You're either in or you're out. If you're a fan, great. If you're no longer a fan, hit the bricks.
-
Here is my opinnion and analysis on what's going on with Ralph bringing DJ back. I still prefer to replace DJ now, but keeping isn't as crazy as our record suggest and does make some sense when you look at the bigger picture.
1. He is right on the money about a young team needing continuity (doesn't mean DJ and co. are the answer, but you don't develop young talent with constant change).
2. We had shown some improvements before our slide which coincidentally was about the time we started losing quality players to injury (Greer, Schobel, Youboty, Trent, Reed, etc.) which greatly contributed to our slide and inconsistentcy.
3. DJ, believe it or not, is still considered to be a pretty good coach in the NFL circle.
4. Ralph signed him to the extension already, so pulling the plug on him is going to be expensive at this point.
5. Troubles and inconsistency at QB greatly contributed to the demise of our season and we have a young QB who also missed time due to injury. This was the biggest reason for our fall from grace, not DJ. When Trent began to struggle he started to regress big time...hard to win in this league when your QB is timid to throw downfield.
6. There are some top coaching candidates available right now, but it is very possible that next off season will have several elite coaching candidates available as well: Holmgren plans to take 1 year off, Cowher emphatically stated he does NOT want to coach this next year until his daughter graduates (and his top 2 chocies to coach won't be available likely next year Jets and Browns), Shannahan likely takes one season off, Mariucci and Billick could also still be there, etc. Add Andy Reid too to that mix as I think he is back next year, but it might be his last unless Philly has a real strong season.
7. This team dealt with injury's to a lot key players on both D Line and O Line, QB, the secondary and LB positions. We didn't have the depth to overcome that.
So, when you add up all the variables, it makes some sense to give DJ one year to try and rebound. If he falters next year (which very well could happen with what appears to be a tough schedule next season) there will be some Elite coaches available and likely quite a bit fewer job openings than this season increasing our odds to land one.
What?! Did the sun rise in the west today? A TBD post that actually has some rational analysis? Your analysis makes sense.
Kudos to you, because if I read one more self-indulgent post by a "fan" threatening to cancel tickets, burn Bills gear, etc., I am going to throw my Dell out the window. You're all trying to be clever and witty, but here's what you sound like:
"Wahhhhhh. I have disposable income that enables me to buy season tickets, so that entitles me to whine sancimoniously about the quality of the 'product."
"Wahhhhh. I am so mad about Jauron staying on as HC, I am going to hold my breath, stomp my feet, and not eat my carrots. Did I mention that I have season tickets and I am entitled to whine sanctimoniously about the quality of the product?"
News flash: this is NFL football, not life-saving surgery. This is entertainment. If you don't like the entertainment, don't go to games, don't watch games, don't buy stuff--the same way you choose not to watch movies directed by certain people, or select the NHL over NASCAR. I'll bet when the Bills were 5-1 and the product was 'good,' the thought of selling your tickets or cancelling DirecTV was the farthest thing from your minds. Nobody is forcing you to spend a dime on Bills football--in fact, I am jealous of the fact that you can drop that kind of coin for tickets, travel and all the trimmings.
So, fine. Vent a little on TBD, sell your tickets, cancel Sunday Ticket and sell your Bills merchandise on eBay. Then, don't let the turnstile hit you on the ass on your way out. Those of us who understand what it means to be a fan of an NFL team--especially one that has been part of our lives from childhood and is inextricably tied to the character and personality of a city--will still be with this team next year and for as long as it is in Buffalo.
Your assertions that we are mindless drones will have about as much effect on our commitment as fans as your selling your season tickets will have on the Bills franchise.
-
Ok, assume for a moment that Jauron et al are gone, and that the same basic core of offensive and defensive players is in place for the 2009 season. What transforms this team from a 7-9 or 8-8 squad to a contender? Or are we looking at a 9-7 near miss for the playoffs next year?
Or will the Doomsday Scenario, i.e. Mr. Wilson passes and the team does a "colts" in the middle of a cold, snowy February night, render all of this moot?
Just wonderin'.
-
He is the HEAD COACH not the D- Coordinator. He is supposed to have his TEAM prepared to WIN the game.
This isn't directed at any particular response, but...
Wah! My team isn't winning! Wahhhh! I can't brag to my friends that they are leading the AFC East! Wahhhhh! I pay for tickets and watch them on TV so they owe me! Wahhhh! The wrong QB is in! Wahhhh! My shoes hurt! Wahhhh! This cheeseburger is cold. Wahhh! I should have used my 7-iron instead of my 8-iron! Wahhh! Throw Jauron, Wilson, and the rest of them under the bus and start over!
Cripes. If some of the fans on this board lived their lives and did their jobs the way they react to the Bills, we'd have chaos.
-
It doesn't ?
"His teammates don't have the luxury of allowing him to work through his problems on the game field.
Buffalo is entering do-or-die time. Their playoff hopes are already dim. They need a spark, and Edwards has shown no indication he's ready to provide one."
"The Bills are investing in Edwards as the quarterback of the future. But if they don't have him on a short leash against the Chiefs, then they're already working on 2009."
Even if he didn't type those specific words, he is pretty much advocating exactly that.
Ah, yes, the proverbial "spark." Panacea of the misinformed, bane of true fans. In the midst of no pass rush, a banged-up secondary, an O-line that is arguably struggling, a missing possession receiver, and iffy play-calling a QB CHANGE is going to provide a "spark?"
-
I'm not so sure. Goodell has the authority to instate an exception rule or do things to promote Buffalo staying in Buffalo. It's a storied franchise that wouldn't be difficult to promote at all. Could he not try and have Buffalonians foot the bill, much like the Packers fans, for their team as owners? Public ownership, and what have you is not the worst idea, is it?
Storied franchise?! When the Colts ske-daddled out of town, did the league care that they were an old NFL franchise? When the Browns bolted, did anyone try to stop it? There are no storied franchises--and the owners are loathe to ever let us (the fans) have a say in a franchise again.
-
Being from Jamestown, I wouldn't be too surprised if Goodell has leanings to keep the Bills in Buffalo, even if they are subconscious leanings. Think about it. You're a kid growing up in WNY. You're a football fan. You're most likely a Bills fan. You have no idea that one day you'll have a job that demands impartiality. I know that if I ever became commish, I'd bring a pro-Bills agenda to the job.
Let me assert at the start that I would give my left...well, you figure it out...to keep the Bills in Buffalo. My sons are 4, 2 and new, and I would love nothing more than to bring them to Bills games in WNY when they are older. Unfortunately, I think they are going to end up being Pats* fans--or if I have any influence, Steelers or Browns fans. Here's why:
It is a pleasant, sentimental notion to think that Goodell is going to try to keep the Bills in Buffalo. Statements such as this:
“It’s going to depend on your passion for this team,” he told the crowd in the HSBC Arena Harbour Club, citing the team’s regionalization efforts that have helped expand its market to the Southern Tier, Rochester and Southern Ontario.
do little more than keep fading hope alive--as do comforting comments from former greats like Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas, who assert that they will do everything possible to keep the team in Buffalo. Let's be clear on one point. The only thing that talks in the NFL is $$$. It's not Roger Goodell that makes the decisions, it's the 32 owners. They are the members of the trade group known as the NFL, and if relocating the team to another city means more money in THEIR pockets, they'll do it in a second.
I'm a native of Lackawanna, and have been a Bills fan for 44 years (living in NH since 1985). I am afraid that the only thing that will save this team, Buffalo and Erie County residents, is your willingness to fund a large part of a ultra-modern new stadium. That will spare the new owners most of that cost, they'll rake in the PSL and luxury box revenue, and the Bills will become yet another team with an average seat price of $150.
Why won't the owners pay for the stadium themselves, a la the Krafts, Jerry Jones, or the people in NYC? Because the area doesn't have the corporate horsepower (even combining Buffalo, Rochester and Toronto) to fill corporate-priced-seats, support PSLs, or fill two to three times the luxury boxes at a state-of-the-art lakefront stadium. There aren't many folks who can afford that price point out of their pockets.
What about the corporations in Toronto with the deep pockets? How much enthusiasm do you think they are going to have to support a team that's 50 miles away? You can talk regionalization all you want, but when it comes down to the bottom line, any corporation that's going to support a team in a big way wants it right in its own backyard. They don't give a rat's behind about the tradition, or Mr. Wilson's legacy, or you, or me and my boys.
There are people who love Ralph Wilson, and people who think he is the devil. In the end, his legacy will be the fact that there was no succession plan within his family, and a proud franchise--glory, blemishes and all--was left to die.
I hope to God I'm wrong, because the saddest thing I can imagine is Buffalo without the Bills.
-
I'm man enough to admit I've shed tears over the Bills in the past, but this time I just took a walk home from my friends apartment in the snow in utter stunned silence.
I'll bet a lot of us have shed tears.
The only thing worse than being back home in WNY right now is being a Bills fan in the midst of smart-ass, smug Patriots* fans in New Hampshire. My in-laws, my co-workers, every third vehicle on the highway with a f*cking Patriots decal. When I go into work this morning, I'm going to get it full force. About a month ago, I started a staff meeting (every one of them a Pats* fan) by reminding people that the Bills were 5-1. Ouch.
Nobody circles the wagons like the Buffa...oh hell, the wagons are burning. I've been a fan for 43 years. Hard to stop now. When Mr. Wilson passes and we find out all the posturing about keeping the team in Buffalo by our former greats was just that, it'll be time to be an NFL fan. No more heartache, no more painful Sundays. Hell, I'll even save the money I'm wasting on Sunday Ticket.
-
Maybe Jauron can get all Singletary and drop his drawers at halftime. That'll get 'em fired up.
-
I like it, but I like 11-5 better, how about a Win at NY, Loss at Denver and Win at Home vs NE, I agree with your first five games.
GO BILLS!!!!!!!
Maybe we drop both to the Pats* (MAYBE), but we're not losing to the Jets and Dolphins again. How about 11-5?
-
I have no idea why anyone would think NE can beat us once, much less than twice. Cassel can't throw more than 12 yards accurately & they are on their 3rd string RB. They are a mere shell of last years team with some serious questions on D / injuries.
I see us rolling them twice and the power shifting to us. Plan on a 11-5 season or 12-4, no worse.
I want to go 2-0 vs. the Pats*, but I've got two words for you: Wes Welker. If the D coaches don't come up with an answer for Cassel/Welker, it is going to be a LONG afternoon.
-
What if Edwards doesn't throw that pick six and the Bills win the game, despite the poor running attack? Nobody here would be complaining about Jauron or his tactics after a win. You'd all be calling him a steady-headed logical head coach.
Amen.
-
Honestly I think it is time for the bills to make a statement firing (or release of a player) to show that not being able to run the ball will not be tolerated.
This is only going to get worse if we dont fix it. How are the bills going to win games in wintertime if they cant run the ball? I have a very uneasy feeling about all of this and we should not throw the whole load of trying to win on Trent Edwards shoulders......HE NEEDS HELP
I'm not a big Jerry Sullivan fan, but the last few lines of his latest offering say it all:
'You’re 26th in rushing, I told Peters. That’s not a playoff team.
“I’ll remember that comment when we make it,” Peters said.
They could start by actually making it on third-and-1.
Emphasis mine, obviously. Second game in a row where we haven't made a critical 3rd and 1. I wonder if some slightly different thinking on the part of the O-line coaches could eke out another .5 to 1.0 yards per carry. That's all it would take.
-
We Won
In case any of you over in Western New York heard the faint sound of a guy yelling and whooping when the final seconds ticked down, that was me out in my yard in New Hampshire. The neighbors think I'm nuts. They're Pats* fans...$* 'em.
-
Born in 59. In second grade, Washington Elementary in Lackawanna had a Father/Son night and I got to meet Butch Byrd and Al Bemiller. My uncle gave me a Pitt Panthers helmet and Dad painted it as a Bills helmet--55 on the back.
-
Is it me, or is Edwards being summarily dismissed by the national media and "experts?" Lots of talk about the D, virtually no love for Trent.
That victory tomorrow is going to be even sweeter when Edwards continues to progress and has a better game than last week. How does 2 TDs, 1 int and about 275 sound to you all?
GO BILLS!
Eskimo
-
I've been a Bills fan since 1965 (age 5). Worked at Rich Stadium during high school ('75-'77) as part of the post-game cleanup crew so I could get into games for free. Moved to the heart of Patriots* "Nation" in 1985.
For many years, I was able to drive down to Foxboro on game days vs. the Bills, get great seats at the window, tailgate with my family and friends who came over from the Buffalo area, and sit with sheepish Pats* fans who would say things like, "That's a wicked good passah you have theah." You'd see the occasional Patriots jersey around, but it was really the Red Sox and Celts who owned Boston-area fandom.
Then the Pats* fortunes started to change, and I watched--dumbfounded--as hundreds of thousands of knuckleheads came out of the woodwork proclaiming their love for the Patriots*, Robert Graft and the Graft family.
I offer all this to make a point: this guy who wants to switch back seems sincere. While I hate all things Patriots* (except my father-in-law and brother-in-law, who are actually lifelong Pats* fans and whom I cannot blame for their mental illness) and would normally tell a reverse-bandwagon-jumper to go pound FieldTurf, I am feeling magnanimous today. Let him back in. Make him buy a couple hundred dollars worth of Bills stuff, and make him burn his Pats* gear in the hibachi at a Bills game.
-
A custom "authentic" jersey sells for $270 in the stadium store. (Strangely, neither bb.com nor NFLShop has any current players' authentics for sale.) If it's team-issued and signed, I'd probably add another $80-100.
Thanks, Lori. The jersey came about via One Communications--our telecomm provider at the college (Daniel Webster College in Nashua, NH) as well a Bills sponsor. Love Two Bills Drive, btw. Great site!
-
I won an autographed Marshawn Lynch game jersey (the real deal) with a Buffalo Bills certificate of authenticity at a charity silent auction out here. Any idea of what that's worth? Everything on E-Bay is just those hand-sewn jerseys--hard to check the pricing. (The donation was brokered by One Communications, apparently.)
Incidentally, the guy that was bidding against me was Tom Lynch, a lineman from the 80s era. He was very gracious and signed my auction program. We had a great conversation about the "old days."
-
I'm not crazy about the post-2001 uniforms but they're ok. The biggest problem I have is that they committed careless oversights. For example -- the stripes down the sides of the jerseys and the stripes on the sides of the pants don't match up. How does a designer miss that?
Furthermore, they should stick to one combination at home and one on the road. I prefer blue jerseys/white pants at home, and white jerseys/blue pants on the road. The blue/blue look is alright I guess (the non-matching stripes piss me off every time, though), but the white/white looks like crap.
The throwbacks are awesome. Switch to the charging buffalo logo on the white helmet and they'd be perfect. Really like the black shoes.
Ok, now I'm going to go outside and use a chainsaw to cut something down.
They can wear Wegman's bags for all I care, as long as they improve on last season's record.
-
Instead of trying to predict the season record based on Losman vs. Holcomb vs. Nall, do some analysis of the O-line. Then come up with a W-L scenario.
I don't have one in mind at the moment. But even QBs with supposed "weak" arms can pick apart a D with short/mid-range passes off play action if they have time to throw.
If Losman starts, we'll have part of the answer of what we need to do in the future. But you have to take a hard look at progress of the O-line at the end of the 2006 campaign and consider both factors together.
If Losman gets his confidence and gels along with the O-line, we could be seeing a wildcard slot in 2007.
-
Please give your reasoning in a reply, if you like. Or, if you see another scenario, bring it.
Do you care if Bills players smoke marijuana?
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
I really don't care what a long strange trip it's been a long time since I rocked and rolled a doob but then forgot hey are there still Twinkies in the breadbox but Belicheat isn't human--I checked-hahahahahaha--hey, what if Ralph shows up for the HOF ceremoni...wait, what was the question?
New TBD Poll:
Do you care if TBD readers smoke marijuana?
__ Yes
__ No
__ Huh?