Albany,n.y.

What makes housing affordable for tenants in NYC is rent control & rent stabilization. There are many people paying well under market rents because of these 2 forms of "afordable housing" measures. There are actual death watch people who are out there hunting down apartments of the recently departed because the rents on some of these units are low & can't be raised too much. Housing in NYC is much more affordable for some people than it is in the suburbs. As long as one is a renter instead of an owner, housing in Manhattan can in fact be very affordable.

I still don't get the original post's title "I hope the market crashes". What benefit does RL get if the market crashes? Is he just a miserable guy who wants to see people suffer, mad at the people who have cashed in on the high prices, or hoping to pick something up cheap-which won't be any easier than now if higher interest rates cause lower prices? What is his point?

Last night's episode may have been the best yet. This is one of the few shows this time of year that I really look forward to seeing. Eventually they'll be bringing back Jordan Collier, since he's not really dead. The message in the envelope was a great way to shake things up even more.

Good reply. I'm very bitter towards Mularkey and while he may have showed a little more on field ability than some of our other bust head coaches, the fact that he was trying to win meaningless games late in the season, rather than finding out if his younger players actually can play in the NFL or not is unforegivable. Sure, Hank Bullough was a bad coach and hated by his players (except Joe DeLamielleure who loves Hank so much that he included him in his HOF speech), but even Hank never put himself over the team. Years from now, when my bitterness subsides, I'll probably rate MM higher than Hank, Harvey Johnson and Jim Ringo, but I still think because he never lost the team like Mularkey did, Gregg Williams was the better coach. Also, Gregg will get another shot as a head coach, I doubt Mularkey will. But, if they both do, Gregg will have greater success than Mularkey, even though I still think he'll be a dud, just not a bomb like Mularkey.

Please explain why you feel this way, just throwing an insult out does not show me any knowledge on your part. On the other hand, I've stated why, using Sam Adams for the locker room example-Gregg never had problems with players like MM had. In addition, Gregg did not try to pull as many tricks as Mularkey. Gregg Williams was a bad coach, and we've had some bad coaches in the past. However, none of them ever put himself above the team like Mularkey did. The lame attempt to save his job late in the season, retarding the teams growth by not finding out if JP could play or not is one thing among many that are unforgiveable as a head coach. I stand by my statement-worst coach in team history. Now, would you like to respond with an intelligent answer, or is that out of your range of ability? For the record I saw every game of both Gregg's & Mike's eras, and attended every home game.

I wouldn't call the recent real estate market a bubble. It's more like flowing with interest rates. If mortgage rates continue to rise (they've gone up over a point this year already) you'll see a slowing of the real estate market, all other things being equal. However, if you're in an area of growth where jobs are being created, there won't be any bursting of a bubble-supply & demand. Without getting too detailed (I'd have to spend hours talking about it to get you to fully understand all the dynamics involved) I'll show you why mortgage rates are the leading factor in home prices after accounting for local economic factors which can cause a boom in a bust period locally & vice-versa. Also, the more interest only mortgages and variable rate mortgages there are among homeowners in an area, the less long term stability when rates change & equity doesn't increase exists-but that's local. Where I am the majority of mortgages are fixed rate. In California, most new mortgages are not fixed, so if a bubble is going to burst, California will be among the worst hit. In rounded #s: Say you can afford a $1,500/month mortgage for 30 years. At 10% interest the amount you can borrow is $171,000 At 9% $186,000 At 8% $204,000 At 7% $225,000 At 6% $250,000 At 5% $279,000 At 4% $314,000 At 3% $356,000 So, if you look at the difference between 8% & 5%, $75,000, you can see why real estate increased so much when the rates dropped from around 8% to 5% in the early 2000s. A person can afford to pay an extra $75,000 +/- for a house because it's the same monthly payment. The big winner is the seller, who gets the cash. If the rates stay around 6-7% you probably won't see much of a crash. If they go to the 8-10% range, there will definitely be some "correction" in the market. For a 1st time buyer, it won't help much because the monthly payments will be just as high. The impact is a little less than shown because of income tax benefits as interest rates rise because more interest is paid, but for simplicity sake I hope this explains what's been going on & what might happen in the future. I can't type type well enough to explain things like I'd like to, it would take too long. If Pyrite Gal knows real estate you might be in luck.

Years ago there was Joe Delaney, a RB for the Chiefs who died trying to save someone from drowning and drowned himself.

Widen the gap on the goal post and make it retroactive to Super Bowl XXV.

I think the Mohawk overflowed onto the Thruway. It was pretty high on Tuesday when we drove out.

I was viewing some Hydroelectric plants & the owner's office is in Liverpool. We drove there & then the tax rep drove us all over. We went as far as Hydraulic Race in Lockport & found out the Thruway was closed while we were on our way back to Liverpool.

I heard it the day Sam Adams left the stadium after being told by Mularkey he was among the inactives. He or his agent went to the media and said Mularkey told him that the active guys could help the team more than him. I have no link at this time, just my memory listening to the radio, but if I get one I'll edit the post. Edit: Here it is Friction between Adams, Mularkey is a personal thing, says player's agent Leo Roth Staff writer (November 28, 2005) — ORCHARD PARK — An ongoing personality conflict between Buffalo Bills Pro Bowl defensive tackle Sam Adams and coach Mike Mularkey has boiled over, agent Angelo Wright said late Sunday night. That was the reason Adams was ruled inactive and was not on the sidelines for Sunday's home game against Carolina. Mularkey said the reason Adams didn't play was medical — Adams has battled knee and ankle problems recently — but Wright said the real reason is personal. "This guy doesn't like Sam Adams and that's fine," Wright said. "You don't have to like him to play him. Sam wants to play. He likes Buffalo. But you got a coach there who doesn't like him personally and he's doing everything he can to make it look like it's the player. He's making Sam the distraction." Jay Glazer, the Fox sideline reporter who worked the game, said on air that Adams told him before leaving the stadium that Mularkey said he wasn't playing Sunday and that the team had a better chance to win without him. http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/p.../511280340/1021

What exactly have the Bills done to be a laughing stock other than rate players higher on their draft board than Mel Kiper & his cronies, have an owner force the issue of small market teams before the final agreement is written and force out the most incompetent coach in Bills history***? I don't think the Bills have done one thing this offseason to be considered a laughingstock by any INTELLIGENT reporter. The guys bagging on the Bills in the media are the true laughingstocks. ***-Mike Mularkey- a guy who made Harvey Johnson, Hank Bullough, Gregg Williams and others look adequate compared with his bufoonery both on the field and in the locker room (alienating vets like telling Sam adams guys who couldn't hold his jock were better off in the starting lineup than him).

Took 5 hours to get from Liverpool to Albany.

If members of the administration weren't responsible for blowing a CIA agent's cover out of nothing but spite, their anger might have more credibility.

Marv used to eat meat until he saw what it did to Mike Williams.

Here's something I posted on Ourlads board a few days ago in response to someone dissing the Bills: The Bills season all depends on the QB play. If they get decent or better QB play, they'll be one of the league's biggest surprise teams. The secondary has the opportunity to be one of the league's best for the next few years. If Triplett & the reformed D line come through as expected, the D will be solid. Add a return to form by Spikes, and the D can be downright dominant. The Bills are loaded at receiver depth, although they don't know the order after Evans, there's enough talent that will shake out in camp to have a solid receiver corps. Willis McGahee is in much better shape than last year, and won't quit on the season due to incompetent coaching that caused him to go into a funk the 2nd half of last season. While the O line has been maligned, the center & LG have been upgraded and holdover 2nd year player Duke Preston has potential to replace any of the 3 interior linemen should any one of them falter. TE's have been upgraded since last year, when the position may have been at its weakest since 1984. So, it all comes down to the QB. If Losman can improve, as many QBs do improve dramatically in their 2nd year as a starter, or if Craig Nall is set to become the next Jake Delhomme this team will be a helluva lot better than most anticipate. On the other hand, if Losman plays like last year, Nall proves to be nothing and Holcomb plays like Holcomb, 6 wins will be the maximum. One reason I have some optimism is because this team was poorly coached last season. I can state without any equivocation that Mike Mularkey had no business being a head coach and over his head is an understatement. Just getting adequate coaching would improve the team dramatically.

I didn't like Everett coming out of college and I was disappointed when the Bills drafted him. I viewed him as a "Looks like Tarzan, Plays like Jane" type who was drafted on physical potential rather than on field production. His game was very raw & I viewed him as a Lonnie Johnson type pick-a TE who didn't do that much in college & was expected by the Bills to be a better player as a pro than as a collegian, because the team felt he was underutilized in college. I hate picks like that because they seldom make better pros. Meanwhile the worst thing that can happen is Cieslak gets cut and we didn't waste a 3rd rounder like we did with Everett, when Everett gets cut. Everett will probably be given benefit of the doubt & make this year's team, but he'll go down with Lonnie Johnson as a pretty worthless TE for his Bills career. Once again, just my opinion, but drafting him on his physical potential was another TD mistake. Speaking of TD, I find it funny that so many people think TD was such a bum, but think he made a good pick with Everett-a raw, injury prone, underproductive collegian.

4 of these guys won't make it. Smith, Wilson & Davis shouldn't expect to be in OP in September. Only 2 of 3 survive from Price, Aiken & Reed.

I have higher hopes for Brad Cieslak than I do for Kevin Everett, but that's just IMHO.

Why is everyone getting on the guy's case? He served his country in Korea, and never took his salary and donated it to charity. RIP Tuttle.

That wasn't snow, it was drizzling at the stadium.

It goes by win% of opponents, not division or conference record. I believe the Bills had the lowest opponents win% and therefore would have picked higher than the teams tied with them, they definitely would have drafted ahead of the Jets & would have been in position to draft D'Brick.

SI missed one of the biggest if not THE biggest collapse in sports-the 1964 Phillies. This team blew the pennant at the end of the season by losing most of their games at a time when they had just about wrapped up the NL pennant. I don't have the stats to show how bad it was, but to anyone following baseball in 1964, it was unimaginable. Gene Mauch, architect of another collapse, the 1986 Angels in the playoffs against the Buckner Red Sox, panicked in the final 2 weeks of the season and totally messed up his pitching rotation. The highlight was his spare rib sauce meltdown in the Philly locker room. The guys at SI who put this together must have been born after 1964. They also missed the 1978 Red Sox and of course the Dodgers meltdown the year "The Giants win the pennant" on the Bobby Thompson homerun in the playoff game.

I think the difference between looking at Moon's stats in a gimmick offense and actually watching the guy play would have the watcher saying Moon does not belong in the HOF. What I really couldn't stand about Moon's selection was that it was done to right some (bogus) myth that Moon was ignored by the NFL when he came out of college because of his race. The fact that Doug Williams was taken in the 1st round by Tampa Bay with the 17th overall pick (ironically acquired in a trade with Houston) the same year Moon was eligible for the draft and Warren Moon was not drafted because he signed with the CFL BEFORE the NFL draft should debunk that myth. Although he had a shorter career, I think Doug Williams was a better QB than Warren Moon. The difference was Williams didn't play in a gimmick offense, PO'd people by jumping to the USFL and was never afraid to speak his mind. I'd vote for Doug Williams for the HOF before Moon, but really, neither one is a HOFer. Williams also won a Super Bowl and never beat his wife!

Unless I'm feeling motivated to drive out the day of the game & the driving weather is good across the state, I'll be missing my 1st home game in 16 years on Christmas Eve. What a stupid schedule.