CircleTheWagons

At gametime tomorrow, it will be -16F here with snow flurries. I can sit at home with the windows closed wearing shorts, cold beer in hand, and enjoy the Bills-Jag game GUILT-FREE because it's too friggin cold to do anything else.

Our line won't be able to hold off the pressure long enough for play action. Plus we need to show that we can run on the front 7 of Jax to make play action effective - that will be very tough. I think this one is coming down to field position and turnovers - I like our chances on a miserable afternoon in Orchard Park.

Too many Scrooges Off the Wall this year It's a Christmas letter - your wife wants to send it and about 1 in 10 people who receive it will appreciate it. What's the problem? Are you worried about the trees that will be destroyed to produce it, or the 15 minutes you will have to spend helping write it? My wife sends one every year - and it is exactly the "everything is great" letter people are condemning. Nobody complains and we have some older relatives that really appreciate the letters and send a thank you card in return. Besides, I love to read and make fun of the letters we receive - just as most of our relatives do with ours - it's just part of a Christmas

Although I don't always agree with the talking heads, I heard several times this week on the radio that 3rd and 2 is a passing down in the NFL. Houston threw the ball at the end of the game when they needed 2 yards to end the game. I don't really care what we call on 3rd and 10 - for the Bills this year, there is only a small chance of success no matter what they call.

I don't have a problem with that decision - one minute left from inside our 20 and getting the ball to start the 2nd half. Asking the offense to move the team 40+ yards in under a minute is a lot to ask. Too great of a chance for a sack, a penalty or turnover and giving Houston the ball back needing to get only 10 or 15 yards for a game-tying field goal.

Exactly! Our problem was that we should have used JP's 3 draft picks on offensive lineman. JP may turn out to be a good QB but we have not been the team for the last 15 years to develop a QB. This was supposed to be the year to find out what JP can do. All I've found out is that he's not as injury prone as I was worried about.

I agree - except here in Canada its Chapters. I also appreciate the $10 gift card for Starbucks that people give with it. I don't want to argue about Starbucks, but a free coffee, a free book, and an hour to waste in a bookstore is like heaven to me (sad, I know).

Arrrgh. I wish we had a team to battle the Colts the last few years. I miss the days when Sundays felt like we were going into a heavyweight battle instead of hoping the other team takes us lightly. Although the Bills don't have much of a chance, I would love to see them play relatively mistake free. It's a step forward this year if the Bills simply don't embarrass themselves on Sunday. Of course, I'm embarrassed that my expectations are soooooo low.

Yep - first time at RWS. Takeo was NOT in a good mood, probably because our flight was delayed indefinitely at the time I saw him. I was prepared for him to tell me to get lost, but he was very professional. He was with a couple of other people and I felt that I had imposed enough for the picture so I didn't try to engage him in a conversation.

One of the guys on the trip is the Senior VP, Sales and Marketing, for COLD-fX, and they just signed a big sponsorship agreement with the NHL and Mark Messier this year. Don Cherry is one of their spokesmen in Canada.

So my wife suprised me at the end of last week with a trip to Buffalo to watch Sabres/Leafs and Bills/Packers. She knows I've been a long suffering fan of both teams, but with 3 young boys at home and living 3000 miles away there was never a good time to go. She stepped up with some family and friends and six of us left Saturday morning for Buffalo. We initially had some basic plans, but the Sabres came through and made it an unbelievable weekend. The Sabres invited us to dinner in the Harbour Club and provided us with 9th row seats for the Leafs game. Although the game sucked, I got to go into the "bowels" of the stadium and spend a few minutes with Don Cherry during the second intermission. Like him or hate him, it was an awesome experience. In addition to the awesome night at the arena, the Sabres offered us tickets to their box for Sunday's Bills game, so we ended up giving away our endzone seats to sit in the box and watch the game. Although I had a "slight" regret about not getting the full RWS experience, the free food and drinks had me forgetting any concern I had. Again, the Sabres people in the box were awesome, along with everyone else I met in Buffalo. The final touch of an already perfect weekend was that Takeo was on my flight out of Buffalo. Although we were delayed and he wasn't in a very good mood, he graciously let me get a picture of the two of us at the airport. He looked sore and upset about the flight, but didn't even think twice about taking a couple of minutes for a fan. Thanks Buffalo, when my boys are old enough to come with their old man, We'll be back.

Nope. She's not a fan, she just puts up with one. Six of us will be making the trek - she's had it planned for six months.

Maybe we can swap for my Bledsoe jersey

Woohoo! My wife just showed up at my office and presented a little 40th birthday present for me - airfare, hotel, and tickets to Leafs/Sabres Saturday and Buffalo/Green Bay on Sunday! 30 years of being a fan and wanting to go to a Bills game and I just found that I'm leaving Saturday morning. I'm a little pumped and I'm now off to buy a new jersey! GO BILLS

Hmmm. Do you think that a 60' bungee cord would be worse than 51' bungee cord? Seems to me that it's one of those things that a little too long is the same as a lot too long.

I remember him losing the fumble but I don't have the game recorded. I think it was the last play of the half.

That is if you like ice storms, power failures, minor earthquakes, union strikes and people worried about the size of the English letters on your signs I love Montreal - I was born in NDG and grew up on the West Island in Beaconsfield and Pointe Claire. I always tell the francophobes here in Alberta that it's only the Quebec politicians that suck.

I completely agree with you. You sound too reasonable to be living in La Belle Province, why don't you move west

Depends on what you think the purpose of our health care system is. Does every Canadian deserve to see the best doctors and best care available? Does everyone deserve the best teachers, best vehicles, best houses, best jobs, etc.? I am willing to pay enough taxes that every Canadian's basic health care is taken care of. That does not mean everyone has the option for a new titanium hip replacement - but should that prevent me from getting one if I want to pay for it?

Never one to try and change someone's politics, especially someone living in Quebec In Alberta, we would say immigrants are able to be successful because the government gets out of the way - no provincial debt, no provincial sales tax, lowest corporate and personal taxes in the country and an economy that is "energizing" all of Canada. Out here, we view the liberals as the Eastern Canada party that consistently tries to steal our wealth and redistribute it to their voters.

The benefits of 35+ consecutive years of Conservative governments and an endless supply of oil

The argument against private clinics in Alberta is that there will be a two-tier system and the citizens who can afford it will be able to attain better service with shorter wait times than those who use the public system. In addition, some Canadians believe that the private sector would be far less efficient that public sector in delivery healthcare. I'm not sure why we (Canadians) are uncomfortable with providing a bare minimum to all citizens and allowing people with more money or better insurance to pay for better health care. In reality, Canadians have always had two-tier health care. Wealthy Canadians get treated in the US or Europe rather than put up with extended wait times at home. Personally, I have 3 young boys and we have lots of experience with the health care system in Alberta and I don't have any complaints with wait times or service although I have read horror stories in the papers.

It's still staff from the previous regime evaluating the talent. I think it's going to be an interesting year for the scouting department...

I'm going to throw in another benefit of life insurance - life insurance is paid out very quickly after death with no strings attached. This gives your family some money so that they don't have to worry about bills while they are trying to cope. It's also a benefit if a lot of your assets are not easily converted to cash but your estate will have significant taxes to pay.

I don't agree that it's a low risk play, but even if it is a low risk play, it's also a very low reward play. If Reed is better at taking the ball up the middle, the lets bench McGahee and get him in the backfield. Reed is not accustomed to running in the middle of the line - if he bounces it outside it leaves Losman open to be absolutely flattened. In addition, it frustrated me to think that this team spends any practise time on a play like that. I would rather the team spent the time working on improving their execution of ordinary plays. It's even more frustrating because you have to know that the play was designed to set up ANOTHER play later in the game or season that the team has also been practising