Rubes

Thanks for another great season of posts, Bill. Already looking forward to next year.

I will, but I refuse to cheer for your misery.

Does it matter? This is Rex's defense. I mean, who is Thurman, anyway?

I read that earlier today, and I was too disgusted to post it. Regardless of what the truth is behind all this, that interview was a public embarrassment. I agree with BB that I wouldn't want someone like that in a key role in my team, even if he is a stooge for the head coach.

I think we had a thread a while back where I made the same point. I think those three are at the top the list of the worst movies ever, given the expectations and the money that went into them. That, and the dialogue is far worse than most B movies.

Like most, I though we had a borderline elite defense last year, that would only get better this year. Now that we know that the opposite happened, and most are blaming the scheme (in addition to injuries), the question is: do people think this defense can become elite under Rex? We're facing a tough offseason in terms of cap space and potential personnel losses, and the need to find several people to fit the scheme (and buy into it). I feel like next year may be better, but will still see significant growing pains, and it likely won't be back to 2014-level performance. Do others feel different? Is there hope for this defense?

Nice drive by Fitz. Where are all the folks who say he always throws the killer pick?

11 pages would seem to indicate something along those lines.

Good summary.

Can't believe nobody mentioned this until page 9.

I know people like to call this an excuse, but I do agree that it's a big reason for the decline. That said, it's not the only reason, and it may not even be the biggest reason.

I wonder how many of them already have 90" screens? j/k, nice move by the guy. I'm really looking forward to seeing what he can do in year 2 with a full training camp as the starter.

Horrible. She should at least have her drivers license taken away, or suspended for several years. Or plenty of jail time. Anything else. Sorry about the tragic outcome.

With reference to Gilmore, are extensions on rookie contracts allowed? I didn't think so.

Yeah, there is that. They probably don't warn you enough about that. Possibly not. If you know somebody with a Mac and trust them, and if it's that important, you can probably create an account on their machine and log in to your iCloud account. Then check the Messages app. That might work.

Because I moved there, I hadn't had an NBA team after the Braves left when I was 10, and when I moved to Chicago in 1989 there was a palpable excitement about the team in the same way there was in Buffalo in 1987. Why is that so hard to grasp? Like most others have said, though, it's nothing compared to what it would be like with a Bills or Sabres win.

If you have an iCloud account and a Mac computer, though, you could still probably grab them from the Messages app.

This would probably be obvious, but if you have a Mac or an iPad/iPhone Touch linked to the same iCloud account, they would show up in the Messages app. Lot of people don't realize that if you delete texts from your iPhone, they still exist on the Messages app on other devices. My nephew got nailed with that one.

I moved to Chicago in 1989 and immediately became a big fan of the Bulls. It was pretty awesome when they won the first one. That said, it wouldn't even compare to a Bills or Sabres win. I'm not really a fan of MLS, but it was pretty cool when Real Salt Lake won it all a few years ago. Can I count myself? I won the state championship in racquetball in my division some 12 years ago...that was pretty freaking great...

Totally with you on that. Once Microsoft took over Bungie, they were almost dead to me. I think most people believe Marathon was the "spiritual predecessor" of Halo, but in many ways Halo was vastly inferior.

Hmm, not sure if you're misremembering. Marathon, a completely awesome game (I still have the original 1.4MB floppies), had two computer AIs in it. One was named Leela, the other Durandal. I'm not sure if Cortana came along with Halo, but it wasn't part of Marathon. Microsoft bought Bungie well after the Marathon trilogy was produced, and right before they created Halo. People were bummed because Bungie had been such a Mac-centric organization, and then after being bought by Microsoft while creating Halo, they announced it would be released only for Xbox and PC, I believe.

I think it's great that AW wants to be a leader on the team, and he may be the guy to do it. But like others have said, he's also been very good at doing things that leaders don't do, like being really hot-headed during games and taking really stupid penalties. I would think that needs to be addressed before people take him seriously as a leader.

Maybe tell Jim to just keep handing the ball to Thurman in XXV...

So, how is it any different now? The same thing applies.

I don't get why people are arguing so much about this. Both sides, offense and defense, have been trying to bait the other side into a penalty since the beginning of football time. The offense tries to simulate a snap to draw the defense offsides. The defense tries to scare the offense into a false start. The rule may have been changed to allow for "safety" of the offense, but the purpose was to not penalize an offensive player if a defender illegally (ie, by entering the neutral zone) caused them to flinch. By flinching, the play is immediately ruled dead because of a false start. But if the defender illegally "induced" them to flinch, then it should be a penalty on the defense. Just bear in mind that it would have to be an illegal inducement; that is, the defender doing something potentially illegal (entering the neutral zone) to cause the false start. If he wasn't in the neutral zone, it's always called a false start on the offense. So all we're seeing now is a consequence of the "false start" rule and the "safety" rule together. Offensive coaches figured out that if a defender jumps the gun and enters the neutral zone, all you have to do is purposely false start, which immediately stops the play, and the ruling will always be a penalty on the defense for a neutral zone infraction and "inducing" them to false start through an illegal jump. I think it's more the consequence of the above than really a rule change per se.