Rubes

This sounds good, but I'm still a little confused as to what equipment to get from whom. I guess what I need is a dish, a DirecTV DVR, and an HD receiver. The dish, I presume, is free, as is installation. The DVR is $50 with a rebate right now. The HD receiver is $299 or so. Plus an extra antenna. I'm a little confused because DirecTV says to get the HD receiver you also need to sign up for a year of HD programming, which is $11/month. Could I just get the HD receiver from anywhere and not deal with this? I tell you, I'm a real techno-geek and this stuff is confusing as hell.

Thanks again. By the way, what are the montly surcharges/taxes like for you? Can you use a regular TiVo with a HD receiver? I guess TiVo sounds interesting enough but not for the cost of a HD-TiVo. Cable is an interesting option, because there are no extra setup or hardware costs, even for HD. The cost difference is substantial, but what's interesting is that I could have digital cable for 3 full years before the extra cost of the cable equals what it would cost to switch to DirecTV now. That's probably the main reason to try to get some kind of deal, if possible.

Your wife loved anyone for it? How many did she get through before she had enough? Thanks, that was very helpful...I think right now I'll keep my eyes open for another deal like that before proceeding. It's a tough call.

That's okay, thanks. I probably wouldn't have listened to you anyway.

Thanks for that... TiVo is not a huge concern for me. I never tape any shows as it is, and there's not much on that I would find the need to record. I'm a little concerned about your comments with respect to the antenna. I was looking at a $50 one. The startup costs overall are pretty high, but adding a $250 antenna on top of that is tough. Bad reception for non-HD programming? That can't be. If that's the case, I wouldn't want it!

I'd just stop worrying about it until after we beat Cincy. If we don't beat them, then there's nothing to worry about.

Been thinking about making the dive into DirecTV lately. Got ourselves an HD-ready TV, but right now all we have is your plain-old basic cable. We pay something like $45 per month for that (including all those damn taxes), plus we seem to be getting HBO for free. Of course, now we're hooked on HBO, which makes it tough to switch. Thought about upgrading to Digital cable, but the monthly cost (without all those damn taxes) including HBO goes up to something like $66. DirecTV would cost $52 per month (without all those damn taxes) with HBO, although without the HD package. That would make it $63 per month. Setup for an HD system is pretty expensive, though, and I'd need the extra antenna to get the local HD broadcasts. Question is, does this sound right? What kind of extra taxes per month do people usually see? I'm finding it tough to justify the jump in monthly cost, particularly when the wife is not a fan of any TV, much less cool but expensive TV.

Actually, I'm sure they were all watching that game thinking, "How the hell is KC ever gonna beat Denver when they can't stop frigging Tennessee?"

Thailog's clearly has always been at the top, although it does look much better over on that other site where it's much larger. Rudy, much as I prefer not mentioning him, has a pretty strong candidate himself.

You can buy all three together as already noted, but my guess is that this is a quick fix for the holiday sales season. Sometime next year, probably in the Spring, I would expect to see a more "official" trilogy DVD set which includes even more goodies. I'm not sure if I can wait.

Whoever plays QB for them, we will have a serious challenge on our hands, nothing like last week. Against the Browns, we could blitz the crap out of them and not worry about anything except where they would be punting from. We won't be able to do that against Cincy. Palmer may be more susceptible to our zone blitzes than Kitna, but either one has shown the ability to pick apart good defenses. They did a pretty good job against the champs in their own backyard, after all.

I think Kelly hits the nail on the head here. Gray is in a good position right now, but I think he's still another year or two from being seriously considered for a HC job. He will probably interview this offseason or next for a job, but most likely it will be for the interview experience. If our defense does as well next year as this year, then he may very well be in position for a HC job then.

What if he could get 1300? Do you think he could get 1300?

No, it was the 95 Chargers who did it, ended up going to the Super Bowl that year. Got spanked hard by San Fran.

I hope he's not. You mean you don't recognize him? Just ask Gee-Dubya. Him and the fat boy are good buddies.

Personally, I hope it involves Tom Brady and a medical search party.

Stop prodding. Stop it now.

Damn, I'm laughing so hard I can't stop

I agree...other guys have used the stiff arm successfully in this league but I have never seen defenders crumple like they do when Willis comes a-callin.

Yeah, when it was 7-3 I was feeling a little uncomfortable. But the way the defense was playing, I just told myself, "patience." McCown was completely lost out there, and I could tell it was just a matter of time before the Bills got themselves together and pulled away. You're right...haven't been able to feel that way for a long time.

True, but look at it this way: if we can't beat a team like Cincy on the road and Pittsburgh at home, we probably don't belong in the playoffs since we'd have to beat three monsters on the road to get through to the Super Bowl.

A solid running game and Drew connecting when he had to. Actually, the Browns did a pretty good job on Moulds today, and the Bills keept trying and trying to get him the ball. Once they decided to forget that and go to Evans, things really opened up.

If we can find a way to beat down Cincy, then next week it's: Jacksonville at Green Bay Baltimore at Indianapolis Denver at Kansas City Jets vs. Seattle Those are some very real possibilities for us...if things somehow fall into place and we win and JAX, BAL, and DEN lose (not to mention the JETS), things will be rockin here come this time next week.

It's a big 'if', but the way Denver is playing lately, anything can haappen with that team. They have two relatively tough road games coming. Jake the Snake can usually be counted on for some tough outings on the road.

Sorry, man, I gotta disagree with you big time. Fair catching at the 10 happens all the time, and teams most definitely do have their returners call for fair catches in those situations. Inside the 10, maybe not. Once the returner is down around the 5-10 yard line, the prudent thing is to let the ball go and hope that it rolls into the end zone. But if the returner is somewhere around the 10-15 yard line, you certainly do fair catch it. The worst thing you can do is to catch it and try to run with it, at least that's the worst choice most of the time. The reason you don't do that is that when the punt returner is positioned at the 10 yard line, that usually means the punting team is punting from somewhere around midfield. That means the coverage team has less field to cover and can get to the returner much earlier. When that happens, the chance of getting levelled right after making the catch is high, and the chance of a fumble is also high. On both of those punt returns, the receiver caught the punt with Cleveland players right nearby. That is a huge no-no. Those were very clear situations for fair catches, since Cleveland was also in great position to down the ball near the goal line if those punts are not caught. By the way, I just watched the Green Bay punt returner call for a fair catch at exactly the 10 yard line.