Whites Bay

Jesus. I've been screaming for the screen pass at the top of my lungs for about three weeks. If that kid drops three good screens on target on Sunday, you people will be barking his name like poodles in heat.

With apologies to Matt, I thought that was really funny.

What a walk down Memory Lane. I don't miss a lot of them, to be honest. I mean...Shawne Merriman? Tyler Thigpen? Really?

I'm officially an old fart when I finish this note. An old song by George Harrison - slightly altered - comes to mind when I read the notes from the younger crowd. "And because of [the Iphone], their eyes can't hope to see the beauty that surrounds us. Isn't it a pity?" And if you have to ask me who George Harrison is....get off the damn board. By the way, I'll be at the game this weekend, and would love to have a beer with some of the veterans. Drop me a note as to where you're landing at the Ralph.

News flash from a co-worker/friend in Cleveland. It's PISSING down rain at 5:00 P.M. A quick glance at the weather shows...well...not a whole lot of improvement. Ground and Pound. Bring on the double tight end and fullback sets. Here we go...

Thanks for that. I'm just so excited. We've bought 10 tickets for a big family gig for the Cincinnati game. I'm thinking the Bills are 4-1 by that point. One of my daughters is friends with Kenny's kid, so I'm heading for my first Pinto reunion. If you guys are out there, I'd love to say hello in the flesh. Haven't been to a game since 2005. It's been a lot of pain. But, as you could see in that video, the big ship is finally turning.

That, actually, was one of the funniest things I've read on this board in years. Geysered the Shiraz,

Oh, my God, we're going to murdelize 'em.

Eball, this is a VERY good point. That never occurred to me.

A cancellation just made a ticket available. It's a family thing. If you're interested in a seat that comes with parking, please PM me, and I'll put you in touch with the contact person. He could easily dump it at the office, but would rather sit with a Bills fan. Mods, I apologize if I'm outside the lines. Just trying to help out a relative.

I'm thinking the same thing, SJBF. In fact, I'm putting my money where my mouth is. We have a family gig of 10 people who just bought a block of tickets for the Bengals game. I have a feeling the Bills will be 4-1 going into that game, and Cincinnati didn't blow me away last night. WAY too much Kool-Aid.

Perhaps not a tradition, but a superstition. Back during the Big Run in the early 90s, my brothers and I would head out from Avon to Orchard Park. We'd stop in a little greasy spoon in Caledonia, whereupon each table was a rack of jelly packages. The individual-serving kind. You know what I mean. Anyway, there was always three kinds. Grape, strawberry, and "mixed berry". Like...what the "F" is mixed berry? The tradition was to close your eyes and choose a jelly. Choosing "Mixed Berry" was like kissing Satan. If you chose "Mixed Berry", the Bills were going to lose. Yeah, I know it sounds weird, okay? But it happened. Goddamit, it happened. I'm much older now. My kids have heard the legend. They're both die-hard Bills fans, and know that we all need as much luck as we can get. When I go out to breakfast with my two adult daughters..TO THIS DAY...they try to avoid "Mixed Berry". Fear the "Mixed Berry" this Sunday.

I'm just hopeful that his season opener goes better than 18/32 for 195 yards and three picks.

I thought the Jets were a dumpster fire. I'm so confused. Maybe the Jets are a dumpster fire on wheels or something.

Spare me. 2001. 'Nuff said.

I'm normally one of the Kool-Aid drinkers, but I have to be honest with myself. I can't exult at the Pats* getting tossed around like a bunch of McDonald Value Meal toys in the ever-important Third Preseason Game, but then simply shrug my shoulders and say "It's Just Preseason" when it's MY teams' turn to be tossed off a bridge like a bag full of kittens. The Third Preseason Game DOES mean something, and we all know it. It's the Ones-Against-The-Ones, at least for the first half, and teams are trying to see what they've been able to put together after almost a month of camp and practice. I felt GREAT about Marcia being punched in the face. I don't feel so great about what I saw yesterday. Two major stories to follow: The first will be how the coaching staff responds to this performance. If the past is any indication, Marrone is going to be up his coaching staff's collective rectae with a blowtorch, if he hasn't already done so on the flight home. Said coaches will probably share the treatment with their collective units by today. The second is going to be the QB issue. Was the team being too cute by half in tucking Manuel away with a "minor procedure"? Don't know. Fate, and the Redskins, may have upset that ploy. But I'm not feeling too good about Matt Leinart taking us up against Tommy Boy in Week 1.

Holy Crap. Has it already been that long? Look, for those of you little turdballs that are too young to remember Slim Pickens, just rent/stream/high-colonic (or whatever it is you do these days, you little cretins) two filims. Dr. Strangelove (or How I learned to stop worrying and learned to love the Bomb); and Blazing Saddles I'm the world's single biggest fan of Blazing Saddles, okay? My big movie date with Lisa (no, didn't get lucky, f-ing relax) was simply memorable in 1974 at its screening in Rochester. But nothing - NOTHING - can beat "Dr. Strangelove". Quick trivia question. What were the names of the nukes that were "saddled up"? Don't Google it!

I'm not a doctor - I just dress like one. There are doctors on the board, and they'll weigh in. But "degenerative" is fairly defined term. It means that a single surgical procedure does not guarantee a final successful outcome. In fact, it means that multiple surgical procedures do not guarantee a successul long term outcome. It means that there's an underlying condition that will fight against the progress made by the surgery. How fast that battle is won by the degenerative condition depends on the severity of the condition, the patient, and a host of other factors. But in a lot of cases, a surgical procedure doesn't STOP a degenerative condition. It delays the inevitable. Byrd's PROBABLY going to be okay in the short term, and in the NFL, a career is "short term". But, yeah, I could see some GM having a discussion with his team's medical staff and coming away a little gun-shy.

If you're going to make that hit on said unnamed AFC East QB, you only have one shot. (If that's your game, that is, Andre Waters comes to mind.). You're going to be fined in any event, whether you sneeze on him, or send him out on the cart. You'd better knock him into the broadcast booth, because you're going to get a phone call.

Easy one. Pete Best.....

Agreed. Sounds like it was Rogers' turn in the barrel. I guess the real test will be to see how much playing time he gets this weekend, right?

Hear, hear. To emphasize a point I'd made a few days ago, what impressed me the most about the Indy game was the physical conditioning of the Bills' O-line. Relentless A relentless O-Line early in the game, and more importantly throughout the third quarter means that opposing teams start to make mistakes related to fatigue. Not big ones, perhaps, but with speed like the Bills seem to have on offense this year, it isn't going to take a big mistake. Tonight's game will be interesting to watch from the perspective of whether the Bills offense keeps up the pace that they set in the Indy game. And, if they do, it will be interesting to see how a different - more solid? - defense responds to it. If the Bills hang 30 points on the Vikings tonight - particularly late in the game - you might be seeing the beginnings of a trend. But to others' points - far too early to make predictions about the season. We don't even know who is going to be on the roster yet. I'm just focusing on the physical conditioning at this point, and early signs are positive.

FYI, I'm also up North this weekend. According to TitanTV, we're going to get the Pats*/Bucs game on Fox at 8:00. Small consolation, I know, but maybe Brady gets injured. One has to look at the bright side of life, after all.

Very excited about tonight, and am trying to find a place to watch it! As for Hank WIlliams Jr., I listened to that idiotic song once, and muted it every single time thereafter for decades.

Happy Birthday, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are....