Whites Bay

To H2O's point, I know it's corny as hell, but flowers are KILLER. I don't know why women like this so much, but they do, so like the salmon swimming upstream, I just "do", I don't "think". Another thing I used to do when I was a-courtin', was to make sure my (now-wife) had extra pillows in her hotel room on a business trip. Because she liked it, that's all. Simple stuff, actually. Staying in the Hilton, baby? Call the damn Hilton, ask for housekeeping, tell them to put extra pillows on the bed. 25 years now. "Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road" - Louden Wainwright III

Skoobster, I'll give you credit. You're very good at rolling the grenade down the aisle, and then screaming "Fire". It's the off-season, and crayonz is occupied.

I don't mean to pee on any barbecues, but don't kid yourself on that one. When I lived out in Salt Lake from '93-'03, there was a massive microchip plant built in Alpine, UT - just south of Salt Lake, just north of Provo. And I mean massive. They JUST got the last coat of paint on the place and the company bailed because the bottom fell out of the chip market (again). I Googled it before I wrote this post. You can see the thing from space. It's huge. And I believe very strongly that it's still empty nearly 10 years later. I think the company was Micron. (Side note - another thing that left it in a precarious position was the fact that they were trying to make chips - an aggressively water-intensive process - in a desert. They ought to make THOSE in WNY, particularly now that the Great Lakes Compact has been signed). This having been said, I caught the Yahoo announcement the other day on Channel 10 (TW Cable). That is such great news. Truly truly great news. The next big one that I'm watching is the wind turbine company that's in talks with New Process Gear in Syracuse to build turbines instead of auto transmissions. To echo another poster....."PLEASE DON'T 'F' IT UP"!!!!

Not meaning to get too far off the topic of the thread, but I would respectfully argue that the Bills' pass-blocking is...well, passable (no pun intended). Not great, but an improvement over two years ago (Peters being the exception). The problem with the passing game is that it's been too simplistic for too long - roll an extra safety over to Evans, put your feet up, and relax. It's the run-blocking that is just terrible, particularly on the right side. Just God-awful. Carry on.

First off, I have to admit it. I have no fuggin' idea of how you guys isolate a paragraph of text as a quote. Click and drag? No clue. The point is that I'm only responding to Bill's point about being able to write a legible paragraph. I hate to be the grammar/syntax/composition Nazi in this place, but tell the truth, Bill - don't you see that ineptitude in 99% of the posts and responses on this board? Jesus, I'm not that old (I don't think so, I guess). I can't believe I've reached that point where I'm saying "Kids these days......", but I've done the teenage daughter thing, and WTLF is with these fuggin' kids? LEARN HOW TO COMPOSE A GODDAMN SENTENCE! I might be your next boss. I will read your resume. I will not hire you if you "f" it up, because that piece of paper is YOU. If I hire you, and you write like crap, I will withold the opportunity for you to present yourself to higher ups because you will reflect badly upon me for being the worlds biggest moron for hiring your #%$@ing stupid ass. Take one note to heart - we ALL write for a living. Learn it, for God's sake. Learn it. Communication separates you from the lower primates. That and the fact that chimpanzees don't use Ipods.

My thinking is that the best way to take down a guy of Nelson's size is to have a linebacker going low on him as he comes out of his break. You don't want that size and speed getting turned upfield. As such, what's the solution? Throw the damn ball behind the LBs about 8' high. Nelson would barely have to raise his arms. Getting Nelson behind the LBs into the secondary is a horrible prospect for a 5' 10" SS or CB. The arms alone on that guy would keep a DB from getting to the body, leaving the DB trying to arm tackle while giving up about 50 pounds. Not a good deal. It would be like a chipmunk taking down a giraffe. I guess it's possible, but my money's on the giraffe. So what's his real value? Run that play once, maybe twice. Every time he's on the field thereafter, you'll watch the LB backpedalling as fast as he can move (sorry - side note. Delicious visual. Tedy Bruschi backpedalling over and over in a no-huddle offense. He'll have his name on a brass plaque on the cart by the end of the game.). THAT'S where you run the damn ball. Man, I'm spending way too much time thinking about this schit.

No. Just....just....just....purge thoughts like that from your head. Lynch is the-tip-of-the-iceberg at this point in his career. As I've said on a number of posts, it's going to come down to the interior of the offensive line this year. Let's hope like hell they run-block better than the LAST iteration. But if they do, Lynch is going to go nuts this year. That's half the argument. The other half - just as nebulous - relates to Dominic Rhodes. Big name? Yep? Good reputation? Yep. So why do I have this awful deja vu feeling as though I'm watching the second coming of Anthony Thomas? Great name, great pedigree, great locker room presence. Oh, God, he was awful. Feet of concrete. Had all the cutback moves of a glacier in January. He himself was the second coming of Olandis Gary....and wasn't THAT a notable stint in a Bills uniform? This is a long way of warning you NOT to get too hot-and-bothered about Dominic Rhodes. There's a reason people get insurance policies. And why they cancel them. Rhodes is here because Lynch is going to sit a few games. Lynch will be back early in the season, and Rhodes will be cut to make room for someone promising coming in off the practice squad.

Your passion is commendable. I don't know if Kelly has an ace up his sleeve, or whether he's blowing smoke up 10,000,000 collective rectae, including yours and mine. My guess, and it's only a guess, is that someone with Kelly's ego, drive and passion isn't going to have mouthed off as much as he's mouthed off without having one or two bullets in the gun. Who knows? Perhaps he needs three or four bullets in the gun, and as such perhaps should have kept his mouth shut. But in matters like this, the LAST thing he's going to do - and, quite frankly, the last thing I'D do - is give someone like you, me, or anyone else on this board ANY inkling of what I planned to do simply so that Jax Bill Backer can sleep a little better at night. Believe me, your angst and insomnia is YOUR problem, not his. Fasten your seat belt, enjoy the ride, and wish Mr. Kelly all the best. The karma you bring may keep the Bills in Buffalo. "Digging in the dirt" - Peter Gabriel

So if I read this correctly and follow it to the logical conclusion, it sounds like the Bills are going to get significantly better, but everyone else the Bills play will get even more significantly better, resulting in the Bills getting worse. Right?

I'm reminded of the line from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail": "Um, I'm not dead yet......" "Madison Avenue Man" - Greg Kihn Band

Damn. That's a lot of potential turnover. They'll retain some, and their drafting has always been pretty good, but...damn. That's going to leave a mark. My guess is that Gostkowski and Kaczur are back. My guess - an uninformed one at that - is that they don't want to cave to Wilfork. They probably have to, and it's going to be pricey.

Dean, the nice thing about your analysis (maybe that's overstating it, but it's a boatload more analytical than the craptastic post on CBS Sportsline that got me going on this issue), is that it makes me realize how deep we are at safety. That's a great line up to juggle. Almost like....er.....the front office....you know...PLANNED IT. (Don't get me going on linebackers - I'm trying to enjoy a glass of Aussie chardonnay, and LBs are a total buzzkiller subject.) I agree that Simpson is probably toast, but a lot of people wrote Yobouty off last July, and a lot of people ate a lot of turd-burgers. Man, we're not even talking about Wilson and Wendling. I'd hate to lose Wilson, but he may be the odd man out here. Maybe there's a position for him on the Ravens or Jets, like Leonhard. I wish idiots like the anonymous dolt on CBS Sportsline could provide a little more justification (or at least have the nut sack to post their byline), but that's asking too much, I guess.

I know it's the depths of the off-season, and I know these board writers are churning the same old material as they struggle in vain to justify their salaries. But I read this note about Byrd, and.....well, it started out okay. And then came the part about our starting safety lineup being Scott and Byrd, with Whitner relegated to the bench. "Rookie safety Jairus Byrd missed OTA and minicamp work due to his college exam schedule, leaving Donte Whitner to take most of the first-unit reps at free safety. But the coaching staff is eager to see Byrd, a ball-hawking cornerback at Oregon drafted in the second round, in training camp at free. If he beats Whitner out, then Whitner, who is being supplanted at strong safety where he has started three seasons by veteran Bryan Scott, will be relegated to a utility role." I know I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but does this seem clinically insane to more than just me? You're going to put your #1 overall pick from just three years ago on the pine for a journeyman and a raw rookie? Anyway, go ahead and flame away, I guess. My take on it is (1) it's The Million-Dollar-Man Ko Simpson that ought to be worried and (2) whomever wrote this seems to have swallowed his brain along with a pound of ExLax.

Oh, goddamit, goddamit, goddamit...... I always hated the Bay Area for a reason. "Exposure" - Peter Gabriel (ever hear the Robert Fripp/Daryl Hall version? 'E-X-P-O-S-U-R-E'.....)

Here's what is going to happen on the first Monday Night Football game. Ready? The AntiChrist Belichump will run the No-Huddle Offense on the Bills. Watch for it, and remember this post. "Fear is the Mother of Violence" - Peter Gabriel

You got me. Ahhhh....gain. You bahstahd. But Jesus, it's still funny as hell. I'm still chuckling, and am still befuzzled that ANYONE would allow photos of themselves in that outfit.

You're right, SJBF. If you could not care less, you've "hit bottom", as it were. If you COULD care less, well, enjoy 9.86 m/sec squared. You've still got a ways to go. It's like Wile E. Coyote stepping off the cliff, you know? 'Poof'

I do, truly, wish I gave a cat's turd about what Mort had to say about anything. Upon further reflection, I guess I don't. Particularly what he "tweets". Please, Jesus, please, please, please, if for no other reason than the fact that you're absorbing oxygen that the rest of us could use............. Get a fuggin' life.

Stopped back into this post for a moment. Two things: 1) Per my earlier post, the two idiots who abused "Untracked" (versus the appropriate 'On Track') are Keith Jackson and Dick Enberg. Thanks to those who'd mentioned Enberg and thus jogged my memory. Yes, they've won awards, and are icons in their trade.....but it's FUGGIN' "ON TRACK", YOU GODDAMN MORONS. NOT "UNTRACKED". (Still pissed). 2) Here's the real point of this post. I agree with essentially everything you've all posted. (Particularly that goddamn stoopid Fox Robot. Thank God the Bills are on CBS, and I don't have to watch that fecal surprise too often). The real bummerooski is that NOTHING WILL CHANGE. The self-absorbed statues of ear wax that make up the programming teams at CBS, NBC, Fox and ESPN are so confident that they know what's good for you - and, more importantly, what sells - that they couldn't give your dog's anal sacs about anything you've posted here. Because they're not reading it. And that's particularly disappointing, you know? And here's why. I remember a brief and shining moment in Rochester radio history about 15-18 years ago in which a station came to rise that actually played really, really good material. No, I can't remember the call letters. It was during that brief flowering of great music that ran from 1991-1995. Great alternative stuff. And they experimented with no commercials (well, only a few, anyway), and no idiotic DJs. It was so good that I remember reading an ad in the Classifieds in the Rochester D&C that stated "CD Collection for Sale. Who needs it when I have WXXX?". Sorry for the lack of specifics, but I'm guessing that there are those on this board that remember this station. (Dating myself, WCMF from 1972-1980 [when I went to California] was also truly God-like). The station went away shortly thereafter, and I'm sure the guy who sold the CDs is still digging around on Ebay to get them back. A huge loss for Rochester radio in particular, and for an innovative media model in general. The point is that if these collective ass-wipes would get their collective single-digit IQs together to merely function at the level of brain-fart, they'd understand that they're making a mistake by turning every goddamn minute of every goddamn game into a cross between a computer game and an infomercial. People will FLOCK to a format if they're treated with a modicum of intelligence and respect, even if that format is insincere. It's all in the packaging. Faking sincerity is the hardest part. Trust me - I'm in Marketing. My job is to put schit in a box and have you like it. And this bunch of ass clowns is missing the message. "Western World" - Steely Dan

That was a thing of beauty. I'll be chuckling for weeks. And they wonder why the Empire collapsed of its own weight.

Thank you. I am rather surprised I wasn't banned. You should have seen what ALMOST made it. Replace "tube in hand" with a new sentence "Lubed". I thought it read better, but I had to tone it down for the youngsters. And, do, please, send it to any Pats* fans you know. Remind them of the "woofie-style", and ask them who, truly, is their daddy?

Let's just get down to brass tacks, shall we? The Monday Night Football opener is going to be "Announcer Hell" for Bills fans. I have a mental picture of a national sports media on their collective knees beating their collective "beagle puppies" like said "beagle puppies" owe them money over the return of Tom Brady*. (By the way, I apologize to TBD for not having assigned the appropriate asterisk suffix to the name of the antichrist in my prior post.) Get used to it, okay? It doesn't matter whether Brady* goes 11-31 with 0 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. The booth announcers, the sideline announcers and the major/mediocre/minor sports media is going to be heaving a collective "O-face" simply because Tommy-Boy* is back out there in tights. Any success by the Bills D-line or Secondary will be glad-handed and glossed over in favor of an excuse as to why The Prince* is "a little rusty, but still showing signs of 'The Old Brady*'". These are going to be 3 of the longest hours you as a Bills fan will have ever experienced: Your wildest dream will be a good-ol'-woofie-style-rogering by your beloved Bills of the Cheatriots, with His Excellency* being carted out for a career-ending injury. Your hoped-for-outcome will be a solid victory in which you don't have to sweat off 4 beers in the fourth quarter. Your hope-against-hope is that the Bills squeak it out in an honorable fashion. Your expectation is that the Bills get B word-slapped like a bunch of teenage crack whores in front of a national audience. Your worst fear is that His Most Godliness* - Not Bruschi of walk-on-water-fame, but the true Lord-of-End-Of-Days - has a career evening, and is met on the sideline by his wife, tube in hand. And the announcing crews around the country will have a cigarette and head home. Get ready for it. I'm going to watch the fuggin' game on "Mute" with some good tunes on the stereo. "The Water Song" - Hot Tuna

The mighty always fall eventually. The 49ers imploded. The Cowboys imploded. The Bills imploded. Time and arrogance will catch the Pats*. Sometimes you have to be patient.

I simply HATE the expression "Untracked". As in "This offense has to get untracked in the third quarter if the [NFL team] has any hope of getting back into this thing." Let's break this expression down. It is a misnomer of "On Track", relating to railway technology. Trains run on rails, and sometimes come off the rails (quite tragically in D.C. Hope you and yours are okay, DC Tom). When trains run off the rails, they don't move very fast for very long. Newton's First Law of Motion is inviolable, particularly when it comes to trains on rails. It's therefore a good thing when trains are "On Track". To be "Untracked" is to be "Derailed". This is the more commonly and more appropriately used form of the expression. As in "Oh crap, I'm not on the tracks anymore. I'm 'un-tracked', but more correctly, I'm 'Derailed', and my hair is on fire, along with half of this city block. What ever should I do?" Ever been around a derailment? I have. If you ever see one of those schit storms, you'll never, never, never call it an "Untrackment". It's a "Derailment". And you'll probably run away as fast as your legs will take you. Therefore, to say something like "This defense is really untracked in the second quarter. They've sacked [QB, preferably Brady] 3 times already" is so inane as to be goddamn stupid. It isn't "Untracked". "Untracked" is an idiot announcer's way of saying "On Track", meaning it's actually moving in the direction it's supposed to move. And some mouthbreathing nosepicker does this every goddamn year. Bunch of inbred goobers. Jesus, now I'm all pissed off again.

The Devil's Advocate in me says that if ANYONE can be ready for the No-Huddle, it will be Belicheat. Remember the 1990 Super Bowl..... That having been said, the thing to remember with the No-Huddle is that the defensive personnel have to be VERY flexible in their assignments, because they can't rely on substituting and on breathers. They have to be in great shape. One cannot coach the latter. One can ride the players harder than hell, but if they're not into it, they're not into it. My hope - HOPE - that the Bills's offensive line will be anchored by two rookie guards who are not experienced, but whom are only 22 years old. Ones conditioning at 22 is a lot different than it is for most of the posters on this board. Remember to old expression - "Youth is wasted on the young". Let's hope it isn't for the Bills' offensive line. Young guards can outrun fat older linebackers. "Across the Universe" - The Beatles