Whites Bay

Fifty going on 51 far too soon, and a Bills fan since growing up in Rochester back in the day of Channels 8, 10 and 13. It was a big deal when PBS (Channel 21) came to town. Four channels! Black-and-white, snowy reception, but glued to OJ every Sunday. I've moved all over the country, I've held season tickets for the Los Angeles Rams while in SoCal 20-some-odd-years-ago, but am eternally grateful that I've been able to steer events such that I'm back in northern New York. I couldn't imagine being anywhere else. And part of that regional loyalty - and love - is being a fan of the Buffalo Bills regardless of the incompetence, frugality, and seeming-mediocrity of the front office. Would I stop watching them? Sober up!! The most recent example I can give relates to two back-to-back games this season. I was at a trade show in NYC during the Jets debacle in December, and I actually was able to rig up my display screen so as to watch the game at the booth. (Mine was a very popular booth that afternoon!). Losman nearly killed me. I was so pissed off that I cancelled on a dinner invitation proffered by some Jets fans for that evening. I just couldn't deal with it or them. The next weekend, however, I was in Phildelphia on business, but made sure I found a sports bar, and cried tears of joy as Corner knocked the ball away on the last play. My god - Buffalo had won. Buffalo had won. And all was right in my world. Losman, Jauron, and Wilson were not forgiven, but their incompetence was forgotten. For a week. I guess I'm with the Dean on that point. Of course we're disgusted, infuriated, baffled. But to jump ship? To leave your team? Here - let me hold the door for you.

1) I fell off the Jauron bandwagon at the end of the first half on Sunday, and then the bandwagon rolled over me in the 4th quarter when they threw into the wind on 3rd and 1. BUT.... 2) Ralph Wilson doesn't seem (to me, anyway) to be the type of person who is going to bring in the next Bill Walsh. The Bills are not going to get Parcells if Huizenga sells the Dolphins, they're not going to get Cowher, they're not going to get Schottenheimer, they're not going to get Knute Rockne. Deal with it. If Jauron is fired, the Bills would end up with another Joe Unknown, another Bob Sortofgood, another Hank Hopeheknows. 3) Given Point 2 above, do I really REALLY want to blow things up and start over from scratch? AGAIN??!!?? With Joe Unknown? Bob Sortofgood? Hank Hopeheknows? Better the devil I know. Get the best DE in the draft, and then the best C, and shop for a TE not named Derek. And maybe a new set of training wheels for Schonert. 4) I'll be back. You'll be back. We'll all be back. Stop kidding yourselves.

I hear you, Dean. I've had to take a hiatus from the inanity. Looks like it hasn't gotten any better. These people are paid hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars per year to play a professional sport in which the outcome is black-or-white. It's win or lose. No ambiguity. Football is a sport which the vast majority of players have beaten each other to a collective pulp in a hypercompetitive fashion since they learned how to do "Number Two" and reach the flush handle. The people playing on Sunday have had to outcompete their peers in Pop Warner. JV. Varsity. JUCO. NCAA. And now The Show. The pressure goes up at every step. If they fail at any level along the way, they get to post on internet message boards. Does anyone think these guys enjoy, let alone tolerate, losing? Why do people post on this stuff? In any case, hope you're doing well. I'm over in Greece at the moment. The women are incredibly hot. Unfortunately, they show absolutely no interest in me. Go figure.

That's from an old Monty Python skit. Well done resurrecting THAT one! I'm not sure, but I do believe it's illegal to use another player for leverage. Which is why I was also surprised last weekend at no penalty flag - because there was a Bill climbing (and then literally standing) on another Bill during an attempt at a FG block. It just stuck out, because you never see teams attempting that anymore. I'm pretty sure it's illegal. And it probably hurts like hell to have a 250-pound man jumping on your back while wearing cleats. That has to leave a mark or two.

I'd like to start referring to Robert Royal as "the newest member of the Carolina Panthers...."

Lori, you know what makes that avatar so creepy? It's the oddly fitting tag line. Makes me double-check all my spelling knowing you're watching each and every one of my keystrokes. [shudder]

Oh, I'll grant you that. Definitely. Favre DOES tend to toss the wobbler out there. I'm just counting on probabilities. If the Bills can finally get some pressure up the middle - which, quite frankly, I haven't seen since the Seattle game - there could be flocks of lame ducks flapping around out there. I don't want just a SINGLE interception tomorrow! If there's ANY quarterback in the league who is capable of a 4-interception game, it's certainly Brett Favre. Always has been, always will be. This fan base just has to hope it's "Bad Brett" (as you say) that shows up tomorrow.

Not to pee on any barbecues, but Favre isn't going to make any risky throws UNLESS the pass rush shows up. Period. What struck me - once again - is the foresight of this front office. I must say, when Edwards was drafted, I thought that the collective brain trust had been living downwind of the acetone-cracking facility just a tad too long. No, it seems that I'M the one who was living downwind of the acetone-cracking facility a tad too long. When the front office drafted all those damn CBs this past year (see ya, Kennard Cox), I once again thought that the inbreeding laws that restrict marriage to anything beyond third cousins should be broadened. At least in Orchard Park. But here we are, desperate for more help at CB. Thank heavens they drafted as many as they have, and thank heavens for Jabari Greer. He's the last man standing. Maybe these guys DO know more than a bunch of anonymous souls posting on a fan forum. Egads.

Jesus. Look at the rest of the posts in this thread and tell ME to relax?!?! Getting back to road kill in vinyl, as we were........

Your choice of subject matter and passion in which you've presented it are admirable. Your selection of forum boards is questionable. Your spelling, grammar and syntax are atrocious. Tuesday can't get here soon enough to address Point #1. You're going to have to work on Points #2 and #3. And Travis Henry - oddly enough - is the one Bills player to actually crack the consciousness of my kids. Back when he was playing with a broken fibula, one of my daughters asked me whether it was true what the TV announcers said - "Is he really playing that game with a broken leg?!" I told her that, yes, indeed, that man was out there playing football with a broken leg. Playing football on a broken leg. I can't imagine getting up from my seat to get a beer with a broken leg. And now he's going to be fitted for an orange jumpsuit. There but for the grace of Bob go I.

It's oddly comforting to know that in these times of stress, anxiety and carnage there are people who have absolutely far too much time on their hands. I'll start getting impressed when they start taking pictures of roadkill in vinyl miniskirts.

One might argue that this is exactly what happened on the 1995 Cowboys? Or was it 1994? I can never keep it straight. That year they won the Super Bowl with Barry "Packin' Heat" Switzer as HC. Dean, you and I could have coached that team to the Super Bowl. Okay, you would have coached, and I would have perhaps fluffed the towels, but both of us would have gotten rings. That had NOTHING to do with coaching, and everything to do with an amazing collection of talent.

I believe it's a younger version of the Al Davis-led circus. The point about meddling owners is well taken. You wanna be the coach? Be the coach. If not, shaddap, get back into the suite, and chase the waitress around the room. Churchill badgered, distracted and overrode his generals to the point of exasperation. Jones (and Davis) must be similarly horrific in nature. Just not as eloquent. At the end of it all, I don't care who takes the blame. The Cowboys cannot - can NOT - lose enough to make me happy. It almost makes it worth watching that nano-brained Emmitt Smith just to watch him wince when the subject of his beloved 'Boys comes up.

THAT was funny. Well done.

Touché, Mr. Dean. Touché.

To be fatally honest, if the Bills lose, I'm not going to care one schit as to what's on TV after 4:00 P.M. I tend to go to bed early and have really rotten dreams after they lose. Even a Cowboys or Patriots* loss can't help assuage the pain.

THIS post cracked me up! As did the "crazy people" post. Well done. Skooboy, it's okay. Take the chip off the ol' shoulder, take two deep breaths, and revel in the moment. The Bills might be 5-2 in 48 hours, and these will have been hours wasted whilst worrying about a bunch of overpaid talking heads who know NOTHING. Let's be grateful for what we have. The bad times will be here quickly enough.

"Baseball is a game for louts" - Ernest Hemingway (from "In Our Time"/The Three-Day Blow) Gives me a chance to go to bed early, and give the liver a rest. I wonder what the 4:00 P.M. game will be? "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" - The Beatles

A million years ago, I remember being in the van, listening to the pre-game rants on WGR, as we trundled from our Caledonia meeting point on the way to (then) Rich Stadium. The time was January 1991, and we had (to use a trite phrase) a rendezvous with destiny. The AFC Championship Game with the Raiders. This game was the culmination of several years of pain, faith and patience, starting in 1985 with the drafting of Bruce Smith. So many hopes dashed, so many close calls, but here we were. And it was only at that moment, as we crawled along Route 20 in the grayness, 5 people already half-in-the-bag at 0845h, that the electricity of the moment reached me. "Oh, my God", I spoke to my brother, "Do you realize that if we win this game we're going to the Super Bowl?". Such was the focus of the day. It was no longer just another game. It was a really BIG game! He reached over to the cooler, handed me another beer, patted me on the shoulder, and grinned. I relate this story not in hopes of engendering a cascade of "Yeah, I was...(fill-in-the-blank)" vis-a-vis the first AFC Championship game. I relate this story instead to those on this board who were not of age when it happened. If this team makes it to the playoffs, be so grateful. It's Everest-like in its challenge. I so hope to treasure it again. To quote Glen Campbell "Tears of joy might stain my face".

Guess my last transmission failed. Gotta love these Verizon Broadband antennas up here on the edge of reality. The key is the run-blocking. Check the weather. Things are about to go over the cliff over the next 10 days, and the Bills are simply going to HAVE to crank up the running game. Perhaps the outside pitch-outs will help, but I remember them doing THAT a few years back, and it lasted.....about a week, before everyone figured it out. I'm thinking about the Cleveland game. Wouldn't it be great to - you know - actually win on the ground in bad weather?

Deanster, I have three things on my mind right now, and should probably start threads on all, but bandwidth is bandwidth: 1) Future-Think #1: I really think that the Bills are going to follow through with the confidence earned through the San Diego game and prevail against the not-so-hapless Dolphins. I'm not writing that team off by a long stretch, but I think the Bills are going to take it by a touchdown and field goal. 2) Future-Think #2: I read the SportsLine article (or whatever the !@#$ it was) that quoted Dick Jauron as not getting exercised about the Pats* going for it on fourth-and-whatever while being up by three galaxies. URRGGHHH!!!!!!!! I know - KNOW - I'm not supposed to look ahead, and I know - KNOW - that each game is a brick-in-the-wall....but OH BABY am I circling 9 November! Miami's important. The Jets are important. But 56-10. Truly the Bills must have this game laser-locked-and-tracking. 3) Future-Think #3: The Titans. The Titans. Need more be said? Two more games and we're at the midpoint. Yes, I know it's too early to be thinking about......no, I won't say it. But know that somewhere out there in Football Kharma, there's a guy named Whites Bay who is rooting for every possible catastrophe to befall The Titans (short of the obvious selections of, you know, plane crashes and horrible stuff like that). The point being that the damndest thought finally popped into my pygmy intellect this weekend...... Hosting a playoff game. Oh, God. I've said it. There goes the season. Anyway, it's another Friday night, and time to compare libations. Molson Canadian. Yourself?

God, I love that avatar. I have issues.

It's been a long, long time since I gave a rat's hairy@$$ whether some national reporter picked "for" or "against" the Bills. I mean, give me a break - when things are going well, are they in my livingroom high-fiving me? When things are tanking (as they have been for quite some time), are they sitting there consoling me and getting me another beer? Those are trick questions. The answer to both is "No". This having been said, doesn't Dr. Z have some sort of curse? Remembering back to the glory days of (yeeps) almost 20 years ago, I seem to recall that he used to pick the Bills over-and-over, and dammit, they never won the big one. Getting a vote of confidence from Dr. Z is genetically linked to the SI cover curse. No thanks. I want him screaming for Miami with both lungs.

Certainly accept my condolences.

I read the blog, and quite frankly, it doesn't seem like there's a lot therein. That having been said, it amazes me that there's ANYTHING out there that could have made me despise the Dolphins more than I do. Rush Limbaugh as an owner? I have to actually read the words as I type them. Rush Limbaugh as the owner of the Miami Dolphins. The rivalry becomes eternal!