fairweather fan

I was suprized that the blue noses in the FCC didn't fine Fox for dwelling on the chick wearing the t shirt with "F(deleted)k the Eagles" emblazoned on it.

Yes, the NFC of that era had dominating teams before the salary cap era, but the reason that the SF team was so great was they had either the largest or second largest payroll every year that Montana played for them. The only other team in the NFC that came up with as much salary was the cowboys, and when the Salary Cap era was instituted, the 49'rs were stuck with a bunch of older players (including Montana), and no way of signing new blood. That is why Young was finally given the qb job, and Montana was shipped off to KC. It is a tribute to Young that he was able to win for several years with the old team he had around him.

I caught the show the other night, while channel surfing. He had a guest (I don't even know who the guest was), but what was funny was watching the crowd, where guys were with their girlfriends, and the girlfriends were looking at the guys they were with with an expression that I interpreted as "There ain't enough diamonds to get me to give you anything tonight after you dragged me down here."

Actually, Griese is less than a Trent Dilfer. Trent could manage, and also had some leadership skills. I followed Griese since Michigan, and he does not have leadership. His tools may be adequate, but sooner or later (usually sooner), teams find that they have a journeyman who is still living on his fathers achievments.

I believe that there may be bandwith concerns at CBS. For the person who said that Fox had better HD, it does now, but what it was calling HD two or three years ago, when I got my set, was not even as good as SDTV. The resolution was just barely greater than standard broadcast. I think that if you check various shows, some advertised as HD are barely DVD quality.

If you liked the XFL, you must love the NFL Thursday night package. Madden in a coma is better than any anouncer that they have, and you may even appreciate Kornheiser on Monday Night ESPN football after watching that mess. If your cable system does not carry it, thank them.

King of the Hill is the best show of that genre. I missed most of them when they were first on, and did not appreciate not only the humor, but the sense of our times, and, as a former resident of that area, how dead on about people that show was. There are a few lame episodes, but, since the episode doesn't depend on a big conclusion in most cases, you can appreciate the character byplay and the sense of loyalty to friends, workplaces, and neighborhoods that almost no other show, animated or real, seems to posess on epiisode TV.

Guess I'm getting too old to understand football. I used to watch a Pittsburgh team who brought in a strong armed, small brained quarterback, who couldnt walk on the field without tripping his first two years. I see him on Fox pregame every Sunday now, so he mustn't have been a very good quarterback.

There were some reports this week that Belichick feels Mangini tampered with acquiring some coaches/staff under contract with New England when he left. There are also some unconfirmed rumors that one of those employees was the team chef. 834092[/snapback] These were thoughts I posted on a Jets website, which I think apply. Belichick's anger at Mangini has three components: 1: Belechick saw Mangini as a successor, look how long he kept him, and kept promoting him. He felt especilly blindsided when Mangini left after only one year as defensive coordinater, without anyone else on his staff with the experience and knowledge to step in with Mangini's knowledge and qualities. 2: Belichick hates the Jets, as he felt blindsided when he had an offer from the Patriots which Parcells knew about, so Parcels, hating the Patriots, decided to move up to General Manager, which put Belichick in as the Jets coach, and when he declined, his new team, the Patriots, lost a draft choice to get him. 3: Belichick hates Mangini personally now because of the offer to Dion Branch, who he thought that he could keep on the cheap. The offer by Mangini sealed the deal that Branch wasn't coming back, and now the team has no reciever who can sense when Brady is being blitzed, and come back. That is the reason that you are seeing balls thrown into the ground by Brady when he is blitzed, as he had seveal years of Branch coming back when he was blitzed, and the only reciever who has that experience now is Troy Brown, who is too slow to react. I used to admire Belichick, but the Vinitari deal, in which Vinitari was first represented by Belichick's agent, showed me the true meaness of the man. Vinitari went with his/Belichick's agent to an interview with Green Bay, during which Vinitari found out that the agent did not have an offer for Green Bay, on orders from Belichick, who wanted to keep Vinitari on the cheap. Vinitari was livid, and fired the agent when Indianapolis contacted him. This is the same General Manager who signed Tom Brady on the cheap, then would not pay Dion Branch, Brady's favorite receiver, even though the Patriots were/are thirteen million under the cap. Of course that was also influenced by the Patriot's owners, who have a huge interest nut to pay down on the privately financed stadium, and are nickle and dimeing everything now (look at the condition of the field).

It is interesting, and is reflected in the forums, that the Bills fans are both the most intelligent (for the most part), and the best writers. I don't know why, except that they are like Red Sox/Cubs fans, long suffering, and don't trust prosperity.

YES, YES, YES, YES, AMEN

I guess that people on this board don't notice that the Patriots draft linemen in the first round, the last quarterback drafted by the Patriots in the first round was Bledsoe.

I am so old that I remember when a 4 win season for the Patriots was a real accomplishment. I am also so old that I remember when the Steelers had the worst record in the league, never even having a winning season from the thirties, and a new coach came in who only won one game, and the only reason I didn't know the fans wanted to string him up was that was pre-internet days. I think that he won three super bowls in five years. That being said, I was in the Chicago Area in the 40's, and I never remember a successful Chicago Cardinal, St. Louis Cardinal, or Arizona Cardinal football team. Losman must be protected. I remember Jim Plunket, the Heisman Trophy winner being killed behind the Patriots line, to where he was no good even for the 49r's, and he didn't get over hearing footsteps until he got behind Oakland's line. He might be good, or he might be terrible, behind that line we have no way to judge.

I think that I am the last of that Irish generation that enjoyed wakes. The Irish I talk to now either have gone completely "cool generation", or they are lying to me. The best Irish funeral I ever went to had a dance band at the hall and open bar after, and I had to drive the deceased man's son home as he was too drunk. That funeral even had a group of IRA supporters firing a volley over the grave, with no one to complain, as all of the towns cops and firemen were at the funeral. Our family contains may folk singers, who sing at funerals, and when the deceased is brought to the cemetery, the mourners sing "troora loora loora", an Irish lullaby to send off the departed to his sleep. The largest funeral I ever attended was my fathers, with too may mourners to fit into the church, we served over 800 people at the meal after his funeral, and both banks in the small town he lived in closed for the morning of the funeral. This was for a man of great accomplishments, but only an 8th grade education. I expect that my wife and children will show up for my funeral, but they will have to hire pall bearers.

The Bills need Marv Levy to coach like Washington needed Joe Gibbs, Florida state needs Bobbie Bowden, Penn State needs Joe Pa, and the Raiders need Art Shell. There are times to shine, and then there are times to retire, when it isn't the world moving faster, it is you moving slower. I realized that one day, and retired. I can do well at hobbies that I don't have to finish on a schedule, but I can't keep up with younger people, and this is in a profession, not a pick and shovel job. By the way, Tuesday morning quarterbacks column pointed out that mularkey is doing for the dolphins what he did for the bills.

Interesting points from columns on ESPN Page 2 today From Gregg Easterbrook’s column, now returned to ESPN Page 2, after two years on NFL.com Adventures in Officiating: After the multiple zebra miscues of the playoffs, we have a new officiating uniform, but do we have new results? The offensive pass interference call against Tim Carter of the Giants with four minutes remaining Sunday, negating a first down and leading to the game-deciding interception on the next snap, looked bogus -- and I speak as someone who believes offensive pass interference should be called more often. The Patriots were flagged for just one 5-yard infraction, although there were at least four plays on which a Patriots offensive lineman wrapped both arms around a Buffalo pass-rusher, and the Flying Elvii benefited from an extremely convenient inadvertent whistle that ended a play when a Buffalo runner had 50 yards of green grass between him and the end zone. Meanwhile, the Bills were hit with seven penalties, including a ticky-tack nudge-in-the-back call that wiped out a fourth-quarter first down in New England territory and changed a scoring opportunity into a punt. From Gallo’s piece on ESPN Page 2 http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=gallo/060911 Tom Brady completed less than 50 percent of his passes for just 163 yards and an interception. He also fumbled twice in the first quarter, including one that was returned for a touchdown. We'll see what happens next week, of course, but if you're a Patriots fan you have to have a very real fear that Brady spent so much time online during the offseason that he has developed severe carpal tunnel syndrome and the hand on his passing arm is permanently formed into a horrific and virtually unusable claw due to overuse. Who knows, he may have even developed some vision problems. 12. By the way, Drew Bledsoe, the media would like to thank you for throwing three interceptions yesterday, thereby laying the groundwork for a Terrell Owens blowup. As a reward they are buying you a Segway. Feel free to use it for daily errands, or in the pocket to make you more mobile. (I suppose the use of "more" wasn't necessary in the preceding sentence.) 15. Oh, and finally, congratulations to Peyton Manning on winning the Manning Bowl. There really isn't a better quarterback out there. That is, if you like 6-foot-5, 230-pound quarterbacks with a laser, rocket arm who win completely meaningless bowl games like Citrus Bowls, Pro Bowls, Manning Bowls, etc. He's awesome in those.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nf...-elite-qb_x.htm This is the USA Today report on best quarterbacks, pub in July

I bought a Sony HD DVR which came out listing at $900, then was clearanced to $400, and finally the last one went out the door of my Circuit city and into my den for $150, which is about what it is worth, but since I get my HD over the air, with a complex antenna setup I concocted, it has been a godsend for me. And I have a DVR on my satillite Dish (non HD) which gives me the ability to record both Fox and CBS on Sundays. I may have to spring for the extra to bring HD in on Dish, but my wife can't believe the den now, with 6 separate remote controls (The Audio, the HD TV, the HD DVR, the Panasonic DVR, the Dish receiver, and the Sony CD/DVD changer.)

The Patriots are a team who had to take on Junior Seau at this stage in his career, with his free lancing ways which occasionaly result in a spectacular play, but usually for the other side through the hole he vacated. Rodney Harrison is much slower, Teddy Brusci didn't have a training camp after looking slow when he came back last year, and Mr. All World has no competent wide receiver to throw to. The "We'll let somebody else pay you after your contract is up, no matter how good you are (Vinitari, Givins, Law) is going to bite the Pats big time this year. Didn't you read the rant that McGinist laid on the Pats last month. Gregg Easterbrook in his Tuesday Morning Quarterback (no back on ESPN page 2) even compared the Pats to Wal-Mart, winning with cut rate help.

Right, the owner who bought the patriots to keep them out of St. Louis, and spent 400 million of his own money on a stadium, he now wants it empty? Are you still smoking that much weed at your age?

It's wonderful being on the Stadium Wall message board. It is guaranteed that there will be a quarterback controversy, Losman-Holcomb, Bledsoe-anybody, Johnson-Flutie, even back in the day, occasional Kelly-Reich. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I used to think that Buffalo would be the team to move, but there is a lot of power in the league, incuding the Patriots ownership, who would block that move. New Orleans has always had a population problem, but, the city has oil money and the superdome, so the NFL is going to try to keep the team there. That leaves San Diego and Jacksonville. Jacksonville moving to Los Angeles makes the most sense, as they do not have the population base and the wealth base to keep the team in Jacksonville, wheras moving Jacksonville to Los Angeles will set up a local rivalry which could be beneficial to both.

I remember when the Patriots took Login Mankins in the first round last year, the "experts" said that he would have been available in the 3rd round. He only started every game. Forget names, these guys are picking players who will decide if the guys picking have a job in two years. The biggest boo boo was Bud Adams forcing his staff to get Young, so he could lord it over Houston because they had done him wrong. I watched the Rose Bowl again on Saturday, and from the distance of time, I realized why Vince Young will never be anything other than a Michael Vick pro quarterback, which is to say, a running back who can pass if he feels that he has to. Every snap taken by Young in that game and in the Ohio State game was a shotgun snap. It is successful in special situations, but if the quarterback is in the backfield on every snap in the pros, forgedabouddit. The Bills addressed their needs, and except for Reggie Bush, there was no other standout in the draft, even Vince Young.

Posters on all boards will in the main be bashers. If things are fine, only the nit-pickers will post, wondering why the other team was allowed to score, or why didn't the quarterback go over 500 yards. In the years when Flutie was winning most of his games, the posters wanted Johnson. When Johnson started, and even almost won a playoff game, the posters threw brickbats. Baseball is boring, Basketball has too many points scored, soccer has too few, and, unless you have a HD TV, you can't follow the puck in hockey. So football is the sport we love/hate, because we can follow the plays, and appreciate the controlled violence. Go on the winner's boards, the Patriots fans have as many complaints as the Bills fans, and the Steelers have more. The Colts boards confuse me, because they live with final game playoff failures and seem to shrug them off. I believe that the true midwest football nuts are following Notre Dame, Michigan, or one of the other Big? Ten teams. If you are an angry fan, you post. If you are happy or indifferent, you don't post, and you don't even read the boards or blogs. Don't fall off, Aussie, you know you are standing upside down, as we are on the upright side of the ball called earth.

Living in the Boston TV area, I have to endure Fred on some sports shows. I do feel sorry for him, he definitely took too many helmet shots when he was playing.