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Met Ryan Fitzpatrick briefly at Busch Gardens Yesterday


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Getting off the Scorpion ride at Busch Gardens I noticed Ryan Fitzpatrick behind me. I ask if he was Ryan Fitzpatrick and he said yes he was. I told him I was a Bills fan and enjoyed watching him play. He thanked me and added that he will again be in our conference and division and to watch for him. As he was with two of his child, I didn't wish to bother him any further. Seemed like a very nice guy. 

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In the most critical position in all of sports he will likely never accomplishing anything of great merit.  However, he will likely walk away, let's say at the end of 2020, in the top 35 in NFL history for both passing yards and TD passes, while also pulling in about $70 million dollars.  

 

That works.  For him and his family...yep, that works.  Of course he is not great, but there is nothing for this guy to be ashamed of in his career.

 

EDIT:  and as others have stated it may have been a mistake for the Dolphins to sign him as he may win too man games.  For a team that is is likely gunning for first overall next year he may end up winning them 5.

Edited by dollars 2 donuts
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8 minutes ago, dollars 2 donuts said:

In the most critical position in all of sports he will likely never accomplishing anything of great merit.  However, he will likely walk away, let's say at the end of 2020, in the top 35 in NFL history for both passing yards and TD passes, while also pulling in about $70 million dollars.  

 

That works.  For him and his family...yep, that works.  Of course he is not great, but there is nothing for this guy to be ashamed of in his career.

 

EDIT:  and as others have stated it may have been a mistake for the Dolphins to sign him as he may win too man games.  For a team that is is likely gunning for first overall next year he may end up winning them 5.

 

I met him after a minicamp practice that was held at the stadium, lot of players came over to say hi and sign autographs after, himself included. I asked him something like, what made you choose football over using your degree? He said, "I'll make more money doing this." And he sure has.

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20 minutes ago, Canadian Bills Fan said:

I love watching Fitz do well.

 

Class act and I wish him nothing but the best.

 

Unless he is playing us.

 

 

He will have his great 4 game stretch to start the season as usual before it all starts going downhill and he gets benched and/or replaced.

 

Media talking heads will be talking him up as usual like this isn't what normslly happens...then when he ends up coming back to earth they will wonder what happened.

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5 minutes ago, blacklabel said:

 

I met him after a minicamp practice that was held at the stadium, lot of players came over to say hi and sign autographs after, himself included. I asked him something like, what made you choose football over using your degree? He said, "I'll make more money doing this." And he sure has.

 

 

I know this isn't likely, BL, and I know he probably has a lot of successful classmates from Harvard...but I love thinking about some of them who may have laughed at him and thought that he maybe wasted his education.

 

...yeah, $58 million by the age of 36 is pretty darn good, regardless of your career choice.

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17 minutes ago, dollars 2 donuts said:

In the most critical position in all of sports he will likely never accomplishing anything of great merit.  However, he will likely walk away, let's say at the end of 2020, in the top 35 in NFL history for both passing yards and TD passes, while also pulling in about $70 million dollars.  

 

That works.  For him and his family...yep, that works.  Of course he is not great, but there is nothing for this guy to be ashamed of in his career. 

 

EDIT:  and as others have stated it may have been a mistake for the Dolphins to sign him as he may win too man games.  For a team that is is likely gunning for first overall next year he may end up winning them 5. 

 

as long as 4of those 5 are against the pats and jets!

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Ryan is currently 50th in yards (29,357) behind Roman Gabriel and ahead of Jake Plumber.

 

4,110 yards gets him ahead of  Phil Simms at 35.

 

He has 190 TD passes (53rd), and 22 more gets him to Terry Bradshaw and Matt Hasselback at 35, but Flacco is there too and will be moving up, as well as Russell Wilson ahead of him still playing.

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9 minutes ago, dollars 2 donuts said:

 

 

I know this isn't likely, BL, and I know he probably has a lot of successful classmates from Harvard...but I love thinking about some of them who may have laughed at him and thought that he maybe wasted his education.

 

...yeah, $58 million by the age of 36 is pretty darn good, regardless of your career choice.

I doubt anyone laughed at him knowing that once he finishes his football career he is miles ahead of just about any other NFL retiree and can enter the business world with all that NFL money in his bank account.  Even if he were to take an entry level for a Harvard grad job at 40, he's still in great shape career wise for the next 20-25 years.  

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5 minutes ago, Albany,n.y. said:

I doubt anyone laughed at him knowing that once he finishes his football career he is miles ahead of just about any other NFL retiree and can enter the business world with all that NFL money in his bank account.  Even if he were to take an entry level for a Harvard grad job at 40, he's still in great shape career wise for the next 20-25 years.  

 

 

You know, Albany, I never thought about this before and I obviously haven't looked anything up, but I wonder if he is the most successful Harvard athletic Alum, ever?  Successful with respect to the sport an individual plays, I mean.  Not like someone who played baseball for a year and then hit it big on something else.

 

I just don't know anything about their sports history.

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6 minutes ago, Albany,n.y. said:

Even if he were to take an entry level for a Harvard grad job at 40, he's still in great shape career wise for the next 20-25 years.  

 

This.  The H-bomb is a powerful tool.

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Definitely up there in my Pantheon of Drought Bills. The near universal feedback of him being a great teammate has to be true, right? Easy guy to cheer for no matter how frustrating it was to watch him at times. Was sad to see him go because at the time I think all he wanted was a chance to be the starter. If he lost the job in TC, he just doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would sulk or poison the locker room/try to sabotage the starting QB.

 

In retrospect, I pin much of his failings on having not much to work with outside of Stevie Johnson/Fred Jackson. Do I think he's even in the second tier for starters? Probably not, but it does make you wonder how he would have fared on a good team with a decent O-line, a stout defense, and quality receivers. But agree with the sentiment he's probably best suited as a backup, and the results are expected if you start a typical backup for most of the year.

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4 minutes ago, dollars 2 donuts said:

 

 

You know, Albany, I never thought about this before and I obviously haven't looked anything up, but I wonder if he is the most successful Harvard athletic Alum, ever...successful with respect to the sport they play, I mean.

 

I just don't know anything about their sports history.

Jeremy Lin is the only other notable one I can think of. Jimmy Vesey could have a pretty good career too, I guess.

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1 hour ago, Spiderweb said:

Getting off the Scorpion ride at Busch Gardens I noticed Ryan Fitzpatrick behind me. I ask if he was Ryan Fitzpatrick and he said yes he was. I told him I was a Bills fan and enjoyed watching him play. He thanked me and added that he will again be in our conference and division and to watch for him. As he was with two of his child, I didn't wish to bother him any further. Seemed like a very nice guy. 

I met him at the meet and greet during the early summer along with chan and jairus byrd/george wilson as well as buddy nix, and trent edwards as well as maybin haha. I got all their autographs and i talked to fitz for a moment after he signed for me and i told him he looked much better than trent (it was an open practice at the ralph ) in all the drills 

and that he would start for us at some point and replace edwards(we all know how that whent haha i was right)

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47 minutes ago, JoeF said:

I will be rooting for the Dolphins every week but 2 weeks....and I truly hate the Dolphins

 

Win just enough to miss all the tops QB’s in the draft and I’m good! 

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Fitz is the best.

1 hour ago, DieHardBillsFan said:

His roast for FredEx's Retirement was monumental. Laughed so hard. Guy really is as smart as advertised and still a top person I would like to sit and have a beer with. Thanks for the share.

 

Minced absolutely no words in his hate for Doug Whaley.

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49 minutes ago, teef said:

I wouldn’t have even said a word to him. I would have just walked right up and placed my hands inside his beard. 

 

Nothing at all creepy about that. It’s a common form of greeting at Harvard. I’d give it a 50% chance he’s hiding some prizes in there! You just might get lucky!!! 

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13 minutes ago, dollars 2 donuts said:

 

 

You know, Albany, I never thought about this before and I obviously haven't looked anything up, but I wonder if he is the most successful Harvard athletic Alum, ever?  Successful with respect to the sport an individual plays, I mean.  Not like someone who played baseball for a year and then hit it big on something else.

 

I just don't know anything about their sports history.

Matt Birk plays a less high profile position that QB, but one can argue was a more successful football player - 6 time Pro Bowler and two time All-Pro

James Blake also probably ranks up there (highest ATP rank - #4)

 

Fitzy is very smart, and did excite the Bills fanbase for 7 games, but his football prowess for the Bills is not much to write home about. While they dont say so publicly (a la Jamal Adams) our D-Backs will be rubbing their hands in anticipation of some throws from Fitzy coming their way)

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26 minutes ago, Jay_Fixit said:

Unless he had a stepladder nearby, or you have 46” vert you’re dreaming.

Maybe I catch him when he’s tying his shoe...Ok!?!?

10 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

Nothing at all creepy about that. It’s a common form of greeting at Harvard. I’d give it a 50% chance he’s hiding some prizes in there! You just might get lucky!!! 

This sounds like something a Yale man would say. 

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19 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

Win just enough to miss all the tops QB’s in the draft and I’m good! 

Fitzy is a master at just winning enough to keep his team from implementing a long-term replacement strategy.  He's a Harvard (Havaad) man you know...

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1 hour ago, dollars 2 donuts said:

 

 

You know, Albany, I never thought about this before and I obviously haven't looked anything up, but I wonder if he is the most successful Harvard athletic Alum, ever?  Successful with respect to the sport an individual plays, I mean.  Not like someone who played baseball for a year and then hit it big on something else.

 

I just don't know anything about their sports history.

Ditto Donuts. I do know that the Ivy League used to be all that in the sports arenas back in the day, the reeeeaaaallllly old day, pre WW2, so I’m sure it would take a very deep dive into the archives to find anyone more successful in their respective eras as to the criteria you laid out.

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1 hour ago, dollars 2 donuts said:

 

 

I know this isn't likely, BL, and I know he probably has a lot of successful classmates from Harvard...but I love thinking about some of them who may have laughed at him and thought that he maybe wasted his education.

 

...yeah, $58 million by the age of 36 is pretty darn good, regardless of your career choice.

 

Yeah, I've wondered that as well. I think that's what compelled me to ask him that. I was like, dude has a Harvard degree, shouldn't he be running a Fortune 500 company or something? 

 

His intelligence is what's kept him in this league for so long. Every now and then (early last season) he gets on a hot streak but usually fizzles out. But he keeps getting picked up by team after team because the guy can come in and learn your offense lickety-split and he's a fantastic locker room guy.

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2 hours ago, Spiderweb said:

Getting off the Scorpion ride at Busch Gardens I noticed Ryan Fitzpatrick behind me. I ask if he was Ryan Fitzpatrick and he said yes he was. I told him I was a Bills fan and enjoyed watching him play. He thanked me and added that he will again be in our conference and division and to watch for him. As he was with two of his child, I didn't wish to bother him any further. Seemed like a very nice guy. 

 

This is like having to confirm that you're standing next to Whoopi Goldberg!

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