Trump's Assault On Health Care

[Kevbeau]

3 minutes ago, IDBillzFan said:

 

Is Eichel starting to be publicly pissed? 

He’s showing clear signs of frustration. Ive never seen such an inconsistent team. They look like world beaters at times and beer league the next.

[3rdnlng]

13 minutes ago, IDBillzFan said:

 

Is Eichel starting to be publicly pissed? 

No, he hasn't gone the Chef Jim route yet. He pisses in the bathroom. 

[Koko78]

4 minutes ago, 3rdnlng said:

No, he hasn't gone the Chef Jim route yet. He pisses in the bathroom. 

 

He could get pissed in the bar, where you properly piss the night away.

[3rdnlng]

33 minutes ago, IDBillzFan said:

Does anyone here follow the Sabres?

 

I'm not a hockey guy, but I keep seeing comments on Twitter about Eichel's career being wasted in Buffalo.

 

Can someone give me the TV Guide version of why the Sabres suck? GM? Coaches? Bad drafts?

Goaltending is a big problem. They are suiting up 2nd and 3rd stringers and even started their 3rd stringer with 4th stringer as backup last game. Penalty kill is a giant problem while power play is mediocre at best. 

[KRC]

57 minutes ago, Rob's House said:

 

I could go for that. I'm not usually a fan of taking a RB in the first, but it's a late first, and if the talent level is there, go for it.

 

A big bruiser to complement Singletary would make for a dangerous backfield.

 

And you can never have too many good DEs.

 

RBs are easier to pick up, so I would not go RB with the first pick. As Gary M mentioned, get a FA WR. Then, use the draft for some of the big ugly guys.

[IDBillzFan]

38 minutes ago, 3rdnlng said:

Goaltending is a big problem. They are suiting up 2nd and 3rd stringers and even started their 3rd stringer with 4th stringer as backup last game. Penalty kill is a giant problem while power play is mediocre at best. 

 

So they have offense, but no defense? Is there a goalie to  be had in the near term through trade?

 

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

[Tiberius]

1 hour ago, IDBillzFan said:

Does anyone here follow the Sabres?

 

I'm not a hockey guy, but I keep seeing comments on Twitter about Eichel's career being wasted in Buffalo.

 

Can someone give me the TV Guide version of why the Sabres suck? GM? Coaches? Bad drafts?

Bad goaltending this year. This team would be *good* with a solid goalie. 

1 hour ago, IDBillzFan said:

 

Is Eichel starting to be publicly pissed? 

No

[3rdnlng]

2 minutes ago, IDBillzFan said:

 

So they have offense, but no defense? Is there a goalie to  be had in the near term through trade?

 

They've got a highly rated one in the minors that they appear to be bringing along slowly. The odd part of it is that they have plenty of NHL defensemen but are lacking in a #2 center and maybe a top six winger. Rookie Oloffson was leading in ROY stats until he got hurt 15 games ago. He has a deadly shot and was a real plus on the PP.  As a team this seems to be the case of the sum of all it's parts is more than the whole. 

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, IDBillzFan said:

Does anyone here follow the Sabres?

 

I'm not a hockey guy, but I keep seeing comments on Twitter about Eichel's career being wasted in Buffalo.

 

Can someone give me the TV Guide version of why the Sabres suck? GM? Coaches? Bad drafts?

 

His career is getting "wasted" the same way Steve Yzerman's was in the 80's.  (That story eventually had a happy ending for Detroit.)

 

The 2 biggest issues are, as mentioned above, subpar goaltending and a lack of a 2C.  (1 more 2nd line winger would also help, but is a lesser issue.)

 

And both of those problems can be traced back to a degree to the excess of bad contracts on the books.  Botterill has been reluctant to give up the prospecfs/ picks he'd need to trade to bring in the sort of players that could fix the issue with limited cap space.  The good news is, after this season, there is only 1 truly bad contract on the books (Okposo) and the rest go away (Hunwick, Sobotka, Bogosian, Sheary all come off the books along with several other UFA's (some of which MIGHT be back like Girgensons, Larsson, and Vesey).  Botterill refused to spend the assets last year to bring in Marcus Johansson which could've both helped last year AND given notice that he wouldn't be a fully acceptable stopgap at 2C until (hopefully) one of Mittelstadt or Cozens grow into the role; which would've increased the urgency BEFORE this season to do more to fill in the 2C role.

 

Botterill tried, kind of, to fix the goaltending by firing the old goalie coach (Allen) & bringing in a goalie whisperer (Bates).  That kind of worked as Ullmark has become an excellent backup / passable starter and Hutton looked great for 6 games.  But then Hutton fell apart for 3 months and that hoped upgrade wasn't.

 

They also need to fix the special teams (NEVER should have let Wood out of his contract when Bylsma was canned. The PP has been a shell of itself since.), ideally by making an upgrade to the assist coaches.  It could be time to bump Taylor up full time from the Amerks.  When Krueger eventually moves over Botterill, Taylor could very well be the proper replacement. 

 

So, they should be in the playoffs next year with just a handful, or less, of necessary moves.  But, was saying that this year as well and those moves didn't happen.

[Koko78]

53 minutes ago, \GoBillsInDallas/ said:

 

Damn. Bruce really let himself go.

[3rdnlng]

10 minutes ago, Taro T said:

 

His career is getting "wasted" the same way Steve Yzerman's was in the 80's.  (That story eventually had a happy ending for Detroit.)

 

The 2 biggest issues are, as mentioned above, subpar goaltending and a lack of a 2C.  (1 more 2nd line winger would also help, but is a lesser issue.)

 

And both of those problems can be traced back to a degree to the excess of bad contracts on the books.  Botterill has been reluctant to give up the prospecfs/ picks he'd need to trade to bring in the sort of players that could fix the issue with limited cap space.  The good news is, after this season, there is only 1 truly bad contract on the books (Okposo) and the rest go away (Hunwick, Sobotka, Bogosian, Sheary all come off the books along with several other UFA's (some of which MIGHT be back like Girgensons, Larsson, and Vesey).  Botterill refused to spend the assets last year to bring in Marcus Johansson which could've both helped last year AND given notice that he wouldn't be a fully acceptable stopgap at 2C until (hopefully) one of Mittelstadt or Cozens grow into the role; which would've increased the urgency BEFORE this season to do more to fill in the 2C role.

 

Botterill tried, kind of, to fix the goaltending by firing the old goalie coach (Allen) & bringing in a goalie whisperer (Bates).  That kind of worked as Ullmark has become an excellent backup / passable starter and Hutton looked great for 6 games.  But then Hutton fell apart for 3 months and that hoped upgrade wasn't.

 

They also need to fix the special teams (NEVER should have let Wood out of his contract when Bylsma was canned. The PP has been a shell of itself since.), ideally by making an upgrade to the assist coaches.  It could be time to bump Taylor up full time from the Amerks.  When Krueger eventually moves over Botterill, Taylor could very well be the proper replacement. 

 

So, they should be in the playoffs next year with just a handful, or less, of necessary moves.  But, was saying that this year as well and those moves didn't happen.

Always seem to agree with you and appreciate your posts over at the Aud Club.(I have a different screen name over there but don't post a lot).

[Gary M]

2 hours ago, Koko78 said:

 

He could get pissed in the bar, where you properly piss the night away.

 

Unless it's a coffee bar in Geneva.

[IDBillzFan]

46 minutes ago, Taro T said:

So, they should be in the playoffs next year with just a handful, or less, of necessary moves.  But, was saying that this year as well and those moves didn't happen.

 

So do you advocate for getting rid of Botterill, or would that mean a house-gutting, which would be bad for everyone?

 

Again, I don't follow hockey, so I'm naive to the dynamics, but even where I live I see Sabres license plates on the road (taking my son to school, no less) and will likely need to have conversations with these folks one day.

[Taro T]

9 minutes ago, IDBillzFan said:

 

So do you advocate for getting rid of Botterill, or would that mean a house-gutting, which would be bad for everyone?

 

Again, I don't follow hockey, so I'm naive to the dynamics, but even where I live I see Sabres license plates on the road (taking my son to school, no less) and will likely need to have conversations with these folks one day.

 

Am still firmly on the fence regarding Botterill.  Expect they did him a huge disservice by not bringing in a Team President with a hockey background when he was hired.

 

If they can him, unless they find a GM that also wants to build in that Chicago/Pittsburgh-ish mold, then they're set back a couple more years again.  Though this time they've got some good pieces to build around (they had that when Botterill was hired as well, but all 3 of the big pieces Murray went out and obtained became personas non gratia and were traded/ released for pennies on the $ it took to bring them in) so hopefully the step back would be a small one.  But, really don't want to take even a 1/2 step back 9 years into this "suffering." So, am willing to give him 1 more off-season, but if they are floundering around again come Thanksgiving, will join the pitchforks & torches contingent.

 

Still believe (with no proof) that Botterill got forced into accepting a horrible return for O'Reilly.  A legit return (or better yet, no trade, but that horse already left the barn) and then this team is in the playoffs this year with just an adequate goalie to pair with Ullmark.  And, that belief that the trade was beyond his control to a large degree combined with their really only needing a couple of pieces to be in the mix is what says to me give him this off-season.  (That, and an expectation he'll be back anyway, so why tilt at the windmill when there's nothing but frustration to be gained.) 

 

Of course, the flip side of the argument, that many take is: he should've somehow convinced Pegula the ROR return needed to ge better and somehow have forced him into paying the $7.5MM signing bonus that was due to get a reasonable return.  And his unwillingness to sacrifice future assets to help NOW are disqualifying to letting him stay on.  (Which after 9 years, is understandable from a fan perspective.  There's been a lot of bad hockey through the years.)

[Koko78]

1 hour ago, Gary M said:

 

Unless it's a coffee bar in Geneva.

 

Better Irish-up that coffee, B word.

[Bray Wyatt]

Is Trump using an assault budget, or perhaps an assault veto? Inquiring minds want to know what he is using to assault health care

[Tiberius]

10 minutes ago, Bray Wyatt said:

Is Trump using an assault budget, or perhaps an assault veto? Inquiring minds want to know what he is using to assault health care

The courts 

1 hour ago, Taro T said:

 

Am still firmly on the fence regarding Botterill.  Expect they did him a huge disservice by not bringing in a Team President with a hockey background when he was hired.

 

If they can him, unless they find a GM that also wants to build in that Chicago/Pittsburgh-ish mold, then they're set back a couple more years again.  Though this time they've got some good pieces to build around (they had that when Botterill was hired as well, but all 3 of the big pieces Murray went out and obtained became personas non gratia and were traded/ released for pennies on the $ it took to bring them in) so hopefully the step back would be a small one.  But, really don't want to take even a 1/2 step back 9 years into this "suffering." So, am willing to give him 1 more off-season, but if they are floundering around again come Thanksgiving, will join the pitchforks & torches contingent.

 

Still believe (with no proof) that Botterill got forced into accepting a horrible return for O'Reilly.  A legit return (or better yet, no trade, but that horse already left the barn) and then this team is in the playoffs this year with just an adequate goalie to pair with Ullmark.  And, that belief that the trade was beyond his control to a large degree combined with their really only needing a couple of pieces to be in the mix is what says to me give him this off-season.  (That, and an expectation he'll be back anyway, so why tilt at the windmill when there's nothing but frustration to be gained.) 

 

Of course, the flip side of the argument, that many take is: he should've somehow convinced Pegula the ROR return needed to ge better and somehow have forced him into paying the $7.5MM signing bonus that was due to get a reasonable return.  And his unwillingness to sacrifice future assets to help NOW are disqualifying to letting him stay on.  (Which after 9 years, is understandable from a fan perspective.  There's been a lot of bad hockey through the years.)

Forced how to trade ROR?? 

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

....so if he is supposedly on the upswing in the US post impeachment, what is the "benefit" to "attack health care, medicare, SS or Medicaid"?....or does the mere mention of any of those serve as ammo for the TDS Gang without getting into the facts of the proposed budget?....hysteria like the Climate Change Gang?.....

[LSHMEAB]

7 hours ago, Keukasmallies said:

 

Reducing my response to you to a slang phrase:  If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.  (Please accept my apologies if you don't subscribe to the notion that one should be responsible for one's actions.)

You do understand we're talking about people who have been convicted of nothing, correct? I would think a pro-Trump crowd wouldn't be so quick to trust the powers that be. 

 

Based on the supposition that an arrest=guilt, then I'm sure that you MUST be opposed to ANY form of bail. Those with means also (apparently) did the crime, so they should also do the time.

 

Can't have it both ways.

 

Edited February 12, 2020 by LSHMEAB