Ghost of Dwight Drane

Oh come'on! I loved him. He's sort of a c'skr....but he was a general. He's athletic and smart enough to probably be a better QB today than Matt freakin Lienhart.

Your list is a little...short....

That's why I don't cringe when I see a Confederate flag.... GA makes up the cash other ways, so did FL when I lived there.....but when you are in a state with 2 million illegals who have no insurance and can't drive....you might as well make it a level playing field. When I moved back to NY, cost me $$$ to mount a freaking front plate and get lights put in to illuminate them. $3 cigarettes in KY.....AlQuaida pyrotechnics you can purchase at a TN gas station......Viva La South!

The encouraging thing about yesterday was that the team looked organized. I guess that will happen when 85% of the coaching staff was Quality Control. Tuel will probably be hurt before the season starts. His injury history in college makes Tim Connolly look like an ironhorse. That's why he wasn't drafted. Both QB's did look composed however, so props. I just think the secondary is going to get shredded. McKelvin made strides last year, but him at 2, Brooks at 3 and Rogers at 4 is not a recipe for success. If Byrd comes back maybe he and Williams will make for an ok set at safety, but if you start yesterday's D against NE, Brady puts up 31 with me at WR. The encouraging thing to me was the WR play. Woods LOOKS like a nice player who can find seams. He is a serious injury threat to me though. High ankle sprain in waiting. We have big bodies who can block when RB's bounce to the outside. If Goodwin keeps his hands going like they have been in camp, he is at least a decoy who can open up the field. He also showed instincts on both his returns. Don Beebe used to have that speed, but ran returns with the grace of Carwell Gardner. Easly at least dominated fodder, and that Kaufman kid is built. What I liked most about things is that Marrone had a serious/nervous/thinking demeanor on the sidelines. I was a little worried that he may be a Greg Williams rah-rah BS type, but in his first gameday, he portrayed someone who is hyperfocused/anxiety driven.....but in a good way. If the NFL would let you smoke on the sidelines, I could see him with a 2L bottle of Coke and a pack of Marb Reds. He looked to be keeping emotionally balanced. Excited enough but act like you've been there when good things happen. He looks like he is thinking about 5 things at the same time.....and given how prepared the team was and how smooth things went, he may be able to handle it. I am now trending to "this hire may actually work"......but we will see when the bullets are live.

425.....

Welcome back SFiNS.

He's wearing a 12" tie and camos......how much worse can it get?

I would much rather have had him here to bring along a fresh product in Rasmus than what was done with Hank the Tank. Come'on Darcy...1 year...$3.5...we aren't headed anywhere near the cap.

Seriously.... There is a certain pride that comes with having at least a respectable presence in sports. As I said above thread, when I was there, they were still AA and all the hubbub was they were making the leap and had all the tools to make a run to respectability. Well, other than a 90 minute trip north for an also-ran bowl, and a few guys getting a cup of coffee in the NFL, 20 years later and it's still blah! At least Bball has had teams that on their best day can compete with the top 20....but it's sad. I remember going out of my way to not step on the seal in the Student Union, while dozens trampled it in front of me. I remember being the only non-Asian on the bus from north campus to south for 8am calc classes. Help me TrueBlue......I'm a self-loathing Bull!

Emetophobic......that's a new one. Hmmnnn......Jelly Belly makes a special flavor in their game pack. You spin the wheel and eat the bean. One choice is either Peach...or...well...you know. It makes a fun party game.

That's what they told me about the football program in 1994. Then I got to sit in a room and watch the team take more interest in Michigan/Ohio St on TV than they did losing to Central Florida 48-0 a few hours earlier.....

I would figure it'd taste salty......

What is a little goofy to me is that they had both defensemen rated so high when the team has a bigger need at forward. Devine was quoted as saying "If you told me we'd get them at 8 and 16 I'd be shocked." So say Nashville took Ristolainen and shocked everyone....you are left with Jones, Lindholm, Monahan and Nurse on the board, as well as Nichushkin. That is hardly a list to panic over in my opinion. Then they almost pulled the trigger on a trade with Dallas. They nixed it, paranoid that they wanted the same guy. Again though, you're sitting on Nichushkin or Horvat if that is the case. Hardly a depressing scenario given their forwards. So here is the kicker to me that leaves me all sorts of confused. They were talking Zadarov at 12. When Darcy was talking about going to 20, he said "Now we're looking at going BACK 4." Which leads me to believe they were looking at moving up to 12 with Phoenix. They acted as if Zadarov was a no brainer. It's just really confusing given the fact you have 6 spots to fill on the blueline and already are sitting on Myers, Ehrhoff, Pysyk, McNabb, McCabe, Weber, and then go resign Sulzer and make a trade for Tallinder. There was so much gritty forward depth in that draft that can score......just really the wrong direction in my opinion. I've always liked Devine though. His passion is always there. I hope he's right.

:rolleyes:

Hey.....them 3 chicks in Ohio made it out eventually.......anything is possible! And am I the only one who keeps thinking about Dukakis on the tank when they look at Hodgson on that thing?

Fitting that it goes 4x as fast forward as it does in reverse.........

Crescent City Brewhouse.....that's the place. Good jazz...nice beer....nice bar.

Muffaletta is maybe the best sandwich you can find. It's Cajun Guido. Also.....Café Du monde is a must. 3 beignets and a colonic coffee for like $4.......and I can't remember the oyster place I was at, but I was there for 5 hours with the GF and tipped the shucker at the bar $20 ahead of time, and we did like 10 dozen...which just happened to have 14-15 on a plate, plus he'd slip us casino et al from the stove. And yes...12 dozen oysters ended up at Larry Flint's Hustler at 1AM. It's true what they say.

I'd trade a 2nd just to keep Ott's wife walking the streets of WNY.

Brady has more talent than Fitz by far....but in pure athleticism, there are at least a dozen starting QB's in the league far above. His head is his biggest asset. He can't move well but slides in the pocket. He knows his guys up front are going to get their assignments correct. It makes a huge difference. A lot of his long balls are wide open guys because they dissect coverage and he can read it in a split second. Billy asks Brady what he wants to do all the time. Fitz showed flashes and the offense worked for the first half of '11. Then it became obvious to the world he can't hit on a long ball and has no zip on outs. That's the difference. When the league was still sniffing things out, smart guys like Nelson, Freddy and Chandler could just find a seam. Now....Manuel looks like he has a good head on his shoulders AND top level physical talent.....so there is something to hope for. A lot of people who follow the game say he didn't progress through his reads in college, but I can't see why he wouldn't have the smarts to make that a habit in the NFL. That being said.....I would wager they are 3-13 this year over 9-7.

I don't blame them for switching gears.....but the NFL is a different ballgame. Aaron Maybin, James Hardy.....those guys were athletic as well. New England has made a living forming a roster of high football IQ guys first and foremost. Many of them are talented, but not oozing it. Look at Brady's top receivers over the years.....Troy Brown, Deion Branch, Kevin Faulk, Wes Welker.....guys that understand the field and can get open. None of them are elite talents. The 2 TE's are a recent thing for them that they rolled with. And the biggest thing is they assembled a smart offensive line that had longevity and chemistry, allowing Brady to do his thing. That's why Billy has been able to plug 'n play so many RB's over the years. They are just bodies to him, except the 3rd down back who needs to have a head on his shoulders to pick up protection. Heck, he loved Sammy Morris for that. Know when to stay home and take out a knee, or when to chip and flare. Only when you have a dedicated base of fairly talented, high IQ guys.....then you can take a chance on a Moss or a Chad Johnson.....sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. Even on defense.....Bruschi, Vrabel, Law....guys like that. Wilfork is a beast, but he is no dolt. It's such a simple formula for longevity of success that I have no idea why more teams don't do it. I guess the Bills tried and failed, so maybe it isn't foolproof.

Nix and Gailey were believers in building a base with good football IQ, even if the talent wasn't elite. This group seems to feel they can go young and athletic, and coach them up. Considering the same staff was .500 in a mediocre college conference, not so sure what they can do with essentially a college team in the pros. When you add up the names, Fitz, Barnett, Wilson, Kelsay, Levitre and Nelson are a lot of football IQ which is gone now and replaced by Manuel, Alonso, A. WIlliams, Covington, Brown?, and Graham and Woods. More athletic at this point in time, but it can make for a cluster-f of even greater proportions if this coach isn't top notch. I want to like Marrone, but so far it seems like a lot of Stewart Smiley's positive thoughts of the day.

I guess good for them. I'm scared sh**less they are going to be disgusting for awhile, but the youth infusion seems to work for the fans. Eish....Buffalo needs a spelling bee champ or something to tide us all over.

http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/22001-2013-sabres-development-camp-july-10-12/

I'd say 95% of the days in my post college gainful employment have involved at least 1 f-bomb on a daily basis. And while wearing a suit, I've broken up fights between financial executives and once pulled a HOF trainer's choking hands off of a Derby security guard. Maybe I'm spoiled? :wub: