Thoughts on Ralph Wilson's Passing

I took a trip last to San Diego a couple weeks ago, and it threw me way off my planned posting schedule. Really took a lot out of me flying back and forth across the country. Even if I did get stuck in SD for an extra day and have spend a day working frhom a friend of mine's porch which located right on the water on Coronado Island - Well, I have to admit that part was pretty sweet.

Headed to Orlando this week. Not really one of my favorite places for a conference - too sterile - same event was held last year in New Orleans, which was a great location.  But anyhow, to catch up on a few things.

Obviously Bills owner Ralph Wilson has died. And while that's certainly sad, he was 95, and unfortunatley was probably as responsible as anyone for the Bills not making the playoffs for the past 15 years. He had a bad habit of hiring really old GMs like Marv Levy and Buddy Nix -perhaps because he could relate to them - but those guys couldn't compete in today's NFL. There were certianly a lot of positive stories on Mr. Wilson's passing- and derservedly so. I really liked this Peter King tribute (King is a great writer.) There was another article I read that pretty much served to remind people that Wilson certainly wasn't a saint and that be got very rich leveraging public funding (as many NFL ownsers have) for a stadium named after him. I won't even get into the fact that he couldn't get along well enough with Bill Polian to keep the architect of our greaterst era of success on board.

A former Bills writer used to refer to the stadium as "Negligiant Owner Stadium," which probably sounds pretty bad now that Wilson has passed and everyone has these great memories of him, but still...On the plus side, Wilson did apparently feel loyalty to Buffalo, which many owners don't feel toward their home cities. He seemed to understand the concept of a team as a public trust. We may not be so lucky now that new owners are on the horizon. That said, it's apparently unrealistic (due to lease obligations) to expect the Bills to move before 2020, so Buffalo certainly has time to get a plan together to keep the team there. Heck, maybe it would be more profitable someplace else, but I don't think it does badly in Buffalo. We're not Jacksonville.

That's probably plenty to chew on for now. Hope to have more to post on other stuff soon.

Cheers.

We're the Millers

Finally watched this fairly entertaining comedy yesterday. Not that it was on my list of things to do, but my wife and I both like fairly raunchy obnoxious (think Hangover - which this was compared to on the box, so how could I not get it) comedies and this definitely qualifies. I had rented the Blu-ray from Family Video on Saturday along with a kids/family movie. We had managed to watch the intriguing but somewhat didactic  Khubma the night we got it, but had We're the Millers sitting around for a few days until we got rid of the kids long enough (which basically meant until we stayed up late enough) to watch it. Glad we waited because it was certainly not appropriate for kids - or at least it made me uncomfortable to watch it with them - although I'm certain my 15-year-old watches/has watched worse with his friends.

This was the second straight movie I've watched where Jennifer Aniston plays kind of a bad girl role, and I find her very entertaining in this mode. Maybe it has to do with her playing against the caricature of her that is often portrayed in the media - remember how she was pitted as the good girl against Jon Voight's daughter in the whole Brad Pitt sage? Anyhow, Aniston delivers these off color roles with a solid deadpan that may just be lack of acting ability - but I find her style kind of funny. Plus, she is still hot for someone close to my age.

The previous funny role I saw her in was the perverted dentist in Horrible Bosses, where I thought she held up pretty well next to Oscar winners like Jamie Foxx and Kevin Spacey, who were also in that underrated comedy. Apparently there is a Horrible Bosses 2 coming out this year which I'm kind of excited about. SNL veteran Jason Sudeikis is in the Horrible Bosses movies and also plays a solid lead in We're the Millers. He's like a Peter Pan pot dealer that is forced to grow up through his tribulations with this fake family - Aniston is a stripper he hires to play his wife in order to help him cross the border with an RV full of weed. Yes, it's a ridiculous premise, but they kind of pull it off and there are genuinely funny lines and scenes and that enable you to suspend your disbelief long enough to enjoy the flick - I think.

Anyhow, have a great weekend.

Congrats to Clippers on Big Win

over Phoenix who they have had some trouble with so far this year. Matt Barnes had a big game 28 points, including 18 in red-hot third quarter when the Clippers took the lead by scoring 37 points. Blake Griffin also had another huge night, including clutch turnaround jumper after Suns had pulled within three with a couple minutes to go. He banked it in - reminded me of Tim Duncan. Speaking of clutch and turnaround, DeAndre Jordan continued his amazing turnaround season with 17 boards. He's averaging 14 rebounds per game, after averaging just over 7 last year. Doc Rivers is being given credit for turning him around. Jordan was also clutch last night, with a big block of an attempted lay-in with less than a minute to go and Phoenix down by 5. He then grabbed the rebound and made both free throws (he's a career 43% shooter from the line) at the other end to ice the game. Chris Paul had kind of an off night, although he did have 9 assists. Jamaal Crawford and J.J. Reddick both sat out.

Anyhow, that's my Clippers report. Remember, they used to be the Buffalo Braves! Cheers.

Milbury Blasts LaFontaine

So, I guess it's nothing new, but last night, I'm watching the Stars beat the Sabres (not surprising) and between periods NHL NBC commentator Mike Milbury goes off on Pat LaFontaine for resigning from his position as president of hockey operations for the Sabres after less than three months. Apparently LaFontaine was upset that the Sabres traded star goalie Ryan Miller, which doesn't make too much sense (for LaFontaine to be upset over) because everyone assumed Miller was going to walk at the end of the year anyhow - when his contract was up. Maybe he had told LaFontaine something else.

Either way, LaFontaine is now gone, as well as Miller, as well as former captain Steve Ott, and Sabres are in full rebuilding mode, which I thought was the plan anyhow. Of course this all leaves my favorite coach Ted Nolan somewhat in limbo. The Sabres were supposed to announce a contract extension for him, but then called off the press conference where that was supposed to be announced. LaFontaine and Nolan had been friends from LaFontaine's days as a player.

At least the Sabres under Lafontaine brought in an apparently competent GM in Tim Murray - who executed the Ott and Miller trades to fairly favorable reviews.

Milbury, who has a reputation for being bombastic, went off on LaFontaine for running away when things got tough, which apparently Milbury also accused him of doing in a former job with the Islanders. It doesn't help that Milbury apparently had something to do with the Islanders front office at the time. Milbury also basically accused Nolan of disloyalty by not coming out 100% in favor of the organization and instead moping, and maybe drawing back on his contract extension agreement, in the wake of LaFontaine's exit. Get 100% behind the organization or get out, was the effect of what Milbury said.

Of course, Nolan's (who also has some history with the Islanders) stock is sky high after his impressive work with the Latvian team at the recent Winter Olypmpics (and it all comes back to that). Anyhow, that's my report for Sabre-land, which is now in full soap opera mode. At least they are entertaining off the ice!

Another Reason to Love Olympic Hockey: Tuukka Rask Hangover

Tuukka Rask denies hangover caused him to miss Olympic semifinal: That was a headline that moved like a week ago - I can't believe I missed it. You have the Stanley Cup-winning goalie missing a semifinal game against his country's (Finland's) arch-rival (Sweden), because he had been out too late the night before. Although he denies it, it makes sense. He was able to bounce back the next day and shut out the U.S. in the bronze medal game, which might be tougher to do with the flu.

And from what I read, the Olympics can be a very big party. And the games were played in Sochi, which, from all accounts seemed like a good place to tip a few after hours. And, a friend of mine who spent some time in France once told me that Fins like to tip more than some other nationalities...

So, there are clearly reasons to believe that Rask may have enjoyed a few too many the night before the scheduled semi-final game. Could Finland have beaten Sweden with him in goal? Tough to say as the back-up, from what I recall played pretty well - but we will never know. And Canada may have been the ultimate beneficiary as they then got to play a depleted Swedish team in the final - due to injuries and an untimely suspension for the use of an allergy medication. Oh well, if anyone knows about drinking and hockey it's Canadians, so they probably deserved to win. Maybe it was even Rask's Canadian friends from the NHL who took him out that night to "soften him up," - a strategy Dominique Wilkins apparently employed in his days with the Hawks and discusses on this episode of the Bill Simmons' B.S. Report.

Yet another potentially great Olympic memory.

Early Yankees Spring Training Game Observations

• Just wantched Nune and Beltran  go back-to-back
• Tenaka threw two solid innings yesterday
• So did CC
• So did Koruda
• A kid named Adonis Garcia from Cuba went 3-4 today. He is in his late 20's and had some great stats in Cuba before defecting. He is listed at 5-9 or 5-7, depending on the source, and 190 lbs. Listed as a CF. Apparently broke his wrist last year and then had a rough year at Scranton. Maybe he is ready to break out ala Puig.
• Word is that Michael Pineda is throwing well and will pitch  Friday: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/mlb/yankees-pitcher-michael-pineda-confident-as-spring-progresses?ymd=20140302&content_id=68570312&vkey=news_mlb

What does this all mean? Likely not much. But it is spring, and as they say about hope and enternal.

Conflicted About Recent Request for $12M in State Funding for the Uht

 "City of Erie Requests $12M in State Funding for the Uht" Yes, this is the type of headline appearing this week in the local paper that makes you do the proverbial double-take. As in "WHAT????" $12 million for improvements to an already beautiful ballpark. And, then when you realize it's state money, oh well, that's not so bad. Of course, when you consider again that you are a taxpayer in this state...Okay so maybe those weren't your reactions, but they certainly were mine.

And then there is this bit from the story in the paper, "The planned improvements at the ballpark, which is managed by the Convention Center Authority, include new enclosures; expanded concessions; a team store; elevated decks and the expansion of corridors at the stadium; an exterior marquee; a larger children's area; and new lighting and walkways. 'Uht Park needs all of these improvements,' said Roger Richards, a Convention Center Authority board member who heads its Strategic Planning Committee."

Alright, I don't know about you, but I'm not sure any of that stuff is really "needed." I mean I was at the park at least a half dozen times last year and I never remember thinking, "Wow, I wish there were more concessions (maybe more variety) or a better exterior marquee."

Those were my initial thoughts at least. Digging a little deeper, apparently Erie Insurance is building or has built a five-level parking garage somewhere in the area, at a cost of $11.2 million, which the city has submitted as the majority of the matching funds required to get the funding from the state. The Convention Center Authority has pledged to put up the other $800,000. So, basically, for the a total of $800,000, the Convention Center Authority, with the backing from the city, is hoping to get $12.8 million in improvement money for Uht Part from the PA State government (as well as use of the parking garage I'm assuming, so maybe we throw another $11.2 million on top of that). I guess that is a good deal for us, although why the taxpayers of PA are funding improvements at a ballpark that only serves Erie (as well as the teams, primarily the Seawolves, that play there) is beyond me. A lot of the conflicts associated with municipal funding of stadiums utilized by privately owned teams are addressed in Gregg Easterbrook's wonderful book about football - The King of Sports. I can't recommend this book more if you are fan, like I am, of all things football, but sometimes find yourself questioning, "why?"

Anyhow, I guess I hope we get the money because if we don't some other equally, or even more, nefarious project somewhere else in the state likely will, but seriously....ah well, I guess I should just shut up and enjoy the Uht!
 

Otters Blow 3-0 Lead; McDavid Scores Highlight Reel Goal

So, I'm kinda embarrassed about it, but last night was the first time I saw the already legendary Connor McDavid in action. McDavid, who now has 20 goals and 60 assists, on the season was great. He scored a highlight reel goal on a breakaway in the first period  (Link is to Youtube video. McDavid's goal is at about the :22 mark) to give the Otters a 3-0 lead. Here's how the Otters' Web site described it: "Connor McDavid was sprung through the neutral zone on a pass from Darren Raddysh. McDavid entered the offensive zone, turned defenseman Brady Austin inside out, and beat Patterson on the phenomenal individual effort to give Erie a three goal lead."

Unfortunately, it was all downhill after that, as the Otters got tired and/or lakadaisical and were outshot 12-6 in the second period - enabling the streaking London Knights to tie the game. London then scored on a power play with less than a minute left in the game to win 4-3. Kind of a big loss as Erie was one point ahead of London in the standings going in, and while Erie has been slumping, London has won like eight in a row.

Anyhow, it was nice to see McDavid, who is the presumptive top pick in the 2015 NHL draft, which means he was one more year in Erie (and then maybe many in Buffalo)! Hope to see him many more times.

Great night for D-10 Playoffs; Otters at Home Tonight vs. London

Amazing night of basketball in D-10 last night. McDowell smoked Prep for AAAA title, while East beat Oil City to advance to AAA final. Meantime, Farrell came from way down in the fourth quarter to knock of SV and spoil a potential East-SV AAA title match-up. SV still has chance to advance to states with win over Oil City in third-place game.

So, one night after having the opportunity to attend the very exciting Prep-McDowell game - full house at the Hammermill Center/Audi, I'm heading to see the Otters for first time this year, against the London Knights, who I am told are coached by ex-NHLer Dale Hunter - a great fighting scorer type, who also has Ty Domi's kid on the team - apparently another scorer/fighter type. A great week of sports for me (love it when my buddies call me up with extra tix.) Looking forward to seeing Connor McDavid and hopefully the rest of the Otters on the ice tonight.

New MLB Plate Blocking Rule Confusing

The new MLB rule designed to prevent homeplate collisions, is somewhat confusing, at least in its initial form. It's an experimental rule designed to limit plate collisions. Apparently, there would have been too much retraining of catchers required in too short a time period to completely eliminate collisions. But, to me the way the new rule is worded leaves too much discretion in the umpires hands and could lead to a hit first, ask questions later approach by base runners.

In particular I think the second comment associated with the rule is particularly vague: (From an ESPN story): "unless the catcher is in possession of the ball, the catcher cannot block the pathway of the runner as he is attempting to score." The runner shall be declared safe if the catcher violates that provision. In addition, it is not a violation "if the catcher blocks the pathway of the runner in order to field a throw, and the umpire determines that the catcher could not have fielded the ball without blocking the pathway of the runner and that contact with the runner was unavoidable."

Later in the story it says Orioles catcher Matt Weiters would "like to get clarifications from Major League Baseball on exactly what is and isn't permitted." I agree.

Yanks could face FSU QB Winston

In spring training game scheduled for today: http://m.espn.go.com/mlb/story?storyId=10512225. Winston, of course, won the Heisman and led his team to BCS title this fall. He's also a Yankee fan. Go figure.

Happy Tuesday.

Yankees Once Traded a Bigot for a Racist

Yes, this all happened in the madcap world that was the MLB in the late 1930's. Check out Steve Wulf's entertaining piece on former ball player Jake Powell and his quote about beating (well, you know)s with a black jack to stay in shape in the off-season. Back then apparently you did need to Twitter to go virile!

Winter Olympics over - Baeball around the Corner

Going to miss the Winter Olympics. They only come once every four years, and this is probably good, as I don't know how much skiing, ice skating, bobsledding, and even hockey I can watch, but it sure is fun when it comes around. The colors of the uniforms and the scenery are a big help. I mean who doesn't enjoy watching a Swedish All-Star hockey team in bright yellow with three blue crowns on their chest, battle the red-and-white Canadians and their maple leaf insignia?

Baseball season is just around the corner. Major League training camps have already started. I'm trying to get my coaching house in order. Looks like I am going to be managing the Post 11 NWPA Junior Legion team this year, taking over for a guy who did a great job last year. I got to coach last year,  a job which was pretty much gravy: you show up and do baseball stuff. Now, I have to do some admin/paperwork stuff as well. Ugh. But, what are you going to do? We have a good group of kids and are hoping to have a great season.

Still some confusion over what I'm going to do for Little League/Junior League for my boys. There was some serious doubt about whether Erie Little League was going to be functioning this year, but that seems to have been alleviated. I guess there is a Facebook site up there, but I can't seem to find it. So, I guess we'll see. One of the guys I coached with  last year has already said he is going over to MYAA, which is something I am considering, despite my history with Erie - but I still want to go with Erie. Let's hope we can get our proverbial stuff together!

Finally, just finished up a great book by the outstanding sportswriter Roger Kahn -  A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaching '20s. Dempsey seemed like a great character to write about, but then again, maybe it was Kahn's great writing the portrayed him that way. Everything in the book was well crafted - up through the acknowledgements at the end!

Kahn is best known for his The Boys of Summer portrayal of the 1950s Dodgers, which was published in the early 1970s. I tried reading it on the recommendation of a friend, maybe when I was in junior high. Maybe because I am a Yankees fan, or maybe I was just too young to grasp it, but I didn't really enjoy it nearly as much as my buddy did. But, then, maybe 15 years ago, another buddy of mine gave me a signed copy of The Era, 1947-1957: When the Yankees, the Giants, and the Dodgers Ruled the World, and I loved it. It was apparently published in 1993. The Dempsey book was published six years later, and I also immensely enjoyed that. So I don't know. Maybe I'll go back and read Boys of Summer or maybe I just like Kahn's later writing.

That all said, like the 2014 Winter Olympics, I am going to miss hanging out with Jack Dempsey and his colorful 1920's set.

Cheers.

Have a great week!

Ralph

Physicality Wins Postseason NFL Football

Well, it at least helps a lot. The last three Super Bowls have been won by the Seahawks (last night) preceded by the Ravens, and the Giants. Non of these three squads would be what you call finesse football teams. They all featured physical, strong defenses, and more or less older-school offenses. All three champions' offenses could run the ball - with the Giants and Ravens also specializing in the deep ball, while Russell Wilson is a bit more of a "West Coast" offense guy, who is still a very physical with his ability to run and throw absolute bullets on shorter passes.

Let's just ignore the physicality of the defenses, which is somewhat obvious, and look at the quarterbacks for a minute. Wilson, Flacco, and Eli Manning were all relatively younger guys, with Eli, at 31, the oldest of the three. Tom Brady last won the Super Bowl when he was 27. Granted, he's been in a couple Super Bowls since, but it seems that in general youth prevails in the playoffs these days. Aaron Rogers, Ben Roethlesberger and Aaron Rogers have both enjoyed tremendous postseason success under 30, and while Payton Manning and Drew Brees seemed like veterans when they won their Super Bowl titles, each was still only 30. (Going back 10 years, you start to run into Brad Johnson and John Elway, who were older, so we'll restrict our argument to the last 10 years.)

Colin Kapernick probably needs to be mentioned here, as well. After somewhat struggling, as Wilson did, during the 2013 regular season, Kapernick acquitted himself nicely with two wins in the playoffs - and, in light of the Super Bowl, the close loss to the Seahawks in the NFC championship game cemented the contention that the 49ers were the second best team in the NFL this year. Kapernick is interesting because he is a very athletic quaterback who was chosen as the the starter over the less athletic, but solid Alex Smith. While Smith was let go and enjoyed a fine regular season with the Chiefs (probably better statistically that Kapernick's), his team was one-and-done in the playoffs, while Kapernick's went 3-1 for the second straight year. Russell Wilson, meanwhile, is now 4-1 in the playoffs for his short career.

Bottom line is that the key to playoff/ultimate success in the current version of the NFL seems to be a strong, physical defense, and a strong, younger, physical quarterback. Which isn't really too different when you think about from the formula the Stillers used to win four Super Bowls back in the 1970s.

Somewhat Tragic, Ironic Marathoner Story

Sad story here, but somewhat ironic as well I guess. It seems this 84-year-old woman died a day after completing the New York City marathon in November. She was even interviewed by Al Roker on the day she died. She apparently fell, hit her head, had it bandaged and then finished the race. Doesn't exactly say why she died - but basically, she went to bed with a bump on her head...alright, I know this is not supposed to be funny.

So, is this a tragic or a glorious end, or a tragic-glorious way to die? Apparently, she loved running. From a 2008 interview, post NYC Marathon, " “When I crossed that finish line in Central Park, I just knew this is what I would do the rest of my life,” [Joy] Johnson said. “Running makes you feel good. It’s energizing."

So, if it's true that dying doing something you love is the best way to go, it seems like she went out well. Something I've always thought about since my father in law died of a heart attack playing tennis a few years back. 

Christmas Season 2013-2014

Very good Christmas - New Years season this year. 10 reasons why:

1. Didn't really drink too much on any single day. Probably had equivalent of 6 drinks or so on New Years Eve, spaced out over several hours. But felt pretty good for the couple weeks.

2. With the exception of
   a.) a flu bug that hit me the Sunday before Christmas - but unlike three of my family members (and several other people I talked to) I didn't end up throwing up. Big plus :). And I was only sick for about a day and a half - a much shorter duration than others. Took some serious bed rest of about 20 hours, but the virus eventually was overcome.
   b.) woke up with a cold a week later, the Sunday before New Years. That also took about a day and a half, at least, before I started feeling better but still am feeling some aftereffects. Nonetheless, on both cases, I seem to have healed quickly, which makes feeling normal feel all that much better.

3. Rod Hockey:

Family got a new Stiga set from Santa. Loads of fun for everyone. Much higher tech than the Munro early 70s version we have been using.

4. Great 15th annual New Years Eve party- (also my son's 15th birthday). Solid bunch of guests. Good food, company, cheer, and foosball - not necessarily in that order.

5. Majestic Chili Dogs: Maggie picked up a quart for NYE party. Ate with champagne at midnight!

6. Lot's of snow - yeah, it's a pain but great fun too for sledding, skiing and even street hockey!

7.  Blu Ray player. Yes, finally got a good one, hooked it up to my stereo and can start catching up on those movies I've missed because I wasn't satisfied with the picture my old DVD player was giving me. Watched Goon last night - great, stereotypical sports movie with some fun hockey stuff thrown in.

8. Kids liked their XMas gifts - always a big plus.

9. Great New Years Day with absolutely nothing on the schedule. Did some skiing at golf course, cleaned up after sed party, watched some football with neighbors - went to bed!

10. Great nights out at Maggie's brothers for XMas, Maggie's Mom for XMas eve, and the Petrone's for Friday night games and conversations. Thanks for the hospitality.

Cheers all and have a great 2014.

All-time College Football Top 15

Top 15 College football programs from my perspective - a bit biased and limited of a kid who grew up in Western PA, Catholic, and came of age (as a sports fan) in the 1970s, but still follows sports today - with renewed interest (thanks to sons?)after burning out on it a couple times earlier in my life, including after working for three-plus years as a sports writer:

1. Alabama Crimson Tide
2. USC Trojans
3. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
4. Ohio State Buckeyes
5. Michigan Wolverines
6. Nebraska Cornhuskers
7. Oklahoma Sooners
8. Texas Longhorns
9. LSU Tigers
10. Penn State Nittany Lions
11. Florida State Seminoles
12. Miami Hurricanes
13. Florida Gators
14. Clemson Tigers
15. Georgia Bulldogs

Jumping on Marrone

I really hate to do it before he loses his first game as a Buffalo Bills' head coach, but Doug Marrone really needs to be called out for the current QB situation in Buffalo. His decision not to bring in another QB, following presumptive starter and rookie E.J. Manuel's knee injury could prove to be really boneheaded. Yes, it appears the Bills are counting on Manuel to be recovered from his procedure in time to start Week 1, and, for Marrone's sake, I'm hoping this is a lock, because if Manuel is not ready, we're going to end up with either RFA Tim Tuel or a recently signed street free agent (Matt Leinart or Thaddeus Lewis) at QB. None of those three options are good, if you ask me.

Why Marrone didn't move sooner to sign another QB when Manuel went down, and presumably knowing Kolb's history of concussions, remains a mystery to me. I wasn't aware of Kolb's history when news of Manuel's surgery first broke, but I still thought it an odd/risky move not to bring in another veteran QB to at least hedge our bets. Marrone did not. Instead he went all in with who he had and then a week or so later found himself scrambling to find a back-up QB who now has only two weeks to learn the system before opening day. This could lead to disaster if Manuel can't go or re-injures knee during Week 1 game vs. Pats.

We really don't need a blowout loss at home vs. Pats to start season - as I fear our long-suffering fans would quickly become disgruntled. But, Pats have well publicized problems of their own, so at least we go that going for us.

Anyhow, good luck Bills and Doug Marrone heading into Week 1. Hope it all works out, although our margin for error is looking pretty thin at the moment.

Greek golds to Heroes

From the introduction to Robert Fagles' translation of the Illiad. Intro. was written by Bernard Knox "Such people the Greeks called "heroes;" they recognized the fact that they transcended the norms of humanity by according them worship at their tombs after death. Heroes might be, usually were, violent, antisocial, destructive, but they offered an assurance that in some chosen vessels  humanity is capable of superhuman greatness, that there are some human beings who can deny the imperatives which others obey in order to live."

This all reminded me Raskolnikov, the ax murder's thinking in Crime and Punishment.

Just thought I had to put that on the record somewhere.

Maybe Pineda Trade Will Work Out

With the news today the the Mariners have sent the potentially great Jesus Montero down the the minors, last year's preseason trade for Michael Pineda doesn't look so bad for the Yankees anymore. Montero is a catcher who can't catch, but had a great reputation as a slugger. Unfortunately for the Mariners he hasn't been slugging either. Maybe the Yankees knew something....

But, then again, you have to wonder what the Mariners knew when they gave up the 6'7" fireballer Pineda. If you remember, he reported to the Yankees camp overweight last year and then came down with a shoulder injury that required surgery. Over a year later, Pineda is finally throwing again and reports are that he's almost ready for a minor league rehab assignment. Whoopee!

Seriously though, he was fairly good in his first full season of big league pitching at age 22, posting 173 strikeouts vs. 55 walks with a Walks & Hits per Innings Pitched (WHIP) of a very solid 1.099, although as to be expected because he pitched for Seattle, his home numbers were slightly (although not that much) better than his road numbers. Another promising indicator is that his minor league strikeouts/walks/hits numbers were slightly better than his major league numbers - so it appears he's been fairly consistent.

Now all Pineda has to do is comeback fully from shoulder surgery, which is something that others have certainly done, but we shall see. At least it doesn't seem like we really missed out on anything by giving up Montero for him.

Allosourus vs. T-Rex - new dinosaur modeling

So, if you know me, I've always been a big fan of dinosaurs. It's even my belief that as the once dominant creates of the earth, dinosaurs represent the forebearers of the human race. But that's a conversation for another day.

It's also been my observation that Google News, which I try to peruse several times per week, if not daily, gives an inordinate amount of coverage/links to dinosaur stories in its science section. This another reason I like Google.

Today's featured dinosaur article discussed the eating habits of the Allosourus' vs. the Tyrannosourus Rex. For background, the Allosaurus lived 155 milion to 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period, while the T-Rex roamed the earth during the late Cretaceous period, about 85 million to 65 million years ago. T-Rex was about 30% longer and weight about three times as much as the Allosourus.

A few quotes from the engaging article:

• "'People think of it as a smaller, earlier version of a T. rex, but it was successful in a very different way,' said Eric Snively, an Ohio University paleontologist."
  
• “'Allosaurus really was better at certain things' than T. rex, Snively said. 'It was quicker at striking prey and more efficient.'"
  
• "'T. rex was extremely powerful and had a very large head, huge teeth and large … muscles, which sounds great and is,' Witmer said. 'But that comes at a cost, meaning it was difficult for the T. rex to move its head around with great speed and control. Allosaurus had a much lighter head.'”

All great stuff. The information they came up with was based on computer-generated studies that take into account soft tissues and not just bone structure. The articles call these computer generated dinosaurs the "future of paleontology," replacing the old bone-centric models that have been used historically.

Hunter S. on Kentucky Derby

Great second look or whatever they call it on Grantland, on a 1970 Hunter Thompson story by Louisville native Hunter Thompson on the Kentucky Derby. There is some commentary from Hunter's sidekick and cartoonist Ralph Steadman. The story originally appeared in some counterculture publication, which I guess you had back them. Here's a link to the entire story.

To tease you, here is a quote from it (It's Thompson talking to Steadman, who is from England, about the sketches he keeps drawing and giving to people.): "Fuck England," I said. "This is Middle America. These people regard what you're doing to them as a brutal, bilious insult. Look what happened last night. I thought my brother was going to tear your head off."

And so forth....

Bills Draft 2013

Just want to go on record as saying that I am in favor of the Bills drafting E.J. Manuel of Florida State in the first round this weekend. Think his strong arm, good size, and mobility make him a project that new head coach Doug Marrone thinks he can build into an all-pro - or at least a Pro Bowler. Marrone obviously felt he had gone as far as he could with his college QB Ryan Nassib of Syracuse.

I read a scouting report (that unfortunately, I can't seem to find the link to) where a couple Florida State watchers were really questioning Manuel's football aptitude - not his intelligence or work ethic, just his feel and innate understanding of the game. Not sure how much of an issue this is, but obviously something Marrone feels he can work with. We'll see. Proverbial upside potential is huge. Downside is that Marrone swings and misses, and I don't know that he has a back-up plan in place at the moment, but if he's really a good coach I would expect him to develop one. Remember the  Cowboys drafted Steve Walsh and Troy Aikman early on in Jimmy Johnson's career. Only one worked out. (For more on playing the odds keep reading.)

Also, this signing of D'Rick Rogers could be huge. For those of you who didn't click on the link, or haven't heard of him, he was an all-SEC receiver as a sophomore, but has had some pretty serious off-the-field problems (drugs and fighting I think are two of them) and pretty much got kicked off the Tennessee team. He transferred to Tennessee Tech and had a pretty good year this year - don't know who his QB was - including one game in which he had over 300 yards receiving.

Now, Rogers may or may not work out - but the reason the move is great for the Bills is because it's so sound from the process standpoint. What am I saying? Well, if you know me, I am definitely a fan of the Moneyball approach (I was an early Bill James reader in junior high) of exploiting what I'll call "market opportunities." (Moneyball is mainly about market inefficiencies, but this is something a little different.) Basically, we all know the Bills have trouble attracting prime veteran free agents due to their history of losing and probably location - without overpaying them. So, it's going to be very tough to build a team that way - as I think we kind of saw in this offseason. The draft is one way they can build, and it is weighted toward losing teams, so that helps. But, where else can Buffalo gain an edge over more successful franchises? I would think in recruiting UFAs like Rogers, because they see a chance to gain valuable playing time in Buffalo that they might not get anywhere else. I mean, seriously, Rogers could theoretically step in and start opposite Stevie Johnson next year. At least, I'm thinkin' that's what he was thinkin'.

So, great move by Buffalo, and hopefully some of their other UFAs went through the same thought process. Because, as I said, Rogers might not work out, but the plan in our player development should be to assemble as many highly rated prospects as possible and assume some will work out and some won't. Obviously, the more you have, the better chance of developing more better players. And as the guy on the AT&T? commercials, more is better, isn't it?

Kevin Kolb Sets Sights on Super Bowl

Really. You mean to tell me the erstwhile (love to use that word) Cardinals signal caller said he signed with the Bills because he wants to win a Super Bowl. This blogger blames multiple concussions Kolb has suffered throughout his career. Yes, that's what we've become...

Bills Making Headlines

Can't believe the Bills are relevant nationally, for the first time, well I guess since Trent Edwards started us 5-1 in 2008 before we collapsed. I'm hoping this year's team is fundamentally sounder. We seem to move the ball well, both through the air and on the ground - a good sign, of course if Freddie or Fitz goes down, all bets are off. And, our run defense seems much improved. As for the pass defense - four interceptions yesterday (off Brady of all people) was great, but you can't expect that every game. I'm thinking a pass rush is going to have to emerge at some point, for us to make the playoffs. We'll see....Merriman had like one pressure yesterday, on something like 40 attempts by Brady - so he was certainly not his old "Lights Out" self. I guess we can just continue to outscore people...

Cheers.

Ralph

At Least You're not a Bills Fan

From Bill Barnwell's daily update (of the current NFL free agent frenzy) on Grantland:

"Say a word for the Bills, who have to spend about $30 million or so to hit the salary floor by the end of this season. They started their arduous trek to the basement by giving 30-year-old cornerback Drayton Florence a three-year deal worth $15 million. They're sort of like the Panthers, but they don't even have the ability to woo most of their own free agents into re-signing for ghastly sums of money. Expect Donte Whitner to follow Paul Posluszny out the door. Some mid-tier free agents with a high tolerance for cold weather are about to become very happy people."

Vikings sign McNabb

Since, I see Dr. D. is reading the blog, I thought I'd solicit his thoughts on his Vikings latest veteran QB signing. While Donovan McNabb is probably a better guy than Brett Favre (although T.O. might not think so), I really don't know if you are going to be able to capture the same magic that Favre did with the Vikings a couple years ago. McNabb was kind of a washout with the Redskins last year - although he did have several good to great years with the Eagles. The Eagles, of course, seem like they can put anyone under center and make them a good QB - A.J. Feely, Kevin Kolb, and Michael Vick have also enjoyed success - albeit in shorter runs than McNabb - under Andy Reid at Philly.

What tools does Minnesota have to help McNabb succeed? Well, they just lost Sidney Rice as a free agent, and most people considered him to be their best receiver. I guess you still have Percy Harvin, who looks like he can ball a little. And T.O., Ochocinco, and Moss are all out there as free agents...I think it might be a long year for McNabb. (He does have A.P. to hand off too at least.)

McNabb's signing fits with a long-time Vikings tradition of utilizing veteran QBs vs. developing their own talent. In order, there has been Joe Kapp (from the CFL), Fran Tarkenton (started with the Vikes, but then traded to Giants before being brought back), Tommy Kramer (their own guy), the Denny Green era, which brough Jim McMahan, Warren Moon, Randall Cunningham and Jeff George into town, Dante Culpepper (their own guy), Favre and now McNabb. What does this say?

Reviving the Blog

Maybe...or maybe I just needed someplace to jot down this one thought. Since the original concept of a blog was some sort of on-line diary - was that it, a Web log complete with links - I guess it is serving its purpose.

Anyhow, I came across this post by Chuck Klosterman on Edgar Winter today and while it is your typical solid Chuck K. post (Chuck K. rocks - and he spent some time in Akron), it is even better because Johnny Winter, Edgar's brother, played 8 Great Tuesday's last night. Fairly remarkable show. Johnny, who like Edgar is an albino, is mentioned in this article as being one of the 100 greatest blues guitarist of all-time and he certainly rocked last night. It was your typical beautiful Tuesday night on the bay, temperature in the 70s and a somewhat cool breeze blowing in - certainly a welcome respite from the recent heat.

Johnny looked like he was about 90 years old and sat down most of the time, while playing. He actually had to be helped off the stage (and probably on I'm assuming, but I didn't see it). I was all hyped for a solid blues show, but didn't really get into it until I went down near the stage and stood like 50 feet and front of him and watched. It was mezmorizing. He actually stood up for a version of "It's All Over Now" and then closed things out with an absolutely smokin' version of Dylan's Hightway 61 Revisited. Great stuff (and all for free. He's playing at a bar in Cleveland tonight and tix are $40 a pop) and I wanted to tell someone about it - Klosterman really - but dammit, for some reason, they make it really hard to find the writers' e-mail addresses on Grantland. Find that very annoying.

Anyhow, there's a post for you -whoever stumbles up this.

Cheers.

Ralph

Moss Back With Vikings

Interesting post here on how the Pats were a better money team before Moss. Not sure I buy all of it, because other things changed for the Pats, like their defense got a lot worse, but still it makes many good points about Moss coming up short in the playoffs. Of course, I was the guy who predicted the Brady-Moss combination would be a disaster. Well, now the Patriots have traded Moss before they won any Super Bowls with him....well, I still think I was kind off base, but maybe not as bad as it initially looked when Brady and Moss teamed up to break the single season passing TD record in Moss' first year.

While I might not have agreed with the Pats bringing Moss in when they did, I certainly agree with their decision to get rid of him now. I thought he was much less effective last year than he had been in the past and really seemed to be coasting/heading downhill this year. Maybe moving back to Minnesota will cause him to reinvest himself in the game. We can only hope Favre is properly motivated to motivate Moss (as well as himself) or it's going to be a long season up on the plains of Minnesota. (Or maybe it won't really matter how motivated Moss is. Maybe he's just too old to be an elite receiver, based on the way he plays the game.)

It's no secret that Moss' contract is up after this year, and I think the Patriots really were leaning against resigning him. Funny thing is, if Favre doesn't come back next year (or the Vikes don't get another top-notch QB), I can't see why he would want to sign with them/they would want to sign him. This means that despite the trade, Moss will likely be a free agent next year. He has about 12 games-plus playoffs to proof he's still worth top dollar.

Joique Bell signed by Eagles

I don't know that it can get any worse, but the Eagles have signed one of my favorite Bills players off the practice squad. If you want to see how good Joique Bell is, watch this video. It's incredible. Granted, he's playing for Division II Wayne State (one of their opponents is Mercyhurst), but you got to love this kid's running style. He was apparently too slow to get drafted, but lit it up in the Bills first two preseason games, before fading and getting dropped to the practice squad.

Well, the Eagles saw enough in him to add him to their active roster, which means he's no longer a Bill. If recent trends hold true, Bell will likely go on to be, if not a star, a very good player in the NFL. After all, both Jets safety Jim Leonhard and Saints cornerback Jabari Greer were undrafted free agents "discovered" and developed by the Bills, before being allowed to leave the team as free agents, because they apparently weren't good enough to play for us, but now play key roles on championship caliber teams. Jason Peters was another UFA that we developed into a Pro Bowl player, but then decided we didn't want to pay and traded to the Eagles.

With brilliant personnel decisions like these, it's no wonder we're turning into a laughinstock for the league.

Bills Train Derailed...

Well, we all know the Bills stink, but here's the latest. It's from the stat geek Football Outsiders site-an article discussing the slew of quarterback benchings after only the second game of the season. It includes this great line about our now deposed starter Trent Edwards: "The question that coaches need to ask themselves before making a move: He's Derek Anderson. He's Matt Moore. He's Trent Edwards. What did you expect?"

And this sterling endorsement of our new starter Ryan Fitzpatrick: "Edwards is being replaced by Ryan Fitzpatrick, who's ranked 36th, 35th, and 36th in DVOA over his three seasons with significant playing time and has to rank as one of the worst quarterbacks in the modern era to get 23 starts." Yup, that's now our guy. The question now becomes, can the Bills win a game?

Outdoor TV

Seems to be the latest trend - what with the new digital projectors and flatscreen TVs that are extremely portable - not to mention that ability to stream Internet video through wireless connections. I think this is a good thing. Beteween Thursday and Sunday, I watched most of three football games outdoors (on video, not to mention that two grade shool games live on Saturday - I think I've OD'd on football). No doubt this outdoor viewing will become more difficult come November, but for now, the barbeque and beer sitting in the cooler sure is nice.



Ralph

Ford Winstar Recall

If you have Ford Winstar, year 1998 to 2003, you want to call the local Ford dealer and get your rear axle replaced. Ours cracked about 90% of the way through a couple months ago. I went online to do some research before taking it to the garage and found the federal government was doing an investigation on these vehicles. Apparently, the axles have a slight U-shape to them, and in states like ours (PA), where there is moisture and salt on the road most of the winter, this causes the axles to corrode. When these things reach 100,000 miles or so, they have a tendancy to crack.

As I said, we luckily (thanks to my wife's observation of the way the van was riding) caught ours before it snapped, because that can be both dangerous and ruin your tires. I drove my van down to the garage at about 10 mph and got a new axle put in for like $600, which is a lot cheaper than I read some other people paid.

Regardless, Ford issued a recall on these vehicles last week. I called Champion Ford in Erie, and they told me to come in for an inspection and bring the receipt. They said Ford will be sending us a check. Note: I have not heard from Ford yet that there is a recall, I just happened to see the story on-line. I guess I'm saying, don't be afraid to be proactive on this (and you suppedly get a free rental while they are doing the repairs.)

Cheers.

Ralph

Mouse in the Garbage

I heard this sound like an animal burrowing in my office this morning. Thought it was coming from the pile of junk in the corner, or maybe behind my desk. Wasn't really that excited about it and was hoping whatever it was would go to sleep, so I could try and catch it with a trap at night. But the burrowing continued, and I was having a hard time pinpointing it - when I realized it was coming from the garbage can right next to my desk! (Thank God, my 9 a.m. call cancelled. What if I had been on the phone when I came to this realization?) Yes, the same garbage can I had reached into earlier to pull out my leather business card holder. How did that get in there?


Well, I picked up the can and tossed all the contents out the door, and out came flying a tiny little creature - I think it was a mouse, but it could have been a frog for all I know, and it scurried away.

Yes, Wild Kingdom lives.


Marlon Perkins.

Verizon Customer Service

Wow, it's been forever since I posted.

Maybe I've had not much interesting to say.

But tonight I guess as I do.

As a went to a football game, on a beautiful night

Only to have the power go out, dimming the lights

and my DSL got fixed

after a week of being out

and I told all my newsletter subscribers

to drop their stock in Verizon if they had it.

Cheers.

Ralph

LeBron to Make Call Tonight

Rumors are floating around that it's going to be Miami - teaming up with Wade and Bosh - but I hate that possibility because I just can't imagine why LeBron and Wade would want to be on the same team at this stage in their careers. Anyhow, press conference/selection show is being held in Greenwich, CT-so, maybe it's the Knicks. Seems like the Cavs are going to be screwed.

Bill Simmons, ESPN's sports guy, wrote a long column on the whole LeBron thing, but let me just give you the final paragraphs, which are great:

"… what the hell kind of sporting event is this? It's like college signing day crossed with JFK's assassination. LeBron's team wanted to keep people talking and promote his website, and really, that's what happened. The man nearly exploded Twitter and melted ESPN. He transcended free agency, the World Cup, everything. He will draw a massive television audience tonight; he's the only professional athlete who could have pulled that off.

What a week for LeBron's brand. I just hope he remembers to wipe the blood off the knife after he pulls it from Cleveland's back."

Cheers.

Ralph

Hoosiers of Baseball

This is a great article that appeared in Sports Illustrated last week. It's about some borderline hippie coach and his baseball team from the a tiny high school that took second in the open Illinois state tournament in 1971.

There's a lot in the article about the coach's style that I can identify with. He's kind of all about empowering the players, and I'm a big fan of that. I kind of look at it as being their team, and I'm just there to point them in the right direction. This may be because the majority of my sports experience growing up was playing pick-up games with no adult supervision. So, I don't really have a traditional, autocratic, disciplinarian coach in my background to model my style after. Also, did I mention he was an English teacher.

Anyhow, I had great fun reading aforementioned article. One of my favorites I've come across in the last few years.

Wimbledon: Longest Match follow-up

This one is for anyone that has ever been dog tired. Dude played an 11-hour match with a 138-game fifth set over the past two days and then got creamed in his second-round match today.

Some of my favorite lines from the AP story:

"Isner had no aces after hitting a record 112 [in the marathon match] against Mahut. 'I've never been this exhausted before," Isner said. "Mentally and physically, I was obviously a bit drained. I just didn't have much in the way of my legs. I was just low on fuel out there. Didn't really have a chance.'

"Isner received a standing ovation when he walked onto court. He immediately lost his serve -- something that didn't happen once in his 70-68 fifth set against Mahut. 'The turnaround time -- he just didn't have enough time to get his body right,' said Isner's coach, Craig Boynton. 'He's one tired boy.'

"Isner didn't warm up before taking the court and showed up unshaven. 'It was brutal,' Isner said. 'Things were looking pretty bleak right from the get-go.'

All in good fun, of course...

Erie D-Backs Rock

Congrats to my Little League team, the Erie Diamondbacks for taking third place in the North East Tournament on Sunday. Because of Saturday's rains, they ended up playing the whole tourney on Sunday and the D-Backs played six (yes, six) games. Games were limited to an hour and a half and two of our games were this shootout format, where every batter started with a full count, but still, we played something close the equivalent of 30 innings of baseball in one day.

It was a beautiful, almost too nice, day, as the sun was really baking us. North East has a nice facility out there with multiple ball fields, but the tree cover is sparse.

The D-Backs won four games and lost two - and each game was decided by one run. Go figure. It was a lot of fun and the kids really came together as a team. Going into the tournament, we had lost our last two games by a combined total of like 20 runs, so it was nice to turn things around. Quite frankly, I think we surprised a few people, including yours truly. Now, I just have to figure out why we don't play like this every time out.

Ahh, the joys of coaching.

Cheers.

Red Sox-Yankees, latest chapter

So, I get home from our Little League game and am posting our stats on-line (if you click on the link, you'll see we kind of got clobbered, but I was happy with our kids for not giving up, etc. etc.), and I tune in the Yankees-Red Sox video feed on ESPN 3. Sure enough, the score is 7-6 Yankees in the sixth and it looks like were in for another nailbiter in the Bronx.

Then, I recall that on the way to our game, I had to listen to my old friend Red and James L. LeCorchick rip apart the networks for constantly showing Yankees-Red Sox action.

Here's what followed: Yankees bullpen is injured. Nobody seems to know if it's Chamberlain or Rivera, but neither is available for the eighth inning. So, Girardi leaves the hapless Chan Ho Park in, who is not even good necessarily when he's healthy, but is now just coming off the D.L. Well, two home runs later, it's 9-7 Red Sox and the Beantowners have come all the way back from an 0-5 first inning deficit to take the lead.

Another recall: during our game, one of our coaches, who's a 'Sox fans, taunts me about Mariano Rivera giving up a game-losing grand slam last night.

Well, Yankees go down harmlessly to Red Sox' set-up man Bard in the bottom of the eighth and a couple Yankees pitchers get the Sox in the top of the ninth. Bottom of the ninth - in comes Red Sox hated closer Jonathan Papelbon. I'm down stairs getting ice cream. I come back up and Brett Gardner is on third and A-Rod launches one to tie it up. Papelbon beans our next hitter - young catcher Cervelli, and Marcus Thames follows with game winner down the left-field line. Yankees win 11-9, players mob each other, Thames get pie in the face, etc. (I text our Sox-fan coach thanking him for jinxing Papelbon.)

You really mean to tell me that is the type of action you want to keep off TV -James L and Red? Maybe the great game is the exception more than the rule, but still, tell me two other teams that could play such an intense game in May? I know I'm a biased Yankee fan, but, when the Yankees and Red Sox get together, it often brings the game to another level that you just don't get with other teams in the regular season. These are the two highest paid franchises in the league, there are some big egos out there, and really, they have some history. I'll go so far as to compare it to Steelers-Browns back in the day. Didn't everyone want to see that?

Well, everyone is entitled to their opinions, but I don't think televising the Red Sox Yankees ahead of the Indians-Rays game is a bad decision.

Ralph

Too Tall Jones -Geico Commercial

Former Cowboys defensive end Ed Jones had one of the greatest nicknames ever. I mean, can you compare any nicknames today to "Too Tall?" They even use it on Arthur. Anyhow, I happen to be in Dallas and saw this commercial. Has anyone seen this locally?

Too Many Strikeouts and Walks

Great article by Tom Verducci on how this trend is affecting the MLB. I agree it makes for a more boring game, even on the Little League level. I try and teach my kids to put it in play and don't be afraid to strike out swinging. Contact make the game more fun for everyone (excepting the pitcher maybe.)

Dick Allen SI Cover

Only in the early 1970s...

Butler-Duke Classic

Great, compelling NCAA championship game. Watched it with my 11-year-old son. It may have been the first college basketball game he's watched end to end (well, he was on the Internet somewhat during the first half, but still glancing up at the game.) Game was too interesting/exciting to send him to bed. You can find all the write-ups about it on-line.

I'll just make this one comment/conjecture: Really, the defining college game of my youth was the famous Bird-Magic/Indiana St-Michigan State final in 1979. I remember staying up late to watch that game, which has gone down in history, not necessarily because it was a great, close game, but because of the influence the two stars had on the NBA over the next decade. I wonder if the Duke-Butler game will have similar ramifications. I'm not sure that Butler or Duke has any future NBA stars, so maybe the game won't have the lasting legacy that the Bird-Magic showdown did. But, it really was a great game. It will be interesting to see if anyone, including my son, remembers it 30 years from now.

Ralph

Pitt Hoops Play - "Digusting"

At least that is how the Panthers color commentator Dick Groat described a possession late in the game when the Panthers, trailing by five with less than two minutes to play, ran the shot clock down to zero and threw up an airball. Groat, a former Duke hoops stat and major league baseball MVP with the Pirates, offered only that one word commentary. Groat is 80 years old. He definitely brings an old school perspective to the airwaves, even more so than his 70-year-old play-by-play partner Bill Hillgrove.

The Panthera did eventually come back to get a three-point shot to tie the game with time expiring, but missed. Alas, another early exit for Pitt's hoopsters.

The Jive Shuts Down - A Rant Against Parking Meters

I was kind of saddened to read this. I was only in there once, last week, and the soup and coffee were awsome, and it seemed like a great atmosphere. It looks like they had some great Saturday sessions there as well. I made a note to hang out there more, although with a family, finding time to hang out at the artsy coffee house can be a bit difficult. But, they did have a good wireless network...that all said, when it came time to work remotely yesterday, I went up to the soulless Starbucks near the Mall. Why? Parking meters.

I was thinking of this as I pulled out of the Jive last week. I had spent 75 cents to park for an hour, and if I had got caught on a call and missed my expiration time, I'd be paying a few more dollars at City Hall. I got to thinking, how much business were these stupid parking meters costing downtown merchants? It's really time these relics were removed. I'm not sure how much money they generate for the city but they can't be worth it.

The parking meters were installed I'm assuming in the 50s, or sometime when people were going downtown no matter what, because that's all there was. If we want to revive downtown now, however, we've got to remove the parking meters. There are just too many other options with parking that is less of a pain in the butt. I would think we might be able to get merchants to agree to some extra tax or something to help cover the lost revenue for the city. The plan would be that the removal of the meters would increase the merchants' revenue more than the tax would cost them. Does anyone see the value of such a plan? Let's quit being so bass akwards in this city and move into the 21st century. Parking meters are a relic of a previous time!

I guess I could have caught the bus down to the Jive.

Ralph

Bring Back T.O.

I'll admit that last year's signing of T.O. by the Blue-and-Red kinda blew me outa' the water. I wasn't expecting it. I didn't think we had the personnel to support him. But, although he had some costly drops, to be expected with T.O., he didn't have that bad of a year and had a couple huge games - in games that we won. Well, now that ex-Pitt Beletnikoff winner Antonio Bryant has signed with the Bengals (a good move for the striped-helmet wearers), it seems Owens is a man without a clear destination. This article makes some good points about why we should re-sign Owens, who signed only a one-year contract with us last year. I agree, bring him back for another year. Granted, we have another new offensive coordinator (for what seems like the 5th time in five years), but at least he knows the players, the atmosphere and all that. We clearly need another receiver and could do a lot worse than T.O. - at least last year's relatively mellow version of T.O. I mean Chan Gailey coached Michael Irvin in his days with the Cowboys a million years ago, I think he can handle T.O. Anyways, it would be fun.

That's all.

Ralph

Favorite Characters in Literature

After laboring through the 2004 Brad Pitt-mega-picture Troy last night, I realized how much I appreciate Odysseus as a literary character. One of my favorites, in fact.... which inspired me to come up with a list of my favorite literary characters of all-time. I think it goes something like this.

1. Sebasitian Dangerfield of the Ginger Man: I find him uproariously funny with intriguing moral compass...
2. Dean Moriarity - the Neal Cassidy character in Kerouac's classic On the Road
3. Odysseus - The King of Pain, traveling man, crafty trickster, great warrior king - call him what you will, but he holds up well after three thousand years.
4. Razhumikin - Raskolinkov's loyal Russian friend in Crime and Punishment.

I'm sure there are more, but these are the Mt. Rushmore (to steal a Bill Simmons phrase) faces of my literary life so far. Please feel free to add your own thoughts on this.

Olympics in HD

The Winter Olympics have proven to be great family viewing. I think everyone except my three-year-old really enjoys them , and he even puts up with them for the most part. We've actually all been sitting on the couch watching the prime time coverage - a rare family TV viewing experience.

The Winter Olympics have always been entertaining, but adding HD to the mix, with the white snow and colorful uniforms and equipment really adds another level. Then you've got these new sports like ski-cross - did you see that one? Four guys (do women do it too?) racing on a track over jumps, while wearing skis. They have a snowboard version of this, which seems considerably less dangerous, as having eight skis flying through the air in close quarters, well it seems like a recipe for disaster. I did see one bad crash, but amazingly, for the most part, it turns out it's probably less dangerous than the straight-forward downhill.

Speaking of which, how about Bode Miller? Great Olympics for the philosopher skier. His quotes are fascinating. I read an article today, which pretty much accused him of sabotaging his previous Olympics because he wouldn't have been able to handle the fame. The impression I got was that he was already very famous in Europe, and that may have been a pain, but that was nothing compared to the pain he was anticipating as the posterboy U.S. Olympic success. He said he pretty much would have felt like a hypocrite because there is so much politiking and money-grubbing that goes along with the Olympics that he just couldn't deal with it. Or at least that's what I think he said.

Miller did go on to compliment that the Olympics as the pinnacle of his sport as well, so he said it was a double-edged sword and this year's he's been able to ignore the negatives better. Plus, I think he blew up his image so badly last time with talk of drunk skiing and the like, he really has little chance of being used by the USOC for their ulterior purposes - You've got to remember, this guy was, by all accounts raised in a hippie environment. Anyhow I'm glad to see his saved face this time around, if only to hear him philosophize about how making the perfect run at the perfect moment is so much more important than the gold medal.

U.S. Hockey Team
And how about that men's ice hockey team? Great win over Canada last night. It's been a great tourney for the U.S. guys so far, although a medal is far from guaranteed, but even more exciting, it's been a train wreck for the Canadians. Granted, the Canadians, on their home ice, playing their national sport, could still put together a medal run, but they're clearly behind the eight-ball. Losing to the U.S. was bad, but being pushed into OT by the Swiss hurt them even worse I think. Heads will roll if they don't make it out of the quarterfinal match vs. Russia. Why do I find this amusing? Canadians are nice people aren't they? Are they too smug about their hockey perhaps? I guess it's just great tragic theatre playing out and I love a good show.

Ralph

Pest Control: Bird in the Fireplace

You'll have to excuse me if I'm feeling a bit like Jim from the Wild Kingdom this morning...and I guess, my three-year-old son is Marlin Perkins. You see, yesterday afternoon we discovered we had a bird in our fireplace. I heard my wife scream after the little guy banged himself against the glass doors. From there, the adventure began.

I Googled topics like "bird stuck fireplace" and after some reading discovered that throwing a heavy blanket over the thing, wrapping it up, and carrying it outside was the "professional" method for handling the problem. Of course, at least half the stories I read, and some of the online videos, indicated that people had used that method, and others as well, like garbage bags and pillow cases, with varying degrees of success. I was not too excited about this dirty bird - he was black with soot - flying around my house, so, I wanted to make sure I did this right.

Was I scared of the bird? You might say. But, I'd like to say I was just being cautious. I sized up the problem from six different angles, allowed my mother-in-law to half-heartedly try and wrap him up in a towel, before my wife finally got the idea that we should use a fishing net. In the meantime, the bird mostly kept to the back of the fireplace, every now and then hurling himself into the glass doors, and also sometimes disappearing into parts unknown.

Well, when my brother-in-law finally arrived with the net yesterday evening, the bird was nowhere to be found. So, I went skiing..... well, what else was I going to do? When I got back, my mother-in-law, who was watching the kids, and brother- in-law, who had stopped back for his net, had apparently determined the bird had left. They had straightened up the fireplace, and taken the net home.

I was too smart for this trick. Actually, my neighbor, who apparently has dealt with this problem several times, guaranteed the bird would be back. He also recommended the blanket method. So, I went to bed...

This morning, the bird was certainly back, banging his way around the fireplace. I sized up the situation again and made up my mind to do something, as I didn't want to be worried about this all day when I was at work (so, instead, I'm wasting my time on this blog post). My three-year-old woke up, and, of course, wanted to see the bird. I showed it to him and he almost condescendingly suggested I use the blanket. This was interesting because the blanket I was going to use, an old drop cloth for painting, was in the basement, so he had no visual cues. I chalked up it up to an inspired answer, grabbed the drop cloth and went in.

My first toss missed the bird and he hopped over it. Thankfully, he didn't try and fly toward the glass doors or anything. But I realized I was going to have to invest myself in this if I wanted some success. I put on my ski gloves and went in after him, which involved inserting my head inside the fireplace so I could reach the back.

It was actually fairly easy to trap him, as he was either tired, or cooperative, or both. He let me toss the blanked over him and wrap him up without a fight. I tried to wrap him up as best I could to prevent flight, but when I pulled him out he never really struggled. I could see a small piece of some part of him sticking out of the blanket, so I knew I had him. I carefully but quickly walked to the front door, opened it, and threw the whole blanket out. As soon as the blanket touched the ground bird flew swiftly up in the air and into our front-yard tree. He seemed fine after his long ordeal. I shut the door and thanked by three-year-old for his help. He said he wanted to wave good-bye to the bird.

Of course, last week, he also said good-bye to the dead mice I had trapped in the basement. Vector traps, traditional style is what I recommend.

Ralph

Bills Hire New Defensive Coordinator

Here's a quote from a Buffalo News story discussing George Edwards, our recently hired D-Coordinator:

"Edwards' one year as defensive coordinator in 2003 was head coach Steve Spurrier's final year, and it was unsuccessful. The Redskins ranked 25th in yards allowed. They were fifth the year before and third the year after...."

Sounds great.

Super Bowl Monday

Congrats to the Saints and all the Saints fans I know. There is one guy from Nawlins that I work with, then there is Bob/R.L. McCray - a sports writer from Corry who did some work for the Erie paper and may still write for Warren. Great game. Hats off to the guy at Football Outsiders, who opened my eyes a couple days before the game with his insights on why the Colts were a good match-up for the Saints. One of the reasons he gave was the favorable coaching match-up, and I think we all agree that Sean Payton orchestrated a beautiful game, with the great on-side kick contributing immensely to the win. Of course, Brees had to execute and did a nice job, but let's take a look at Payton's other great call: Going for it on fourth and two late in the second quarter:

Yes, the Saints got stuffed and handed the ball back over to Peyton Manning and the Colts, with the Saints trailing by seven with two minutes to go in the half. (The Colts were also due to get the ball to start the third quarter, or so we thought). However, the Colts also got the ball on the two-yard line, which affected the plays they would call. Had the Saints gone for the field goal and kicked off, the Colts more likely would have received the ball past the 20 and closer to the 30. From there, with two minutes left, I'm betting Manning works it downfield for at least a field goal and perhaps a touchdown. So, kicking the field goal from the two was likely at best a break-even proposition and at worst a minus-four point swing for the Saints.

Payton (Sean) made what some would call a gutsy decision to go for it on fourth down from the two. However, he was really just playing the percentages - so it was more of a smart call. But, sometimes, it does take guts to be smart and go against conventional wisdom.

Payton was gambling and playing better odds than he had decided to kick the field goal. Here's why, based on the possible outcomes:
a. the Saints score a TD from the two - at best a plus-7 gain in the score, at worst a break-even proposition, if the Colts get the ball back and march down the field
b. the Saints get stuffed, stop the Colts, get the ball back and kick a longer field goal, which is still worth three points (and run out the clock for the half), which is what happened - this is a plus-three proposition for the Saints
c. the Saints D stops the Colts from scoring, but the Colts either run out the clock or the Saints get the ball back and can't score - a break even proposition, which is likely the best outcome if the Saints had kicked the field goal from the two and kicked-off to the Colts
d. The Colts take the downfield from the two and score-either a minus-three or minus-7 proposition - with the minus 3 being more likely - and still a better result than the minus-four possibility if the Saints kicked the field goal and kicked off.

Does that make any sense? The bottom line is that by going for it on fourth-and-two, Payton (Sean) created a higher chance of a better scoring outcome for his team in the last two minutes of the half.

Manning's ego problem
I'll conclude by discussing briefly Peyton Manning's ego and how it ultimately resulted in the game-clinching interception for the Saints. Colts have the ball on like the Saints 40, down by seven, third-and-five, with like four minutes to play. I'm watching the game with by buddy, who's a junior high football coach and he says, "this is four down territory, the Colts should run it here." Makes perfect sense to me, because their halfback, Josesph Addai, really had a great game and seemed to be running the ball well. I predicted the Manning would not want to give up control of the situation to another player and would therefore call a pass play. Exactly what happened - six points the other way for the Saints - Game Over. Manning is a great quarterback, one of the best ever, but there's a reason he's only won the big one once (and it's the same reason Dan Marino never won it). He's still not bigger than the game and 11 guys will more often beat one guy - or however many guys Manning wants to get involved with the play. Addai was having a great game, Manning should have recognized that and let him have his moment - but he just couldn't do it. Oh well - congrats to Joseph Addai on a great Super Bowl!

Ralph

Bills Hire Steelers Scouting Dir.

It appears like the Bills may have finally done something positive - at least hired a younger guy with somewhat of a track record of success, who's career is heading in the right direction. I mean, at least this guys has a chance...but, then there is that porn thing...Let's just hope it doesn't effect his job performance negatively.

Conservative Michael Moore-wannabe arrested

At least that's the way I see James O'Keefe's arrest yesterday related to bugging the phones of a Democratic Senator. It's kind of an outrageous story. When I first read it, I figured they must have wanted to be caught - for publicity or something...or is this just what happens when conservatives try to get into the liberal game of sensationalized film exposes? I guess you could compare it to Watergate, which occurred at a time when most people thought Democrats owned dirty politics.

Anyhow, from what I've read, there is no way these guys thought they could get away with this, is there?

Vikings' Misfortune

I know we have a regular blog reader who is a longtime Vikings fan, going back to Joe Kapp and, of course, the legendary Bud Grant. My condolences to this fan after yesterday's travesty. The Vikings dominated the game statistically, only to be undone by an inordinate amount of inopportune turnovers, as well as a ridiculous, costly penalty. The fact that, as a Bills fan, I can manage sympathy for fans of a team that made their conference championship game should give you an idea of just how snakebitten their franchise seems to be.

The aforementioned Vikings fan and I have discussed this curse many times, and yesterday's game was just the latest example of the Minnesotans' knack for bad fortune in big games. At the beginning of the year, we discussed how due to karma, the Favre-Viking marriage was destined to end badly. So, really, yesterday's outcome may have been inevitable.

And, the way the pundits are writing it, the loss falls squarely on the shoulders of #4, due to his bad interception at the end of regulation. However, let it be noted here that it was not Favre's fault (I don't think) that 12 men were on the field previous to the play, resulting in the penalty that knocked the Vikings out of semi-comfortable field goal range and forced Favre to try the ill-fated pass in the first place. I mean the guy was playing on a very bad ankle and had just made a spectacular pass a few plays earlier to move the ball across midfield. It really came down to them asking him to do too much (especially those who keep asking, why didn't he just run for five yards?)

Anyhow, that's probably enough of a Favre apology. As I said, he kind of called the bad karma down upon himself, with enablement/help from the Vikings. I guess, as painful as it is for Vikings fans, who generally seem like a good lot, the team probably got what it deserved.

Final note: I really would like to see Favre come back next year for a couple of reasons:
1. He really had a great year and a second year with the same teammates has the potential to create even better results.
2. I'd hate to see his career end on that miserable interception.

However, you have to wonder if he can take it physically anymore. He seemed fine during the regular season, but the the conference championship looked like another level. The Saints really punished Favre, and I almost hate to see what the Colts (and their great pass rushers) would have done to him in the Super Bowl.

All said, it was an interesting season up in Minnesota and truly a great drama, albeit a bit tragic, played out for the Norsemen!

Great Carlton Fisk Column

Carlton Fisk is being portrayed as a bit of crusty old guy following his recent bashing of steroid users. I thought this portrayal was a bit unfair until I read Joe Posnanski's excellent column on the topic today. It's a bit long, so feel free to skim, but make sure you read the beginning and the end. (Full disclosure: I was a huge Thurman Munson fan growing up, so anything that attempts to put Fisk in his place has attraction to me. Sorry, Carlton, that's just the way it is.)

Say it ain't so - Ralph

Reports out of Buffalo are that the Bills are getting ready to hire Chan Gailey as their new coach. This can't be. After being teased with Shanahan and Cowher, we get Chain Gailey, he of the lifetime 18-14 NFL record coaching a Cowboys team that had both Emmitt Smith and Troy Aikman. Not to mention six mediocre years with a Georgia Tech team that never lost less than five games in a season during his tenure, but two years after he left finished 11-3 and played in the Orange Bowl. The same Chan Gailey who started out this year as the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs but was demoted after three games. Yes, Mr. Gailey is not good enough to be an assistant for the 4-12 Chiefs, but he's good enough to be our head coach. This must be some kind of joke! Remember, this comes in the wake of the Bills hiring a 70-year-old GM who has never been a GM before and who was retired just two years earlier. Sadly, it appears our Hall-of-Fame owner Ralph Wilson has entered Al Davis territory. We will likely never see another winning team in Buffalo, as it seems all-but guaranteed the team will move after Wilson dies and while he remains alive and in control of the team, it seems we are f@#$%d.

Ralph

NFL Playoffs: Success of the Sons

I find it fascinating that Brian Schottenheimer and Rex Ryan are the coaching braintrust behind the underdog Jets and their 2-0 run in the playoffs. If you follow football, you probably realize that they are the sons of two very successful NFL coaches, Marty Schottenheimer and Buddy Ryan, whose careers are often defined by their playoff failures. Marty was 5-13 in the postseason as a head coach with three different teams, while Buddy went 0-3 with some pretty talented Eagles squads. The kids led the Jets to a fairly mediocre 9-7 regular season record this year, but have two surprising road victories to their credit in the playoffs and a date at Indianapolis for the AFC Championship on Sunday.

Playoff wrap-up

Do you think it was any coincidence that the only divisional playoff game worth watching was the only one played outdoors? The Vikes-Cowboys in the Metrodome certainly didn't have the same romance to it as the old games played outdoors at the Met. I wanted to hear Pat Summeral describe D.D. Lewis wrapping up Chuck Foreman as he went off tackle one more time...

Most Recent Star Trek

Saw the movie on DVD last night (after a night out at Scottie's, I borrowed it from my neighbor). While there were definitely some interesting elements, exploring the past of the crew made famous on the original TV show, which I watched semi-religiously in my teen years, overall the movie seemed a bit shallow. Maybe because of my age at the time, I remember the original show as exploring things like psychology and power a bit deeper than the newer, seemingly more superficial version. Last time I was at Blasco, I saw some DVDs of the original episodes. I think I may need to check them out. Should I try to introduce my 11-year-old son to them?

BCS Follow-Up

From Gregg Easterbrook's TMQ column this week (He offers an explanation of why the performance of the Texas freshman QB picked up coincidentally with Colt McCoy's return to the sideline in the second half of the game):

"Colt McCoy was injured early and freshman Garrett Gilbert entered, never having played in a pressure situation in college. Instantly it was obvious the game would turn on whether Gilbert could perform cold. My seat was low behind the Texas sideline, with a clear view of the Longhorns coaches and players. To my amazement, when the Texas offense wasn't on the field in the first half, Gilbert simply stood alone. He wasn't throwing to his receivers. Senior leaders were not coming by to urge him on. And no coaches were talking to him! Texas not only has $5 million-a-year coach Mack Brown, it has a bloated coaching staff, yet none of these gentlemen came over to help Gilbert prepare, calm down or adjust. Greg Davis, the Longhorns offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, was nowhere to be seen as Gilbert stood alone. Just what exactly was Davis doing that was more important, at that moment, than helping a freshman get ready to go back in at quarterback in the national championship? Only when McCoy returned from the trainer's room in the third quarter, donned headphones and started assisting Gilbert, did the Texas comeback begin. McCoy, a student, was the one "coaching up" Gilbert. Where was the Texas coaching staff?

Verizon Back Online

Got the call today that there was a service outage and it really had nothing to do with the modem...really not surprised. The who called me sounded English. I had previously dealt with Indians and Filipinos that were supposedly corresponding with Americans. And it took them about two and a half days to fix the problem...Funny thing is I'm getting to the point where I've had the service so long that I think I know more about that most of the lower-level support people....Maybe I need to get a business account.

Verizon Internet Change

Did this happen to anyone else? On Tuesday morning, my home Internet connection suddenly stopped working. It took three calls over two days, but the current diagnosis is that Verizon has upgraded the line so it is no longer compatible with the modem I bought from them a couple years go. They claim that they are going to send me a newer modem without charge. Well, if they knew I had this modem and they knew they were upgrading the lines.... I guess they're too big to worry about things like that. We'll see. I'm posting this from the downtown Starbucks. Interesting place after dark...

Incoming weather

The weather map for the next several hours certainly looks ominous...

Merry X-Mas and New Year's

May the Spirit of Generosity bring you much joy!

If you give a crap about the Yankees....

and I haven't gotten the impression that anyone who reads this blog does, but I thought the Bronx Bummers made a great move today trading for Javier Vasquez. If you remember, Vasquez had a go-round with the Yankees a few years back, and I didn't think he was terrible, but we gave up on him after on year. He's a little long in the tooth, maybe 33, but he had a solid year with the Braves last year, and seems like the type of pitcher whose not near the end by any means. Anyhow, I'm glad we got him to shore up the rotation....

But, we gave up Melky Cabrera to get him. Cabrera was a fairly solid center fielder for us last year, but he has had kind of and up and down career. On the up side, he's fairly young and has performed fairly well under the NYC spotlight. Howevever, Cabrera clearly became expendable when we picked up the great (former Seawolf) Curtis Granderson from the Tigers. There was talk that Melky would start in left, but I'm not sure he has a big enough bat for the Yankees to be completely satisfied with him as the full-time leftfielder. So, we dumped him for some starting pitching depth.

Which leaves us with a hole in left field - not necessarily a bad thing considering that three of the current top free agents are left fielders: Johnny Damon, Jason Bay, and Matt Holliday. Damon, of course, is a proven commodity, but Bay and Holliday likely have more upside - as they both are younger. That said, if this article is true, and Damon has reduced his contract demands to a two-year term, then, we should probably jump all over it. Yes, we'd be leaving Holliday and Bay on the market for the BoSox, but Damon is probably a better fit for the Yankees' line-up. He's a lefty and did a great job in the number two hole last year. Yeah, we'd probably need to refresh the position in another couple years, while Bay or Holliday could conceivably be a long-term solution - but it's worth keeping in mind that Holliday was kind of a washout in his only A.L. stint with the A's last year, and that Bay is a right-handed pull hitter that might not be a good fit for Yankee Stadium - nor may he be able to cover enough ground to be an effective defensive left fielder in the (not quite so as in the past, but still fairly) cavernous confines of our home park. Based on their recent track record, I'm sure the Yanks are checking all this stuff out and am confident they will make the right move.

The Yankees, already the reigning World Champions, have had a great offseason and look really strong heading into 2010, which is the year I thought they could win it all based on last season's moves. I think Jeter and Posada each have at least one good year left in them, A-Rod should be back stronger than last year....I really think we could have an all-time great team next year. Just what all you Yankee haters wanted to hear I'm sure.

Cheers.

Ralph

Matsui to Angels

There's been a lot going on in this baseball offseason so far, especially the Yankees picking up centerfielder Curtis Granderson from the Tigers. Granderson was one of the Seawolves' all-time greats and I'll never forget watching him at the Uht. By all accounts he's a class act as well (but, then again, wasn't Tiger Woods, well, maybe not...but we'll leave that for another day). That all said, this small story that moved across the wire this morning was a bit disheartening.... it seems World Series hero Hideki Matsui is moving on from the Yankees to the Angels. After coming over from Japan, Godzilla had played his whole MLB career with the Yankees. He was generally a solid, clutch player whose intensity could not be questioned. He was the quintessential professional ballplayer.... right down to his collection of porn videos, which reportedly numbers greater than 50,000.

I guess when you consider his hobby and how Times Square has evolved in the past 20 years, then, perhaps Southern California is a better fit for him. But, Hideki, from one Yankees fan at least, thanks for all you've done for the team over the past 7 years - in exchange for that $70 million the Yankees gave you....

Ralph