Ghost of Dwight Drane

I think Chz owns one of those gloves........one......

In the press conference, Whaley says he makes a draft board of guys he would trade up for, guys he would stay where he was, and guys he would trade away from. That's just plain stupid. In the case of Watkins who was going top 5, that's 1 thing....you have to move to get him.....but the whole idea of a draft board is to put guys in a general area....see where the chips fall.....and THEN decide if you want to trade up or down. You can really like a guy relative to the rest of the projections, so you just slot him higher. Whaley bombed by going for EJ so early, and by trading so much for a WR. He pretty much blew 3 straight years of 1st round picks relative to what may have been available or possible. If you look at Polian, he tells you how to do it right. There are a lot of tangibles and intangibles on guys, and he codes it in a few key categories...pure talent, build, size, medical, and character....pretty much in that order. When you start slotting guys on the board, he says that, "Let the board talk to you....it's a living, breathing entity." He will have visual cues on each player that a gut feel of taking it all in will help to individually rank. Whaley has been able to find some talent, but it just seems he has mismanaged the top of the draft to the point that it really weighs down the overall results.

Thanks for pointing it out....just watched it. Just a solid flick....B/B+...worth the time for sure. I've always said that the enforcers in general have the biggest hearts. They are wired a tad different. They do what should be and needs to be done. Off the ice, they are usually one of the first to go out of their way to talk to a kid or goof on someone to get a smile. Nilan seems to have tons of that......and at the end, yeah, you want to tell his dad "F-U", because of it. I wonder what Nilan would have done if Lindy pulled his Luke Adam schtick on him???..... :)

He actually sort of deserves a trip to the all-star game.

May is a tad smarter and dulls himself down to keep his job. I'm sure off camera he is a bit more flashy. I can't say I blame him in this PC climate.

It looked like Rip....just joking around....

Steve Dykstra......that's good stuff. I'd love to give Pegula a list of 100 names with 30 being Sabres. He selects 30 names who he thinks were Sabres. I'd even throw some easy ones in there.....my guess is over/under of 12 1/2.

That's what happens when you get a man who eats smoked moose for breakfast and uses Aqua Velva as opposed to someone rushing home to watch Glee on the DVR.....

Thanks.... I actually thought of that. Just to piss off the tank brigade, I'll wait until they get back to within 3 points of last place overall, then unleash a doozy that gets me 90 days.....

Damn Skippy.... I just wanted to say I was cool with Freeman's decision. The goading from other mods and/or posters is what sometimes drives my research even further on things. This is not the place for it though. It's one thing to talk about Lindy Ruff being an insecure coach. This is a whole other ballgame where obviously some don't believe it deserves attention. While I find the claims of offense here ironic, this is not the place to take a stand.... And thanks for the welcome backs..... the Sabres are on autopilot for me right now. Teddy calmed down and there are signs of life. I'm just letting it play out with guys in the trenches I trust.

Good stuff boys......

If you were refering to me, I was reinstated 10 days ago, and never made 1 post in the thread prior to today.

Yes. 30 days. While I may not agree with the bar that was set with me, I knew the ramifications and fully accept it. At least the Sabres and Bills were interesting. Sometimes it's fun to sit in the pressbox. I wasn't thinking about making counterpoints and enjoyed just watching the show.

I actually respected Pegula for this. I'm sure the intern putting the clips together was as simple as sunny/warm>snow/cold. I have 20 stories.....nothing earthshattering, but a lot of uncertainty...and that was the problem. If your children or husband were stranded miles away and couldn't get home...if your gutters were ripped off and roof creaking...if your furnace cut off and you smelled gas....if you needed surgery....if you just had surgery on your foot and had to clear out your vents to keep the heat on safely....if you couldn't get to your business or work for a week....if you had 7 feet on the ground and threats of more.........that was just a snippet of myself and my 4 immediate neighbors, side and back. Just project that to every home in a 5-10 mile radius. It wasn't Hiroshima....but it wasn't sipping hot chocolate and making snow angels. Good for Terry. On that note.....given my ban, I fully accepted it and understand. I will attempt to refrain from joking about the incidents that make people uncomfortable. I think with the facts at hand, the way the situation was handled from a Sabres perspective was disrespectful and disturbing on a local basis. I am not suggesting that anyone participated in the ultimate misdeed, but given the timeline of events, I was not happy with it. I will leave it at that. I do respect the website though and it isn't fair to bring heat on or make it uncofortable for everyone. If I want to hold people to high standards, I need to be a man and deal with it the right way. Putting others in the line of fire is being a coward.

If there is 1 key reason to get rid of Whaley and/or Marrone.....it is this. Yes, the trade for Watkins was steep and not having a viable QB in here during camp was not bright, but to their credit, they moved away from Manuel early, and the 19th pick going to Cleveland won't hurt as much as if it were the #6....which it could have easily been if they were going to let EJ go down with the ship. The offensive line is over 20% of your starters and 20% of your gameday roster. Marrone was a lineman himself and you would HOPE, he would add value to the selection and development process. I understand the theory of drafting big linemen, but being built that way myself, I know the strengths and weaknesses of doing so. When you have an immobile line, you BETTER have nasty guys that can move a pile and complimentary players who can run that way, and a QB who can feel the rush and buy an extra Mississippi every now and then. Other than Boobie Dixon, and Fred Jackson at times, God bless his soul, this team has more talent in the receiving game at this point. A few weeks before the draft, I spent maybe 2 hours going through the combine video of linemen and following up with a little research on guys who impressed me. I consider myself to have a valid process and skillset to do so, but I am not an NFL employee, or even football for that matter....I do not watch much college football.....and I certainly don't dedicate my life to finding NFL talent by visiting college after college, week after week. But yet somehow, EVERY SINGLE offensive lineman I identified was selected near or after where I projected them except Britt, and EVERY SINGLE lineman has started multiple games for their team this year.....5 of the 10 on playoff teams. How can that happen? Sadly, the worst of my projections so far is Robinson....but you have an undrafted guy in Harrison starting for the Colts almost all year, an undrafted guy in Groy starting for the Bears the last month, Urschel goes in the 5th round and is a swing starter for the Ravens, Gabe Jackson is a beast in Oakland and a mid round pick, Flemming is being used as both a tackle and eligible TE and when started, NE started running the ball well. Britt is starting for the Seahawks but I wouldn't have taken him that high....and Lewan took a few weeks, but is being raved about as the season went on. I love scouting and putting things down in print to revisit. I whiff with the best of them at times, but considering how the Bills front office whiffed so badly in their offensive line management......and podunk Ghost of Dwight Drane is doing some labor of love at 1am on a random Tuesday with a 6 pack of IPA and can find 10 starters on the O-line while our high #2 can't even dress on gameday.....WTH is going on? I like Whaley's passion and he is pretty sharp for the most part. I think Marrone has the makeup of a good coach, although he makes dubious game management decisions. Hackett is sub-par if the first 2 are average NFL minds. I hope Pegula handles this better than the Sabres.

If it was 1940....I'd be a little nervous..... Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night......

I love you Swamp...truly do.....and if anyone understands the thriving in chaos phenom...I do. This one is different. I have stories, but lots of people worried and in danger. Good news is, the worst hit areas are getting a breather for now, but now OP/Hamburg are starting to catch up. I went through the eye of a Hurricane at 120MPH and said 'd take a blizzard anyday. I am now calling the 2 experiences a Pick'm

Let's put it this way.....if you and Swamp were Saints fans....and frequented their message board......and you lived in Arkansas....and Swamp lived in Iowa......and when Katrina hit, multiple posters were talking about loved ones stuck in the Superdome and the 3rd Ward.....and then had to listen to people saying..."It's just some water....anyone living under sea level should STFU".....and...."Oh how I'd love to be in New Orleans right now...it's glorious!".....don't you think that's f'd up? You and Swamp are cool......I don't think you know what the F you are talking about right now. This is the biggest snowfall in the history of the city in a 24 and 36 hour period. Mocking people at this point is like saying...."Who gives a Sh!t about Wayne Gretzky....the Oilers have tons of Hall of Famers"....... I hear you....I don't think he nailed you. I am in awe as well. Think of the heaviest snow you've been in.....and then it happens for 12...18 hours. I'm too busy talking to you bastards :) to even look out my window right now. I don't want to know. I'm amazed power has stayed with everyone for the most part.

How many dead and how many roofs to collapse before you think there is enough proof to not think it's cool to be wishing you were in it? I get it too...like Weave said....nature is awesome and there is great wonder. Meanwhile you have posters here with grave concern and it probably isn't the best time to be jerking your weather stick.

I love exposing evil conspirators who protect an institution of child rape......we all have our different thrills I guess. If you are offended by this post and not others in this thread.......I suggest you might want to buy a really big mirror.......

Don't worry...there is a single mom who runs out food, but has 2 bottles of wine from the secret santa exchange last year......

I have a few horseracing collection bottles of Makers Mark. I just looked at them like the fat people in the movie Alive.....

Polincarz just said in the presser that he doesn't see the side streets in Cheektowaga getting taken care of before the rain starts this weekend.....which is pretty much..."Wait for it to melt". I'm currently devising my rationing plan for alcohol and tobacco.

What's the vent history? Mine usually clears with drifts....problem was, today not much wind and the straight snow. The winds have picked up the past few hours and I cleared mine earluer, so should be ok. I can't get back there or see it since I now have a 12 foot drift on the deck. I'd tell him just try not to run it much. Put on an extra layer and run it a few degrees colder. The area truly is not navigable though.

:) That's where I am. I am treating this like a war. I gave up 80% of the driveway to keep an 8 foot trench, the front porch and walkway, and side of the house with concrete. It gives me 3 of 4 exits. There hasn't been a plow, and I would think at this point with almost 5 feet, it's National Guard? I was worried about my mailbox at first, but they are all covered so it doesn't matter.