That Aud Smell

Worse looking? Really? I dunno. The optics of that slash are what make it outrageous -- just late, late, late and with a full overhead hard swing. What you say may be true about each game involving equally or more dangerous plays. Like I said - some of my judgment here is based on who McDavid is. And I think the comparison above fails a bit because Miller was the goalie. Also, looking back at the Lucic-Miller incident, I see that Vanek attempted to do what McDavid did - by hitting Lucic. But Vanek literally bounced off him and landed on the ice. Comical, really. I'm not giving McDavid an "A" (or maybe even a "B") for what he did. Maybe he gets a B/B-, with the grade bumped up by what Nurse did at the end of the game.

Ha - I just watched that segment - was he literally calling his teammates over as he engaged AP? Or was he chirping at someone else on the Knights?

Holy crap - that slash was outrageous. I thought McDavid's response in the moment was sufficient, especially given who McDavid is.

At worst, I'll take a "meh, we'll see" view of the Jones hiring. My honest reaction is more in the realm of "lol." The world of tee-vee broadcasting is not, imo, a place to set yourself up for success in a FO position. But he comes across as an honest, likable guy. So maybe he'll get the ship righted there. As for Briere: Wasn't he previously announced as GM? Is this new news?

It's obvious. I'm actually pretty ambivalent on whether fighting should still be tolerated. But when a guy gets into an honest fight -- nothing staged about it, something that happens in the moment -- his teammates get the message loud and clear: I care about you guys. Watch this. This is how much I care about you. Blocked shots seem to have a similar effect.

This is helpful context. Even so ... it seems odd that they'd have that many ostensibly healthy men dying at such ages. The lead researcher is quoted as saying that he was startled by those average ages of death, for those who did die. Then again, I suspect the lead researcher is looking to generate as much attention for his study as he can.

Ha. Except that this proposition: Is as old as the hills.

My guy. Some corporations are public. Some are private. The Bills - which I believe are organized as Buffalo Bills LLC - are indeed a corporate entity. A private one. A wholly held subsidiary of PSE, I believe. Which is also a private corporation. All agents owe their principal fiduciary duties.

The eye-grabbing headline is that NHL enforcers die, on average, 10 years earlier than their fellow NHL players. The thing that really stood out to me was that the "control group" for this study -- NHL players who weren't "enforcers" -- had an average age of death of ~ 57 years old. (Compared with enforcers whose average age at death was 47.) There are limitations and caveats with this research, to be sure. Several of them are noted in the paper itself. (I also note that they looked at player data going back to 1967, so, for many of the relevant periods of time, life expectancy wasn't what it is now.) All that aside: Holy hot damn those are young average ages of death.

That's a deft combination of refined taste and big goals.

The world as it should be based on principles. The world as it is based on facts. A priori. A posteriori. An age-old debate. Whither PAngloss?

I'd thought that my not going on a tour was more a function of my limited availability, but, yeah -- I'm sure they'll part a sea of marshmallow fluff in order to get your tour scheduled.

Nice. I was on campus to catch a soccer game at Saint Francis in nearby Loretto last fall and the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese was holding a meeting of (and a mass for) high school aged kids (confirmandi?) in the basketball arena. It was an impressive showing. I like the vibe in that part of the 814. I have visited the gift store a couple times. I have not yet been able to coordinate a tour.

Got your trip to Altoona lined up ~14 months in advance. Nice. (More seriously: I wholeheartedly recommend dinner and beers at the Knickerbocker Tavern. They do pub grub, but in a "leveled up" sort of way. And if the weather allows, I recommend sitting in the courtyard.)

A very occasional - even "out of character" - fight is indicative of someone who's willing to put it all on the line for his teammates.

Road trip to Altoona. LFG.

I do not intend to give oxygen to reply-guy-a.ssholeism ... but, like some of them, I am prompted to wonder: Why is an international exhibition game against Germany the first time I'm seeing Tuch in a scrap?

Has Tuch ever dropped the gloves when playing for the Sabres? I can't recall.

This is more than fair. These things exist on a continuum. If the same accusations were being made against a highly-prized prospect at a premier position, then the team's response is apt to have been different.

This is the right take. The Bills were not and are not in the business of taking self-styled principled stands in opposition to the social forces that created this scandal and controversy, as has been suggested upthread. The Bills are in the business of making money, preserving and promoting their brand, and winning football games. In light of those priorities and what they were dealing with, they had no choice but to part ways with the player. I hope everyone involved in this unfortunate story is able to get on with the life that awaited them before these allegations came to light.

Agreed

Reassigned?

Almost as if -- their wealth of knowledge and analysis notwithstanding -- it's a coin flip. Are their sites out there that have aggregated and graded Kiper's (or other leading experts') hit rate for the top, top tier of prospects?

Mel also promised to retire if … was it Jimmy Clausen (?) failed to turn into a good NFL starter with a long career.

I feel like this is demonstrably false. Were that the case - given his baseline physical traits (bonkers) - he would have gone 1.1. Anyway, I hope the kid from Florida works out. EDIT: From the Walter Football draft profile (I’ll take a pass on digging more because, presumably, Walter’s legitimacy will be questioned): In speaking with a few team sources, I said to them that Allen is more of a skill set than a quarterback at this point of his development, which they agreed with. They also thought my analogy of him being like a young pitcher called up to the big leagues who is more of a hard thrower than a pitcher was accurate. Some team sources who are skeptical of Allen compare him to Kyle Boller as a quarterback with big-time triangle numbers plus athleticism and major arm strength. They do have concerns about the lack of production against good opponents and not delivering clutch performances against better teams. Not every evaluator in the NFL is buying the excuse of a poor supporting cast, and they think that there is some danger to Allen as a prospect.