That Aud Smell

Ooof. That was a killer. From our seats, we had a sweet view of that play too -- watching it from the 300s a bit behind the LOS, Allen just arcing it up there, ball flying into the night sky, falling just beyond the defender, everyone groaning when the ball hit the turf, seeing the replay and confirming that it went right through the chute. Just ouch.

Let's Go, Brandon.

I'm bracing myself for the Bills' plan to be to take a guy like Thomas from LSU - who reportedly is a bit raw and needs some work - and go into the season with a WR corps of Samuel, Shakir, Hollins, the rookie WR, and a WR5 who's a ST guy (Shorter/Isabella). That might be a bit of butthole clenching time. There'd be Kincaid and Cook as well, though.

as some flinty ol' guy in Maine once said: "You can't get thahh from heeyah." I'd love to see the Bills in play for one of the top 3 prospects. But I don't see a path into the top-10 for them. In the Allen draft, the Bills made 2 moves to get to where they needed to be (7th). they traded cordy glenn+ to get into the top 15 and then traded again to get to 7.

Graham's piece and the other chatter doesn't really change my view of the matter: If Diggs were still productive at a level that could justify his contract, he'd still be here. The team would endure his eccentricities and, moreover, pay his salary provided he's producing like a WR1. Once he started to fall off and was deemed to be in decline, the team no longer felt compelled to endure his quirks and pay his significant salary. Put another way: If Diggs were a proverbial boy scout - a boring ass dude who aped all of McDermott's platitudes - I think the same deal gets made.

it appears that the personnel people concluded that he'd declined. it appears that the finance people concluded he wasn't worth the guaranteed salary coming to him. the toxic/drama speculation is for the click baiters.

The NWS guys and gals are straight up nerds. No commerce is involved in their nerding.

I like the sound of that.

I'll tell you what was not good business: The extension the Bills gave to Diggs. Disaster, that.

*Sigh* I am genuinely sad. But I trust that this is good business. Not without risk, of course. But good business. I've said it before: If every player on the Bills roster hated to lose as much as Diggs does, then this particular edition of the Bills would have been in (won?) a Super Bowl by now.

They effing BETTER be. Beane never ventures without a plan. He must have one in place. He must believe that they can now move up enough to get a WR that they feel really good about. This 2nd rounder will be part of the compensation.

Diggs traded to the Texans for a second round draft pick. I need that regular poster here who always says "the NFL cap isn't real" to explain how the Bills will get out from under this dead cap penalty. Happy trails to a true "dog." Love(d) me some Diggs.

Forecast discussion: Dry conditions are expected for Saturday night through most of Monday as an area of high pressure and ridge builds into the region. Monday afternoon into Tuesday still remains uncertain as a large trough to the west tries to undercut the ridge moving across the CONUS associated with an Omega block. Guidance has been back and forth with if the trough and a weak low at the sfc and aloft will move close enough to the region to increase the potential for some showers for later Monday afternoon. This also would increase cloud potential as well. Current forecast for Monday afternoon bring slight chance for showers into far western NY, with broken cloud cover over WNY and decreasing cloud cover to the northeast. Being 5+ days out, a lot can change either way. +++ Fingers remain crossed.

Sunday looks pleasant. The NWS is holding steady on its forecast for Monday. Edit: Faaaaahhhk. Fahk.

This article has a terrific review of clouds relative to solar eclipse events. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/weather/2024/03/26/clouds-could-block-the-april-2024-solar-eclipse-forecast-guide/72934623007/ And this graphic is spiffy. If we're getting high clouds, that won't be so bad.

Excerpt from NWS Forecast Discussion today: At this range however, uncertainty is very high in the amount of total cloud cover and how it will be structured, especially across Western NY. Long-range guidance suggests increasing mid and/or high clouds* increasing from west to east through the day. *"High Clouds" -- These clouds have bases between 16,500 and 45,000 feet in the mid latitudes. At this level they are composed of primarily of ice crystals. Some clouds at this level are cirrus, cirrocumulus, and cirrostratus +++ Notably, I don't see mention of stratocumulus clouds (nor, certainly, nimbostratus).

If present, traditional low-lying cumulus clouds would most likely dissipate during the full solar eclipse. https://www.space.com/total-solar-eclipse-low-level-clouds-vanish Based on listening to and reading stuff from meteorologists, I offer the following: The big cloud enemies here would be nimbostratus (which are generally rain clouds) and stratocumulus. Nimbostratus would be the worst. It doesn't look like we're getting those, though. The clouds that we've been talking about here - stratocumulus - are the ones that just "show up" sometimes around the Great Lakes. It's got something to do with air temps, water temps, wind direction, and such. Stratocumulus clouds don't bring rain - they just obscure the sun. If stratocumulus do show up, there'd still be a chance that they break up in spots and allow some viewing. Fingers crossed. Hope for the best.

I'm old enough to remember calling the zoo on April 1st -- getting someone who actually answered the phone, "hello, this is the zoo" -- asking to speak to Mr. Lyons -- getting some traction (maybe they were just humouring us?) -- and thinking that was the funniest thing ever.

NWS nerds weigh in, preliminarily.

gah. sorry.

From the local NWS office's "forecast discussion": While beyond our normal 7-day forecast...The highly anticipated 2024 Solar Eclipse will occur Monday, April 8th in the afternoon. Model and ensemble guidance continue to suggest dry weather for Monday with high pressure surface and aloft over the eastern Great Lakes and Ohio Valley, however it is FAR too early to forecast cloud cover with any confidence or reliability.

Lake Erie is generally a wonderful thing to have on our doorsteps. But even with model forecasts now all agreeing that there will be a ridge of high pressure in place for our region on April 8th (seems like good news!), that great lake still has the power to manufacture clouds. Years ago, I had regular opportunities to make proverbial small talk (the weather!) with a group of people who'd transplanted to Buffalo from different parts of America, different parts of the world. They were all doing graduate work at UB. The two things that they griped about most regarding Buffalo's weather: (1) how humidity made cold temps more difficult to endure (something I'd never realized was the case) and (2) how frequently our region gets clouds that don't do anything (i.e., rain or snow). As to the latter, these folks would regularly say: Where I come from, cloudy skies generally mean that you're getting some weather. But not so here. (I was also struck by how they didn't complain about the snow.)

they're apparently gonna do an encore "between two stalls" segment when they celebrate skinner's 1000th game. there is something so on-the-nose cruel about the sabres' needing to celebrate this guy's 1000th regular season game in the wake of missing out on the playoffs for the 13th time in a row. the team and player are a perfect match, it appears. shoutout to those stalwart fans who will advocate for the guy based on #fancystats (or just goals scored?) . I generally appreciate #fancystats and their utility. If #fancystats do, in fact, say that Skinner is a good and valuable top-6 NHL forward, then Skinner would be the case that proves that there are fundamental flaws (or, at least, limitations) therein.

Choices are too binary. You need a blend. A winning blend.