That Aud Smell

Someone pee in your Cheerios? Sheesh.

From what I heard in the interviews (including Dahlin), these practices are a big jump from summer league play.

That's less than charitable. He's a guy who earns his keep and spot by chuckin' nucks.

holy moses - you can see the shot that done it right there at the start.

I almost said Roethlisberger Lite. But that seemed to be more pejorative than I intended. And I'm saying: I perceive that as his ceiling. A guy who reasonably reminds people of Big Ben, but isn't quite as consistently good as Ben has been. That'd probably make him a QB who'd occupy a #8-#12 slot in terms of overall performance in the league. That's maybe a bit of a disappointment, but I'm ready to live with it.

yeah - yuck.

I remember hearing that it was a bad billet match -- but not that it was downright bad. What's the story there?

I think you’re conflating “good” with “mediocre.” In my mind, I described a private-label (“Presidents Choice”) Roethlisberger.

I've seen it. Holy sh1tballs, as I think @PASabreFan might say.

Alright - that made me laugh. I know Biron's Fran-glish can be a bit idiosyncratic -- but he sure seemed to be echoing what that reporter had related in reporting on ROR in St. Louis. I missed that quote from pi about the benefits of living alone. That is interesting.

Btw, I think there's a not totally insignificant chance that worst case scenario comes to pass. Say, like a 10-15% chance that Eichel's just a fundamentally flawed leader and this team won't be able to do sh1t as long as he's the man. That means, of course, I think there's a fairly overwhelming probability that this team gets it going with Eichel as the C. Lord knows, I want it to work, and work soon.

Biron's quote is in line with what that national (was he from Colorado?) NHL reporter had related a while back (sorry no link) about how just about all the veterans on the team (primarily ROR, but excepting Kane (which in and of itself probably says something about Kane)) had a genuine problem with Eichel and his 'tude when/soon after he arrived. My inference: He acted like a cocky pr1ck from Boston, Mass. But people grow up. I'm ready to be over it, or, at least, I'll be over it provided Eichel's team shows real progress this season. If this team continues to be less than the sum of its parts, then that will presumably fall on Eichel.

Been stated upthread, but the biggest thing Mahomes has going for him that Allen does not is an innovative, savant-type offensive mind scheming and calling plays for him. Reid takes a lot of guff in the Twittersphere and such for his weaknesses (clock management, I guess), but that guy designs an offence and calls plays like no one I can think of. It's not too far to call him a genius in that regard. I low-key love Andy Reid. Also helps Mahomes a ton that Smith was the QB last season. And then you have the surrounding cast. Outside of QB, that's easily a top-10 (likely top-5) offence in KC. Buffalo's O. is for sure the worst offence in the league, outside of QB. I liked what I saw from Allen. He looked raw. Made mistakes. But he also looked like he could become a good NFL QB. Probably not great, I will admit. But a good QB who will occasionally boom, occasionally bust, and most times be good enough.

DeGroat, or da goat?

A lotta moving parts, as they say. But getting a tax-advantaged salary has to be in the mix a lot of the time when a FA is deciding on where to land. How'd this start? That Panarin wants to go to a team in Florida?

Has it? https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2017/07/14/location-tax-rates-can-have-big-impact-on-contracts-value/103700802/ Raiola cites former Utah Jazz forward Gordon Hayward's recent deal with the Celtics as an example. Boston and the Miami Heat could have offered Hayward essentially the same contract, but Hayward would have made more in Miami due to the different tax rates in Florida and Massachusetts. Of course, that would depend on where he had taken up residence. .... Packard says he has a client who was choosing among three teams last year. Packard said a team from a state without an income tax offered his client the lowest salary, but it actually turned out to be the most lucrative deal once taxes were taken into account. Packard says teams located in places without state income taxes use it as a leveraging tool and make players well aware of the advantages of signing there. In the NBA, that would include the Heat, Rockets, Orlando Magic, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and Memphis Grizzlies.

I'm sure lifestyle is a part of it. But I'm also sure as eggs is eggs that getting to keep more of the money you earn has, y'know, something to do with it too.

Tampa and Panthers, along with Las Vegas, apparently have tremendous tax advantages to induce FA signings.

Link? I have wondered if/when law enforcement would look to crack down on some of the more outrageous table-dives. (Like top-roping off the roof of an RV.) I've said it to those who'll listen many times: Someone is gonna die one of these days. General police power, I imagine. Sounds about right. There's all kinds of nooks and crannies in the Penal Law that would arguably allow a Sheriff to put the kibosh on table-smashing. I do wonder, though: Private lots? What basis would the Sheriff have to enter?

Eesh. That's no good. Best of luck to this fella. How so? (Also, please: Smell.) Graham said in his Tweet that there's an audio recording of Harrington very recently "shaking down" (weird word to use) local Athletic writers at a press conference about Graham. pipe down, you.

I think you've dabbled in such insights before. What's/who's your source(s)? Everything about the board upgrade was a complete and total improvement over the prior experience ... except the emojis.

The combination of the deal, the value, the moving parts, and the possible effect on the Sabres got me like.