That Aud Smell

the WYTS articles are getting a little thin in spots, but magary is always able to bring it for the Bills -- because the team, town, and fans give him so much material. i LOL'd in a quiet public place at this passage: Your coach: Camo-hat humper Sean McDermott. This man is a mystery to me. One second, he’s holding intensely intimate meetings with players and having them bare their souls to one another, which makes sense on some level because Buffalo itself is like if you made a whole city out of an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Players need to cope, and I salute McDermott for recognizing that. But then he handles his own QB situation with all the gracefulness of a Twitter executive. His team also tried to trademark Respect The Process, because trademarks win championships.

True, true. But at least if the guns are gone, his capacity to maim and kill is lessened.

To say nothing of their morbidly obese O-line coach who hates that players take time to stretch. I keep seeing this sort of sentiment on the interwebs. From all appearances, this is not a situation where Richie just needs to pull it together. This appears to be a situation where Richie needs to be declared mentally incompetent and placed in an institution -- before he hurts or kills a bunch of people. FFS -- at least make sure he has no access to firearms.

That's a lot of what I'm getting at. There were knocks on Allen's mechanics and accuracy. It's fair to evaluate whether he's made progress on those issues in the context of preseason games. And, yes: It's a different story once the proverbial bullets start flying for real. But is it "without value" to assess how Allen's coming along with certain isolated physiokinetic (maybe a made-up word) aspects of his own game? I keep reading Twittersphere people who hated the pick saying "well, I'll grant him this: His footwork is way better than it was. And it's resulting in some better accuracy." Is the theory that all such improvements could vanish once he gets in a regular season game? I don't buy it. He will almost certainly struggle mentally in those situations, but if his mechanics care getting fixed, then they're getting fixed.

Yep. That definitely limits my visits to their stores to the level of "once every so often."

I understand the point about how incredibly different the two settings are (preseason, regular season), but I can't get on board with the idea that what Allen's showing in the preseason is without value in terms of evaluating him. It's also an overreach to say that teams aren't competing in the preseason.

I gotchoo, Buffaslug. I gotchoo.

Hear, hear.

Alrighty then.

Yeah - opinions will differ. I found it quite funny -- in fact, it was frickin' hilarious, if one considers the maker of the content (an NFL team). Um, yeah. The gum chomping is kinda sorta part of the joke. Also: Y'all realize that's Baker Mayfield, yeah?

I don't mean to keep coming back to what the Browns are doing creatively, but, welp, here we are. Compare and contrast this with PSE's "Embedded." What the Browns are doing with this sort of stuff is (arguably) clever, self-deprecating, and hip. (Maybe the actual show being promoted will be different?) What the Bills did with Embedded is earnest, self-promoting, and more old school (like, NFL films). Mind you: I'm not commenting on how these creative efforts bear on the wins and losses, etc. (They probably don't!) I also acknowledge that a Beane/McDermott FO is an expression of the Pegulas' values and, for lack of a better term, style. I can't ever see the Pegulas green lighting (or even begetting) this sort of content. Which is, I think, too bad. I will also allow for the possibility that all of this funzies tomfoolery in The Land is inconsistent with the very serious, sober business of being excellent at the foobaw.

Holy Moses - I love this memory. The Dutch Mill?! Where was it (is it)? Could there be anything more old school -- more grandparently -- than a dessert known as the canasta? (Which is a card game my grandmother taught me.) I believe that's right. I don't think they use Frank's anymore.

It’s more a matter of content than style, in this case.

Yep: Prig. Mos def.

Okay, not Grumpy. Something else, then. Maybe an unmitigated prig when it comes to something as inconsequential (and otherwise fun) as regional junk fast food.

Come off it, Grumpy.

Yeah - I very much enjoy getting a Mighty fix now and then. But that food ain't Mexican. It's Mexican-derived American fast food.

City look ferocious and fearsome. I do hope there's an actual competition for the title this season, but I am not optimistic. I hate the Monday games -- there'll no good way for me to keep track of what Liverpool's doing this afternoon.

Rodgers?

I effing love Mighty. Sober.

Not what I mean. Get that kid his reps. He’s gonna be really good once the game slows down a bit. I read hairline fracture. So maybe he’s back in 4 weeks (?). Peterman was really good in mop up time.

@Randall Flagg did you say Edmunds starts season as 2nd string?! Kid’s green, but an absolute freak out there. Preseason week 3 will determine a lot. Given this first half, it’ll be hard to keep Allen off the field. The opponents in weeks 1-3 (4?) counsel in favour of sitting the kid. But ....

Chicago pizza is a delight. I don't really consider it pizza, of course. But I love the style.

Nino's!! So good.

I will sh1t in my hat if that happens.