That Aud Smell

New Era Field‏Verified account @newerafieldFollow More Rivers and Rust will be performing the national anthem at Sunday's game! #NYJvsBUF More about the duo: https://www.riversandrust.com/ 1:09 PM - 6 Sep 2017 I know I've chirped about this in the past, and am sure I will again, but I'm deeply ambivalent about what has appeared to be the crappy-country-music-ification of PSE's sports team holdings. That said, I have no idea whether this duo is any good. Maybe they're not crap.

Yep. He did not have the courage of his convictions.

I'm happy for and proud of you, lady. And, like I said, I signed up with the site. Onward!

Not sure this is addressed elsewhere, but I was pleased to see one of our own have her artwork featured in the new local sports writing veture. I'm a subscriber now, so I hope they paid you for your work, Josie. https://www.thebuffalostar.com/2017/09/the-case-for-rasmus-ristolainen/

Amen to that. I'm teetering away from the NFL because I can't effing stand the greed that drives the league's owners. And, yet, I tend to think I'm finding some sort of refuge in international soccer?

From what I heard and read, that seems to be the case. Yuck. They still might eke it out. But, really - what might they expect to accomplish if they do qualify? Also - is 2022 the first WC where the field is being greatly expanded? (I despise that decision, btw.)

We've kicked this around in the past. I think that's just his manner in those settings -- a little prickly. I take him at his word that he's committed to bringing Buffalo to the top of the league. What are you? Some sort of reasonable person?

Totally serious.

Really helpful. Thank you. (Seriously.)

It's nucking futs to allow this to become a possibility. Sign the man.

It's good counsel. BUT STILL.

"JBOT was hired as GM and constrained to extend Eichel. Hauled up before Pegula, he was asked by Russ Brandon: "Is there any reason at all why we shouldn't fire your ass right now?" To which JBOT replied: "Oh, Terry, live forever! Know that I, the savvy Jason, am the greatest salary cap tactician in the league, and it would surely be a waste to fire such a great manager. So skilled am I that I could even sign your favorite player for less than ten million AAV, given a year to work on it." Pegula was amused, and said: "Very well then, you move into Scott Street immediately, and if Eichel isn't signing a year from now, we'll think of something interesting to do with you." As he was returning to his office to pick up dry cleaning, Randy Sexton remonstrated with him: "Now that was really stupid. You know you can't get Eichel to sign for that amount, no matter how long you try." JBOT's response: "Not at all. I have a year now that I didn't have before. And a lot of things can happen in a year. Pegula might die. I might die. "And, who knows? Maybe Eichel will sign.""

I always like a good parable, but in the story above, I'm left feeling like Eichel signing an 8-year deal is analogous to the horse singing.

It may be my mood, but I'm hand-wringing now. What's the offer-sheet exposure if Eichel isn't signed before this season is done?

I don't think that's the angle I'd take. I'd pay somewhere between where he is now, and where he thinks he'll be, and pay that as a premium on the deal now. We effing tanked for this guy. Get him signed.

I'm not sure where you get that feeling. I'm also not sure why, on earth, the Sabres would want to give the guy a chance to earn himself a bigger deal. Far better to pay a premium now to avoid the need to pay even more in 2018.

Faaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhkk.

Fwiw, WIVB sports anchor just quoted his source as saying no ongoing talks, and inferred it's likely Eichel will play without an extension.

OTOH, now seeing the Eichel quotes about how each side knows where the other stands and that he has no problem playing out the season without a new deal. I'm not stoked about that.

An inference on my part, I will admit. Wawrow posted 3 or 4 Tweets within a few minutes of each other. The first 2 or 3 were quotes attributed to or paraphrased from Eichel himself. Then he posted the one upthread where he mentioned how he had a source with direct knowledge of negotiations. Seems like a fair inference to me. word. i'm not sure. good question.

Wawrow posted that after talking to Eichel this morning at Harborcenter. Easy, you. It's newsworthy because the source is pretty clearly Eichel himself and he otherwise expressed no concern over the contract and said he was looking forward to taking a larger leadership role and staying in Buffalo.

John Wawrow @john_wawrow 1m Last thing before I start writing: Person with direct knowledge of contract talks tells AP Eichel negotiations remain ongoing.

That sort of stuff is, frankly, not up to snuff with the level of analysis you can otherwise bring and often do. It's evident that Tolbert and Williams were apples and oranges. Or maybe pumpkins and acorn squashes, if you will. Banyard and Jones beat out Williams. I understand that a lot of people thought Williams looked good. The subtext here is that he's not the sort of player/guy that McDermott wants around. What does that mean, exactly? I'm not sure, and I have some concerns. The "right guy"/high character stuff isn't something with which I am enamored in today's NFL. But maybe it has more to do with being a serious-minded professional. I certainly hope so. As for Swolbert being a McDermott guy - what of it? What does it actually mean? Is it pure non-merit-based cronyism? I very much doubt that. My sense is that Swolbert "goes about his business," as we so often hear, in a way that McDermott thinks is exemplary. And he can play ST. Maybe Williams was a bit of a laze-about knuckle head who always showed up just on time, had a vacant look on his face in meetings, and was always ghost the moment he was allowed to leave. Maybe Swolbert does things quite a bit differently. There is an infinity of possibilities here, and so much we don't and can't know. The fact that your take is something like "he's (butt) buddies with Sean the Wrestler" is an anemic take. Here's my tinfoil hat take: Something Beane said, or how he said it, in the latter part of August made me think that he'd approached Pegula about moving McCoy and had been shot down. So isn't it then sort of a sneaky tank move to leave McCoy standing alone as the only real viable tailback? In the event McCoy goes down, the tank can go ahead full(er) steam.

The idea of a Cat 5 -- that started out over toward Africa -- making its way to any inhabited area in the Caribbean or U.S. is terrifying. Absolutely terrifying.

If PA were here, I'd rely on him to chirp my complete and total admiration for those clips. Un-frickin-real. It calls to mind the remark that one of Scorcese or Coppola said about a young Leonardo DiCaprio: "Please. Don't let anything happen to him,"