03/07/09 09:44 - 38ºF - ID#47980

How to build a football team

For the Bills, because they do not know.

1. Hire a good coach, and stick with him, even when he has a bad year. If a player won't play for him, said player goes--not the coach. (See: Noll, Cowher, Tomlin)

2. Build your team through the draft. Free agent signings should be rare, but when you make one, they should be for undervalued players, with more career ahead of them (See Bettis, Farrior).

3. Wide Receivers can be found at all levels, and should never be gone after in Free agency. Ditto Running backs. WRs are successful because of good QBs, and RBs because of good lines. (See: Ward, Parker, Washington)

4. Defense wins championships, and should always be the top priority. (See: the Steelers--always)

5. Character counts. Never invite the troublemaker, and don't be afraid to let him go, even if he is talented (See: Plexico Burress).

6. Coaching counts. Even the pros can still learn, if they are willing. Sign the guys that are willing to listen (See: Polamalu)

7. Another acceptable free agent signing is for depth--i.e. back-ups (see: Batch, Leftwich)

8. Even if a guy is great, let him go if and when he is old and wants a giant contract (see: Porter, Webster)

9. Stay in town. If your team has a city name in it, you better stay in said city. Don't go to the suburbs, and don't even think about relocating internationally.

10. Focus on fundamentals. Trickery will only go so far if you can't block or tackle.

Permalink: How_to_build_a_football_team.html
Words: 246
Location: Buffalo, NY

03/05/09 03:01 - 50ºF - ID#47960

Girl-drink Drunk

For (e:jason)

Permalink: Girl_drink_Drunk.html
Words: 11
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: politics

03/01/09 03:59 - 22ºF - ID#47915

An economic stimulus proposal

So next year, quite a few military personnel will, if all goes according to plan, be returning from Iraq.

This could be bad news, or good news.

Of course, it is always good news if there is peace and safety, but the possibility of bad news is this: an economy that already has high unemployment will have a glut of new workers--workers that have spent at least a year outside of our culture (more for most), and who's skills may not have an equivalent in our economy.

To make matters worse, quite a few have suffered trauma. Historically, re-adjustment to civilian life has not been easy.

Here's the good news. Many of these service people will be flush with combat pay. They will want new homes and new cars and furniture and clothes without camo and all sorts of things.

As long as we are throwing around all sorts of cash, I think we should make an investment in this area. In addition to regular veterans benefits, I would provide an additional bonus for veterans to take a class on starting a business. Another bonus for attending a support group. We should pay them to rehab houses and give them affordable mortgages to buy them. I would also love a bonus paid to veterans who stayed drug and/or alcohol free, or pledged not to own a gun.

So much can go wrong when veterans return. More Vietnam veterans have died of self-inflicted wounds than died in the conflict. This, however, is not only preventable, but by making the right choices, the end of our current war can be an integral part of the economy's jump start.

Permalink: An_economic_stimulus_proposal.html
Words: 277
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: religion

02/24/09 01:17 - 21ºF - ID#47876

Ash Wednesday

Tomorrow is the day that we remember our mortality. Not so pleasant, but good to do once in a while. When I put ashes on a person's head, I will tell them (and it is particularly hard with sick people, who know it all too well) "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return."

Lent is hard to get without experiencing it. But it really can go well.

Permalink: Ash_Wednesday.html
Words: 75
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: religion

02/23/09 04:09 - 22ºF - ID#47869

Media fast

I'll still be on media where I know people, so blogs, twitter, and facebook are all good, but I am taking a break from videos and mindless websites in the hope that "old media" will change me in some positive ways.

So, starting Wednesday, limited internet, no tv, and no partisan talk radio. Until Easter (but maybe longer if it is as good for me as I think it will be)

Permalink: Media_fast.html
Words: 71
Location: Buffalo, NY

02/11/09 12:33 - 53ºF - ID#47711

What the Font?

For design nerds with iPhones:

found via Buffalo Feed.

Permalink: What_the_Font_.html
Words: 15
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: football

02/08/09 10:05 - 29ºF - ID#47684

One last yinz luv

Permalink: One_last_yinz_luv.html
Words: 10
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: religion

02/06/09 12:33 - 23ºF - ID#47658

movie tonight

my house. "The Ordinary Radicals."

This is the story of a peculiar people,
with no King but God,
practicing a revolution of love,
and making the world anew.

Their isn't the old-time religion of saving up for going to heaven;
this is bringing heaven to the world.

7pm.

Permalink: movie_tonight.html
Words: 68
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: religion

02/04/09 11:24 - 15ºF - ID#47631

A good quote.

The old words of churches are incapable of being
saving words anymore.
The old words fail and fall silent,
and our Christian life consists only
of prayer and trying to do the right thing.
It is not for us to foretell the day,
but the day will come
when some are called
to utter the word
of God
in such a way
that the world is changed and renewed.
There will be a new language,
perhaps quite unreligious,
but liberating and saving,
like the language of Jesus,
so that people are horrified by it,
and yet conquered by its power,
the language of a new truth,
the language that foretells the peace
of God
and the coming
of the Kingdom.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Letters and Papers from Prison

Permalink: A_good_quote_.html
Words: 127
Location: Buffalo, NY

02/02/09 09:29 - 27ºF - ID#47599

Amazing brains.

The power of our brains blows me away. Here's what I was thinking this morning.

At the end of a night, we tend to be tired and think less clearly, so we go to sleep.

And then, when we are asleep, our brains don't really stop--it re-charges by working!

And it does things that we rarely do when we are awake. What really blew me away last night is that in my dream, other people were telling jokes, and they surprised me and made me laugh.

Which means that part of my brain is writing comedy material, but hiding it from the other part of my brain that is going to hear it in the dream.

Or (more likely, actually) it is spontaneously creating it for one character of the dream, and then experiencing it in the first person.

Either way, to have creative thought like that is great in and of itself, but to actually hide it from my own mind until the right moment really blows me away.

If I were an intelligent design guy, I would spend a lot of time talking about dreams. I haven't kept up with the latest research, but when I did, neuroscientists didn't have a clue what was happening.