Worst article ever!

[lordofgun]

http://www.billszone.com/mtlog/archives/2006/06/19/dont_drink_the_damned_koolaid.php

[Earthquake Enyart]

Wys is back? :eek:

[BFLOBILLSBURGH]

This article is complete BS. According to the article - the season is over before it starts.

The Bills can win some games this year, two years ago did anyone pick SanDiego to make the playoffs, how about last year did anyone pick the Bears to make the playoffs. And in 2000 who picked the Rams to win the Super Bowl?

[THATHURMANATOR]

Stupid WYS

[LtBillsFan66]

http://www.billszone.com/mtlog/archives/2006/06/19/dont_drink_the_damned_koolaid.php
I'll take your word for it. I don't have the time to read something that long. Especially from an amateur hack.

[don137]

Read two sentences and stopped...No need to waste time on a whiny writer...I still have not recovered from the whining and complaining from the Hurricanes players and coach in the Sabres-Hurricanes series

[Devin]

"Exposed, Levy Falters"

lol nice.

[footballhottie]

Thats dumb.. im having a bad day i should go take it out on him.

[Meathead]

if you take the letters "Ron Baskin", shift the entire alphabet five places to the right, take out the b and the o, and mix the remaining letters up it spells weiler

coincidence? i think not

[G. Host]

I have seen references to it on several boards with people laughing at it.
I thought it was an article copied off profootballtalk.com
See what happens when people go on vacation?

[OpIv37]

This article is complete BS. According to the article - the season is over before it starts.

The Bills can win some games this year, two years ago did anyone pick SanDiego to make the playoffs, how about last year did anyone pick the Bears to make the playoffs. And in 2000 who picked the Rams to win the Super Bowl?

this is the worst logic ever. What happened to some other team with different players and different coaches in a different season has absolutely no effect on the Bills' chances this season. The Bills are not the 2003 Chargers and this is not 2003. The Bills are not the 2000 Rams and this is not 2000. You might as well say "The Dolphins went undefeated in '72, so the Bills can do it this year too!"

There is only one criteria for evaluating the chances of this team this year: We were 5-11 last year and had a ton of obvious flaws- did the team do enough to address those flaws in the off-season to turn it around?

People's answers and opinions on that will obviously differ, but it's still more effective than comparing the Bills this year to some other team in some other year.

[OpIv37]

if you take the letters "Ron Baskin", shift the entire alphabet five places to the right, take out the b and the o, and mix the remaining letters up it spells weiler

coincidence? i think not

at least Wys was somewhat articulate. This author is just as bitter and cynical, but with an 8th grade command of the English language and he rambles like crazy.

[Earthquake Enyart]

at least Wys was somewhat articulate. This author is just as bitter and cynical, but with an 8th grade command of the English language and he rambles like crazy.
And that's different from wys how?

[Drive 4 Five]

Gibbs hired Williams as his "offensive coordinator"? Did Skooby write this article? Better yet, it may have been written by his "rich" friend with all the inside info.

[LtBillsFan66]

And that's different from wys how?
Wys used big words.

[Bling]

Good article. Who's the genius that is Ron Baskin?

[Meathead]

at least Wys was somewhat articulate.
thats true. and wys made some good points. im just bustin on him. but he is a tad pessimistic

[ICE74129]

Funny thing about that article...other than getting in a hurry and saying a couple things like 'Offensive coordinator' for Gregg williams etc...I didn't see much wrong with it.

I'd like to see someone point out (at this time with no games played) what is incorrect with the article. I grant you the guy may end up being 100% wrong and these were all good moves, but it still needs to be proven. In fact at this time the writer has more of a chance of being correct come the end of the 06 season than not.

Until Jauron proves different, I still maintain we should have went with Sherman. But we shall see.

I will also say this, I hope the guy is wrong. I hope I am wrong that Sherman was the man and DJ was just a 'safe' hire by marv. Because If that writer is wrong, and I am wrong on DJ...We all win. If that writer is right.....

[ICE74129]

thats true. and wys made some good points. im just bustin on him. but he is a tad pessimistic

Ah but grover my friend, Realism and pessimism seem to be two terms that are more often than not, interpreted as the same

[footballhottie]

do you guys like my sig?

[Jan Reimers]

Ron Baskin was either a horribly abused child, or has a terminal case of hemmorrhoids.

If I were as unhappy and negative as he is, I'd impale myself repeatedly with a dull butter knife, hoping I'd eventually hit something sensitive in my body, but I'd count on that taking a long, long time.

[Gunzlingr]

do you guys like my sig?

Where did you find a pic of ICE?

[Mr. Pink]

Ah but grover my friend, Realism and pessimism seem to be two terms that are more often than not, interpreted as the same


Thanks for the free advertisement of my signature Ice!

Onto the article, it's not completely offbase....sure no one's going to like because it does present facts. The author however would have more credibility if he was actually able to make a point without having to go to 1000 words to do so. Slight exaggeration, yes.

There's the complete the sky is falling approach which is what this article represents and then there's the homer "kool-aid" approach where we're gonna somehow be the next coming of the 99 Rams. Truth is, neither in all likelihood will happen. We're about the same, record wise, as we were last year. But instead of having a bunch of old, washed up, hasbeens performing that record we have youngsters who can ACTUALLY improve. So that maybe in 2007 we're looking at a team that can finish around .500 then plug in the final pieces for a division title run in 08.

The only release in the offseason I didn't like was Sam Adams, he could help teach these newer guys some "tricks of the trade" so to say. Which does wonders in the advancement of a youngsters' career. Now, Adams would have had to accept that role as well in order for it to work. Maybe he didn't, we don't know. Either way is speculation.

[patmoran2006]

While I cant dispute a lot of the facts this writer says, it's mind-numbingly painful to try and read.

[socalfan]

While I cant dispute a lot of the facts this writer says, it's mind-numbingly painful to try and read.

Now that sounds like wys.....perhaps a nom de plume?

[G. Host]

Now that sounds like wys.....perhaps a nom de plume?

If so he is using the alias because he is embarassed by it.

[The_Philster]

He has articles under his regular name so I don't buy it

[ICE74129]

Thanks for the free advertisement of my signature Ice!

Onto the article, it's not completely offbase....sure no one's going to like because it does present facts. The author however would have more credibility if he was actually able to make a point without having to go to 1000 words to do so. Slight exaggeration, yes.

There's the complete the sky is falling approach which is what this article represents and then there's the homer "kool-aid" approach where we're gonna somehow be the next coming of the 99 Rams. Truth is, neither in all likelihood will happen. We're about the same, record wise, as we were last year. But instead of having a bunch of old, washed up, hasbeens performing that record we have youngsters who can ACTUALLY improve. So that maybe in 2007 we're looking at a team that can finish around .500 then plug in the final pieces for a division title run in 08.

The only release in the offseason I didn't like was Sam Adams, he could help teach these newer guys some "tricks of the trade" so to say. Which does wonders in the advancement of a youngsters' career. Now, Adams would have had to accept that role as well in order for it to work. Maybe he didn't, we don't know. Either way is speculation.

Oh I completely dig the sig line! And I agree, the fans here dont' like it because it is mostly filled with FACT. Notice how no one has posted a retort with any FACTS?

Right now the writer has a greater shot at being right than not. Fans need to come to this REALITY. We have sucked for about 7 years now. Not much was done this offseason to change that. Possible reason for FUTURE optimism? Sure I posted a thread on that. REALITY RIGHT NOW is we still suck and will continue to do so until we start winning games.

[ParanoidAndroid]

What the writer does, is jump to a lot of conclusions based on a skim of circumstantial evidence. A football fan can either be pessimistic, optimistic, or just keep him/herself grounded, accepting the game for what it is.

[John Doe]

The only release in the offseason I didn't like was Sam Adams, he could help teach these newer guys some "tricks of the trade" so to say. Which does wonders in the advancement of a youngsters' career. Now, Adams would have had to accept that role as well in order for it to work. Maybe he didn't, we don't know. Either way is speculation.

IMHO the Bills could not keep Adams and implement the new "pursuit" defense. The two are mutually incompatible.

[TigerJ]

I'm not expecting playoffs, and maybe not even a winning season, but if Ron Baskin is that pessimistic, he should just go play golf or something.

[socalfan]

If so he is using the alias because he is embarassed by it.



He has articles under his regular name so I don't buy it

Ok, I (GAG) read it, and it wasn't wys....it was too well written to be wys. Although repetitive, inane in places, and often playfully pedantic....it reminded me more of PatMoran. :dance:

[Night Train]

This article is complete BS. According to the article - the season is over before it starts.

The Bills can win some games this year, two years ago did anyone pick SanDiego to make the playoffs, how about last year did anyone pick the Bears to make the playoffs. And in 2000 who picked the Rams to win the Super Bowl?

Who, you ask ?

Why that would be Ron Baskin. Lord of the Rear View Mirror.

[KMA]

I will also say this, I hope the guy is wrong. I hope I am wrong that Sherman was the man and DJ was just a 'safe' hire by marv. Because If that writer is wrong, and I am wrong on DJ...We all win. If that writer is right.....

Don't we all hope that he is wrong? I know that I do.

If you ask me it sounds as if he's angry that his team is badly run.

But we've been through this for five years now and the same people that welcomed all the things that Donahoe did with open arms are now calling him a moron. Many of those same people are behaving the same exact way that they did when Donahoe arrived.

If we go 7-9 this year, 10-6 and playoffs next, fine. But if we go 5-11 or worse again and continue the same garbage, how can anyone argue that it's not more of the same.

I don't know one fan that enjoys the state that the Bills are in. The funny thing is that those that were complaining all along about how the team has been run were actually right. OK, so forget Baskin for a second, but how can anyone get angry with fans that called it correctly and were just pissed over it? That doesn't seem to indicate that they are happy with what's going on for sure. But that's what many people seem to think.

Whatever. Meanwhile, where Baskin is right is in who wants to pay for this garbage. Did anyone enjoy more than a game or two last season? Really, did anyone sit down and say to themselves, yeah, we're losing but at least we're playing solid football? We sucked. That was the culmination of Donahoe's five year plan that everyone said Donahoe knew more than anyone else because of his experience. Well, that turned out to be not so right. So the culmination of that plan was that we sucked. Five years!

Put another way, if anyone reading this knew that this team would be maybe 4-12 and not good at all or improved from last year, would you all run out and buy season tickets? Why?

To support the team? What are you supporting? Good decisions by the owner, the hiring of effective GM's who then hire experienced and proven HC's? Or are you supporting an owner that plays his fans for fools knowing that they're going to keep coming back no matter what kind of a product he puts on the field?

If you want to support the team just send them a check or make a donation. If you want good football, are you going to get it by continuing to support and owner that clearly doesn't seem to care about winning nearliy as much as you all do? Most people would still save money in terms of gas, hotels, time, and other game attending expenses by doing just that, sending the team the same amount of money for season tickets but not going. You wanna go and watch what the Bills are putting and have been putting on the field, feel free. But to criticize fans that don't enjoy football, and I use the word loosely, really, the way it's being played in Buffalo, is just wrong. Can anyone truly blame them?

Would we all watch NY Jets, San Francisco 49ers, and Houston Texans games each week to just watch a good football game?

Meanwhile how is this season different from those past? We hired another losing coach and are ignoring all the bad things that characterize his career and ranting about how "he's dedicated to winning" as if he was dedicated to losing when he was in Chicago. We hired another GM that came from the media side of things and one that's been out of football for almost a decade. Sure, he was a good coach, but as we all know, just because someone was good in one role does not mean that they'll be good in another. And he's also 81 years old now and even if things start moving, we'll have another change soon very likely.

Will this all work out? Hopefully it will. But right now Wilson's taking a huge risk by once more trying to pinch a few pennies. In the meantime, he wants all of us, you, to run out and spend your money on tickets. Tickets to what? Does anyone really really believe that the changes we made from last season are going to be the difference this year?

We'll see how it all works out. But once again there are quite a few things stacked against the Bills on this. And just because a bunch of you here say it's all gonna be alright doesn't mean it will just because that's your wish.

Just asking the questions.

[KMA]

While I cant dispute a lot of the facts this writer says, it's mind-numbingly painful to try and read.

You want smoke blown up your butt, go see ESPN. Very few writers tell the truth about their teams anymore.

Most are nothing more than syndicated cheerleaders. All that anyone can suggest is that if it's too painful to read, then don't read it. At the same time, it's not reasonable to criticize fans that have had enough.

On another note, I read someone in here once that said that Baskin worked for some major sports network for many years. A big one too. So he's not inexperienced.

[KMA]

What the writer does, is jump to a lot of conclusions based on a skim of circumstantial evidence. A football fan can either be pessimistic, optimistic, or just keep him/herself grounded, accepting the game for what it is.

Who's jumping to conclusions?

A. The people that suggest that we haven't made any real progress, that we're on the right track, and that we'll be 6-10 this year and poised to win the division in '07 or '08 or

B. The people that don't seem to see that overpaying players like Price, Royal, and Tripplett, not signing one single impact player, drafting all juniors on day one and making no real moves to actually improve either line, and then figuring that we're not going to improve much as a result.

Which of the two is "jumping to conclusions?"

[Night Train]

Apparently, Baskin is some sort of Thong authority, which naturally qualifies him for hard hitting football commentary.

http://www.cafepress.com/rovers.8237074

[Tatonka]

i never read the front page.. the first 3 lines of the article just confirmed why.

who is ron baskett?

[ParanoidAndroid]

Who's jumping to conclusions?

A. The people that suggest that we haven't made any real progress, that we're on the right track, and that we'll be 6-10 this year and poised to win the division in '07 or '08 or

B. The people that don't seem to see that overpaying players like Price, Royal, and Tripplett, not signing one single impact player, drafting all juniors on day one and making no real moves to actually improve either line, and then figuring that we're not going to improve much as a result.

Which of the two is "jumping to conclusions?"

There are specific pieces of "info" in that article that are not based in fact but on circumstantial evidence...I don't need to point them out because they are all there plain as day. You can pick parts of the piece that are true, but the article, in its entirety, is far from it.
The writer suggests we will be horrible for several more years because we didn't improve every single position in one year... because Marv and Jauron don't know what they are doing and are never going to put it together. The latter is a big part of his argument and is not based on anything other than pure speculation.
I am saying nothing about "A" other than to me, it makes more sense to hope for the best and have fun than mope and whine about a game.
My point was, once again, that the truth resides in the middle of the two extremes.

[ParanoidAndroid]

Apparently, Baskin is some sort of Thong authority, which naturally qualifies him for hard hitting football commentary.

http://www.cafepress.com/rovers.8237074

:rofl:

[TedMock]

Was Ron Baskin a newscaster with WKBW in thte 70's? He wasn't in sports.

[Carlton Bailey]

Baskin used to work for ABC Sports. That much I know.

[Carlton Bailey]

Baskin used to work for ABC Sports. That much I know.

You might be thinking of Ron Burgundy.

"How do you want your steak? Well done or waterlogged?"

[KMA]

There are specific pieces of "info" in that article that are not based in fact but on circumstantial evidence...I don't need to point them out because they are all there plain as day. You can pick parts of the piece that are true, but the article, in its entirety, is far from it.
The writer suggests we will be horrible for several more years because we didn't improve every single position in one year... because Marv and Jauron don't know what they are doing and are never going to put it together. The latter is a big part of his argument and is not based on anything other than pure speculation.
I am saying nothing about "A" other than to me, it makes more sense to hope for the best and have fun than mope and whine about a game.
My point was, once again, that the truth resides in the middle of the two extremes.

Well, does that make sense? We have a lot of aging players and when you add in Spikes there just aren't many veterans that can be counted on for the future. We're pushing the envelope with Villarrial. Who knows how Spikes will return. He may just be average and then fade away. He's no spring chicken either. IMO it takes more faith and blinder faith to believe that he'll ever be back to what he was or even close. It could take a couple of seasons. By then he'll be in his 30s.

It used to be that players played into their 30s. Today once players begin to get much into their 30s they see a decline in play. That's great for really good players, but for average players that isn't good.

Fletcher's a free agent after this season. Clements is gone unless they can resign him. Levy promised that they wouldn't tag him again. IMO he won't extend because he wants too much money.

We can make all the plans we want for our linemen but until some of them start to step up I wouldn't hold my breath.

Our TE's aren't anything special and other than for Evans neither are our WR's.

So when you say that he's based his outlook on pure speculation, I'm not sure I agree. He's probably considered where the team will be in a year or two. Also, we're all talking as if our draft class this year is a gimme for all the players turning out like we want them to. What are the odds of that happening. If we get Whitner and McCargo an one or two other players to play well as starters should then I'll be happy with this draft. But there are a lot of questions about them.

We'll see, but the only decent players we have locked up for long term are McGee, Schobel, and our recent draftees.

I guess as I see it to assume that we'll be good anytime soon is the pure speculation part of it.

[Dont drink the water]

IMHO the Bills could not keep Adams and implement the new "pursuit" defense. The two are mutually incompatible.

Sam Adams had plenty of "pursuit" - he just pursued his own goal rather than playing with rest of team.

[HAMMER]

Oh I completely dig the sig line! And I agree, the fans here dont' like it because it is mostly filled with FACT. Notice how no one has posted a retort with any FACTS?

Right now the writer has a greater shot at being right than not. Fans need to come to this REALITY. We have sucked for about 7 years now. Not much was done this offseason to change that. Possible reason for FUTURE optimism? Sure I posted a thread on that. REALITY RIGHT NOW is we still suck and will continue to do so until we start winning games.

Of the nearly 7K posts you have, nearly half say this exact same thing, over, and over, and over again. We got it wannabe coach, get over yourself.

[ParanoidAndroid]

Well, does that make sense? We have a lot of aging players and when you add in Spikes there just aren't many veterans that can be counted on for the future. We're pushing the envelope with Villarrial. Who knows how Spikes will return. He may just be average and then fade away. He's no spring chicken either. IMO it takes more faith and blinder faith to believe that he'll ever be back to what he was or even close. It could take a couple of seasons. By then he'll be in his 30s.

It used to be that players played into their 30s. Today once players begin to get much into their 30s they see a decline in play. That's great for really good players, but for average players that isn't good.

Fletcher's a free agent after this season. Clements is gone unless they can resign him. Levy promised that they wouldn't tag him again. IMO he won't extend because he wants too much money.

We can make all the plans we want for our linemen but until some of them start to step up I wouldn't hold my breath.

Our TE's aren't anything special and other than for Evans neither are our WR's.

So when you say that he's based his outlook on pure speculation, I'm not sure I agree. He's probably considered where the team will be in a year or two. Also, we're all talking as if our draft class this year is a gimme for all the players turning out like we want them to. What are the odds of that happening. If we get Whitner and McCargo an one or two other players to play well as starters should then I'll be happy with this draft. But there are a lot of questions about them.

We'll see, but the only decent players we have locked up for long term are McGee, Schobel, and our recent draftees.

I guess as I see it to assume that we'll be good anytime soon is the pure speculation part of it.

There are some question marks but the question marks are just that - questions. I don't think that it automatically allows anyone to say, in a factual manner as this author does, that we will be a poor team for several more years. To me, there is nearly as good of a chance that we will be a playoff team in a couple of years. It all depends on the players we have acquired this year and those we snag next year as well as the ability of our coaches to teach, organize and motivate them. It's the same for many teams. As for the aging players, if we do nothing and just let those players go without replacing them, then we have a problem. Every single team has to deal with that issue.
Are we a playoff bound team this year? Probably not; I would say no way. Are we going to stink it up for several years? Maybe, maybe not. No one knows that for sure. In other words, it's all speculation.