BSD - Bills’ Lankster Will Be Like Ummm… Active Sunday

[patmoran2006]

Ellis Lankster was drafted by the Bills this past April with very little fan fare. The seventh round selection from West Virginia (former Bills great Darryl Talley’s school) was not expected to make the 53-man roster and at best would compete for a practice squad spot. Still not bad for a kid who played his first two years of college ball at Jones County Junior College.

LINK (http://www.buffalosportsdaily.com/2009/09/bills-lankster-will-be-like-ummm-active-sunday/)

[psubills62]

First time I saw that video...poor guy. Seems very polite, though, addressing the media as "sir" most of the time.

He seems like a playmaker. We're putting young guys in the secondary, but guys who are known playmakers (Byrd, Lankster). I'm really hoping they can bring a different aspect to a defense that seems to be lacking some of that the past few years.

[M]

I don't think someone that is hoping for a professional sports writing gig should take pot shots at their subject's perceived disability, tick or what have you. JMO.

[SeatownBillsFan21]

Wow thats the first time ive seen dude talk to the press...

[LifetimeBillsFan]

He may have problems speaking to a group in public, but he certainly appears to be doing a pretty good job of learning how to play cornerback.

I remember seeing him at West Virginia, particularly last season, and I was so unimpressed by what I saw that I was disappointed when the Bills used a draft pick on him. There was one game that stuck in my mind--I forget who it was against, forgive me, I'm getting old!--where the WVU pass defense was utterly helpless against its opponent and Langster seemed to be getting beat almost every other play (at least that was the way it seemed to me). He looked horrible in coverage, although he hustled and didn't give up on plays, even when his teammates seemed to.

But, he looked like a different guy when I saw some clips of him in the OTAs and, then later, playing in the preseason. Everything about his game looked better than it was in college. Which tells me that, indeed, he has been working hard the way that he said that he was.

Hopefully that hard work and improvement has continued since the end of the preseason. While I don't think that Henne and the Miami receivers pose that big of a threat against the Bills' secondary this week, I do think that the depth that the Bills have in the secondary will be tested this season, especially if they have any more injuries in the secondary before the bye week.

[Oaf]

Did you really have to put the editorial jests at the speech impediment, Pat?


While he proved in the preseason that making plays in limited opportunities was a strength, unfortunately he also demonstrated that speaking to the media was not.



I don’t think Bills fans will like ummm.. Care as long as he handles Miami.

really?

[Meathead]

if lankster starts talking trash do the bills get charged a time out

[ELAYAS]

I don't think someone that is hoping for a professional sports writing gig should take pot shots at their subject's perceived disability, tick or what have you. JMO.

or take shots at anyone's at all...

[Canadian'eh!]

Seriously... Dude CLEARLY has a speech impediment, but seems VERY humble and polite.

It must be EXTREMELY hard for him to have to face the media and speak. ANyone who has ever suffered from a stutter or tick can tell you that nervousness makes it MUCH worse, and they work VERY hard for years to improve it.

Please don't take shots at the guy for it. It's really not funny at all.

[psubills62]

He may have problems speaking to a group in public, but he certainly appears to be doing a pretty good job of learning how to play cornerback.

I remember seeing him at West Virginia, particularly last season, and I was so unimpressed by what I saw that I was disappointed when the Bills used a draft pick on him. There was one game that stuck in my mind--I forget who it was against, forgive me, I'm getting old!--where the WVU pass defense was utterly helpless against its opponent and Langster seemed to be getting beat almost every other play (at least that was the way it seemed to me). He looked horrible in coverage, although he hustled and didn't give up on plays, even when his teammates seemed to.

But, he looked like a different guy when I saw some clips of him in the OTAs and, then later, playing in the preseason. Everything about his game looked better than it was in college. Which tells me that, indeed, he has been working hard the way that he said that he was.

Hopefully that hard work and improvement has continued since the end of the preseason. While I don't think that Henne and the Miami receivers pose that big of a threat against the Bills' secondary this week, I do think that the depth that the Bills have in the secondary will be tested this season, especially if they have any more injuries in the secondary before the bye week.

I don't remember Lankster in particular, but was it perhaps the bowl game against UNC? Hakeem Nicks did whatever he wanted in that game, as did a couple other receivers I believe. I knew Nicks was a good receiver, but that game really vaulted him into the first round, imo. Especially when he made the catch behind his back.

[WeAreArthurMoates]

If he gets activated I hope he or Freddy returns the kicks.

[mybills]

But, he looked like a different guy when I saw some clips of him in the OTAs and, then later, playing in the preseason. Everything about his game looked better than it was in college. Which tells me that, indeed, he has been working hard the way that he said that he was.


He was a bit inconsistent in the ps. Either he was making big plays, or screwing up badly. All we can hope for is big plays this time.
:pray:

[Pinkerton Security]

i didnt think he had a speech imdediment, i think he was just very nervous speaking to the press..

[ZacGriffi~82]

Yeah, it's pretty simple. If you want to be considered a professional reporter, don't act unprofessionally.

[patmoran2006]

Yeah, it's pretty simple. If you want to be considered a professional reporter, don't act unprofessionally.

1- Who said I want to be a "professional reporter" ?

2- In all due respect to him, I have no desire to be another Chris Brown. BSD is not 100% homerism based Bills news. If people want nothing but straight news 24/7, they can go to Buffalo News, Bills.com or wherever else

3- The post also cited Lankster as a very classy person.

4- Sorry, but the internet for better or worse has changed the way some thigns are reported and the topics that are covered. If I wanted to do nothing but report straight news with no edge or at least attempt (futile) at humor or sarcasm , I'd have attempted to go the print publication route.

(Having said that, the post has been taken down, I do, for the most part listen to the majority of readers--and I also spoke to someone with the Bills this morning who politely asked that Lankster not be ridiculed, which I gladly obliged. In THIS case, Lankster has done nothing wrong on the field or off it to warrant any jokes and/or criticism. People like T.O. any many others however, are fair game)

[patmoran2006]

BTW.. SOrry if that came off as Defensive Zac, it wasnt mean to be.

[Meathead]

he shouldnt be doing pcs if thats the best he can do

it really bugs me how people are so eager to fall over themselves to over protect people with disabilities and then turn around and be harsh and impatient with an 'able' person

should we help people with disabilities? of course! should we be equally accommodating to our brothers and sisters without disabilities? you bet your ass

hint: everyone is damaged, disabled in some serious way by what life dishes out to all of us. most of us would instantly be much more advanced spiritually if we could figure out how to treat every person on earth like they were disabled - with patience and understanding and compassion

but thats not what happens. i see examples all the time, some douche who is being rude to everybody else, then walks up to me and treats me like a three year old and wants to 'help' me. frankly i just look at him with pity and disgust, and all the people that do similar things to a much more subtle degree

no, you are not suddenly a 'good person' because you are ultra-sensitive to a disabled person when you are a dick to most everybody else. you have to be much more liberal in how you spread that compassion around, my friend. being super nice to a cripple and then a bastard to everyone else makes you just a bastard

in fact, you should NOT have an limitless set of boundaries for a disabled person

theres no reason why we should have to sit through pcs like the one Lankster conducted previously. he was absolutely non-functional in that session and if thats the best he could do then he should simply not do them. find an alternative, like have questions posted in written form and write out your answers before giving them to the media

heres the point where a great many of you will have your heads explode, trying to out-compassion meathead. you will completely ignore this thoroughly valid point tripping over yourselves to prove you are such a great person because you wont put a lid on a press conference that had three usable words. your brain will shut down, you will wave your hand to dismiss me, and you wont even consider this valid point because its too painful for you

well push through and deal wid it. and answer the question that many before you have already refused to even contemplate:

how far does everyone else have to go to accommodate someone elses disability?

lets say im lanksters actual brother, and im also his boss at the time running a successful agency company to which he is both a client and participant in, and of course i love him because im his real brother (in this example) and more importantly because im one of the most unconditional loving people you will ever meet (in real life)

after that press conference i would say to Lankster as his boss his friend and brother:

dude that was horrible. you cant do that again

like ive said before, i would probably start that discussion out by making jokes about it and lmao with him because a) most disabled people will beg you to treat them like everyone else and be grateful when you do, and b) sometimes when things are so horribly pathetic they become funny (ie Family Guy) and this was one of those times

but then i would be truly compassionate and loving and say listen man you got the bread now, lets look up some therapists and get started on seeing how we can improve on what we now both admit was a disaster. and we wont do another pc until we figure out how much non-productive time we will have to ask our media brothers and sisters to sit through to accommodate you

imagine lankster becomes the best player the bills ever had. would we have to endure that initial performance every time we wanted to hear him speak? of course not. i wouldnt want that for me as a fan or me as a brother or me as the stutterer myself. where would we end up drawing that line fifteen years into his first ballot hof career? somewhere A LOT less than four hundred 'it was like ums' to get one phrase, i can tell you that

before i became disabled i used to be a ski patroller and an excellent skier. what if i was to be honored with some ski related award and i wanted to ski down the bunny slope to receive it. what if it took me forty-five minutes to get down the slope because of my condition. do i require everybody else to just sit there and wait for me because im disabled? 'oh look at that poor man, i will just sit here patiently for almost an hour because im such a great person', then not tip the waiter

being loving and understanding toward disabled people DOES NOT mean that we have to endure completely ridiculously uncomfortable and unacceptable situations in an effort to be 'sensitive'

and being patient and understanding ONLY to disabled people is a very common sickness of spirit that i urge many if not most of you to take a very, very close look at

[Dr. Lecter]

Meathead can tell you that I am fair.

I walk as fast as I can to the Bills, Bandits and Sabres games and turn around and laugh at him gimping well behind me.

[Meathead]

my family makes penguin noises when i walk

[ZacGriffi~82]

I was assuming that was your goal Pat, but apparently it isn't? I wasn't voicing an opinion on the the ethics of it, but simply advising that you wouldn't see that on Tim Graham's blog, etc. But if your going for a Deadspin/PFT type of approach (not my thing but apparently popular), more power to you.

[patmoran2006]

I was assuming that was your goal Pat, but apparently it isn't? I wasn't voicing an opinion on the the ethics of it, but simply advising that you wouldn't see that on Tim Graham's blog, etc. But if your going for a Deadspin/PFT type of approach (not my thing but apparently popular), more power to you.

I wouldn't necessarily say that. We're more interested in printing news far often than satire. Id say 18 of 20 posts we have are direct news & stories.

But for us, or anyone else doing it to completely ignore the effect that sites like Deadspin or a PFT have would be foolish.

Its a different society now-a-days. IN general, people get bored with "straight news" quicker. I don't necessarily like that, but its the way it is. There are exceptions of course, but its still the minority today.

[Meathead]

There are exceptions of course, but its still the minority today.
oh now youre picking on the minorities. you make me sick

[mybills]

oh now youre picking on the minorities. you make me sick
In a few short years, he'll be one, just like me & you. :ill:

[Dr. Lecter]

Gimpy, the red-headed bedwetter is already a minoirty.

[The King]

Link is dead.