Kaspers Korner

    With the first pick in the draft you usualyl get phone calls that inquire about the first pick.  This year however, teams close to the top have deemed that Calvin Johnson is son good that he can be better than even Randy Moss when he hits the field.

    Trading down from the first pick this year might be the best thing considering the fact that the class is week, and the Oakland Raiders have plenty of holes to fill.  Do not expect the Bills to trade up to the number one spot.  The price tag would be to much.

   However, Pro Football Talk.com reports that in a mock draft the think the Bills will trade up into the Washington Redskins spot to take Peterson.  The price tag would not be that much to get into the spot. 

    However, the trade is stupid on this note.  You can easily get a good back in the later rounds that step in, and is very effective right away.  For example, Travis Henry when he came to Buffalo he was a second round pick.

   The cash to cap system ties Levy’s hands.  Levy has to consider the new cap system to.  You cannot just blow alll sorts of picks to trade up for one guy. If the team is going to have a future they need as many picks as possible.  Also, they need to hit on as many of them as possible.

    Folks lets face it the media has been a whirlwind this year.  Thank god for the hockey playoffs , because if it was jsut football I be going nuts on what info is out there now.

    First off, as I wrote the heading, spelling Poslusny is a pain in the butt.  In Don Banks column today he listed firve players that should be impacts right away.  The fortunate thing is that two of them should be there for the Buffalo Bills, and are needs.

    The Bills will ultimately have to decide between the two. Marshawn Lynch and Paul Posluszny should be there when the Bills draft.  That should not be an easy task at hand, and should be a lengthy debate.

    There is one thing that they should not do is trade down.  Many scouts according to Peter King is not deep.  King cited in his column that in many scouts mind there is only 18 players deserving of a first round grade.  Obviously, Lynch and Posluszny would be two of them with many hving them rated high in the first round.

    The decision itself of who to draft is simple in my mind.  That should be Posluszny.  Why? Well there are two reasons.  First, you should be able to get a running back easily in the first day that should be able to split time with Anthony Thomas, and still make a good impact. The other is that Posluszny is versitle and can play both the strong side linebacker and middle linebacker spot. 

   The drafting Posluszny will allow the Bills to be able to keep all five defensive tackles that the Bills currently have on their roster.  They can start Posluszny at the strong side and if Angelo Crowell gets hurt then they can slide him to the middle and insert Mario Haggan or Josh Stammer. Also, remember that they used Coy Wire at linebacker last year, which would give them insurance depth in case of an injury.

   So, as i conclude this article tonight if your reading Buffalo Bills make sure when Roger Goodell approaches the podium that he says this:  With the 12th spoth in the 2007 NFL draft the Buffalo Bills select Paul Posluszny linebacker Penn State.

    Reading Pro Football Talk.com today I saw a disturbing article.  The site was reporting that NFLPA’s director of retired players Andre Collins sent out a memo that the union would dissolve and chapter that it deemed guilty ofconduct detrimental to the union.  PFT got wind of the news after reading the Baltimore Sun.  The Sun wrote the article today.

    Who the hell do they think they are.  First off these retired palyers do not have a contract with the union of the National Football League.  They are retired, and have earned the right to speak their mind. 

    The fact being that many of these players did not have the resources available to them like players do makes the them likely to make mistakes. Now, because of the lack of advisement many are now poor, and even some are hoemless. 

    NFLPA’s director of communication Carl Francis was quoted as saying that the memo was to just try and get everyone on the same page.  Wake up NFLPA they do not give two shits about what you think, and they should not.  They have medical problems, needs for medication, and in some cases need for the basic essentials in life.

    No one person should have the right to dissolve someone for criticing officials for not taken care of our own.  That is why they gave us the freedom of speech, so that people like Collins just cannot go around with thugs and shut everyone up. 

    Now, the NFLPA did get a 25 percent increase of pension benefits for players that played before 1982, and 10 percent for players after 1982.  Look at it this way a former player receiving 900 dollars a month would get an increase to 1,125 a month.  WOOPIE FREAKING DOO!!!!! 

   The fact is that Major League Baseball retired players receive ten times that of a NFL retired player.  How the hell does the top league give crap for pension benefits to early players.  Make a hell of a lot of money for current players.  Send out memo’s to former players to shut up get a way with all of this. 

    Well the fact is that the league will not wake up and get things done for them; because they already did something.  Well if they do not want to do something then it is up to us to do it.  So, I leave you with this question.  Help me out, and those players in need by starting to bang the monkey to get a petition going.

     I must admit that today events saddens me.  However, after doing a project in my mass media class on major disasters, and how it was handled public relation wise.  Columbine was one of them, and I realized that it was only a matter of time.  Unless organizations like the NCAA takes action to elimate charcater problems, unfortunately another disaster like the Virgina Tech shooting will only escalate to other weaponry.

    In wake of the Adam “Pacman” Jones and Chris Henry suspension by the National Football League.  Also, with todays shooting it is important that the NCAA step up to enforce background checking on potential athletes to eliminate problematic characters. 

   The background checking could potentially spread to being used in general by the admissions department.  This is probably the best way to ensure that problematic characters are takencare of.

    To me it is amazing that we as a country do not use it more often.  Isreal uses background checking in its airports as part of their safety mechanisms.  Unfortunately we still are only in the beginning stages of installment of these things.

    Hopefully, theses tragic events today will insipre the NCAA to take some action.  Or, it is up to Roger Goodell to apply pressure on the NCAA to ensure quality characters, as was suggested by Mike Florio in an article on Pro Football Talk.com

   Step up NCAA you are lucky that the NFL stuck up for you, and realized that the best for both of you was for people to play a couple of years and develop.  So, take the lead here and require all new incoming athletes to go through background checks after all it is the least you can do for both the NFL, and the families that lost loved ones today.

    As a frequent reader of Pro Football Talk.com I myself have become leary of some media members.  Especially, the ones that cannot get their head out of their ass.  Two major media outlets made the same mistake as was reported on Pro Football Talk.com.  Now there are going to be a lot of confused people unfortunately.

    In response to his suspension Adam “Pacman” Jones said that the suspension was a little harsh, and that he was never charged with anything.  That is the problem he was charged several times.  Is failure to disclose the fact that he was arrested last year go him suspened.  The fact is that he was never convicted.

    The problem with a lot of media outlets is that they just role with the story, and do not make sure that it is correct.  A CNN report on the story uttered the same thing, and failed to correct the problem, and inform people of the error. Also, on ESPN”S Outside The Lines with Bob Ley Falcons running back Warrick Dunn mentioned the same thing as Pacman, and Ley also failed to correct it.  Which is not a surprise if you been reading PFT.com.

    The people have the right to know what is going on.  Afterall it is in the Constitution of the United States of America.  The fact is that not everyone understands the legal system, which is why we have lawyers!  These two companies are major media outlets and need to point out the error. 

    Jones to me personally is a disgusting person, and deserves a lifetime ban.  Several days after uttering the words he would be a changed man, and said that he would take his punishment like a man he goes out to the casino. 

    Thanks a lot “Real Media” for once a major league sport is trying to clean up its game, and what do you do.  You go and try to make a thug into a sympathetic figure.  Great keep it up.

    First off I have to admit that I am a New York Yankees fan, but I hate the way they go about doing business each year of going out and jsut loading up on free agents. On top of that there is turmoil within the organization on which way the team should go.

    Even to the average fan the Yankees look like a mess.  A designated hitter that has taken steroids.  A clean up hitter that people want to run out of town for not being able to come through in the post season.  Also, a picthing staff that has been, neglected, and old.  On top of that their relief pitching outside of Mariano Rivera is not very good

    The pitching has been the kryptonite of the Yankees on the field.  When as the last time you saw a Yankees starter to throw a no hitter.  Heck, when was the last time a stater went all nine innings.  There is no real setup man that the Yankees can go to.  Jeff Nelson was the rock of the Yankees when it came to middle relief.  Now, you have to hope that the middle relief does not  just blow it.

    As for the hitting well I do not really need to address that.  The hitting for the most part has been consistent.  It has been there all last season, and going into this season has not been a problem.  Especially, when your main player leads the American League in home runs and runs batted in after nine games.

   The front office is the main problem.  The climax of that being that there is no successor now with the divorce of George Steinbreners daughter and son in law.  That is a good representation of the front office as people have taken sides.  Some want to load up still and make a run, and others want to move on and build within.  Untill the infighting stops there will be no World Series trophies for the Yankees

    If the Yankees are to restore the mystic and dominance that it once had the front office need to get its act together.  You better make up your mind, because your indecisiveness will catch up to you if it has not already.

    You can not usually tell a lot after one game on how a series should go.  However, in the case of the Buffalo Sabres the game went just as anticipated, and the being dominating.  The New York Islanders were out matched in every part of the game.

    The playoffs just kicked off for the Sabres, but you can tell one thing already.  They want the Stanley Cup very bad.  You can see in every facet of the game that they have a chip on their shoulders.  That can be a very good thing.  Remember last year they were motivated by how nobody respected them.  Now they are motivated with that they felt the cup should of been theirs last year, and now they are out to prove it.

    Already Chris Drury has proven why he is a much more needed around here than Daniel Briere.  He does one thing thing that Briere does not, and that is teach kids how to get the job done.  What you need game in and game out to win the cup.  Drury has been there and done that with The Colorado Avalanche early on in his career, and you can see that has rubbed off on him.  Now it has rubbed off to the rest of the team. 

    Special team performance is back, and it is amazing what one guy can do.  Even before the return of Tim Conolly the penalty kill was getting better, and the second power play unit. However, now with Conolly back those two have alread received a huge boost.  The thing is Conolly is getting better with each game.  I forgot where I heard this, but I remember someone saying that a general manager in the east said once Conolly comes back everyone might as well conceede the eastern conference. Boy was he right.

    Well it is going to be fun to watch the Islanders once again Implode.  For it is always fun to watch a New York city team implode before your eyes.

   The playoffs have just kicked off in the National Hockey League, and already there has been a couple of overtime games.   However, in Buffalo the tension and anticipation is so thick that you can cut right through it.

   People all around Western New York have been showing how cup crazy they are.  Yesterday there was the icecream in shape of a stanley cup, and today there was the ultimate Buffalo Sabres fan stopping at places in Buffalo, and people had to find him to get the tickets to game one.

   The thing is it is only the first round.  I am sorry but it does not mean anything to me.  The fact is as I am writing this blog today I have not even caught a minute of the game.  I am a former athlete and I have learned that you need to save your energy for the big contest, and those being the conference and cup finals. 

   The fact that in a diverse society you cannot have one thing to attract people all the time.  Not everyone is crazy about the Sabres.  The schedule for the National Football League came out, and that story got a minute or two.  Also, the draft is coming up and we barely have heard anything about it except for the usual articles from the Buffalo News on the draft.  The thing is that this draft is huge as it dictates what the future could hold for the Bills after this year.

   Come on Sabre fans we been through this dance last year.  Save your craziness for the big dances.  You do not need to go all crazy already.  Let it be a slow cresendo with it peaking at the Stanley Cup finals.  The NHL playoffs are a long grueling road.  Get pumped up when the game is on not when it is not.

   The National Football League released its schedule for each team.  To the dismay of this journalist, and after looking, reading, and digesting the schedule one thing comes to mind.  The Buffalo Bills could be picking first or second in next years draft like Mel Kiper Jr. said in the On the Clock segment for the Bills.

   I bet a lot of you out there are feeling the same way.  WTF!!! How could the Bills get so screwed on the schedule.  Is it pay back for Ralph Wilson’s whining, or Senator Chuck Schumer asking to go easy on the Bills.  The fact is that it is just luck of the draw. 

   Mel Kiper Jr. in a segement called On The Clock mentioned that the Bills could be drafting first next year.  His reasoning was due to the losses of the Bills this offseason.  Anyways that is the first thing that came into my mind.  This is not me just being pessimistic either.  The way that the schedule shapped out it looks like the Bills could be a contender for the first slot in the draft.

   Looking at the schedule I could not help but notice something.  Of all the opponents that the Bills face only Miami, Cleveland, and the New York Jets are not good at both running and stopping the run.  Of the first six games only the Jets are not good at both.  Denver, Pittsburgh, New England, Dallas, and Baltiomore are the other five.

   Well Levy you wanted to go out and bolster your offensive line and defensive line.  Now, you get to show how good of a General Manager you really are, because if your team does crappy this year it is bye bye.  It does not matter how many times you went to the Super Bowl in the past you are a GM now, and that is a different position.

    The sports talk world in the last couple of weeks saw two national hosts get in trouble for comments made.  The problem is not with what they said, but the action in response to what they said.

    Colin Cowherd said on air that people should all visit thebiglead.com to make it crach.  Then Imus called the Rutgers women’s basketball team nappy head ho’s.  It is one thing to act like Howard Stern, but to go beyond him is outright appauling.

    Imus in particular made racial comments before.  Cowherd in particular constantly makes outlandish statements constantly.  This is on top of editors stealing other media outlet stories, and an on the clock bashing of the Buffalo Bills.

    Imus and Cowherd were both basically given slap on the wrist for the comments they made.  Imus was only given a two week suspension, and Cowherd had nothing done to him.

    I am a firm believer in the Bill of Rights and second chances.  However, both of these men have gone to far, and should be made examples of.  The fact of them getting slap on the wrist only means that they will slip up and do it again.  What is next slipping a n bomb on the air.

    It is unfortunate that corporations nowadays do not care about morals.  O great you recognized that what they said was wrong well woppie do.  Why don’t you actually do something for once and fire someone.  Why the hell does it always come to the government to be the moral representative of businesses.  Wake up CEO’s it is only a matter of time before the american people finally backlash against your company, due to someone saying something wrong.