Some random recents thoughts on sports and life.....

--Chan Gailey is sporting a new full beard.  Beards are a funny thing for men.  Often, they either work, or they don't.  I've tried a beard before.  It just made me look homeless and unkempt, no matter what I wore.  Some beards work though.  They can make some men more manly.  Make him look more like a lumberjack, and some women find this appealing I'm told. 

Most of the time, beards make a man look older.  Sometimes this can be a good thing for some men who actually want that.  But it seems to be true in most instances.  How often has it happened that you have an acquaintance that has a beard.  You haven't seen him in some time, but you think he is around 50 or 55 years old.  One day, he stops you in the supermarket and says, "hey Frank, how ya been?".  You stammer, "Uhhh, I've been good...", and then he says, "Frank, you don't know me do you, its Dave!", and you say, "Well, Dave, my name is Bob".  No, seriously, you say, "Wow, Dave, I didn't recognize you!  You shaved your beard off".  

Suddenly, this guy in front of you looks to be in his mid 30's.  He not only looks different, he looks much younger.  Usually that is the case with beards.  With Chan Gailey, I find the reverse is actually true.

Ever since he has been the coach of the Bills, he has looked like he was in his late 60's or early 70's.  With the paunch, chubby face and nearly bald head, he looks like that older uncle you have that you see once a year at a family picnic.  Now suddenly, even though his beard has some natural gray in it, he looks like he is in his mid 50's, and tough, vibrant and in the prime of life.  

Before the beard, he looked like he might have a hard time getting up out of a soft recliner.  Now with the beard, he looks like he is the perfect handy neighbor you want to ask to help you fix your lawnmower, or help you work on your patio deck.  He seems capable, stronger....younger.  Now he actually looks like a football coach dammit!  He looks like he oughta change his name to "Bear".  A guy who looks like that can coach my football team anytime!

--Vince Young is a great addition to the Bills.  The Bills signed Vince Young last Friday to a one year, $2 million dollar contract plus incentives.  Young provides a big upgrade to the QB position in Buffalo.  Notice I didn't say "backup" QB position, because it is not out of my realm of possibilities that he could win the starting job.

Ryan Fitzpatrick is a much smarter quarterback.  He can read defenses better than Young and has a more innate knowledge of what is going on out there.  The one thing Young has that Fitzy doesn't is an ability to make plays with his legs.  Fitzpatrick also has a pop-gun arm instead of a cannon.  He makes mistakes and throws interceptions when he tries to force the ball into receivers and doesn't throw a great deep ball.  He's no Elway or Kelly.

Young has only slightly better arm strength than Fitzpatrick, but he has the ability to make things happen that Fitzy doesn't.  Young is like Tebow-lite.  He does many of the same things that makes Tim Tebow successful.  He adds that extra dimension that makes defenses wet themselves knowing they have to worry about the run or scramble as well as the pass.  For the home fans, Young adds that extra excitement of being able to move out of the pocket and scramble for first downs when the coverage is good or the play breaks down. 

At best, Young is a cheaper alternative who has experience and a winning record as a starter, capable of taking over at QB and leading this Bills team to a 10-6 or 11-5 record.  He has done it before, leading a Titans team that may have not been as talented on paper as this Bills team to records like that, adding excitement to the Ralph in the process.  At worst, he is a much better alternative to Tyler Thigpen.   He has the experience to take over in case of an injury to Fitzpatrick.  He is also a perfect situational quarterback who can come in with special personnel packages to run certain sets or the "wildcat" offense.

Any way you slice it, it is a win-win situation for both.  Buffalo is the perfect place for a guy like Young to land, where he will get playing time and could possibly start.  For the Bills, there is no way they could be worse with Young than before they signed him.

--The lazy language of many younger people today is getting out of control.  This is the part of the blog where I am going to sound like a real fuddy-duddy, but if makes me nuts.  One instance of this is the use of the words, "I know, right".  Notice I didn't put a question mark after the word "right" because they really aren't asking a question.  I know you have to have heard the overuse of this phrase haven't you?  If you haven't, well, you need to get out more.  Here is an example:

You are waiting for a bus.  You see a girl in her 20's standing next to you, probably wearing earbuds from an IPod.  Just to make conversation, you say, "Wow, sure is a nice sunny day isn't it?"  Now there are two responses you could get:

Correct response:  "Why yes it sure is.  It's been a very mild spring so far".

Annoying current response:  "I know, right"

It drives me crazy, and I hear it everywhere!  Just the other day, I was in line at Subway, and the sub "artiste" said to the guy behind me, "mmm, I love ranch dressing and mayo on a sub too.  It really gives it quite a kick". 

Now of course, the proper response from this 20-something dude with his hat on backwards would have been, "yeah, I find it really wakes up my taste buds, but many of my friends mock me when I order it that way.  If they only knew....", but instead all I heard was "I know, right"

Where did today's 20-somethings and even 30-somethings go to school--?Barbie and Ken college in the valley"?  Who the heck taught them how to converse, Pauly Shore?  Almost as bad are the people who say "you know" after every single sentence.  You have heard these dimwits right?

dimwit 1:  "So what are you going to do today?"

dimwit 2:  "Well first I think I'm gonna stop at the Bell and get a couple of tacos, you know.   Then I'm heading over to Brad's to chill at his pool, you know, and catch a few rays.  Then, we're gonna go to the pub and have a few drinks and dance to relieve my work stress, you know what I mean?"

dimwit 1:  "I know, right"

If this is our country's future, I fully expect when I am in my 70's to hear this from our President:

"Thanks for tuning into my state of the union address.  I can first state that we are going to pull out of this latest recession, you know.  We will not be raising taxes, because that will hurt our small businesses, you know.  Thanks to the Obama administration 30 years ago, we are working hand in hand with the Muslim party to foster, you know, an equal partnership with Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan to trade goods and services freely, you know.  (clapping and cheering from congress)  I know, right.  Who knew Muslim rule would be so good for so many people here in Mexamerica, you know".

He might have even thrown "irregardless" in a few times just to piss me off.  Of course most of you know "irregardless" isn't even a word, but it is used allllll the time when just the word "regardless" would suffice!

I know many of you reading this blog, if you made it this far (and if you did, congrats) are probably saying, "Gee Craig, you are getting awfully crusty for a nearly 46 year old man (in two weeks)!

Well, I really have only one thing to say to that...."I know, right"

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