Really!?!

Anyone who has read my prior posts, knows how I felt about the Bills before their showdown against the Patriots on Monday night. It is needless to say that I was less than optimistic. For those who watched what happened last night, I assume you were just as flabbergasted as I found myself during the game and more specifically, after the game. The Bills lost to the Patriots for the twelfth straight game last night, 25-24. I know this is a bit of a cliche and the statement is overused, but the score doesn't even begin to tell the story from last night's game. A quick recap for those who are unfamiliar with last night's results: The Bills started off the game looking pretty solid on both defense and offense by jumping out to an extremely surprising 7-0 lead with a touchdown pass from Edwards to rookie TE Shawn Nelson. The Patriots quickly matched but were surprised by an athletic interception by Bills defensive end, Aaron Schobel, which he returned for a touchdown and a 14-7 lead. The Bills went into the half up 14-10 and surprising all but the most optimistic Bills fans. The expectations had been raised. Unfortunately, being a fan, myself and others now expected a win from a team that we never imagined would even stand a chance.

The second half began with the Bills playing a sold third quarter on both sides of the ball extending the lead to 17-10 heading into the 4th quarter. The Patriots led a scoring drive in the first few minutes of the 4th quarter and scored a field goal to pull the game closer, 17-13. At this point it was obvious the Bills needed a score to stand any chance at holding on for the win as the Patriots became more efficient offensively. The Bills offense responded admirably with a 14 play drive that spanned 62 yards in over 6 minutes, taking an 11 point lead, 24-13. Being a Bills fan, you always expect to blow the game in some way, shape, or form. It's a completely warranted feeling: we lost 4 consecutive Super Bowls, haven't made the playoffs this decade, the Music City miracle, need I say more? But what happened in the last five minutes was incredible, even by Buffalo Bills standards. The Bills allowed the Patriots to score relatively easily to bring the score to 24-19 Bills after a missed two point conversion. Anyone who was surprised by that touchdown was fooling themselves. Luckily the game still seemed to be in hand with a little over two minutes to play. Conventional wisdom would assume that the Patriots would kick an onside kick in order to regain possession but they chose to kick off to Leodis McKelvin. McKelvin received the ball in the endzone and ran out to try and bury the Patriots with good field position but was stood up by the Patriots and fumbled the ball. Patriots ball.

Every Bills fan's worst and all too familiar nightmare was unfolding in front of their eyes. The Patriots then scored very quickly to make the score 25-24 after another missed two point conversion. The Bills had 50 seconds to try and get a field goal to win but came up short after a few sacks that my boy Demetrius Bell was to blame for. However, Bell was only a part of the problem as the Bills lost a heartbreaker.

My thoughts on the game? Too many to write all of them here. Too many negative thoughts to write. But there were a great number of positives to counteract the negativity that normally comes with each Bills loss. I think the positives are the most important part of this game but let me get a few negative points out first:

• C'mon Leodis, you really couldn't have just held onto that ball?
• Posluszny and Kelsay out with injuries on the defense...definitely doesn't bode well for the team.
• The Bills defense was largely effective but I will never understand Perry Fewell's philosophy on covering the pass. Playing 5 yards off of the receiver has never worked and will never work. I understand trying not to let up big plays but I would rather the Bills put a bit more aggression in their defensive scheme to create more turnovers and havoc for the offense.
• The Bills are in trouble at linebacker. Poz is hurt and Ellison got played on both touchdown passes to Ben Watson.
• We need to look for T.O. more than 4 times a game. The honeymoon will soon be over if that doesn't change soon. Plus, we still haven't really seen Edwards throw down field.
• The people who vandalized McKelvin's lawn after the game: Really? How mature is that? I know people get fanatic about the Bills because I do too but it really is just a game despite how important we may think it is. That's a shame for Buffalo that people would do that.
• Dick Jauron is cursed. I don't know who else could have had so many incredible losses on such a large stage, Dallas in 2007, Cleveland in 2008, and now the Patriots. Monday Night Football must love us. We have given them three classic games in the last three years and lost all of them. Ouch.

Positive Thoughts:

• The Bills looked like an actual football team. To those who follow the Bills, they know this cannot be said for the last few years and this game was a breath of fresh air.
• The young offensive line played well for the most part. A huge surprise.
• Alex Van Pelt seemed to handle his new play calling duties very well. The Bills weren't stagnant on offense and most of the calls seemed very appropriate to each situation.
• The defense played a fair game against the prolific Pats offense. However, they did let up 12 receptions each to Randy Moss and Wes Welker.
• Fred Jackson is a very good football player who can get the job done in whichever way you need it. Negative: Marshawn Lynch is coming back eventually...
• The Bills might actually stand a chance at winning some games this year. The quality of the Patriots team may not have been as good as year's past, but they were still a good team and the Bills deserved to beat them. Hopefully, this is a good sign for the rest of the year and the Bills don't live up to some of their last flattering predictions.
• Bill Belichick doesn't respect the Bills. I say this because of the 4th down that they went for on the opening drive and because of the fact that he chose to kickoff to McKelvin as opposed to kicking an onside kick. The Bills consequently stopped the 4th down but fumbled on the kickoff return. What am I getting at? Even though we may have made Belichick look like a genius by fumbling the ball, his oversight of the Bills almost cost him a win. I hope this bodes well for the next game against the Pats so that we can catch him off guard with a win.

Word of the Day: Anachronisitc, adj.

out of place in time or history

Any hopes that the Bills would win the Monday Night game were anachronistic, given their recent history against the Patriots.

Last thought: While the Bills' loss on Monday Night was expected, it was very unfortunate in the way that it had to transpire. Fortunately, its transpiration gives Buffalo fans a glimmer of hope for the year and what else could you ask for.

September 13: The Week That Was

This is my first post in a while so there a bunch of points that I want to cover as I anxiously await the Sunday kickoff of the NFL season.

• On Labor Day, I watched an absolutely fantastic game between the Miami Hurricanes and the Florida State Seminoles. I hoped that Miami might win despite the fact that Florida State was favored in the matchup. Miami, led by QB Jacory Harris proved that they were ready for a game and came out to a 7-0 lead. As the game proceeded, both teams were very well matched and the game was decided on the last play. The Hurricanes were up 38-34 with 1:53 left and the Seminoles needed a touchdown on the last drive to win. In the end, Florida State had numerous chances on the goal line but were stuffed by the Hurricanes' defense. Jacory Harris had 386 yards passing in addition to 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. He was the obvious MVP in a wonderful game.
• On Thursday, the NFL season kicked off with an impressive matchup between the Tennessee Titans and the Pittsburgh Steelers. From the beginning, it was apparent that both defenses had come ready to play. Steelers safety Troy Polamalu had a fantastic first half with some bone crushing hits on RB Chris Johnson and a spectacular one handed pick against QB Kerry Collins. Soon after, Polamalu was injured as the Madden curse struck early (All those unfamiliar with the Madden curse should refer to the link). The whole night, both teams were not giving the opposing offenses much to work with. The game went into half tied 7-7. In the early fourth quarter, Tennessee took the lead on a Rob Bironas field goal, 10-7. In response, QB Ben Roethlisberger led a game tying drive with key throws to WR Santonio Holmes, that were reminiscent of the Steelers' Super Bowl win last February. The game went into overtime where the Steelers won the coin toss and led a nice drive for a game winning field goal. The final score was 13-10 Steelers in a great game to begin the season. In the end, both teams looked very good but the Titans looked like the more well rounded team. The Steelers were unable to get anything going in the run game, making their offense very predictable.
• Friday was a great day for history with inductions to the Basketball Hall of Fame and a milestone by Yankees SS Derek Jeter. I won't go into too much depth about either of these happenings but they should definitely be acknowledged. The great Michael Jordan, David Robinson, John Stockton, Jerry Sloan, and Vivian C. Stringer went into the Hall of Fame. This was a fantastic hall of fame class but was obviously dominated by the fact that Michael Jordan was a part of it. I am too young to say much about any of these players but nevertheless I am happy to see them being immortalized in the Hall. A player that I can comment on is Derek Jeter, who set the record for all time hits by a New York Yankees player with 2,722 hits to pass Lou Gehrig. This is obviously a historically significant event but I really appreciate it because I am finally starting to see some of the athletes that I grew up with becoming some of the greatest players to ever play their games. Jeter is a great player and a respectable man. I am very happy to see him setting milestones and getting the attention he deserves.
• Saturday, I attended the first home football game for the Buffalo Bulls. This wasn't a normal UB football game because the Bulls were hosting the Pittsburgh Panthers from the Big East Conference. In their matchup last year, the Bulls almost pulled off a huge upset and gave Pittsburgh as much as they could handle. Saturday, the Bulls lost 54-27 but the score does a very poor job of capturing the game itself. The Bulls shot themselves in the foot with four turnovers that led to 27 Pittsburgh points, the difference in the game. Without the turnovers, Buffalo was a better offensive team, producing over 500 yards of offense including 400 yards and 4 touchdowns by sophomore QB Zach Maynard. Wide receiver Naaman Roosevelt also pulled in 6 receptions for 157 yards and 2 touchdowns. The running game for UB was weak but the passing game more than made up for it. Even without the turnovers, UB would probably not have won but this was a great representation of the fact that Turner Gill really has the program heading in the right direction. He has made the program a breath of fresh air to the area and it is really exciting to see it all unfolding.
• There were a few other college games that caught my eye this weekend. It was a shocker to see #5 Oklahoma State go down to Houston, 45-35. I was also somewhat surprised that Michigan managed to beat Notre Dame in an excellent game that came right down to the end, 38-34. Lastly, the game of the night between Ohio State and USC was a great showdown. No one looked great in this game but USC looked like the better overall team winning 18-15. Ohio State QB Terrelle Pryor proved that he still has a long way to go as a quarterback throwing for only 177 yards and a pick.

Word of the Day: Ebullient

bubbling with excitement, exubrerant

I am ebullient to see Terrell Owens' first regular season game for the Buffalo Bills.

Also...

Clip of the Week:

Mike Gundy Rant

This is a relatively old clip but it is nevertheless fantastic. For those who haven't seen it, enjoy!

The Bills Blues

As some of my previous posts may suggest, I am not incredibly optimistic about the season to come for the Buffalo Bills. Today, the Bills cut their left tackle Langston Walker who was entering his third year with the team. Walker was an immense 6'8" and 366 pounds but was an average talent. The Bills make the move with less than a week until the first game of the season against the Patriots and that is what has me fired up. Where is the continuity for this team? Walker was cut in favor of left tackle Demetrius Bell, who is currently nursing a sore back and may not even be ready for the opener. For those of you who don't know who Demetrius Bell is...let me enlighten you. Oh wait! I don't know anything about him and neither does anyone else in Buffalo.

All kidding aside, Bell is a second year player and former seventh round draft pick from Northwestern State. Generally, seventh round picks are training camp fodder and are designated to the practice squad. However, the Bills will be starting Bell on opening night in Foxboro. I don't consider this to be a critique of Bell and his skills because he could be an absolutely fantastic lineman. Rather, I question more flawed decision making by the powers that be in the Bills front office. Walker's mediocre play didn't prevent the Bills from playing him over the last two years or signing him to a 5 year, $25 million contract in the 2007 offseason (That 2007 offseason was a real doozy. The Bills also signed fellow underachiever Derrick Dockery to a 7 year, $49 million contract that same offseason. Dockery is in the same boat as Walker, no longer a Bill. Ouch!). Instead, the Bills tried to move Walker from right tackle to left tackle this offseason, in order to fill the hole opened by the trade of Jason Peters to the Eagles.

If the Bills were high on Bell then they should have made this cut before training camp so that Walker could have at least found a job in another NFL city. This would have also allowed Bell to get a few starts under his belt during the preseason. The Bills must have had some idea that they might want to make this move in the future. But then again, I thought the same thing about the firing of Schonert. Is it possible that the Bills are throwing in the towel already? Are they going for the youth movement and hoping to be good in three years? Was the T.O. signing even worth it? Should the Bills just fire Jauron and start over? At this point, I think the answer to all of these questions is no and there will be no real answer until the season is played out. However, if the Bills don't pull something together and produce a winning season, the answer to all of these questions will most likely be yes in January.

Despite my reaction to the situation, I don't think the cut of Walker is a really huge deal. What I think is a huge deal is the message that it is sending to fans and to other teams around the league by trading away the only experienced player on an incredibly young line. As a fan, I shouldn't be asking myself if the Bills are giving up before the season has even started, but this move has led me to doing so. Have I overreacted to this whole situation? Probably. But to be honest, I think I have grown a little bit stir crazy in anticipation of the season. Seriously, why is the season starting so incredibly late? September 14th is definitely the latest start that I remember in my lifetime, albeit short. Well until the season starts I am sure to be singing the Bills Blues.

On a lighter note:

I will always appreciate Langston Walker's time with the Bills for what he brought to the locker room with his own show, 68 Seconds with Langston Walker. The clip of numerous Buffalo Bills singing the 12 Days of Christmas is truly classic and without Walker (or Robert Royal for that matter) it may not have come into fruition. For a good laugh you should at least watch until the 9th and 11th days.

Lastly, the Word of the Day: Chagrin

Chagrin, noun

humiliation, embarrassed disappointment

At times it is tough to deal with the chagrin that comes with being a diehard Bills fan.

Thank you for reading and putting up with my ranting (if you made it to this point) and I hope all had a fantastic Labor Day weekend.

September 6: Food For Thought

Today, I don't have any main stories that I want to focus on. So, I'm just gonna throw some things out there. Take from them what you will.

• The first college football Saturday has come and passed. What did I learn about some of the top teams? Not a whole lot. What can Florida's demolition of Charleston Southern possibly tell anyone that they didn't already know? Absolutely nothing. Florida is a great team and didn't need Charleston Southern or any other cupcake team to prove it. I really don't understand the point of FBS (top division) teams playing cupcakes from the FCS (lower division). These almost sure blowouts are almost all risk and very little reward for the top teams in the country, in my opinion. If by some act of God, a top team is beaten by an FCS team it is the biggest and most ridiculous upset of the year (Just ask Michigan and Iowa how they feel about these games). These teams can secure a sure win with any number of FBS cupcakes and it looks a lot more respectable in my eyes (And isn't my opinion what matters the most?).
• Despite a slew of lopsided blowouts throughout the Top 25, we learned some things about a few of the top teams in the country. It became obvious that the Oklahoma Sooners are nowhere near the same team without their Heisman award winning QB Sam Bradford. The third ranked Sooners fell to the 20th ranked BYU Cougars when Bradford went down with an injury to his throwing shoulder, 14-13.
• The Alabama Crimson Tide and Oklahoma State Cowboys both proved that they are for real and contenders to be reckoned with by beating Virginia Tech and Georgia respectively. The Tide put up great offensive numbers and RB Mark Ingram showed his playmaking abilities, scoring a touchdown on the ground and through the air. Virginia Tech did not seem to have things together and QB Tyrod Taylor showed that he is still not a capable passer on the college level.
• My team, the Buffalo Bulls stole a game from the Miners at UTEP. The Bulls were up 23-17 with less than 30 seconds to go and the Miners were driving and threatening to win the game on the UB 20 yard line. UTEP quarterback Trevor Vittatoe launched a touchdown pass to tie the game up and it seemed as if the Bulls had blown the game. Wait just one second! The Miners were called for a holding penalty on the play and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for the celebration after the play. This put the Miners back to the the 42 yard line and destroyed their chances of winning the game, as the Bulls held on for the win. To be in that stadium must have been remarkable, to experience the emotional rollercoaster as it took place. Well, at least I'm not a UTEP fan.
• I wrote about the Bills and their coaching changes the other day, but today there is more news according to an article from ESPN. The article has Schonert claiming he was fired because head coach Dick Jauron wanted a "simpler offense." I think this story is a bit ridiculous and a classic bit of "he said, she said." I find it a bit hard to believe that Jauron couldn't understand the offense, but hey you never know. I hate to be the conspiracy theorist but is the T.O. effect already taking its effect on the Bills locker room? I personally don't think so but it would be foolish to discount the possibility. At times being a Bills fan is downright humiliating.

Lastly, it is time for the Word of the Day: Ameliorate

Ameliorate, verb

to make better or more tolerable

I am convincing myself that the Bills will have a terrible season to ameliorate their imminent struggles.

To my audience, have a great day and continue to read and comment. I really appreciate it.

The Trials and Tribulations of Fandom

The last few days have sent so many thoughts flying through my head in regards to some of my favorite teams, the Buffalo Bills and the Syracuse Orange. On Friday, the Buffalo Bills fired their Offensive Coordinator Turk Schonert after just over a year on the job. The reason for the firing seems quite obvious, seeing as the Bills first team offense was completely anemic during the extended five game preseason, producing zero touchdowns. However, the timing for the move is incredibly questionable. Schonert's dismissal comes just 10 days before the season opener on Monday night against the Patriots.

The Bills replaced Schonert with a current member of the coaching staff, Alex Van Pelt. Van Pelt was the quarterbacks coach for the Bills and is known in Western New York as being a longtime backup QB for the Bills. Van Pelt seems to be a very good guy that has played an active role in the community for years, but quite frankly, I do not really have much that I can say about his coaching and play calling abilities. I suppose that this is a good thing. I say this because I think that position coaches in professional football are a good deal like the long snapper. Rarely does a long snapper make you say "Man, am I really glad we have that guy playing for us!", but that is the way it should be. The less you have to say about a long snapper the better, because the average fan won't say anything unless the player is snapping the ball over the punter's head. I think this same rule applies to position coaches like Van Pelt and the running game coordinator, Eric Studesville, who Van Pelt will be sharing play calling duties with. However, it seems as if the Bills are just asking to be completely embarrassed in front of a national audience. Continuity makes football teams better and a lack of it has plagued this franchise since the end of the Super Bowl era in the early 90s. This move is hurting the Bills much more than it is helping their cause. I fully expect for the Bills to be absolutely demolished in their first game, making for a fitting start to what looks to be a very long season. And I really hope that I am wrong.

On the college gridiron:

It's amazing how quickly you can go from expecting nothing to expecting something more than previously imagined. Before Syracuse opened the season against Minnesota on Saturday, I questioned the acquisition of former Duke point guard Greg Paulus to play QB for the Orange. I felt that it was a bit of a gimmick and a short term solution to a long term problem for the Orange, winning. When I watched the game I was very pleasantly surprised at how well Paulus handled himself, almost five years after his last football game. He moved very well in the pocket and avoided taking too many hits from the Gopher defenders. He was able to make some plays with his feet and had a beautiful first touchdown pass to Mike Williams, a Buffalo native. However, he did seem a bit gun shy at times and gave up on some plays far too quickly. Due to Paulus, a shifty "Stallion" package, and a revitalized Orange defense, Syracuse went into half up 20-14...

We interrupt this entry to bring you the Word of the Day: Moxie

Moxie, noun
energy, pep, courage, determination, know-how

Greg Paulus played quarterback with a great deal of moxie in the first half of Saturday's game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

I couldn't resist using moxie as the word because I won a game of Scrabble with it last night. 33 points. Gotta love the "X" tile. Now back to the sports...

In the second half Syracuse couldn't muster anything offensively and allowed the Gophers and wide receiver Eric Decker to force the game to overtime. Syracuse had the ball first in the "college rules" overtime, where both teams get a shot at the win. The Orange were driving and were knocking on the goal line's door, thanks to some great running by Syracuse running back, Delone Carter. Low and behold, Paulus threw a ball into tight coverage on 3rd and Goal and handed Minnesota a game that they did not deserve to win with an easy interception, 23-20.

Overall, Paulus had a pretty good game for someone who had not played in so long. Unfortunately, the only stain on his otherwise mistake free game is the only thing that will be remembered about this first effort. That is what is crazy about being a fan. I came into the game with no expectations and quickly learned that I may have been wrong. In the end, I left the experience disappointed. But I still love the Orange. Same goes for the Bills in all of their winning woes. No matter how quickly I may becomes disenchanted with my teams, the trials and tribulations are what make being a fan so worth it.

Football Is Back

Thursday night, college football made its return for the 2009 season. I have been anticipating this season more than any in recent years and set aside my evening to watch Oregon at Boise State. Oregon came into the game ranked 16th in the country while Boise was ranked 14th. I expected a high flying matchup between two teams that are traditionally prolific on offense. For those who watched the game, it is needless to say that I was disappointed. Seeing that the game was on the west coast, my night began with an absolute barn burner, South Carolina at NC State (cue crickets). The Gamecocks won this epic showdown 7-3. Unfortunately, this was not the defensive struggle that one would expect from looking at the score. Instead it was a game characterized by mediocre offense and several missed opportunities.

At 10:15 it was finally time for Boise State and Oregon. The game started and it soon became clear that the game was not of a much higher quality than the early game. Boise State's offense had moments of brilliance but squandered a few opportunities in the end zone when kicker Kyle Brotzman missed two field goals from the left hash. Oregon played absolutely awful on offense and amassed zero first downs in the first half. Despite the horrific play by the Ducks, they went into halftime only down 13-0. In the second half they scraped together a scoring drive but could not handle the Broncos on the blue turf, losing 19-8. Boise did not look like a potential BCS contender but came away with the win, thanks to their defense, in an extremely sloppy game. Unfortunately, all the talk about this game is about what happened after the game was over.

Oregon RB LeGarrette Blount who had talked trash before the game and was taken down for a Boise State safety during the game, was the center of all the controversy after the game. In the post game handshakes, Blount was taunted by Boise linebacker Byron Hout and proceeded to sucker punch Hout in the face as he turned away. A strange scene ensued as Blount was pulled away by teammates and began fighting them off as well. As he was finally being escorted to the exit by Oregon players, coaches, and police officers, Blount went after several Boise fans seated near the exit and tried to get into the stands in a moment reminiscent of the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons debacle in 2004. The whole scene was absolutely reprehensible and marred a respected football program and the opening night of a promising, young season. Unfortunately, there are far too many instances like this in mainstream sports and it does not seem that they are going to end any time soon. I am sure that Hout had taunted Blount and that is to be discouraged, but the way in which Blount reacted will never be okay under any set of circumstances. If punches were thrown any time that there was trash talking on any level of sports, we would see this a dozen times a night in almost every sport. Blount has been handed his punishment and will have a whole season to learn his lesson the hard way since Oregon has handed down his season long suspension. He may also be learning the lesson for a lifetime, because his chances at an NFL career have been virtually destroyed according to some experts. There goes the neighborhood...

LeGarrette Blount's season stat line reads:

Rushes: 8
Rushing Yards: -5

This presents an opportunity for today's installment of the Word of the Day, only today it is a phrase.
The Word (phrase) Of The Day: Happy Trails

I don't think this needs much explanation...

Welcome

The most difficult part of any writing project: the introduction. While I would much rather get straight to some normal entries and skip the introduction, I feel it would be rather rude not to introduce myself and my writings in some manner. My name is Terence and I am a high school senior in Buffalo, New York. Seeing that I am not a terribly interesting character, this project is going to focus on sports and the athletes that compete in the aforementioned sports. Living in such a vibrant sports culture is probably the most predominant reason for this journal (I am not entirely keen on the term "blog", or any other lingo that has arisen from recent technological advancements, i.e. noob, pwnage). Given the futile existence of sports franchises in the Western New York area in my life time, some of my commentaries on local sports or national may come off as a bit cynical, but what would sports be if there weren't fans like myself to question and analyze every little thing to an absurd point.

I do not necessarily have a primary focus in mind for this project other than sports in general. But I may still stray off topic if the moment presents itself at certain points. I will try to cover most sports to at least a minor extent. I am interested mainly by college basketball and the National Football League but I will also cover college football, Major League Baseball, the NBA, and some hockey. I may even put myself out there and talk about NASCAR, but don't get your hopes up. My local teams that I scrutinize over will be the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres. The great thing about this is that there is sure to be plenty of scrutiny to go around for both of these franchises. I follow the NBA generally but focus on the Cleveland Indians in my thoughts on baseball. I enjoy the Buffalo Bulls on the college gridiron and am a diehard fan of the Syracuse Orange and Canisius College Golden Griffins on the hardwood. These are the teams that I will focus on mainly but am going to do my best to provide commentary on the larger picture in all of these sports because, let's face it, the teams that I mentioned do a fair amount of losing and commenting on their woes is sure to become a tired act quite quickly. Therefore, I will do my best to keep things fresh and fun. I digress from my "About Me" rant because frankly, I believe that introductions like this tend to make the author seem very self-centered and I would prefer to stray away from that label.

As far as the upkeep of this endeavor, I cannot promise anything based on the fickle nature of my schedule. I also feel as if I would be doing a small injustice to myself and my prospective audience if I rushed entries just for the sake of getting one done. I want my posts to have a high quality that is worthy of a reader taking time to enjoy. So, my posts will be made semi-regularly but I cannot promise one everyday. I plan on making my posts in one of three formats. The first format being a more lengthy composition focusing on one main topic, such as this entry has been to this point. The second format consisting of several shorter points or observations on different sports happenings. The third format being a list of links to any number of sports articles or other outlets that have me thinking, or that I particularly enjoyed. I am also going to try and establish a few special features that make appearances in some of my posts. The first feature that I am going to try and incorporate into all of my posts is: The Word Of The Day. This feature is as simple as it sounds. I thoroughly enjoy good vocabulary even if I don't always employ its use, so this feature has me excited. I will take a word, simple or complex, and give its definition as displayed on Merriam-Webster Online. I will then proceed to use the word in a sentence pertaining to a relevant story in sports or otherwise. I might as well start this tradition now:

The Word Of The Day: Defunct

Defunct, adj.
no longer living, existing, or functioning

The Jacksonville Jaguars will be a defunct franchise, unless they start selling out games and broadcasting on local television networks.

This is a rather simple feature that I hope readers will enjoy. Lastly, I will be extremely flattered if or when anybody reads this entry and those in the future, but if you in my prospective audience do, I hope I have made it worth your time. I hope that all will enjoy and come back for more of my future musings regarding the wide world of sports. Thanks for reading.