Confinement cost exceeds $85,000

Buffalo opens preseason at Chicago on Saturday night in a game that likely won't get high marks for style points.

DeGeorge to receive $91,374; will oversee restructured communications office.

While Board waits to finalize termination of Williams' contract, a successor has emerged from small field of mostly internal candidates.

4-H program allows teens to work on farm.

Veteran receiver, Buffalo's highest paid player, shipped to Baltimore for fourth-round pick.

An Obama administration panel gave its qualified support to hydraulic fracturing, just as a poll found a majority of upstate New Yorkers backing the controversial natural gas extraction process in the state's gas-rich Marcellus Shale.

The Buffalo Bills had busy day today before their first preseason game tomorrow night. Wide Receiver Lee Evans was dealt to Baltimore for a fourth rounder. I know Evans was a fan favorite, but his production was way down last year. The blame should … [visit site to read more]

GET OUTTA MY WAY.

Every year, regardless of expectations, the majority of Bills fans enter August with the goal of watching their team end one heck of a severe playoff drought. This year is no different, but Buffalo’s swapping of Lee Evans for a fourth-round pick is a lot deeper than the surface deal of a big-time receiver leaving the city that drafted him.

Sure I could give you a litany of reasons involving my maxim of receivers and running backs rarely being worth a first-round pick, but that can come later.

The fact of the matter is that Lee Evans has two years left on the extension he signed in 2008. Stevie Johnson is entering the final year of his rookie contract. The Bills will not be paying both players oodles of money into the distant future, and Buffalo also has to deal with the extensions they have planned for Kyle Williams and, presumably, Ryan Fitzpatrick. Additionally, if the Bills made this deal last year under the explanation that Evans wouldn’t be a necessary part of the team’s rebuilt success, would you freak?

There is obviously room for many big salaries on the same team in the new big NFL, but the truth is that Evans has more value as a fourth-round pick than a No. 2 receiver. The trade may have been accelerated by Evans’ willingness to quit on the last year’s campaign, whether you want to forgive him for it or not.

As for the fourth round pick, Anquan Boldin moved to Baltimore last year for third, fourth and fifth round picks. Boldin’s career-low for catches was 56 in 2004 in 10 games, a figure that would be Evans’ third-best single season total. Evans has 81 catches the past two seasons. Boldin has 83 or more catches in five seasons.

Top two receivers for every NFL team in 2010 and their draft status:

Atlanta — Roddy White (1st round) & Michael Jenkins (1st round)

Arizona — Larry Fitzgerald (1st round) & Steve Breaston (5th round)

Baltimore- Anquan Boldin (2nd round) & Derrick Mason (4th round)

Buffalo- Stevie Johnson (7th round) & Lee Evans (1st)

Carolina- Steve Smith (3rd round) & Brandon LaFell (3rd)

Chicago- Johnny Knox (5th) & Earl Bennett (3rd)

Cincinnati- Terrell Owens (3rd) & Chad Ochocinco (2nd)

Cleveland- Mohammed Massaquoi (4th) & Chansi Stuckey (7th)

Dallas- Miles Austin (undrafted) & Dez Bryant (1st)

Detroit- Calvin Johnson (1st) & Nate Burleson (3rd)

Denver- Brandon Lloyd (4th) & Jabar Gaffney (2nd)

Green Bay- Greg Jennings (2nd) & Donald Driver (7th)

Houston- Andre Johnson (1st) & Kevin Walter (7th)

Indianapolis- Reggie Wayne (1st) & Pierre Garcon (6th)

Jacksonville- Mike Thomas (4th) & Mike Sims-Walker (3rd)

Kansas City- Dwayne Bowe (1st) & Chris Chambers (2nd)

Miami- Brandon Marshall (4th) & Davone Bess (undrafted)

Minnesota- Percy Harvin (1st) & Bernard Berrian (4th)

New Orleans- Marques Colston (7th) & Lance Moore (undrafted)

NY Giants- Hakeem Nicks (1st) & Mario Manningham (3rd)

NY Jets- Braylon Edwards (1st) & Santonio Holmes (1st)

New England- Wes Welker (undrafted) & Deion Branch (2nd)

Oakland- Louis Murphy (4th) & Derrius Heyward-Bey (1st)

Philadelphia- Jeremy Maclin (1st) & Jason Avant (4th)

Pittsburgh- Mike Wallace (3rd) & Hines Ward (3rd)

San Diego- Malcom Floyd (undrafted) & Patrick Crayton (7th)

San Francisco- Michael Crabtree (1st) & Josh Morgan (6th)

Seattle- Mike Williams (1st) & Deon Butler (3rd)

Saint Louis- Danny Amendola (undrafted) & Brandon Gibson (6th)

Tampa Bay- Mike Williams (4th) & Arrellious Benn (2nd)

Tennessee- Kenny Britt (1st) & Nate Washington (undrafted)

Washington- Santana Moss (1st) & Anthony Armstrong (undrafted)

Breakdown by round:

1st-19 (30%)

2nd-7 (11%)

3rd-10 (16%)

4th-9 (14%)

5th-2 (3%)

6th-3 (5%)

7th-6 (9%)

Undrafted-8 (13%)

— I believe the fact that some high picks get hurt and thus don’t count towards the numbers are replaced by the fact that some of the first rounders who count, like Seattle’s Mike Williams, were out of the league before having a Mickey Rourke-like career resurgence.

– Just half of the league’s playoff teams — six — had a first-round receiver in their top pairing. Neither Super Bowl team did.

– Not saying it’s the end-all, but it’s unlikely that one of the Bills remaining wide-outs (including former SD 1st round pick Buster Davis) can’t fill the void of Evans.

Email: nick@fcbuffalo.org

A few months ago I wrote about St. John of God Church in Chicago (see here).  The closed and vacant church has been sold to another congregation in the Chicago suburbs and is currently being strip mined for reassembly several miles from the site it was designed for.  The interior of this church and all of its substructure will be sent to the dump.  The interior of another closed Chicago church will be assembled behind the facade of this church.  This Chicago scenario is disturbingly similar to the proposal for St. Gerard's in Buffalo, which Catholic Church leaders are planning to send to suburban Atlanta. 

Many have praised this move to the south as a perfect solution to an intractable problem.  People in Buffalo seemingly have no use for this important part of their cultural heritage and people in Atlanta desperately want to pretend they have a long standing cultural heritage.  This has been described by the pro move people as a win win situation.  Buffalo divests itself of a future eyesore and the building is put back to use. The only two scenarios presented so far make the Atlanta move seem logical, either in Buffalo the building rots for decades or in Atlanta it is put back to use and "saved". Except, the building is not really saved.    

St. Johns is a good view into Buffalo's sad future if the St. Gerard's scheme is carried out. One of best architectural writers and observers anywhere, Lynn Becker,  has penned the story included here in full by his  permission.  Lynn has written extensively on Architecture in Chicago.  His work can be found in several publications as well as his own blog called Architecture Chicago Plus in which the following story on St. John appeared.  His blog is worth reading even for those not in Chicago.  Becker's story on St. John is deeply moving and poetic.  The accompanying photos are beautiful and disturbing at the same time.  Read this story and take in the future reality of "saving"  St. Gerard's by sending it to a suburban parking lot near Atlanta.

The Flaying of St. John by Lynn Becker

The distant view, through Sherman Park, is a glimpse of something weird, almost Gaudian.

As you get to the edge of the park, at 52nd street, you come upon the immensity of it.

The story of St. John of God church is one repeated throughout the changing neighborhoods of every city. A great house of worship built to serve an influx of immigrants - in this  case, Polish.  Designed by Henry J. Schlacks, whose Renaissance facade was described by the AIA Guide to Chicago as a masterpiece, St. John of God was completed in 1920.  By 1922, 2,400 families called it their parish.  Then, as the story always goes, those families begin to disperse as white flight claims the neighborhood.  Membership plummets, and, in 1992, the church is closed, a grand edifice sealed for an uncertain future.  In time, after few can even remember when the building was active, it's demolished. 

A piece of architecture that defined the lives of tens of thousands of people vanishes into thin air.

Except St. John of God doesn't.  To be sure, the building will soon be forgotten history.  It's carved limestone, however, lives on.  Carefully, it was peeled away, to be re-assembled on a new church for St. Raphael the Archangel in Old Mill Creek, Illinois, near the Wisconsin border.

For now, a single automobile tire rests incongruously in the foyer.  Rubble is everywhere, even framing the great altar.

Mosaics disintegrate like pixels fading to white.

The destruction of St. John of God, and so many others like it, is testament to a society where everything is disposable. With their massive scale, solidity, and classical grandeur, structures like St. John look like they were built to endure forever.  Now, stripped down to raw brick, it looks like a monument from some not-quite-placeable ancient civilization.

All of Schlack's Renaissance finish and  detailing scraped away, St. John now appears timeless, its architectural style malleable and mysterious.  The ruined entrance looks like it could be some ancient shrine in the Holy Land.

The stripped pillars of the bell towers resemble Mayan columns.

This is the afterimage, lingering in the eye for a millisecond before disappearing forever.  But in that brief time, it brands itself into your consciousness.  Is this what's beneath our dreams?  Is this a ruin, or is this the essence?  Too real, too primal, not to have us gild it in polished finish?

Not a formal post, per se, but a response to a Facebook comment saying that the Bills have given up Willis McGahee, Jason Peters, Marshawn Lynch and now Lee Evans and “didn’t get better.”

Buffalo trades:

1) Willis McGahee to Baltimore for 3rd & 7th in 2007 and 3rd in 2008

2) Jason Peters to Philadelphia for 1st & 4th in 2009 and 6th in 2010

3) Marshawn Lynch to Seattle for 4th in 2011 and conditional in 2012

Picks become:

McGahee for Trent Edwards and CJ Ah You. Other pick traded to Jacksonville with 5th rd pick for Marcus Stroud

Peters for Eric Wood, Shawn Nelson and Danny Batten

Lynch for Hairston, conditional in 2012

Councilman expresses concern about Michael J. DeGeorge speaking for both the mayor and Police Department.

Lee Evans was traded to the Baltimore Ravens for a fourth round draft pick.

Thanks for everything Lee.

As Bills fans everywhere start going crazy and wanting to crucify the Bills staff for getting rid of the most talented guy on the team, I wanted to weigh in.  Especially because I’m beginning to feel as if Buddy Nix reads my columns and takes my advice and so I feel partially responsible for this move.  If you read my post on July 27th, where I broke down the WRs, I outlined why the Bills should trade Lee Evans for a third and a fifth round draft pick.  So here’s the justification.

… [visit site to read more]

The Bills traded receiver Evans, their highest paid player, to Baltimore, reportedly for a fourth-round pick.

The rumors persisted for the better part of four days, and now it has become official. Lee Evans has been traded by the Bills to the Baltimore Ravens for an undisclosed 2012 draft pick. Bills GM Bu...