Congratulations Rick! You held it together just like your Bills. Thanks for your efforts this season Strider. Much appreciated!

I hope I don't have to look at Rex Ryan's chompers today. They're starting to freak me out a bit.

I concur with everything you said. They have or had the video. Not a doubt in my mind. Peter Grant & crew would take your camera or tape recorder. Why wouldn't he make sure to take what He was paying for, and supposedly didn't want to use in the first place? The only thing I heard on the radio was about 6 weeks after the show. A DJ claimed the Zep camp came into the booth being utilized and took the video. Makes sense to me. They may not have wanted it for their own purposes, but they certainly didn't want anyone else to have it. I agree with your audio conclusions as well. Just listen to the Who's "Road Runner" from the movie "The Kids Are Alright". That echo you hear would turn Jimmy off in an instant.

Don't care who the Lions end up with in the wildcard round. Each team will be a challenge. But if we win and make the divisional round, I'd much rather go to Dallas than Philly, and not for any revenge. The thought of Jared Goff playing outside at Philly with a glove on his throwing hand does not interest me a bit.

January 6th and not a drop of snow nor ice on the lakes. Don't like it.

I really don't understand the concept of buying a frozen pizza from the supermarket. As far as I'm concerned, they all suck. You can pretty much buy any carry-out pizza, freeze any amount you like in foil, and it all tastes better than store-bought frozen without much of a price difference. Except Little Caesars of course. Garbage pizza with dehydrated cheese and cardboard crust. Nothing can save that crap. Prison food.

Looking at the various sizes of 8mm film cameras in the late 60's and 70's, I'd be interested in knowing how Jim Kelly got a camera into the venue. It was a pretty risky thing to do in those days. Too big for a guy to hide on his body, and you took the chance of having your camera or recorder bring confiscated. Perhaps he had inside connections, or a woman's purse to assist. Lol.... pregnant with half a basketball? I've always figured security concerns were much of the reason only one audience recording has ever surfaced from the 76,000 in attendance. It's a shame Mr. Kelly still isn't with us to relate some of the finer details of his experience. For all we know, he may have been moving around a bit because he feared being spotted with a camera close to the stage. If Jim Kelly was Canadian, it should be pointed out that this was an international concert. Zep didn't play Toronto on this tour, and there's 2.5 million people that live between Toronto and Michigan in Southwest Ontario. The Silverdome was their best shot at seeing the band. There was no limit on tickets, and that 3-hour sellout was helped along by ticket agencies who were given their share before they went on sale to the public. That pissed off a lot of people who braved the cold to stand in line for tickets without a reward. This was the first concert I bought a scalped ticket for ($15 bucks), and those arrangements were made before tickets even went on sale. The seller in question already knew his allotment. We didn't have our tickets in hand until a week before the show. That would give any fan some Zep paranoia. I saw 4 shows at the Silverdome prior to Zeppelin, all in 1976. There is audio and video available from the screen for Aerosmith, Bob Seger, and Elton John, all available on utube. None for Jethro Tull (don't remember if there was a screen). The Who from December 1975 is on utube from the screen. Their footage was even used in the film, "The Kids Are Alright". Elvis from New Year's Eve 1975 is not, but he performed a different stage setup at the 50 yard line, so I'm doubting one was even used.

We're coming for you Cornelius, and the Bills won't save you.

Baltimore Houston Tampa Bay Cleveland Detroit New England New Orleans Jacksonville Seattle Green Bay L.V. Raiders Kansas City Philly San Francisco Dallas Miami

Yes, and the suspects are the 4 women who have given birth to his children in the last 3 months. . Except for the first few weeks when I was on the road, I have made and submitted my picks at the same time each week. I also never look at other people's picks before I make my own, and I don't believe I've ever changed a pick after they've been submitted. I consider both to be bad luck and second guessing.

^ ^ Before all you 'patriots' head out on the streets, can you please be sure to pack all of your medications? We'd hate to have any incidents like last time.

^ ^ Thanks Steve. An interesting read. That magazine is an old reminder of things I wanted to afford back in the day but couldn't. Zep was pushing a lot more volume than other artists, which may have caused a lot of the echo effect. I will say it was by far the loudest show at the Dome I had seen up to that point. As far as airflow and stratified air in a venue, there probably wasn't much worse than the Silverdome. I remember actual breezes in there, and the inside pressure to keep the roof up was constant. As the article states, throw in 76,000 bodies and things change yet again. We do know Bonham did a soundcheck for Oakland on the '77 tour, and there were others.

Having seen this show, there's one thing I was always curious about. I and many others that attended have complained about the poor audio quality. I've always mentioned, "Sick Again" as being the worst song of the show for that reason. The bootleg and this new sync to video seem to reflect that. In our seats, it was just a mess of noise. Zeppelin noise, but still a mess. The sound did seem to improve a bit as the concert went on. Looking at the tour dates, they had yet to play an arena anywhere near this large. Considering the size and shape of the Silverdome, it seems amazing to me that the band never performed any kind of actual sound check. They couldn't have done it personally, because they weren't even in town. They flew in from Chicago right before the show. There also was no one else on the bill playing beforehand. I'm curious if anyone knows if this was standard procedure for this tour to not do a soundcheck by the actual band members? Am I off-base thinking that under the circumstances, this was a bit unusual? Appreciate everyone's efforts for making this happen. Watching a show at 64 that I saw at 17 is mind-blowing on so many levels.

Lol....14 grams? I'm not even going to ask how you accomplished that feat across international borders. Enjoy Chillum, and a happy New Year to you and the Mrs.

You must have won some decent change on that bet. Glad it's over. The after-game press conferences were getting hard to take.

I really think the NFC is wide-open. Every team has a weakness. When Lamar is on his game, Baltimore can't be touched. That's why I think the Bears have to stick with Fields. He's got a similar skill set that can't be accounted for by NFL defenses. I think the Lions can compete with any NFC team, but every matchup will be a struggle. Playoff experience on our roster is limited. That's why I think the Dallas game was good for them. Puts a chip on their shoulders and wipes away any of those good feelings of complacency from winning the division. The most redeeming thing about the Dallas game for me was the continued use of Jamison Williams. Goff threw that pass over 50 yards, so that ends local speculation that he can't hit him deep. We should be doing that 3-4 times a game.

Well after a day of numbness, I only have the following to offer. I don't have any love for either guy, but both Steve Mariucci and Rex Ryan immediately analyzed the two-point conversion attempt properly after the game. No crying here though. It was a heck of a game and a damn strange one at that. As a fan, I also enjoyed the post game comment by Hutchinson. "We'll see you at our house." Could be. As far as "Gamblin' Dan" goes, he meant exactly what he told his team before that drive started. "We're going down to score and going for two". He would have gone for it again if they were on the 15-yard line. From the fake punts to the 4th and 5's, he doesn't care. He'll roll the dice no matter the odds, and he usually does it when he can't trust his tired defense. There wasn't much to lose in this game from our end, and he wanted no part of OT. Ask Tyler Smith why. As for the halftime activities, I enjoyed "Achilles Last Stand" from Knebworth.

Cleveland W Detroit (that's a heart, not a head pick) Baltimore Buffalo Chicago Houston Indy Jacksonville L.A. Rams Philly Tampa Bay San Francisco Seattle Denver Kansas City Green Bay

Cleveland Tonight

Most of Motown woke up Christmas Day quite content. Looking forward to this weekend's game in Dallas, as there really isn't much to lose. Most people seem to think the Lions don't have a chance in the playoffs, but I've watched enough football to know that if you can run, you have a chance against anybody. No offense Rick, and I do root for the Bills, but I think your defense is the dirtiest unit in the league. I like Jake Browning, but he needs some serious lessons in taking care of the football. It's not your job to make something out of nothing. Throw the ball away!

A wild card game is going to be exclusively streamed on the Peacock Network this year. Good luck with that! What amazes me is the lousy technology and broadcasts people are willing to put up with. Frozen screens, audio problems, amateur broadcasters from hell. My favorite is when they give you every stat on the screen you never wanted, but just can't seem to manage to tell or show you what down it is and how far to go for a 1st, like that's secondary information. I noticed the NFL Network never shows the National Anthem being performed. I don't have a problem with that. What I do have a problem with is when you hear the National Anthem being played in the background, and the jack-ass announcers are actually on the field talking while it's being played, even with the lights lowered. As far as I'm concerned, that's more disrespectful than showing someone taking a knee.

L.A. Rams W Cincinnati Buffalo Indy Green Bay Cleveland Detroit Washington Seattle Tampa Bay Chicago Miami Denver Kansas City Philly San Francisco

Rams tonight.

I couldn't have asked for a finer NFL weekend. Seattle loses tonight and we're in the playoffs.