OttawaBull

Does this mean you're not in Brazil right now? Just curious since I've been trying to find a way to watch ESPN or any of the Fox sports channels up here in Canada, and if you've found a way to do it, I'd love to hear it. The only option I know of right now is to buy DirecTV down in the States, bring it up to Canada, but then use my mom's mailing address for the billing information. Kind of a convoluted way to do things, just to get one channel, y'know? If any other Bulls outside of the US have found better ways than Internet radio to stay on top of football, feel free to let me know.

Have a little time on our hands, do we? ÂÂ

1. The Super Bowl pass.  If you listed it, my real top choice would be to score the game-winning goal in OT of game 7 of the Stanley Cup. 2. No contest here...Family Guy. 3. A)  Priest Holmes. 3. B/C) I don't watch basketball or baseball, so I'll have to go with hockey (which unfortunately, no one can watch anymore):  Ilya Kovalchuk or Dany Heatley 4. Faith No More's King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime 5. Drink at least 2 glasses of water and take some aspirin before going to bed.  Granted, it's really bad for your liver, but it's great for your head.

USFbull83, those are some phenomenal pictures. I can't even say how much I envy you for being there last night. I was at the Lightning's second playoff game ever back in the mid-90s when they played the Flyers and broke the attendance record (thanks to being in the Thunderdome), but that doesn't even begin to compare what the atmosphere was like in there last night. Hopefully, the Sens will make it farther next year, and I'll get a taste of it myself.

Congrats, Bolts! I may be in Canada now, but I've been rooting for the Lightning since 1993, when I was still over in Germany, serving in the Army. It's been a long time coming, but it's great to finally see it happen. I'd also like to say it's nice to see the **** Flames downed or I'd never have heard the end of it up here. Canada's so friggin' nationalistic when it comes to hockey that you'd have thought we were at war with them if you read the newspaper over the last week or two. Never mind that there are more Canadians on the Lightning than the Flames. Don't even get me started on how biased the CBC broadcasters were. Don Cherry was the only one who ever said anything good about the Lightning throughout the series. So, since I left Tampa in 1998, both the Bucs and Bolts have won the big one. I guess maybe it WAS my fault for the slumps.

Actually, they've done this thread at least once in the past. I'm not sure either why anyone feels there needs to be rules about how big a fan they are. Bulls fans or no, it sounds like someone doesn't have that much going on in the rest of their life. For the record, I think I'm the only person in Ottawa with a USF window sticker in his car.

Hehe, I thought the exact same thing when I first saw it. I guess it doesn't hurt that we were at many of the same parties together back in the mid-90s, so I could see him doing something like that.

I wish. I believe you're thinking of the Libertarian party tax plan. Here in Canada, most purchases include an 8% federal tax and a 7% provincial tax (or vice versa). On top of that, they pay similar taxes out of their paychecks that we do in the States, with a huge amount of that going to their healthcare system. At least that's how it is in Ontario. Apparently, Alberta does things a little different since they DON'T have healthcare for everyone (I think it's more like the States there...ie, privatized), but I've heard that's because they are the richest province. I might have some of the details about that messed up though. Anyway, the point is, it costs a lot of money to live up here for basically the same type of lifestyle I had in the States.

It's okay so far. The weather isn't that big a deal to me since I've lived in both New England and Germany at different points in my life. The biggest annoyance to me is the cost of living. The difference between cost of living between here and the US (or at least Atlanta and Tampa) is much higher than that difference in salaries. For instance, after converting to US dollars, I'm still blowing about $25-30 on each gas fill-up whereas I almost never broke $20 in the States. Throw in the fact that most purchases have 15% sales tax, and you fly through money here like it's water. I now understand why most people up here live so frugally. The other thing that takes some getting used to is their national self-esteem problem. I don't know how many times I've heard or read instances of people putting down the U.S. in order to try and point out why Canada is better. It just gets a little ridiculous at times. I guess when you're from the best country in the world, you don't necessarily feel the need to point out the flaws of your neighbors. On the plus side, I've never seen such great hockey coverage, both on TV and in the papers. As a lifelong hockey fan (and someone who despises basketball and baseball), it's nice to have it be the majority sport. I'm also looking forward to our future games against Syracuse since it's a relatively easy 3 hour drive.

For those of us who don't live anywhere near Tampa, what's the best online site for USF hats, shirts, etc?

For the record, I don't really care about this situation since it doesn't affect me in the slightest. However, what I'm really curious about is how the apologists for Brian Fisher (or whoever the USF troubled athlete of the week is) would respond if this was an player from UF, FSU, or UCF. I suspect the opinions would not be nearly as compassionate. Hypocrisy can be such an amusing thing.

Hehe, it's kind of amusing that most of you can understand the intricacies on the offensive and defensive sides of football, not to mention any other number of minutiae regarding recruiting, coaching, etc, yet the win-loss-tie-overtime loss throws you for a loop? Truly mind boggling. Btw, the Thrashers are back in first.

I think a better question would be how could y'all root for a team that, with each win, gives its megalomaniacal owners more power to screw the community and USF's use of the stadium?

Living in Atlanta, I've seen a lot of Vick over the last couple of season, and I want to clear one thing up. Just because he's the most EXCITING player in the league doesn't mean he's the BEST. Just wanted to point that out since the Falcons aren't completely dependent on him. Heck, Johnson actually won last season when Vick got hurt for a couple of games. I'm not saying Vick isn't a HUGE help, because he definitely is, I'm just saying that there's more to the team than just him. Now if they'd just throw a pass to Price so picking him up in the 4th round of my fantasy draft doesn't look so bad...

Um, considering how "well" Vick did last year, maybe a pocket passer like Johnson may do a better job. Who knows? As for Price, he's on my fantasy football team, so yeah, I'm not happy with their use of him thus far this season.

Heck, after your dismal performance against the Panthers, I guess anything is possible.

I'd just like to say that I hope the Falcons rip the Bucs a new one this weekend. Unfortunately, given last year's record between the two, I'm not going to hold my breath.