Home Again

I’m home from band camp.

While I was away in the wilderness whining about the overabundance of nature (but secretly having a grand old time), my computer died. It died to the point that a certified Apple dealership declared the motherboard (whatever that is) dead and gone. It was a sad, sad time.

So today, after a day spent listened to a looooong concert and then driving the six hours home, I just rolled back into town. (I’m tired and covered in bug bites, if you must know.) For some reason, despite all logic and reason, I decide that I should just check to make sure my computer didn’t magically come back to life during the trip home.

Guess what? It did! My computer came back to life! Upon arrival in Buffalo, my previously unresponsive computer was all, “Oh. Hello there, Kate.” I guess it was just mostly dead.

Coming back to Buffalo after a trip away feels like coming home. That may seem obvious to a lot of you, but frankly, it took me a long time to feel this way about Buffalo. Over the last year and a half I’ve enjoyed reveling in that happy feeling of “Yay! I’m hoooooome” after being away.

I guess my computer feels the same way. Me and my retarded computer….we’re Buffalonians. Out in the wild we get testy.

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(Hey, doesn’t NHL free agency start, like, thirty seconds from now? What’s going on with that, anyway? Is Marion Hossa a Sabre yet? Heh. I’ll try to write about hockey again soon. Sorry about all this band camp and computer talk.)

Sad News

I just found out via WGR that Tim Russert died today. I don’t watch a lot of Meet the Press, and I haven’t read his books, but like all Buffalonians I have a soft spot for Tim Russert. He was possibly Buffalo’s greatest ambassador.

After the October Storm in 2006, when so many of our trees were damaged, a local artist started an organization called “Carvings For a Cause” which turned the trunks of fallen trees into mammoth wooden sculptures. The sculptures started popping up all over the Elmwood strip last summer. The damage that our trees sustained during the storm effected me deeply, and this project really helped me feel better.

The Tim Russert sculpture lived outside of Globe Market on Elmwood for many months. I have to admit that at first, the fact that there even was a Tim Russert sculpture kind of made me giggle. Most of the other sculptures are of statelier, more historic figures. I certainly never disliked the Tim Russert statue, but it really grew on me over time. There is something incredibly friendly about his statue, and over the many months that I walked past it every day, I just…. started to notice the sculpture every time. It became a focal part of my walks, and after awhile, the Tim Russert statue came to represent, for me, the sense of regeneration I was feeling in my own life. It made me genuinely happy.

And that’s my Tim Russert story. I hope it doesn’t seem disrespectful to tell a story about a statue on the day a real man died. I certainly tell this story from a place of respect. Tim Russert, his success, and his obvious Buffalo pride, positively effected many lives in this area. I’m sure many Buffalonians will be telling Tim Russert stories tonight.

He will be missed.

No Goal

I had another post planned for tonight, but there is something about the game from last night that has been sort of stuck in the back of my mind all day, so I decided to switch gears.

I want to talk about the 1999 “No Goal”.

The final two minutes of the game last night were outrageous. I’m still amazed at how close Pittsburgh came to tying it up after being so thoroughly dominated all evening. It was a photo finish. I really didn’t believe it was over until I saw the puck skitter clear of the goal line in the replay. Perhaps I’m reading too much into this, but I thought I detected the slightest hesitation in the immediate celebration of the Red Wings, as if they too were waiting for some kind of extra confirmation that the game was actually over, and that they were the champions.

In the seconds after the final buzzer, but before NBC showed the replay, I had a very distinct series of thoughts: “Holy shit. What is the replay going to show? Can they restart a game in the middle of a Stanley Cup celebration? What if that puck actually went in? It was so effing close. I really think it might have gone in.”

That’s when I think I “got it” (just a little), about the “No Goal”. The circumstances were very similar after all. Just like last night, it was the end of a game six, and a celebration was already occurring, only in 1999, there was a puck in the back of the net, and a murky rule in the books. What a terrible way to end a season. What a dreadful thing for the league. What a kick in the gut to Buffalo. (And yes, I know the story goes that the Sabres were way overmatched, and that it was a miracle they were in the SCF at all. I know that the general consensus is that there was no way they could have won a game 7 anyway; but all of that really has nothing to do with the fact that the championship series ended on a highly controversial goal that probably shouldn’t have been allowed.)

I had a moment last night when I truly thought Hossa had jammed that puck in, and in that moment I really, really didn’t want the series to end on a controversial call. I wanted it to be clear and fair. And then I thought of the Sabres in 1999. Last night was the first time it sunk in for me, as a new Sabres fan, how much the “No Goal” must have totally. freaking. sucked.

I’m not bringing this up to debate the legitimacy or the illegitimacy of the goal, or to open old wounds, or to get everyone all fired up again. I guess I just feel like I took another little step towards becoming a real Buffalonian last night, and I wanted to write about it here on my blog. Nine years after the conclusion of the game, and seven years after I moved to Buffalo, the “No Goal” stung me a little bit for the first time.

Falling in love with the Sabres is what helped me fall in love with Buffalo, and for that I will always be grateful. For the most part, I try to steer clear of the bitter side of the “Buffalo sports fan” personality. I have to admit, until last night I largely dismissed the “No Goal” controversy as a product of the Buffalonian’s penchant for wallowing in sports related disaster…..but the whole mess has just been bugging me all day. I can’t BELIEVE that happened, and I can’t IMAGINE how upset I would be if it happened today. The lingering emotional effects of the “No Goal” perfectly encapsulates the Buffalo sports frustration that I have so carefully tried to avoid, but the longer I live here, the more I realize that things like the rally cry of “NO GOAL,” and the positive energy of the Ice Bowl, both come from the same well of passion. I can’t truly enjoy one, without acknowledging the other.

So, tonight, I’m going to pour myself a glass of wine and say a toast to my friends in Buffalo (many of whom read this blog) who had to endure the infamous “No Goal”.

A drink for my homies, enjoyed in the spirit of utmost respect.

A Taste

It was almost impossible for me to separate the experience of watching the Bandits win their Cup, from the hope I have that the Sabres can win their Cup someday too. Sitting in HSBC arena, surrounded by a full house of screaming people, watching a sport that resembles hockey in so many ways…I couldn’t stop myself from thinking (just for a second), “Oh, man. What would this be like with the Sabres?” There was a CUP, you guys, and they held it above their heads, passing it from teammate to teammate. Last night was like……a taste. It was a little taste of what it might feel like if it were hockey instead of lacrosse, and the Sabres instead of the Bandits. From that perspective, the Bandits game was a little thrilling, and a little unsettling.

I don’t really feel comfortable thinking too much about the Sabres winning the Cup. I want it to happen, and I hope that someday it will, but it seems almost garish to give it too much space in my imagination. Maybe it’s because I’m a new fan, and I largely missed out on the years when winning it all seemed like a reasonable possibility, but the very idea of a championship in Buffalo is nothing more than a vague, desperate desire. It’s almost painful to let those images into my mind because of how wonderful it would be, and how far away it feels.

But there is another, less depressing way of looking at it; thinking about the Stanley Cup too much feels like focusing on something that we don’t have, when in reality we have so much. I took a moment during the very last minute of the Bandits game, to mentally step back from the stress of the action, and to absorb what was going on all around me in the stands, and it was wonderful. Last night, as I looked around HSBC arena, I felt very content with what we already have.

I don’t know if the Sabres will ever win the Cup, but until they do, I’m going to try to focus on the journey rather than the reward. The reward would certainly be sweet, but for right now, the journey is what’s real.

Let’s Go BAND-ITS!

WOOOOOOO!!!

Tonight, along with some friends, I had the extremely good fortune of seeing the Buffalo Bandits win the National Lacrosse League Championship. That’s right! World Champions, baby!

Amy works the pom-pom

It was a nearly perfect game from the spectator’s perspective. The Bandits were ahead the entire night, but they were never very far ahead, so the game was never a forgone conclusion. The Portland Lumberjax (I hate those guys. :P) put up a good fight, and came very, very close to tying it up at the end. The final two minutes of the game were absolutely electrifying.

I really have to hand it to the Bandits crowd. The scene was pretty spectacular. It’s a little rough around the edges in comparison to a Sabres crowd, but the spirit and enthusiasm are the same. The Bandits are a good value, and it’s a great product, so I’m happy that so many people come out to support the team. It’s easy to dismiss arena lacrosse because it’s not a “major” sport, but let me assure you, it’s a good sport, and you are missing out if you skip the Bandits altogether.

Remember when I said that Flyers orange is gross? Well, I stand by that. Orange is gross when the Flyers do it, but when we do it, it’s cool.

Bandits orange is beautiful.

The Bandettes are also beautiful, but in a skanky kind of way.

I have a lot to say about how awesome the Bandits are, and how unexpectedly great the sport is, and how much MONEY the Sabres must be making off the Bandits, and how the players are regular guys who all have normal 9-to-5 jobs in addition to being Bandits, and how charming Buffalonians can be in their desire to cheer, but I’ll save all that for another post. For tonight, I just want to write about what it felt like to be a part of a crowd celebrating a championship win.

Listen, obviously this isn’t the Stanley Cup, or the Super Bowl, but it’s still an honest to God championship. We still got to watch men reach the pinnacle of achievement, on the highest level of competition in their sport. There was a Cup, and it was hoisted. There was an MVP (Mark Steenhuis), there was a sold out arena, and they played “We are the Champions” over the loudspeaker at the end. It’s a real championship. It was exciting, and moving to witness. I am certainly not as emotionally invested in the Bandits as I am in the Sabres, but at some point tonight I got swept up in cheering for cheering sake. I cheered out of love for Buffalo, in appreciation for sports, and for the great skill of the guys on the field. This NLL Championship is nothing to scoff at, and I for one, welcome the opportunity to celebrate this team. I got to honk “Let’s Go Buff-a-lo” all the way home. I got to high five strangers. I got to soak up the atmosphere of triumph and celebration. It was a great night.

The Bandits are the World Champs and we are lucky to have them in Buffalo.

(We are also lucky to have this mullet in Buffalo.)

Buffalo, I’m Proud Of Us.

For some reason, against my better judgment, about an hour and a half ago, I turned on WGR. For those of you outside of Buffalo, WGR is our sports talk radio station. Usually, WGR makes me want to kill myself because it’s incredibly angry and insane. I have no idea why I thought it would be a good idea to listen to the radio during the peak of the Brian Campbell intrigue. You’d think that the hours upon hours I spent listening to people freak out about the Briere and Drury last summer would have taught me to JUST SAY NO when it comes to WGR, but apparently not.

I just listened to caller after caller express concern about signing Brian Campbell at the expense of the upcoming free agents. A very high percentage of people who called in seem to believe that Soupy’s value to the Sabres is highest as trade bait. People are keeping their heads! They are listening to reason! Schopp and the Bulldog are NOT having temper tantrums. They are calmly adding up the numbers and deducing that if we sign Soupy to what he wants, the team will be committing too much money to too few players. Even Schoop was amazed at the tone of the calls.

I….don’t understand. Buffalo, where is the loony-tunes outrage? Where are the over-the-top accusations of management skin-flintery and incompetence?

Where’s the craaaaazy, Buffalo?

Intervention

Dear Buffalo,

Giiiiirl, you need to pull it together. Listen, there is not a damn thing you can do about these Sabres, so how about you take a deep breath and try to relax? I know it’s really hard not to get sucked into all the dirty drama surrounding the team and their craptastic play, but honestly, what good does it do you? None. Larry Quinn is an asshole, Darcy is a sad-sack, the players are slackers, the management sucks, Lindy is too soft, blah blah blah blah BLAH. Do you feel any better now? No. You feel worse, don’t you? Dwelling too much on this team is like drinking poison. How about you stop calling into sports radio talk shows and instead play a little Guitar Hero, maybe have a glass of wine. Chill.

With Love,

Katebits

PS- If they are still sucking this hard in a few weeks, we’ll T.P. their houses.

The Ice Bowl

Photo from Yahoo Sports

I just got home, and I haven’t read or watched any coverage about the Ice Bowl. I have no idea what the event looked like on television, and I have no idea if the game was any fun for the people watching in their homes.

As a person in the stands, the Ice Bowl was incredible. I’ve never in my life been a part of such a large crowd of positive energy, and I’m not sure that I ever will again. I am so proud of Buffalo today. We were cold, wet, inundated by the elements, and locked in a slow moving game, but the crowd just got louder, happier, and more enthusiastic. No one left before the end. Although the loss was hard, with every passing minute after Sid’s shootout victory, my disappointment with the end result dulled, and my gratefulness for having been a part of the day grew.

I felt honest camaraderie with the Penguins fans, and as we were walking out, I actually commented to Robin that I was happy for them. I didn’t see a single instance of genuine disturbance between the two fan bases. From my perspective, the crowd was pretty united in its giddy appreciation of the event. I hope the Penguins fans enjoyed the day as much as I did. (It’s probably safe to say they enjoyed it even more than me.)

I have read a lot of arguments for and against a gimmicky outdoor game like the Ice Bowl. Oh, it was gimmicky alright, but the gimmick was pretty spectacular in person. Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with using a gimmick to generate a little buzz from time to time. Even if the whole thing was a bust on television, I can’t imagine that this game was harmful for the NHL, and beyond that, I don’t really care to think too hard about the “success” of the Winter Classic. I’m just happy I was there. This game was undeniably wonderful for Buffalo, and what’s good for Buffalo, is good for me.

In the end, the game was not about the game, but instead it was about a community of hockey fans, and I’m perfectly fine with that. I love that, actually. Sabres fandom is all about community, and that’s what drew me to hockey in the first place. In a very fundamental way, hockey is what taught me how to reach out and embrace my community, and this game felt like the entire city of Buffalo embracing me back. For all of the cheesiness and the manufactured nostalgia surrounding the Ice Bowl, the end result really did speak to a very childlike part of my personality- the part of me that doesn’t want to resist being swept up by a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Yeah, the game was a gimmick, but there is nothing artificial about the joy it created in me.

LET’S GO BUFF-A-LO!

I am Buffalonian, Hear Me Roar

You know, I got off the plane in Buffalo today, and I was just really happy to be back home. It has taken me a long time to get here, but I am really happy and comfortable in Buffalo. I have always fancied myself a big city kind of gal, but I have to admit, this little city has really gotten under my skin.

Let’s go Buff-a-lo!

Maybe This Will Be Our Year

For me, loving the Sabres is inexorably connected to my relationship with Buffalo. I needed to find a way to love Buffalo, and so I started loving the Sabres. Obviously, at this point my love has taken on a life of its own, but it was only a few months ago when I thought of a good hockey team as nothing more than a surprising perk of living in WNY.

If free agency and the following city-wide outrage taught me anything, it’s that I need to create a little bit of a safety-zone surrounding my Sabres fandom. If loving the Sabres is always connected to how I love Buffalo (and vice versa) I will be driven slowly insane. I can’t take it personally every time a free agent leaves town, or it won’t be long before I am nodding my head in agreement with Bucky Gleason. (Ew.)

I suspect that I will continue to circle around this issue for quite some time before I make my peace with it, but today I am feeling nostalgic for the carefree days of my very earliest fandom, when the Sabres were helping me settle into Buffalo for the first time in six years.

The following originally appeared on Oh For Fun, on May 14th, 2007:

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Buffalonian

I am in the midst of an absolute communion with the city of Buffalo.

Over the last few weeks, there has been a mounting excitement/anxiety that has effected every man, woman, and child in Buffalo. Everyone is talking about the Sabres. E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E. We are obsessed, and we are desperate.

And now, once again, thanks to a faltering sports team, poor little Buffalo is struggling with a collective depression that you can literally feel in the air. Remember, this is a town which suffered four Super Bowl losses in a row in the early 90’s. The Sabres are down two games to none, and an old familiar sadness has settled over the city.

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I need to be more grateful for my life in Buffalo. Regardless of whatever else Buffalo is, it is my home, and I am happy here. I have wonderful friends and a great job. There is nothing more beautiful than a Buffalo springtime. The buildings here are gorgeous, even though many of them need a little TLC. This is a friendly town. My very first day in Buffalo was September 11th 2001, and even on that terrible day, I felt the warmth of this city. We are scrappy, we are home-spun, and we are trying our very hardest to pretend the winters aren’t totally hideous.

I believe I ended up in Buffalo for a reason. It’s probably nothing lofty or glamorous, but I am convinced that Buffalo has something to teach me, something very important and valuable. Over the last few days I have been identifying with this city in a way that I haven’t done in six years. I can feel Buffalo struggling to cast aside its long history of losing, and my heart swells. The Stanley Cup might not be the object of my heart’s desire, but I recognize the feeling. This town is yearning, and so am I. This town is defensive and prideful and tough, and so am I. Just like Buffalo, my biggest problem is my own tattered self image.

So, here I am, bumbling along in a city that seems like a perfect reflection of how I feel. Imperfect, feisty, and reasonably priced (hee). Springtime is finally here. The leaves on the trees are sprouting, covering the branches broken in our October snow storm. The Stanley Cup won’t solve Buffalo’s problems, just like winning another audition won’t solve mine, but still, every spring in Buffalo feels like a miracle of hope.

Maybe this will be our year.