The Peoria Sabres

I’m reading Will Leitch’s “God Save the Fan” right now, and it’s often pretty funny, and it’s often really repetitive (Yes, ESPN sucks.  WE GET IT ALREADY), but one essay really jumped out at me last night.

Leitch writes about sticking with his boyhood football team the St. Louis Cardinals when they move to Arizona.  He even goes so far as to suggest that a person who doesn’t follow a team through a geographical move is not a real fan.  This idea blew my mind mostly because my instincts tell me that if the Sabres ever moved, I would devote my life to rooting against them.

Leitch’s argument:

See, here’s the thing: Being a sports fan is a year-round job.  At the end of the season, You’ve got your free agency period and then the draft and then your salary cap cut date and the next thing you know, it’s training camp.  So, when exactly was I supposed to switch loyalties?  Was there one day that I cared about Vai Sikahema, and another day when I was supposed to stop?  I read some piece of information about my Cardinals every day of the year.  I know the fifty-three-man roster.  I know the draft picks, I know the coaching staff, I know the name of the guy who plays the mascot.  It’s a full-time position, rooting for a football team….so how am I just supposed to say, “All right, yesterday I cared about these players, but now I care about these”?  If something as wishy-washy as geography guides your rooting interests, isn’t it wishy-washy to move your loyalty around just because someone realized the franchise could make more money in Boise rather than Topeka?

He loses me a bit when he argues that geography is a silly reason to choose one team over another (the reason I became a hockey fan was so that I had an excuse to cheer for Buffalo- nothing wishy-washy about it), but he does make a good case for loyalty.  Once you have your team, you have your team.  Plain and simple.

Although the Bills are the most obvious comparison (and the most likely to actually leave) I’m going to use the Sabres simply because I just don’t care enough about the Bills to make this interesting. If the Bills left town, I’d be sad for all the Buffalonians who love them, but NO WAY would I cheer for Marshawn Lynch if he were running girls over with his car in Toronto or LA instead of Buffalo.  The Bill can just forget it.

The Sabres might be a different story.  Would I suddenly STOP rooting for Goose and Crunchy just because the team moved away?  It’s difficult to imagine.  As much as I bitch about the Sabres and claim that I want them ALL TO BE TRADED, it’s hard to picture rooting against them as a group.  If Lindy and the whole gang were playing in a different city, would I still cheer for them?

I’m not bringing this up to get everyone depressed imagining a bleak future without the Sabres, I just think it’s an interesting way of thinking about the team.  It’s an interesting way to measure what it is that we’re cheering for.  I really think I’m mostly cheering for Buffalo, but I spend so much time watching these players that I do have attachments to them.  I am cheering for the players too.  In the absence of an NHL team in Buffalo I might find myself cheering for the Peoria Sabres just out of habit.

I really don’t know!

Please don’t get yourself depressed by thinking about this too hard, and please don’t spend any time trying to figure out what kind of terrible situation would have to evolve in order for the Sabres to leave.  This is just a simple exercise.  If the current Sabres were plopped down in Peoria, Illinois tonight, would you still be a fan tomorrow? I think it’s interesting and kind of fun to ponder.

After a lot of thought, I voted for “I’d probably keep cheering for the Sabres,” but honestly, I might devote my life to hating them.  It’s a really tough call.

Lindy and Buffalo

“We think, and many people think, that the town needs to win a major sports championship, to correct the inferiority complex in the psyche of the community.”

-Byron Brown, Mayor of Buffalo, NY

This quote from Byron Brown was part of the Sports illustrated article about Chris Drury a few years ago.  When I first read it, I was taking my very first baby steps towards Buffalo sports fandom.  Of everything I read in that article, this is the thing that stood out most to me, and it’s a quote that I have returned to many times since I first read it in 2007.  At the time, I thought it was preposterous, even scandalous, that our mayor would say such a thing.  The idea that we MUST have a championship to correct the inferiority complex in the psyche of the community seemed downright unsightly, and certainly inappropriate for a mayor to admit out loud.

In the two years since then, I’ve come to read this quote quite differently.  It no longer seems embarrassing, or preposterous, or scandalous.

Now, it just seems honest.

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I’m pretty shocked at the degree of passion I feel over the FIRE LINDY RUFF issue.  It’s not that I passionately want Lindy to be fired, it’s more that I feel as if a lightbulb has flickered on above my head, and suddenly I’m all, “Duh.  Lindy Ruff should be fired.”  The trouble is, very few other people have had this revelation, and for the most part, I find myself ranting alone.

I assure you, it has not gone unnoticed that very few of you are rushing to agree with me in the comment threads.  I know you hate this topic, I know the majority of you don’t agree with me, and I know I am risking alienating a lot of my readers by continuing to harp on this issue….but I can’t stop myself.  I feel strongly about this, and the more I think about it, the more strongly I feel.  Just bear with me for one more post.

I don’t want to argue that Lindy is a bad coach.  I don’t think he’s a bad coach.  All I’m arguing is that he’s getting bad results, and that I think the Sabres should consider firing Lindy.  I’m not even sure I think they HAVE to fire him, but I am sure that it should be on the table as a perfectly reasonable option.  Firing the coach should be on the menu of things we hear about when people discuss the Sabres on the radio and in the newspaper.  That’s all.

But that’s NOT all, because Buffalo has an incredibly strong love for Lindy Ruff.  This fanbase loves Lindy more than we love any one player.  We love Lindy.  He’s important to us, and he’s important to this community.  I’m not discounting that love in the slightest.  I love Lindy too.

On one hand, this attachment to Lindy is incredibly moving.  It’s loyalty, it’s gratitude, it’s respect, and in an interesting way, I think it’s a tribute to how we as a community want to be viewed.  We love Lindy, and we want him to represent us.  I think that’s beautiful.  I can think of very few people I’d rather have representing Buffalo than Lindy Ruff.

But on the other hand, I also think our attachment to Lindy Ruff is a symptom of a deeply rooted problem.  It’s a city-wide inability to let go of some romantic notion of how we want Buffalo to be, and meanwhile, we’re neglecting a whole host of other serious problems.  It’s as if the entire city is enchanted by some mirage, and because of that glimmering illusion, we won’t settle for anything less.  It’s a symptom of whatever it is in our makeup that makes it so difficult to build a much needed new bridge, or a fishing mega-store, or to downsize the government to match the actual size of the population.

I think there is something going on here that runs much deeper than sports.

Whether or not you agree with me that it’s time for a new coach, I think it’s very hard to dispute that this is a conversation that could have started a year and a half ago.  If we had been thinking critically, we would have started this conversation a year and a half ago.  The fact that the entirety of the sports media has been virtually silent about this speaks volumes.  In my opinion, we’re not just reluctant to have this conversation, we’re downright scared of it.

I think Buffalo needs to take a hard look in the mirror and we need to prioritize winning.  And not just in hockey.

I’m not talking about prioritizing winning in some make-believe, warm and fuzzy, Lindy-holding-the-Cup-over-his-head-in-HSBC way.   It’s time to prioritize winning in the forget-the-romantic-ideals, make-the-hard-choices, and get-the-job-done….WINNING way.

I know that this is just hockey.  I know that we fans have no control over any of it, and I know that some of you will think I’m seriously stretching the parameters of a sports blog by writing this post, but I guess I just had to say it.  From the beginning of my romance with the Sabres, above all else, I’ve been drawn to how this town is shaped and effected by its relationship to sports.  I think there are direct sociological lines that can be drawn between how we approach sports, and how we approach the future of our city.

In no way am I suggesting that we should “demand more” from the Sabres- that’s foolishness- but until this week, it was nearly taboo to criticize Lindy Ruff in this town.  Until this week, I had never heard Lindy criticized in the paper or on the radio, ever.  That means something.  We should notice that, and we should think about what that says about our willingness to change and evolve in Buffalo.

Whether or not you agree that Lindy Ruff should have a job for life, this conversation is worth having.  It’s good for us.  It’s good to discuss change and seriously examine our options, and it’s good to question the status quo.  It’s healthy.

And in that way, this conversation is about much, much more than hockey.

_______

Let’s Go Buff-a-lo!

Hockey Night in Kleinhans

Because we perform almost every weekend, my job with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra often prevents me from watching the Sabres game.  It used to bother me that my job so frequently conflicts with hockey, but this season I’ve enjoyed watching bits and pieces of the games in our break room at Kleinhans Music Hall.

Most Sabres games start at seven pm, and our concerts started at eight.  So, on game nights I go to work early, and watch the entire first period in the break room.  It’s fun.  There are a LOT of Sabres fans in the orchestra, but there are only a handful of us who go out of our way to make sure we can enjoy a good chunk of hockey before our concert.  These are the diehards.  Then, the BPO intermission usually lines up with the beginning of the third period, so I catch a few minutes of the game during our break.  Also (between you and me and the entire internet), there’s an orchestra member (not me) who is quite adept at using his/her cell phone to keep track of the score discreetly during a performance.  It’s a rare night when I don’t know the final score before I leave the stage after a concert.  At the end of the night, those of us in the orchestra who love the Sabres always take a moment to celebrate the win or commiserate over the loss on our way out the stage door.

This is obviously an unconventional way to experience a hockey game, but it’s not without it’s charm.  Frankly, I kind of like it.  Yesterday it occurred to me that there will almost certainly come a day when I am on stage during a Sabres playoff game, and it made me downright happy to imagine.  Even when I can’t watch a game from beginning to end, if I’m at work, I know I’ll still have a fun and memorable experience.  I sincerely enjoy cheering for the Sabres with my colleagues, even if it means I don’t get to see every single minute of every single game.

The Sabres have brought me closer to my community in almost every way.  It still amazes me.

Thoughts

Huh.  I can honestly tell you I didn’t see that game coming.  I did not expect the Sabres to play a decent defensive game and get shutout by Marty Biron.  When I got home last night I was too tired and cranky to write about the game, but I woke up this morning feeling rejuvenated.  Here’s what I was thinking about in the dawn of a new day:

1. Beer

Until last night I had never had a beer at HSBC arena.  It’s weird that I never drink at the arena because I have absolutely no objection to drinking, in fact I do it frequently.  I attribute my non-drinkyness to a few things (not the least of which is that I’m not much of a beer drinker these days), but I think the number one reason I wasn’t drinking was it just seemed like too much of a hassle.  When you don’t eat or drink at games, you’re all settled in for the evening once you get to your seats.  Drinking involves dealing with crowds in the concourse, lines at the concession stand, and of course, peeing. Oh, the peeing!

I’ve already been to five games this season, and I’m getting really good at maneuvering around in my little portion of the 300 level concourse.  I’ve learned that if I bolt out at the end of a period I can hit the bathroom, hit a concession stand, swing by to wave hello to Anne (and buy some cotton candy from her if I feel so inclined), and still have PLENTY of time to be back in my seat to see the majority of a weirdo interview with Maria Genero and Paul Gaustad on the jumbotron. (Seriously, what was that all about?  I couldn’t hear the audio on the clip on the jumbotron.  All I gathered from the feature is that Goose went fishing at some point and that, judging from the body language, he and Maria might very well be in love.  That was a LOT of bashful giggling.  Not that I’m complaining.)

My point here is this: I was totally wrong to not drink beer.  Beer helps.  A lot.  I’m never not drinking beer at a hockey game again.

(Maybe at some point I will investigate those gigantic beers that they pour out of bottles, but maybe not.  What’s up with those?  Why can’t they pour a gigantic draft at the concession stand?  My inclination is to assume draft beer is colder and more delicious, but ENORMOUS beers have their attributes as well.  Please advise, dear readers.)

2. The Crowd

The crowd was terrible.  I’m not judging, because I was a part of the crowd and Buffalo sports fans have had a real rough week, but MAN, the crowd was flat.  I’ve never been to such a subdued game.  Granted, the action was very, veeeeery slow, but still.  The crowd was skeptical, belligerent, and cranky from beginning to end.  As you know, I am PRO booing. I like to boo, and I don’t care who knows it, but…..I’m not a fan of booing just because you have no particular reason to cheer.  If I had my say, we’d save our nonsensical booing for the opposition (like Chara! BOOOOOO!), but I fully recognize the crowd is gonna boo when they’re gonna boo.  That’s just how it goes.

Our section did have one nice crowd moment: In the third period when it was 2-0 and the arena seemed library-level quiet, a guy about five rows back from us screamed out in a very clear, loud voice, “WE WANT MAX!”  He yelled it at just the right time and it seemed to boom over the entire arena.  There was lots of giggling in response.  Then, a guy in front of us yelled, “I TOTALLY DISAGREE!”  And I then I yelled, “ME TOO!”  And someone else yelled “ME THREE!”  I’m sorry to say that this exchange might have been the highlight of the evening.  I like the idea of an orderly discussion occurring in the middle of the game.  I was tempted to shout, “I’M CONCERNED THAT LINDY’S THREATENING INSISTENCE ON DEFENSIVE PLAY IS BACKFIRING!  THE SABRES SEEM AFRAID OF MAKING MISTAKES.  THEY ARE NOT PLAYING AGGRESSIVE OFFENSE!,”  just to see if some else would shout, “SOLID DEFENSIVE PLAY LEADS TO OFFENSIVE OPPORTUNITIES!  THEY JUST HAVE TO STICK TO THE SYSTEM AND BURY THEIR CHANCES. THE GOALS WILL COME!”

3. The Sabres aren’t that bad, but they’re also not that good.

If the Bruins game was when I lost all perspective, last night’s game was when I got it back.  Listen, it’s still early in the season.  There is LOTS of Brahms hockey left to be played.  After the Bruins game I reached a level of unhappiness with the Sabres and sports in general that crossed a line I have drawn for myself.  There is only so much angst I am willing to tolerate in the name of sports.  It’s a long season, with a lot more annoying-ness yet to come, so I realized I need to dial it down a bit if I am going to survive with my sanity intact.

These Sabres are just not dominant and we need to stop expecting them to be dominant.  They have lots of potential to dramatically improve, so I guess we just hope for the best.  They tricked us by coming out of the gate so strong, but it’s time to accept that those first six games were a bit of an anomaly.

4. Thank GOD I have to work tonight.

I love my job, but it’s a drag that it so frequently conflicts with the Sabres schedule.  Usually I’m sorry to miss the Saturday games, but not tonight.  I need a break.  To make matter even better, we’re playing a REALLY cool concert at the BPO this weekend.  The concert involves a lot of great music, but there is also some truly dazzling acrobatics that will steal the spotlight.  We’re playing a full concert with the acrobats tonight, and then a truncated version tomorrow afternoon as part of our Family Series.  I can’t get comp tickets for tonight, but if you are interested in coming to the show (for free) tomorrow afternoon, shoot me an email.  I have four tickets set aside for anyone who would like to use them.  I can’t imagine anyone not liking this show, and I think kids will LOVE it.  Our family shows are usually about an hour long, without intermission.  Yes, it conflicts with the Bills game.

Another super neat thing going on in Buffalo this weekend is the opening of the Burchfield-Penney Art Center. In the middle of a terrible economy, in an already economically depressed community, Buffalonians managed to get a brand new, state-of-the art, museum built.  This is an accomplishment that really really needs to be celebrated.  The museum is opening today, AND it’s going to be open ALL NIGHT. That means, that you can go out, do whatever, and check out the museum at FOUR IN THE MORNING AFTER YOU GO TO JIM’S FOR A CHICKEN FINGER SUB!  I’m SO there.  I really encourage everyone to check out the Burchfield-Penney Art Center tonight.

I love Buffalo sports, but sports are not all we’ve got around here.  When sports are getting you down, try something else!

Let’s Go Buff-a-lo!

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.

_______

(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?