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.)

SabreCast, Episode #2

I cannot beLIEVE the Sabres pulled that one off. No, that game wasn’t pretty, but whatever. I’ll take it.

Heather came over tonight and we watched the game. We were alternately appalled and amused. It was a messy night for the Sabres. Crunchy in particular put on quite the schizophrenic show; first by being Mr. Out-Of-Position-Pants, and then by being Mr. Badass-In-The-Shootout-Pants.

I’ve been pretty impressed with the Sabres’ pluckiness the last few days. Even now, at the end of a long, often frustrating season, I see a lot of reason to look towards the future with hope. I’ll admit, part of me just wants them to LOSE ALREADY, and put an end to this stressful misery, but mostly, I’m delighted that the Sabres are still in the game. DELIGHTED.

Two games to go, boys.

For your listening pleasure, we recorded the second SabreCast episode. It’s only 8 minutes long because that’s how we roll.

Sabres vs Bruins, 3/30/08

Pregame

After the 1st (1-1)

After the 2nd (1-1)

At the end (1-2, OT Sabres)

 

Sabres vs. Lightning 3/19/08

After the 1st (2-1, Tampa)

The Bolts will try
to spoil our fun,
and at the horn,
it’s two to one.

Pommers knows
what he must do.
He’ll need to score
a goal or two.

They don’t look bad
they don’t look good
I hope they win.
They really should.

After the 2nd (4-1, Tampa)

This game sucks.
We need three goals
to tie the game
and soothe our souls.

At the end (4-7, Sabres)

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOO!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

My heart is filled
with love and hope
I sit and grin
I’m such a dope.

I can’t believe
they got the win
I’ll never doubt
the boys agin. (until the next game)

(heh) (I love hockey)

GO SABRES!

Hot Diggity!

What a delightful game!

I’m watching this game (already knowing the end result) on a DVR delay as I type this post.  I went out to dinner to celebrate a friends birthday tonight, and so I couldn’t watch the game live.  I got to listen to to the first half hour in the car as I drove to the restaurant.  I think some of my fondest memories of this season will be of the games that I heard on the radio.  I love hooting with happiness in the car.

By the time we were situated at Korea House (yummy, FYI) the Sabres were already up 3-0, and my friend Antoine kept us up to the minute with his iphone.   There was something so nice about how the evening unfolded. A pleasant twenty minute drive in which the Sabres scored three goals, delicious food with good friends, a blow-out win, DVR technology, feisty Sabres, and a happy Kate.

I’m pretty sure the Sabres are never going to lose again. :D

Lacrosse RAWKS!

Okay, that was twenty dollars WELL SPENT. The Bandits are a freaking BLAST, you guys.

Things to love about the Bandits:

1. The crowd! I had NO idea that so many people in Buffalo were so into lacrosse. It was insane. Half the crowd was wearing gigantic orange wigs, and the other half had jerseys on. It was rough and tumble and seriously impressive. There were tons of fun chants (B-O-X, box, box, box, Whoo!), a decent in-game announcer, and the crowd seem fairly well informed. The Bandits have great fans. I seriously had no idea.

2. Lacrosse is a great game! It’s a lot like hockey, only with way more scoring. I didn’t know a single solitary thing about lacrosse, but I had no trouble following the action. The final score was 21-12, Bandits. At first I figured that my presence at the arena had cursed the Bandits, just as it always curses the Sabres, because they went down 6-1 almost immediately, but then they came back with a vengeance. On our way out we were commenting that lacrosse has the perfect amount of scoring: a lot more than hockey, but a lot less than basketball.

3. Bandettes dancing around with multiple costume changes throughout the night! Rax the Racoon mascot! Music during the game! It was a circus! The really funny thing is, they make as big a deal out of every goal at the Bandits game as they do at the Sabres games. So, for every single goal, they do the horn, and the smoke, and the siren, and the crowd leaps up triumphantly…..twenty one times. I am hoarse and giddy from all of the celebration.

4. It’s just as violent as hockey, maybe more. They HIT each other with their sticks. There was a fist fight directly over the unmoving, prone body of a goalie- just like in hockey!

5. The goalies wear a comical amount of padding. They look like they’re wearing those jokey sumo wrestler costumes, but the nets are teeny tiny. I bet Crunchy would love to have a lacrosse net. I don’t really understand why it’s harder to stop a lacrosse ball than it is to stop a hockey puck, but it must be, because both teams were scoring left and right.

6. It’s not hockey! I don’t really care about lacrosse, so I had nothing to lose in this situation. I knew I would have fun because it’s a sport and I had good company, but the experience exceeded my expectations by A LOT. I can highly recommend the Bandits, especially for families as it’s significantly cheaper than hockey. I’m definitely going to the Bandits again.

Go Bandits! Hee!

Come Back

The panel that I participated in this evening took place in The Buffalo News auditorium, which is essentially across the street from HSBC arena. I swear, as I walked back to my car at about 9:00 I could feel the heaviness of the mood in the arena from outside. I wasn’t at all surprised to hear the dull edge to RJ’s voice when I turned on the radio. When he announced the score at 2-1, my heart sunk, not just on the game, but on the season, and on the team, and on the whole stupid ritual of being a fan.

As I meandered home, they went down another goal, and I think that was the worst that I have felt all season.

I really want to like this team, and these players. I know there are a million reasons to bitch about any sports team, but I would just prefer to enjoy them. If it’s possible to enjoy the ebb and flow of this erratic season, then that is what I want to do. I suspect that after I have a few years of fandom under my belt, I might be more likely to think, “Meh. These guys just suck,” but for right now, my natural inclination is to cheer blindly. As far as fans go, I think I’m pretty easy to please, but tonight, despite my best intentions, I was totally disheartened.

In the time it took to drive home, the Sabres came back. They came all the way back!

And so did I.

Let’s Go Buff-a-lo!

7 Things

I had some folks over for lasagna and garlic bread tonight. I watched the first period and then I put the television on mute and for the most part, I concentrated on my friends, but I did keep one little eye on the game.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

1. Until recently, all goalies just looked like generic blobs in the net to me, but lately, I’ve been noticing the differences in their individual styles. A few days ago I realized that I’m watching goalies very carefully now, and I’ve become somewhat fixated on Miller in the net. I love watching Crunchy spring back to his feet after he gets knocked down. He’s like a frog. A super awesome frog. I’m so happy that Ryan Miller is our goalie.

2. GOOSE! HONK! HONK! HONK! Until tonight, I’d never actually heard RJ’s call “If you’re out and about, give a honk for the Goose!” HONK! HONK! HONK! (Also, nice work Yippee Paille!)

3. Suddenly, I’m in love with Mike Robitaille. He’s so salty and hilariously cranky.

4. I find myself in the mood to hate the Rangers again. My desire to hate the Rangers seems to be in direct proportion to how well the Sabres are playing. When the Sabres are struggling, I don’t have the heart or the will to hate the Rangers, but when the Sabres are ROCKING, hating the Rangers feels so, so good.

5. I learned today on BfloBlog that Briere is a MINUS TWENTY (-20)!

6. I think it’s interesting that during the ten game losing streak Brian Campbell threw a big public snit and called off negotiotions claiming he “didn’t want to cause a distraction for the team”, which of course created a big distraction. Now that things are looking up, he’s running to the press to make sure everyone knows how much he wants to remain a Sabre. Is it possible that it dawned on Soupy that the Sabres might survive without him? Is it possible he realized that if he keeps playing hardball he’s going to find his ass traded? I feel like Soupy might be getting a little worried. Heh. Make him sweat, Darcy.

7. I love hockey.

Sabres @ Storm Troopers 2/12/08

Pregame:

Mood: Fretful
Favorite Sabre: Toni Lydman
Least Favorite Sabre: Andrew Peters. I’m just not in the mood for his antics. I vote that we enjoy a violence-free game.
My Candy Heart Says:

Prediction: I don’t think things look good for this game. Ottawa is all revved up about their trade, and the Sabres are probably still a little skittish from their brush with the Grim Reaper. I can’t say I’ll blame the Sabres if they come out of the gate a little tentatively.

After the 1st (0-0)

Mood: Pleased
Favorite Sabre: This is weird….Mike Ryan. Is it just me, or is did he take an extra Flintstonesvitamin with his Wheaties today? He seems zippy. I would also like to give a shout-out to the doctors who gave Zednik such good care on Monday night. Not only are they smartiepants healers, but they are hotties as well. Nice work, Dr. Noor and Dr. Bisson.
Least Favorite Sabre: Um, I dunno. I’m trying to lay off of Soupy because I’m scared they are going to sign him this week. I’m sticking with Peters. Is he even playing? What the hell happened to Nathan Paetschteahetchsh?
My Candy Heart Says:

Prediction: No one is going to suffer a life-threatening, horrifyingly gory injury today. It just feels like a normal hockey game. Phew.

After the 2nd (1-0, Sabres)

Mood: Nervous but pleased. This feels like a waiting-for-the-other-shoe-to-drop situation.
Favorite Sabre: Are you ready for this? Thomas Vanek. That goal went straight to my heart. Nice one, Thomas.
Favorite Sabre Honorable Mention: Mike Robitaille. That old-timey clip they showed at intermission of Robi chilling at home with his foxy wife was pretty spectacular.
Least Favorite Sabre: Still Petey. Poor guy.
My Candy Heart Says:

Prediction: This game will not end 1-0.

At the End (5-1, Sabres)

Mood: Pommerdoodling! (Also, surprised that Ottawa sucked so hard.)
Favorite Sabre: I am so happy to announce that Thomas Vanek is my Favorite Sabre tonight.
Least Favorite Sabre: I don’t even have it in me to hate Soupy or Petey right now.
My Candy Heart Says:

Prediction: Plan the parade. Hee.

Holy Hank Tallinder!

Sure, we gave up a two goal lead. I don’t care.

Seeing Hank “hot stuff” Tallinder faking out Marty Brodeur like that was totally worth it.

That. Was. H. I. L. A. R. I. O. U. S. And awesome. And hilarious. And my favorite end to a game ever. And hilarious. And redonk. And in the post-game interview we found out Crunchy went to McDonald’s for breakfast! Hilarious!

My official stance on shootouts is “against,” but for tonight, I’ll make an exception.