Aboot

Who are you?

My name is bits, Katebits.

What exactly do you think you’re doing?

I’m blogging about the Sabres and whatever else I feel like blogging about, beeyotches!

How did this happen?

After six years of living in WNY, in the spring of 2007 the Sabres finally got under my skin, and as a result, the city of Buffalo suddenly felt like home.  I consider myself a full fledged Buffalonian at this point, but before I started following hockey, I was never really comfortable here.  The Sabres were like a gateway drug.  It started out innocently enough, but before I knew it I was hooked, both on the game and on the city.

Despite growing up in Minneapolis, I’d never seen a single hockey game until I moved to Buffalo. It turns out, I love hockey. I really, really, really love hockey.  When I started blogging about the Sabres I knew almost nothing about hockey (I think my early posts reflect that dearth of knowledge), but I’ve picked up a thing or two since then.   I’m no expert, but I’ve watched a lot of hockey in the last few years.

The Willful Caboose was originally intended to chronicle the infancy of my Buffalo sports obsession, but after two years of following a non-playoff team, I’m not sure I still qualify as an “infant”.  I’d say I’m more of a toddler now.  I still need constant supervison, and I rarely know what I’m talking about, but now I’m liable to throw loud temper tantrums.  Heh.

“The Willful Caboose”? Whaaa?

The name of my blog makes no sense. Seriously.  If I could go back in time and name my hockey blog something hockeyish, I probably would, but we all have to live with the choices we’ve made, and “The Willful Caboose” is one of my more…nonsensical choices. Just go with it.

Why do you call Ryan Miller “Crunchy”?

Um, this also has no good story. I picked up “Crunchy” from Interchangeable Parts. As far as I know, there is no hilarious story, it’s just that Crunchy can look a little crunchy from time to time between haircuts. There is also a joke about Crunchy making his own yogurt-covered raisins and weaving his own hemp clothing, but come on, that’s just silly.

I know that Jason Pominville is “Pommerdoodle”, but I don’t know why.

That’s why.

As you can see, Jason Pominville looks pretty much EXACTLY like a labradoodle puppy. (This was brilliantly noted by the IPB girls. Um, a lot of the stuff I write about started there.) The word “pommerdoodle” later became a verb, as in “I am so excited about the game tonight! I’m totally pommerdoodling!”

What are the other nicknames I might not know?

Toni Lydman: Toni Tone Tony OR “He’s a MOOOOONSTER!”
Jochen Hecht: Yo-Yo

All the others are pretty self explanatory, although I am personally quite proud of the “Roy-Z” spelling.

What the HELL is :^::::::::::::::::::::::::::::?

That is the emoticon for laughing so hard that your beverage is coming out of your nose. This is an excellent emoticon, and in my opinion it’s far superior to “lol”. The advantage of :^::::::::::::::::::: is that you can edit it to reflect the quality of your LOLing. For example, a short snort is just a :^:::::::, but a good, hardy guffaw can warrant a :^::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::(gasp) ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I’d like to send you money, jewelery, or hilarious pictures of Sabres. How do I get in touch with you, Katebits?

I can be reached at willfulcaboose [at] gmail [dot] com

I have a mystery that needs solving.  What should I do?

I suggest you call the Pommerdoodle Detective Agency. Crunchy and Pommers will try to solve your mystery for a small fee.

What else do I need to know?

Stafford is a brain-eating zombie, Crunchy has an eating disorder, and Thomas Vanek is a (lovable) slag-faced whore. That’s about it.