Do you know how long I have been waiting for my countdown calendar widget to show me this??? —->
Buffalo Bills football IS BACK!!
Whoohooo!!! Reports from camp coming soon!
Category: Sports
Are you ready for some football??? Man, we are!!! I can’t believe it, but by the time you are reading this, there are only TWO DAYS until the Bills start training camp! TWO DAYS!!! We’ll be heading out to see them practice on Friday with the Drake family (Dave of Buffalo Bills Review fame) and perhaps another friend or two.
There is always reason for optimism this early in the season, but have a look at some stuff on my Buffalo Bills site at some of the actual reasons for optimism. I might write one more article this week as the beginning of the season approaches, but for now there’s plenty of good stuff up there.
We’ll be starting up our show again if not this weekend, next weekend. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I encourage you too. We’re have some new segments planned, a new host or two, and we’ll hopefully be working in many interviews throughout the season.
Fun stuff! Football is almost here!!! WHOOHOO!!!!!
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NHL Hockey… Outdoors?
Rumor has it that the Sabres/Penguins game scheduled for January 1st, 2008 in Buffalo could be held outdoors at Ralph Wilson Stadium!!! How cool is that?!? We would really like to be there, if that ends up being the case.
[Read the Buffalo News article that mentions this possible location for the game.]
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Sabres Schedule Announced
The Buffalo Sabres today announced their 2007-2008 schedule. (Didn’t they just finish playing the 2006-2007 season??) 🙂 We were really hoping that the Sabres (1) would play the San Jose Sharks this year, and (2) that they would play IN San Jose, and then (3) that it would coincide with our trip out there this fall.
BUT, alas… they will be on a road trip during that week… and they do play in San Jose this year… just, not at the same time.
November 15th is already circled on my calendar. First game against the Senators. The first games against Drury and Briere’s new teams will be interesting as well. The season opens with a “home and home” against the NY Islanders, whom the Sabres ousted in round one of last year’s playoffs.
Bring on the hockey season! (Football first… but hockey a close second!)
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Free Agency in Sports
As you most likely know by now, Chris Drury and Daniel Briere have moved on from the Buffalo Sabres to $$$Greener Pastures$$$. They were signed by two different teams (Rangers and Flyers) for a combined $84 million!!! Holy cow, that’s a lot of moola! The Sabres were unable and/or unwilling to match that, and in the case of Drury, he just chose to go to the Rangers (they were his favorite childhood team) instead of stay in Buffalo (who would have matched the Rangers’ offer.
So, good for those guys… at least financially. But this brings up yet again the sad state of sports with free agency and salary caps. There are many factors, and I really don’t want to get into it here, but I do want to say that I am not a fan of free agency.
I understand that it is very cool for the player. They get more money for sure, they also get the chance to determine where they will play (like Drury). But both Drury and Briere were captains on the President Trophy winning Sabres (for the best record in hockey) and they left that behind (understandably, in many ways) to pursue their goals. Not those of the team.
Does any player care about the game, or the team, or the city anymore? Perhaps that is unfair. Both of these guys said they would like to stay in Buffalo. Particularly Briere. But in the end, he was offered $25 million over 5 years by the Sabres, and the Flyers offered him $52 million over 7 years.
Yeah, I would too.
I think. Part of me says I wouldn’t. I would take the “paltry” $25M and stay with the team that I had helped build. I would not move the family and start over again… I would be OK with $25 MILLION DOLLARS. But, why take $25M when you can double it?!? So crazy.
It’s sad that this is hurting sports in so many ways. Small market teams are unable to keep up as they can not charge as much for tickets, and don’t have other sources of revenue to keep up with the larger salary caps. It’s also just raising the price of tickets in general across all the sports leagues. Many sports writers are prediciting we’ll just be seeing another lock out in the not-too-distant future if the NHL continues this way.
What if players decided they love the game, and love to win, and build a championship team. What if teams fairly compensated those players who made a commitment to stay with one team for their careers? We will likely never see a team that can repeat what the Bills did from 1990-1993, going to four straight Super Bowls … mostly due to free agency.
It might sound like sour grapes, but even before we lost Drury, Briere, and even Zubrus a couple days later, I was not a fan of free agency. Maybe it’s because my team is one of those “small market teams”, but I think it’s cause I love the idea of buildinig a team of guys you know and can root for for at least a good chunk of their careers. Now when you buy a jersey (like, #23 or #48) it’s obsolete in 3 years or less.
Too bad.
The Sabres did manage to hold on to Thomas Vanek last week, matching an offer that came in from Edmonton. They were not going to lose another one! Good for them.
I read a great article on this at NHL.com today. Check it out if you’ve got time.
The Sabres will go on. As will the Bills, and every other team. It’s the path that pro sports have chosen. I do wish there was some happy medium where players could be happy, not at the expense of the team, city, fans, owner… and vice versa. I don’t think we’ve found that just yet.
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Wolverines
“Local legend says that the Wolverine is a cross between a bear and a wolf. But in reality, it’s a
HUGE WEASEL.”
(We heard that on the Animal Planet’s “Planet Earth” tonight. Thought it was pretty accurate…) 😉
One of our favorite foods is Skyline Chili. It’s a regional delicacy for Southwestern Ohio. Specifically from Cincinnati. There are many brands of “Cincinnati-style chili” but we like to think Skyline is the best. (Of course, Chi might tell you it’s Empress Chili… but I’m sticking with Skyline.) Over the years I have taken a recipe for Skyline chili that I received from (I think?) my mother-in-law, through my sister-in-law (Jen’s entire family are Skyline afficionados…) and added, subtracted, monkeyed with, and attempted to match the real deal as best I can.
I’m close… but still not quite there.
Still… it is a fantastic thing that I can make GALLONS of Skyline-like Chili in my own house!!!
Well, this weekend, we’re headed to Clarence for a little family party (celebrating the graduation of one of our neices, among other things). It was requested that I make and bring the main course – Skyline Chili!!!
There are many things being celebrated this weekend. There’s Megan’s graduation. 🙂 And a church that my in-laws have lent their musical and preaching talents to on numerous occasions is celebrating 100 years of existence. So we’re celebrating that with them. My in-laws will be leaving soon for their summer travels, so it will be a good-bye party of sorts… and since they’ll be gone for my father-in-law’s birthday and their anniversary (same day), I’m sure we’ll be celebrating that too…..
But that just wasn’t enough.
My mother-in-law is very gifted. She can play the piano like nobody’s business. She has probably sewn (or do you just make?) THOUSANDS of quilts in her lifetime. She can sew anything. AND, she can cook. Add to that the fact that she loves to do all of those things for people, and she keeps herself pretty busy! 🙂 Well, she had been trying to have the Holcomb family over for dinner, where our family could join them – and we’d get to meet a (former) Buffalo Bills, NFL QB!
The problem is that little “former” word back there…
Kelly was traded to Philadelphia a while ago. His family still lives here in Buffalo area, and they attend the various functions at the Clarence Church of Christ (where Jen’s family attends, and Dad was the preacher for 31 years!). Jen’s Mom has been trying for awhile to get together with them again, and found out that they are headed to Philly very soon. SO…
They’re coming to our party! 🙂
So now we’re celebrating everything above … AND it’s a “going away party” for the Holcombs! 🙂
This morning as I was adding all the right seasonings to the giant vat of Skyline, I was thinking, “Kelly Holcomb – #10 for the Buffalo Bills – will get to eat my Skyline… CRAZY!” 🙂 It’s certainly a fun addition to an already fun weekend… and as you can guess, the boys are quite excited to have a meal with KELLY HOLCOMB. 🙂
I wonder if we’ll get to play a little football??? 🙂
So, that’s part of what we’re looking forward to this weekend. I’m sure I’ll have some kind of a report here by Monday.
Hope your weekend is full of Skyline, family celebrations and milestones, and meals with NFL QBs also!!
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Ducks Take The Cup
For those of you following along with all of my previous Sabres’ posts…
Last night was Game Five of the Stanley Cup Finals, and with the Anaheim Ducks leading 3 games to 1, it was rather shocking to see the game end with a 6-2 victory for the Ducks! It seems Ottawa, who had a very good season – certainly played fantastically against our Sabres!!! – and deserved to be in the finals, would have put up a bit more of a fight?
It was Anaheim’s series from the start.
So, we let the boys stay up last night for the whole game. Anticipating the conclusion of the NHL season. We were right, and it was fun to see all those guys toting around the most prized trophy in all of sports. Only one Anaheim player has ever been there before. Scott Neidermeyer has won 4 cups, actually (including this one). But everyone else, including his brother Rob, was experiencing the moment for the first time. It was fun to watch. 🙂
The only part that wasn’t fun was, as a Sabres’ fan, thinking, “This should be Chris Drury, and Danny Briere, and Max Afinogenov, and Ryan Miller, and Thomas Vanek…” But, it was not. Maybe we’ll get to stay up late to see that scene next season? Probably not with all of those same names, unfortunately 🙁
With the clinching of the Stanly Cup, the Ducks have ended the 2006-2007 NHL season. I miss it already! 🙁 But it’s not long till they lace up their skates again and the fast-paced action starts circling ice rinks near you.
For now, it’s time to focus on BILLS FOOTBALL! Whoohooo!! 🙂
Well, the time has come… the playoffs are over, and the Sabres are headed home for the summer. All good things eventually come to an end. Click the photo above for a little tribute video to the 2007 playoff… beard. 🙂
Last night I dreamt that I was a member of the Buffalo Sabres. We were at some awards presentation. I was dressed in my full uniform, as were my team mates. I know for sure Ryan Miller was there, but I forget the other guys faces. All were bummed. Most faces were sullen, gloomy… although the reason for the gathering was to celebrate the season that was.
At some point it dawned on me, the Buffalo Sabres player that I was, that we were all privileged to be there, doing what we were doing. I said as much to my fellow team mates. We were Buffalo Sabres I said to them. We had all grown up as fans of the team (which, in reality is not the case, but made a good point in the dream…) and now here we were playing in the conference finals!
My emotional speech seemed to have a little effect on the guys as they all did manage to at least nod in agreement. It was almost time for us to take the ice and have a skate around for the fans when…
I woke up.
And the reality is, I’m not a member of the team, but we have invested a lot of time watching – and cheering on – the Sabres this year. And it was not wasted. They were fantastic. Tons of goals, tons of comebacks, tons of fun. Even the playoffs. It didn’t end the way we expected it would, thanks to a fantastic performance by the Ottawa Senators.
Let me tell you, I don’t like the Sens. They tend to play at least aggresive, sometimes nasty. They certainly have our number this year, winning 9 of 13 games in the regular season and playoffs. They’re the division rival you love to hate. BUT… I am very happy for them. Not happy they beat my team, but man have they had a rough several years. Let’s hope the Sabres don’t wait as long as they do. They have been fantastically talented but, “underacheivers” for several years running now. Perhaps this is finally their year.
Let’s hope next year is ours.
So, a season comes to an end. We “mourn” for a bit, but I already can’t wait for the next season! I’m sure the NHL will schedule Buffalo vs Ottawa at least as our home opener, if not the season opener. 🙂 Already looking forward to ALL EIGHT of those games!
84 games is a looooong time to wait for another run at the Cup, but assuming we keep the core of this team together (read: SIGN CHRIS DRURY) we should have another great season next year! Already looking forward to it.
So now we get ready for Bills football! 🙂
Go Buffalo!!