Spree pundits opine on the local
State of PlayAnnual 2010
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12/31/10Thoughts on Sunday's gameLosing would have its benefits. |
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12/25/10Will Buffalo snooze through the World Juniors?The World Junior Hockey Championship |
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12/17/10The Sabres finally show some resilienceI'm always pleasantly surprised when the Sabres make me look foolish for playing Monday morning goalie. |
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12/10/10Are the Sabres a playoff team?Hate to say it, but ninth sounds about right for this season's stumbling Sabres. |
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12/03/10The Bills latest loss leaves reason for hopeYup, the Bills blew a gift wrapped upset in usual Bills fashion. |
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11/16/10The Bills have won at last—enjoy itRevel in this win, since it might be the only one we can celebrate this season. |
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11/03/10The Bills will win on SundayThis is the week they finally get off the schneid. Aren't the Bills due? Please? |
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10/25/10What happened to home-ice advantge?The presumed edge, however, is lost on these Sabres, who seem much more comfortable on the road than they are downtown. |
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10/11/10Nix's next move should be cutting MaybinIf you're going to cut someone and move forward, why not continue with superbust Aaron Maybin? |
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10/07/10The Marshawn era ends ... at lastThere's no need to rehash all the lowlights. |
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10/05/10Will the Bills win a game in 2010?With each passing week, we see just how flat the cardiogram line of this merry band of clods is running. |
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09/29/10The Sabres unveil another unimaginative jerseyThey look kind of, sort of (OK, almost exactly) like the original sweaters the team debuted with in 1970. So we've come full-circle. |
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09/20/10Trent Edwards is only part of the problem for BuffaloGo ahead, blame Edwards all you want for Buffalo's latest embarrassing failure. But doing so is the easy way out. |
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09/15/10The Bills open in predictably uninspiring fashionHere's the downright astonishing part: the Bills actually kinda, sorta put themselves in position to win Sunday's thoroughly uninspiring 15-10 loss to the Dolphins. |
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09/07/10Whatever happened to ... ?With kickoff of the Buffalo Bills' 2010–11 less than a week away, let's rifle through the dustbin of Buffalo Bills history, and ask "Whatever happened to...?" |
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08/31/10Tim Kennedy gts a second chanceNow, with a $550,000 one-way deal he signed with the New York Rangers on Monday, Kennedy will get a second chance with another NHL club. |
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08/25/10The Jets haven't earned the right to be cocky yetOf course, we hate Brady and his Patriots, too. But our tormentors in New England deserve their stardom. They've actually won something in this league. Posted at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments: 1 |
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08/18/10Some Bills we can say farewell toTo classify the Bills' talent-seekers as "scouts" is an affront to Weebloes everywhere; Moe Green has a better eye for future NFL contributors. |
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08/11/10Some scary 2010 Bills predictionsTrent Edwards, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Brian Brohm will each get a start under center before December 1. To decide who will get the call and when, Buddy Nix will set up a Wheel of Misfortune. |
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08/05/10Losing Tim Kennedy is a bummer, but makes little differenceTim Kennedy's unceremonious departure this week from the Buffalo Sabres won't make the difference between making and missing the playoffs next April. After all, our most prolific spring memory of the kid was him getting rag-dolled by a guy twice his age. Posted at 03:22 PM | Permalink | Comments: 1 |
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08/03/10Schobel's exit gives Maybin his chanceSchobel's not part of the team's "now," much less its future, and he's much better off signing with an on-the-cusp team in need of a weakside defensive end who can release the hounds on passing downs. |
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07/28/10The Braves are missed, but they saved us more heartbreakUs younger Buffalo folk have often heard our older counterparts wax nostalgic about this town's NBA days, about the Braves, Bob McAdoo, Randy Smith, Jack Ramsay, and so on and so forth. But we'd be setting ourselves up for the usual heartbreak if they'd stayed. Posted at 07:39 AM | Permalink | Comments: 1 |
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07/22/10What the Kovalchuk decision means for the SabresThere's no question where Buffalo Sabres fans—and other supporters of small-market NHL franchises—should stand in the wake of the NHL putting the kybosh on Ilya Kovalchuk's colossal contract with the New Jersey Devils. And that's directly in support of Commissioner Gary Bettman. |
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07/16/10Not being in camp could cost C.J. Spiller, and the BillsSpiller and the Bills will both drag this thing out until noon on Opening Day, at which point the organization will be forced to hand him way too much cash and term for too little return. Posted at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments: 1 |
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07/12/10Rob Niedermayer? Curb your enthusiam, Darcy.Regier's conveniently forgetting Niedermayer has bounced around from one NHL city to the next. In sixteen NHL seasons, he's cracked the twenty-goal barrier but once ... fifteen years ago. |
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07/01/10Edwards + Fitzpatrick + Brohm = DisasterBut here we'll be again in August: Edwards under center, Fitzpatrick preparing to spell him after ineffectiveness or injury, and Brohm ... um, keeping ice in the Gatorade supply? |
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06/29/10When will the defensive draftees step up?The Buffalo Sabres' selection of three defensemen with their top four draft picks last weekend is pouring kerosene onto that already tormented firefight. Thanks, fellas. |
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06/16/10Let us now praise female Buffalo sports fansThat's the beauty of our women here in Buffalo: attractive, intelligent, practical ... and they know their sports. |
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06/07/10A star is throwing: Strasburg in BuffaloI can attest that the kid's fastball threatened to tear through Mach-3, and the centerfield radar gun was consistently flashing 95 to 99 mph. And that, well ... that's fast. |
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06/03/10Is Kassian a loose cannon?This isn't the first incident involving Sabres' prospect Zach Kassian, whose reputation in OHL circles preceeds him. He's already an outright villain in some Ontario loop locales. |
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05/28/10Queen City Roller Girls are Queens for a DayFor those wondering what the Queen City Roller Girls have been up to since making the cover of our December issue, we have some very cool news: May 22 was officially proclaimed as QCRG Day in North Tonawanda. Posted at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments: 1 |
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05/28/10Soccer Blitzes its way into BuffaloThe FC Buffalo Blitzers open their inaugural season at Robert E. Rich All-High Stadium Saturday, May 29. |
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05/26/10A Buffalonian in Yankee Stadium, and more Wednesday thoughtsStrolling down the gigantic staircase from our nosebleeds to the second level, we could peer out and see the old House that Ruth Built, now a fenced-off pile of rubble that resembles downtown Berlin, circa 1945. |
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05/19/10What does Seattle see in J. P. Losman?As expected, J. P. Losman is getting a second chance, inking a $630,000 deal with the Seattle Seahawks. Must be Pete Carroll knows something the rest of us don’t. |
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05/13/10No love for Jairus Byrd, or Bills fansThe fifty-member tribunal that ticked their ballots on their AFC freshman fave voted again, and thus swiftly ended my brief campaign to sway them to select the Buffalo Bills' Jairus Byrd in Cushing's stead. |
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05/03/10Do the Bills have a master plan? Let's hope so ...Fans can appreciate excitement, and it's a good bet Spiller will bring that. But as 4 p.m. on Sunday rolls around, Buffalo fans are simple: if the Bills win, we're excited. Whether Spiller has rushed for 200 or two yards, if the team scored touchdowns and beat its opponent, the excitement is there. Go ahead and bore us; we're quick to forgive if we're celebrating a "W." |
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04/28/10The Sabres pull a disappearing actWhew, that was quick. Buffalo Sabres fans wait two-and-a-half years to see playoff hockey again, and ... Poof! Speaking of disappearing acts, I heard today that Tim Connolly and Derek Roy were just notified that their team was playing the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. Posted at 07:24 AM | Permalink | Comments: 1 |
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04/21/10Buffalo gets dissed by NBC, Mark Recchi, and the NFL—againMark Recchi using Tim Kennedy as a tackling dummy to set up Boston's game-winning goal in Game Three says bad things about the Sabres' suddenly waining chances to make it out of the first round. The team's best forward has been ... Mike Grier? Ouch. |
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04/14/10First round playoff picks for non-gamblersIs it possible the Sabres will fall to the Bruins in round one? Of course. Is it likely? Hello no. But the other playoff series are a bit tougher to predict. |
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04/13/10Which Sabres team will show up Thursday?What are we to make of this version of the Sabres? We've seen them, from October to April, be maddeningly fragile and satisfyingly strong; frustratingly low-scoring and gratifyingly high-octane. The only consistently good thing has been Ryan Miller, on whose stellar play the team has fallen back on in times of trouble. |
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04/06/10Marshawn Lynch's final chanceIsn't it time Lynch realizes it's fourth-and-long and getting perilously late in the game of salvaging his career? |
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03/25/10Great baseball in Toronto, NYC—and BuffaloAside from a brief flirtation, Buffalo has never enjoyed the Major Leagues. Yet we're baseball fans nevertheless because at our core, we're still Americans. And while we can't pull for our own hometown club, we know the way to the Bigs, which are essentially right in our backyard. |
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03/22/10A Madness to remember for BuffaloI'm thinking that this weekend's NCAA Tourney games probably constitute basketball's finest hour in Buffalo. For two days—three if you count the day in the middle—the city ate, slept, and breathed the game, and here's the shocker: the games actually warranted the hype. |
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03/18/10Tim Tebow? Brian Brohm? Trent Edwards? No thanks.I hope Buffalo doesn't draft Tim Tebow. I just don't like his awkward mechanics and left-handedness, which I think throws receivers off their game. Hey, I'm a lefty myself, but I'm just of the belief that we make great relievers and first basemen, just not necessarily top-notch NFL quarterbacks. |
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03/11/10T.O. moves on—but where to?It's obvious he and agent Drew Rosenhaus had a shrewd, one-year plan in the works: grab the cash from a desperate bettor, behave and try to put up some respectable numbers, and then cash in on one last bloated contract as the NFL's Fort Knox organizations hand them out like Halloween candy, no longer burdened by that pesky salary cap in 2010. |
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03/05/10Ryan Miller makes The Onion!Another honor for our Ryan—satirically. |
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03/04/10Tiger needs golf, but golf needs him, tooThe PGA Tour needs Tiger back in a big way. They're slipping precipitously down the backward path to irrelevance with the likes of Phil Mickelson, Mike Weir and Sergio Garcia as their main attractions. Tiger gives them instant credibility; a face everyone recognizes. |
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02/25/10Don't be shocked to see a gold for FinlandWhat's impressive about the Finns' forwards is that with the obvious exception of the shamelessy cherry-picking Selanne, none seem to be too one- dimensional. All of them appear to be well-versed, complete players who play well in most situations: leading, trailing, one man down, one man up ... you name it. |
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02/22/10USA over Canada: Unexpected? Yes. Miracle? No.Almost immediately following Team USA's 5–3 preliminary round victory over Canada Sunday night, pundits and commentators were coining it one of the greatest upsets in hockey history. Whoa, there! Unexpected? Heck yes. But I'm stopping well short of ranking it in "greatest all-time upsets" territory. |
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02/15/10Could Buffalo become Pittsburgh North?Could Buffalo become Pittsburgh North, modeling itself after a proven example? Because Donahoe is a living example of why not? (OK, fine, you got me there ... touche!). But remember, Donahoe didn't do too badly except in two crucial areas: coach and quarterback. One hopes--and remember, "hope" is the key word here—that Whaley won't make the same mistakes. He'll have Nix, whose record in San Diego is at least respectable, to help. |
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02/10/10The Olympic break arrives at a good time for the SabresSabres fans, reactionary and bloodthirsty as always, are hitting their worn-down panic buttons and pronouncing the season a total loss. Never mind that Buffalo is well-entrenched in a playoff spot and spent much of the season's first fifty games asserting itself as a playoff-worthy group; we've all come to expect doomsday scenarios with our teams, so don't confuse us with the facts. But there's the pesky reality that won't go away, if we could all just focus for a second. All playoff teams endure bad stretches at some point in the season. Posted at 09:30 AM | Permalink | Comments: 1 |
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02/05/10Super Bowl XLIV: Possibly superOn paper, Super Bowl XLIV is without question one of the finest big game match-ups of all-time. It seemed almost predestined that the finest teams in their respective conferences—featuring the finest two quarterbacks in the game—would meet.It's an ideal pairing in almost every way. |
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02/04/10Attention players: Leaving the Sabres can be hazardous to your futureIt's funny how, during Regier's reign, players who had productive seasons with Buffalo fade into disappointment and obscurity with their new teams, whether in the wake of a trade or free-agent jettisoning. Sure, there are exceptions, like Dominik Hasek, J. P. Dumont and Maxim Afinogenov, but they've been few and far in between. |
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02/02/10Heaven knows I'm miserable in February—thanks to Snooki (and Tiki, and ...)Can't say I'm coming to you from a good place with this post. I'm pretty miserable, in fact, and since misery loves company, here's hoping you become infected after reading it. |
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01/29/10Kurt Warner has earned his praiseWarner's one of the good guys; one of the true class-acts in a game that so desperately needs them. It'll be a crime if he doesn't get the Hall-of-Fame vote on the first ballot, given his abilities to pick apart NFL defenses over the years. He'll always remain an inspiration for quarterbacks—check that, all players—who think of giving up on themselves because everyone else has. Posted at 03:28 PM | Permalink | Comments: 1 |
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01/28/10Brett Favre fell back to Earth, and I'm gladWhew, that was close. Brett Favre and his Minnesota Vikings came that close to reaching the Super Bowl. Am I the only one who's glad it didn't come to that? It's truly refreshing that we'll be spared from the massive overexposure and sappy melodrama Favre invokes from the national football media. |
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01/26/10Jammers skating through the pivots and blockers … Queen City Roller GirlsSuicidal Saucies took on the Nickel City Knockouts as the Queen City Roller Girls took part in the 2010 season's second bout. Could be the best bang for your buck sporting event in the city. |
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01/22/10Friday thoughts: Farewell, Tom Modrak? At last?Time for some blogosphere pollution ...Is the age of accountability starting at One Bills Drive, at long last? Pro personnel director John Guy, who has presided over the current era of futility, was shown the door on Tuesday. Is Tom Modrak next?Perhaps he ought to be, since Guy's departure is affirmation of the principle that if you don't get results at your job, you get a pink slip. In what world would Modrak not be in the same boat? If you're going to clean house, why wash the floors and vacuum, but stop when it's time to wipe a lifetime of dust off the surfaces? Must be there's some term still left on his deal.The real head-scratcher here is that Guy was reportedly interviewed for the GM post. I understand that Guy's contract was up, which I'm sure played a big part in his ouster,... Posted at 08:50 AM | Permalink | Comments: 1 |
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01/21/10Chan's the man? Really?It doesn't appear Marty Schottenheimer, Jim Fassel, and Mike Martz got so much as a phone call, let alone an interview. What does that say about Nix's sense of due diligence with this, perhaps the most critical hire in Bills coaching history? |
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01/14/10Indy fans are nervous—and they should beHear that sound of an entire midwestern city bracing for the worst? It's the collective shallow breathing of Colts Nation. Indy fans have seen it before all too often: their seemingly unstoppable Colts offense starts to stall in the face of a good defensive scheme and pressure up the middle on Peyton Manning. |
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01/13/10Mark McGwire's blatant push for the HallMark McGwire would have us buy that his long-awaited admission of steroid use has nothing to do with the Hall of Fame. Geez, even when the guy comes clean, he can't stop lying. |
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01/11/10Can Marshawn recover?Of course, a nice first start would have been to have an uneventful offseason. No hit-and-runs, no weed, no loaded weapons. In short, behave. Please! Maybe just try it on for one offseason and see how it suits you? (Editor's note: Too late ...) |
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01/08/10Wild weekend—NFL playoff picksWild Card weekend just ain't what it used to be. These games were once the most unpredictable and, excuse the unforgivable pun, "wild" contests fans could hope for.Now, every game not involving the Bills and Patriots is unpredictable. Of all eight teams playing this weekend, you never know which version of which team will show up. One of them could be Super Bowl champions in a month's time. Alas, picking who wins and who loses is more difficult than ever before; again, a lot like every other NFL game played since the late 1990s.So, with all the accuracy of Bobcat Goldthwait playing "Operation" after triple espressos, here go my picks ...• Baltimore at New England. The Ravens' defense puts them in a position to win many games, but it's an aging group whose armor... |
