So, with the Sabres' hot start, you can imagine the bandwagon is starting to pick folks up. It might as well start following a few NFTA routes. Which is fine, I really have no problem with fair weather fans. Plus, as more people get excited, the more fun it is around these parts. This is why Buffalo fans long for 2006 and 2007: the excitement level was through the roof. Especially when the team started, like, 43-0.
You're probably asking, then, why are you guys so grouchy? Again, my psychic abilities aside, it's because local gasbags spent all offseason harping on how thoroughly pathetic this team was. If you might recall, Bucky insinuated not very long ago that the Sabres did not have playoff talent, while the Canadiens and Senators do.
And, as you might recall, other folks got fed up and started a blog to try and clear up the mess about how close the Sabres really were and how stupid it would've been to resign guys like, to pick one at random, Chris Drury.
So, now we're certainly going to call shenanigans when certain sportswriters demonstrate their "short" memories. And by "short," here I mean "non-existant."
michael.w guest appears again, I insert my rapist's wit as appropriate.
The Bufalo Sabres would be quick to say that it's a tad too early for anyone to start preparing Delaware Avenue for its first Stanley Cup parade. No matter how impressive they have looked over the first eight games, they haven't lost sight of the fact that another 74 remain between now and April.
Translation: I will be quick on the trigger to lambaste this team for sucking because I disagreed with each and every offseason move the Sabres made. Moreover, every player that signed with a team not named Sabres is a sure fire Hall of Famer that the Sabres either neglected to go after, or refused to sign with the Sabres because the Sabres front office sucks.
[Ed's Note: How's Spacek working out in Montreal? Five points in 13 games, and none on the power play? Oh.]
Coach Lindy Ruff has continued to emphasize the positive. He reiterated after another crisp practice Monday how his players are buying into the system.
Thank you for the quotes from players to verify this.
Their workouts have been more upbeat and productive.
Thanks for the evidence to back this up.
For reasons not entirely clear, their 6-1-1 record this year seems stronger than the 6-0-2 start last season, when they sprinted from the gate and stumbled down the stretch.
No doubt, it is surprising that he got this far before he mentioned the stumble down the stretch. Incidentally, the Sabres were 7 -3 in their final 10 games last year, including winning their final three. How is that a "stumble," but more importantly, that took me approximately 7 seconds to find.
[Ed's Note: We need to clear up this stumble "down the stretch." The Sabres were 4-2-1 in April. They were 6-5-1 in March, dealing with an injury to their starting goaltender. So, in the last two months of the season (not exactly a small sample size) they were 10-7-2. Not great, but not a "stumble." The Sabres stumbled in November (5-7-1) and February (5-6-2), when they were dealing with an injury to their leading goal scorer. I feel better now.]
The big difference?
It could be that a few moves that appeared to be tweaks going into the season are actually having a major impact.
Nice work glossing over this subject. All offseason, these moves that "appeared to be tweaks" were the worst moves any team, in all of sports, ever. Now they have are having "a major impact." Why the change?
[Ed's Note: Because the Sabres are playing well and he can't deny it.]
Mike Grier, Steve Montador, Tyler Myers and Tim Kennedy individually are a role player, a journeyman sixth defenseman and two prospects. Together, they addressed areas of desperate need and helped create a better vibe.
Translation: Mike Grier, Steve Montador, Tyler Myers and Tim Kennedy individually are a man I have ridiculous mancrush on, a journeyman sixth defensman, and two men I have scary to the point of potentially requiring restraining order mancrushes on. Together, they allow me to use two pukey sports cliches in one sentence.
"It's hard to explain," Ruff said. "That group of guys, they deserve a lot of credit. You've got stronger voices, stronger personalities in Grier and Montador. It's always fun to have a couple of young guys. They've been kidded a lot. They've been brought in and been accepted. Winning makes things fun. Let's not kid ourselves."
Grier, of course, is no stranger to Buffalo. He played a key leadership role in his first stint with the Sabres, which ended in their first of two consecutive trips to the conference finals. He left to sign a three-year deal with San Jose and was re-hired to provide a much-needed attitude adjustment.
Grier, of course, is also no stranger to having a paragraph full of sports cliches showered upon him by local sports columnists.
The 13-year veteran immediately assumed his place among the dressing-room hierarchy and already has scored two critical goals, netting the only one in Nashville and adding the tying tally late in the second period in a win over Tampa.
Ah-ha! Not sufficient that we merely learn that he scored two critical goals. After all, what do goals have to do with winning hockey games? We need to ensure that "dressing-room hierarchy" (why is there a hyphen?) be added to ensure we continue the cliche parade. Can we keep it going?
"He's just awesome," said Kennedy, the South Buffalo native and former Michigan State star. "He's a great guy on the ice, a great guy off the ice, he keeps the locker room laughing, he's a great teammate. ... His approach to the game is the same every day. He comes in and works hard in every drill, every shift we're out there together. He's just a great guy to watch."
Thanks to Tim Kennedy, and multiple cliches in the quotes, we have an emphatic YES!!!!!!! So where do we go from here, more cliches, or some Bucky man-crush writing?
[Ed's Note: Why do we have to hear about how Tim Kennedy is from South Buffalo EVERY FUCKING TIME you write about him? The fact that he's from South Buffalo is a nice human interest column during a slow period. Right now, all you need to do is talk about how he's playing for the Sabres.]
Kennedy has played well for his hometown
[Ed's Note: GODDAMMIT!!!!]
team with Grier and Jochen Hecht on his flank on the third line. Kennedy is still looking for his first NHL goal, which will come if he maintains the consistency he has shown the past three weeks. He has three assists and has created at least a dozen scoring chances in eight games.
YES!! No cliches, but we were able to get a nice reference to the fact that Tim Kennedy, apparently is from around here. Not that we have ever heard that before. Also, Chris Drury won the Little League World Series, and Citizen's Bank Park is "hitter friendly." I figured I would add those two little know, little discussed sports factoids.
His coach and teammates are more impressed with his gritty style and play in the defensive zone. He unexpectedly jumped into a play and shook the puck loose for Grier against Tampa and sacrificed his body for Grier in Nashville. He's been effective in the corners and shown no sign that he's intimidated.
Wow! How many cliches can we find in this paragraph? "Gritty style" "Sacrificed his body" "effective in the corners" "no sign that he's intimidated" Three sentences, four cliches. Nice.
"Timmy has been great," Grier said. "He sees the ice very well, he plays both ends of the rink well and he battles and competes as well as anyone on our team. I don't think that's what people realize. But he sticks his nose in there, has a good edge to him, doesn't take anything from anyone and doesn't back down."
[Ed's Note: Once again, I'm going to have to edit this. In light of Bucky's insistence on telling us about where these guys are from this should read:
"Grier, the Detroit native and former Boston University star, said."]
OK, did Bucky give these guys a cliche handbook to read from, or did he just make up quotes full of his (Bucky's) cliches and attribute them to the players.
Myers has been at the center of the lovefest for good reason. The 6-foot-8 newbie has played like he's been in the league for eight years rather than eight games while adding size and stability to the blue line. Myers is third among D-men in ice time, has two goals and five points, leads the Sabres with a plus-8 rating and scored the winner in a shootout against Tampa.
Otherwise, he's been horrible.
[Ed's Note: Buckyperbole. I know the "he's been horrible" is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, but did you see Myers get schooled by Maxim Afinogenov?? Once more: Max made Myers look foolish. That was a pretty horrible play.]
Ruff adhered to the company line Monday, giving the appearance the Sabres are dithering about Myers' future, but he's not going anywhere. Hiccups are expected this season but the 19-year-old will be among the candidates for rookie of the year if he maintains his current pace.
Translation: Tyler Myers is at the center of my own love fest, and if any of you don't want to join me, you're stupid. Also, I had, just had to throw in the "company line" shot because come on, I wasn't going to write an entire column about the Sabres and be all positive.
"The two younger guys are playing outstanding," center Tim Connolly said. "They're doing a lot of little things that maybe you don't notice. Tyler Myers has scored some big goals and made some big plays, but he's also making good plays coming out of the zone. Timmy Kennedy has been doing a great job playing both ends of the arena."
[Ed's Note: "center Tim Connolly, the Syracuse native and former Erie Otters star, said."]
Again, a player spewing cliches for Bucky. At least this article contains "quotes" from three separate players.
Montador was hired mainly to add toughness, but he also brought experience and intelligence. He spent his first seven seasons with Calgary, Florida, Anaheim and Boston before signing with the Sabres. He has gained respect from his teammates for his worth ethic and ability to adapt to new partners.
Montador played on the third pairing with Andrej Sekera and Toni Lydman before both were sidelined with injuries. He played in Tampa with Nathan Paetsch. He has one assist, but the statistics don't show how many times he's covered up for his partners' mistakes.
Montador was hired mainly so that I could write cliche after cliche after cliche about him.
Four new faces, a huge difference.
And by huge difference, I mean no difference. I get to write articles full of cliches and spew my love about guys from South Buffalo. And if you don't know, if player comes from South Buffalo, he is a first ballot Hall of Famer.
"It makes for a different flavor," Montador said. "I'm not saying anything in the past wasn't working, but Mike Grier is one of the best guys in hockey. The two young kids who came in have great attitudes. I like to see myself fitting right in here. Mix that with guys that were already here, and you have some good stuff going on."
[Ed's Note: "Montador, the Vancouver native and former North Bay Centennials star, said."]
OK, I got nothing for this.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
fire bucky gleason, tailgating
Now, you're probably thinking "Dude, you can't possibly hate tailgating, right? Tailgating is one of the best inventions ever, second only to perhaps high-definition television." I know, I just blew your mind with my psychic abilities. Deal with it. My issue with this piece by Vincent Price Frank Deford is that it's just lazy. Making him our Bucky Gleason of the Day.
Now, I understand that hokey wordplay is supposedly part of Frank Deford's charm. This is meant to be a sort of nostalgia, with flowery language and a touch of "you know." For that reason, I withheld the plaschke-nanigans tag as much as possible (but not entirely). What annoys me is this just seems like "Hey, Frank, we need 400 words or so on something. Pick whatever you want, don't talk to anybody or do any research or anything. We'll take care of the rest by posting a picture of a guy with a cooler."
In the end, I think Frank Deford somehow fancies himself as taking over for David Halberstam in writing amazing prose about anything and everything (including, often, sports). However, Deford misses way more often than he hits. Perhaps a byproduct of working with Bryant Gumbel on a sensationalist HBO program. I don't know. I do know I don't like what he wrote here, even if I love what he decided to write about.
I can't remember the last picnic I went on. I mean one of those classic old-fashioned picnics where you take a blanket and a hamper,
Hamper? You bring your laundry on a picnic with you?
a cooler, maybe, or a thermos, and drive out to the countryside and sit down peacefully in a lovely field of wild flowers, alone with nature, and ... have a picnic.
Explain the ellipsis, sir. Now.
Really, does anybody do that anymore?
Probably, unless you have to be out in the countryside among wild flowers. I go on a picnic annually, though I leave the laundry at home and it's not in a field of wild flowers.
But, of course, what Americans do now is tailgate, that grand old football tradition.
What? Tailgating? I thought we were talking about picnics? What the hell happened? Where was your transition? This is like a conversation with my father, where he'll randomly stop one line of thought and start another without, you know, telling you.
Jammed together, on asphalt, 'midst exhaust fumes and exhausting vulgarities.
Plaschke-nanigans. Again, I'm prepared for wordplay. But if you do it poorly, you're tagged.
Tailgating seems pretty much an American institution confined pretty much, in sports, to football.
"because I don't feel like talking to any other sports fans or thinking hard, really."
Even on soft Summer days, most baseball fans, arriving at the park early, will eschew the charms of the parking lot and rush inside to watch batting practice.
Don't know about that, dude. There was some pretty solid tailgating going on in Philly this past July. Also, why is summer capitalized?
But even late in the season, football fans will tailgate, foregathering on the cold, hard tarmac for hours, dining al fresco Americano, when it's cold and raw and very un-picnicy.
At least he connected it to his picnic hook. Despite the fact that any fourth grader can tell you if you're going to conjugate or change "picnic" you add a "k" ("picnicked"). So that should be "un-picnicky." More importantly, though-
ATTENTION ALL TAILGATERS ON THE TARMAC: PLEASE WATCH FOR ARRIVING AND DEPARTING AIRCRAFT
There is nothing selective about tailgaiting. It crosses all ethnic, racial and religious lines. You just have to like football, and, likewise, alcoholic beverages. You don't even have to have a vehicle with a tailgate in order to tailgate.
I suppose the reason tailgating originated with football is because football games only come once a week and are events.
True.
In fact, traditionally -- especially at college games -- we refer to football "weekends," not merely football games.
What? When? Where? Who?
They don't sell corsages at hockey games, do they?
I've never seen them sold at football games. What are you talking about? I know some southern football college games try to high-end their tailgating, but that doesn't change the fact that most tailgaters are folks drinking beer and trying to keep warm.
There was once an episode on The Simpsons, the essence of which was that tailgating was more important than the game. This is not, I do not believe, an opinion held only by Homer Simpson.
Depending on the game, tailgating can be more important. Just ask Lion, Raider, and Bills fans.
And while tailgating has never fully migrated to other sports,
Now, I just said they did it before two Phillies games. And I've done it before Sabres games (noting that we were certainly not alone there either). I think what it boils down to more than anything is time. When the puck drops, or the first pitch is thrown, at 7, fans don't really have much time to leave work, change, get to the venue, and have enough time to fire up the grill and throw back a few cold ones. This applies to football, too. At Monday Night Football, the tailgating was still going on, but only a small fraction of what it usually is. In this way football is brilliant: fans have all week to get amped up about games, and budget their entire day to be at the stadium. With a game at 1, there's no shame in getting breakfast in the parking lot at 9, lunch at 11, and being drunk all the while. Football lends itself best to tailgating. But stop saying nobody else does it, because it makes you look stupid and lazy.
there is one other entertainment where it has caught on: rock concerts.
I've already shown that SI.com's editorial staff got a bit lax here, but this needs some editing:
there is one other entertainment where it has caught on:rock concerts.
As someone who's attended many a country music show, tailgating is not somehow limited to rock.
We used to think that the most popular item consumed by concert-goers was weed, and while that sort of thing has hardly gone out now, I am assured by my crack concert spies that nowadays the primary smell wafting around parking lots before concerts is more likely just to be that of good old all-American football-style hamburgers on the grill.
Depends on the concert. And while I know "crack" here is not meant in a drug related sense, you confuse your audience by throwing it in there so close to "weed."
Concert tailgating appears to be limited, however. It is more likely to be the case where aging entertainers, like Bruce Springsteen or U2, are performing. They attract a more mature, boomer audience. Teenyboppers don't tailgate.
Again, no research. Teenyboppers, infants, newborns, those still in utero, everybody tailgates at football games. I've heard "exhausting vulgarities" streaming out of the mouths of babes in the Ralph Wilson Stadium lots more than I'd care to admit.
Tailgating is a sign of growing up.
No it isn't. Tailgating is a sign of getting tickets. Or a sign of knowing somebody who got tickets. Or a sign of just feeling like heading down to the stadium to hang out before the game.
People tailgate before the Santa Fe Opera. Honestly.
Wait, what? Doesn't this blow your entire premise to hell? I thought tailgating was a purely gridiron affair that nobody else does ever because of "football weekends" with corsages and all-American hamburgers? And now the snobs just outside the opera are tailgating? I mean, good for them. I'm sure it's fun ("Let's go woodwinds, let's go!"), but if they're tailgating at the opera, they're tailgating just about anywhere else.
Now that I think of it, I wasted a perfectly good opportunity by not tailgating before my son's baptism ("Hey, Father, think fast!"). Next time.
And, of course, another reason why tailgating has superceded picnics is because at least there ain't no ants in stadium parking lots.
Superseded. There may not be any ants in the field of wildflowers either. You know what is in the stadium parking lots in lieu of ants? Actually, I'd rather not think of it.
So, in sum: tailgating is for football, except for when it isn't. It's also very American. And awesome. That's right, I just wrote Deford's column in eighteen words. Better, too.
Now, I understand that hokey wordplay is supposedly part of Frank Deford's charm. This is meant to be a sort of nostalgia, with flowery language and a touch of "you know." For that reason, I withheld the plaschke-nanigans tag as much as possible (but not entirely). What annoys me is this just seems like "Hey, Frank, we need 400 words or so on something. Pick whatever you want, don't talk to anybody or do any research or anything. We'll take care of the rest by posting a picture of a guy with a cooler."
In the end, I think Frank Deford somehow fancies himself as taking over for David Halberstam in writing amazing prose about anything and everything (including, often, sports). However, Deford misses way more often than he hits. Perhaps a byproduct of working with Bryant Gumbel on a sensationalist HBO program. I don't know. I do know I don't like what he wrote here, even if I love what he decided to write about.
I can't remember the last picnic I went on. I mean one of those classic old-fashioned picnics where you take a blanket and a hamper,
Hamper? You bring your laundry on a picnic with you?
a cooler, maybe, or a thermos, and drive out to the countryside and sit down peacefully in a lovely field of wild flowers, alone with nature, and ... have a picnic.
Explain the ellipsis, sir. Now.
Really, does anybody do that anymore?
Probably, unless you have to be out in the countryside among wild flowers. I go on a picnic annually, though I leave the laundry at home and it's not in a field of wild flowers.
But, of course, what Americans do now is tailgate, that grand old football tradition.
What? Tailgating? I thought we were talking about picnics? What the hell happened? Where was your transition? This is like a conversation with my father, where he'll randomly stop one line of thought and start another without, you know, telling you.
Jammed together, on asphalt, 'midst exhaust fumes and exhausting vulgarities.
Plaschke-nanigans. Again, I'm prepared for wordplay. But if you do it poorly, you're tagged.
Tailgating seems pretty much an American institution confined pretty much, in sports, to football.
"because I don't feel like talking to any other sports fans or thinking hard, really."
Even on soft Summer days, most baseball fans, arriving at the park early, will eschew the charms of the parking lot and rush inside to watch batting practice.
Don't know about that, dude. There was some pretty solid tailgating going on in Philly this past July. Also, why is summer capitalized?
But even late in the season, football fans will tailgate, foregathering on the cold, hard tarmac for hours, dining al fresco Americano, when it's cold and raw and very un-picnicy.
At least he connected it to his picnic hook. Despite the fact that any fourth grader can tell you if you're going to conjugate or change "picnic" you add a "k" ("picnicked"). So that should be "un-picnicky." More importantly, though-
ATTENTION ALL TAILGATERS ON THE TARMAC: PLEASE WATCH FOR ARRIVING AND DEPARTING AIRCRAFT
There is nothing selective about tailgaiting. It crosses all ethnic, racial and religious lines. You just have to like football, and, likewise, alcoholic beverages. You don't even have to have a vehicle with a tailgate in order to tailgate.
I suppose the reason tailgating originated with football is because football games only come once a week and are events.
True.
In fact, traditionally -- especially at college games -- we refer to football "weekends," not merely football games.
What? When? Where? Who?
They don't sell corsages at hockey games, do they?
I've never seen them sold at football games. What are you talking about? I know some southern football college games try to high-end their tailgating, but that doesn't change the fact that most tailgaters are folks drinking beer and trying to keep warm.
There was once an episode on The Simpsons, the essence of which was that tailgating was more important than the game. This is not, I do not believe, an opinion held only by Homer Simpson.
Depending on the game, tailgating can be more important. Just ask Lion, Raider, and Bills fans.
And while tailgating has never fully migrated to other sports,
Now, I just said they did it before two Phillies games. And I've done it before Sabres games (noting that we were certainly not alone there either). I think what it boils down to more than anything is time. When the puck drops, or the first pitch is thrown, at 7, fans don't really have much time to leave work, change, get to the venue, and have enough time to fire up the grill and throw back a few cold ones. This applies to football, too. At Monday Night Football, the tailgating was still going on, but only a small fraction of what it usually is. In this way football is brilliant: fans have all week to get amped up about games, and budget their entire day to be at the stadium. With a game at 1, there's no shame in getting breakfast in the parking lot at 9, lunch at 11, and being drunk all the while. Football lends itself best to tailgating. But stop saying nobody else does it, because it makes you look stupid and lazy.
there is one other entertainment where it has caught on: rock concerts.
I've already shown that SI.com's editorial staff got a bit lax here, but this needs some editing:
there is one other entertainment where it has caught on:
As someone who's attended many a country music show, tailgating is not somehow limited to rock.
We used to think that the most popular item consumed by concert-goers was weed, and while that sort of thing has hardly gone out now, I am assured by my crack concert spies that nowadays the primary smell wafting around parking lots before concerts is more likely just to be that of good old all-American football-style hamburgers on the grill.
Depends on the concert. And while I know "crack" here is not meant in a drug related sense, you confuse your audience by throwing it in there so close to "weed."
Concert tailgating appears to be limited, however. It is more likely to be the case where aging entertainers, like Bruce Springsteen or U2, are performing. They attract a more mature, boomer audience. Teenyboppers don't tailgate.
Again, no research. Teenyboppers, infants, newborns, those still in utero, everybody tailgates at football games. I've heard "exhausting vulgarities" streaming out of the mouths of babes in the Ralph Wilson Stadium lots more than I'd care to admit.
Tailgating is a sign of growing up.
No it isn't. Tailgating is a sign of getting tickets. Or a sign of knowing somebody who got tickets. Or a sign of just feeling like heading down to the stadium to hang out before the game.
People tailgate before the Santa Fe Opera. Honestly.
Wait, what? Doesn't this blow your entire premise to hell? I thought tailgating was a purely gridiron affair that nobody else does ever because of "football weekends" with corsages and all-American hamburgers? And now the snobs just outside the opera are tailgating? I mean, good for them. I'm sure it's fun ("Let's go woodwinds, let's go!"), but if they're tailgating at the opera, they're tailgating just about anywhere else.
Now that I think of it, I wasted a perfectly good opportunity by not tailgating before my son's baptism ("Hey, Father, think fast!"). Next time.
And, of course, another reason why tailgating has superceded picnics is because at least there ain't no ants in stadium parking lots.
Superseded. There may not be any ants in the field of wildflowers either. You know what is in the stadium parking lots in lieu of ants? Actually, I'd rather not think of it.
So, in sum: tailgating is for football, except for when it isn't. It's also very American. And awesome. That's right, I just wrote Deford's column in eighteen words. Better, too.
Friday, October 16, 2009
shenanigans
Normally these posts have "fire bucky gleason" in the title somewhere because, well, the man probably should be fired. He currently hates just about every Sabre not named Tyler Myers or Tim Kennedy, and will go to just about any length he can to say Buffalo's front office is a bunch of inept cowards that don't Make Moves.
Now, it's very early in the season, but the two teams that were the envy of Bucky Gleason, Montreal and Toronto, because they were so active in the offseason currently have a combined five (5) points in twelve games. Not exactly jumping out of the gate are they? Hell, Montreal couldn't score an equalizer late in the game last night despite skating seven guys. For those of you who may only know as much about hockey as Bucky, a team can only put six guys on the ice at a time, one of them usually being a goalie.
So, here, we've tried to be a voice of reason. Guys like Tallinder, Lydman, Connolly, and even Max (at times) weren't nearly as bad as they were being made out to be. Drury, Briere, Campbell, and Biron were certainly good players, but the Buffalo News' apotheosis of those guys gave rise to us coining "buckyperbole." But after all that vitriol, we get this, without any sort of mea culpa.
It's a big reason I'm not a huge fan of many sportswriters.
Henrik Tallinder was getting grief from almost every angle last season, a good chunk of which was spent getting chunks taken out of him.
Plaschke-nanigans. In the first sentence? Really?
His coach publicly criticized him.
This is actually one of the things that makes hockey so endearing to me. Coaches and other players call each other out, whereas in other sports (I may or may not be thinking of football here) are so terrified of "bulletin board material" they choose to say little. Or, if you're a New England Patriot, nothing at all.
Fans pointed toward him as a primary problem. The media, not to mention opposing forwards, took turns throwing him down and kicking him around.
Bucky left out "especially me, because I still haven't forgiven Darcy Regier for not resigning Chris Drury, so if it looks like one of his signings may not be working out I'm going to jump all over it. Truth be damned."
It seemed everybody wanted to spank Hank,
Plaschke-nanigans. If he does it again I'm going to start adding the tag multiple times.
but you know who was most upset with Tallinder becoming a shell of his former self? Henrik Tallinder. The Sabres' 30-year-old veteran defenseman was so low that he suggested, and many agreed, a change in scenery might be the best remedy for a stale career tumbling downhill.
Since the Buffalo News doesn't appear to have a sports editor, or, if it does, that sports editor appears to be Warren Buffett's golden retriever, some editing here is in order:
The Sabres' 30-year-old veteran defenseman was so low thathe suggested at some point it came up in a conversation, and many agreed I refused to let go of it for months and months (including up to the present), a change in scenery might be the best remedy for a stale career tumbling downhill.
There. That's better.
Tallinder four years ago was considered the Sabres' best defenseman — back when they twice reached the conference finals with a roster that included Brian Campbell — before a steady decline for two straight seasons.
What's that? When Tallinder signed his contract he was considered one of the best defencemen on the roster? Seriously? Then why, in the name Rene Robert, do you insist on crucifying the general manager for trying to keep him on the roster? Getting mad at Tallinder's contract is like getting mad at Max's contract. These were two of your best players. If Darcy should've walked away from them, walking away from Drury and Briere is equally brilliant.
Injuries contributed to his downfall, but there was no getting around the fact that he was regressing, not to mention depreciating.
For somebody that spends so much time complaining about how the front office is so conscious of the salary cap and talks about it so often, you certainly spend a lot of time harping on players' value in terms of their contract. This is just "Chris Drury the asset" all over again.
Once he lost his bang, the Sabres lost their buck.
Plaschke-nanigans. Stop. Just stop.
"I didn't feel comfortable with myself. I wasn't miserable all the time, but a lot of times I didn't play that well and it took a toll. It doesn't work. [Playing poorly] doesn't make me a worse person, but I took it like that, which is bad.
According to local experts, playing poorly does make you a worse person. A string of poor play got Tallinder pilloried, such that he suddenly needed to get shipped out. It didn't, and still doesn't, seem prudent, yet you'd never know reading the paper or listening to WGR. The local media has a responsibility to be honest, but I can't take the extremes and the biased views. Hence, these posts here.
Tallinder has been solid while playing alongside longer, lankier rookie Tyler Myers. Tallinder didn't have a point but was plus-5 Tuesday against the Detroit Red Wings, his best plus-minus rating since a plus-6 in a blowout over the Flyers during the 2005-06 playoffs.
Wow, so he's good again? Awesome! I'm sure what will follow is a nice admission that allowing Tallinder to play through his troubles and that Darcy Regier, like any GM, needs to take risks with players pretty much daily and that this one is paying off now.
Myers had an assist and was plus-3 against the Wings.
Or we're going to get an irrelevant stat about Tyler Myers. Sigh.
"He's been a huge help for me," Myers said. "He's just always talking, helping me in certain situations when we're on the ice. During the games, he's always in my ear. I really like that. Any advice he can give me, I'm really happy to take."
He's helping a young rookie. Nice. Knowing that he's mentoring your favorite defenceman ever we'll definitely get an "OK, I was a little wrong, and keeping Tallinder was a good idea."
The Sabres aren't exactly short on size with the pairing, which was thrown together just before the opener. The 6-foot-3 Tallinder and 6-8 Myers found instant chemistry and could be the Sabres' most consistent tandem through the first four games.
OK, not only is he playing better he's doing so consistently. So, apology...
"He's gaining confidence," Ruff said of Tallinder. "It's a "real good, feel good,'
Sorry Lindy, plaschke-nanigans on you too. Beware, people, this appears to be a new, highly contagious, strain. Ask your physician for a vaccine when (s)he tells you they're all out of swine flu shots.
The Sabres were believed to be shopping him over the summer.
Again, this needs some editing:
The Sabres were believed to be shopping him over the summer. I've been saying since, like, last November this dead weight needed to be shipped out of town.
They either couldn't find a team willing to accept his $3.25 million salary for this season or couldn't get enough in return. If he keeps playing well, it could be a great move never made.
FINALLY!!!! Sort of. All he says is it could be a great move, but never actually admits that if this turns out to be a great move, he was completely, wholly, entirely, wrong.
Plus-minus rating can be misleading, but it can be an indicator over the course of a season.
So, plus-minus is a worthless stat except for when it's not a worthless stat? We almost made it through one of these without a completely worthless sentence that effectively says nothing. Maybe next time.
For what it's worth, Tallinder is leading the Sabres through four games with a plus-6. Myers, second with a plus-4, says the veteran has helped him get adjusted to the NHL. Tallinder says the kid has helped rejuvenate his game.
Tyler Myers. Not only is he Big T, with a great upside, a giant physique, and very strong early returns in terms of his play, he also makes the guys around him better. Cue the cliches!!
Now, it's very early in the season, but the two teams that were the envy of Bucky Gleason, Montreal and Toronto, because they were so active in the offseason currently have a combined five (5) points in twelve games. Not exactly jumping out of the gate are they? Hell, Montreal couldn't score an equalizer late in the game last night despite skating seven guys. For those of you who may only know as much about hockey as Bucky, a team can only put six guys on the ice at a time, one of them usually being a goalie.
So, here, we've tried to be a voice of reason. Guys like Tallinder, Lydman, Connolly, and even Max (at times) weren't nearly as bad as they were being made out to be. Drury, Briere, Campbell, and Biron were certainly good players, but the Buffalo News' apotheosis of those guys gave rise to us coining "buckyperbole." But after all that vitriol, we get this, without any sort of mea culpa.
It's a big reason I'm not a huge fan of many sportswriters.
Henrik Tallinder was getting grief from almost every angle last season, a good chunk of which was spent getting chunks taken out of him.
Plaschke-nanigans. In the first sentence? Really?
His coach publicly criticized him.
This is actually one of the things that makes hockey so endearing to me. Coaches and other players call each other out, whereas in other sports (I may or may not be thinking of football here) are so terrified of "bulletin board material" they choose to say little. Or, if you're a New England Patriot, nothing at all.
Fans pointed toward him as a primary problem. The media, not to mention opposing forwards, took turns throwing him down and kicking him around.
Bucky left out "especially me, because I still haven't forgiven Darcy Regier for not resigning Chris Drury, so if it looks like one of his signings may not be working out I'm going to jump all over it. Truth be damned."
It seemed everybody wanted to spank Hank,
Plaschke-nanigans. If he does it again I'm going to start adding the tag multiple times.
but you know who was most upset with Tallinder becoming a shell of his former self? Henrik Tallinder. The Sabres' 30-year-old veteran defenseman was so low that he suggested, and many agreed, a change in scenery might be the best remedy for a stale career tumbling downhill.
Since the Buffalo News doesn't appear to have a sports editor, or, if it does, that sports editor appears to be Warren Buffett's golden retriever, some editing here is in order:
The Sabres' 30-year-old veteran defenseman was so low that
There. That's better.
Tallinder four years ago was considered the Sabres' best defenseman — back when they twice reached the conference finals with a roster that included Brian Campbell — before a steady decline for two straight seasons.
What's that? When Tallinder signed his contract he was considered one of the best defencemen on the roster? Seriously? Then why, in the name Rene Robert, do you insist on crucifying the general manager for trying to keep him on the roster? Getting mad at Tallinder's contract is like getting mad at Max's contract. These were two of your best players. If Darcy should've walked away from them, walking away from Drury and Briere is equally brilliant.
Injuries contributed to his downfall, but there was no getting around the fact that he was regressing, not to mention depreciating.
For somebody that spends so much time complaining about how the front office is so conscious of the salary cap and talks about it so often, you certainly spend a lot of time harping on players' value in terms of their contract. This is just "Chris Drury the asset" all over again.
Once he lost his bang, the Sabres lost their buck.
Plaschke-nanigans. Stop. Just stop.
"I didn't feel comfortable with myself. I wasn't miserable all the time, but a lot of times I didn't play that well and it took a toll. It doesn't work. [Playing poorly] doesn't make me a worse person, but I took it like that, which is bad.
According to local experts, playing poorly does make you a worse person. A string of poor play got Tallinder pilloried, such that he suddenly needed to get shipped out. It didn't, and still doesn't, seem prudent, yet you'd never know reading the paper or listening to WGR. The local media has a responsibility to be honest, but I can't take the extremes and the biased views. Hence, these posts here.
Tallinder has been solid while playing alongside longer, lankier rookie Tyler Myers. Tallinder didn't have a point but was plus-5 Tuesday against the Detroit Red Wings, his best plus-minus rating since a plus-6 in a blowout over the Flyers during the 2005-06 playoffs.
Wow, so he's good again? Awesome! I'm sure what will follow is a nice admission that allowing Tallinder to play through his troubles and that Darcy Regier, like any GM, needs to take risks with players pretty much daily and that this one is paying off now.
Myers had an assist and was plus-3 against the Wings.
Or we're going to get an irrelevant stat about Tyler Myers. Sigh.
"He's been a huge help for me," Myers said. "He's just always talking, helping me in certain situations when we're on the ice. During the games, he's always in my ear. I really like that. Any advice he can give me, I'm really happy to take."
He's helping a young rookie. Nice. Knowing that he's mentoring your favorite defenceman ever we'll definitely get an "OK, I was a little wrong, and keeping Tallinder was a good idea."
The Sabres aren't exactly short on size with the pairing, which was thrown together just before the opener. The 6-foot-3 Tallinder and 6-8 Myers found instant chemistry and could be the Sabres' most consistent tandem through the first four games.
OK, not only is he playing better he's doing so consistently. So, apology...
"He's gaining confidence," Ruff said of Tallinder. "It's a "real good, feel good,'
Sorry Lindy, plaschke-nanigans on you too. Beware, people, this appears to be a new, highly contagious, strain. Ask your physician for a vaccine when (s)he tells you they're all out of swine flu shots.
The Sabres were believed to be shopping him over the summer.
Again, this needs some editing:
They either couldn't find a team willing to accept his $3.25 million salary for this season or couldn't get enough in return. If he keeps playing well, it could be a great move never made.
FINALLY!!!! Sort of. All he says is it could be a great move, but never actually admits that if this turns out to be a great move, he was completely, wholly, entirely, wrong.
Plus-minus rating can be misleading, but it can be an indicator over the course of a season.
So, plus-minus is a worthless stat except for when it's not a worthless stat? We almost made it through one of these without a completely worthless sentence that effectively says nothing. Maybe next time.
For what it's worth, Tallinder is leading the Sabres through four games with a plus-6. Myers, second with a plus-4, says the veteran has helped him get adjusted to the NHL. Tallinder says the kid has helped rejuvenate his game.
Tyler Myers. Not only is he Big T, with a great upside, a giant physique, and very strong early returns in terms of his play, he also makes the guys around him better. Cue the cliches!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)