tom webster

Yep

Buffalo is still the better team but Miami has the easier remaining schedule but the Bills will be alright. Going forward, it will be fun if Tua is for real but it’s way too early for that assumption.

Come on. It was an incredible catch. They made some great plays to give Allen a chance, he succeeded and they just got beat by a better play. It happens when you play good teams.

Forgive my non-medical take but I just read an article talking about the side effects of taking one of the present vaccines. Apparently you feel like crap for days after the first dose. That will go over well. Then I read an article talking about how Ticketmaster is working on software where they will require proof of vaccine to purchase through them. They later issued a statement saying that they won’t require but some of the venues will. That will go over well as well. For the record, I am of the opinion that a big problem with people taking it seriously is the leadership on both sides. One side is just completely clueless, the other side makes up numbers as they go, relying on mathematical models and graphs they don’t understand. My three year old niece could put together a better power point presentation then the ones that our local Executive puts up every day. Regularly the numbers don’t add up, are poorly labeled or are adjusted to accentuate the narrative of the day. Finally, just watched a documentary of the Spanish Flu. Assuming it was accurate, the similarities are quite jarring. That one seemed to end quietly. Hopefully we are headed in the same direction. Thanks for reading. Just wanted to vent.

If your bold prediction comes true, Buffalo is a solid playoff team. If your bold prediction comes true and they get any kind of goaltending, Buffalo is a contender

That makes sense, at least as much as anything does in 2020.

It would be kind for interesting to see what they consider close contact. Like one reporter just tweeted, there are pictures of him, White and Hyde being within a foot of each other yesterday.

MAAC OR MAC?

Wallace, Norman, Marlowe and Kroft all out - COVID

Cincinnati to me is one of those places that just needed the commitment to the program.

I don’t think anything in spirts has surprised me as much as Liberty being in the top 25. if you asked me before this year I would have guess they played teams like Buff State.

Dahlin is the deal breaker and I doubt Sam is the forward they want. If they are blowing it up, they want to start younger, like Cozens.

I’m not advocating for Pat Kane. It’s fairly well known that I don’t like him and his family personally. I’m pretty sure that him and Jack don’t particularly like each other. However, he has talked about finishing his career here. Those that know him say he has matured a great deal. Finally, he is a tremendous hockey player whose skill set likely means he can continue to play at a high level for a longer time then most.

I especially love when he throws in those third rounders.

There will be a season.

Very good perspective. To be clear, I’m not necessarily advocating one side over the other but rather questioning whether either way is the correct approach all the time. I think a good leader is always going to want to learn, be adaptable and be willing to be challenged by his people.

Are you sure? Any hire had to be a “outside hire” at some point. And for you to be absolutely correct, all people in your organization are not doing anything to further their knowledge of their craft. What if this guy spent the last ten years immersing himself in the things that made other organizations successful and is strong minded enough to convince his superiors to change? My colleagues will tell you that my greatest strength was listening to everyone, taking their ideas and molding them into mind. Everyone that knows me well will tell you a story of how I fired someone and within two days changed a process we used based almost entirely on the argument I had with that employee. The guy was a moron but he actually gave me his best idea on the way out the door. I tend to believe you need to interview outside people but I don’t know that you necessarily have to hire them as long as the people you promote from within aren’t promoted just to be “yes” men.

But there must be metrics that answer the age old question, is there a discernible difference in success rate between hiring someone you have a previous relationship with versus someone you do not? It’s one of sports in particular and business in general last bastion of anecdotal statements made with unchecked research. Does history show that hiring someone you know is worse then hiring someone you never met till interview day?

It’s an interesting dynamic going forward on here. Nothing they do will make some people happy. Some want them to be progressive, think outside the box. Some want some Brian Burke type. You can continue to look at it as total old pal network, meaningless hire all designed to cut costs. You can look at it as then thinking outside the box. It might be both, it’s definitely a by product of them wanting a leaner organization. Funny thing is, history is of no real help. The Patriots were a laughingstock till they hired a coach with a losing record. Mike Ditka was a “God” in Chicago, neatly destroyed the franchise in New Orleans. “Money ball” was a joke till it wasn’t. Joe Salic was the guy you wanted to trade with till he wasn’t. Peter Chiarelli was “the guy” till he wasn’t. “Grit” was what was needed in the playoffs, till it wasn’t till it was again. Who knows. Twenty years from now Mendola may be the guy who saved the Sabre’s or he might be the guy you have to google to remember what he did.

Let me be clear for those who haven’t been paying attention. I like the Pegulas. I have been thrashed for defending them and their right to make money. I understand the games that are played to secure their share of revenue sharing. I understood the infamous “maintain our lifestyle” slide and I’ve even defended their attempts at turning this franchise around. However, I won’t let any cries of poverty or eight figure actual losses go without a rebuttal and I’m 100% confident that I can prove my point given the necessary time and motivation to do so.

TPEGS did not pay $500M and unless you can prove via first hand knowledge, I can find you as many articles showing the Sabre’s are not among those showing an operating loss as I can find listing them with some absurd number. I also never intended to imply that some businesses have been hit hard by the pandemic. It’s also amusing that the concessions and add on revenue never amounts to much until someone needs it to amount to much to fortify their argument. Additionally, while the Rigases was a corrupt enterprise, it wasn’t run much differently then any other organization. There is a reason ownership is hesitant to open their books and why labor negotiations usually hinge on what outside revenues owners bring in that they want classified as non-hockey revenue. In conclusion, while there is no doubt that the NHL operation pales in comparison to the big three sports, billionaires don’t pay a half a billion dollars to join a club that isn’t to their satisfactory return on investment, whether that ROI is classified as monetary profit or not. You all need to watch that episode of WKRP where Dr. Fever understands why Mrs Carlson would want to blow up a business that was finally about to turn a profit.

Businesses use events like this all the time to re-calibrate. There are several well written articles discussing why TV and digital revenue will go up, and up substantially despite the Pandemic. Until it’s in their benefit to show operating revenue, it is in their best interest to show paper losses. Its all a game. No one pays $500 million to join a club if 33% of the club is really “hemorrhaging” money. While the NHL is more behoven to ticket revenue, Buffalo still got $20M national TV money, $20 million MSG fees, at least $10M expansion fee. As for the shortened season, they kept most of the season ticket money and didn’t have the gist associated with putting on the games. Finally, a major part of their business model is generating “non hockey related” revenue in order to keep the money from the salary cap. As an example of the shell game that is professional sports, when the entity that ran the Sabre’s was forced into bankruptcy, their were actually over 40 businesses associated with running that business.

You’ve seen the books?

I’m going to make my retirement project to convince fans like yourself that the business model of sports franchises works.

The owners are fine. They are getting their share of the expansion fees plus TV revenues are expected to increase.