...

I want to see the boots. Did the boots come with the jersey?

That's awesome!

This is a great analogy. The pursuit of business is what's on trial here. The ultimate question is: are all business pursuits "bad"? IMHO, the obvious answer is no. Business, by its definition, is "a usually commercial or mercantile activity engaged in as a means of livelihood". Because it relies upon others to survive, it is compromised at its core. Let's strip away the modern economy and the concept of trade. Let us return to the fields and woods to farm and hunt for ourselves for survival. If someone in the family falls ill, and no one has the skill to aid the sick person, they are doomed to die. If the fields suffer a disease that attacks the vegetation, that year's crop is doomed. If the deer are over-hunted in an area, those who rely upon the deer in that area for meat, will most likely starve over the winter. What then? There is no trade. There is no economy. People will die. And they will suffer long before they die. Let's reintroduce an economy and trade. The Smith family lost its crop to disease, and the only deer Mr. Smith could kill was malnourished. Mr. Smith could then, at least, trade his labor for food for his family. Maybe his wife can trade some blankets she made for more food. In fact, one of the blankets went to a family where a child is sick in bed, and needs the blanket to stay warm. The Smith family survives the winter thanks to business - but the compromise is that Mr. Smith has to leave his family every day to work in Mr. York's fields, and Mrs. Smith had to take advantage of a sick kid to move one of her blankets. Compromises on ideals? Absolutely. But this system is far better than Mr. Smith going over to Mr. York's cabin in the middle of the night and slaughtering his family to steal food.

Questions is serious? If so, I'm not trying to shame anyone, just having a decent conversation.

Sylvester just said to Flynn "people are comparing you to Pominville"...where is he being compared to Pominville other than here on Sabrespace?

Because it IS superficial. In the same way taking your kids to "meet Santa", or telling them that they did a good job in the soccer game (which their team lost), or applauding their performance in the school musical are all superficial. Because to the kids, the entire thing ISN'T superficial, it's the most important thing in the world at that moment. I'm guessing you don't have kids, PA, because you'd know that they're perpetually in a fantasy world, and everything is in the now. It's a tough line between breaking down the barrier between their fantasy world and reality. I think while they're stuck, sick in a hospital, it's OKAY to give them moments of fantasy where for a few minutes they forget they have tubes stuck in their arms and can barely lift their heads off the pillow. This is the stuff that is NOT superficial - in fact it's quite the opposite. You're making an assumption that the parents are idiots. This has nothing to do with brain-power. If you've ever had a kid in a hospital, you'd know that it crushes your heart and soul seeing your kid in a bed with monitors, bags and all of the equipment around, hooked up to IV tubes and oxygen breathers. A parent will do ANY-F*CKING-THING to make their kids happy at that moment, which includes allowing Marcus Foligno come in for a photo op as part of a Sabres visit to the ward. But you're right, it has to be a person or organization with status. I don't think the Walgreens Leprechaun can get away with it. That is the way it is, and it's not the Sabres fault. For all of the stupid things the Sabres do, you can not blame them for society's ills. If you want to blame the Sabres for doing a hospital visit, why not blame all of us for using too much electricity and exploiting Chinese child labour to complain about it online? How about holding Obama responsible for using the IRS as a political attack dog? Once you're on your moral high-horse, when do you get off? Is it fair to arbitrarily select your moral enemies if fairness is your concern?

You need to work on that, then.

It's a win-win-win-win situation for all involved, mostly, so I don't see the issue, even morally. A lot of players are family guys, or family-oriented, or were just raised right, and for whatever personal reasons want to "give back" because they are, indeed, getting a lot. The teams facilitate the action, and provide added bonuses such as swag, Sabre Tooth, and the added effect of consolidating visits so they have more impact - when you have three or four Sabres walking around the peds ward, followed by Sabre Tooth and then some interns handing out t-shirts and hats, it makes a hell of a lot grander impression on the kids then just one player walking around. The teams get the give-back vibe, too, because, you know, the people who work for them aren't robots. But they know, like the parents, the hospital, and the players, that there is a PR aspect to it all. The team likes the PR, of course, and the parents just like seeing their sick kids light up like Santa Claus was personally visiting them. The players get a much needed ego adjustment, to go along with whatever personal fulfillment they get, and also honoring possible contractual obligations. The hospitals, I'm sure, like the fact that it helps their patients, even if it's only in a superficial way. But they like the PR, and, in fact, may need in the future the cache such PR develops. For example, if the hospital did what it could to help out a kid, even if that includes inviting the Sabres over for a PR visit, when that hospital hits hard times, the people whose kids were at that hospital may in some way help out, either by voting for a bond, helping with campaigns, doing fund-raising or whatever. The hospital could survive the hard times to save and help more people in the future - thanks, in small part, to having the Sabres by for a PR visit. The world is not idealistic - the world is pragmatic. But pragmatism doesn't have to mean dog-eating-dog; it could mean dog-cleaning-dog, or dog-playing-with-dog, or dog-hunting-with-dog.

Right, and why isn't he signed?

...that they're into the Tron look? Because that's all I get out of it.

I'm glad they didn't go into Alamo Mode. I think if they had, and still lost, then people would be complaining they were the same old Bills who lacked the nuts to "go after it". Not being a football follower, I thought the glaring error was all of the stupid penalties. Stupid penalties, as we know from hockey, are a result of being undisciplined. With a young team, and a rookie NFL coach, I'm not sure what you can expect for the first game. They hung in there but the lack of experience, I think, is what did them in. It was certainly a good game, though, and I didn't sense it was all lost until the last three minutes or so - which is pretty good for a typical Bills game.

Anyone notice all of the little smoke shops popping up all over the place? Anyone wonder why? huh? HUH?

Anyone ever tried one of Harpoon's UFO series?

Thanks. Kevin will respond to my tweets on air most times I send him one. We actually know each other, but he doesn't know that thanks to my whacky user name...not that it would give me any more "credibility".

Well, he got my tweet. Apparently I have no credibility, though.

Can I just say that while the Sabres have me thoroughly pissed off at them, this forum may keep me in the fold until I come out of the valley. Threads like this make hanging out in this forum mandatory: a consistently high quality internet experience. Thanks!

The only wheat beer I like I noted above - the un-filtered wheat beer. Fruit flavored wheat beer anything is just gross. It's like orange chocolate. YAaa.

Agreed. And, frankly, the Octoberfest beers generally taste nasty, too.

The place I had the Stone IPA is easily in the top 5 of restaurants I have ever dined in (food wise), which is saying a lot. There are at least three places I know of here with CIA trained chefs. Anyway, the unfiltered wheat beer turned out to be...wait for it...Adirondack. I would recommend that to anyone looking for something different.

Not really..there are plenty of bar/taverns here. I thought the price per draft at Slickers was good, BTW. Meal wasn't bad, either.

At Slickers...disappointed in the beer selection overall, but presently having an unknown unfiltered wheat draught that is incredibly interesting...the aftertaste reminds me of a good cheese.

Heading to Slickers in a moment. Recommend me a lager or hoppy IPA.

Presently in Old Forge enjoying a Stone IPA. Good stuff, very robust for an IPA.

Well, I guess it might be useful to add that he went into that little narrative after saying if the Sabres are going to get a UFA forward that will take away a rookie's roster slot, it'd better be an elite guy to pair with Vanek. Because Vanek is elite...and you know who else can be elite...(pickup Leino narrative)...

What other context do you need? If he had any significant qualifiers I wouldn't have bothered. His point was simply that Leino could be an elite player...period.