Neo

The opposing goalie in a SCF game seven goes down with a sprained ankle in the third period of the tied game... as does his back up. The camera cuts to his son, a twenty two year old rink rat who’s cleaning the ice with a shovel during the stoppage.

I don’t find it absurd or third rate. Further, that’s neither precisely, generally, nor remotely why I found it fun. What a human story! I’ll remember Ayers long after I forget the score or the two teams involved. It was a joyful moment for millions that better planning and a press box amateur could have prevented. Hard pass. We write rules fo sanitize life, make it orderly, or both...My need for, and tolerance of, those instincts is decidedly smaller than that of others. Perhaps I’m absurd.

It comes down to this, for me. We all have our DNA. Do you prefer scrubbed contingency plans and rules always chasing last week’s problem with today’s solution, or do you prefer a world that delivers Ayers stories at the most unexpected times? Ayers it is.

Amen .... why must we tinker with everything? Where do these instincts come from? Two ideas ... it ain’t broke, and it’s joyously “feel good” when it is! Bingo ...

Enough of this back and forth!

Franklin and Winston, by Jon Meacham. A man who failed a dozen times before becoming one of the 20th century’s single most important human beings. Fun summer pilgrimage in WNY .. The Churchill Lounge at The Prince of Wales Hotel in Niagara on the Lake. Johnny Walker for breakfast, champagne at lunch and high tea, a Bordeaux for dinner, and port in the evening. “Sure I am of this, that you have only to endure to conquer.“

Lazar .... good “build a team” addition. We need more, of course .... but, good “build a team” addition”

Certainly not your last !

I was standing in a bar, in Cortland, NY, late that night. We knew the final score and the place was hoppin’. George Thorogood’s “Move it on Over” was playing. The record album! ”Move it on over .... rock it on over .. move over, nice dog .....” The song was abruptly interrupted by the dreadful sound of the stylus being dragged carelessly across the album ..... sscccrrrrrraaaaattchhhh. Everyone cringed and a few seconds of silence passed. We looked at each other, and around the room. Next thing we knew, we heard those faint crackling sounds that told you the stylus was back in a groove and the music was about to begin. [horns, triumphal] .... [eyes opening, awareness spreading like “the wave” in an arena] .... ”God .... Bless .... America ....” Kate Smith! We cheered, we chugged beer, we kissed girls, we hooted and raised fists. It was a once in a lifetime event made larger by occurring during a once in lifetime era. I know three. The Moon Landing, The Miracle on Ice and 9/11. Oh, there are other epochal events (“he is running like a tremendous machine”), but none that match the event with the zeitgeist quite like these.

I KNEW you’d have a memory! Nice ....

Forty years ago, tonight ....

I may have your last sentence tattooed onto my chest .... sublime. Good ... Clean ... Fun.

1). awesome 2). I love the word gritty applied to an urban environment. New Orleans!

I’m watching The Hockey Night in Canada feed. The game HQ is Quebec City. There have been two great between period interviews. Manon Rhéuame and Eric Lindros. Manon just shines. She’s an old hockey crush of mine. Come to think of it, she’s my only hockey crush. Moving on ... I was never much of a Lindros fan. Old school resentment toward a privileged kid telling an established league where he’d play, and all that. Oft injured, if a great player, but never a truly generational, guy in my mind. Snarly, cocky. I always viewed his setbacks through the lens of karma. The interview took place in Quebec City, during the broadcast. He’s older, of course, but still menacingly thick and powerful, except for ... ... his very humble demeanor. He’s juxtaposed in the interview with a Canadian broadcasting woman, She’s polished, informed, and has a television presence, a command. No shock, of course, given her profession. She went quickly to the heart of the matter. She asked Eric what is it like, now, and what it was like, then, to be in Quebec City after that bitter post draft period and before his trade to Philadelphia. There was no menacing cockiness in his responses. He was humble, fidgety, a little nervous, almost giggly. He spoke of fans, family, Quebec and great misunderstanding. He felt pain, and acknowledged that of others. He talked a lot about his mom. Lindros looked like your uncle who worked at the plant, with hands that could squash a coconut, and who your mom called “the teddy bear”. I am re-evaluating Eric Lindros, and I’m glad.

Manon Rhéaume ... I’m going to need a moment.

Can you be more specific?

One, awesome and fun, Weave. Two, a Cheektovegas shout out is a very, very, special thing ... There is no place like WNY.

You made the right call with Ol’ Billy! The big mystery to me is the different approaches to building a roster, drafting and managing a cap. Beane’s done it better.

“Not every quote on the internet is accurate.” Abe Lincoln.

I will chuckle, today, thinking of Albert Einstein growing frustrated while trying to decipher the work of Bart Simpson ...

I’m looking back, again, over 58 years and the extraordinary set of circumstances that have put me in the presence of power and great men. Steinbrenner, Jacobs and culture. Be excellent. Be urgent. There is no other way. I never heard “I’ll sell another hot dog” or “I’ll build another ship”. I did hear “from this day forward the sole purpose of ...”. We will win when the culture here requires people to give all they've got and not rely on all the owner has. Small, and not so insightful, observation. TPegs has the graciously human desire to give. He sheds tears. I feel him. I am looking for that single minded purposefulness that will enable him, that will require him, to demand. I know nothing of his business culture. I see the Bills demanding everything of and from themselves. They are engaged and joyful “opt in” guys. I’m a believer. JBot has to find talent. TPegs must demand it. I am encouraged by the process. One more season. Draft, develop, attract, and manage cap and contracts. Greater hockey minds than mine have views on our GM and how capable he is of this. Time will tell.

I am 1,300 miles away from a night like that. Setting aside the product on the ice, you are in hockey heaven.

^ I greatly admire The Bruins.

Agree ...

Just to add. I believe Pegula thinks he has his Beane and McDermott in his hockey club. Botterill’s seat is hotter, but he’ll get another year.