LTS

Because I love coffee and I have had variations of "nationality" coffee... please indulge me. What is the "Turkish/Bosnian" coffee? I have 24oz of coffee a day in the morning basically. I have to control myself. ?

That's cool. As I mentioned in the other thread, I am close with the GM of concessions at our AAA baseball stadium in Rochester. I've had plenty of talks with him on how he manages everything. It's a year round job that he loves (although he is going to retire soon). It's hard work. But I feel those concessions are some of the best I've had in any sporting venue. He has a long history in restaurant operations and supply chain which I think helps tremendously.

Josie - It's disheartening to hear all of this. I can't even imagine how impacting it is on you. I'm hoping you have a good support structure in your life to help with getting through all of the stuff that you have going on. If you've ever the need to talk to someone, you can PM me. Stay strong!

Could they go a different route? Does Jacobs have them locked in somehow? I wonder how many NHL rinks are Delaware North concessions actually. Owner of the Bruins getting his cut and all.

Being very close with the GM of concessions at Frontier Field I can tell you that while it takes a lot of work to make it go right, but it's not impossible by any means. The stories I am hearing (and reading) of the concessions both at KBC and BCA are indicative of an organization that clearly is struggling. If all concessions are simply outsourced to Delaware North (ie. they set the prices and simply pay rent to the arena operators) then this is not a Pegula issue so much as it is a Delaware North issue. The question I would want answered now is how much influence the Pegula's have in the concession operations and what change they can affect. Outside of the concessions, I agree 100% with PA on the pre-game. It was awful. Both the Amerks and Sabres continue to be plagued by D grade talent in designing and pulling off in game operations. I watched the Caps banner raising ceremony and while you knew it would be over the top there are a few things that were done you would expect in any pre-game introduction. The camera guy was actually on the person being introduced each time. (Not for the Sabres). The arena announcer had energy (the Sabres announcer is terrible, absolutely horrible and should be fired). During the player introductions the new players were introduced with "Welcome to Washington, <insert player name>". I thought that was a nice touch. The Sabres production looks entirely like it is thrown together 1 hour before the game starts and no one tells anyone else what is supposed to happen. These are things the Pegula's have direct control over and if they are serious about creating a top notch experience they better start rolling heads on the people who are putting this presentation together. It's terrible. Given what people are quoting as concession prices, I am not remotely interested in attending a game regardless of how the team performs. I can watch the Sabres win and lose on TV from my house. I go to the game for the experience of the arena, but that experience seems to be getting worse and that's an accomplishment because it was already pretty damn crappy. For what it's worth though, the organ is brand new. They did change that over. The organ guy is on Twitter and was talking about it. Given that PA changed the theme of this thread while I was writing this let me add... If the fans are already surly when they enter the rink because the experience sucks. The energy in the building will be drained before the players even hit the ice. In that way I do think it will impact the team. Regardless of being a professional, the players will play that much harder when you've got an arena full of people cheering (at least until you blow up on the ice). The fans energy has an additive/subtractive impact on the players... and right now the experience is all in the subtractive column.

No.. just don't say anything. Accept the reality. It's the first period for the team. As if everything would change overnight and they'd be a 100pt team. No, they struggled a bit and the Bruins put two in the net and now it's the end of the world? That's the problem. F'ing extreme society. How do you want me to answer that? The fans booing the team suck, if your daughter is booing the team, then yes, for that purpose, she sucks. I don't know what her enrollment at NU has to do with anything. I played college level sports too. I coach hockey and baseball. I expect more, but I'm not a disillusioned turd blossom that goes around booing everything after 20 minutes of play. The fans have a right to boo. They suck for it. I'm not some blind sycophant of the Buffalo Sabres, I'm just a realist who expected this team to improve over last year. But 20 minutes in they could have played better, but I'm not going to boo them for it. Jesus. People acting like the damn President tonight.

I understand what you are saying. But if your expectations for this team were so damn high that you were going to boo them after the first period then why wasn't your ass in the seat before the start of the game? That's the problem. Whatever anymore.... people are gonna be the negative pussheads they want to be. I'm going to have to refocus on tuning it out.

Booing the team. Sad.. You know who sucks? The fans. They couldn't even be in their seats to start the game. The damn arena was half-empty during the player introductions. Already seeing people on here turning on the team again... more of the same.

I’m not getting hammered in a bar either Rob!

DROP THE PUCK!!!!!! I can’t wait any longer.

Couch. Check. TV. Check. Sweater. Check. Volume 11. check. what’s left? WHISKEY! To my fellow Sabrespacers... even the ones I debate with all the time. CHEERS TO THE SEASON!

No, I don't think he will care one bit. I sure as hell wouldn't. If a teammate came up to me and said, "There's no place for that." I would stop it. The co-worker who taunted me is demonstrating his lack of class. There's literally NOTHING I need to do to prove a point. If 20,000 people want to take his side, then punching him in the face isn't going to change anything. Marchand's response in front of 20,000 rabid Caps fans only served to cement Eller as more of a hero to them.

You watch the center of the body when defending, where the core goes, the play goes. So you are navel gazing.

If you need to resort to a physical response then how about this. The punishment fits the crime. Eller waved at the bench. He didn't cheap shot anyone. He didn't hit anyone really hard. He waved. A more appropriate response, would be to go and give his waving hand a "subtle" slash and let him know the next time he won't be able to move that hand for 6 weeks. Think about it. Where does Marchand go from here? Imagine what his response has to be if Tom Wilson runs McAvoy the way he did Sundqvist. Marchand will have to stab him with his skate.

I know I am projecting my values onto things. Where you are mistaken is that hockey players are trained to navel gaze so they aren't distracted by puck movement and stick handling. What Marchand demonstrated is nothing the world didn't already know... he's a douche who has the ability to help his team when he's on the ice, not sitting in the penalty box, locker room, or press box. Ahh the dismissive... "unless you've played at a high level". The "code" as you put it exists at many levels, in many ways. They are all variants of the same thing. Don't be foolish enough to think that it's something that can only be defined by those who've played at a certain level. Don't mistake my opposite position on the situation as ignorance of it. You speak to me as if I don't understand what Marchand was doing. I know what Marchand was doing, I know why he was doing it. I understand why he feels compelled to respond the way he did. I also understand why his "message" is meaningless. What did he prove? Who learned a lesson? Who, in the entire world, is now saying, "Oh hell, if we are up 7-0 on the Bruins we better not wave at them because that fool Marchand might jump us on the ice." The bottom line is that no one learned anything. No message was received. Brad Marchand was childish and resorted to the tried and true tactics of a neanderthal. If you can't figure out how to succeed, punch it. I am sure he felt better afterwards. Good for him. He still lost 7-0. The next time I saw him I would still be laughing.

For the most part, since I am watching on TV, I don't mind that RJ is doing the calls. I can see what is going on and I know when he's made a mistake. I just don't care. However, when I am trying to listen on the radio it's a very different story. Dunleavy and RJ are both bad for that. The radio requires a picture to be painted and at this point RJ's brush has lost a lot of bristles and Dunleavy is still using his fingers.

This is awesome. No matter what happens this season, the energy in the building leading up to puck drop will be an indicator of what this fan base CAN do. Hold onto that because not all of us will get to experience it.

I am sure they did. It was straight up disrespectful, I agree. I would never feel "disrespected" by it however. I'm just not that shallow. I would be straight up embarrassed that I was getting my butt handed to me 7-0. It would motivate me to go play harder and not resort to that infantile crap. The only point that Marchand proved was that he and his team are thin skinned and if you rattle them, they'll break. Yeah, the code. You sure you didn't play professionally in the 30's? Again, thin skinned; easy to take advantage of and will take stupid penalties. You are Marty McFly hating to be called chicken. I would have a field day with that.

Lars Eller's taunt, at any time, is classless. Marchand's response is classless. Once we've established that both actions are classless there's no need in discussing them. It's like arguing which pile of dog crap smells better. We might as well be arguing over Republican and Democrat morality. What is the response? Don't be bitter, be better. It really boils down to that. Your team is losing 7-0 and you should be angry with your teammates and yourself for letting that happen. If you had gone out and kicked Washington's butts you wouldn't have that situation. Don't be bitter, be better. The pugilist way would be more appropriate as a response to a heinous physical act by the other team. The last line is the one I really have a problem with. There's a world of difference in being disrespectful and being disrespected. In order to be disrespected you have to allow yourself to be hurt by the actions of someone else. Certainly there are a certain level of action that warrants feeling disrespected, but if your ego is so fragile that having an idiot wave at you warrants punching him in the face, then you need to check yourself. I would have laughed it off and been more motivated to go out and put some pucks in the net. It's good that it's brought up. Good conversation happening (aside from some of the name calling).

I'm going to need to step away from the computer for a few hours... or I may pour a drink too early and not see the game tonight. ?

Never give up, never doubt. You are crazy talented. She's just talented. And this is why I think so... her stuff is very re-creative.. yours is creative. It takes talent to do both, but it takes just a bit more to create it in your own way. Kind of like the difference between a cover artist and an original musician.

Now that pumps me up more than that other video. Absolutely amazing work.

Not sure where else to put this... but our @josie has some competition out there. Show them what you've got Josie! https://twitter.com/shannonrosssx This latest one was retweeted by PK and the NHL. https://twitter.com/shannonrosssx/status/1047182627369885696 Well, I am trying to link to the tweet like I did earlier, but this time it's not working. Whatever.. you get the idea.

I encompass a lot of what you are saying in the "he's Jack" part of what I said. It definitely all goes together.