That Aud Smell

Holy spit - the Sabres have McDavid?!

Thanks for digging into it. My sense is that, in recent times, the start date for the NBA finals is set once the playoffs start. Shoot - it might be set once the regular season schedule is released. Same goes for the NHL.

Ain’t no “if” about it. Now that I honed in on better search terms — Denver Lakers sweep “June 1” — I find dozens of news stories published late on May 22 or early on May 23 that all say that the NBA Finals would begin on June 1st.

That may have been true in the past (no idea), but it is not true this year. Ten days ago or so, I recall hearing some sports talkers discussing the possibility of a lengthy layoff after Denver swept LA and Miami had a chance to do likewise with Boston. I limited a Google to a period of time when the conference finals were still ongoing and/or when Denver was on the verge of its sweep (May15-May 22), and these were the top results: Simpler. Here's the contemporaneous USA Today report on the Denver sweep. Story says that, as of 5/23, the finals will begin on June 1st. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2023/05/22/lakers-nuggets-game-4-western-conference-finals/70245975007/

Before the Heat slipped up, the NBA was staring down a ~10-day hiatus between the end of its conference finals and the start of its championship series. The start dates for these things get scheduled way out - in both leagues, I believe. My guess is that there are all kinds of "synergistic" moving parts ("partners" who set aside the dates so that they can participate - show up and shmooze) that are locked into place based on dates certain.

This is at the heart of the matter. The MLS would overtake the NHL as North America's #4 professional sports league if its overall revenues were greater than the NHL's. I can't readily get a handle on what those figures are, but I think that the poster above has a sense of them. As someone else noted upthread: This "story" from Axios comes off as transparent PR shilling, given the substantial gap between the two leagues' current revenues/overall worth.

I would buy a bathroom reader compilation of classic @inkman posts. A wee volume. Marketed as an impulse buy near the registers at Barnes and Noble.

Ah. I see. Well then.

Like SCOTUS Justice Potter once observed on a different subject: "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of sports markets that I understand to be embraced in this category ... but I know it when I see it." South Florida in general is a bad sports town. The Heat and The U probably get the most dedicated support.

Did the guy who traded for Tkachuk win GM of the year yet? Poor Calgary. We can talk about the ROR and Eichel trades, but the Tkachuk trade has gotta really sting.

Absolutely worth its own thread. I'll say: This is a little surprising. The social media post says the Captain is back. Maybe that means something. Maybe it doesn't. I'm in favour of KO having a 4th line role and continuing to mentor the young guys. And I also think it might be better if he passed that letter on. But who the hell knows. Maybe every player in that locker room is 100% good with him continuing to wear the C. Yet again on the other hand, even if the players are all okay with it, that doesn't mean it should be what the team does.

Imagine your team gets to the conference finals, and then the captain does something as awful and stupid as what Benn did last night, and THEN, on top of that, imagine him refusing to speak to the media in the post game and then further refusing to own what he did the next day?

You do you, bro. (The kids don't say that anymore either.)

As the kids say: I fu*k with this. (Well - they used to say it. Once an old head like me starts to use the phrase, it's over.) More seriously: I'm not going to waste time or energy hating former players and rooting against their success. Like James Brown once said: "The long hair hippies and the afro blacks / They all get together across the tracks / And they parrrrrtaay." (Wait - what?) Okay - I have zero memory of that guy.

That's generally like two-thirds of the job - at least.

Kenny? He calls a strong game, I think. Does he actually confuse Frederik Andersen for ol' man Craig?

So true. Wrong place, wrong time.

And yet — even at the start of the playoffs (and against the Sabres) — they were platooning Lyon in goal. Bob’s getting locked in has pushed them over the top.

Huh. I guess I'm at least a little surprised.

Well, then, welcome back from the dead, Frank.

Interesting thought. I know that sports writers are under immense pressure to create content that will generate the clicks, but, for heaven's sakes with this.

That's a helluva story. And an intriguing screen name. Welcome!!

For those who kicked around North Buffalo, don't forget The 198! (I will not try to spell it.)

Dang - JP failed to come through? I would never rank them in my top tier of Buffalo pizza, but they have built that mini-empire of theirs based on being consistently good. That's a shame. Based on my time working at a pizzeria in my teens, I will venture that getting pizza by delivery can sometimes screw up your order. The driver's there, loading up. The kitchen manager is looking at what's on deck and what's in the oven. That dynamic can lead to a pie getting shipped before it's actually done. OTOH, if you're in no shape to drive for a pickup, you have to take your chances.

I'm not sure. I infer that they are "concession stands" because they represent the owner's concession to allow someone else to sell the peanuts, popcorn, cracker jacks, and such. You and I both know that there's not a single Brad working at LaNova. p.s. I recently had some cheese and pep pizza from their original store on West Ferry. It was a mess. Am I misremembering? I feel like LaNova always made a very solid pie.