That Aud Smell

I will never comprehend those who actually watched the guy play and then rued his departure this past offseason. Even when he was ostensibly effective, he was an obstacle to progress. Skinner as a LW1 is akin to “[hand up] we’re not a serious hockey team.” Guy’s a lightweight freelancer.

He is unequivocally the worst owner the Sabres have ever had and it is not even close. I think about the fact that Golisano - if memory serves - put some shackles on Darcy based on the team's limited ability to generate revenue (back when they were pretty good!). But Golisano imposed those limits and then (1) let hockey people do the hockey things, full stop; (2) lent his considerable business chops to high-level issues and big picture decision making. Terry gets it exactly wrong in both of those scenarios: He continues to assert himself in hockey decisions and has little to add on the business side. (Again, folks, he's not some scrappy, intense, process-oriented entrepreneur like Golisano was/is -- he's a high stakes oil man who could have easily gone bust instead of boom.)

Right - the worst the Pegula kids have done is open a financial black hole of a lunch counter business in Harborcenter and ... of course, there were Matthew's j1zz hats.

Post game interviews from Allen and others indicate that the Bills had a borderline preseason game plan for the Patriots. They're looking to keep their remaining good sh1t under wraps until the playoffs. I credit those statements based on how the game unfolded, looked from our perch in the 300s. I also respect that the team isn't organizing things in order to get Allen an MVP. They're aiming for the Lombardi. Fingers crossed.

ideal scenario. i think the bills would be better in a ravens playoff rematch, but the ravens are still a bad matchup for the bills.

based on some chatter I saw on Twitter, it may have something to do with how the "illegal man downfield" rules of college and pros are different.

Man, people gotsta get paid. Don't begrudge Duff getting his bag. Do begrudge the cackling, though. I can't not hear it now.

JACK QUINN WILL BE FINE.

i have a soft spot for the red jerseys because my youngest was just getting into the Bills back when they did those all-red colour rush uniforms — and he LOVED those damn things (in a way only a little kid can).

Lol - and they even have a bit of a point? Who cares though. It’s made so much sweeter because the Bills are up and the Pats are down.

I love the red on white. Looks sweet. Added bonus: Pats fans are griping. Haha. Get wrecked!!

the youtube link upthread.

It makes perfect sense to me that Terry and Lindy have a close friendship, of sorts. I keep saying it: Lindy is our best hope for saving this joke of a franchise. He has the stones, the bona fides, and the relationship needed to stand up to Terry and right this ship. (Actually, righting the ship is probably not severe enough -- to bring the ship up from the floor of Lake Erie, restore it, and get it sailing again.)

Maybe we are talking past each other. Or maybe something else is going on. It's hard for me to tell. My initial post above - "what a weird take" - was directed to what I read as your implicit (and snarky) endorsement of what some non-Sabre fan and hobbyist (professional?) hockey talker said about Adams and the Sabres. I don't much care what the self-proclaimed Hockey Guy has to say about my team. Our team. Especially if it's in the nature of some Iraqi general's implausible denial of serious problems in Sabre land. I know what's going on. Far better than the Hockey Guy does, I'll venture. I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore. I can't fathom any Sabres fan feeling differently.

Nah, I meant your take. I don't watch that guy. I tried once when a video of his was posted here. Not my cuppa.

I do generally enjoy these "So and so is only the second quarterback since the merger to ... " blurbs that seem to come out every week. At times, though, it does seem like they're getting way into the weeds with them. "CJ Stroud is only the fourth quarterback in league history to pass for at least 225 yards, have a 65% completion percentage on fewer than 25 attempts, pass for 2 TDs in excess of 20 air yards each, and be credited with 5 run carries."

This is such a weird take - especially given where the franchise is, where it’s been for the past ~14 years, and where it appears headed.

Dude - I think the verdict has perhaps been slow to come but is by now decisive. I'm not even sure "meddling" captures the nature of how he affects hockey ops.

I've read this post three times. I'm just not sure what you're getting at. Grab a torch or pitchfork, man.

Okay. Opie then.

I'd call it a bit of hyperbole. A nice rhetorical device. What's the old saw about monkeys, infinite time, typewriters, and Hamlet? I credit not at all what Adams has done during "his" tenure. Not a whit. Blind squirrels and chestnuts? Maybe. But everything he's done, taken as a whole, has convinced me that he doesn't understand asset management, roster management, nor team building. Not at an NHL GM level anyway.

The conversation here leads me back to what I - and others - see as the franchise's best hope. If Lindy can ascend to POHO and alpha Terry the way that McDermott and Beane were apparently able to, then perhaps Lindy can get qualified people in the crucial positions and the process of rebuilding can actually begin in earnest. Because for the last 13+ years? The Sabres have been Terry's favourite toy. And he's repeatedly made a total hash of things. Keeping with the seasonal theme: Terry through his clumsiness has been creating his own Island of Misfit Toys. The first one that popped into my head looks like Ville Leino. (The Bills, meanwhile, are maybe more like his favourite movie. He mostly just watches them.)

Were you (ever) any of those things? [Awakens alarmed. Blinks strenuously. Clears throat]: "Where is that bailiff? ... @Stoner?!" I've seen this here before. It is a madness. "We gave that chimp a Chevy pickup five years ago. And yeah, he's been careening all over the eight counties of WNY ever since. But his driving qualifications must have improved over that period of time."

Prior to now, I was hard-pressed to imagine a more disqualifying resume for an NHL GM than the one that Adams had when he was hired into the role for the Sabres. But the scenario you lay out above creates an even more disqualifying CV: A guy who was totally unqualified to serve as GM, but was given the job title just the same, and thereafter acceded to serving as the buffoon owner's toady for five years. I mean holy sh1t. Talk about awful.