That Aud Smell

Wawrow to PA:

It makes me a little sad that a paid sports writer would exhume a 5-year old message board take from a hobbyist hockey dreamer in order to generate internet clout. But mostly it makes me laugh.

I was aware of the general backstory, but certainly not the specific story/tour you're referencing. And I mean, at the time they were getting started, just about errrr-one was essentially a prog band of some stripe or variety of prog (unless you were true geniuses, say, like Devo). It's fashionable nowadays to say that "Album Oriented Rock" (or Adult Oriented Rock) is separate and distinct from progressive rock. I never really heard it that way, and still don't. IMO, the reason that a song like Don't Stop Believin' is an absolute banger and anthem is that Journey was able to call on, incorporate certain prog DNA (and other stuff - thinking like Black Sabbath's treatment of the blues) to create a song that, while it works as radio-friendly pop, is really a remarkable and unusual song from the standpoint of structure and composition.

@PASabreFanesque

This calls to mind an observation @X. Benedictwould make about Tim Connolly. People called the guy a soft finesse player… and yet.

I'll echo someone else's sentiment, and in answer to the OP: Gratitude. p.s. That voice of Rick's had a few era all its own. Listen to those calls from the 70s and early 80s. So high-pitched and nasal.

That is a core Granato tenet.

Colour me inspired. Same!

^ The stat heads seem to agree that his offensive contribution is good — and that his D is shaky.

As much as I enjoyed the final stretch of this season, I don’t put stock in the idea that this team will inevitably pick up where it left off when October rolls around. This will be a long offseason. The personnel will change slightly - making chemistry different in September. And all of their opponents will have much to play for when the 22-23 season begins. The Sabres will have to find their way anew - and the experience of the latter portion of 21-22 will help, but it won’t guarantee anything. Some consistently solid goaltending should guarantee improvement though. 🤞

Had a hectic pandemic-disrupted day yesterday. Wound up watching parts of the game where the Sabres looked mostly discombobulated. Then, as fate had it, I listened to the last 7 minutes of the 3rd and OT in my vehicle as I waited to pick up a kid from work. The symmetry for me, personally, was quite moving. I wasn’t under the covers of my childhood bed listening to an RJ call from Vancouver or L.A. I was a middle-aged dad waiting on the end of his kid’s closing shift that was running long (because of COVID (absence of a co-worker)). She got to the vehicle as the post-game started: “Sorry, we ran late.” No need to apologize, kid. In fact: Thank you. I was just sitting here thinking: It’s been a hell of a ride.

Heard three pundits on podcasts in the past 72 hour stating that this draft is watered down — not a lot of top-end talent. Not as much as there usually is. FWIW.

Lllleeetttt'sssss GO, Buffalo!

Eichel is fading into Bolivia.

The hell is going on with the Stars D??

I’ve missed chunks due to a wonky connection, but Eichel’s looked dangerous, creative.

Where's that cool ass chart that looks like a boss sledding hill -- the X axis is draft position, and the Y axis is number of NHL games played, or a likelihood of having a successful NHL career -- something like that. It is a precipitous and steady decline as you move away from the top of the draft. But gather, ye, yer lottery tickets while ye may.

I want to be a person who would not delight in seeing Eichel struggle and suffer as a hockey player. I am not yet that person. A big ol' eyes to the sky moment followed by a stick smash would be glorious.

what the hell is going on in las vegas, man. what does the coach gain here by not taking the high road? "obviously, we wish robin the best in his recovery, and we have to be ready to carry on without him, tonight and hopefully into the post season."

The guy logged on to Twitter for the first time with an avatar where he's pictured wearing a shirt that a Buffalo shirt company made that says "BRETT HULL IS A CHEATER" (with a graphic of a crease, skate, and puck). He's alright by me.

Pass it on.

I will never navigate there willingly. I loved the site during its original iterations. Once the VC ghouls came in and hollowed it out as a profit center, I logged off.

Good post. A thought that's been kicking around in my head over the past couple of weeks: Las Vegas -- and, by the way, it's effing LAS Vegas, they don't get to jettison-by-branding the Spanish article that's part of their city's name -- is a franchise located in a town that's founded on the glitzy, glimmering shine of fool's gold, the vain hopes of get-rich-quick wanderers, and entertainment nightly performed by the permanently famous. Until recently, I looked at the pre-game theatrics of the Las Vegas Knights and envied them (maybe I still do, a bit). More recently, though, I see that stuff as being of a piece with a franchise that may be unduly influenced by an urge to entertain with the biggest, splashiest show that can be assembled. Trading for Eichel seems emblematic of that. That big casino on the strip might not be the only mirage in town.

Wait … what? I’m having a senior moment.

Sit on it, Potsie. We all indulged your maudlin nursing-home-handshake-ring story.