That Aud Smell

I appreciate this. It speaks to something so important - something different than what I am trying to articulate. I’m in a very particular headspace of late. Nothing unique. Many others (especially the famous mystics) have inhabited it and described it far better. It’s just being present to the present. Life is today, life is now — “this is not a drill.” Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans (or as you’re looking forward to things to come, as you’re hoping for things in the future (in this connection: playoffs, a Cup run)). When my son and I went to the wildcard game against the Patriots, and our STH-heavy section in the 300s ended up just laughing at how badly the Bills were humiliating the vaunted enemy, I just wanted to grab every nearby fan by the shoulders and entreat them: THIS IS IT. This is what we want. This is all we need. This is amazing. This doesn’t have to be the big game in 4 weeks time. That game will be a very different experience when the Bills are next in it. We are all here now. Our hearts could not be more full. That would be impossible. This is it. There’s nothing more that we need to hope for, *right now*, at least - in this moment. And I love this Sabres team.

edit: nicely turned. my feelings and thoughts aren’t well processed on the subject. but there’s a limit, obviously.

This is difficult for me to articulate, and I don’t think it will be a popular sentiment, but my feeling is that these games matter as much as any others. Partly because they’re being played now - and now is all that’s promised. But largely because of how this team is playing.

I agree with this thread title so much. Thanks for posting @matter2003 The Sabre fans in my office were reminiscing the other day about what things were like in Buffalo when the team was good - the Hasek years, sure (although that felt more precarious to me), but more so the 2005-2007 teams. When you're in a town that sees a real winter and has 4 seasons, there's something uniquely intoxicating about your hockey team making a playoff run in the spring. Such a perfect combination. (And at the risk of a heresy: Playoff football cannot compare in that regard.) Anyway. I've been thinking so much lately about how much I'm going to miss this team. I do believe that the organ-eye-zay-shun has turned a corner, that they are on a good path, and that next season should be one where they're in the mix. But I'm also cognizant that this season is this season. Now is now. There are no guarantees that the team will "be" the same way next season. And I mean, sh1t -- they might be better next season. Hopefully they will be. I think there's a good chance they will be. But there's been something so enjoyable about this team - the way it evolved, came together, grew. I hate to see them go. Let's go, Buffalo!

I think the ice might be awful.

And that is exactly how I imagined he’d get his first — by being instinctively up in the play.

Skinner making like Lafontaine on the May Day goal.

Yeah - he should definitely be part of the team going forward. (I know that’s been a debate at times.(

Get it back to start the 3rd. Goals 1 and 2 were some LOL material.

It’s been coming. He’s frisky.

Thanks again. It's gotta be the injury and recovery, nah? As in, he's lacking strength, confidence, etc.? It is just occurring to me: I very much want to sports-hate Eichel, boo the sh1t out of him when his team comes to town, cheer against his team with the heat of 100 dying suns ... but I also want him to make a full and complete recovery from his injury and surgery. I want his suckitude to be all his.

Mopped Wren. Let's go, Buffalo!

I hadn't seen those posts, so I appreciate your repeating the observation. And I mean - look: He's a strong and effective player when he's healthy. I am presuming that he's just not all the way back yet. OTOH: Ha ha! I think the other one may have been in OT.

2 SOG last night. 14 minutes of 5v5 ice time (1:30 of PP, plus some OT). Stats show there were 5 scoring chances against during his TOI, and 1 SC for -- 2 high danger chances against, 0 HDC for.

Do not be sorry. Enjoy it - for it is the delicious fruit of the Haha Tree.

Sophistry. Do not be sorry. Repent and believe in @deluca67 .500.

Long live @deluca67 .500 - no other measure of success matters, imo.

I'd read that he left a recent road trip to attend to a family emergency. Is there more news? FWIW, stories of pro athletes playing lights out in the face of a family member's death are legion -- the one that comes to mind is a game where Chris Paul dropped 61 and intentionally missed a free throw at the end in order to honour his deceased loved one. Of course, YMMV. Everyone is different.

Love it

It was. I still love the song and Sabre connection. Ha - Marv and his Bills collegiate fight song.

I very much enjoyed that one reply: "Lehner's controller disconnected."

@inkman Let Me Clear My Throat is a certified jam. It should have been a fun goal song. It certainly could have been one. And sometimes it was. But the team was generally so bad and unlikable at that time ... there was no salvaging it. Btw, the formula here goes GOAL SONG SUCCESS RATING = QUALITY OF SONG x QUALITY OF TEAM AROUND TIME OF ADOPTION AS GOAL SONG Of this, there can be no doubt: The Bills' "Shout" song is pretty lame, in a vacuum and standing on its own. I'd venture that it's rank cheese, in fact. But it came along at just the right time. And now it is an anthem. @LabattBlue that was jeremy white's cause, IIRC. it struck me as trying too hard, too on the nose.

Interesting. I've heard over and over that Las Vegas has lost an incredible number of games from its key players this season. I do wonder whether they were (arguably) a healthier team over that ~30 game stretch before Eichel was activated. That said, I smell smoke and am thinking there's fire.