That Aud Smell

Fwiw, in the Buffalo City Schools, the school building engineer (who employs the maintenance staff) is actually paid a lump sum (or sums) at or around year’s start, and he (she?) figures everything out from there.

^ Fair point re villains, etc. Still: WTF, Pegulas?

Not an unfair criticism re Jack and other highly salaried Sabres. 19 year old Zion Williamson is floating his (NBA) arena’s workers.

Can anyone catch me up on why the Pegulas are getting excoriated on Twitter for what they’re doing/not doing with paying arena workers, etc.?

He’s got it backwards. You close the schools to mitigate worsening numbers; you don’t close the schools in the face of worsening numbers. By the time he closes them, it will be too late to do any good.

hey, and shout out to @X. Benedict who educated me to the reality that, quite contrary to a narrative that emerged, Connolly was the direct opposite of "soft" -- dude was, in point of fact, quite fearless in terms of the positions in which he put himself on the ice.

Contract.

Peak Tim Connolly was among my top-10 favourite Sabres, ever. So, so fun to watch.

30 days is the estimated maximum period of quarantine (I think I misused the term isolation above). That's because it's essentially impossible to do more. This isn't about stopping it; it's about slowing it down. There is no stopping it. Angela Merkel (sp?) of Germany stated that ~70% of all Germans will contract the virus. The questions is, over what period of time will those infections occur.

An educated guess: In the next 10-14 days, give or take, most U.S. populations will be directed to isolate themselves for a ~30-day period. That’s the only way to flatten the curve.

My guess? Many, many NHL (and SC playoff) games will be played in front of empty arenas. The people whom I know personally and trust on such matters are essentially unanimous (okay, it's 3 people, but still): This thing is about to bust wide open in the U.S.

The Sharks have some schedule changes to make now that their local county has banned gatherings of 1000 or more people. https://www.cbssports.com/nhl/news/coronavirus-san-jose-sharks-may-have-to-play-in-empty-arena-after-santa-clara-ban-on-mass-gatherings/

That's what is encouraging to me. He's proven that he's a fit in this scheme. It's a low-risk move, anyway.

Shrewd.

That, and not going to the net.

As in: "Guys, I'm not going to drink anymore. ... Mind you, I'm not going to drink any less." For sure. Presumably, there was more than alcohol involved.

Okay, okay - I can see that. I haven't heard what Beane said, but any suggestion that McDermott wasn't (a key) part of the process of hiring him was what struck me as odd. Also: Dermzy? Seaner?

"Our" first interview, McDermott said. I dunno. The two accounts don't seem to square to me.

Wait. I have a fairly specific recollection of McDermott telling the story of him pitching Beane on coming to Buffalo. There was a book recommendation involved - some loosely Christian self-actualization guide by one of those hip mega pastors who wear jeans and dark long sleeve tops all the time. Edited to add: It was from a Peter King interview. Thanks to Peter King’s interview with Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane, we know how the Bills head coach recruited Beane to Buffalo: Here’s the awesome exchange: McDermott: I just was reminded of something. I knew after our first interview here it was going to take some effort to convince him to leave Carolina—he’s lived there his whole life, and his wife’s from there. I took a picture of a book that I am currently reading. It’s called “Chase the Lion,” and the subtitle is, “If Your Dream Doesn’t Scare You, It’s Too Small.” And I took a picture of it and I sent it to Brandon, and that was kind of my recruiting approach to convince him that this is a chance for him and his career and what he and his family have sacrificed over the years. Beane: When I got it, I was lying in bed, watching TV with my wife. I was like, This is so Sean. McDermott: It was a recruiting ploy. Beane: When I saw that picture, I laughed, but there is a lot of truth behind that. It did help. There were a lot of reasons to go back for that second interview,Sean and I am so glad I did. I’m excited to get going with you [talking to McDermott]. During his introductory press conference in Buffalo, Beane made it clear he’d needed to be blown away to leave the Panthers organization of which he spent 19 years. Terry and Kim Pegula clearly blew him away with all the resources they’d provide to him. And McDermott’s recruiting ploy may have factored in too.

Maybe the clip doesn't fairly represent (his) actual game speed - but he didn't remind me of (a young?) McDavid in terms of skating explosiveness. But given those numbers, he's clearly doing a lot of things very, very well. Barely 16 y/o -- it will be interesting to see whether he continues on a similar trajectory.

Cernak's reaction doesn't interest me much - he was in the midst of a battle and ongoing game flow. I trust he would have reacted quite differently had that skate blade forcefully made contact with an exposed part of his chest or abdomen -- something that didn't happen, apparently by sheer dumb luck. Is it really a point of debate as to whether the league should tolerate players kicking other players with their skates?

Yeah. Skate kick to the chest is way beyond the pale. I'm sure they wear space-aged chest protectors, but there was no guarantee that the skate blade was going to meet flush with that protector. Kassian is nucking futs.

Did not. Sorry.

of that we can be sure.