That Aud Smell

Nah. That's just an expression for "lady luck," etc. I haven't been watching much of late, but it is mystifying to me to hear/read HCPH saying that the Sabres have been getting the better of play over the course of a recent game.

he's a good kid, that's for sure.

The kid from Niagara Falls? He's not in the league yet, is he?

I find myself utterly numb to this team's fortunes. It's a feeling that took hold over the past couple of months as the team returned a basement-dwelling form. Come Labor Day, I'm sure I'll be excited for a new season. Right now, though -- I'm just done.

More than any I can recall, this season -- its arc -- broke me.

Many PSE-related people donated to her campaign, including Botterill. That list included people from Brandon to Popko to Playfair to Rivet. FWIW.

God awful.

Change of plans. I just got an updated guest list for my group. I'll stick around after all, God willing. Let's go, Buffalo!

Ha! No, no. The "Irish goodbye" with which I am familiar refers to a guest who just mysteriously and suddenly disappears, without a word of warning or farewell. Without bothering to Google it, my guess is that it has roots in the proverbial Irish guest who gets fall-down drunk, ends up stumbling through a door and into the night, and, with the grace of God, staggers home to bed.

Haha. Nah - I've quite embraced the use of old as a noun.

I am an old.

Obliged to attend tonight for something sorta work-related. It's a Monday night. I will likely try to find an excuse to leave early. Or maybe just pull an Irish goodbye.

Heard a follow up tidbit today at lunch: Of late, one or both of the Pegulas refers to the upcoming Frozen Four by adding an f-bomb prefix to it.

Query whether and to what extent tickets are being comp'd or moved at discounted prices as part of some larger business development move. Also, that's just the promotional side of things. From what I'd heard, there were structural problems with the bid itself -- in terms of the money that the Pegulas guaranteed to the NCAA and how PSE's budgeted revenues were built out. Not for nothing, that's why some bigger acts have been coming to town of late (such as really big headliners who've popped into the stadium): The Pegulas are willing to stick their necks out there and say "yeah, we're good for $X,XXX,XXX" or whatever. So, credit to them for that. But there may be some hubris there -- the insistence that they can make larger market events work in a small market like this one. Right - I had the same thought. But I think this goes deeper than the mere question of whether the house will be mostly full.

Fair feckin' point. My take: The Pegulas maintain unrealistic expectations and goals re Buffalo being both destination and hearth for a Hockey Heaven. The afterglow of the 2011 World Juniors may have exacerbated that. The people who work for them in c-level capacities are perhaps motivated to give the bosses what they want. And then when reality doesn't match up with what was dreamt -- heads roll. But these kinds of problems start at the top.

Bad business, all around. Sorry you took a hit on those tickets -- the love for the hockey is admirable, anyway.

I'm not sure whether the two are connected, but there's a word on the street that the Pegulas are poised to lose a sizable chunk of change on the Frozen Four. The timing of the bids and awards on that sort of thing would mean that Russ Brandon would have been responsible for PSE's numbers, projections. So maybe there's no connection between the Frozen Four financials and the recent shakeup. But the timing does seem somewhat conspicuous.

This season has become such a bummer. But Dahlin? He's a sparkler of a bright spot.

Sigh. When you look back at that roster of 2005-2007, you just see terrific contributors up and down the lineup. Every time you scroll to another name, it's like, "holy spit! that guy was on the team too!" I know it's been said a million times, but ... it's a crime that they didn't win the Cup in 2006.

You misunderstand me. I'm way behind on this particular style of charting. I have no idea what means what in terms of what's being depicted visually

That's the nub of my question. I appreciate the feedback, and have concluded that these aren't the charts I'm looking for.

Thanks. I am looking for more granular explanations -- if anyone's able and willing to provide them. Those bar graphs aren't intuitive, imo.

That chart -- with its segmenting, colorations, varying block sizes, values on both sides of the vertical line, etc. -- is somewhat confusing to me. What is it saying re Pominville, for example? Sheary?

I've found myself slipping into one of the stages of grief with this team, franchise. I'm not even sure which stage it is. Bargaining, maybe. Possibly denial.

Eschew obfuscation, sir.