That Aud Smell

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.

Popko and Muhleman were promoted fairly recently (first half of 2017), but not weeks ago. This photo of Popko never got the love it deserved.

Ggah! Of course. Thanks for taking my meaningg, thouggh.

This is a solid inference. The timing is conspicuous. Maybe these folks were clashing with the consultants.

This is a really odd look, to say the least. I wish there were a Wiki for the Pegulas' hirings and firings since they come on the scene as pro sports team owners. Because I feel like there have been a lot. And you know what's weird? Gregg Brandon still has a job with PSE. That's weird for at least 2 reasons: (1) He's the brother of Russ (separated from PSE in disgrace) and (2) he uses two G's in a first name that clearly only needs 1.

This game is nucking futs.

Tierney’s charts generally indicate that the Leafs are “fun.” Sounds right.

I'm all for a healthy serving of Leafenfreude. I will add: I'm fairly convinced that all fan bases are more or less the same, in terms of the kinds of people that populate them. I also think that, the larger a team's fan base is (such as with the Leafs), the more obsessive know-it-alls, hobbyist GMs, kooks, wingnuts, and tinfoil hat wearers there are. Which is to say, I think there's a huge majority of Leaf fans who aren't bent out of shape over Muzzin and Montour (and a big chunk of that super majority who are only vaguely aware of this sort of thing). And then there's that small slice I mentioned above -- is it 10%? -- who are just frothing at the mouth over stuff like this.

army intelligence? nah. my understanding is that the corsi/fenwick numbers are what amount to basic advanced stats -- the top crust just below the surface. the people who do that stuff for a living dig way, way deeper, evidently.

Also a good take. At the end of the day, it matters greatly (1) how much is being spent and (2) what is being purchased. I think XGMTM had issues with both elements.