That Aud Smell

Appreciate that. I'm also here to say: Nothing is guaranteed! A Sabres team without Skinner next season might be worse. But there was/is no sense carrying on with things substantially as they have been. Sheeyit - I'd even embrace a trade of one on their top young players. Why the funk not?

Just be assured that I will keep my shirt on. #flabby

I see Skinner as emblematic, symptomatic of this team's failures. And I am mystified by fans who follow the team closely but fail to see that. As I've posted elsewhere, it's like a form of Stockholm Syndrome for sports fans. "Don't take away a leading goal scorer from my favourite hockey team that fails to succeed each and every year, for years on end. He's among the best pieces of that failing enterprise. What would the Sabres possibly do without him?" Meanwhile, the Panthers were a playoff team that traded one of their top players in order to re-tool and take another shot at a Cup. A plan that didn't have to work, but it sure enough did. And yet there are Sabre fans that, in the past, would wring their hands over calls to move on from Skinner and now worry about how the team will score goals without him.

AI can't currently have Howard Cosell (sp?) call a MNF game. But give it a year or two. It will happen. As for the neat stringing of audio clips together, that's just a more primitive version of what AI audio is doing. If you wanted to start out with original audio clips and string them together, I'm sure AI could be applied at some point in order to smooth out the finished product.

I'd much rather just debate our favourite era of Rick's calls and listen to actual recordings of the same. They should never, ever AI RJ (or Darling, for that matter). And CBC shouldn't AI Bob Cole. And so on. But they probably will. They almost certainly will. There was some headline I saw this week -- some famous artist commenting that the AI-ification of a deceased artist was shameful (or words to that effect). The artists were from two totally different genres. Like maybe it was Sheryl Crowe bemoaning a Tupac AI? Some of who gets AI'd will depend on what kinds of rights deals each individual had signed off on.

I agreed with both posts 😂

This is an exemplary post. The best of what this board can offer. Layers, here.

Never. Never ever.

fair deuce

Of this we can be assured. Incredible person.

Farewell to a cheerful, overpaid, occasionally entertaining, fundamentally flawed (and therefore problematic) hockey player.

I remember watching the Oilers in the conference finals and realizing: McDavid can’t shoot. There’s something wrong with him. It also seemed like his backhand shot was still available to him. But anything on his forehand was limited. The fact that they were both seriously injured makes a world of sense. Draisaitl’s struggles were less obvious to my eye — although his inability to connect on one-timers in Game 7 was clear.

Thanks for the pin @nfreeman!

Ha - appreciate that. In point of fact, I caught the most fleeting, inconsequential feeling of "yeah, that's good" from Okposo lifting the Cup. Mostly, I don't care. And certainly didn't care. I'm actually not even into the activities I described and defended. I just know lotsa people are. Christ - what do baseball journalists even do if not spill ink and crush keystrokes as they build mythologies out of the sport? But, yes. The shared experience. The coming together. That is everything.

Man, now we're talkin'. TAKE ME TO CHURCH.

Man, it is a little sad! To me. At least how I took it. Many fans enjoy investing all sorts of fictions and narratives into their beloved sports figures. Imbuing them with virtues sometimes. Making them symbols of something larger than what a single person could ever be. And so on. I took you to suggest above that sports fandom is far more transactional than that. We pay. They entertain. It's much more than that, innit?

This is sorta gross. And more than a little sad. Where's the romance? Where's the development of mythology? THOSE ARE OUR BOYS OUT THERE.

I'm pretty sure that we do an in-season thread (that gets pinned), but then also have an offseason thread until the new season begins. So I started one. I'm not sure what will belong here, since most of the chatter right now should land in threads dedicated to trade rumours, re-signings, actual trades, other transactions, the draft, etc. But there's gonna be more generic "around the NHL" content. And here's where it belongs. Perhaps Gary Bettman will get foot surgery for his bunions this summer. This thread would be an appropriate place for a conversation on that subject.

Y'all are easy pickens. I can do this all day!

I see your disagreement @Thorny. True or false: Eichel has a Cup whilst Perreault does not. Let’s be real when talking about 1st overall picks for the Sabres.

Has the statute on that crime run? If the Erie County DA had any onions, they'd indict Lindy now for that crime. Or maybe they are deferring to the U.N. for a crime against humanity charge.