That Aud Smell

there's no doubting it. i can't look now, but someone once compiled data to establish it as fact. it's also possible that his crews just penalize the ever loving sh1t out of most teams. just overly active. (there were at least 3 Bills penalties last night where I was left befuddled.) that f**ker hochuli made me boiling mad with that offside call last night -- when he said "that penalty is declined because [smirk] the result of the play [smiling and signaling] is a touchdown."

The D actually played pretty well. Yes, Diggs cooked them. It appeared they were unprepared for him working out of the slot as much as he did. And Tre White, bless his heart, is no longer an NFL calibre corner. Maye is a stud. The Bills' offence played terribly for most of the game. Beat Atlanta!

financial bubbles generally take some time to pop.

And I’m all for responsible development. We need more of it! What the guy did was recklessly speculative.

I went searching for one of these Jemal posts after reading Epstein’s piece in this morning’s paper where that monorail-motherf*cker was griping about not getting enough public money. The guy is now predictably underwater — unpaid vendors all over town, fire sale of his positions, etc. Hit the bricks, Doug.

Absofreakinglutely not.

seems like board play has never been more important in the NHL than it is today.

Okay - so I see that the essential concern is: We (many?) want him at 26+ minutes per game playing in all situations. Will he get that in Roch? Maybe, maybe not. I’d guess: Most certainly not. Good convo here:

Chad D says it’d be bad to go from AHL to WHL. Myself, I have no clue.

lol - i can't even remember what the context here was

they're just working off vibes. and by "they" i principally mean terry. this team is a product of his vision.

So, so gross. The worst, really.

Eh. Those career scout guys tend to churn through several organizations in the course of a career. His perspective on Levi may well have been a consensus among the Florida's amateur scouting department. This is mostly a way of me re-remembering how much I fooking hate the return that the Sabres got for an NHL stud like Reinhart.

On the one hand: This is one scout's opinion. There were likely other scouts in that organization (or any organization) who would go to bat for Levi. On the other hand: The Sabres dealt with the Panthers in acquiring Levi. One of the worst-run franchises in the league dealing with one of the best-run franchises in the league. The Panthers had whoever the f**k they had on their side of the deal -- seasoned, competent people working with a cohesive vision of the team they wanted to create. The Sabres had Kevyn Adams and f**king Jerry Forton as their chief scout of amateur players. Karmanos would have been there in the mix but I can't imagine him having much of a voice in that deal. I can't adequately explain how much I dislike the JerryFortonication of Sabres hockey. That dude is straight up cosplaying as an NHL executive. Michael Scott from The Office type sh1t. Or maybe Adams is Michael Scott and Jerry Forton is Dwight Schrute? Idk.

a return to the 3-goalie platoon is a new level of forehead smacking WTF for this regime. w.t.f.

The stadium-goers have bought a lot of the rivalry alternate uniforms. With SNF, I presume they’re hoping to scale that # up.

ain't that the truth. unless i'm mistaken (totally possible), they put 30 on the saints and didn't have the benefit of a single short field or even really good starting field position!

to say nothing of the fact that the Bills beat the Dolphins and Saints in somewhat unimpressive fashion. the Bills are 4-0. no apologies for that. but no illusions either, eh?

I've been looking for a graphic designer type - whither @josie? - to explain why team logos nowadays all look so, so similar.

I think a reflexive "huh? wtf?!" is justified in this situation. (Boy, especially given that it's gonna be another 80 degree beauty on Sunday.) Seems safe to infer that the ad wizards are just trying to print cabbage.

for starters (and just my guess), they’d miss the window of time during which they want people to buy those $200 jerseys as gifts during the winter holidays. this is mostly a merch promo event. i think marketing can be capricious this way. you don’t necessarily need to be on the nose. i also allow for the possibility that the overwhelming reaction could be in line with yours — “wtf - why this now?”

it’s forecast to be a beautiful summer like day and evening. I don’t think they ever intended the theme of this game to coincide literally with the weather. it’s a nationally televised game where they will celebrate the team’s legacy with winter weather games. i’m sure they hope to sell a sh1t ton of those “icy” whiteout jerseys — with SNF helping them hit/exceed their targeted #s as they approach the winter months.

my pet theory - based on total speculation - is this: samuelsson doesn’t actually like being a pro hockey player. son of a very good nhl’er. he was big. moved reasonably well. got on the pro hockey development train. it’s a life that chose him, not the life he chose. he just seems so uncommitted. so equivocal.