JohnRobertEichel

It is, and it should be in general, but I was referring to the specific case of the Orlando tragedy. Omar Mateen never identified as a Christian. He clearly drew inspiration from Islamic doctrine. And the problem is that a Muslim doesn't have to look very hard in the Quran to find passages that reinforce one's predispositions toward homophobia. Or he doesn't have to travel very far to hear an imam speak negatively of gays. I'm not going to personally engage in a debate of which religion is worse: Christianity or Islam. In my opinion, both are complete garbage and have no purpose in a modern civilization where science, reason, and The Golden Rule are sufficient. In the current year of 2016, Islam just happens to be a far more dangerous religion to human beings than Christianity.

And yet over 95% of Muslims worldwide believe that homosexuality is immoral and should be illegal. And in many predominantly Muslim countries, homosexuality is legally punishable by death. So it's great that Muslims are overwhelmingly peaceful, law-abiding people. But their rampant homophobia provided a toxic background that galvanized Omar Mateen, as he himself explicitly stated. Islam must be open to as much scrutiny as the 2nd amendment and mental illness have been in the aftermath of the Orlando tragedy.

Just to clarify: Ramsey, Housley, Andreychuk, and Perreault were all together from 82-87. Ramsey, Housley, Andreychuk, and Mogilny were all together from 89-90. Ramsey, Andreychuk, Mogilny, and Hasek were all together from 92-93. A major reason why those Sabres teams from 82-93 never amounted to much is because of the difficulty of getting through the Adams Division (mainly the Bruins and Canadiens) back then. The Sabres just didn't match up well against those two teams.

I vote for Ramsey and Housley as your top D pair. Hasek at goalie. Perreault at center. Andreychuk at LW. Mogilny at RW. Ruff at head coach.

So the championship game is this Saturday night, 7:30pm, at the F*%&ING C. This is the first time the Bandits have reached the finals since the 2008 season. Rookie assistant coach, John Tavares, has been working his magic on the offense all season. Dhane Smith has become an absolute monster, setting the league record for most goals and most points in a season. Ryan Benesch isn't so bad either. Anthony Cosmo, Mark Steenhuis, and Billie Dee Smith have been steady and reliable vets. Steve Priolo has been playing like a top 3 league defenseman for a while now. And head coach, Troy Cordingly, has the chance to become the first coach in NLL history to win a championship with 3 different franchises. All 8 of the aforementioned may end up in the NLL Hall of Fame one day, so this is a chance to watch a legendary team in live action. Maybe not quite as legendary as the Bandits teams from 92-97, but how often does a Buffalonian get to see a pro sports team win a championship, anyway? So if you've bothered to read this thread, then you might as well also try to get to the game! Let's pack our house and get loud Saturday night!!!

Very solid episode. Glad to see the Bran storyline take off.

I'm really starting to like Doug Whaley as a GM. His 2016 draft class is outstanding, in my opinion. Three quality starters (Lawson at SOLB, Ragland at WILB, Washington at 5-technique DE), three talented day 3 draft steals who can contribute meaningfully this season as backups (Williams, Listenbee, Seymour), and a very raw but legit franchise QB prospect (Jones). Also, Zimmer and Striker are outstanding UDFA pickups who I'm very boldly predicting will make the team as backups and become starters by the 2018 season. The quality of the Bills' drafts has noticeably improved since Whaley joined the franchise, with 3 exceptions: 1. the 2010 draft - awful in so many ways, but Whaley had only been with the franchise for 2.5 months at that point. 2. handling of the QB position - missing Dalton and Kaepernick in 2011 and Wilson in 2012 and then reaching for Manuel in 2013, but one could mostly blame Buddy Nix here, and it helps that Whaley maybe learned a lesson from this with the Jones selection at the end of the 4th round. 3. the Kouandjio debacle - no excuses, but he still has time to prove not a bust and the 7th round Henderson pick somewhat alleviates this mistake.

$$$$, of course! You should check out The Wire (if you haven't already): engaging plots, intricate character development, had something meaningful to say about the nature of man and society....not surprisingly, it did fairly poorly during its original HBO run and is only recently receiving its proper accolades. Didn't have enough sexual titillation and CGI eye candy, apparently. But on a less cynical note, I still think Game of Thrones is very entertaining and worth watching every Sunday night. It will be interesting to see what role Daenerys, Jon Snow, and Tyrion play in the ending.

I think some of you here may be demanding too much from this TV show/book series. It's basically 50 Shades of Gray for medieval high fantasy nerds. All of the characters are going to be hopelessly one-dimensional, motivated by nothing more than power or vague notions of honor and duty. If you want a Shakespearian drama, then read Shakespeare. If you want to see some titties and dragons :w00t: , then tune in to HBO Sunday nights at 9pm Eastern! Yeehaw!

Lots of players who would be 1st rounders in most other years are still left...especially along the defensive line: Dodd, Billings, Reed, Robinson, Jones. We still need 1 more starter in the base front 7. Hughes and Shaq Lawson are your OLB's in a 3-4 formation. The 2 Browns play ILB. Dareus and Kyle Williams are on the line. At the moment, Corbin Bryant is the 3rd DL starter with zero depth behind him. My 2nd round prediction: Jarran Reed, NT, Alabama. This would allow Dareus to comfortably shift back to a more attacking role at 3-4 DE.

Draft is tonight. Any predictions? I feel strongly that the Bills are going to go for a pass rusher in the first round, and I have a bad feeling it's going to be Robert Nkemdiche out of Ole Miss. But Shaq Lawson, Kevin Dodd, Leonard Floyd, and Vernon Butler are 4 other guys whom Rex Ryan might really like. Some dark horse candidates in the first other than at pass rusher are QB Paxton Lynch, WR Laquon Treadwell, OT Jack Conklin, or cover LB Darron Lee.

The good news is that we now have a ~93% chance of drafting top 9, and our franchise history for drafting top 9 is actually pretty good. Of the 13 selections, 2 are Hall of Famers (Perreault, Housley), 4 went on to have excellent NHL careers (Martin, Schoenfeld, Barrasso, Turgeon), 3 are current Sabres whom we all like (Risto, Reinhart, Eichel), 1 is still playing and having a solid NHL career though maybe a bit underwhelming for his talent level (Vanek), 1 was having a decent career before injuries struck (Cyr), 1 was just ok but at least lasted a decade in the league (Rasmussen), and 1 could be safely called a "bust" but at least managed 8 seasons in the NHL (Anderson). Now contrast this top 9 drafting history with the Bills.....

Well now it looks like they matter lol....Sabres will finish anywhere between 7th-9th, depending on tonight's game as well as the Montreal and Arizona games.

After tonight, Sabres are the 8th worst team and can still finish anywhere between 7-12. Tankers and anti-tankers alike can (probably) all agree to root for the Senators, Canadiens, Devils, Avalanche, and Coyotes on Saturday. However, as a proud anti-tanker (for this season only...I was pro-McEichel last year), I will go on record as saying I want the good guys to win these last two. Mr. Murray has more than enough picks this year and next where he can move up a few spots to secure someone good like one of those 3 top LHD's.

Does anyone know if Ennis has had a history of concussions before this season? I'm glad he's doing well now and will have the entire summer to continue healing his brain. But I would STRONGLY advise him to retire if he gets even one more serious concussion like this.

Another win for Bernie! Hitlery is really struggling outside of the South. After Wyoming on Saturday, New York is up next on April 19. Her lead here is down to a manageable 10%. Bernie needs to get more aggressive and start comparing his record on Middle East wars, free trade, Wall Street, crony capitalism, the environment, etc... with that of this corrupt establishment . Let the revolution continue! Yes, thank you, and also the freedom to mock religion and those who choose to believe such ridiculous superstitions.

With this win over NJ, the 2015-16 Sabres just tied the beloved 2005-06 squad for the third best standings points improvement from the previous season (25 points) in franchise history. The top 2, tied at 37 points improvement, were the "Thank you Sabres!" team from year 3 and the Stanley Cup qualifying team from year 5. Just a little fun historical perspective. Our Dwight Schrute-looking GM might be building something big here in Buffalo....

Correct! We will finish anywhere between 7th and 12th. We currently sit at 9th, ahead of Arizona and Montreal while behind Colorado and NJ and Ottawa.

Here's the full Pew report from 2013: http://www.pewforum.org/files/2013/04/worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-full-report.pdf I assure you that Islamic no-go zones in Europe are very real and very serious. In the United States? Not so much. The only one of any significance is in Dearborn, Michigan. And that one pales in comparison to what you'll find in the major cities of countries like England, France, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Norway, and Sweden.

Anyone who follows European politics and who knows about the no-go zones, the Syrian rapefugees, the Pew polls on Islam, the European demographic crisis, the rapid rise of right-wing nationalist parties throughout the EU, etc...... knows that this is not going to end well for anybody. Love him or hate him, Donald Trump is the canary in the coal mine on this side of the Atlantic. More people are waking up to the problem, and his poll numbers are reflecting it.

Agreed. And if - I mean, WHEN - we sign Stamkos, I would have no problem also moving Eichel to RW while Samson remains at center.

That's what...she said?

Wow! Check out the remaining 19 games on our schedule: only 5 against teams currently sitting in a playoff spot (NYR, NYR, NYI, Pitt, Detroit) and only 1 travel game (Carolina) outside the Detroit-Pittsburgh-NYC-Montreal circle of the Northeast. This is going to make tanking especially difficult. And honestly, I'm personally okay with that as I'd rather see the young guys on this team step up.

Can someone tell me why we are in such a rush to trade Ennis? He's a proven NHL 2nd liner who is still young (25), can play any forward position, and by all accounts is a good locker room guy.

Lots of good points made in this thread, but I still think it all comes down to the uninspiring on-ice Sabres product we've been subjected to over the past 8.5 seasons following the summer of Briere's and Drury's departure.