The Sabres are going to suck me back in !

[X. Benedict]

I agree with you. I have done that. I will stop.

 

PTR

 

Thanks. As someone that almost never agrees with Deluca, the fact that he's here everyday says that he cares about the team. He plays a different kind of poker. I'm tight/aggressive and will usually try to draw one card to try to make the flush or the straight, while he's drawing 5 cards if he doesn't like what he sees. I tend to think that kind of poker player is out of his mind, and I'll tell him, but it isn't personal. But don't doubt it. He wants a winner even if I think his methods are sure losers. And who knows, sometimes drawing 5 cards at once lands you a full house.

 

(he'll probably disagree with this :lol: )

[shrader]

Thanks. As someone that almost never agrees with Deluca, the fact that he's here everyday says that he cares about the team. He plays a different kind of poker. I'm tight/aggressive and will usually try to draw one card to try to make the flush or the straight, while he's drawing 5 cards if he doesn't like what he sees. I tend to think that kind of poker player is out of his mind, and I'll tell him, but it isn't personal. But don't doubt it. He wants a winner even if I think his methods are sure losers. And who knows, sometimes drawing 5 cards at once lands you a full house.

 

(he'll probably disagree with this :lol: )

 

There are definitely a few people out there whose soul purpose in life appears to be spreading misery to as many people as possible. Then there's the exact opposite who always tries to spin everything in the most positive light imaginable. Both play important roles in the big picture, but they're still annoying as hell.

[Derrico]

Both of you misinterpret my stance.

 

 

 

I was not alone in being down on the Sabres, but my issue was with ownership. In fact if you look at my past posts I have been generally supportive of Lindy and Darcy, which was directly against the majority here. As for the Bills, again I usually go against the majority by trying to analyze the positive and negatives instead of just a blanket condemnation. Even at 4-12 I am upbeat on the Bills direction. And you have to admit that Fitz and Stevie Johnson have been more competitive and entertaining, so I wasn't far off-base.

 

 

 

 

I do not know DeLuca from Adam so I have no personal conflict with him. My issue comes from his incessant blind negativity. Nothing irks me more than someone who fosters negativity in a forum where we are supposed to be fans of a team. Same thing at Two Bills Drive.

 

Criticism is fine as long as you are being rational. But when you spend all day spinning everything to the negative, sometimes to absurd extremes, you are not adding to the discussion. You are being a prick only seeking to bring everyone's mood down.

 

The thing I notice about SabreSpace is that the majority think like DeLuca, which makes it a very depressing place. Further, the conversation is dominated by a dozen or so posters who tend to echo each other. My flaw is that I am drawn to challenging posters like DeLuca.

 

My take on the Sabres is to enjoy their success and see how far they can go. The prevailing attitude here is nothing good can ever happen and any success just leads to bigger heartache. I post here because of my years of loyalty to TBD, but honestly I wish there was a better Sabres board elsewhere.PTR

 

You are not alone. I agree with everything highlighted. It feels as if cheering for the team is a crime on this board sometimes.

[X. Benedict]

You are not alone. I agree with everything highlighted. It feels as if cheering for the team is a crime on this board sometimes.

 

Winning is fun. It should feel fun. Last season is a case in point - 100 pt seasons should be fun. Winning divisions should be fun. A rookie Myers should be fun. A Vezina Miller should be fun. When the misery index goes up when the team is winning - that's hard for me.

 

Your hockey team is always relative to the league you're playing in. If you are winning, you are winning in the league.

 

I don't see the wide-open obstruction free hockey of 2005 coming back soon. So when the league tightened up, I thinka lot of people looked and said this isn't the same product that I loved in 2006.

 

I think it is often a little tiring if every thread in every context becomes a campaign for organizational change, becuase sometimes a game is just fun in its own right, independant of the future.

[spndnchz]

Utube is like a treasure map with no"x"

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6PI09LcuHo

[nfreeman]

There are definitely a few people out there whose soul purpose in life appears to be spreading misery to as many people as possible. Then there's the exact opposite who always tries to spin everything in the most positive light imaginable. Both play important roles in the big picture, but they're still annoying as hell.

Aptitude and skill!

[Claude_Verret]

Disagree. I may not see eye-to-eye with him on most things regarding the sabres and the direction they should move in, but he is as much a sabres fan as me or anyone else on here. He clearly states why he feels the way he does and what he thinks should be done to improve the team. Not agreeing with him does not make him any less of a fan.

 

Your personal issue with him is starting to get old.

 

In EVERY post. Over and over and over again.

[shrader]

Aptitude and skill!

 

Another person comes to mind, but I'm not going to point any fingers on here.

 

Deluca's the focal point for the day, so I'm not going to mess with that. And on that note, I'll go with a random complaint. Why did he add that MD to his username and then get rid of it quickly after (yeah, I know they were initials)? Stick to your guns Deluca. If you keep changing your username like that, soon enough you wind up going off on random political rants completely unrelated to the topic at hand.

[Kristian]

In EVERY post. Over and over and over again.

 

Difficult to avoid, when the team themselves have made the same mistakes for 3+ years straight, and never learned a darn thing from it.

 

Well, at least as long as TG was in charge anyway, tough to be pessimistic about the franchise taking steps forward from this.

[Iron Crotch]

On another (non-hockey) board that I go to once in a while, they consider some of the posters NATTs and others PATTs. NATT stands for "negative all the time" and PATT is, of course, "positive all the time."

 

My take is as long as the board doesn't get too heavy to one side or the other, all is well. A few NATTs and PATTs are probably good for moving discussion.

[PASabreFan]

That's fine as long as you show it all and don't edit and cherry pick.

 

PTR

 

That's no fun.

 

You've always been a favorite poster of mine. Short, sweet and usually pretty scathing, kind of like chz.

 

I do wonder though: why the change.

 

We probably should take your critique of the board more seriously. I don't see it in the same light as you do. The one thing about this technology is that we're all on a pretty level playing field. If you want to dominate the board, dominate it. No one's stopping you.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

As long as there is no conflict of interest, anyone with an opinion to express is valid. You may not agree with someone, you may not like what they have to say, and you may not like their personality.....but there's no reason to get so flustered over words on here that it gets you crazy.

 

A few years ago there were plenty of people that would have loved to see Rent-a-center take away my laptop, and some probably still do.....but if you can make a valid case for yourself and mean no harm, a rational person can see that through it all. I can understand a true-blue fan that doesn't want to be bombarded by criticism against their favorite team, just like I can understand how some people prefer Coors Light over Sam Adams. To me, it is lacking flavor, but to others it's a no frills standby. As long as you don't force me to drink Coors Light when Sam Adams is on tap....we're all good.

[repster]

Sam Adams Light - the perfect compromise.

[shrader]

As long as there is no conflict of interest, anyone with an opinion to express is valid. You may not agree with someone, you may not like what they have to say, and you may not like their personality.....but there's no reason to get so flustered over words on here that it gets you crazy.

 

A few years ago there were plenty of people that would have loved to see Rent-a-center take away my laptop, and some probably still do.....but if you can make a valid case for yourself and mean no harm, a rational person can see that through it all. I can understand a true-blue fan that doesn't want to be bombarded by criticism against their favorite team, just like I can understand how some people prefer Coors Light over Sam Adams. To me, it is lacking flavor, but to others it's a no frills standby. As long as you don't force me to drink Coors Light when Sam Adams is on tap....we're all good.

 

And this place would be incredibly boring if we all agreed on everything. In fact, I think I'd probably kill myself if I ever started thinking exactly like you. I guess some people can deal with having a creepy uncle and others can't.

[Derrico]

Sam Adams Light - the perfect compromise.

 

Gross. haha.

[SwampD]

Oh, great, another thread about Deluca.

[Claude_Verret]

Difficult to avoid, when the team themselves have made the same mistakes for 3+ years straight, and never learned a darn thing from it.

 

Well, at least as long as TG was in charge anyway, tough to be pessimistic about the franchise taking steps forward from this.

 

At this point I actually probably agree with him more than I disagree about what needs to be done with this team going forward. It's just the redundancy that gets tiresome.

[deluca67]

Oh, great, another thread about Deluca.

Don't blame me. I was at work all day.

 

As far as being "sucked back in" I can't say that I am. They are on a nice stretch over the past 18 games. It may even continue over the final 29 games. Should the recent success change managements strategy at the deadline. Hell no, that is the mistake mediocre teams make. This current streak is nothing more than fool's gold. It's looks all shiny and nice but at the end of the season all you have is useless rock. They have had these streaks before.

 

There are UFA's on this team that have to be moved at this deadline. There are some RFA's that should be moved. There are contracts that need to be dumped before free agency starts. Nothing less than a serious run at a Stanley Cup changes any of that.

 

I will route for the team for the 3 hours at least 29 more times. Maybe even a handful of times in the playoffs. Where I think people don't understand where I am coming from is that once the game is over I go back to big picture mode.

[inkman]

There are definitely a few people out there whose soul purpose in life appears to be spreading misery to as many people as possible. Then there's the exact opposite who always tries to spin everything in the most positive light imaginable. Both play important roles in the big picture, but they're still annoying as hell.

Aptitude! Skill!!

[Bmwolf21]

After reading the thread title too fast and taking into account the group of SGM's dominating this roster I really thought this thread was headed in a different direction. :pirate:

[deluca67]

After reading the thread title too fast and taking into account the group of SGM's dominating this roster I really thought this thread was headed in a different direction. :pirate:

I know what you mean. I went to Subway because I heard it was "Foot Long Appreciation" and got arrested for indecent exposure. :oops:

[nfreeman]

After reading the thread title too fast and taking into account the group of SGM's dominating this roster I really thought this thread was headed in a different direction. :pirate:

 

 

I know what you mean. I went to Subway because I heard it was "Foot Long Appreciation" and got arrested for indecent exposure. :oops:

Well that was a dirty little 1-2 post combination. Congratulations to the both of you.

 

Don't blame me. I was at work all day.

 

As far as being "sucked back in" I can't say that I am. They are on a nice stretch over the past 18 games. It may even continue over the final 29 games. Should the recent success change managements strategy at the deadline. Hell no, that is the mistake mediocre teams make. This current streak is nothing more than fool's gold. It's looks all shiny and nice but at the end of the season all you have is useless rock. They have had these streaks before.

 

There are UFA's on this team that have to be moved at this deadline. There are some RFA's that should be moved. There are contracts that need to be dumped before free agency starts. Nothing less than a serious run at a Stanley Cup changes any of that.

 

I will route for the team for the 3 hours at least 29 more times. Maybe even a handful of times in the playoffs. Where I think people don't understand where I am coming from is that once the game is over I go back to big picture mode.

This is a good post. I don't agree, but still a good post.

 

Now: which RFAs do think should be moved? The RFAs are Stafford, Gerbe, Weber, Butler and Sekera. While I would trade any of them in a package for a good-to-very-good player, I don't think any of them "should" be moved. None of them represents a problem spot for this team.

 

I think the entire list of players who can be reasonably expected to be traded at the deadline boils down to TC and Monty. None of the other UFAs would fetch anything worthwhile.

 

In any event, perhaps their performance from here on out will affect your assessment of the individuals and relatedly whether a complete teardown is necessary.

[deluca67]

Well that was a dirty little 1-2 post combination. Congratulations to the both of you.

 

 

This is a good post. I don't agree, but still a good post.

 

Now: which RFAs do think should be moved? The RFAs are Stafford, Gerbe, Weber, Butler and Sekera. While I would trade any of them in a package for a good-to-very-good player, I don't think any of them "should" be moved. None of them represents a problem spot for this team.

 

I think the entire list of players who can be reasonably expected to be traded at the deadline boils down to TC and Monty. None of the other UFAs would fetch anything worthwhile.

 

In any event, perhaps their performance from here on out will affect your assessment of the individuals and relatedly whether a complete teardown is necessary.

When I said "should" it was in the context of needing to give something up to get something back. I want to see more of Sekera and Butler. Gerbe is one of those guys you keep around as a fan favorite. I gave my thoughts on Stafford in another thread. I would hate for anyone to complain that I am repeating myself.

[SwampD]

Don't blame me. I was at work all day.

 

As far as being "sucked back in" I can't say that I am. They are on a nice stretch over the past 18 games. It may even continue over the final 29 games. Should the recent success change managements strategy at the deadline. Hell no, that is the mistake mediocre teams make. This current streak is nothing more than fool's gold. It's looks all shiny and nice but at the end of the season all you have is useless rock. They have had these streaks before.

 

There are UFA's on this team that have to be moved at this deadline. There are some RFA's that should be moved. There are contracts that need to be dumped before free agency starts. Nothing less than a serious run at a Stanley Cup changes any of that.

 

I will route for the team for the 3 hours at least 29 more times. Maybe even a handful of times in the playoffs. Where I think people don't understand where I am coming from is that once the game is over I go back to big picture mode.

 

I don't blame you. Like someone said up-thread, arguing with you is one thing, but arguing with you when you are not even there is a little cuckoo.

 

As to the topic, the inaction over the Summer lowered my expectations so much that I was and am not now in or out. I'm just really pleased to be watching them play some pretty entertaining hockey. How far they go will just be a bonus.

[deluca67]

I don't blame you. Like someone said up-thread, arguing with you is one thing, but arguing with you when you are not even there is a little cuckoo.

 

As to the topic, the inaction over the Summer lowered my expectations so much that I was and am not now in or out. I'm just really pleased to be watching them play some pretty entertaining hockey. How far they go will just be a bonus.

Someone has to take Larry Quinn's place.

 

It has been entertaining. It is always better to watch playoff hockey with the Sabres in it. I guess where my "negativity" comes from is that I have seen this season before. Its like watching a good movie for the 40th time. I am still entertained but I know the ending.