First Time I Can Remember

[CallawaySabres]

YOUR city and EVERYONE ELSE'S city is represented by a bunch of mercenaries. These players are no more Buffalo than Phil Kessel is Toronto or Ilya Kovalchuk is New Jersey. People look to these teams for entertainment and that's it. If anyone is looking to them for any sort of self-esteem boost, they're severely misguided.

 

I realize that but at the same time, a lot of these players choose to retire in Buffalo because they have built a strong bond in the city. You view the team how you want to and I will do the same.....If I wear a Sabres hat on to an airplane, I do so to represent where I am from and not so much the actual team (that's just me).

[LastPommerFan]

I just have to say that all this "I'm embarrassed to be a Sabres fan" stuff is complete garbage. Why are you suddenly less of a man just because of the actions of a hockey team that you just happen to watch? I usually hate all the "we" conversations that come up, but they seem pretty fitting here. You are not a part of this team. Their actions to not reflect on you as a person. Get over yourselves with this "embarrassment" crap.

 

 

YOUR city and EVERYONE ELSE'S city is represented by a bunch of mercenaries. These players are no more Buffalo than Phil Kessel is Toronto or Ilya Kovalchuk is New Jersey. People look to these teams for entertainment and that's it. If anyone is looking to them for any sort of self-esteem boost, they're severely misguided.

 

If you really believe this, you've been away for too long. The link between the people of Western NY and the Buffalo Bills/Sabres is deeper than just entertainment. I believe that you know this. ######, You're in Boston. The relationship between that city and the sox might be similar.

[NowDoYouBelieve]

So if I'm to believe the collective conscious of The Aud Club, based on a glut of posts I've seen on each subject...

 

1. The Sabres are wimps.

 

2. There's not nearly enough effort.

 

3. The defense is shockingly terrible.

 

4. Nobody can score but Vanek.

 

5. The power play looks awful.

 

If all these things are true (hint: they're not), how exactly are the Sabres 11-6? I'm not joking. If the team is THAT pathetic, how do they win games?

 

I was pissed that nobody kicked Lucic's ass. It sucked. But there's not a perfect team in the NHL. As Derrico pointed out, you can go to ANY team's fan board and find the negative spin.

 

And another question. If the Sabres were out there hitting everything that moves, but their record was 6-11, would you be happy? I think not. And yet we have a myriad of people claiming that character is more important than winning.

 

Here's the point of the game of hockey; get the puck into the net more often than the other team.

[korab rules]

So if I'm to believe the collective conscious of The Aud Club, based on a glut of posts I've seen on each subject...

 

1. The Sabres are wimps.

 

2. There's not nearly enough effort.

 

3. The defense is shockingly terrible.

 

4. Nobody can score but Vanek.

 

5. The power play looks awful.

 

If all these things are true (hint: they're not), how exactly are the Sabres 11-6? There's not a perfect team in the NHL. As Derrico pointed out, you can go to ANY team's fan board and find the negative spin.

 

And another question. If the Sabres were out there hitting everything that moves, but their record was 6-11, would you be happy? I think not. And yet we have a myriad of people claiming that character is more important than winning.

No, that is not the collective conscience of the Aud Club, and they are pu$$ies, not wimps.

[Sabre fan]

The truth is, the Sabres' have pretty much always been built for and by talent and speed, and good gamemanship, all traits to be applauded and lauded. Unfortunately, the NHL has always been unable, or unwilling to protect it's star players, while letting goons dictate the next ugly situation. Hell, the Bruins lost Savard and then Horton to ugly hits, and did absolutely nothing in reply. They should know how cheap shots affect a team, but I do not feel Lucic and/or Chara are the brightest lights on the Christmas tree! I have to admit I do miss having a Rob Ray, Larry Playfair (who I loved) or even Andrew Peters (who was a good fighter til Lindy tried to get him to lose a whole bunch of weight and become a hockey player!). Truth is NO team has any reply for Lucic or Chara, and that will remain problematic for some time to come. In the meantime, the team has a good record considering that both individually and collectively, they have not played very well. With all the newcomers and changes, it will take time, but we can certainly look ahead to better days and better plays down the road. Still a damn good team in my books. And no, I am not embarrassed to be a Sabre fan. It's the NHL that should be embarrassed yet again...but then again, we should be use to Bettman and the rest of idiots running the sport.

[nfreeman]

So if I'm to believe the collective conscious of The Aud Club, based on a glut of posts I've seen on each subject...

 

1. The Sabres are wimps.

 

2. There's not nearly enough effort.

 

3. The defense is shockingly terrible.

 

4. Nobody can score but Vanek.

 

5. The power play looks awful.

 

If all these things are true (hint: they're not), how exactly are the Sabres 11-6? I'm not joking. If the team is THAT pathetic, how do they win games?

 

I was pissed that nobody kicked Lucic's ass. It sucked. But there's not a perfect team in the NHL. As Derrico pointed out, you can go to ANY team's fan board and find the negative spin.

 

And another question. If the Sabres were out there hitting everything that moves, but their record was 6-11, would you be happy? I think not. And yet we have a myriad of people claiming that character is more important than winning.

 

Here's the point of the game of hockey; get the puck into the net more often than the other team.

I don't think most posters here see things in quite the black-and-white manner that you've described. I think generally we all had high hopes for this team, and those hopes have been a bit let down due to (i) abject failure of big tests vs Philly and Boston, (ii) complete abdication of duty to defend Miller vs Boston. That disappointment isn't unreasonable. It also doesn't mean everyone thinks the team stinks -- just that they have a long way to go to get to SC contender status, which is disappointing.

[Wraith]

No, that is not the collective conscience of the Aud Club, and they are pu$$ies, not wimps.

No, the first poster was (more) right. The real term is collective consciousness. Conscience is your sense of right/wrong. Consciousness is your awareness/ability to think. Collective consciousness is group think or lemming behavior, like we have in this case right here.

[korab rules]

No, the first poster was (more) right. The real term is collective consciousness. Conscience is your sense of right/wrong. Consciousness is your awareness/ability to think. Collective consciousness is group think or lemming behavior, like we have in this case right here.

While collective consciousness is sometimes used, collective conscious is never correct. And the use of collective consciousness is frowned on by all but the beret wearing french acolytes of Durkheim. In modern usage and correct translation, collective conscience is the correct term.

 

Collective consciousness was a term coined by the French sociologist Émile Durkheim (1858–1917) to refer to the shared beliefs and moral attitudes which operate as a unifying force within society.[1] One might recommend collective conscience as a superior translation of Durkheim's concept, in part due to the busy association of the word "consciousness" with both Marxist and Freudian thought, but also as "a conscience for Durkheim is pre-eminently the organ of sentiments and representations; it is not the rational organ that the term consciousness would imply."[2]

[shrader]

If you really believe this, you've been away for too long. The link between the people of Western NY and the Buffalo Bills/Sabres is deeper than just entertainment. I believe that you know this. ######, You're in Boston. The relationship between that city and the sox might be similar.

 

Those days are dead. How can someone possibly look to identify with a team with the current rate of roster turnover in professional sports? Your Red Sox example is the perfect picture of what I mean when I talk about nearly all players being mercenaries.

[LastPommerFan]

Those days are dead. How can someone possibly look to identify with a team with the current rate of roster turnover in professional sports? Your Red Sox example is the perfect picture of what I mean when I talk about nearly all players being mercenaries.

 

And the Sabres might be the worst example.

[LastPommerFan]

While collective consciousness is sometimes used, collective conscious is never correct. And the use of collective consciousness is frowned on by all but the beret wearing french acolytes of Durkheim. In modern usage and correct translation, collective conscience is the correct term.

 

Hang on a second, I have to get my tweed jacket and pipe.

[shrader]

And the Sabres might be the worst example.

 

Year one of a new spend crazy owner. Just sit back and watch the turnover we'll be seeing over the next couple years. If you don't like your team, just sit back and wait, they'll be changing shortly. Welcome to the modern day of professional sports.

[LastPommerFan]

Year one of a new spend crazy owner. Just sit back and watch the turnover we'll be seeing over the next couple years. If you don't like your team, just sit back and wait, they'll be changing shortly. Welcome to the modern day of professional sports.

 

You depress me. :cry:

[korab rules]

Hang on a second, I have to get my tweed jacket and pipe.

It had better be a Harris Tweed and Borkum Riff or don't bother coming back.

[NowDoYouBelieve]

I don't think most posters here see things in quite the black-and-white manner that you've described. I think generally we all had high hopes for this team, and those hopes have been a bit let down due to (i) abject failure of big tests vs Philly and Boston, (ii) complete abdication of duty to defend Miller vs Boston. That disappointment isn't unreasonable. It also doesn't mean everyone thinks the team stinks -- just that they have a long way to go to get to SC contender status, which is disappointing.

 

Perhaps I hyperbolized. I didn't mean to say that every disappointed fan thinks the team sucks. On an objective level, though, I believe that there has been more positive than negative this season, which one wouldn't be able to guess at all based solely on gauging Sabres' fans reactions.

 

Did the initial goaltending controversy (briefly forgotten due to current events, but still existent) cast a premature cloud over the season? Me, I still remember starting last season 3-11. So I'm having a blast right now. :)

 

I also remember hanging my head after losing Games 6 and 7 to the Flyers last year, so I'm not going to assume the Sabres are SC contenders until they prove it in the playoffs. But isn't there something to be said for enjoying the regular season? It is, after all, entertainment. Must there be such a serious tone to discussing the team's faults? Hockey's fun!

 

I'm on record for my disappointment in regards to the Boston game. It showed a lack of toughness that needs to be redeemed. Yesterday, I thought, was a measure of redemption. While most fans were looking for some pointless scrum, the Sabres came back to win from down 2-0 in the 3rd period on the road. In my book, that shows some toughness.

 

EDIT: And yes, collective conscience. I actually had it correct off the bat, but then second guessed myself.

[Sabre fan]

It use to be that all we heard was how the team has no heart. Now it's they have no toughness. Games like last night prove this does have lots of heart, and as stated before, is tough mentally to bounce back under the circumstances. Every team, except a very few (Boston being one), can be dubbed "not tough enough" and have no answer for Lucic and/or Chara.

[buftex]

Holy crap...this is as bad as twobillsdrive, after a Bills loss.

 

So, what made the Miller hit so much worse, that you stop watching the Sabres, than, say, a dozen or so incidents like this over the last 5 years?

 

I don't post here often, but I lurk...this may be in poor taste, but does anyone wonder if Ryan Miller really has a concussion? It seems like whenever he has a bad stretch of games, we find out, afterwards, he had some injury he was playing through. The hit he took from Lucic was pretty dirty, but it also looked, to me, that Miller embelleshed things a bit. For someone with a concussion (I have had two, and can't imagine) Miller reacted pretty quick swinging his stick at Lucic, and then, sprung back to his feet very fast.

 

Yeah, I wish this team was more physical at times, but, as constituted right now, throwing bodies all over the ice, and "playing tough" would, in the long run, just lead to them losing more games. It seems when they get caught up in that kind of stuff, more often than not, they come out on the short end in the W-L column.

 

Too bad so many of you are boycotting the Sabres...they played a great third period last night...

[Marvelo]

It's really not that big a deal. The Bruins went through almost the same exact thing a couple years ago when Matt Cooke gave Savard another concussion. They did nothing to revenge Savard and there was a big hubbub about it. You make adjustments and move on. Winning is the best revenge.

[Derrico]

Perhaps I hyperbolized. I didn't mean to say that every disappointed fan thinks the team sucks. On an objective level, though, I believe that there has been more positive than negative this season, which one wouldn't be able to guess at all based solely on gauging Sabres' fans reactions.

 

Did the initial goaltending controversy (briefly forgotten due to current events, but still existent) cast a premature cloud over the season? Me, I still remember starting last season 3-11. So I'm having a blast right now. :)

 

I also remember hanging my head after losing Games 6 and 7 to the Flyers last year, so I'm not going to assume the Sabres are SC contenders until they prove it in the playoffs. But isn't there something to be said for enjoying the regular season? It is, after all, entertainment. Must there be such a serious tone to discussing the team's faults? Hockey's fun!

I'm on record for my disappointment in regards to the Boston game. It showed a lack of toughness that needs to be redeemed. Yesterday, I thought, was a measure of redemption. While most fans were looking for some pointless scrum, the Sabres came back to win from down 2-0 in the 3rd period on the road. In my book, that shows some toughness.

 

EDIT: And yes, collective conscience. I actually had it correct off the bat, but then second guessed myself.

 

A friggen Men!!!!! Great points throughout.

[CallawaySabres]

Holy crap...this is as bad as twobillsdrive, after a Bills loss.

 

So, what made the Miller hit so much worse, that you stop watching the Sabres, than, say, a dozen or so incidents like this over the last 5 years?

 

I don't post here often, but I lurk...this may be in poor taste, but does anyone wonder if Ryan Miller really has a concussion? It seems like whenever he has a bad stretch of games, we find out, afterwards, he had some injury he was playing through. The hit he took from Lucic was pretty dirty, but it also looked, to me, that Miller embelleshed things a bit. For someone with a concussion (I have had two, and can't imagine) Miller reacted pretty quick swinging his stick at Lucic, and then, sprung back to his feet very fast.

 

Yeah, I wish this team was more physical at times, but, as constituted right now, throwing bodies all over the ice, and "playing tough" would, in the long run, just lead to them losing more games. It seems when they get caught up in that kind of stuff, more often than not, they come out on the short end in the W-L column.

 

Too bad so many of you are boycotting the Sabres...they played a great third period last night...

 

My whole point really stems from the fact that I was still too POd to get right back into this team 48 hours after the Boston incident and 24 hours after the Bills meltdown. It was a BRUTAL 2 days of Buffalo sports which was exemplified by the lack of response on Saturday. Will I watch the remainder of the games this season? Yes, just needed a little break from the horrific displays over the weekend....holy moly. I still can't wait to see the results of the next Boston game. Do I need a win or 10 fights - no, but I would like to see them stand up for themselves if an issue should surface.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

... and thats why the leafs have sucked FOREVER.

 

 

A true, real fan of the team, will quit when his team and the ownership of that team stop attempting to create a champion which is the ultimate goal of the fan. This applies to teams like phoenix and florida... I will be the first person to admit that after that dark day in july 07, that season I watched only about 60-70% of the games because I was disgusted with the team. I was still a fan but they did not earn or deserve more than what they gave to me. It is a reciprocal relationship. What makes a bandwagon fan is if you stop watching/cheering for 1 team to go and watch/cheer for another team because they are winning. Fans following teams blindly is a bad thing and like any business if you lose customers you have to make changes, in hockey that means roster/coaching/promotions. Being a loyal fan and being a bandwagon fan equate to different things.

 

And with this post ...

 

You are now back to square one ...

 

A zero / neutral rating ...

 

LGR 4 GM!!

[nbash]

Bottom line, I don't think you can be a fan of this team and not wish you could un-see Lucic skating away from that hit unscathed. Okay, the Sabres on the ice near him were outsized, but that doesn't mean you can't at least tackle him and let some other guys pile on. That's why Montreal took a blatant run at Enroth last night, which also went unanswered.

 

I can only echo the comments that say this really doesn't bode well once playoff hockey is upon us. In years past, we've hoped for the Sabres to add elite talent at the trade deadline -- this year, I suspect we'll be hoping they add muscle.

[shrader]

And with this post ...

 

You are now back to square one ...

 

A zero / neutral rating ...

 

LGR 4 GM!!

 

Thanks for contributing to the discussion.

[mamahides thecookies]

I did not watch any of the Montreal game because for the first time, I had zero respect for them. I would check the score from time to time, saw 2-0 and then just grabbed a book.

 

Something happened to me after that Miller hit and I can't really explain it. It was as though I felt guilty being a fan of a team that just sat there and did nothing. After seeing they won 3-2, I was definitely happy but I think it will take even more time for them to win me back. I don't think I will totally skip a game like that again but I'll tell you, it might not be the same for me until Boston comes here....

 

You know I'm disgusted as well. I live right by bean town and so many bruin fans are busting my chops it's crazy. I'm so sick to know that the team will not stand up for each other. I bet Lindy was sick to see the team just let it happen. What I want to know is what is being said behind closed doors. Is this a sign to Ryan that he needs to pick it up or are they really this soft? You know for years the Sabres have been labeled as soft. I really hope Kassian and that group of young guys are listening and reading that their team is considered soft with no backbone. I will not wear my Sabres jersey until I feel they started to get a pair. This does not make me not a fan, but the opposite. A team or franchise needs to put out a product that paople want. If the Sabres are putting out a soft team, then yes they need to change the style. If the fans didn't bitch or complain then the slug would still be around...... The fans need to address this to Darcey and let him know we want a team with a pair. I realize they are winning and that is a good thing. But when the season really start s in April, how long do you think they will last getting pushed around like that. This team needs a couple good enforcers and that is the truth. McCormick has been called out along with Gaustead and Kaleta. What will they do about it? If it's any indication, Enroth was charged into as well against the Canadiens and again nothing was done. That has to change and the attitude of the Sabres needs to change NOW!

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Thanks for contributing to the discussion.

 

No trouble at all.