GDT: Tampa Bay @ Buffalo - 10/25/2021 - 7pm EDT

[LabattBlue]

3 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

How can you hang out here every day then not watch?

Lost my love for the game? 😉

[woods-racer]

14 hours ago, dudacek said:

Am I right to think the Zemgus line got the bulk of Tampa’s top guys tonight?

Hedman, Stamkos and Point had just 4 shots between them and were a combined -12.

Never in a million years would I have had Mark Pysyk and Robert Hagg as a shutdown pair on my bingo card. They’ve been surprisingly good.

 

It's almost as chemistry is as needed as skill for a defensive pairing to work well together. May the coaches work their magic with Dahlin.

[Porous Five Hole]

3 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

He was having a rough go of it. I started out with radio, and thought they had someone filling in - didn't even recognize his voice.

I do wonder about the long-term future. He's a nice man, and a capable broadcaster. He's just not what I want for the voice of the team.

I mean - we're already enduring John "Milquetoast" Murphy for the Bills. Can't we get someone dynamic for the Sabres?

John Murphy is my least favorite play by play announcer in the galaxy.
You get more information about the play looking at the yahoo sports app than you do from Murph from snap to snap. 
It is a classic case of a play by play announcer doing TV play by play on radio. The listener routinely cannot “picture” what’s happening. 

I know RJ is a legend, but it should be a criminal offense to simulcast TV play by play on the radio. 
 

Play by play on Buffalo radio is the worst.  

[Thorny]

3 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

Lost my love for the game? 😉

im getting dealt for tyce thompson 

[LabattBlue]

Just now, Thorny said:

im getting dealt for tyce thompson 

Then I guess my value is Vlad Sobotka? 😂😂

[Broken Ankles]

4 hours ago, Thorny said:

Agree, teams should always do this 

I would be interested if the new analytics guys have data or suggested this as an option. 

Maybe the media who rummage the site for ideas can ask Donny at his next presser. 

[nfreeman]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

You may be right. 

But it's kinda the inverse of that "don't support the name on the back, support the crest on the front" ideal, innit?

It's not about the star players we send out who don't want to be here, the bad players we send out who do want to be here, or everything in between, up to and including the staffing. Even the Owners. Right? So, while according to said ideal, my lasting negative takeaway from, say, dealing my favourite player Eichel away should be negligible, as it's about the Crest, the inverse presents itself in not taking too much of a positive away from changing that grass on the field that needs changing.

My relationship with the Crest, during the last 10 years, is what my post was referring to. It did hurt me. You can't let a silly thing like sports upturn your life though, so distance does start to arise, for protection, but also borne out of logic. Just emotional distance, though, as mentioned. 

The Sabres could go 82-0 this year and I'm not sure I'd "feel" it. Sure as hell not as much as I felt 2006, and we lost. 

Like I said, for me, I think it'll just take some time, once they really have turned the corner, for the relationship to heal. This is just my experience though, hopefully this at least un-muddies the waters a bit on that front. 

 

Well said.  I would just add that it's natural as one ages and other matters rise in importance in one's life, for one's sports teams to matter a bit less.  Of course, I still stand up and yell at the TV during every OT period and shootout.

Your distancing decision reminds me a bit of my own with the Bills during the latter stages of Ralph's tenure.  I finally realized that they as an organization had stopped trying to field a contending team, and Ralph was content to just sit back and accumulate $50MM or so per year in profits.  I also realized that I could forgive a lot, but I couldn't forgive not trying.  So I stopped watching most of the games and just paid much less attention.

I was prepared to do the same with the Sabres this season, having become convinced by @dudacek that KA's roster decisions could be interpreted only as a tanking approach, which I would not be able to live with.  While that still might prove to be the case, I now think that KA's plan is to put the structure of a winning organization in place, based on speed and esprit de corps, and then add in homegrown talent as it ripens.  So I'm still in.

 

40 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

I always thought winning fixes everything. Now it's not enough to win, make an effort every night and play as a team. Now we need memory wipes.

Dude -- it's only been 4 wins, and this hostility needs to stop.

 

27 minutes ago, SDS said:

What exactly is your goal here?

Posters here are neither compelled nor required to justify their viewing habits nor their emotional attachment to the team to anyone. Experience the team the way you wish. Our only requirement here is to be a decent community member. Both WildCard and Thorny completely fit that bill. 

Seconded, and I'll note that part of being a fan is enjoying kinship with other fans.

[Thorny]

2 minutes ago, Broken Ankles said:

I would be interested if the new analytics guys have data or suggested this as an option. 

Maybe the media who rummage the site for ideas can ask Donny at his next presser. 

I feel like it makes sense why it would work. 

If you keep icing it a bunch of times when missing, you are going to be resting anyways. The other team losses much of their advantage quite quickly - and that's IF any of the shots don't go in

I feel like they'll often be conditioned enough to withstand a bit of ice time there, I mean just don't do it at the end of a shift. But early on? Fire it. 

[MattPie]

38 minutes ago, Thorny said:

I am taking enjoyment from the victories. The amount of joy you take is generally reciprocal - my point is that I am unable to invest to the same extent emotionally due to a strained emotional relationship with my beloved team. I am simply saying I think it will take a while before I feel truly invested again like I did before. I am happy for you, as a fan, if you are so unblemished, in a sporting sense, from the last decade so as for these 4 victories to provide an experience tantamount to dubs in years past. And I mean that. I don't seek to belittle your experience as a fan, I don't see a reason my experience....my grand motives when it comes to supporting the team...should be belittled/questioned - don't understand it. 

The fact that someone has posted over 20 000 times in the midst of the greatest dearth in franchise history can't point to the depth of my fandom for this team, instead, I'm apparently not doing it properly. 

You should probably stop. It's clear nothing you say is going to get above PTR's FanComplianceFor% threshold. I'm also worried that you might not be meeting FanComplianceAgainst/Bruins% number too, but let's work up to that.

[inkman]

42 minutes ago, SDS said:

What exactly is your goal here?

Posters here are neither compelled nor required to justify their viewing habits nor their emotional attachment to the team to anyone. Experience the team the way you wish. Our only requirement here is to be a decent community member. Both WildCard and Thorny completely fit that bill. 

First and foremost, I'd be trying to bang my exes friends.  A buffet a hotness they were...

[Thorny]

4 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

Well said.  I would just add that it's natural as one ages and other matters rise in importance in one's life, for one's sports teams to matter a bit less.  Of course, I still stand up and yell at the TV during every OT period and shootout.

Your distancing decision reminds me a bit of my own with the Bills during the latter stages of Ralph's tenure.  I finally realized that they as an organization had stopped trying to field a contending team, and Ralph was content to just sit back and accumulate $50MM or so per year in profits.  I also realized that I could forgive a lot, but I couldn't forgive not trying.  So I stopped watching most of the games and just paid much less attention.

I was prepared to do the same with the Sabres this season, having become convinced by @dudacek that KA's roster decisions could be interpreted only as a tanking approach, which I would not be able to live with.  While that still might prove to be the case, I now think that KA's plan is to put the structure of a winning organization in place, based on speed and esprit de corps, and then add in homegrown talent as it ripens.  So I'm still in.

 

Dude -- it's only been 4 wins, and this hostility needs to stop.

 

Seconded, and I'll note that part of being a fan is enjoying kinship with other fans.

How is your relationship with the Bills, now?

Asking for a friend. 

[inkman]

This thread is heading in directions I couldn't have imagined.  

[K-9]

51 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Called from home then?

Well, they called the New Jersey game from Highmark Stadium on Saturday night so ya never know. 

[SDS]

8 minutes ago, Thorny said:

How is your relationship with the Bills, now?

Asking for a friend. 

I know exactly what you’re saying. This was me with the Bills back in 2007. I canceled DIRECTV in the Sunday ticket because I would rather have FiOS Internet than watch the games. I would catch maybe 3-4 games a year during those years, yet I was on my Bills site every single day. The only argument I was willing to make was that they will suck until they don’t. It wasn’t worth arguing anything else. 

[K-9]

27 minutes ago, The Ghost of Yuri said:

Especially yesterday's voice.  Generally though I think he's been getting better.  His calls about goals are more definitive anyway.  I kind of feel like the play-by-play voice isn't why I watch the games.  RJ is an institution and chances are whoever replaces him will never seem adequate.  Big shoes to fill and all that.  But Dunleavy is.... okay.  For now.  And like the rest of the team I think he's improving.

I wish I could agree, but I cant. DD is terrible on TV, but at least your eyes can auto correct as he fails to adequately describe the action. And on radio? The listener is absolutely lost with regard to the action on the ice. He may as well not even be there.

[nfreeman]

13 minutes ago, Thorny said:

How is your relationship with the Bills, now?

Asking for a friend. 

Well, I don't care as much as I did pre-wife, kids, job, mortgage, etc., but I care.  I watch all the games, I'm pretty determined to go to a playoff game in the Ralph this year and I pay a lot more attention to podcasts, media coverage, the NFL generally, etc. 

In a sense it's actually better now because I take joy from the big wins and I don't get too agitated by the losses.

[PromoTheRobot]

22 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

 

Dude -- it's only been 4 wins, and this hostility needs to stop.

Sure. Hostility.

Edited October 26, 2021 by PromoTheRobot

[dudacek]

I took a break from the Bills for similar reasons as @nfreeman.

Basically it came down to deciding my life, or at least my Sunday’s, were better without them.

Kept in touch from a distance like some here are currently doing with the Sabres. Decided to come back prior to the start of last season because it appeared things were changing.

For me both decisions - leaving and returning - were the right ones.

[PASabreFan]

I remember that time someone went to great lengths to defend the organization against my criticism of a pro-Leaf fan quote by an executive. The main takeaway from the ensuing rant was that I'm not really a Sabres fan.

[That Aud Smell]

20 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I took a break from the Bills for similar reasons as @nfreeman.

Basically it came down to deciding my life, or at least my Sunday’s, were better without them.

Kept in touch from a distance like some here are currently doing with the Sabres. Decided to come back prior to the start of last season because it appeared things were changing.

For me both decisions - leaving and returning - were the right ones.

I am a recovered Bills fan. The breaking point was fairly arbitrary. The Bills were good-ish with Fitzmagic, and had a road game against the Bengals in like Week 5 or 6. They laid a stinker. I had a house filled with young kids, and I became borderline nonfunctional, I was so angry. My wife definitely said something - whatever it was, it was nicer than I deserved. But I just had the proverbial thunderbolt moment of -- "What the hell am I doing?"

For the most part, since then, I'm in it for the upside. If things go south, I disengage and move on to something else, something useful and productive. 

Choose your adventure, if you will. It's a damnable myth that you must suffer personal torment in order to enjoy your team's achievements.

Stated perhaps more metaphysically: I pick and choose the thoughts and feelings that serve my core values. Those that thusly serve and work for me, I engage with. Those that don't, I try instead to observe from a safe(r) distance.

[pi2000]

15 hours ago, dudacek said:

What exactly are we pumping the brakes for?

No one is saying the Sabres played great or are great, they are just happy we won.

Doesnt happen enough. ***** the brakes. Why not pump the gas when we can?

 

15 hours ago, Norcal said:

3-1 since the Sabres scored first. 

It wasn't. The next game is the next game. 

This time. The Sabres won 5-1.

Elliott is a Sabres killer himself. 17-3 or something all time. 

The Sabres slayed some dragons and they're gonna keep slayin em. 

 

 

Don't get me wrong I'm glad they won, but I don't think they played all that well.

They didn't look anything like the team we saw the first 5 games IMO.... not a good sign.

[Indabuff]

1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

I am a recovered Bills fan. The breaking point was fairly arbitrary. The Bills were good-ish with Fitzmagic, and had a road game against the Bengals in like Week 5 or 6. They laid a stinker. I had a house filled with young kids, and I became borderline nonfunctional, I was so angry. My wife definitely said something - whatever it was, it was nicer than I deserved. But I just had the proverbial thunderbolt moment of -- "What the hell am I doing?"

For the most part, since then, I'm in it for the upside. If things go south, I disengage and move on to something else, something useful and productive. 

Choose your adventure, if you will. It's a damnable myth that you must suffer personal torment in order to enjoy your team's achievements.

Stated perhaps more metaphysically: I pick and choose the thoughts and feelings that serve my core values. Those that thusly serve and work for me, I engage with. Those that don't, I try instead to observe from a safe(r) distance.

Very well stated.  

[PromoTheRobot]

21 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

 

 

Don't get me wrong I'm glad they won, but I don't think they played all that well.

They didn't look anything like the team we saw the first 5 games IMO.... not a good sign.

They scored first.
Never relinquished a lead.
Withstood a 2nd period barrage by rarely giving the Lightning a dangerous scoring chance.
Took the lead late.
Scored 3 more in the third.
Yeah, a pretty 'meh' performance.

[bob_sauve28]

Loved Anderson getting into the Hagg goal celebration. Never seen a goalie be part of that before 

[K-9]

1 hour ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Loved Anderson getting into the Hagg goal celebration. Never seen a goalie be part of that before 

I’ve never seen an empty netter scored from farther away. From the end line where it meets the corner boards? Ridiculous. Does Donny give them carte blanche to just let it fly from your own zone when the opposing goalie is pulled? Between Alsplund’s EN goal earlier in the season and Hagg’s last night, it appears so.