My Lowest Point of Sabres Fandom

[That Aud Smell]

3 hours ago, bob_sauve28 said:

I'm really excited about the season and looking forward to seeing our boys soon. Don't want the summer to end, but it will be fun having the Sabres back on the ice

Go Sabres! 

I love this energy.

24 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

To me, being a fan means standing by them through every high and low, even during long stretches of disappointment.

It’s about loyalty that isn’t tied to wins, but to the identity and community the team represents.

Supporting the Sabres requires patience, resilience, and faith—finding joy in small victories, appreciating the effort, and valuing the connection with fellow fans who share the same unwavering passion.

In the end, being a fan is about love for the journey, not just the destination.

Hear, hear.

This is an essential point to make and understand (and remember).

In Europe (including England, UK, Ireland), the term generally used instrad of “fan” is “supporter.”

I’ve posted that here in the past.

A supporter is a sight different than a fan(atic).

I’ll get back to work on being a supporter.

[CallawaySabres]

26 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

To me, being a fan means standing by them through every high and low, even during long stretches of disappointment.

It’s about loyalty that isn’t tied to wins, but to the identity and community the team represents.

Supporting the Sabres requires patience, resilience, and faith—finding joy in small victories, appreciating the effort, and valuing the connection with fellow fans who share the same unwavering passion.

In the end, being a fan is about love for the journey, not just the destination.

There is patience and then there is the total failure of an organization. I don't blame the players, they were put in a terrible position from day 1. I will not reward an incompetent organization by continuing to burn money. They took that from me for decades until last year.

They need to earn my fandom/$$ back...and I hope they do.

[JustOutsideChicago]

I’m going to be extremely disappointed if they don’t extend Tuch by opening night. If he’s a trade deadline candidate, it’s (for me) a new rock bottom. Losing that guy would just be such an awful look.

[Taro T]

2 hours ago, CallawaySabres said:

Wait until the remaining core is all but gone by July 2026. It's arguable that the most important year this franchise has seen is upon us. If they miss the playoffs again, the last of the exodus will take place. Any returns from the tank years will have vanished and it will all be for nothing. 

And the possibility of this happening is why it is so important to get Tuch inked to a LT deal.  These players do seem to believe in each other (and have dating back to when that was a flat out unreasonable belief) and even if the season does go to heck in a handbasket again; that cloud might finally have the silver lining of a house cleaning in certain departments that seem relatively immune to such actions.  So, with the key players believing in themselves, and everybody except Greenway and Zucker being closer to or actually in their primes, could see them being willing to stick it out and see if the new management team can get those 2-4 pieces this team needs to not only get back into the NHL but actually be in the mix for potential champions only a year or 2 further down the road (IMHO they need that baby step of rejoining the league before they can be towards the top of it; but that next step doesn't have to take long to make once the 1st has been taken).

But if Tuch doesn't extend, if he's in wait and see mode, have to believe the other 2 are kind of wishing they hadn't signed the deals they did.

Considering that Tuch has loved this team all his life, and this is his last opportunity to get an 8 year deal, it should be a no brainer.  But they bringing the exact same brain trust (excepting for the addition of Kekalainen) kind of indicates there's a good chance the no brainer lies elsewhere.

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

I love this energy.

Hear, hear.

This is an essential point to make and understand (and remember).

In Europe (including England, UK, Ireland), the term generally used instrad of “fan” is “supporter.”

I’ve posted that here in the past.

A supporter is a sight different than a fan(atic).

I’ll get back to work on being a supporter.

 

Well, supporter implies a rationality.

Fanatic implies an irrationality.

At this point in time, other than @dudacek who's attempts at rationality actually hint at an irrationality 😉,  can ANYONE here be labeled as fully rational?

 

Sad truth is, we're FANS, not supporters.

 

And though it was said of the Bills in the greatest football game ever played, am looking longingly towards the day the Sabres and their fans can have their own moment of "it is bedlam, it is pandemonium, it is fandemonium, it is fan-tas-tic."  And know that should it happen at home, this kid will be there.  (And after the fact, fully expect to have had 100k others there too; and heck, with the return of the party on the plaza; maybe we really will have 100k joining in the celebration in the moment.)

[Weave]

3 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

At least troops are not in the streets, prelude to never having another election.

If we re-sign Kevyn Adams we will never need to sign a GM again.

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, JustOutsideChicago said:

I’m going to be extremely disappointed if they don’t extend Tuch by opening night. If he’s a trade deadline candidate, it’s (for me) a new rock bottom. Losing that guy would just be such an awful look.

The issue with Tuch more likely is whether he wants to be here than does the organization want him. I'm watching how his contract situation plays out to get an inkling  whether the players genuinely believe that this is a serious franchise. The experienced players have a realistic grasp as to how their team stacks up against the other teams. If it appears that he has no interest in signing entering his contract this year, then that will be an ominous sign that things haven't substantively changed.