Dave Hyzy, RIP

[PASabreFan]

In a Buffalo News guest editorial today, longtime (and former) Sabre season ticket holder Dave Hyzy fondly remembers the "good old days" of professional sports (a fantasy world where he thinks money didn't matter) and explains why he has given it all up.

 

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060...?tbd1038870.asp

 

"When professional sports were special, they entertained you in a way that transported you away from your everyday life, to a place where time stood still for the duration of the game and the only things that mattered happened on the ice or the field.

 

The Sabres and Bills gave you a sense of community and camaraderie among people who were otherwise complete strangers. A love of the game was passed down from parent to child like an emotional heirloom, to be nurtured and cherished throughout a lifetime."

 

Dave, you poor lost soul, nothing has changed. What you loved about sports and yearn for today is happening again before your very eyes.

 

My fellow Sabre fans, I think a moment of silence for Dave is in order. We have lost one of our own. Lost to the dark side. A shame.

[Campy]

Screw him.

 

And send him to Raleigh. Perhaps he'll enjoy the "purity" of college basketball and NASCAR. <_<

[shrader]

If I'm reading that right, he gave up his season tickets before this season? I can understand that, but why would he suddenly write this now?

[Campy]

If I'm reading that right, he gave up his season tickets before this season? I can understand that, but why would he suddenly write this now?

I have come to realize that professional sports fans are a lot like the compulsive gambler, mindlessly feeding dollars, day after day, into a slot machine. Most of the payoffs are in one direction, that of the insatiable slot machine. I no longer wish to play. Having glimpsed the man behind the curtain, I am no longer impressed with Oz.

 

When professional sports were special, they entertained you in a way that transported you away from your everyday life, to a place where time stood still for the duration of the game and the only things that mattered happened on the ice or the field.

 

The Sabres and Bills gave you a sense of community and camaraderie among people who were otherwise complete strangers. A love of the game was passed down from parent to child like an emotional heirloom, to be nurtured and cherished throughout a lifetime.

 

Now ESPN, sports talk radio, NFL/NHL merchandise, free-agent contracts and tax breaks for billionaire-owned stadiums and arenas have transformed professional sports into a cultural behemoth, prepackaged and prescripted for mass consumer society. The most obvious manifestation of the disease that has overtaken professional sports is that sometimes the game is secondary to "the event."

 

The players have contributed to the decline of pro sports as well. There was a time when teams stayed together long enough for you to develop a "relationship" with the players. Free agency has rendered that idea quaint. Players, while always making more than the average working stiff, used to live a modest lifestyle that working people could relate to. The elevation of sports players to high-priced prima-donnas has made that gap into a canyon that insults our intelligence.

 

The disease has reached an advanced state when cities like Buffalo conflate their civic image with that of a for-profit private business. How else would you explain a bankrupt city and county more willing to close libraries and lay off teachers than risk alienating the sports teams by asking them to pay their fair share of taxes?

 

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060...?tbd1038870.asp

 

I can't disagree with him entirely - it's one of the reasons why I no longer follow the NBA or MLB. Where he and I differ, however, is that I believe hockey is the best sport on the planet. I enjoy watching the best players on the planet play, regardless of which team they play for. Having been born in Buffalo and raised in WNY, I will always be a Sabres' fan - they're "my boys" - regardless of win-loss record. And as long as Buffalo has an NFL team, I will support them too.

 

I left Buffalo but Buffalo never left me. It's just the way it is.

[jad1]

Somebody should tell Dave that he's missing a hell of a show!

[LabattBlue]

I bet he still watches the games on TV. Screw you Hyzy. Don't show your ugly face at City Hall when the Cup celebration is going on. <_<

[X. Benedict]

After decades of support he up and leaves without a Eureka moment?

 

I guess he was a Miro Fan.

[Taro T]

The thing is, yes free agency didn't exist prior to the Flood case and players in all leagues made a heck of a lot less in the "good old days", but things weren't all wine and roses back then either.

 

Getting a stadium built for the Bills was a royal pain in the tuckus. They were going to build a dome downtown (or maybe it was supposed to be in Lancaster) but (IIRC) Ralph didn't like that idea and pushed for a larger football specific stadium. He also made subtle threats that the team could move to Seattle if things weren't done to his liking.

 

Also, except for a brief respite in the '73 - '75 time frame, the Bills stunk way back then.

 

The Braves left Buffalo, not because of poor attendence or even because they were losing money. They left because Snyder couldn't get prime dates (ones that would get the Braves national TV games) in the Aud because the Sabres and the colleges had the prime dates and thus he didn't get a large enough return on his investment. While that is his perrogative, it's his team and his money, it stinks that he and the NBA jobbed Buffalo and I haven't followed the NBA since '78.

 

Buffalo missed out on getting the Expos in the late '60's because they didn't have a baseball stadium. That was slightly before my time, but IIRC they'd torn down the stadium the Bisons played in to put in a school. Ooops.

 

Finally, I still feel that camaraderie when I go to Sabres and Bills games (and the occassional Bandits game as well). When something good happens, I'm high 5'ing everyone I can get to. When something bad happens, you can feel the energy of the whole building sucked out. The region has definitely caught Sabres fever this season.

 

I feel sorry for the guy. It appears that he had a bad case of whatever it was DeLuca had prior to the start of the season and now he is either feeling sorry for himself for missing this run or feeling ticked about missing it. I guess he feels that by publicly airing his frustration with pro sports he will feel better. I hope it works, but I doubt that it will.

[frisky]

I left Buffalo but Buffalo never left me. It's just the way it is.

 

There are things that he said that I agree with but I'm still a fan. And, sports has always been about money and making money. That hasn't changed and never will change. It's a business in the sports entertainment industry. I understand how that works but I've been fan for what is now the majority of my life and will likely be 'til the end.

 

And, it may be sad that our civic image is so tied in with the teams but it is and I think it is something that we can hang on to especially when things are pretty down in most other aspects in the region. It's something that distracts from the other things. I was also trying to explain how much a part of the Sabres and Bill are the many of us who are from the area and why they mean so much to us 'cause she just doesn't understand it. It's more than just rooting for our team...it's seems like something a little more...civic pride or whatever you wanna call it.

 

Just like what Campy said...I left Buffalo too but I carry Buffalo with me whereever I have gone. And, I can't pretty much get farther away in the US than where I am now except Hawaii.

[ExiledInIllinois]

I am gonna write this and probably offend some that post here... Namely the people who say this is a win-win series, you know who you are... :(

 

Pick a side and civic pride is restored and even passed down to younger generations!

 

I disagree Dave Hyzy, it is people like you who can't keep it in your heart.

 

It starts at home.

 

Take the Kevyn Adams situation. I asked my son who he thinks I would root for if he played on the 'Canes and I was a Sabre fan... You know what he said? "You'd root for the Sabres dad!" I sure the hell would and make it known... And don't get me wrong, I wouldn't love my son any less, think less of him or wish him failure. I know that blood is thicker... But, there is civic pride that is greater in this case... Greater than a huge paycheck, nice lifestyle, and a personal name on a silver cup.

 

That is what is missing today... Too many people trying to play the fence in order to not hurt anybody's felings.

 

I feel my son would play stronger knowing that his father was rooting for his deep beliefs in community and place... Why would he want me to root for him?

 

Is that where we begin to lose civic pride? When money and self-importance begins to overwhelm us? Again, I am deeply dismayed by events that surround this series between Carolina and Buffalo... That is all I should say...

 

In Chicago... I have learned you are a SOX OR Cubs fan... No in-between...

[SHAAAUGHT!!!]

I saw dudes picture with the article, I think he got a hold of some bad red licorice. I've seen this happen before....it should wear off before the start of next season.

[sabre31_98]

I am sure all of the mom and pop businesses down by the arena are upset as well. Maybe more people benefit than just the corporations. let the old-timer die. Buffalo has enough pessimists. I love Buffalo and will 'till the day I die.

[Eleven]

I am sure all of the mom and pop businesses down by the arena are upset as well. Maybe more people benefit than just the corporations. let the old-timer die. Buffalo has enough pessimists. I love Buffalo and will 'till the day I die.

 

Same here, which dismisses another of Hyzy's propositions. Maybe some people do conflate civic pride with the success of professional sports teams. Many--hopefully most--don't. Buffalo is a terrific home with or without NHL/NFL championships. I can't see people having a lot of civic pride in Detroit, Oakland, or L.A., no matter how many titles the Tigers / Red Wings / Pistons, A's / Raiders, and Dodgers / Lakers / Trojans have accumulated. Most of the folks I know in Baltimore hate living there (overshadowed by DC and Filly), but they've got a Super Bowl and a World Series.

 

But there seems to be plenty of civic pride in Seattle, in Vancouver, and in Memphis. And in Richmond, which has no major league teams at all.

 

This city comes out for & appreciates its music & arts scene, its fantastic restaurants, its outdoor activities, its amazing ethnic festivals, and so many other terrific things. Hockey & football are two of those terrific things, and I'm going to go nuts when the Sabres win that Cup.

 

But will it define my "civic pride?" Hell, no. I already have that.

[Bmwolf21]

Good post, Eleven. I think civic pride from professional sports teams is fast becoming something of the past. I do see it more in small college towns with D-1 football teams, especially in the south, but I don't think having a Lombardi Trophy or Stanley Cup or World Series championship (the trophy's name eludes me at the moment) defines a city anymore. I think Buffalo has gotten smacked with the opposite of that, thanks to our lack of a major championship, but it doesn't affect how I feel about the city or region one bit. Any negative feelings I have toward the region are reserved for the corrupt politicians at the local and state levels, and I have nothing but love and respect for the people who have stayed and tried to continue making a home and living in the area, and I hope someday I am able to return home as well.

 

As for Dave, man its gotta suck swearing off pro sports just before the Sabres' magical season breathed life back into HSBC Arena and Western New York.

[peca_lost_darcy_the loser]

Probably a low wage loser stuck in a dead end job and no future. He hates the fact that the players are earning big money. The poor are always jealous of the well off. I always have poor losers yelling at me when I drive by in my hummer