Buffalo Boy's Blog
Giving You More Than Just My Two Cents
September 2009 Archives
Obama Doing Right By Chicago and Ultimately The US
Can the right wing please give this president one bit of credit for anything? Now its the fact that he is going to Copenhagen to speak to the IOC (International Olympic Committee) about the Chicago bid for the 2016 Summer Games.
I say great, go for it. How many other US cities have a bid in for 2016? If you guessed zero you are absolutely right. So whats the big deal. It just so happens that many on the committee supported Barack Obama in his run to the presidency and he is helping them in their last push to bring the summer games to US soil. He is not favoring Chicago over any other city in the US because of this speech, if New York City or LA or Dallas or some other big city had been on the list then I would say okay, you can't do this but no other US city is so it would only be right for him to go to bat for a city that just happens to be his hometown Then there are those who say that he will be partly responsible for any incurred debt that the taxpayers of Illinois and Chicago have to pick up due to any excessive expenditures.....if they are afraid of that why are they bidding for it in the first place? Obama will be four years out of office by then and will have nothing to do with it politically other than being a fan of the Olympic games at that point. Im sure the committee bidding on them knows where their expenses are coming from and will keep them in line with the money they raise. The Olympics is bigger than money, its the grandest stage in all of sports including the NFL and all the major professional sports leagues. It attracts international attention like no other event in the world so why shouldn't Barack Obama be there on behalf of Chicago? I would be more upset if he declined. Those who fault him fault him because he is the first US President to speak on behalf of a bidding US City, well he may be the first one who comes from the city that is bidding. Ill guarantee you if it was George W. Bush's hometown he would be there, if it was for Little Rock, Arkansas Bill Clinton would be there. So how would we know unless this set of circumstances presented themselves before? Get off his back, hes doing right by not only Chicago but the heartland of our country which by the way, due to the global recession has lost a ton of jobs thanks in part to the faulty handling of the economy by the Bush administration, they could use the financial and tourism shot in the arm this will give them.September 28th 7:23 AM
Yesterday at 7:23 AM our lives became richer. Olivia Mary was born.
It all happened so fast, I wrote this post on Sunday not expecting anything to happen that day and yet at 9:00 Sunday night a few hours after getting home from my parents my wife informed me that we needed to pack up the car and head over to Sister's Hospital.
We waited all night, my wife had contractions all night but actually managed to sleep a few hours after getting first Nubane and then later for an hour after getting the epidural. And she deserved every minute of it...she has done more than I ever give her credit for and probably more than she was supposed to do getting ready for this day.
Me? I couldn't sleep a wink. It sunk in as the night went on, this is it we were going to be parents finally, it was just a matter of when that kid was going to make its final push.
At 6:45 the real work and the hardest part of the process began and my wife was wonderful, because 38 minutes later we had a beautiful baby girl that I can't use enough adjectives to describe her. September 28th, 2009 at 7:23 AM a 7 lb, 3 oz incredibly beautiful girl was born. Hopefully Ill have some video up by the weekend. BBMCategory: Baby Buffalo Girl
Sunday Retro
Strange Advance was one of those synth-pop groups that put out a hand full of hits but none as big as We Run. Still a great tune and say what you will about the cheesiness of the video but the music itself is way ahead of its time.
A lot of the 80's retro would still kick the crap out of its modern day counterparts.
Is it me or does the redheaded girl in this video look like Molly Ringwald?
Category: Sunday Retro
Baby Buffalo Girl Very Soon
I haven't written much because we are trying to get everything in place for our new addition to our family. We have a baby buffalo girl on the way, Olivia and my wife is due pretty much any day now.
From putting cribs together to making sure car seats are installed we have been doing all of that over the last couple weeks.
My guess is mid week. Wednesday or Thursday we will have a baby girl in the household. I haven't started to get excited yet becuase quite frankly I've been too damn tired.
This week though I can feel myself starting to get a little more anxious and realizing that this could be the week.
Leave your guesses on THE DAY in the comments section (she is due on October 3rd).
Category: Baby Buffalo Girl
Butts Wigglin Reminds Me of My Dog
When ever I see my dog Molson (hes a pure bred beagle) come running at me with his tail wagging 100 miles per hour I can't help but think of the title to The Tragically Hip song Butts Wigglin. His but wiggles as hes coming toward me to about the same beat as the song.
Lyrically there is no mention of "Butts Wigglin" but the beat and bass line make you want to wiggle your but to the tune. I wish the Hip would play this live more.
Here is a clip of the Kids in the Hall 1996 movie Brain Candy for which the Hip contributed Butts Wigglin to the soundtrack.
Above is a picture of Molson on Halloween last year. Yeah I promised myself I would never dress my dog up for anything but it was too tempting to make him a swimmer with a Stingrays cap and goggles. He played the part well.
Category: Molson | Movies | The Tragically Hip
Back to Healthcare
This is an interesting article from the website Physicians for a National Health Program. 45,000 die every year from a lack of health insurance. That is more than the number who die of kidney disease.
This study came from the American Journal of Public Health a reliable peer reviewed medical journal so there is no denying the legitimacy of where the numbers are coming from. The risk of death increase 25% without health insurance. That is alarming. Would the republicans please get their heads out of their asses and either get on board with healthcare reform, meaningful healthcare reform and get behind the President or get the hell off the field of play and let this thing pass without you. For the last month and half all I see and hear is negativity without a solution presented and racism. Instead of having meanngful conversations about the issue, conservatives show up at healthcare townhalls with Obama/Hitler signs which couldn't be further from the truth and nothing says racism like these people. Most of them hide behind their "Christian" values which as we sane folks are finding they must be anti-Christian because I don't know that Jesus would be okay with the numbers above. We are coming up on a time when something is going to get done. Those who voted for Barack Obama want this done. We supported him and voted for him because he wanted to change this money hungry/profit taking climate amongst health insurance companies. Most people don't realize how much premiums are going up because the fact is your employer absorbs most of the cost and passes on modest increases to their employers. Ask ANY employer and they will tell you that health insurance costs are killing them. Ask your employers how much your premium, not just what you pay but what you pay and what they pay combined has gone up this year. Most would probably spit out double digit increases. Stop hiding behind your bullshit Christian, conservative "values" and realize that people are dying the longer this thing goes, not from heart disease, not from cancer, not from AIDS, but from the lack of the ability to get treatment, timely treatment for these conditions. If the republicans get on board then 51 is plenty to get meaningfuly healthcare reform with a strong public option by in the senate. It needs to happen before more die from this controllable "disease". By the way, the latest poll: 75% of physicians support a strong public option. Who knows better than those at the top of the medical community?Category: healthcare
Don't Get Cocky!
This week the Bills won and life is good but lets not get over confident. They beat the Tampa Bay Bucaneers. As far as should wins go it was probably the one that should have been a no brainer. The Bucs are bad and yet despite being up 17-0 they made it interesting as the Bills coughed up footballs and almost the lead.
Two games in do we really know how good or for that matter how bad the Bills are? Sure they had the Patriots on the ropes but the fact is they coughed up an 11 point lead with a little over two minutes to go and after watching the Jets/Pats game this past weekend the Patriots are nothing to write home about this year. They have weaknesses and look human for once.
So how good are the Bills? Their first test will be this coming Sunday against New Orleans. Drew Brees is on fire with 9 TD passes in two games and now the Bills secondary is banged up with arguably their second best cornerback out of commission this week.
There is also the fact that New Orleans really hasn't picked on anyone of significance yet. The Detroit Lions might be the only team capable of challenging Tampa for 0-16 this year and the Eagles really aren't that impressive yet. So I suppose you could throw back that New Orleans hasn't been challenged.
So this weekend will go a long way towards showing how good or bad the Bills really are. If they give New Orleans a game and even win it, well then maybe its okay to get a little excited, but lets not forget this team was 5-1 last year and won just two more games the rest of the way.
Its going to take a lot more to show they have what it takes probably nothing short of finalizing a trip to the playoffs.
Category: Buffalo Bills
Sabres 3, Red Wings 1
I usually wouldn't write about pre-season hockey but last night the Sabres were outshot 43-19 and deserved to be slaughtered at the hands of the Red Wings but one of the most encouraging signs we have seen in a while last night was the fact that Ryan Miller looked as sharp as he has been in some time.
Miller has not been great out of the gates and usually doesn't get going until a few weeks in. He turned aside all but one of the 43 Detroit shots and Thomas Vanek and Derek Roy both scored. All three good signs.
Now for the discouraging point, are we the only team who can't get shots through to the net? 19 shots? Really? In the first game of the pre-season against Washington just 23 shots. That is not going to cut it. Tell me we can shoot the puck. Its just a disturbing two game trend that really carries back over the last two years.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Sunday Retro
This will be the last of the summer retro tunes as I tried to drag summer out a few more weeks to the OFFICIAL end of summer which is tomorrow on the calendar.
I am going way back this week to a Beach Boys tune that says summer like no other. Its the perfect end of summer song. All Summer Long is one of the most under appreciated Beach Boys songs in their catologue but is one of their most harmonic. It features them at their best vocally.
Category: Sunday Retro
Sabres Centers
The Sabres last year were to me weak at center. They had Adam Mair playing on scoring lines....a guy who hasn't scored more than 8 goals in a season. That 8 goal season was last year. That was playing on scoring lines with Thomas Vanek and Derek Roy.
If we see that this year this team has problems. If Tim Connolly and Derek Roy both stay healthy the Sabres have the best first and second line centers in the Northeast Division. They both are capable of 80+ points if healthy.
A big reason for Jason Pominville's drop off last year and Jochen Hecht is their inconsistent centers. They had a different guy between them every night and that might have resulted in them not being on their game.
Third line center I think is Nathan Gerbe's to win or lose. With that said, 1st through 3rd line the Sabres have centers who average from 160 pounds (Gerbe) to 190 pounds (Tim Connolly), not very big up front. Paul Gaustad has to play on the fourth line if Gerbe makes the team unless they move Gerbe to wing and insert Gaustad for some size in the third line.
That would give the fourth line to Gaustad or Mair depending on what happens with Gerbe.Adam Mair to me is much better suited on the wing on the fourth line and he can do spot duty at center on a penalty kill or if there are injury problems.
Overall not a bad bunch but health is the key especially for Connolly.
At center:
First Line: Tim Connolly
Second Line: Derek Roy
Third Line: Gerbe/Gaustad
Fourth Line: Gaustad/Mair
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Another Hockey Season
The Sabres get their preseason underway. One thing to like about hockey is unlike other sports their preseason is only a couple weeks long, they play a handful of games to evaluate the 50 or so players in camp and get the meaningful games going.
The Sabres get the Washington Capitals tonight and no word on whether Alex Ovechkin will be in town. I love watching him play he is the closest thing to the next Gretzky I think. Yes even better than Sidney Crosby.
What better tune to get us into Hockey mode than The Lonely End of the Rink, they should re-do the video and make it the official song for the NHL.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Its Official: Bills Still Suck
After this loss you are going to have two groups of fans in Buffalo. You will have group A who are the ...lets just call them less than knowledgeable fans who will say oh well they only lost by a point they did okay they won't be so bad.
Then you will have group B who should be the bigger of the two groups who will say that this football team still sucks ass. Yes they hung in there against the New England Patriots and it has nothing to do with how close the score was. It has everything to do with how they lost.
I saw a soft defense and a dumb play that will haunt Leodis Mckelvin until the day the Bills finally beat the New England Patriots. The Patriots sliced through the Bills defense on the scoring drive that made it 24-19 like a warm knife through butter. The Bills defense bent and broke at a crucial point of the game and lets face it, it was bending all night. Eventually at the end of a game against the New England Patriots if you keep bending they will break you.
The play by Mckelvin was just awful, how do you even think of running that ball out of the end zone at that point? Just kneel and protect it, instead he tried to be the world beater and tried to go for the opposite end zone. The way he was running the ball on kick returns it will be a miracle if he makes it through the entire season with his head intact, he took some incredible shots and that stupid return wasn't the only time the ball was lost.
Good teams hold onto 11 point leads with 2 minutes left to play, bad teams find ways to lose 11 point leads. Good teams use their star players, bad teams can't seem to find their stars. Terrell Owens had two balls that he caught all game. Randy Moss had a 100 yard game.
I guess we shouldn't be surprised, they did what everyone expected them to do....they lost. Only the way they lost gives those who still care a lot of false hope.
The Bills are still bad. We saw this all of last year. Stupid plays to lose games late. The stupidity remains and so does the bad team. Get ready for a long season.
Category: Buffalo Bills
Sabres Classics
This classic video clips that the Sabres website is doing is really a neat idea, it gets fans coming back to the site and they are not just posting recent stuff from last year, its stuff from...back then too.
This is a clip of Michael Peca flattening former Leaf Tie Domi as he comes off the bench. A vicious and Im sure Tie Domi would argue but it was a legal hit.
Peca was one of the most feared open ice hitters. He's 35 now and last I read was an article in the Buffalo News by Jerry Sullivan talking about the fact that Peca is yet to be signed. If there is still enough gas left in that tank Id be willing to take another spin with Peca....besides have you ever tried Peca's Pickles?
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Training Camp Roster
This is the training camp roster the Buffalo Sabres will have throughout the pre-season. They signed Drew Stafford so all things considered assuming Stafford can pick his game up and show the upside we all know he has Darcy has made one good move so far this offseason.
There will be 53 players in camp.
I have a few questions:
1. What is Jochen Hecht still doing here and more importantly what is he doing being listed with an "A" next to his name?
2. Does Mike Grier have enough left to lead this team either mentally or physically?
3. What is Jason Pominiville doing with an "A" next to his name? Who picks the captains of this team?
4. Please let TJ Brennan make the team and with the same breath please let Hank Tallinder go away so we don't have to watch him pretend to play defense anymore.
5. If Toni Lydman takes one stupid hooking penalty in the last 10 minutes of a game or in overtime this year he needs to be released immediately.
6. A couple forwards I would like to see make the roster: Mark Mancari, Nathan Gerbe, Tim Kennedy and Luke Adam
| No. | Player | Pos |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jhonas Enroth | G |
| 3 | Joe DiPenta | D |
| 4 | Steve Montador | D |
| 5 | Toni Lydman | D |
| 6 | Mike Weber | D |
| 8 | Cody McCormick | C |
| 9 | Derek Roy | C |
| 10 | Henrik Tallinder | D |
| 15 | Felix Schutz | C |
| 17 | Marc-Andre Gragnani | D |
| 19 | Tim Connolly | C |
| 20 | Daniel Paille | LW |
| 21 | Drew Stafford | RW |
| 22 | Adam Mair | RW |
| 23 | Jeff Cowan | LW |
| 24 | Paul Byron | C |
| 25 | Mike Grier | RW |
| 26 | Thomas Vanek | LW |
| 28 | Paul Gaustad | C/LW |
| 29 | Jason Pominville | RW |
| 30 | Ryan Miller | G |
| 32 | Mike Kostka | D |
| 33 | TJ Brennan | D |
| 34 | Chris Butler | D |
| 35 | J.P. Lamoureux | G |
| 36 | Patrick Kaleta | RW |
| 37 | Matt Ellis | C |
| 38 | Nathan Paetsch | D |
| 40 | Patrick Lalime | G |
| 41 | Clarke MacArthur | LW |
| 42 | Nathan Gerbe | LW |
| 44 | Andrej Sekera | D |
| 47 | Philip Gogulla | LW |
| 50 | Mark Mancari | RW |
| 52 | Craig Rivet | D |
| 54 | Zack Kassian | RW |
| 55 | Jochen Hecht | LW |
| 57 | Tyler Myers | D |
| 58 | Tim Kennedy | LW |
| 62 | Matt Generous | D |
| 63 | Tyler Ennis | C |
| 65 | Travis Turnbull | C |
| 67 | Dennis Persson | D |
| 69 | Nick Crawford | D |
| 70 | Maxime Legault | RW |
| 71 | Derek Whitmore | LW |
| 72 | Luke Adam | C |
| 73 | Drew Schistel | D |
| 75 | Kyle Rank | RW |
| 79 | Marcus Foligno | LW |
| 81 | Brayden McNabb | D |
| 83 | Jacob Lagace | LW |
| 86 | Mark McCutcheon | C |
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
All Time Worst Blue Jays Seasons
As bad as it has gotten this year for the Jays I thought I would look back and see how would I rank as a fan their ten worst seasons, not necessarily by record but throwing in expectations and how fans were led to believe they would be better.
Obviously they have had more than their fair share of lean years since 1993 but lets not just do this by how bad their record was, they had some awful seasons when the franchise first started out in 1977 but no one had any expectations right away so can we really consider those seasons their worst?
I consider this season 2009 to be possibly their worst season ever. They started so well with high expectations once they got through April with their best start in franchise history, then their inept GM allowed this meltdown they have gone through to not only continue but he made moves and did not make moves that continually puzzled all Jays fans. From Roy Halladay not being moved to Scott Rolen being traded for an under achieving Edwin Encarnacion to Alex Rios who still had upside being given away for nothing.
Here are my top ten most disappointing/worst/call it what ever you want to Blue Jays seasons:
1. 2009- First to Fourth in a month. First place as of the last week of May, by the end of June they were in fourth place with their GM seemingly packing his bags. He could have made a move to better the ballclub in May seeing all the injuries and the talented young pitching prospects available in the organization but he failed to pull the trigger on anything. JP is fired after the last game of the season guaranteed.
As bad as its been since the World Series years this season has got to be rock bottom. All the promise and all the hype of April and May squashed because a team can't stay healthy and the GM can't make a move to save it from collapse due to those very injuries. The Job of the GM Is to put his team in a position to be successful with the tools it needs, JP had a first place team with talent to move to make it better, he failed at his job and it was probably the biggest failure of his tenure.
2. 1987- Like I said this is not about how bad the record was but how disappointing the season was....They went into the last two weeks of the season with a 3.5 game lead over the Detroit Tigers and with a week left Tony Fernandez went down with a season ending injury and the team fell apart and was swept by the Tigers in the final series of the season and the Tigers finished 2 games ahead to win the AL East, still hurts to look at that finish, could have been their first World Series Championship had it not been for that late season meltdown.
3. 1988- After a 96 win season in 1987 what a drop off, 86 wins and third place, the disappointment from '87 carried over a year.
4. 1994- Strike shortened season and despite great performances from Molitor, Olerud and Alomar early on the pitching wasn't there to keep them at the top of the AL East following two World Series. The strike would leave the Jays a shadow of their former selves.
5. 1979- Okay this is a season where record counts, 501/2 games back? Are you kidding me? Good things were on the horizon though.
6. 2006- This was a year that everyone including myself thought that this team had a chance to make the playoffs and they did have a chance. They were in the wildcard right to September and finished higher than third place for the first time since the World Series years. What made this season so disappointing was the management of the team and the injuries. Ted Lilly and Shea Hillenbrand both had outbursts toward manager John Gibbons. They also traded Canadian favorite Corey Koskie and they pissed off Shea Hillenbrand mid-season. With a little luck and maybe better team chemistry this team could have been a post-season contender.
7. 1998- What made this year particularly ugly was the firing of Cito Gaston and the subsequent hiring of Tim Johnson, he actually had a decent season as manager but again if not for chemistry issues between him and his players this team may have competed into the post-season, Ed Sprague, Pat Hentgen and other long time Jays had serious issues with Johnson who was supposed to be this great communicator and manager. What made this even more maddening was the fact that Johnson was caught lying about his service in the Vietnam War which ultimately led to him losing any respect he still had from the players and his eventual dismissal.
We fired Cito for that? Whats more is that competing against Johnson for the job was none other than Davey Johnson and Paul Molitor who myself and others have been a fan of bringing in as manager of the Jays for a long time. This season began a string of season searching for the right guy.
8. 2008- Again a decent record in 2008 but despite the great pitching the offense couldn't stay healthy or produce. We let Frank Thomas go early on and brought back the one manager that won the big one for us Cito! He managed to get the team into contention but due to nagging injuries to Vernon Wells, Lyle Overbay and late season major injuries to Shaun Marcum and Dustin McGowan, two key pitchers on the staff the season ended pre-maturely.
9. 2007- Injuries, we all remember the day BJ Ryan went down. It took two weeks to get Jeremy Accardo going as the closer.
10. 1990- The Jays record on August 28th of 1990 was 66-64, they had a miserable August going 11-`16 up til that date. They were if my memory serves me 6.5 games out of first place on September 4th. By September 18th the Jays tied the Red Sox but would never take the lead in the penant race. They finished 2 out. For me I will always wonder what if they had a stronger August? They played lazy baseball for stretches that year. That changed after the season as the biggest trade in franchise history would take place in that offseason going into 1991. They would also acquire Devon White.
Im depressed, tomorrow I'll look at the best.
Category: Toronto Blue Jays
Sunday Retro
Well we are moved now its the unpacking part which we are a week into and it just seems to drag....Its exciting being in the new home which I will hopefully have some pictures of before long...In the meantime I wanted to get a little something up to prove that Buffalo Boy is not dead.
This week Im going to get away from the summer tunes for one week (we still have one more full week of the official summer season according to the calendar) and post this video from a band out of Britain that I really like and have for a long time.
This is the Inspiral Carpets and a video for their song Move. Move was originally on their debut studio album Life but only on the CD version of the record that was released back in 1990. It has since appeared on their greatest hits and boxset collection. If you want to really get a sample of what they are all about check out 1992's Revenge of the Goldfish, if I could pick 20 albums to bring with me to my grave that would be on the list for sure.
Category: Sunday Retro
Its Our House
We closed on the our new home in Niagara Falls, NY on Wednesday! So with that comes the move and thats why I haven't posted much of anything.
So, I will not be posting anything for about a week starting today, next Saturday was the earliest Time Warner Cable could come to our new home to hook up the internet so Buffalo Boy will be down.
That will give us time to settle into and enjoy our new home.
In the meantime use the comments section to leave me notes, well wishes, anecdotes, thoughts concerns on any of these things that I have been or will be writing about when I come back:
1. The Bills Suck, how bad will the opener against the Patriots get?
2. Moving experiences....
3. My new House
4. The raging healthcare debate
5. Now the Repukes say that Obama's message to students is preaching facist/communist beliefs and trying to collect future votes, are the totally insane? Go to the Obama website and check that out.
6. The Sabres start camp...any predictions? I will start previewing them when I get back.
7. Have a great Labor Day....Damn Summer goes tooooooo fast especially when its been all rain and clouds....the nicest stretch though has been saved for last apparently and hopefully it will go well into November.
Its Our House:
Category: Our House
Moving
We are moving this week. Buffalo Boy Mike and the family is moving to Niagara Falls this weekend. Im just packing and moving boxes and decided to hire professional movers for the rest. The boxes are enough.
Everytime I think of moving how can you not think of the classic with Richard Pryor and a young Dana Carvey. King Kong Bundy was one of the movers as well.
In this scene Pryor hires Carvey to drive his Saab across country. What he doesn't realize is that Carvey is a Schizophrenic. One of the all time classic scenes.
