Buffalo Boy's Blog
Giving You More Than Just My Two Cents
October 2010 Archives
Happy Halloween! Whats Your Favorite Halloween Treat?
I hate candy corn, can't stand them yet they are all over the place on Halloween, my favorite Halloween candy? Its a toss up Snickers and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.
What is your favorite Halloween candy? Comment in comment section. Happy Halloween!
Category: Halloween 2010
Thrashers 4, Sabres 3: Rivet's Days as Captain are Numbered
Another loss, another blown lead and one step closer to not just the basement of the Northeast Division, we are already there, but dead last in the NHL.
On top of that, Lindy Ruff has obviously seen the same thing I have since last year and finally decided to act on it. Craig Rivet is no longer a top 6 defenseman. Age and a decline in his ability to skate have caught up to him. Last night Ruff made him a healthy scratch, Lindy Ruff stated that he had to go with his top six, that its about winning games and he has to go with the 6 defensemen that will give the Sabres the best chance to win. If you are Rivet you have to give up the captaincy at this point and be prepared to be traded sooner or later or possible demand a trade.
This is all coming after there were some pretty high hopes for this team coming out of camp, but obviously the hopes are not so high at this point. The locker room needed a shake up and Ruff sitting his captain was the way to go. I like it, I think it is long over due and probably should have been addressed in the offseason, but now is better than never.
On to the game last night. Is it me or is this team coughing up a lot of leads this season? They had a 2-0 lead against the Chicago Blackhawks at home a few weeks ago and coughed up the lead and last night same thing, they had a 2-0 lead and let it slip away.
We are getting into a spot now where if the season doesn't turn around you have to start worrying about the playoffs, its not too early to start worrying about playoffs. Slow starts can lose you the playoffs just as much as fast starts can get you in.
Stars: Jordan Leopold and Derek Roy, each with a goal and an assist. Where would this team be without Jordan Leopold and Derek Roy. I am almost inclined to say lets put the "C" on Derek Roy's jersey and let him lead this team. His consistency has earned it and though he is often our favorite whipping post, hes also our best offensive player and possibly best two way forward on the ice.
Useless: Tim Connolly, yeah he had a goal but he still sucks, Thomas Vanek and Drew Stafford, no goals, no points and Stafford was a -1, I have run out of patience with Drew Stafford. He is joining Connolly as a permanent member of uselessness.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Sabres 6, Devils 1
Another road game, another road win. We may have the worst home record in hockey along with the Devils but we do have one of the best road records so far. All three of our wins have come on the road and last night was against the New Jersey Devils who usually trap us right out of the building whether its there or here.
Last night was a good sign for a few players including Thomas Vanek who may have taken himself off my shit list with two goals including one on the power play and Tyler Ennis had a big game with two points including a goal.
Also, enough nagging about Tyler Myers I think many of us forget after the incredible rookie season he had as a 19 year old that hes only 20, hes still prone to some mistakes, but the thing I notice about his mistakes that people don't give him credit for is that generally, he makes up for them and at times even able to cover them up because hes so dame big and tall when he makes a mistake his reach can help to hide it.
So, a solid effort on the road, now we need that ever elusive first home win.
Stars: Thomas Vanek, Tyler Ennis, Rob Niedermayer, Mike Grier, Derek Roy
Useless: Tim Connolly, I hate to keep piling on but as one of your top two centers don't you think he would have had one shot on goal or shown something in the stat sheet? Nothing, not even a + rating....And he played over 16 minutes so playing time was not an excuse.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Sunday Retro: The Cult Wild Flower
They are in Buffalo this Friday, can't wait. I played this record till it broke literally, i still have the cassette somewhere that won't play in anything. Luckily I discovered CD's and I have that version now safely uploaded on my IPod. If they played Electric front to back I think Id walk out a happy man.Category: Sunday Retro
Senators 4, Sabres 2: Cutesy Putesy Strikes Again
How can a team look good on the road and come home and look like crap? Eight games into the season and we are 0-5 at home. Thats not going to get you a Stanley Cup, its not even going to get you to the playoffs, it will however get them last place. And thats exactly where we sit, dead last and well deserved. If the Buffalo Sabres can't win at home then they deserve to be in last place.
So I have one question, 1/8th of the home schedule has gone down the dumper, how long is this franchise and ownership going to wait to make some changes. Not just calling up a player or a something on the coaching level by benching a player, Im talking something more significant. Darcy Regier has generally been dead silent early in seasons and generally does nothing until its too late.
This team needs a serious kick in the ass now, not later, now. They need a wake up call, something to say that performing like a steaming pile of crap at home is not acceptable. Obviously Lindy Ruff and his coaching staff is not getting the message across so its time for the GM to either back up his coach or make a coaching change. He can back up Ruff by making a trade. Dealing some dead weight like Tim Connolly or Craig Rivet. Either one would be removing two guys who I truly believe are no longer NHL caliber players, even if you have to ditch them for draft picks, you have guys like Weber and Luke Adam waiting.
I know Connolly had two goals last night and I don't care, he also coughed a puck up along the boards in his own end trying to do something cute and it cost them a goal. You can't score goals and then give them back in return. Connolly is at best an opportunistic player anymore, he needs other players to make things happen and then finishes what other players did the dirty work on when he feels like it.
The third period last night while a valiant effort should have never happend. 20 shots on goal in the third but only 16 in the first two periods. Come out with that intensity and maybe you can take an early lead and maintain it. This team right now is a far cry from a cup contender as Ruff has said this early season, they aren't even a playoff team.
From here on out Im putting up the regular logo until they prove they are going to start playing like they are capable of. Until then, maybe its time, Maybe Lindy Ruff's tenure here needs to end, or maybe some players who once believed to be the core of this team need to be moved if for anything else for shock value to light a fire under some other players.
Stars: Tim Connolly- Ill give him credit for finishing on the two goals, Chris Butler continues to perform well on a defense that is under performing so far this season.
Useless: Tim Connolly- For cutesy plays that give back goals on horrible turnovers in the offensive zone, Derek Roy- Did he play last night? Not one shot, Thomas Vanek- Hes on the trading block too if Im GM unless he starts producing
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Clueless: Christine O'Donnell
If Sarah Palin is the equivalent of Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter:
Then Christine O'Donnell is Alicia Silverstone in Clueless:Category: Miscellaneous | Politics
Sabres 4, Thrashers 1
I know Im a little late with writing this being over a full 24 hours after the game but holy crap, at this point a win is worth writing about.
I know, it was Sucklanta, they are probably the worst team in the East without exception but hey, thats how you get to the playoffs in my book, you beat the teams you are supposed to beat, the rest of the conference go .500 against and you are in.
A few good things happened in this game that suggest they are coming together:
1. Thomas Vanek only took til game 7 of the season but he finally got his first goal.
2. Chris Butler looked solid on defense with two assists
3. Tyler Myers looked like the defenseman we saw in his rookie season again. Granted I haven't seen his play fall off that dramatically like some have, he has just looked human so far this season, last night he looked like an all star in his second full NHL season.
4. Cody McCormick is showing a nice scoring touch , two goals in two games, not bad. I don't think anyone thought he would score two all year, much less by game 7.
Stars: Thomas Vanek, Chris Butler, Tyler Myers and Cody McCormick
Useless: Im sorry, until he can put together a solid game and look like hes trying Tim Connolly is permanently useless. He had 4 shots on goal but they were of the "I am lazy, and don't give a shit" variety.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Since When is Santa African American?
Not that there is anything wrong with it, but since when is Santa African American? And when did Santa Claus announce he was running for Governor of New York State and when did the Party of the Rent is Too Damn High get established? I think Jimmy McMillan AKA African American Santa established it last night.
I'm going to establish my own political party and I have a few ideas after last night:
The Party of My Student Loan Payments are too Damn High
The Party of My Mortgage is too Damn High
or
The Party of My Paycheck is too Damn Low
What should I name it? Leave comments in comment section.
Category: Politics
My Dog Is Smarter Than Christine O'Donnell
Okay, maybe I'm insulting.....my dog by comparing his intelligence to quite possibly the dumbest person ever to run for federal political office in the history of this country.
I am being too kind to her by saying that she is dumber than the rocks in the street at the end of my driveway. She makes Sarah Palin look like the smartest first grader....okay thats giving Sarah Palin too much credit.
Seriously, spend five minutes and watch her utter stupidity and ignorance in her senate debate with Chris Coons:
Can we please get over the debate of Creationism Vs Evolution? Its not even a debate, there is a place to learn about Creationism, its called Sunday School, Church, your own home.
There is also a place to learn about the scientific theory of evolution, its called science class in school. Creationism is not a theory, its a faith based story in a story book for those who choose to believe it. There are all sorts of kids in public schools....Christians, Catholics (who btw don't necessarily believe in creationism verbatim out of the Bible), Jews, Muslims (yes there are Muslim children in our publc schools), Mormons and gasp!!!! Atheists/Agnostics....and you know what? They all have their own faith based/or non faith based beliefs, but there is the magic word FAITH, a word that does not exist in scientific theorys based on facts, observation and empirical evidence.
And that brings me to her biggest stupid blunder of the night, if you are running for federal office you can't hold up the constitution for your party and preach all these morals you supposedly have based on that constitution and then have absolutely no clue what is in that constitution. Come on now, this is high school social studies not Harvard Law stuff. Separation of Church and State as a principle of our constitution was taught to us in high school, if not junior high school.
The best part about this video is that the debate is being held at a law school, the laughter you hear when O'Donnell thinks they are laughing with her, they are really laughing at her. She thinks the joke is on Coons, its on her and she is too stupid and aloof to even realize it. That is where my dog is smarter than she is, even my dog knows when hes in trouble and he moves on to something else, she kept going and kept getting laughed at and truly humiliated.
Has it really come down to this in our country where any person with a vegetable for a brain like Christine O'Donnell obviously has can run for federal office with absolutely no experience, no full time job and obviously no legitimate or lasting knowledge or education? Where was she in high school? Did she fall asleep? Was she day dreaming about a masturbation free country? This woman has the IQ of a peach pit. What is sad is that thousands of people will vote for her anyway and quite frankly, her supporters, those that are left after this display of stupidity are just as stupid as O'Donnell and that is frightening.
Category: Politics
A Tribute to Mr. C, Tom Bosley
Tom Bosely better known as Mr. C on Happy Days died today...Happy Days was one of my favorite shows as a kid, one of the first I can remember wanting to watch regularly. Here the closing clip from the 30th anniversary special of Happy Days from 2005.
Category: Television
Sunday Retro
One of my favorite Halloween time music videos, The Cure's Lullaby off their album Disintegration. Whats better than spiders and creepy crawly things around Halloween:Category: Halloween 2010
Blackhawks 4, Sabres 3: We Just Aren't That Good
Another loss. Another loss in which we coughed up leads and made key mistakes when it counted. True, the effort was better, but how did we get from "Stanley Cup Contender" per word of Lindy Ruff to "The effort was better".
Our standards have fallen just six games into the regular season. The fact is the same problem exists on this team that was there last year and the previous two years that this team didn't make the playoffs. They have no finish.
Thomas Vanek used to be a finisher and now he can have five or six quality scoring chances and come up with squat on a nightly basis.
Wednesday night we play Atlanta, Im laying it out there now, if we fall to what is essentially 1-6 (I don't count pity points in my standings) it will be time to start pressing panic buttons.
A lot of people are trying to lay blame and to be honest, I don't have a problem with Lindy Ruff, but geez, at some point some blame has to be laid at the feet of the coaches, whether its Lindy or his assistants for not getting the job done with the power play. Its been non-existent.
Its time to either shake things up in the coaching department either fire and assistant or bring on a power play specialist to get this thing going again. Rick Martin anyone? Scott Arniel?
Useless: Rob Niedermayer he had nary a point and was a -1 with no shots on goal and sat in the box for two minutes. Craig Rivet was a close second, Tim Connolly a close third despite having an assist, even when he does contribute the other 95% of the game hes useless.
Star: Cody McCormick scored his first goal as a Sabre, he fights, hits, and apparently hes got some hands too, looking forward to more of that.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Psycho Paladino
I actually thought that this picture is a pretty good representation of the bastard Carl Paladino, could actually go well on an Andrew Cuomo sponsored billboard or two with the title of this post.....Psycho Paladino has a ring to it.....Andrew, if you read this blog, call me so we can talk about your ad's for the last few weeks prior to the election.
Category: Politics
Blackhawks 4, Sabres 3 and the Hit was Dirty
This kind of losing can not continue. If you get an early lead in your own building you better win. We were up 2-0 yesterday until this dirty hit by Niklas Hjalmarsson.
The response I have heard the most was well Hjalmarsson is not a dirty player and I really don't care. It WAS a dirty hit and if the league gets tough on these hits maybe players will think about them and we won't have to hear about how dumb the play is. Well don't make dumb decisions to hit players from behind.
Someone said Pominville was looking over his shoulder two or three times, if you see it then you are better than me because he didn't look over his shoulder once, he had no idea that hit was coming.
Ryan Miller said today that the league needs to wake up and start holding players accountable for hits like this and I couldn't agree more. You want to scare the crap out of players from making these hits, suspend players for the same length of time the player they hit is out of the lineup for. If Pominville is out three weeks then thats how long Hjalmarsson is out.
My favorite cop out on this hit was that he isn't a dirty player, maybe not, but it was a dirty hit, if the shoe was on the other foot and it was Pominville with that same hit on Patrick Kane, Chicago wants Jason Pominville's head on a platter and Pominville isn't a dirty player either.
Of course we can talk about this all we want, until the NHL and Colin Campbell gets tough on this, which they NEVER have or will, these hits will continue to draw attention away from the important part, the final score.
And since that came up, if you have a two goal lead in your own building, I don't care who got hit and injured, you have to collect yourselves and move on and get the two points in your own building. Tim Connolly may have scored the third goal, but until he did, he was THE WORST player on the ice.
STAR: Derek Roy continued his hot play last night he had a goal and an assist for 2 more points, he now has four goals and one assist on the season. I like the Roy, Stafford, Hecht line, could be a nice combination.
USELESS: I have no idea how Tim Connolly did it but he had a goal and he was a +1 (dumb luck?) He didn't skate, didn't look interested half the time and quite frankly made some bad passes, despite the goal, he was useless tonight. But, he has company....so was Rob Neidermayer who was a -3.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Game 2: Rangers 6, Sabres 3
As sharp as they looked last night, tonight they looked like trash. The first period was almost unwatchable as New York took a 2-0 lead and every feeble attempt that the Sabres made to get back into this one, the Rangers came right back.
Not only did they take liberties with Ryan Miller all night, other than a cross checking call on Steve Montador, we pretty much let them.
I'm going to start a few lists here tonight, one is the useless player of the night and the other is the star of the night. Some nights there may not be one in one category, other nights they may be more than one in each, but tonight I have one in each.
Useless tonight: Craig Rivet, actually he's been useless pretty much since the beginning of last season, he is slow and listless for the most part and instead of playing angles he looks like hes trying to keep up with guys faster than him, he can't and therefore he is useless. Find an excuse to sit him. I know he is the captain, but he sucks right now, I'm sorry, I can't be nice about this because he pretty much allowed 3 goals to happen. If you are slow you better be using what grit and toughness you have to hit opposing forwards in front of or next to the net and Rivet is doing neither. Mike Weber, Chris Butler...anybody but Craig Rivet right now.
Star: Jordan Leopold, two goals and an assist, what a pleasant surprise. He shouldn't be carrying the team offensively, where Thomas Vanek was (-4) and Jason Pominville were was beyond me, but hey, any night a defenseman wants to chip in for three points be my guest, especially when Tyler Myers had a bit of a rough night.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Disney's Halloween Treat
Its almost here, in a few short weeks it will be Halloween, I put together all five parts of the first year Disney aired its Halloween Treat back in 1982. Happy Halloween!
Category: Halloween 2010 | Television
Game One: Sabres 2, Ottawa 1
What a start! Im not going to get too picky after a game one win IN Ottawa. We take the two points, get on the plane and get ready for the Rangers for the home opener tomorrow night.
It was a big two points too for early in the season. It now marks the second time in a row going back to last season we have beaten Ottawa in their building after seemingly going forever since we won there before. I think we may have gotten the monkey off our backs in that building.
Derek Roy had two goals in a game that should not have been as close as the 2-1 score says it was, but like I said, for game one, in Ottawa, chalk it up.
Category: Buffalo Sabres Hockey
Anderson Pooper
I used to like Anderson Cooper until he became Mr. Politically Correct all of a sudden.
Where are we going as a civilization when in 2010 its only taken a seemingly bright, intelligent news anchor on CNN about 40 years to catch up to the phrase "Thats So Gay" and make a big deal out of it?
Thats exactly what Anderson Cooper is doing with the new Vince Vaughn movie The Dilemma.
Vince Vaughn drops the word "gay" in the trailer and Anderson Cooper has his panties in a knot. And now of course, in case we didn't know Anderson Cooper is So GAY. Here is the trailer if you haven't seen it: Did you catch what has got Cooper crapping his pants? What is sad is that Vaughn's character describes the context in which he uses the word which is not in terms of the sexual orientation. Even if it was, who cares? How many times have we heard that word used in that context in the last 40 years or so in pop culture and talking in casual conversations? Here is my take on the trailer: A) Its a movie, you don't like the word in the movie, don't go to the movie, but gay is used all over TV, its not a harmful word even if used to refer to individuals who are gay. Hardly a word worth getting sensitive about. B) If you are offended about the trailer, have you not seen every other potentially offensive movie that has come out over the last half century? This is not the first time this word has been used on TV and there have been far worse offenders of this "Slur" Anderson Cooper has covered so many important, intellectual stories that honestly I never thought of him as gay or anything, but now that hes brought it up, Anderson, I have lost all respect for you, you have joined those who have way too much time on their hands and take political correctness to a level that is far too much to handle or understand. Anderson Cooper, you are SOO Gay.Category: Movies
Yankees Will Lose In Four in First Round
Don't get your hopes up if you are a Yankee fan. The signs are there for a collapse in the first round. Today, I am the biggest Tampa Bay Rays fan on the planet. I hope not only the Rays win but the Yankees go into the postseason as the wildcard with another L in the loss column.
The Yankees are not the team they were last year, they will go into the playoffs as the wildcard, no home field advantage throughout the playoffs and lets face it, their pitching beyond CC Sabathia is questionable at best.
Their greediness has caught up to them. AJ Burnett, they had to have the guy, has turned out to be a massive bust and a contract they are stuck with. He won't be a post season starter and if he is chalk him up as a loss every time out, his record is miserable since the All Star Break.
Same goes for Javy Vasquez, Blue Jays just handed him a loss and took him deep early and often in the win last week. So he may not be starter material either.
That leaves the Yankees with three legit starters for the post-season, Sabathia, Hughes and Andy Pettitte who lets face it, Pettitte is not the same starter he was say 5 years ago.
Bottom line is the Yankees will go down in the first round regardless of who they end up playing. Texas will light their pitching up and Minnesota will probably do the same and is one of the teams that could probably out pitch the Yankees bullpen.
The Yankees are 3-7 in their last 10 games, crawling to the playoffs is not the way they want to do it. You can't just turn it on and off, I don't care if you are the so called greatest team in baseball, they certainly didn't show it this year against the Jays who beat them 11 out of 19.
So, warning to Yankee fans, don't get too comfortable, the Yankees will be sitting right where the Jays are come the World Series, in their homes in front of the TV watching the Braves beat the Twins.
Yankees are goin down in the first round in 4 games.
Category: Sports
Retro Sunday: The Plimsouls
The Plimsouls were a California based group that formed in 1978 with Peter Case on lead vocals and guitar. They were most noted for this song off their 1983 release, A Million Miles Away, which was featured on the soundtrack of the movie Valley Girl. The Goo Goo Dolls also covered this tune on their album Hold Me Up.Category: Sunday Retro
