PASabreFan

What's he have to do with the Sabres? Winter Classic? Golden goal? He doesn't do it for me. I think I noticed him once last night.

I'll take an eccentric approach to this. I truly am an odd hockey bird. Exasperated, the late (on here, anyway) X. Benedict asked me if I was a hockey fan or a Sabres fan. I'm a Sabres fan. I look at Hoss' list and can't say I've really noticed or appreciated most of them. Barkov? I'm looking up other trees, namely the Sabres as they come on and off the ice. The Others are almost always a blur. Helmets don't help. I'm not sure I could pick Mark Stone out of a police lineup. But there are non-Sabres I do notice and, in a sense, enjoy — unless they're killing us. So my Top 10, drawn from a field of 11 if I'm being honest, and in no special order: Brad Marchand — villains are fun Kris Letang — in command Alex Ovechkin — nasty in so many senses of the word Matthew Barzal — crafty and dynamic Casey Cizikas — a hockey player; maybe it's the number Logan Couture — Go Bills! Miles Wood — give me three of him and the Sabres make the playoffs Zdeno Chara — ageless marvel Connor McClavicle — I mean, come on Curtis Lazar — I didn't want to include former Sabres, but I'm already out of choices... punchable, and he might have tried to celebrate with Dahlin soon after leaving Buffalo

A whipping boy is a scapegoat. He unfairly receives blame that should be placed on others. Our classic scapegoat is Carter Hutton — allows three goals behind a porous defense and a feckless offense and loses 3-0 and is fingered (shut up). Your unquestioned leader, captain and best player, highest paid on the team, can't be a whipping boy. He's the alpha male and the top banana. The buck stops on his desk. Although close in salary, Jeff is JAG. He's in the whipping boy pool with Eakin, Risto et al.

Maybe the broadcasting template was laid down starting in the very early days. You have an understated national broadcaster out of Canada as your television voice; the style is on the bland side, emotion is sparse and saved for the biggest moments, and even then, the moment is allowed to star (quick, do your best Ted Darling goal call in your head). You add a relative unknown on the radio, seemingly an underling to the television voice (and to this day, Rick still considers Ted to be The Voice of the Sabres); the descriptive style is perfect for radio, passion brings a passionate game to life in listeners' imaginations, and the call is the moment. I'm biting a piece of taffy in half as I type these words, but maybe Dan is our Ted. Our Rick? He (or she) is out there, young and untested, wildly calling games in the OHL or USHL. The simulcast worked with Rick as the sole voice. It doesn't work with Dan, but you can see why the Sabres wouldn't want a third voice just for the times Dan was on TV. If Rick retires, the simulcast has to go.

Whipping boy=player who's unfairly criticized and, especially, blamed

Yes.

Yeah, I dunno. For a looooong time, any criticism of Jack was not met kindly. This season things started to change. And probably rightly so. It was a bad look for Jack most nights. People can point to injury, but I wonder what injury had Jack chatting with his buddy on the Isles about his buddy's stick. He checked out. I do wonder how a 10 million dollar player on a 31st place team can ever be a "whipping boy." My thoughts are that the bolded is very premature and extremely wishful thinking.

https://www.statmuse.com/nhl/game/3-9-1975-pit-@-buf-13911

I feel like 8-4 is a rare score in hockey.

With a nine iron.

PA WUZ HERE

Good night buddy.

Carter. Finally got his four more years.

Josh's wide hips will serve him well on the field and in his prime child-bearing years.

Ray: Pitt and Buff. R.I.P., @inkman.

Skinner sighting.

This game is so Buffalo at Pittsburgh.

Dunleavy with The Dunleavy. Sorry — I'll stop when he does.

Internet giraffes are slow.

I started a GoFundMe for suspenders for Dan Girardi.

TIL...

That's the idea. The anthem singer and PA guy are obnoxious too. Buffalo should look into it.