Ghost of Dwight Drane

Don't worry man.....how many times have you said NY is overrated and are lucky to score 2 goals? This ain't nuthin'. Nash-Richards-Gaborik Hagelin-Stepan-Callahan Kreider-Boyle-Doan Pyatt-Halpern-Asham-Rupp DelZotto-Staal Girardi-McDonagh Stralman-Bickel Ludqvist Biron Slats, Schoney and Torts are dinosaurs! :P

Is that Briere's Bar Mitzvah picture?

Chz agrees with you

Now I'm getting pissed. But I hope they give d-bags like this more exposure so the public keeps this cover-up in the news and it leads to deeper investigations of the whole shebang

......Well, just slap THAT on as the title of the team DVD.........

You NEED Doan or someone like him here. Darcy makes changes in directions like an 80 year old man pees......in trickles. We've needed grit and leadership since 2005-06, especially up front. Darcy brought in a washed up Grier and Niedermayer thinking that would solve it. Then when they were gone he got Regehr.....who played like a man possesed for the first 15 games then went into "system mode". Now he went to get Ott...which is a step up, but he needs help. The culture of the fashion show Sabres can be dismantled if Doan comes in. Doan-Ott-Regehr would be your true captains. That is enough spunk to neuter Lindy.....or maybe Lindy actually breathes a sigh of relief and lets them do their thing. If we just stop at Ott.....a guy like that will get frustrated 30 games in. He can't change it alone, and he is more of an instigator type leader where Doan is more a calming guy who will have the respect of everyone.

You know what? I am confusing 2 separate groups that work together a lot of times. The Alumni Association and the Sabres Foundation. Many times an alumni event puts the money towards the foundation. Either way.....the players and their families always seem to work hard. I usually do the alumni events. And yes, Benson is the president and makes many appearances at local schools and programs for disadvantaged little kids.

Very good line of questioning, Grumpy Eleven! While I have no access to their books, they have sponsored a breast cancer travel bus that raises awareness.....and they helped to build a baseball diamond for handicapped kids recently. I have noticed an increase in high $$ items donated by the Sabres once Pegula took over and I attribute a lot of that to Mrs. Pegula taking an active role in assisting. Any charity is a leap of faith. I know a lot of the wives and girlfriends donate time to this, and even though I abandoned my season tickets years ago...I still try and support the charity events the Sabres run. Larry Playfair has worked with me on certain aspects of this and he was as serious and dedicated as I could ask. So were the other former players involved. Again....I have no problem calling them out on the ice...but off the ice this is one great town to live in, and those that have played here appreciate it.

Thank you. I will wait to be inspired properly with a BAC of .18 before I decide upon a tribute.

It doesn't matter if he knew.....as referenced in the article I posted, he "never wavered" and actually increased his gift. This isn't a Pegula problem, this is a discussion on the culture at Penn St., or any major institution where power is concentrated, and the things that go on in order to protect the power and cashflow. It just so happens there is a Sabre link to the powerful inner circle, It isn't fun to have to stop and disect something that may have a negative impact to a community that rallys around team oriented activities and identity. Especially when it involves the most dastardly things I can personally think of. Here, people are uncomfortable even looking in a critical manner the relation of a few power players in Penn St culture....BECAUSE....they are also involved in the team YOU love. That fuzzy feeling of community you get when going to a hockey game and your (not your's personally, as a whole) absolute refusal to want to believe anything but 100% kosher behavior goes on behind the scenes......is something people WANT to PROTECT. You don't want to think that anyone involved with maintaining that fuzzy feeling for you is capable of doing something that if objectively looked at.......is at best bordering on just flat wrong. Isn't that in a nutshell what happened at Penn St.? Is this discussion here not just a simpler microcosim on a smaller scale of the thought processes behind those involved at that school? That fuzzy feeling is something to protect. Only at Penn St., how many dozens of kids were sacrificial lambs in order to protect it? Thank you for your help though. Because of the extreme nature of the circumstances, many people would not want to give an opinion on such a subject. Although i find it interesting that people had no problem forming opinions about Paterno before any report was released. Or McQueary. Or Sandusky. But then again.....those guys actually may have been in the building.....none of them wear blue and gold and none of them BUILT the building. Interesting indeed. Thank you kind sir. All I am doing is presenting facts, and a chain of events that should lead any critical thinker to at least pause and scratch their head. I have no idea what happened. I am not accusing anyone of participating in any actual dastardly deed. I think those that feel it is a problem of culture need look no further to understand how that mindset is built. I would have felt much better about things if they were forthcoming at the time and answered requests for an interview or comment. If they are lawyered up and can't comment, then so be it. I can see where someone who thinks this is just a football issue might think that line of thinking is over the top. Those that see it as a culture problem understand why it is important to be forthcoming.

Well....Mr Pegula offset that by increasing his donation to the school to $102 million. He "didn't even waver" after Sandusky was arrested last November. I think that extra $14 mil covers the 2.6 and thensome. http://sportsillustr...s.ap/index.html That's the thing....the school views themselves as under attack and are actually giving more money. They don't see the big picture and are actually throwing gasoline on the moral fire. This isn't some benefit for a kid with cancer......this is corruption at it's highest to protect the devil himself and allow the destruction of children over the course of decades. MF'n sick.

I bet you're enjoying the humidity and all the lightning bugs it brings out tonight.

Amen. The back of the tongue is like a gourmet corned beef when hot.....and the rest is amazing cold. Dip it in a little Weber's mustard....ooof. Wegman's made the mistake of ordering a bunch and were trying to sell them at $5.99lb. I came back the night before the sell-by date and they had them for $1.99 and I wiped them out. Never see them again there.

I have a decent sports collection over the years. The Sabres used to sell the game jerseys or give them away before Ebay. Some may remember them selling at a vendor stand in the Aud. Maybe 40 or 50 hanging there. I have an eclectic group of Sabres jerseys. Makela was one of them. When the Sabres had the alumni reunion and red carpet, I was tempted to outfit my friends with a bunch of the home whites and try walking down. One of my favorites is a Zigomanis preseason jersey. If the Sabres have a sense of humor, I would donate it to one of their event auctions if Darcy will autograph a fax machine to go with it.

Crazy stuff......cool. About 5 years ago a fan from Finland contacted me here because he wanted to buy my Mikko Makela game jersey. I sold it. Very nice guy and neat experience.

Yeah....now he just needs all the refs that watched him be a pest/turtle/diver/instigator for 3 years....to leave the league.

Can we peg the contract to the price of gold?

Man, you guys and your wisecracks. The point being, Bradley....who was Sandusky's workout partner almost every day at the Penn St gym, saw Sandusky showering alone with boys himself....lived with McQueary who saw a rape take place....and was scrambling for a job somewhere else.............. is friends with and spent close time with Benson....who is Pegula's best friend..and Pegula was trying to get Bradley a job somewhere else before any of this went public, even though he was 1st in line as Penn St Head Coach. Is it a football problem?....a Penn St problem?....a culture problem? If Pegula didn't know about it before he gave his $88 million.....he has some really crappy friends and business partners. PS....there are still federal investigations going on.

Hmmnnnn.........

'12 70.2 mil multiplier 1 '11 64.3 mil multiplier 1.09 '10 59.4 mil multiplier 1.18 '09 56.8 mil multiplier 1.24 '08 56.7 mil multiplier 1.24 '07 50.3 mil multiplier 1.4 So Vanek getting a contract for $7 million in '07 would be like $9.8 today per year.....doesn't make Parise or Suter look bad, eh? Stafford would be 4.36 give or take Roy would be a $5.6 mil player today

Are you willing to palpate them during breeding season? That's a good way of putting it and why he's worth overpaying

That guy had a pretty interesting life. I didn't know he was born on the run from the Nazi's. Anyway.....we're under control here. Took on a little water, but stable now.

That's a fair take. I'm not making up a story, that's the thing. You say possible....I say highly possible given the facts. I think Pegula is a good guy. I think his heart is in the right place....even if it is sort of a tragic flaw. I think he is a protector by nature....and I mean that in a good way. But in protecting things that are close to him, it seems he sometimes gets blinded by protecting the jersey or institution....and in doing so protects some culpable people by default. He really takes offense to people that question the things he loves....be it the players on his team, the coach, GM etc. Now coming in.....I figured he'd be more of an efficient businessman in his operations, but he really takes things personally. That comes from a good place, even though it might not lead to the best decisions. I can respect the character that goes into his instinctive response.

How is OJ being a murderer true? It's a popular opinion. You can dispute and form an opinion that you don't think there is any way he knew about Sandusky at all. I only presented facts that form my opinion there was a pretty decent chance he knew about Sandusky at the time he gave his big hockey donation at least......AND he increased it AFTER all of it went public. So does it even matter then in that particular instance? He's still giving giant money to the athletic department. That's his cash...that's his to with what he wishes. On Corbett....my first thing on Pegula is...ok, he's Hydrofracking.....of course he is going to be donating. And that could very well be the only reason. It's just the back and forth between Second Mile and all these others.....Corbett getting donations from Second Mile members.....Second Mile getting a grant from Corbett.....Penn St giving millions in construction contracts to Second Mile board members....Penn St building a place for Second Mile.....this whole thing is so intertwined.......which is why many are calling for killing the football program if not the entire athletic program. When termites are in one beam.....then two...then three.....there's a good chance your house is infested. I want to be fair, and encourage open discussion about a serious issue. You are always pretty fair and I have seen enough good from Pegula otherwise to think he IS a good guy. But I have also seen him support his teams at all cost, even sometimes defying logic. Yes, it is. I'm not giving an opinion to kill Pegula. He is pretty candid in his interviews......when I get down on the Sabres in general it is more the culture that was set up before he got there. I like him as owner....I gave reasons why I figured he would go all out to get DOan and why i was giving Darcy the benefit of the doubt this summer because of the draft-Ott-and hopefully soon to be Doan. But Pegula as a Penn St alumnus and fan can be grouped in with the hundreds and thousands that don't seem to be phased at what truly happened there.

The crux of the matter in the discussion at whole is......is it a school problem?.....a football problem?....a culture problem? We are finding out it is a pretty deep problem with the school's supporters, far and wide. I am not putting Pegula anywhere near commiting a crime. What I am saying is it is reasonable to think there is a pretty good chance that he knew about Sandusky at least at the point he made his donation. I am not saying he knew what was going on in 1986 or 1991 or even 2005.....but the crossing of all the major players involved in this case....he had to be aware before the public at large was I would think.