I am Defecting

Because they're leaders. Because they are leaders

I won't pretend that you were asking about Pegula's personal income. You were making the point that he wouldn't invest in the Sabres and the Harbor Center on a profit motive. That's the point that I will address, but it's worth noting that Pegula's estimated worth is 3 billion. That's not all in the bank, but if 2 billion of it were earning 2.5%, then he brings home $50 million every year, or an estimated $155 million interest since he bought the team. For a Florida resident, there's no state tax on that income. From what I understand, the NY state income tax for his bracket would be 8.82%, equaling $4,410,000 yearly, or an estimated $13,597,000 taxes that he has evaded, since he bought the team, by residing in Boca Raton, "Rat's Mouth," Florida, rather than Buffalo, "Beautiful River," NY. That's beside the point. The real reason that he lives in Rat's Mouth, as he was quick to point out, is that his daughter plays at tennis. That doesn't explain why East Management LLC has supposed headquarters in Florida, when much of their business is way up in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Our Fair City. I will spare everyone the trouble of looking it up, when I say that the corporate income tax rate (5.5%) in Florida is lower than in all of these other states. That's great if you're trying to make a profit, but if you're receiving $37 million in tax breaks, from Buffalo, and NYS, for your HarborCenter project, then it pays to also be headquartered in New York State. I'm not an accountant, and the lines are getting all blurry. If I were to guess, then I'd say that the profits get funneled to Florida, and the expenses get filed in New York. But that's beside the point. Want to work for the Sabres? This job was posted 5 days ago. http://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/12911386 "East Management Services, LP (EMS) is seeking an engineer with extensive drilling and production experience for a position based in its Pittsburgh, PA oil and gas headquarters. The position requires regular travel to fields within the Appalachian Basin and EMS’s Denver oil & gas office." That's the company that Joe Battista and Ed Kilgore now work for. I thought Pegula said, that if he wanted to make a profit, then.. why that carpet baggin' son of a... for God's sake Kilgore, why?! Now, at last, I will address the contention, that Pegula bought the Sabres as a dream, and is building the new ice complex, not for profit. And you say that I am crazy. If you believe that the NHL that has forced him to raise ticket prices; If you believe that $7 nachos, and $9 pints are the price of doing business; if you think for one minute that parking, ice time, room and board will be free in Hockey Heaven; and that the only way to win, is to lose with a league minimum salary cap figure, then you are the crazy one. He is not losing money, no, actually, he is taking what was yours. For those of you who live in the real Buffalo, and not the imagined Buffalo that will crumble without Terry, you know that the price of homes on the West Side are eclipsing 100k. They are talking about the Fruit Belt becoming gentrified. Warren Buffett is going to buy the Sabres, and we don't need no stinking-tax-evading, fake-write-off taking, guilt-trippin' wannabe-fanbois mooching off our hard-working, tax-payin', die-hard Sabres-cheering city. We don't need Pegula's greedy minstrels, telling us what to buy, and how to think. So go back to yer coal mine, chumps! We got windmills!

I wouldn't go that far, but I did compare PLF to Cam Neely and Mario Lemieux recently, and those guys would also have trouble fitting into a flat management structure.

That's an important point. I don't think that he's unprofitable, but I'll give your question the attention it deserves later this evening in an edit of this post. Kudos.

Who wouldn’t leap to sign a multi-year contract for a position in which they are being set up to miserably fail? Who wouldn’t rejoice at being contractually obligated to take the blame, and face the music, for every game in which your blatantly deficient roster fails to miraculously win? Who wouldn’t immediately sign the papers to ensure beyond a doubt that you’ll be the first man sent to the guillotine, and your head will be kicked to the curb, by an owner who will reap many profits, but never take any blame? Who wouldn’t wish for each inevidable loss to be engraved upon their tombstone without fan protestation? RIP Ted Nolan: It was HIS fault!

Warren Buffett, because he's already invested in Buffalo, puts the right people in charge, letting them do their jobs, and it would make a great news story.

I'm looking at the Blackhawks 2009-2010 roster as a template. If we can get our Toews and Kane in the next two drafts, and add a bunch of solid free agents, and develop and resign the best of our young talent, then we could be serious contenders in 2018. It would be nice if the Islanders pick expedited the process. Maybe we'll make the playoffs in 2017. Hmm. Looks like Scotty Bowman was involved in their front office. I wonder if that matters. I hear that he's difficult to work with.

Oh yeah?! Terry told me, that he thinks the prosecution is a bunch of poop-stains! As far as Terry's concerned, you can all sniff his rotten underwear! Like Ted Black keeps telling us, it's Terry's team, so he can do as he likes. If the fans don't like it, then they're not REAL. Who needs FAKE fans?! If the players don't like it, then we got like a jillion future all-stars we could draft. If Ted Nolan doesn't like it, then he's finished in this league. Hope he likes eating caribou. If Pat Lafontaine doesn't like it, then he's a mentally soft, impossible to work with, two-faced quitter! What's with the culture of negativity, coming from the press-corps? If you don't like the way that Terry is doing things, then why don't you go and suck it?! So there! You like that? I thought so. No?! Well, Uncle Terry don't give a damn. Case dismissed, bioches. Me and the judge gotta go drink Scotches.

I don't mean any disrespect, but the rest of the world thinks we're fat and ignorant. I just don't see any real diplomatic course we could have taken, just empty threats we could have made, which would have made us look increasingly bafoonish. Or we could blow them up. If it were up to me, though, we'd go in cohorts with Russia. I shouldn't presume, but if you lived in Russia, Taro, I bet you'd hate the hell out of ###### Riot, be all for the anti-gay propaganda to minors laws, and love the hell out of Putin. He's a republican's wet dream. He'd probably run for you guys in 2016. His English ain't that bad.

Why do we think he's a meddler??? Here's what TPegs bragged to Kevin Sylvester about his influence on player personnel. I submit this as evidence: "Maybe someone was holding the painters hand, while he was doing the painting. / It's just my way of doing things. I'm not saying it's the right way. / You might talk to, um, some of the other owners around the league, and they'll tell you, you know 'who is this new owner? what, is he crazy? You know, why give this guy money, or that?' And y'know, hey, it was my decision. It was something I wanted to do. / It's my style, so I'm going to do things my way. / Nobody's got the market cornered on hockey brains." -Terry Pegula, June 18, 2013 Great investigative journalism by Sylvester, by the way, coaxing this confession out of Pegula, without tipping him off to the fact that he was being recorded. http://audio.wgr550.com/a/76636369/6-18-sabres-owner-terry-pegula-discusses-darcy-regier-thomas-vanek-ryan-miller-and-more.htm

It COULD have been accomplished diplomatically, but not realistically. If Russia had not invaded Crimea, I think it is more likely that the tensions amongst Ukrainians would have escalated to violent civil war, between pro-Russian, and pro-Western factions. As soon as the new Ukrainian government withdraws what loyal forces might remain in Crimea, this will be over, crisis, and potential World War, averted. Russia was the peace-maker in this situation. "We are fed up with these sanctions, they provoke only feelings of irony and sarcasm," - Yuri Ushakov, Putin's senior foreign policy advisor.

I share in the perplexity. Hasek's in the argument for best goalie of all time. Best career save percentage of anyone. I used to watch every game back then, to see what Hasek would pull off. He was unbelievable. I remember actually hoping for higher shot totals. Never before has a goalie more vehemently insisted that his defenders not try to block shots, "Can't see!" He had a 70 shot shutout. It felt similar to watching Michael Jordan. One of my favorite quirks of his, was when he would flip the puck in the air with his glove hand, and then smash it like a tennis forehand down the ice, with his stick, to kill penalty time.

I figure that this ends with the Crimea. Russia's lease to use the big Naval Base in Sevastopol was set to expire in 2015 or so. That lease wouldn't have likely been re-upped by the new pro-western Ukrainian government. Rather than lose the base, through inaction, they took advantage of Ukraine's vulnerability in Crimea, already being an autonomous republic, with a majority of Russian speaking citizens, to save themselves the hassle of renegotiating the base rights with Kiev every five years. If Russia was going to use force against the Ukraine at large, they would have kept Yanukovich in power. Also, I suspect that Russia is tired of negotiating with a neighbor that cannot pay its debts and is politically unstable, so they have chosen to, quit playing nice, sever ties, and let the Ukraine flounder on its own for a while, propped up by Western loans, till they find their own feet. I can see why Ukrainians would be pissed to lose any territory, especially to Russia, which treats the Ukraine condescendingly. Recent revolutions in the Ukraine have been fueled by loftier ideals than a duty to Russia. From Russia's perspective, though, the Ukraine has been increasingly difficult to work with. The talk of making Ukrainian the official national language, not to mention the emphasis towards western business interests belies Kiev's hostility towards Russia. For Crimean citizens, though, Russia offers more stability and better financial prospects than Ukraine. This is better for the Crimea, I would say, because they're mostly ethnic Russians and have been for decades, who want to speak Russian and learn Russian in schools without second-class citizenship. There are some parallels to the situation in Syria. Russia continues to back the Assad regime because Russia maintains a military base, in Syria, that would be lost in any change of regime. Keep in mind that it was Russia, who offered to destroy Syria's chemical weapons, in order to save face in that fiasco. The common theme, though, is that Russia is not willing to give up any military assets, just because we think that the revolutionaries are more democratic. If there is one thing that Russians are serious about, it is revolution, so it makes sense to me that they might find the Syrians and the Ukrainians a little amateurish. So, from an American perspective, "what is to be done," to quote V.I. Lenin, who was quoting Chernyshevsky. The Russians are clearly willing to negotiate with us. They are coming to the table, and they are not yet banging their shoe on it. The destruction of Syria's chemical weapons was in our interests. The scale down of Iran's nuclear ambitions was also in our interests. We need to find a way, not to punish each other for the situation in Crimea, but to turn it to our mutual advantage. The trouble is, they are getting a land-mass, and we there isn't a similar land-mass that would be willing to be annexed, except perhaps the Ukraine itself. Is that the big picture? Have I figured it out? Are we just looking for an excuse to invade the Ukraine? Russia, after-all, is getting prime real estate on the Black Sea, and being welcomed by the inhabitants, whereas, the countries that we've been invading are nothing but ungrateful, and even a little hostile. It's getting to the point where some people are even blowing themselves up to be rid of us. But the Ukraine would welcome us. The least we should get is a chunk on the Black Sea, comparable the Crimea, or perhaps a chunk of Turkey. Russia and us could be neighbors. We could play friendly war games with each other, and it could be televised. All the soldiers, and pilots, and sailors would have a riot. We'd get to know them, like sports teams. And we would push each other towards greatness, and sometimes they would win, and sometimes we would win, but at the end of the day we could all agree that the Ukraine, or Turkey, or whomever, didn't know what the hell they were doing, till we came together and invaded them, as brothers, or comrades, at last.

Onward, Sausage Fanbois! Marching as to war, With the cross-ed Sabres Going on before. Mars, the royal Master, Leads against the foe; Forward into battle, See those fanbois go! At the sign of triumph Terry's host doth flee; On, then, Sausage Fanbois, On to victory! (Chorus) Onward, Sausage Fanbois! Marching as to war, With the crossed Sabres Going on before!

Following the NHL lockout, about ten years ago, Jeremy Jacobs' team, the Boston Bruins, finished with 74 points, tied for 5th worst record in the NHL. Things looked bleak, but the Bruins kept trying to win. The following year, they finished with 76 points, seventh worst in the NHL, which was slight improvement, but still, a major disappointment, so the Bruins kept trying to win. The next year, 07/08, Jacobs fired Harry Sinden, and hired Bruins legend Cam Neely as Vice President of the team. They kept trying to win, and made the playoffs that year with 94 points. The next two years they made it to the conference semi-finals, and Neely was promoted to President of the Boston Bruins, not Hockey Operations, or Hockey Related Business, but the Entire Organization, because trying to win was of sole importance to Jacobs. The following season, the Boston Bruins, won the Stanley Cup. It took Neely four seasons. Way back in the day, in 1975, under Jacobs' new ownership, the Bruins experienced immediate success, finishing first in the Adams division for 4 consecutive seasons. Under Jacobs' ownership they had appeared in 4 Stanley Cup Finals, but never won it all with Jacobs, prior to Neely's arrival. If we are comparing owners, Terry Pegula inherited a team that finished first in the Northeast division with 100pts the year before he bought the team. The following year, while the Bruins were winning the Cup, the Sabres regressed to 96 points. Having failed to capture any top free-agents talk turned to drafting well. The following year, the Sabres regressed further to 89 pts, and talk turned to rebuilding. The following year, the Pegula's Sabres finished with 48 points in 48 games, and there was talk of intentionally tanking. This season, the Sabres are on pace for 55 points, and 23 wins, among the worst totals in franchise history. We already expect next season to be worse. Intersting factoid: Cam Neely won the Bill Masterson trophy in 1994, and won the Stanley Cup as Bruins team President in 2011. Mario Lemieux won the Masterson trophy in 1993, and won the Stanley Cup as co-owner of the Penguins in 2009. Pat LaFontaine won the Masterson trophy in 1995, and I've never heard of Joey Battista, but he sure as hell ain't Patty Lafontaine.

Well, they're calling it a blizzard, so I'm just going with it. The back end of my car slipped out a couple times, driving at 11. It's getting colder, though, and windier. Might be a blizzard in the next few hours.

Nolan is a cool dude. It will be a shame when he's fired next year. Someone will have to take the blame for the losses though, and there are about 150 people between Nolan and Pegula. So if Nolan has to take the responsibility, that means that Pegula will survive. I figure we'll bring back Lindy, and the masses will rejoice.

I think that Drew is actually one of our best players. Does that mean that we need to get rid of him? Maybe it does.

Yuri worked from outside the organization to subvert them psychologically. This looks like an inside job, to cover up Lafontaine's affair with Jessie, or Kim, or whomever.

Well, Pegula met Brad Richards personally, and said, you're no Ville Leino. We've got a sole mission here, Brad.

Well, you know, the effort from the Blackhawks game really took it out of them tonight, and, and, they were missing Girgensons and Stuart, which are two or our best, best, players, and, and, they weren't exactly trying to win, cause it would be stupid to win this, and, and, it's better to lose, better to lose, better to lose. Our front office is so smart, so smart, for being so patient, so patient. So much patience, and so smart in the way they've assembled this team. We're building a champion here, folks. This team is a bunch of champions here, folks, so smart in the way that this team is assembled. So patient. So smart. So dumb.

Bang it in. Now's our chance!

Keep trying.

Let's Go Buffalo!

Bring it off the post and in, boys!