Claude_Verret

My favorite "gay" quote courtesy of Artie Lange when he was on Stern, in reference to show producer Gary "BabaBooey" Dell'Abate's embarrassing first pitch at a Mets game: "That's the gayest thing that I've ever seen..... and I once saw a guy suck a cokc"

Original six teams continue to fall... Number 13: Montreal Canadiens

He lost me with this... It would be shocking if Boston or Chicago didn't make the playoffs. But the Islanders? c'mon. At the very best they are a coin flip for making the post-season.

I expect the Sabres to suffer in the rankings simply because they once had the slug. That stench is hard to shake. Teams that have ###### logos have typically gone from one shade of ###### to the next over the years. Yet the Sabres, with their iconic original logo in the vaults and available to go back to actually chose to instead wear one the worst logos in the history of sports. Inexcusable.

Number 14: New York Rangers

Unanimous pick for #30. No question about it. Goat head would have been in the low 20's IMO.

Thanks for recapping Eleven. I was too busy fishing, swimming, beaching and drinking at the Outer Banks last week. Number 15: Nashville Predators

Wakefield is a little outside my frame of reference so I'll get back to you. How long are you staying? 8/8 weekend I think I'm heading to Charlotte for the Bills game.

What part of town will you be in?

Starting tomorrow this is my ocean front home for the next week. F'N fantastic!

Number 22: Ottawa Senators And our first bombshell... Number 21: Toronto Maple Leafs

That's great news, congrats. A teaching(?) job in the Confinement Area for Relocated Yankees is the best in the Triangle.

I fully understand and appreciate the need for interesting terms to describe the color, flavor and aroma of craft beer. Some people just try way too hard and go overboard IMO.

I was at Resurgence last month. Both their IPA and double IPA were pretty darn good. The sponge candy stout wasn't the trainwreck I anticipated and was actually pretty decent. The loganberry wit was awful. I had a saison too that was good.

Number 23: Winnipeg Jets

Remember when Max did this a few years ago in Alabama? Link

Number 24: LA Kings

I've heard stories that DH can be a real prick? I had one celebrity urinal encounter. Steve Tasker at Jim Kelly's nightclub the night the Bills lost to Pittbsburgh in the playoffs. 1995 maybe? Another LCTF. After I moved up from fry cook to bartender, Don Postles sat at the bar on a few occasions.

Not that there's anything wrong with that...

OK I've been enjoying Weird Al's lame claim to fame video, and it naturally led me to think about a few of my lame claims to fame... I hung out with Artie Lange and Stuttering John at their hotel after they did a show in Buffalo circa 2002. Just a few weeks ago while at the amusement park on Toronto island, I was on a ride with my daughter right next to that carrot top looking dude from Barenaked Ladies. Back in my fry cook days I prepared an order of wings for Joe Mesi. In Sturgis, ND I got my picture taken with Michael Ballard and had shots with Fajita Mike from the Full Throttle Saloon TV show. I've also had numerous encounters with Buffalo sports celebrities, but I wanted to keep my list truly lame. Whatcha got SS?

tuchus

Number 25: New York Islanders

Another Stanley Cup / Super Bowl/ World Series parade in Pittsburgh, Boston or New York? meh,,,. it used to matter to me, but zero fukcs given these days. A Stanley Cup parade in places like Vancouver or St. Louis with long suffering fan bases like ours? I wouldn't like to see it, but at least I can relate to those fans on a certain level. A cup parade in somewhere Columbus, Nashville or San Jose with their still wet behind the ears fan bases? No f-ing way man! Call it petty sports fan douchebaggery, but following sports is an escape from real life where petty douchebaggery is not only allowed, but encouraged. Now should the Sabres win even one Cup, this all changes for me and I'll be actively rooting for teams like Vancouver and St. Louis to get their first if the Sabres are out of contention.

No approach guarantees anything, including tanking. Once they went all in on the tank, which I'll arbitrarily mark as the Vanek trade, there was no turning back. If TM comes in and tries to reverse course I'd argue that sets back the timeline to contention even farther. Be completely honest with yourself...how many times as a Sabres fan going into a season can you say that you really thought they had a legit shot at the Cup? I'd say no more than 5 or 6 seasons for me and those are spread out over a long time period. I'm done with that. I want to be like Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago (recently) etc. and go into nearly every season knowing that my team really has a legit shot at a Cup. I truly believe that tanking gives us the best chance to become that type of franchise. I fully realize that we could end up like Edmonton, but I'll still have no regrets about taking an honest shot at long term greatness through tanking. I still say the thread title says it all. The worst is behind us. After the 2015 draft, regardless of whether or not we land McEichel, the tank talk is pretty much done, at least from me.

If you're moving to NC, then you're going to need to familiarize yourself with Chapel Hill rock legends Southern Culture on The Skids. Weird Al pays homage to their style on his new album with the song "Lame Claim To Fame" http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yazr8JkazmE From what I can tell Weird Al is mainly aping the SCOTS classic "Camel Walk" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUP5rwVNJko