That Aud Smell

i’ll still give up a chuckle for his war with Canada Geese. (and, moreover, his campaign to get local government to take it on as a public cause.)

I attended the event that the Golisano school hosted a while back -- was it last year? -- where he announced millions and millions of dollars in gifts to a variety of worthy nonprofits (including colleges and universities) from Western NY and the Finger Lakes region. And now a big ol' gift to Buffalo's Children's Hospital? All jokes aside: I have enormous respect for the guy. Most (damn near all) billionaires do not thusly deal with their money. I wish more did.

Tuch on the national team's 4th (3rd?) line would make a ton of sense. Dude can PK as well, obviously.

My take, unsupported by analytics: He's crashed out since he was asked/forced to do more than play fire wagon hockey for Good Vibes Only FHC DG.

I've been getting such spotty information this preseason. Are there players in the WR corps that are giving the team concern? I've heard several times that the team would likely move on from Curtis Samuel if the finances worked (which apparently they don't). I also saw a couple of "woof" Tweets from the Chicago practice/game re: Elijah Moore's drops. Davis doesn't make sense, I don't think. No special teams role. And the team seems to like Coleman and Shavers as "X" style WRs.

yo whodat, though?

Aye yi yi, man. This is something akin to Stockholm Syndrome. Mittelstadt was a limited and flawed player on non-playoff (Sabre) teams. When he got moved to a perennial playoff team, he crashed out and eventually got traded. Since that trade, he appears to have been exposed for what he is: A tweener/marginal NHL player. But you do it so effortlessly!

i’ll admit: i looked at their detailed breakdown. i can’t quite follow the bouncing ball of how they come up with that figure of ~30M guaranteed over 3 seasons.

And it's a long read! I didn't get through even half of it, I think.

This USA Today story about how the Dallas Stars control (and apparently profit from?) youth hockey in North Texas is frickin' wild. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2025/08/01/nhl-dallas-stars-texas-youth-hockey-monopoly/84289184007/

I'm as nervous as any Sabres fan about Levi's final form -- goalies are so weird and Adams is a funking doofus -- but this is fair. The guy should get the entire year in Roch to continue to build his game.

one-way deal just means he gets paid his NHL money when in the A, right? that would help explain, perhaps, why it's less than a million in NHL dollars.

I'll leave the political stuff alone. I've met Poloncarz many times. I've never gotten a "holier than thou" energy off him. Ironically, he's an awkward person when it comes to just normal interactions -- he's not a natural retail politician.

Poloncarz is a competent, diligent elected official. I don't always agree with his policies, but I respect his work as county exec. As indicated above, I just find him to be a cringey goober. He's got more than a little Michael Scott (of The Office) in him.

Sure. It's not like I'm a fan. I think he's a cringey goober. But ... oil and slime out of every pore seems a bit much.

thought it was gonna be a compare and contrast with the infamous RJ helmet (face shield) trope.

it was incredible. having ray emery in goal helped matters, of course.

I have not been following this closely and so am confused. The County's out? The County's in? The County is in some state of limbo? Poloncarz was there. And he has some post-press conference Tweets.

Grier had a secondary assist on that goal. The primary went to Ottawa’s zamboni driver who left that fu**ing puddle in the middle of one team’s zone.

I love the positivity. I will add: There seems to be a LOT of good, high vibes for a player who - IIRC from what I just read - is 23 years old and has played fewer than 70 games in the NHL.