Prague Series between Sabres and Devils

[K-9]

21 hours ago, ska-T Chitown said:

I'll always have a soft spot in my cold dead heart for Rayzor. I really admire the hockey life he carved out for himself by getting punched in the face and hanging around.

Dunleavy? He has the unfair curse of following the GOAT ... poor guy.

Dunleavy has the unfair curse of being an inept play by play announcer and that has nothing to do with RJ.

[Stoner]

1 hour ago, pastajoe said:

They will probably do the radio broadcast from watching on tv.

The opposite would be a cool challenge.

[GoPuckYourself]

2 hours ago, pastajoe said:

They will probably do the radio broadcast from watching on tv.

[LabattBlue]

2 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

Terry is not getting any benefit of the doubt from me. He's operating the Sabres as a poverty franchise.

Bravo!  👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Edited September 26 by LabattBlue

[LabattBlue]

2 hours ago, K-9 said:

Dunleavy has the unfair curse of being an inept play by play announcer and that has nothing to do with RJ.

Absolutely 100% correct!!!

[bg17]

They can afford to send Sabretooth but not Dunleavy? The indignity!

[K-9]

25 minutes ago, bg17 said:

They can afford to send Sabretooth but not Dunleavy? The indignity!

Sabretooth would do a better job with play by play, anyway.

[msw2112]

7 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

I appreciate the response. To me, that's an awful lot of thought devoted to explaining away a cheap owner doing things on the cheap. Terry is not getting any benefit of the doubt from me. He's operating the Sabres as a poverty franchise.

I don't see the relevance of this.

Well-run, deeply-supported franchises do, anyway.

I appreciate the response. To me, that's an awful lot of thought devoted to explaining away a cheap owner doing things on the cheap. Terry is not getting any benefit of the doubt from me. He's operating the Sabres as a poverty franchise.

I really don't care about taking the broadcast team to Europe one way or another, but I do enjoy a good debate.  Terry spends plenty of money on the Bills and he also spent plenty of money on the Sabres in the early days of his ownership, for very little return.  I think he's being more cautious about his spending now, and given the economics of the team, it makes sense.  If the team starts winning again and filling the building every night, he'll have more cash to play with and may increase spending.  I realize that it's a chicken and egg sort of thing - maybe if he spent more, the team would be better, and they'd fill the building.  You want the chicken first and they're putting the egg first.

I don't see the relevance of this.

The relevance of the broadcast team being average is this - spending money on things that are unnecessary but nice things for employees (like a free trip to Europe) contributes to employee retention.  If your employees are the best of the best, you spend to keep them happy and retain them.  Dunleavy and Ray are average at their jobs, at best, so it's not necessary to spend a lot of money on extras to retain them.  They're not in demand and they're not going anywhere.  They're not going to leave the Sabres to go to another NHL franchise because they're upset they didn't get a free trip to Europe.  I'd fathom a guess that if RJ was still alive and WANTED to go to Europe with the team, that they would have paid for it.  He had a gravitas that these guys don't have.  He was an all-time great and these guys are nowhere close.

Well-run, deeply-supported franchises do, anyway.

The Sabres were once a very well-run, deeply-supported franchise.  They are certainly not that today.  I just watched Monday Night Football where the national announcers gushed over the Buffalo Bills, saying they're a model franchise, from the top down.  They're owned by Terry Pegula.  They have an excellent coach, a great GM and an MVP-caliber Quarterback.  The Sabres have a fairly unproven GM, a new proven solid Head Coach and some talented players, but none at Josh Allen level.  Dahlin could be a future Norris Trophy candidate (not likely MVP, as defensemen rarely win it).  UPL could be a future Vezina candidate and UPL and Levi could be future Jennings candidates.  I suppose Tage Thomson could win a goal scoring title, but they don't have any Hall of Fame candidates at forward.  If the Sabres are able to turn it around with Ruff, Adams will be regarded as successful GM (the team he drafted and patiently developed came to fruition), the fans will return, revenue will return, and Pegula will be a great owner once again.  Lots of ifs there.  This may or may not happen.  Sending the broadcast team to Europe will have nothing to do with whether this happens or not.  The fact that some teams send the broadcast guys over and some don't doesn't indicate much of anything.  I thought I read that Detroit sent their broadcast team over to Europe.  They have not made the playoffs in 8 years.  Yzerman was a huge success in Tampa, but not so much in Detroit.  Detroit was once THE model NHL franchise.  Are they now?

Again, I really don't care about the underlying issue, but I enjoy a healthy debate.  It's also a great way to procrastinate when I have a ton of important things that I have to do and don't feel like doing!  Have a great evening.

Edited September 27 by msw2112

[That Aud Smell]

15 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

 I think he's being more cautious about his spending now, and given the economics of the team, it makes sense.  If the team starts winning again and filling the building every night, he'll have more cash to play with and may increase spending.  I realize that it's a chicken and egg sort of thing - maybe if he spent more, the team would be better, and they'd fill the building.  You want the chicken first and they're putting the egg first

we must study your brain.

[Doohicksie]

4 hours ago, bg17 said:

They can afford to send Sabretooth but not Dunleavy? The indignity!

Gritty is the ultimate sports mascot, but Tooth isn't so bad.  He's growing on me.

I've also noticed that when they do mascot group activities, Sabretooth and Gritty are frequently in cahoots.

[That Aud Smell]

2 minutes ago, Doohicksie said:

Gritty is the ultimate sports mascot, but Tooth isn't so bad.  He's growing on me.

I've also noticed that when they do mascot group activities, Sabretooth and Gritty are frequently in cahoots.

Agreed: Tooth is solid.

[PromoTheRobot]

5 hours ago, bg17 said:

They can afford to send Sabretooth but not Dunleavy? The indignity!

They packed the suit and made Kulich wear it. #rookie

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

They packed the suit and made Kulich wear it. #rookie

[LTS]

9 hours ago, Doohicksie said:

Gritty is the ultimate sports mascot, but Tooth isn't so bad.  He's growing on me.

I've also noticed that when they do mascot group activities, Sabretooth and Gritty are frequently in cahoots.

I love Sabretooth. Always have.  Gritty became a favorite right away. He was amazing in his Abbott Elementary episode.

[Taro T]

10 hours ago, Doohicksie said:

Gritty is the ultimate sports mascot, but Tooth isn't so bad.  He's growing on me.

I've also noticed that when they do mascot group activities, Sabretooth and Gritty are frequently in cahoots.

How can he be the "ultimate" when he was never in THN's Year in Review dancing w/ a well endowed stripper in his team's home barn?

How can he be the "ultimate" when he's never rappeled from the rafters to the ice?

Sabretooth is THE ultimate.

[Doohicksie]

The what now?

 

[Taro T]

14 minutes ago, Doohicksie said:

The what now?

 

Will give you the rappeling.  But, dancing with non-particularly well endowed cheerleaders is NOT the same (technically) as dancing with a VERY well endowed stripper.

[That Aud Smell]

52 minutes ago, Taro T said:

is NOT the same (technically) as dancing with a VERY well endowed stripper.

Link(s)?!

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

Link(s)?!

Don't know if there's an electronic copy of it and certainly don't have time to look for one.  But it was in an old THN YiR issue (probably '90).  He and some stripper w/ a name like Busty Lamour (Chesty Lamour?) dancing in the reds behind the visitor's goal line.  

[msw2112]

16 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

we must study your brain.

I'm honestly not sure what you mean by this.  Have you ever run a business?  Worked in one?  Managed a budget?

Pegula has lots of money outside of the Sabres.  If he sells the Sabres, he'll make a fortune based on what he paid for it versus his present value.  But if you look at the year over year balance sheet of the business, it is losing money on an annual basis.  People who run businesses often don't like to pump more money into those businesses that are losing money.  It's like throwing good money after bad.

Some people look at it this way:  if I invest in the business now, it will be better, and it will ultimately be more profitable.  (Put the chicken before the egg.)  This appears to be what some/most Sabres fans want.  It's what I want.  I think it's what you want.

Other people look at it this way:  I'm going to wait and see if the business turns around before I throw more money at it. (Put the egg before the chicken.)  This is what Pegula is doing (at least it appears so).

Spending money on sending Rayzor and Dunleavy to Europe has absolutely nothing to do with the success of the on-ice product, so why spend the money if your business is losing money year over year.  Again, I really don't care how Pegula spends his money (send them or don't send them) on things that don't impact the product on the ice.

I honestly can't believe I'm spending so much time on something I really don't care that much about, but as I stated a couple of posts above, I don't shy away from a good debate.  I should quit while I'm ahead, as "we must study your brain" is anything but a good debate.

Can we talk about the 2nd line center?  If we think Dahlin was the right choice to be captain?  Whether Gritty could take Sabretooth in a cage match?

Edited September 27 by msw2112

[That Aud Smell]

10 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

I'm honestly not sure what you mean by this. 

It’s a joke. Hyperbole meant to suggest that I think your way of thinking on these matters is … highly unusual.

14 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

Can we talk about the 2nd line center?  If we think Dahlin was the right choice to be captain?  Whether Gritty could take Sabretooth in a cage match?

In other threads, sure.

[Weave]

2 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

It’s a joke. Hyperbole meant to suggest that I think your way of thinking on these matters is … highly unusual.

And you got what you deserved, a good old fashioned mansplainin’.  🤣

Edited September 27 by Weave

[Pimlach]

On 9/26/2024 at 9:40 AM, Weave said:

 

Pergament has his masters too.

If there is anything the current political climate has changed effectively, it is making the notion that reporters and journalists are inept (at best) or fraudulent (at worst) nearly universal.  This will be our undoing.

The 4th estate was dismantled when media and news were consolidated into a handful of corporate juggernauts.  Journalists are following the direction of their corporate targets, Just like you and I work to do our best within the confines of our corporate goals and targets. Further demonizing them only serves to make the profession less desirable.  We are helping to accelerate the demise of the one element that keeps us aware and informed.

 

Yes it feels like a bad cycle.  Add in the impact from social media.  Almost any crackpot gets an audience today.  A large segment of our population gets their news from social media/ internet.  
 

When I complain out loud about the direction of the country or the world today my millennial children tell me “you gotta stop watching the news on TV Dad”.   That is partly funny, partly true, and mostly sad.  

[JohnC]

27 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Yes it feels like a bad cycle.  Add in the impact from social media.  Almost any crackpot gets an audience today.  A large segment of our population gets their news from social media/ internet.  
 

When I complain out loud about the direction of the country or the world today my millennial children tell me “you gotta stop watching the news on TV Dad”.   That is partly funny, partly true, and mostly sad.  

A month or so ago I took the subway to go for my annual eye checkup. I was amused by the fact that I was the only person on the train who was reading a newspaper. Everyone else was immersed in their devices. I do use my computer and iphone for news, but my preference is still to read the paper. I'm a dinosaur who has no problem being outdated. Get he helll off my lawn!

[Pimlach]

3 hours ago, JohnC said:

A month or so ago I took the subway to go for my annual eye checkup. I was amused by the fact that I was the only person on the train who was reading a newspaper. Everyone else was immersed in their devices. I do use my computer and iphone for news, but my preference is still to read the paper. I'm a dinosaur who has no problem being outdated. Get he helll off my lawn!

Clinging to customs you love, my deep foray into this is that I never sold my vinyl and continually updated my sound system components over time.  Now it is all “vintage” and worth much more than I paid for it.  In the day this kind of equipment was “high tech”.  Fortunately it’s not throw away.  

So I get it, and you don’t want to get outdated on the important things in the current time.  

Edited September 28 by Pimlach