Back Handed Praise

[That Aud Smell]

This story is linked on the SR -

 

Le Opinion

 

I hope out of town writers keep saying sh*t like "f the Buffalo Sabres are not the best team in the National Hockey League, they'll do until the real thing comes along" -- it can only help the team stay focused and motivated.

[inkman]

If the Buffalo Sabres are not the best team in the National Hockey League, they'll do until the real thing comes along.

 

I don't see that as such a bad thing. :huh:

[That Aud Smell]

If the Buffalo Sabres are not the best team in the National Hockey League, they'll do until the real thing comes along.

 

I don't see that as such a bad thing. :huh:

 

Really? :blink:

 

It's a clear case of dam*ing with faint praise, IMO. That phrase "if the Sabres are not the best team in NHL" is a slap -- because, ay yo breau, we are indisputably the best team in the NHL (right now).

 

The between the lines message, to me, is: It's only a matter of time before this feisty, fast, no-name (and sorta cute, tee-hee-hee) Sabres team comes plummeting back to earth, falls into the upper-middle of the pack, and allows some other perrenial power/star-laden-roster to rise (rightfully) to the top of the league.

 

Again, I'd take it as fodder.

[inkman]

It just doesn't read that way to me.

[That Aud Smell]

and i neglected to point out, on the other side of that phrase's comma, is the writer's implication that the sabres may well not be "the real thing" (that we may still be waiting for "that" to "come along").

 

still, ink, reasonable minds can differ, and often do. ;)

[bottlecap]

You're wrong. Le Press thinks we're the best, just look at the headline NHL's best swamps CH with speed.

 

Just enjoy 9-0 (soon to be 10-0) will ya, and enough with the Rodney Dangerfield act. :) :) :)

[Realist]

I guess we took that totally different, I read it as good praise. To me it seemed they were telling people that didn't believe the Sabres were the best team that they really are.

[X. Benedict]

I liked that. It was a clever way to say that the conclusion is unavoidable.

The Sabres are the best right now.

 

They have to live with the bullseye for a while.

[That Aud Smell]

Hmmm.

 

I see an overwhelming and unanimous contrary take on that lead-in from Montreal.

 

So, reading it again in light of the posts (which are appreciated) ... I now see how the writer may well have been taking a poke at the non-believers, rather than being one himself. I can still see my original reading as reasonable, but I'm no longer convinced that's what was intended.

 

I think I get it now: They like us. They really like us. :D

 

I guess that idea takes more getting used to than I'd realized.

 

I will cease and desist with the Rodney Dangerfield outlook.

 

One more thing: Go Sabres.