My, those were the days

[Monkeygirl]

So I was looking for something to complete my assignment (I'm thinking co-submission) and I come across an article I wrote for December 5, 2002 for a great Sabre site no longer in existance....If you hate it or just hate the fact that I posted it, tell me and I probably won't post for months due to shame and humiliation :bag: But if not, at least let me know if you got a "man, remember those crap days" out of it....I sure did since we are now so blessed with that specific characteristic...

 

PA, hope you enjoy it B-)

 

 

Leadership for Dummies

December 5, 2002

 

What more can be said about this team that hasn't already been said in the past month? I gave them a little leeway at the beginning of the losing streak, but I think we all knew that it wasn't going to be fixed quickly.

 

At the beginning of the season I thought a fresh start would help them remedy the early mistakes of last year: the complacency, the lack of offensive prowess, average or poor goaltending. Who would have known this season would only be worse?

 

Lindy's one-and-a-half hour meeting with the team on Monday sounds fine and dandy, but who really believes the players are going to listen to anything he says for longer than a game or two? Stay tuned.

 

I don't mean to pick on Tim Connolly, well actually I do, because his rigidness and negligible answers to the media have summed up the team as a whole. The same can be said for players like Chris Gratton and Curtis Brown. They say the right things but haven't done much of anything to prove they actually believe it can get done, although last night is a step in the right direction for both. A quarter of the season is gone, and they have a whooping five wins. Embarassment alone should have won them a few more games, but for a team that has been this unworried, it hasn't seemed to matter.

 

So what should we expect now? I'm dying to see if they carry the energy into New York on Friday night against the Rangers. We all know that they wouldn't be the best team in the league even if they did work hard and play well every night, but the same can be said for teams like the Minnesota Wild or New York Islanders or even the Vancouver Canucks. With the Isles and Canucks it's a little different because they have players like Yashin, Peca and Naslund, Bertuzzi, but those players choose to be leaders. We had one of the aforementioned players, but in a long line of despicable fumbles, he escaped... and to his benefit.

 

Since it's unlikely any trade can come soon, we need our players (that's right, the ones we have right now) to make a choice. Either this ship completely keels over or these millionares cut the bull and actually lead this team somewhere... anywhere but where it's been headed for over a month.

 

Of course they won't win every game, but we're not exactly asking for the world. Just a measly one or two wins a week for starters would be better than what we have to currently endure. They would at least earn more respect than they're being granted right now.

 

But of course nothing changes if no one leads, as evidenced by the one win in the last 17 games prior to the thumping of Anaheim last night. Vancouver was mired down the same road weeks back, but some players, maybe all of them, decided to take charge and show each other they care about what goes on. Now they're enjoying a streak in which they've won 11 of their last 12 games. Who in that Sabres lockerroom has that capability? Not just ability-wise but heart-wise. I see no one except maybe two or three players like Adam Mair who have actually been hitting a few bodies on the ice during this dreadful streak.

 

Without a leader, no one jumps forward and nothing changes. Until the players reverse that, this is not yet a true team at all. They're more like a group of status-quo politicians promising changes with no results. Things like that never end well in Buffalo.

 

If the players truly understand the concept of what they have to do to be succesful... as a team, Friday night, Saturday night and many more nights to come will have to demonstrate this, or the word leadership and everything it stands for can bear no meaning in that lockerroom.

[Eleven]

So I was looking for something to complete my assignment (I'm thinking co-submission) and I come across an article I wrote for December 5, 2002 for a great Sabre site no longer in existance....If you hate it or just hate the fact that I posted it, tell me and I probably won't post for months due to shame and humiliation :bag: But if not, at least let me know if you got a "man, remember those crap days" out of it....I sure did since we are now so blessed with that specific characteristic...

 

PA, hope you enjoy it B-)

 

Hey, that was right on about the 2002 Sabres, and it was well written, too. That really didn't have "IT" at all. "IT" can be defined a bunch of different ways; some writers will use "heart," some will use "chemistry," and some will use some other metaphor.

 

We've been blessed to follow a team that has "IT" since about last November, and "IT" to me is, these guys play for each other. Use whatever metaphor you want to use; they have a joy in seeing each other succeed and in seeing the team as a unit progress.

 

That 2002-03 team didn't have that, and you rightfully called it out in your--let's call it an article.

 

So who's missing since then? I know at least one frequent poster will take issue with this, but the departure of Messrs. Satan and Zhitnik helped. The promotion of Campbell and Pominville helped. Who was Tallinder in 2002? Who was Vanek?

 

This team is SO different from 2002, and it's heartwarming, to say the least, to see the comparison.

 

Nice post.

[Kristian]

Hey, that was right on about the 2002 Sabres, and it was well written, too. That really didn't have "IT" at all. "IT" can be defined a bunch of different ways; some writers will use "heart," some will use "chemistry," and some will use some other metaphor.

 

We've been blessed to follow a team that has "IT" since about last November, and "IT" to me is, these guys play for each other. Use whatever metaphor you want to use; they have a joy in seeing each other succeed and in seeing the team as a unit progress.

 

That 2002-03 team didn't have that, and you rightfully called it out in your--let's call it an article.

 

So who's missing since then? I know at least one frequent poster will take issue with this, but the departure of Messrs. Satan and Zhitnik helped. The promotion of Campbell and Pominville helped. Who was Tallinder in 2002? Who was Vanek?

 

This team is SO different from 2002, and it's heartwarming, to say the least, to see the comparison.

 

Nice post.

 

Getting rid of Satan was huge IMO.

 

He was the guy everyone looked for to take charge during that stretch, and he's just not that kind of player. As such, everyone else was using Satan as an alibi for not taking charge themselves.

 

Barnes was the only one to show a little spunk, but most would look to Satan for spark and leadership.

 

"Satan", "spark" and "leadership" - three words that DON'T go together.