Bills or Sabres?

[bcsaberks]

Yeah, Sabres by a lot. Bills would be better for local business/economy, share the win with more people, but this Sabres team is special. Plus they are a classy, modest, hard-working team. Try and find those qualities in the NFL.

[bob_sauve28]

Yeah, Sabres by a lot. Bills would be better for local business/economy, share the win with more people, but this Sabres team is special. Plus they are a classy, modest, hard-working team. Try and find those qualities in the NFL.

Ya right! I hate all the hype, commercials, bluster, bravado and stupidity associated with NFL. Tries to act larger than life.

[Peace Frog]

I would have to lean towards the Stanley Cup. Not only is it a harder championship to win, but the Bills have already had four bites at the apple. The Sabres still have two bites in hand.

[hopeleslyobvious]

Yeah, Sabres by a lot. Bills would be better for local business/economy.

 

I was thinking the exact opposite. The Sabres play more playoff games. A minimum of 8 to win the cup. Not to mention the fact that when there is a Sabres playoff game, a lot of people go out to eat or to area bars or both before and after the game. Most Bills fans eat and drink in the parking lot.

[ko12010]

I love both teams, but Hockey is just more of my thing. Plus, the excitement in a cup run surpasses that of the NFL playoffs/Superbowl, despite all the media coverage the NFL gets.

 

 

 

I have to agree that the Cup run is so much better than the Super Bowl run (do you call three games a run?) The excitement that I have whenever the Sabres are in the playoffs almost cannot be described with words. It is just like I'm am in paradise. Every game, win or loss leaves me breathless.

 

I have to say, Hockey is the one sport where you can visually see just on your tv screen how the intensity turns up a few notches. In football thats not the same.

 

I can't answer this one, but I'd lean Sabres and I think this question will be a moot point after this June.

 

As for the Bills, I just want to see them play a playoff game again, I'm not yet asking for a super bowl, just one playoff game. It has been so long I forgot what it feels like.

[Done]

These results are either scewed because it is a hockey board, :doh: , or it is a case of "What have you done for me lately?"

 

The Sabres have been a great story the past 2 years..yes they work hard, and yes they are talented, but the Pedigree on this Sabres team and the relationship it has had with the fans is far from stellar.

 

You can really only go to 1970......they are an expansion team. We get Gilbert 1st, but it takes a few years before he is paired up to give us the French Connection. At that exact same time, the Bills, who had won 2 championships less than 10 years earlier, were rebounding from a few dismal years with the help of OJ Simpson. In the mid 70's both teams had dynamic superstars and Buffalo sports was thriving. Still, more people world-wide could identify OJ over the President, the Pope, etc. He was THE MAN! Those around Hockey knew the French Connection, but ask some kid in Africa if he knew who Rico Martin was. As a team the Sabres almost scored the cup, and the Bills couldn't quite make it to the top of the league. After 1976.....it was All Downhill for the Sabres.

 

For every Jim Schoenfeld or Danny Gare or Mike Foligno....there were 10 Paul Cyrs and Christian Ruuttus and Benoit Houges. The Sabres were a team of soft underachievers for 20 years. That's what I remember, that's what I grew up on. We had the undisputed, greatest coach of all time on our bench, and we turned him into a .500 coach.

 

For as hard as it is to get a ticket now, in the 80's, a security guard would be smoking a cigarette as we walked in, without tickets, to go sit in the golds for the final two periods. Sure...there was that 6 months of magic between LaFontaine and Mogilny, and Ted Nolan did turn us into the hardest working team in hockey....just not a very good one as we scraped and clawed for all we were worth for 2 playoff rounds....but what is going on with the Sabres now is a total bilp on the radar of the history of this franchise. God Bless Darcy and Lindy for thinking the NHL would change the format of the league...but a measly season and a half ago, most of this town wanted those guys gone.

 

For as much fun as hockey is right now, the reaction you are seeing from everyone in the area is amplified because of the let down of the Dohahoe led Bills and Rigas led Sabres. The area was so in love with their football team that it broke their hearts when Toto opened the curtains for us all to find Wizard Donahoe plugging away at the controls. It is going to take a good season and a half of competitive football under some classy guys like Levy and Jauron for the nightmare to go away. We are on week 3 now. The Buffalo sports scale will again come into equilibrium with football taking a higher priority. As a whole, we all thoroughly enjoy the Sabres, but we are in love with the Bills.

 

With all that BS being said, anyone got a pair for the Rangers game? :bag:

[Peace Frog]

To me, the NFL playoffs are like watching a hurricane come ashore whereas the NHL playoffs are like watching a series of tornadoes touch down. Both are exciting in their own way.

[topshelfcookies]

Knightridder and Dwight Drane come closest to sentimenting my sentiments.

 

I grew up a Bills fan, and am still a Bills fan and have to say that I believe the Bills winning a Super Bowl would absolutely top the Sabres winning a cup. The Bills teams of the late 80's introduced me to sports in general, and the Bills teams of the early 90's taught me that it's okay to love a team, no matter what.

 

A Super Bowl win would be sweeter, simply because I've been through more heartache with the Bills than with the Sabres. With a few exceptions here and there (6 months with LaFontaine and Mogilny, May Day, the Hardest Working Team in Hockey, the '99 run) the Sabres were always a secondary team in my mind. It really was true, up until last season that hockey season in Buffalo didn't start until football season ended.

 

Of course, over the past 10 years, the Bills have been unable to host a playoff game, and have been absolutely frustrating since they kicked off in Tennessee with 16 seconds left. I strongly feel that part of the lightning quick response by the community to the Sabres success last season, and enthrallment this year stems from the fact that the Bills have simply starved us from watching a GREAT team for a long, long time. When the Sabres somewhat suddenly became GREAT last year, it was as if all of WNY realized again how much fun sports can be.

 

That said, all anyone needs to do is remember what this community was like the week before the Pittsburgh game two years ago. The Bills had ripped off 6 wins in a row, and only needed to beat the Steelers reserves to get into the playoffs. This city suddenly was electric again that week, with women busting out their 15 year old Bills helmet earings, and people snatching up BILLieve shirts. at Tops and Wegmans.

 

As much fun as the Sabres success has been over the last 12 months it is going mostly unnoticed by the rest of the mainstream country. Hockey, while making strides in certain areas, and certain media outlets, still remains a niche sport throughout most of the US. What the NBA is to the majority of WNY'ers, the NHL is to the majority of the country. Yet, I firmly believe that hockey is the most interesting and difficult sport in the world, and absolutely nothing can compare to the drama, passion and excitement of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

 

However, football is what America is all about right now. It is larger than life, over-produced, over-hyped and can do no wrong. It is THE game. To win the biggest game, in the most covered, analyzed sport, WITH a team that was exciting, hard working and talented, that somehow erased all the years of absolute heartache (my first Bills memory is the Ronnie Harmon game in Cleveland), and all the recent years of frustration, simply nothing would be sweeter.

[BMWR100RT]

I vote stanley cup, even though I love the Bills. If this Bills team could have the class and work ethic of the Sabres, it might be close. But I don't like this Bills team much as far a as personnel goes.

 

And........here is an opinion. I believe that if the Stanley Cup is won, Buffalo will get a lot of good attention. Fans can get routy, but not unruly. But if the Bills win, and Joe sixpack starts flipping cop cars like Denver and Detroit, all the years of frustration are gonna make those cities look like amatuers..............heck......I'm pretty frustrated. I may go out in the driveway and flip my own car.

 

:wallbash:

[blugold43]

i can honestly say i have no preference. what keeps me alive is the the promise of one championship parade in downtown buffalo before i die. i don't care which team it is.

[LabattBlue]

10-15 years ago, I would have said the Bills. But reading the stories over the years about how the players get to have the cup for a day or two over the summer and how they cherish it, I get the feeling that winning a Stanley Cup means so much more to NHL players than the Lombardi trophy means to NFL players.

 

I would love to see both the Bills and the Sabres win it all, but I can clearly picture the Sabres on the steps of City Hall this coming summer , the cup being passed around from player to player while "We are the Champions" is blaring over and over and over and over again.

 

Please hockey gods, let it happen. I'm begging! :worthy: :worthy: :worthy: :worthy:

[apuszczalowski]

Why is it that people don't think this Bills team is as classy or hard working as the Sabres are? If you look at this Bills team, they are looking more and more like the Sabres, No "Big Name" Stars (somewhat, TKO, McGahee maybe) who are playing as a team, they are like the Sabres of last season. Listen to these guys in interviews and they are playing as a team. The only difference is in the standings. The Bills are just starting to click and get the wins, while the Sabres have been doing it for a while.

 

Some proof that a SB win would be bigger then a SC win can be found just looking at the past couple teams that have won the championships. THe SC has been won by the Canes, Lightning, Anahiem recently. They win and they are talked about for a week and then forgotten. Even the cup runs in those areas were supported weakly by their fans. A SB win is talked about for alot longer then a SC win all over the country. (although all of this is flipped around once you hit the northern Border) We are lucky enough to be in an area where there are 2 teams to support and can bring home championships, yet the attitude 50% of the time is that you can only be a fan of 1 or the other.

[That Aud Smell]

Why is it that people don't think this Bills team is as classy or hard working as the Sabres are?

 

A SB win is talked about for alot longer then a SC win all over the country.

 

i have a couple of thoughts that flow from these two queries (both are good ones): i think it's easier to identify with the sabres than it is with the bills, as people. i saw jason peters and some other practice squad guy out once at an outback steakhouse once. peters seemed nice enough - although he only grunted something inaudible when i said something fan-like as we crossed paths near the bar. and CRIKEY he was an imposing freak of a physical specimen. a few weeks later, i saw danny briere and his wife out at a fundraiser. as you well know, danny's a very average-sized guy (even on the smallish side). and he's so dam* nice and affable. then a few months later, during the hockey preseason, i saw ryan miller out for dinner with his dad on elmwood - another super normal looking, average guy (it would appear). anyway, those encounters really got me thinking about how part of how i perceive these two teams has much to do with whether or not i can identify with the players as people. i can identify with the briere's and miller's of the world, but not with the jason peters' (or even john holocek's) of the world.

 

as to the second point: there's been a lot of talk about how a superbowl win would be perceived by the country, as opposed to a cup victory. for my part, i could give a rat's a*s what the rest of the country, the rest of the world thinks/values. i know what i want, i know what i like.

[apuszczalowski]

i have a couple of thoughts that flow from these two queries (both are good ones): i think it's easier to identify with the sabres than it is with the bills, as people. i saw jason peters and some other practice squad guy out once at an outback steakhouse once. peters seemed nice enough - although he only grunted something inaudible when i said something fan-like as we crossed paths near the bar. and CRIKEY he was an imposing freak of a physical specimen. a few weeks later, i saw danny briere and his wife out at a fundraiser. as you well know, danny's a very average-sized guy (even on the smallish side). and he's so dam* nice and affable. then a few months later, during the hockey preseason, i saw ryan miller out for dinner with his dad on elmwood - another super normal looking, average guy (it would appear). anyway, those encounters really got me thinking about how part of how i perceive these two teams has much to do with whether or not i can identify with the players as people. i can identify with the briere's and miller's of the world, but not with the jason peters' (or even john holocek's) of the world.

 

as to the second point: there's been a lot of talk about how a superbowl win would be perceived by the country, as opposed to a cup victory. for my part, i could give a rat's a*s what the rest of the country, the rest of the world thinks/values. i know what i want, i know what i like.

Good points

 

But as for the second one, thats great that YOU would feel the most satisfaction, but for the City of Buffalo in General, the extra exposure is only a good thing that helps the entire city.

 

Personnally, I don't want either to win, I want BOTH to Win

[Buffalo Wings]

Easily the most difficult question....ever.

 

We've been through playoff runs of both teams, only to be disappointed/had our hearts ripped out at the bitter end. Both teams *deserve* to win and the city and fans *deserve* to have a Superbowl or a Stanley Cup.

 

In the end, I'd say the Bills. Primarily because of the national attention they would receive and maybe some people would actually believe that Buffalo deserves a champion (of course, the "experts" would only say so *afterwards*). Not to mention, I'd stop hearing all of the lame "loser" jokes about the Bills not being able to win the big one. The ribbing would stop....at least for a year.

[HockeyFan T]

From a pure fan standpoint the Bills of 90's (Kelly, Reed, Thurman, Bruce, Marv, etc) was the Buffalo team I would have most liked to see win a Championship. I loved that team like no other team in history. Not, just because they won, but they were a team that we felt close to and watched grow and evolve into champions.

 

I feel that way about the current Sabres team. We have witnessed a transformation and a team that has grown together under excellent leadership.

 

So as far as current teams go, I'd be happier to see the Sabres win the cup - not as much for me as a fan - but for the players, coaches and management. Go Sabres!

[X. Benedict]

I grew up in Buffalo and lived in Pittsburgh for a long time and I love both places ... Buffalo more of course, it will always be HOME, but both get a bad rap.

Dwight, I kind of hear you, but if either team wins, I want to be in Buffalo when it happens. And a ticket to a Cup-clinching game IN Buffalo would be PRICELESS ... no Super Bowl ticket could compare to winning the Cup IN Buffalo.

 

Totally agree. At best the Bills can win an AFC championship in Buffalo.

Winning and lifting a cup in Buffalo would be the ultimate sports moment for the city.

[LabattBlue]

To be honest, I could not care less what the rest of the nation thinks about Buffalo. All I know is that the day I am in Niagara Square at a championship celebration(Bills or Sabres) , will be my best day EVER as a Buffalo sports fan.

[sabresfanmiami(oh)]

VERY tough question. I've grown up my entire life with both teams and have countless memories that each has given me. That being said, I think I'd have to go with a previous poster and say 1a) Bills 1b) Sabres. I would go crazy for either one though. Here's a thought...can you imagine how awesome it's going to be in the next couple years when the Bills are a playoff team again and the Sabres already have a cup or two and are contending for more! :D A guy can dream right? Let's go Buffalo!

[Orange Seats]

Lets not forget about the Bisons in all of this!

 

They actually won the AAA world series a few years ago. :thumbsup:

[gregkash]

16 wins, compared to 3 wins.

 

Stanley Cup.

[LabattBlue]

Lets not forget about the Bisons in all of this!

 

They actually won the AAA world series a few years ago. :thumbsup:

...and the Bandits won a couple of championships. Whoop-de-doo! ;)

[Spandrel]

I would rather see this Sabres team win it all than the current Bills team. We have built this team and nurtured it through Rochester. They reflect the blue-collar hard-work ethic of the city. They play the right way and are a blast to watch. To me, they represent what is best about this region, and I'd like to see them get rewarded with the Cup before the Bills get the Lombardi Trophy.

[Ramius]

I'd hafta say that the Bills probably have the slimmest edge over the sabres. I love both teams, and would love a championship in either sport. Either way, i think i would go absolutely when a Buffalo team wins it all. Imagine the celebration.

 

Go Sabres! Go Bills!

[apuszczalowski]

16 wins, compared to 3 wins.

 

Stanley Cup.

but the only way to win the lombardi is to go 3-0 or 4-0 (if you go in with a bye or not)

 

To win the Stanley cup, you could go, 16-12 and still win