Monday, March 12, 2007

WGR550, Buffalo Sabres, and drinking downtown

by Andy

Living in Buffalo has its perks. Delicious food, beautiful girls, a rich history, and only 15 minutes from the Canadian Ballet. Some of the down falls of the queen city are lack of an MLB team, cold winters, and America’s number one rated Sports Talk radio, yes WGR 550. This station gets worse everyday. I remember the days of the Coach and callers like “Mr. Negative.” Now we have Schopp (Colin Cowherd wanna be) and girls calling in.
Today was a normal day driving home from school. WGR was on, thinking they would be talking about Syracuse and local favorite Niagara getting jobbed by the tournament committee. Instead they were talking about why people are booing at the Sabres game and what’s going on with Ryan Miller. Callers (men and unfortunately women) were calling in saying “we bought the ticket, we own the right to voice our opinion” or “Miller is just hitting a bump.” Well here is a true Buffalo Sports fan opinion, one they can’t put on the radio:
1. We, the true fans boo at Sabres games because this is allegedly “our year.” When the team loses three games to 2 western conference teams and the best team in the East, we boo. We have to resort to buying tickets off the street 7 min after the puck drops because women and children ate up all the tickets for the entire year because Danny Briere is cute. They don’t understand what is actually at stake or what is going on during the game. They yell “Skate” or “Shoot” on the power play. I don’t think an NHL hockey player needs the help from a group of 18 year old girls. All they do is cheer. When we boo, they give us looks of disgust. Hey we don’t care if Derek Roy is “hot.” Hot to us is an eight game scoring streak. We boo because we know right now the Sabres couldn’t even carry the skates of a team like Detroit or New Jersey.
2. I heard a guy on the radio say Miller needs to start stealing more games. He stated that when we score 5 goals a game he plays well. But when we don’t, Miller needs to step up. When the Sabres had Dominic Hasek, he had a GGA of around 2 or 3 every year and we couldn’t score enough goals a game to win. Now we have the fire power, but it takes a 6 goal night to win. Ryan Miller can not steal games. We have to average about 4 or 5 goals a game to win every night. If we don’t we lose. Now yes Miller does have some good games, a la Toronto two weeks ago (6-1 W) but as far as overall performance, he’s not going to steal any games.
3. Almost every Saturday, my friends and I journey down to the bars in the city. And almost every Saturday we see Buffalo Sabres out. For the most part its mainly the same guys. What I don’t get is why they are out. Saturday night we saw some. I think its more important to be watching film or getting rest during this losing streak, than to be out drinking at 3:30am. I saw Tim Connelly out. Doesn’t he have a concussion that has sidelined him for a year. Didn’t he just fracture something that might hold him out the entire year? And didn’t we just give him a huge contract? Get home, elevate that leg, and rest up for the playoffs. Don’t be out till the sun rises getting drunk. Isn’t half our team on the IR? Well, I have seen these same guys getting hurt missing games, out drinking, taking pictures with 18 year old chicks.
4. If your going to go out in public, be nice. My buddy tried slapping up Campbell the other night at a sub shop and his croanie said “he just wants to eat, can’t he just be normal?” NO! As a professional athlete in Buffalo, on a good team, you’re the top interest of the town. You’re a celebrity. Shake a hand if you have too. You think Tiger Woods enjoys pictures of him being taken while he’s on his boat. NO. But he knows he has to let it happen. If you don’t want to be bothered stay home with your friends and party. I’m sure you make enough money, build a bar in your basement. That way you don’t have to look like an asshole in front of your fans.

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