by Anne
It's after 2:00 a.m. and I'm not asleep. There is no earthly reason why. I'm plenty tired but I can't seem to shut off my brain. GAH!
I read Rob Ray's book Rayzor's Edge in about 2 1/2 hours yesterday. Clearly, its a quick read. It's not an earth-shattering expose, but its quite interesting to hear about the team dynamic from a player, how some players really are douche bags (Tim Connolly?) and some guys, whether top-skilled or not are just all around good guys that you just want to have around (Paul Gaustad?). I have to admit that I wasn't totally committed to most of his stories about playing for the Sabres before 1996. 1996 is roughly when I start remembering hockey. To put it simply, I don't really remember Buffalo Sabres hockey before Hasek was our starting goaltender. I loved the stuff about when he was in juniors and in the minors, but the early 90s with the Sabres, I kind of glossed over.
One of my favorite anecdotes was that Rayzor signed his first contract to play in Rochester like 2 hours before he actually stepped out onto the ice. His laundry list of injuries was somewhat jarring. It'll make me look at Rayzor differently next season when he's between the benches wondering if his knuckles are going to suddenly just jump right off his hand in open rebellion.
Speaking of anecdotes, this is from Vanek's website:
Question: What’s the best practical joke you played on another teammate or they played on you?
Answer: Nobody’s ever played a practical joke on me and neither have I. But the best I witnessed was when somebody stitched up Drew Stafford’s trousers. After practice he directly went to have lunch and couldn’t pay because he couldn’t get to his wallet. We still don’t know who did that...
HA! I love it. I can just envision him trying to figure out what's going on back there and just turning around in crazy circles in a restaurant in downtown Buffalo while people stare at him and quietly remove him from their fantasy teams. I really don't pay enough attention to Vanek. I should love him more. Really I should. I'll try. It'll be one of my resolutions for next season: spend more time loving Thomas Vanek, which I do, even though sometimes I yell at him and say mean things about him and compare him to Britney Spears. It's all out of LOVE for SabreBritney. Does that make his new wife Kevin Federline? EW. NO. She is way better than K.Fed. We'll make her Justin Timberlake. What am I talking about?
Whatev, its really late and I'm rambling and still not sleepy. BLAH.
I'm not going to get my panties in a twist over Pominville's extension. He'll be an RFA next summer, so I'm not overly concerned, as I was about Miller. Its all good in da hood.
I wonder when our captain or captaincy system will be annouced. I'm done with this rotation bull. Let's just pick one captain and 2 alternate captains and just call it a day. For the record, my selections are as follows:
Captain- Pominville
Alternate- Spacek
Alternate- Hecht
If Teppo comes back then I vote:
Captain - Teppo
Alternate- Pominville
Alternate - Hecht
Thus spaketh Anne and thus it was.
Or, well, in my head its already been declared a definite reality. Wow I'm tired.
Yeaahhh. I got through Ray's book pretty quickly. How badly did you want to re-write that thing? :P Still interesting though.
ReplyDeleteYou should totally spend time loving Thomas (Pick Justin! Pick Justin!).
I kind of wanted to call up Rayzor and ask why he didn't call me to edit. I'm totally an excellent editor.
ReplyDeleteI love Thomas Vanek, I love Thomas Vanek, I love Thomas Vanek. I really do. I just need to spend more time getting to know more about him. When I was reading his website, I was shocked to find he had a blog I never knew about. This is UNACCEPTABLE as I LIVE for hockey players' hilariously awful blogs. And he is totally unafraid to answer point blank questions about why he sucked last season and why he's getting paid so much money. Could I have a new #5?!? Only time will tell.
I think you should try out Vanek as your #5. The list is not written in stone, you can always remove him if he doesn't "fit".
ReplyDeleteI think Goose deserves an "A". He has really grown and matured. He works really hard and loves Buffalo (I think)!
I think Goose deserves an "A". He has really grown and matured. He works really hard and loves Buffalo (I think)!
ReplyDeleteTrue dat, the only reason I left him off the list is that he didn't have a letter at any point last season. But now that I think about it in the clear light of day, maybe with his new contract, he'll be able to shoulder the responsibility. So I'd take Goose in there as well. But other than those 5 guys I'd be a little hesitant.
Rayzor's book is nice for speed-reading. I think I read it in about a day over winter break. And yes, I felt the need to break out my editing pencil and re-write a couple of sections.
ReplyDeleteI feel like Thomas Vanek is one of those guys who doesn't say a lot, but when he does it's going to be funny.
I really don't pay enough attention to Vanek. I should love him more. Really I should. I'll try. It'll be one of my resolutions for next season: spend more time loving Thomas Vanek
That was my resolution after he signed that contract last season. I even bought a hat with his number on it just because I felt like I needed to love him more.