Ah, Dick, We Hardly Knew Ye

By S(h)ara

Ok, maybe the title isn't all true, but it sounded catchy.

Dick Jauron was fired today as head coach of the Bills. I'm sure you're all surprised as I am. The story just broke, but I found a (very) brief article online. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/bills-hand-jauron-pink-slip-report/article1366762/

At this point though, can't we just settle for a good draft number and be done?

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/thehuddle/post/2009/11/nflcom-buffalo-bills-fire-head-coach-dick-jauron/1 is a better article. I have to say though, I hate that they say fans in Buffalo put up a billboard. It was some unemployed dude in Erie, PA who did that.

Sunday was interesting

by Anne

First the good:

The Kings won and Anze Kopitar scored yet another two goals as he takes firm control of first place in league scoring. I'm not sure he can keep up the pace all season, but if he can be at least half as hot all season, the Kings will be in good shape down the middle, especially with Jarret Stoll having a great season, points wise and in the faceoff circle.

Look at that cocky SOB, hahaha
Click to enlarge

Kopi does his best Pat Kane impression

If these two can stay consistent, the Kings will do quite well

The Canucks won 2-0, Bobby Lu set a new Canucks record for career shutouts, and Ryan Kesler cracked his stick over his knee in a fit because Tom Gilbert tripped him and nothing was called:

Oh Kes.
Big Bear just skates calmly by, opting to not respond... that is if he even noticed.

He didn't score, but he's always in this position, and it works out well for the Canucks when he is

:)

Now the bad:

Is anyone in the NHL still alive after this weekend?

First Darcy Tucker, then David Booth, Carlo Colaiacovo (the Tim Connolly of the Leafs and now the Blues) and then Jason Chimera are all the recipients of highly controversial hits. I won't post all the YouTube clips of them, Puck Daddy has them compiled nicely, as per usual.

These hits all upset me for a variety of reasons. First and foremost that I find it incredibly upsetting to see a sport, a game, come so close to seriously injuring someone. I understand that hockey is a high-speed and high-contact sport, but at some point, there has to be a limit to what is and isn't acceptable, and there must be some consistency in how these things are dealt with.

I'm not saying that Ruutu (Tucker), Richards (Booth), Ott (Colaiacovo) and Scuderi (Chimera) should all be just grouped together and suspended but the league can't treat these kinds of hits on a case-by-case basis if they want to send any kind of statement about how unacceptable these kinds of dangerous hits are.

Also, in the "good": The Bills won this weekend. Miraculous.

No Hockey?

by Anne

I think it's totally rad that the NHL has these days in which every team plays. It's cool and it makes for some interesting fantasy hockey decisions. However, what I don't enjoy is that the following day features no hockey at all.

Part of the "Super Saturday" idea is that games will need to be condensed to accommodate for the Olympic break in February, but why then do the Sabres not play again until Thursday? Their November looks almost identical to last November. Three weeks W-F-S games followed by a week of M-R-S.

December starts ramping up they have 15 games in December which is kind of a lot.

Whatevs, I don't make the NHL schedule and for this we should all be extremely grateful. I wished there was some hockey to watch to kill the bitter aftertaste of that football game.

The Bills are terrible. I watched the game at a bar with a few friends so I was slightly distracted from the game but unable to change the channel. How embarrassing was that game?

The Steelers won, it got a little closer than we would've liked but they pulled out the win and have evened up their season at 2-2.

Thank goodness for the Pens, Canucks and Kings or I'd have little hockey to watch over the next few days when I'm supposed to be doing all this "homework" I've heard people talk so much about.

Dewey promised to try harder, he's leaping into the next game

Not Too Shocked

by Anne

Why?


Every. Fucking. Time.

Done.

Let's Go Steelers!

Tuesday Afternoon

by Anne

I didn't watch Sunday's Bills game. Not a second of it. Does this make me less of a fan? Maybe. I'm sure a lot of people would have a few things to say about refusing to watch and loving the Bills. All I have to say is a sure sign of going crazy is doing the same thing over and over again and looking for different results. Therefore, by that logic, all sports fans are crazy, because that's exactly what we do.

Season after season we sit down on our couches and watch the Bills vacillate between glimmers of false hope and tidal waves of crushing disappointment. Yet, every year we watch, hoping things will be different... and they aren't.

Remember all those 10-10-220 numbers for cheap phone calls from, I don't know, like the late 90s? Hahahaha, what would happen if you tried to use one of those now? What did those even do exactly? I just thought of those the other day and how ridiculous they were. There were several 10-10-### combinations if I recall. Who thought this up? Does your telephone service provider bug out and charge you less if you dial an extra 7 numbers before the 7-10 numbers required for making an actual phone call? Did some crazy voiceover message come on like "Thanks for using 10-10-936, now dial the number of the person you're trying to reach."? Because if it didn't and you messed up your 10-10-### code and then talked for like 2 hours, you'd be PIIIIISSED when you got your phone bill.

The phone company's last ditch effort to avoid the inevitable "Death by increasing popularity of cell phone."

It doesn't surprise me at all to read that Drew Stafford is not a superstitious guy. Superstitions are baloney. Staffy's "Your Sabres Delievered" is good but its better if you imagine him wearing the mustache and wig while answering questions.

Caps tonight. Their last game was a 4-1 home win over the Leafs and Ovechkin scored another 2 goals, as did Brooks Laich. Wooooo! (for them). It's amazing what a different team they are with AO out there. Without him we beat them 5-0, with him we lost 3-2. Of course, he's playing tonight.

I leave you with a shot of one of S(h)ara and Mama Peg's favorites, the Patrick Sharp All-Star Voting Campaign ad:

Cabin Fever

by Anne

I had a whole post written about angry things because being cooped up inside all day with an annoying cat makes me a little cranky. However, I have opted not to force you to endure my rants about why I hate Chuck Palahahahhaaniuk.

-I'm bored so I'm thinking about dying my hair really dark brown again. Yes, Anne, because it looked so good the other 6 times. I've decided to start living by the rule that if I don't have to dye my hair, I won't. Its cheaper and natural is (almost) always better.

- Also, I was considering donating my hair to locks of love again, but then I remembered that my hair looked like this for about 8 months and I reconsidered:

It may work on Posh, but not on this girl.

- When I have nothing to do, I tend to call people and IM people more often. However, I realize that this can be annoying after a while so this break I'm making a conscious effort not to excessively bother people

-I also think about road trips but unlike most of my college days, most of my friends have these things called "jobs" and most of my friends are not enjoying these lazy days of winter break.

- My sister had a concert today that we did not go to. Well, she didn't go either. I'm not sure if the concert happened or not but she's sick so she wouldn't have been singing anyway.

-The Bills actually won. I was the Negative Nancy around the house today, predicting with each of the Bills' scores what would happen next to negate it all. I was basically right until the end. I declared the Broncos get the TD and 2 point conversion and then Lindell would miss a field goal. Peg predicted an interception. The big winner here? JP Losman. Ahahhahahaha

-I know the win was meaningless in the playoff picture but it is nice to play the spoilers for once. even if Dick Jauron claims that wasn't on their minds. Really, I have nothing against the Broncos, I used to love John Elway, but it's fun to be at least some part of changing team's fates.

-Great games for Trent and Fred Jackson. There's definitely a lot more confidence in their games these days. Hopefully that will continue next week and build into the off-season.

-Reggie Corner's play at the end of the 4th to breakup Cutler's TD pass to Stokley was awesome.

-They played the kind of second half we were used to seeing out of them. Its really too bad they couldn't have dug deep for that kind of 2nd half a few more times this season.

-If Steve Johnson continues to improve as he has in these last few games, we'll have some nice depth and a few more options next season.

- Its unfortunate that some of these pieces seem to be coming together a few games too late.

-Marshawn hurt his shoulder. I care but not that much because 1. We won anyway 2. He basically has until August for it to heal up and 3. He was cheering and carrying on on the sidelines quite a bit so it doesn't appear to be too serious.

- My dogs adamantly refuse to go outside if its like 70 degrees and there's a slight drizzle. However, 16 degrees and 2 feet of snow? GAME ON.

- I hope the weather is clear tomorrow. I have some more stuff I need to pick up including a book for myself that no one will be getting me for Christmas because I didn't ask for it. I read Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs this summer and I've put off picking up another Klosterman book during the semester but on my list of things to read is another of his books. I'm leaning towards Killing Yourself to Live. Thoughts?

- The Pirates have put together 2 wins in the last few days, righting the ship that had started to steer off course ever since we ruined everything first by calling up Mancari and then Gerbe. Whoops. Sorry, Portland!

-Ok. Dinnertime. Then wrapping Christmas presents! Our tree is up and needs some stuff for underneath it. Yay!

That Man Knows His City

by Anne

Lindy Ruff was quoted today as saying:

"The Bills did their part to get the curse away from the city so now we have to do our part on Wednesday night,” Ruff said of Buffalo’s 54-31 victory against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Its clear to anyone with internet access and a brain that the City of Buffalo has hit a rough patch these last few weeks in terms of the success of our teams. We all feel it. Whether football or hockey is your National league sport of choice in Buffalo, (and let's face it, most people love them both equally) we still feel each other's pain. Lindy's been a part of this city in one way or another for almost 30 years so he knows the way the fans think, he knows the right thing to say to remind us that he's invested in this City.

Aw, Lindy. You old so and so.

He's such a stud.

On a Sunday

by Anne

Last night after the "game" S(h)ara and I (plus some other friends as well) went to Fat Bob's for some delicious tasty food and darts and it was wwwaayyy more fun than that "sporting event".

I can take away 2 positives from last night:

1. Mark Mancari scored his first NHL goal!! Yay!!

2. I did really well in sales

3. ............ if we had been so inclined we could have gone to Level and booed Derek Roy in his face. Even though he scored a goal, it would've been symbolic.

Speaking of symbolic, apparently changing the name of this blog had no effect so I decided to resort to other tactics around the house to express my displeasure.

I have a standings tracker. It hangs over my bed.


I keep track of the divisional standings.
But where is the slug?


He's in the corner, thinking about what he's done.

But my symbolic rage wasn't finished there.

The other day, my Mom went on a field trip with the folks at the workshop for developmentally disabled adults where she works. They went here:


Delish.

They have many fun shaped cookies, including several Sabres' jersey cookies. The choices were Miller, Rivet, Paille, Pominville and:

She opted for Vanek because he's leading the NHL and the one I hate the least at the moment because of that very reason.

However, in spite of the fact that he hasn't done anything to personally offend me recently I was forced to sacrifice him in hopes of catharsis:



I didn't feel that was quite enough...

... so I ate his arm.

I feel a little better.

This 30-17 Bills score at the half is also helping my mood immensely. Trent is looking pretty DARN swaggery, whoever just said that on 97 rock, I wasn't paying attention to who it was.

Aaaaaand as I was uploading photos the 2nd half started and Trent ran in for his 2nd TD of the game. OWWWWWW!!!! That's a 20 point lead, baby!

I'll either write later declaring my immediate plans to move to Chicago or about how much I love Buffalo and my strong desire to make babies with Trent Edwards. WOOO!!!

:'(

by Anne


Wide.

Right.

Food For Thought

by Anne

Thomas Vanek is on pace for 70 goals, Clarke MacArthur - 35 goals, Ales Kotalik for 29.

Miller is on pace to go 41-12-12 , Lalime is on pace to go 6-6-6, combined, that would give us 112 points. Hahahahaha. I really don't think that's going to happen, but let's just try to think about that while we get the taste of an awful Buffalo sports weekend out of our mouths.

Super (boring) Sunday

by Anne

WOOO! I was so excited to be able to dedicate today to football! I was heading over to my Aunt's house who lives like its 1975, with no internet, no dishwasher and a TV antenna, so I could watch my Bills play.

.....and they lost. To the Dolphins. It was gross and unpleasant, much like the pile of dishes I decided to wash while my Aunt's out of town because it was taking over the counterspace and frustrating me almost as much as our passing game.

Then I was like "Ok, Steelers!" Sunday Night Football! WOO! Much like the Pens are my "#2 Eastern Conference default if the Sabres aren't in the playoffs" team, the Steelers serve the same purpose for me in football.

...and then they lost too.

WOW, what a GOOD DAY.

Then I watched the video footage of poor Brandon Sutter getting annihilated by Doug Weight. I almost feel as bad for Doug Weight who's not a bad dude. You could see on his face that he felt awful about what happened as they were tending to the most-recent-to-enter-the-NHL Sutter.

Hits to the head should be illegal. Period. I'm not sure how they should be regulated, but they need to be controlled. Granted, Doug Weight did not seem intent upon concussing Brandon Sutter and causing him to be hospitalized, but he's possibly an exception to hits like that.

Everytime I see something like that or, ya know, that time on February 10 when I was in HSBC Arena aka the last game Richard Zednick played last season, all I think about is how upset I'd be if that had happened to a Sabre. Just watch the footage of Brandon Sutter and picture one of our rookies. At that game on February 10, I kept thinking about how sick to my stomach and panic-attacky I would've been if that had happened to a Sabre. Ok let's change the subject, I don't want to think about that anymore. I got mad enough when Derek Roy's wrist was hurt when he was slashed yesterday.

GREAT.

Then I watched some Extreme Home Makeover WHICH ALWAYS MAKES ME CRY. Friggin', every time, I cry. Today it was a little boy who was normal til he was 4 then he had leukemia and then he had crazy awful pneumonia and had to have a double lung transplant and he has to take this awful medication that's given him cataracts and his body has swelled and he has diabetes. To CAP OFF the irony, the little boy's name is JOB. You are basically DOOMING a person to a life of trials and tribulations when you name them Job.

The only silver lining came when I was at Wegman's tonight. No, I did not see any Sabres... not exactly...

It's just as tasty this season when we're winning
Look at my crazy eyebrow

Ice cream was the highlight of my day. Wow. Now I have to read.

Sorry about that whole "think about the Sabres being brutally attacked on the ice" paragraph.

Let's lighten things up:

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha


love.

Sabres Win!!! I Still Hate Phil Kessel

by Anne

Wooooo!!! Ok, so I can't deny that sometimes I'm kid of glad I don't watch every second of every home game, especially when they're a snooze fest like Boston games usually are. I prefer to chat with the ushers about the trap and how Manny Fernandez was great when he played for Minnesota and he hasn't played in like a year.

Anyway, who else had a sense of deja vu from Saturday's game? Trailing by 2, tie it up, 3-2 shootout decision. The only difference was we won this shoot out and there was less violence because the Boston Bruins pick "boring" over "punchy".

THOMAS VANEK DIDN'T SCORE A GOAL. OFF WITH HIS HEAD. Ok, well he did score the game-winning shootout goal. WHAT IS HIS DEAL?! WHATEVER IT IS, I LOVE HIS DEAL.

Things that happened tonight that don't happen every night:

• I sold popcorn to my AP Economics teacher from high school. He did not recognize me. Of course, rarely in high school did I wear a black baseball cap and a black and white refs shirt with price buttons on them. I said RARELY.
• KATEBITS WAS THERE!! And because I'm a loser and am terrified my students will find this blog one day, we did not take a picture. HOWEVER, KATEBITS, I REALIZED THAT THE PICTURE WOULD IN FACT BE ON YOUR BLOG AND NOT MINE, SO, GAME ON SISTER FRIEND, WE CAN POSE WITH THE DIET COKE AND COTTON CANDY.
• I ran out of quarters just as Katebits came through my line. HOW EMBARRASSING.
  
• A drunk man asked me for my phone number
• A girl paid for her popcorn with 4 $1 coins

I watched the shootout up in the stands because that's actually a lot more fun that watching it from the zamboni doors with the ice people and the guys who bring in and out those awning things because they block the ice and you have to watch on the screen, and whats the fun in that?

---

Dear Derek Roy,

Anytime you want to get a notch in that "G" column, that'd be SUPER. Also, I fail to see how you were more of a "star" in this game than Drew Stafford.

Love, Anne

---

The stars of the game were Miller, Roy and Vanek. I agree with 2 and 3, but Royzie over Staffy? Did he have some SICK passes that I missed?

OMG HOW RELIEVED AM I THAT DREW FINALLY SCORED. He's been solid for us in the shootout, it's great that he's finally gotten a regulation tally, and what a beauty of a goal it was. He's had so many chances and so many shots on goal early on this season (5 tonight alone) so its really really great to see him able to light the lamp, finally!!

Speaking of face offs that we weren't talking about, I've been impressed by Kotalik's face off numbers, the last few I can remember checking for him have been about 50%. He doesn't take that many but he wins most of them, and that's what counts. Matt Ellis was 0 for 6 on the face offs. I'm pretty indifferent about him at this point.

My inexplicable hatred for Mr. Yick continues. HE RUINED OUR PERFECT PENALTY KILL AND I'LL NEVER FORGIVE HIM. But then he didn't score in the shootout and I got way more excited than I should have about it. P to the S, I know he had testicular cancer and he's played incredibly well since then. My dislike for him is totally unrelated to his medical problems. That's Phil Kessel the human being, him I'm fine with, Phil Kessel the hockey player is yicky.

Petteri Nokelainen is a really fun name to say.

Danny Paille and I should compare iPod playlists sometime because most of the songs he usually picks for player tunes are on my iPod. Except for Saving Abel, I have no idea who that is.

WHO DO YOU THINK GOT THE PIGEON? DO YOU THINK ITS MILLSY? I VOTE FOR MILLER. BUT STAFFY WAS PRETTY OUTSTANDING, SO IF HE GETS THE PIGEON I'D BE OK WITH THAT TOO.

In other NHL news, the man I almost chose as my Detroit Red Wings WCB, Andreas Lilja just had an appendectomy... like 5 days after Chris Mason had an appendectomy. HOCKEY PLAYERS: PLEASE CHECK ON THE HEALTH OF YOUR APPENDIXES, (APPENDICES?.... APPARENTLY BOTH ARE GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT).

Apparently word that I've declared Ryan Getzlaf my Ducks WCB has not reached him, as he was unable to score tonight, but perhaps George Parros heard and the Ducks won anyway, WOO!

Dear Vancouver, didn't you put Kyle Wellwood on waivers? Was that someone else? He scored for you tonight, so I'm assuming I am not correct. Apparently Rick Nash realizes how fickle my love is and decided to score a goal to ensure my loyalty, BIG BEAR.

OMG, THE TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING FINALLY WON.

As of this posting, the Flames are up 2-1 over the Caps with the King of the Western Conference of my heart, Iggy, getting a PP tally. :) In other news, Caps red and Flames red are annoyingly similar but one is more blue (Caps) and one is more orange (Flames). In case you were wondering, yes I'm very particular about color and shades of color.

Oscar just attempted to jump from my bookshelf to my chest of drawers unsuccessfully. His front paws landed in my jewelry box and sent both it and himself flying. Fortunately I only own like 3 necklaces and about 5 pairs of earrings so the damage was not catastrophic and he's completely embarrassed and won't let me pick him to to check to see if he's accidentally pierced anything. I'm going to go ahead and assume he's fine. He got two breakfasts this morning, so I don't feel bad. Now he's fast asleep next to me on my bed. He's so freakin' cute. I hate cats. haha.

I love Trent Edwards. Check out First Time Long Time for a link to a great interview with him. He does Buffalo proud.

Woo! Grizz!
For some reason this picture makes me laugh.
He kind of looks like he's about to burst into song.
That might be a brilliant diversionary tactic, what do you think a defenseman would do if Clarke MacArthur came zooming over the blue line singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" at the top of his lungs?

No Go for Yo Yo

by Anne

:*(

According to Mike Harrington at Sabres Edge Yoyo's hurt and won't play tomorrow. CMac is centering the line with Paille and Pommer. Iiiiiiiii was not aware that Grizz ever played center.

Matt Ellis will center the 4th line and if any of our other centers go down, be prepared for Nathan Gerbe to appear from Portland after, uhhhh like 2 weeks of seasoning. *HEADDESK*.

IT IS WAAAAAYYYYYY TO EARLY IN THE SEASON FOR THIS TYPE OF INJURY CHIT CHAT.

Whyyyyy does it have to always be centers? TimmyHo, Goose, Yoyo???

Center is where we're thinnest up front and that's where we're feeling the most hurt. Perfection.

ITS FINE. REALLY, ITS FINE. I'M NOT WORRIED. NOT AT ALL. NOPE. TOTALLY FINE WITH THIS.

PAUL!
STOP PROMOTING UNDERAGE SMOKING AND GET BACK TO WORK!



Timmy, Timmy, Timmy.....
I hate you. You're still dead to me.
Your fractured vertebrae is immaterial because you have ceased to exist to me
Remember when I loved this phantom "Tim Connolly"? Yeah that's over

At least Trent practiced yesterday!!! That's one ray of sunshine on the Buffalo injury front!!!

Photo not actually from yesterday's practice but
WOOOOOOO!!! Anyway
The football gods were at least smiling on Buffalo and inserted this injury just before a bye week
Hopefully Trent will be ready to go on Sunday.
Lord knows we don't want him to aggravate anything if he isn't fully recovered

YO THAT STUNK

by Anne

Trent Edwards' frontal lobe appears to still be somewhere on the field in Phoenix, $50 to the first person who locates it.

Ryan Miller was nearly decapitated when his helmet just decided to leap off his head in open rebellion to years of being beaned with pucks

Derek Roy scored a goal but didn't score a goal and then got elbowed in the face

We had like 10 power plays and scored on NONE of them (even the producer in Detroit who didn't realize he could be heard said "this power play is terrible." Watch the FSN feed, he said it in the first period)

I'm having a "fat day"

The Bills are no longer undefeated


On the brightside:

The Bills are still 4-1 and next week is a bye

The Sabres game didn't count

I bought turquoise sunglasses and cheap socks

I made a wicked awesome collage for a "response" for one of my classes (GRAD SCHOOL RAWKS!)

He may be a (temporary) vegetable, but he's still the prettiest vegetable I've ever seen:

COME BACK SOOOOON!!!!!!

blah

What a terrible day for Buffalo sports.

Sunday giveth and Sunday taketh away

by Anne

I hate posting this close together but.

Sunday giveth:

The Bills are 4-0!


Sunday taketh away:

Goose jammed his thumb, tore a ligament and had or will have surgery today.

:) / :(

Keep smilin'!

How does one rehab a thumb?

Thumb wrestling?

Hitchhiking?

Several rounds of "Heads Up Seven Up"?

Reviewing movies?

Poor Goose. At least its before the season starts. That's 2 surgeries in like 7 months for him. Boooooo. He's definitely going to miss the beginning of the season. :(

Call me if you need help writing things or tying your shoes, Paul!

Ahhh It Must Be Almost October

by Anne

Soooo it really must be that time of year again, time for the seasons to start changing, leaves are turning gold, apples are ripening in the orchards, spiced cider is a brewin' on the stove top, and injury reports are dominating the headlines on espn.com.

From the Buffalo end of things, Roscoe Parrish will be out 4 to 6 weeks with a thumb injury. He needs to have surgery to repair a nagging problem that flared up during the fourth quarter of the game against Oakland.

Booooooo. Roscoe is our top return guy so this isn't good. On the plus side, our bye week falls during those 4 to 6 weeks so he'll probably only miss like 4 games, but on the obvious downside, we've lost our top return man. This will be a good test for Leodis McKelvin and James Hardy to show they've earned their jobs in the NFL but stepping up and filling in the role vacated by Roscoe.

Where is this pool and is this an open invitation?!?!

On the hockey front:

Sergei Gonchar of the Pttsburgh Penguins is out "indefinitely" with a separated shoulder he suffered during a pre-season game. Grrrrrrrreat. The Pens defense is getting thinner by the minute.

NOW who is Geno going to pop his collar with and lean awkwardly to the left?

Erik Jonhson, the Blues #1 overall pick in 2006 will miss the entire season because he tore his MCL and ACL. How, you might ask? Hard check? rough collision? Awkward slide into the board? Accidentally getting his foot stuck between the brake and accelerator on a golf cart? Ding ding ding ding!!

Is anyone surprised he's blonde?

Last night during the Montreal/ Detroit pre-season game, Hab Mathieu Carle was knocked unconscious and had to leave the ice on a stretcher. No word yet on his prognosis but anytime you lose consciousness, thats, er um, BAD. Am I right, Timmy?! Timmy?! Aw, come on, Timmy! I was just kidding! Come back! I like this new reckless "smiling" behavior. You're living life on the edge and I LOVE it.

Poor Mathieu.
At least he's cute.
CALL ME DURING YOUR CONVALESENCE, MATHIEU!

And on the Sabres front, Tim Connolly is fine. I KNOW, RIGHT?!?!

Awww Timmers ILU.

2-0? 2-0? 2-0!!!!!!

by Anne

Ok James, I'm gonna throw it high to the top right corner, you're our big 6'5" guy we got for the high passes from the red zone, so I'm gonna need you to make sure your giant feet land in bounds, and I'm going to throw the ball higher than anyone else on the team could jump to catch it.Basically if you don't make this catch, we'll find ourselves in a hole its going to be hard to climb out of. So make the catch.

Got it?





Got it.

2-0!!! First time since 2003!

I was actually surprised that we were 2-0 in 2003. I figured like 2000. Where's the faith?

That was one of my favorite endings to a football game of all time:

"After reviewing the play, it was a forward pass which results in a 10 second run down... the game is over."

I would love for the Super Bowl to end that way, hahahahaha.

Woooooooooooooooo!!!!!!

I Really Love Fall

by Anne

Fall is my favorite season. I love September. I love the cooler temperatures, I love wearing hoodies and jackets and boots, I love apple picking, crunchy leaves, going back to school and fashion week. September also brings us those most magical of all things: the NHL pre-season and the start of the NFL season, and the Buffalo Bills made their debut quite memorable.

34-10?? WOW. I certainly didn't see that one coming. I think my prediction was 21-17 Bills and, yeah I was just wrong. Matt Hasselbeck was sacked at least 5 times and the Seahawk's first 6 or 7 possessions were punts by their terrible punter with an equally terrible name. Plackemeier. What an awful name. He's no Ashton Youboty or Felton Huggins, who, incidentally was sent to the practice squad. Boooooooo. Felton Huggins is such an awesome name.

The Bills' defense was solid, special teams rocked it out (did you see that wacky return by Roscoe Parrish?) and the offense delivered a solid performance. Can't ask for much more than that. Remember like 6 years ago our special teams were like the worst in the NFL and couldn't return a punt to save their lives? Yeah, not no more.

The Bills haven't been 1-0 in like 5 years or something redonkulous like that, so this start has to feel good. Jacksonville is next week and they're coming off a 17-10 loss to Tennessee. Let's see if the Bills can carry this momentum into next week and shake the confidence of the Jags. Wooooo!

Oh Tom Brady. I don't like you but I really don't want you to be hurt. He was hit low and totally messed up his knee. Knee injuries are so dicey and range from needing to be stretched out on the sideline between drives to requiring major surgery. Early pre-MRI reports have him out for the entire season. That sucks. Ok, well, its good for the Bills because they're in our division, but bad for the NFL. If the Patriots start sucking without him and start losing, people will wonder if they still would've been bad without Brady. Although Tom Brady isn't that entire team, there's still a solid corps of players left, but it goes without saying how big of a loss his leadership will be. Ugh. I'd say I'm 70% glad that the Patriots will be less of a threat and the other 30% is still glad but feels bad that its because its because Brady is out. I'd rather Brady was still in and all of a sudden was just terrible and threw like 15 interceptions a game and cried every time and Giselle broke up with hi because he's a pansy. Yeah, that'd be pretty sweet. Let's make that last part happen anyway, shall we?

I'm sorry, but can I just say:

What? Commentary? Oh, that's all I had to say. I think that picture speaks for itself.

On to hockey, shall we?

For the 30 days leading up to the start of the season, TSN has been doing a daily breakdown of each of the 30 teams. The Sabres day was today. It doesn't say anything that we as die hard fans didn't already know. Fans of other teams will get a feel for the rest of the league, but it doesn't offer any staggering insight into the Sabres that we haven't been hearing all off season long. These are pretty cursory previews and a look back at last season. Like most people he acknowledges that last season was bad with the loss of Briere and Drury, but the offense wasn't really the problem and this season will probably be better. How much better? He, like the rest of us says its hard to say, and the Sabres are a team to watch. That's right, buddy boy.

NHL.com has kindly decided to point out that Roysie was 6th in the conference and 9th in NHL in points scored on home ice last season. Awww, good boy Derek!!! It's so amazing how much I can love Derek Roy on the ice (he's like my #7 favorite) but how much I roll my eyes at him off the ice, which is what keeps him out of the top 5.

Grrrr. Rough and tough little goal scoring Roysie.
Much love.


Seriously?
What is the design on that shirt?
It's like Lady Justice and a skeleton fairy sneaking up behind her.
Is Roysie making some kind of commentary on the state of our nation's justice system?
Is he saying that the legal system of the United States is a corrupt antequated institution?
Should we take this to mean that Derek Roy is untrusting of authority?
Did a cute salesgirl at ExpressMen tell Derek it would look cute on him, so he bought it?
Is that a shell man necklace?
Unless this picture was actually taken in Hawaii (which is plausible considering the leis), no man should be caught wearing shells around his neck.
Ok, well if this was in Hawaii how would random girls know who he was?

I think that for the purposes of self preservation, I will declare that Derek Roy does not exist to me when not in full Sabres gear.

To illustrate:

Derek Heathcliff Roy*


Some toolshed

*As per usual, I imagine Derek Roy's middle name is NOT Heathcliff, just like Ryan Miller's middle name is probably not Horatio and Nathan Gerbe's 2nd middle name is probably not Augustus, nor do I think he even has a second middle name, but until anyone can produce documentation to assure me that these assumptions are incorrect, I shall continue to come up with middle monikers that suit my fancy.

THE BILLS MAKE ME WANNA SHOUT

by Anne

Tonight REALLY starts my foray into reviving my Bills fanship. Won't you join me?

Poz will be there

I know its about as predictable as loving Jason Pominville but I never said I was original. My first try-out for Bills boyfriend is really no contest. That is unless Trent can BLOW MY MIND with some serious throws tonight, or Brian Moorman drops every punt on the 1 yard line and it bounces out, I throw my panties at Paul Posluszny. Maybe I have a thing for guys named Paul? GOOOOOOSE!

Redskins is goin' DOWN. I just watched a video on the Bills site and I kind of love Spencer Johnson right now. I have no idea if he's any good, but he gave a good interview. Was it squeal worthy? Not quite, but he does have nice dimples. These are important criteria for me, people! According to his mini-bio on the roster he was a team community leader whilst in Minnesota. Excellent. He had his best season of his career last season in Minnesota with 3 sacks and 2 fumble recoveries. While I know these are not record setting stats, it was the best of his career and he'll be EVEN BETTER IN BUFFALO, RIGHT? AM I RIGHT? No really, am I right?

I've Been Going About This All Wrong

by Anne

Everyday I read the Sports section of the Buffalo News, hoping to learn more about my team. So far, so good.

However, I'm having trouble with this and it occurred to me today exactly why.

I HAVEN'T DECLARED MY UNDYING LOVE FOR ANY PARTICULAR PLAYER OR PLAYERS.

Here's why:

Mama Peg is a huuuuuuge football fan, and always has been. However, Mama Peg is not a (whatever the football equivalent of a puckbunny is). Therefore, as I was brought into the football world by Dad Jim and Mama Peg, there was no one to show me the light: football players are very attractive and squealworthy.

ITS ALL COMING CLEAR NOW.

In order to REALLY love the Bills I have to develop a massive sports crush on one of them and then I will feel the urge to scour the interwebs for as much information as I can about my new man. This is how I got back into hockey in 2006, a massive sports crush on Jay McKee. He blocked a shot with his head or something badass like that, and it was L-O-V-E.

So I'm working my way into finding a Bills Boyfriend. HOWEVER. I do not want to commit my love to someone who might get cut from the team, I'm still reeling from the Big Bear trade and have only recently gotten over losing JKee right after I fell in SportsLove with him in 2006. I'm going to either have to throw myself at Trent Edwards or Pos, just to be safe, or fall madly in love with Steve Johnson and hope for things. He's 22 and is already married and has only been playing football for like 6 years. LOVE.

Also, do I love him because is name is Felton Huggins or is his name Felton Huggins because I love him?!

Then there's my pre-existing fondness for Brian Donald Moorman! Do I leave him out?

So many questions, so few answers.

Anyway, my quest will continue. The first preseason game is this coming Saturday against the Redskins in Washington, where hopefully I will be able to whittle down my list of potential boyfriends. I know the starters won't get to see as much action, so I'll have to use this opportunity to narrow down the list of youngin's to love.