May Day 10

There is a split among fan preference. Personally, I love the quant little thing we have there and I think it should be preserved if possible. As years pass, it will increasingly be a destination for football and sports fans, much like Wrigley Field or Fenway. Some people want to get out of the cold and want it indoors. I get it. Some people romanticize a downtown stadium.

The smallest glimmer of success (home playoff game) and season tickets will be capped with a waiting list which will allow for steady increases in pricing.

Complete clown shoes management on the hockey side throughout Pegula's ownership. From a standpoint of the hires, as well as the timing of changes like firing ruff a month into a season after a full offseason and half year lockout. Firing regier in november with only lafontaine and no gm. The drama that march with lafontaine's "resignation". All during critical times of a deep teardown and rebuild. Hopefully they have it right at this point. It should be a make or break year for botterill. Anything less than respectable cant be enough. At that point, it would be (again) time to restore credibility with an experienced, respected president of hockey ops/gm who may act autonomously from ownership.

Rage Against the Machine Other than the obvious gilmour/waters

I am kind of agreeing with you in the fact that we are defending ESPN. By yelling, I mean these roundtable and debate formatted shows that have a lot more flair and talking over one another than the Sunday morning "Sports Reporters" could dream of. There has been a show called "Pardon the Interruption". That show Kellerman ran where reporters are awarded points, and nearly every feature is a point/counterpoint thing. Olberman was also pretty straight-cut on the network and didnt really get outwardly political until he left sportscenter (from what I recall). And now you have Steven A Smith or whatever his name is saying controversial things and getting in the news, which they obviously like. Furthermore, you have more gimmicky features with newer technology and things that carry a little more interesting and are appealing. Yesterday, for like 10 minutes, I watched two guys puzzle out the percentage chances they give the AFC Teams to win the Division by writing the figures on some touch screen thing. My point is, if ESPN remained a straight-cut sports station, rolling a straight highlight-driven sportcenter for 4 hours in the morning, along with fairly dry and "classy" analysis, nobody would really watch it because that stuff is available at our fingertips 24/7. It would be a little more entertaining than C-SPAN. They needed to up the volume a bit and have evolved. People get nostalgic about how it used to be, but back then we were basically a captive audience and had to choose between sportcenter and cartoons on TBS while getting ready for school. The league networks also take a lot away from ESPN. They used to have nightly shows that would basically serve as the "NFL" or "NHL" Network. Now fans of those leagues are much more inclined to tune into those stations instead.

We are all nostalgic for the day with little to no internet, and 1 sports station providing one stop shop highlights. Now we all have supercomputers in our pocket and can watch highlights from anything in 2 seconds, or even recall the 2003 nfc championship game with a simple voice command. In addition, there isnt 1 sports dedicated network. There are dozens to choose from. Espn's programming is to try to set itself ahead from the competitors. Lots of yelling, gimmicky segments, hosts who say edgy things and get publicity. Us curmudgeons complain that they should show straight-line highlights, but they would die. What they still do great is live sports. Whether its college football or hoops, nfl, baseball, little league world series... i dont think anyone comes close. Im hoping they win the NHL rights in a few years. You also cant rival their 30 for 30 and other human interest features.

Im not a Trump fan, but at this point, isn't it kind of silly and presumptive to get in a pissing match with the President on whether or not you will visit the White House?

Just a little more stuff A poll of 500 AAC fans shows most want to expand to 12 full-sport teams. Shocked that Buffalo finished 2nd in preferred addition. 4th for football-only, and 3rd for hoops only https://www.ohvarsity.com/blogs/2019/6/25/heres-how-500-aac-fans-want-to-expand-or-not BYU is the only win across the board, and they’re 1,700 miles from Cincinnati and don’t play any sports on Sundays. Both of these are likely deal breakers on the AAC’s side, which assumes BYU agrees to share its football program and negotiations even get that far. I see the upside of Buffalo. Their athletics budget is robust for a non-AAC G5 school, they’ve had balanced success in football and basketball recently, and they match the AAC’s footprint while also serving as a cultural fit. However, to use a pro sports concept, I don’t think the American is in a position to draft a player mainly based on upside. We did that with Tulane, Tulsa, and ECU, and see how that’s worked out so far. We’re in win-now mode. I don’t think we can afford to give a school a boost and wait around for them to compete regularly at a higher level.

Is there any negative for UB to jump up? Would it blow their athletic budget? From the general criteria I see from the various columns, outside of cherry-picking a good basketball and another good football school, it seems like UB would be the best single-school fit for the AAC (other than maybe the wishful thinking ones like Boise St and BYU). The only real question would be whether or not their basketball program can maintain the recent standard, and whether or not the football program can jump up a level. I do believe attendance for football would improve with real opponents and real implications. No more Tuesday nights in late October/November.

I find it an interesting topic... and it bothers me when people try to measure fanbases by the way of raw merchandise sales or twitter mentions. I am a "big" fan of the Sabres and Bills. Im not sure I ever posted about them on social media. Maybe a quick snap from the Bills home opener every year. Ive noticed the people who post about their sports teams a lot on social media (general SM like FB, Twitter, etc) are people who aren't a big fan or knowledgeable, but just want to compensate and establish themself on the bandwagon. I dont really desire to be known as the best fan base... and try to defend it at any perceived slight. Bills fans get plenty of accolades. I actually think Sabres fans are overrated (Im a Sabres fan). I dont think it could be really quantified. Especially with 'sales'. Im 40. How many kids' parents would buy them all sorts of Chicago Bulls crap to wear or posters for their lockers? Big fans? Or front runners who are nowhere to be seen post-Jordan?

These are the same flawed "stats" people often use to quantify fan-dom. They heavily favor large markets and teams who are good/bandwagoners To me, the best gauge of a fan base is to view how the fans are during the lean years.

This would be the most realistic jump for UB Athletics from the MAC. I heard a rumbling a year or two ago from someone in the know in Cincinnati that the AAC was interested in the Buffalo market. This would be a key opportunity for both sides if there is real interest. Not sure i the travel situation is do-able. You get Cincinnati, East Carolina, and Temple in the same 'region'... then a lot of Florida, Houston, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa area. Football is one thing, but travelling for all sports on a regular basis? That is a far leap from Ohio schools, Michigan, some Illinois.

Pat Smear too

The Wall

Three Stooges its timeless I was showing my 6 year old some clips and he was on the floor laughing

Bravo! And I dont think we relentlessly booed him. The Tre White thing was ugly and turned people against him late, but all along, Gronk was a goofball and made me laugh. I liked him, it sucked to see him on the Patriots and a key safety valve for Brady.

Just a comically bad theory.

I was in a similar discussion in a different forum and somebody accused me of gender bias, and was serious about it.

No. Class and sportsmanship. The result of the match is not in any doubt. Likely very little doubt about the us' slot in the elimination round. No need to clown it up

making this a gender bias issue is incredibly stupid. And scoring the amount of goals is a separate issue of the poor way they handled themselves. Scoring goals leaving nothing to chance with point differential and staying sharp is one thing and not wrong Acting classless on every goal and representing your country with poor sportsmanship is another Here are two similar blowouts with examples on how to act when the game is out of hand https://youtu.be/-3LDDkdZ0ug https://youtu.be/QaP672-eEFM

I like Toronto. Its a great city. My complaint is the number of bold panhandlers who seem to think everyone who walks by them owes a tax

Ok, im "garbage" i guess, lol. You "win"

I get scoring in a point differential system in game 1.... but to act like it is the miracle on ice and to look like clowns.... bad look. Businesslike and professional. Run up the score. Explain later that you leave nothing to chance. .. complaints are 1% what they are now.

nah. theyre plenty well disgusted with me by the time it has run its course

Just opened it and see the Patriots are ranked #32. Completely agree with that. Some of the worst uniforms in sports. It isnt coming from an area of hate for me, I think their throwbacks would be one of the best. The flying elvis logo is awful, and the colors are very underwhelming and dull.