May Day 10

He had Canadian partners who were vested in the city and Canadian media. Tim Lieweke is a guy who's career role is seeking teams for relocation. Once Wilson died and the team was for sale, the Toronto team entered the process to buy the team. They clammed up about relocation and Toronto because that is how these things work. If they were successful, they would claim they were proud owners of the Buffalo Bills... but oh would you look here... you have a stadium that needs replacing. We "need" $X and $Y (unattainable) or... oh shucks, we will have to explore other options. Other options explored in Toronto, stadium greenlit, not official until near the end of the lease, 1 or 2 lame duck seasons, and see-ya. There is no way that Toronto group was just going to own the team in Buffalo into perpetuity. I would bet most/all NFL owners were salivating at the opportunity. The existence of Pegula, his dedication to Buffalo, and his liquidity (as well as the timing of RW's death so early in the lease) made it virtually impossible for the Bon Jovi/MLSE group (or any out of town group) without the full weight of Rogers to buy the team, build a stadium, pay the relocation fee, and possibly pay off the NRA. The Trump story (embellished like he chronically does) creates a neat story for Bon Jovi that makes him more relevant, and also saves face as a good salt of the Earth guy with no enemies in the world who would buy a team in a small city and keep it local. It also excuses his failure to obtain the franchise. That's why he doesn't deny it. Its a nice convenient story and creates a mythology. I have no doubt Caputo distributed some fliers and got some local bar owners to join in on some Bon Jovi hate. But that is hardly sabotaging the purchase of the team. I do not know how that affected the $s Bon Jovi's group were able to pay. If you think that group with Bon Jovi, Lieweke, MLSE, and Rogers were going to buy the Bills at $1.4 Billion, allow them to stay in Buffalo, I guess we have to agree to disagree. An NFL franchise in Toronto would end up worth double what they are currently worth.

The idea that Trump and Caputo 'fooled' us into thinking Bon Jovi was in a Toronto based group looking to move the Bills to Toronto is foolish and is a revisionist We were onto Bon Jovi even before Ralph Wilson died. It was pretty much public knowledge if you were paying attention https://www.thestar.com/sports/football/jon-bon-jovi-mlse-give-toronto-inside-track-on-buffalo-bills-kelly/article_f3c8277d-d282-54f6-b107-6ecf7a81bd46.html https://www.businessinsider.com/jon-bon-jovi-may-be-positioning-himself-to-buy-the-buffalo-bills-and-move-the-team-to-toronto-2013-11

We will find out definitively in the next 2 years. The lease is up in 2025. The arena is going to require private and public investment. I don't see pegula jumping through the hoops, investing in the arena (already announced a few things), and signing a lease if he was going to sell the team. All indications from people in the know is that he is very happy owning the team. My guess is that Jessica and her husband and terry's son Matthew will be more and more involved with both franchise over the next decade

Yeah. I love the stability. I think they are fairly genuine people for billionaires. I believe their desire is to win. I love their resources.... but yeah. From day 1, they needed (for each franchise), a vetted and experienced team president to work alongside them who builds the team from the top down. Ease them into managing and being involved. I had thought they learned with the Sabres and was shocked to see them buy the Bills and not have that person in place (and continue to grope around with that buffoon Russ Brandon a few more years). That was a tough day, but it was just a symptom of the systemic failing of their structure and lack thereof. It was screwed up from day 1. They decided to hang onto Regier and Ruff, who clearly ran their course here. We had a decent nucleus that was stagnating, and with different leadership they may have been able to succeed. That mini-run in the spring to grab a playoff spot was probably a bad thing. There was a lockout shortened season that started in January, extra long offseason. They waited that long and decided to fire Ruff early in that season, after all that time off, mainly because the home crowds were turning ugly and it was getting national/canadian media attention. Half-measure. They hired Ron Rolston who was unqualified/unfit. Then they hung onto Regier longer, allowed him to start a rebuild... but then decided to fire him, again early, the next season to hire LaFontaine (without a GM in place). This was apparently due to a chance meeting at a Concussion seminar and an impulse. I thought it was great as he had Craig Patrick as a mentor and I was all in on Lafontaine's stated philosophies and goals. Then LaFontaine left amid drama, leaving Murray as the GM and defacto president. I honestly believe that Murray was going to serve as kind of more of a head scout/talent evaluation role, while LaFontaine would take care a lot of the interpersonal stuff and sign off on everything. It could have worked. LaFontaine is my favorite player all-time and its gutting that he is on the outs with ownership and the organization. Murray was a disaster running the show. They screwed Nolan over again which was bad mojo. Bylsma was horrible, Housley was worse. Botterill was a decent hire based on his resume, but he was a disaster as a general manager. Kruger, woof. They made bad hires, strange flat management structure, and waited too long to make moves, hanging onto bad for too long at times.

I think she was probably still going around the building and making decisions prior to her presidency as well. Im not a Kim Pegula (or Terry) hater or anything. I just think that in a lot of ways, this organization was undermined by their desire to be involved, as well as failure in defining roles. It was all very dysfunctional. They hired Adams, who seems to open to including the Pegulas (and probably others) in roundtable-style decisions... and I think Krueger was as well, and to some extent, Botterill... but those guys were just awful at their jobs.

I like Beane... but I will say that the early round trash pile has been growing around this team, and they need to start getting some mileage out of some of these guys or they will lose ground

OK, this is kind of surprising to me

I have heard good information from a few places that friction with Kim was the biggest driving force/factor in LaFontaine's resignation. Basically he was president, but she would override his decisions over his head. Lots of little things, but it caused a huge meltdown when there was the Sabres parents' trip. Miller wanted to bring his wife and Lafontaine said no, it was a parents trip to help team building, and Kim Pegula overruled. Thats a big reason the Pegulas have been so publicly obsessed with communication, collaboration and all that in their hires.

My gut says the team is not for sale. I do believe they *at least, have looked into selling off some of the team to an equity firm kind of deal, but remaining the owner and managing partner. All noise from the team, media, etc seems to indicate that Pegula is very happy being the Sabres' owner. At the NHL draft he was front and center and seemed to be very engaged. Pegula has taken a ton of lumps in his 12 years of ownership. They are finally getting a lot of love in the local and national press... they may be finally turning the corner into a good stroke of playoff years. It would be a tough time to bail, and leave your era/legacy the past 12 years of awfulness. The focus will soon start to shift towards what the Pegulas' kids are going to do. I expect Matthew and Jessica and her husband at the very least start to assume prominent roles in the next several years. There is a lack of local buyer(s) to really make it work. I cant see Pegula deliberately selling the team to an outside interest, and without any safeguards of the team staying. That goes against everything we have witnessed, and his actions to date. If there was a local guy, say Bob Rich didnt have alligator arms... and he was willing to pay market price for the team, I do think Pegula would consider selling.

I lived in Connecticut for a few years and nobody liked or cared about hockey. I would ask people about it and this was the basic recurring reason. They never grew up watching or playing the sport and just couldn't get into it as an adult. This was about 10 years post whalers. Most people had fond memories going to some games with their families and such, but not really into it. More like anyone in buffalo would reminisce about going to bisons games. Hartford was never good, so I'm sure that is a factor

You also have to add in an NFL relocation fee as well as $ out of pocket to build a stadium. It adds up. I don't think the NFL will have an appetite to leave a city/state who just gave them nearly $1 Billion... at least within a couple decades. That is bad business. Tim Graham just wrote about this in the Athletic. Basically said nothing indicates the Sabres are being sold (in fact, they just announced Pegula is pouring some money into the arena). He seems to think this is just kind of cleaning up a lot of Kim Pegula's structure/excess she had with PSE and some of the staffing/redundancy.

The Sabres' lease is up in 2025. The 'good' news is the NHL doesn't have many other places to go at this point. They probably really want to hit Houston and maybe Atlanta, but I wonder if that will just be another round of expansion. And I agree. No way the league expands to or agrees to relocate a team to Quebec City. Almost no shot at any additional Canadian teams

Its 27 years old now. There has never been any significant renovation, which technically makes it about the oldest arena in the league. It is ugly/worn on the inside, the seats are decrepit and disgusting. It was also built much cheaper than arenas around the same timeframe, and the cheapness shines through over time. Most/all of its contemporaries 90s arenas have had major renovations in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The seating bowl is a terrible design for site lines, the concourses (especially in the 300 level) are horrible, the bubble roof sucks the life out of the place, and the outside of it looks terrible (and worn/faded). It is going to need a decent sum of money, and the public ask will be coming.

The Sabres are at a sketchy point. Their lease is up in 2025, and that arena is now arguably the most putrid in the NHL. It needs a lot of investment/money. They announced a new scoreboard, sound, and a roof, but that scrapes the surface.

he had a tough upbringing where the dog fighting crap was normalized and even glorified. He did real time in prison (during his playing prime) and his financial life was in ruins. His name and character was/is forever smeared. He went from one of the most electric athletes in sports to incarcerated. Whether or not you believe him. He seems to say and act as though he has learned from his experience. I believe him. This is a long time to keep his nose clean, out of trouble, and he has championed animal/dog laws. Made speaking appearances to teach young people through his lessons.

"Litmus Test"

Yes, that is probably true. Maybe it would be worse with a network of similar organizations, who knows? He did get busted and he lost a lot because of it. I understand if people are still angry with him/have no use for him/etc. I'm a dog guy, so when all this was happening and well into his 'return', I was frothing at the mouth with hate. Somewhere along the line, I forgave and believe that he changed.

I hated Vick more than anyone I think. I saw him get reinstated, make millions again, and looked forced doing appearances and stuff for community service. It disgusted me to see the media and Eagles fans spin this positive narrative. But over the years, I have noticed Vick doing good things, speaking to young people when the cameras are off and he has little to gain. He has stayed completely out of trouble. He paid the price for what he did, and I truly believe he learned his lesson and became a better person because of it.

That sucks. Sorry your guy passed away. I don't watch wrestling much at all these days. I watched for a short stretch when they were rolling out the cult leader thing. That looked like it had potential

I will say, 79 years old is pretty ancient for someone who had lived the life of Terry Funk.

One of the best ever. Never hit the glamour that came with the Attitude Era and what came just before it. Did a lot of hard work in Indies and ECW and such. A cult figure. My favorite Funk moment was the 'chair incident' in ECW and he was hit in the head with a chair from a fan and he sold it.

No idea why that creature thought he could continue to hang out in that region... and especially anywhere near Moscow. You would figure a supervillian like that would have much better instincts of self-preservation.

This hits the nail on the head. I don't think it is unbreakable like Cy Young's wins or Glenn Hall's consecutive games as a goalie or anything like that. But highly unlikely. A pass rusher can put together a few superb seasons, but they are going to get schemed out a bit. Players are held out due to health more, careers are shorter. Coaching is more technical than ever where a dominant pass rusher will be nerfed quite a bit over time. IMO the 'greats' will top out around 150 sacks.

Its tough to say. I don't think it would be eternal/infinite... but maybe could extend our consciousness well into triple digits. The problem is, are we going to damage the earth/each other, will there be a doomsday virus, etc? Maybe? Maybe not? Also, can/would humans handle the idea of doubling/tripling/quadrupling our lifespans? Will it be a perk sold only to the extreme wealthiest families in the world? If it is more widely available, would we have the guardrails to control the population levels?

He got some criticism from other fans because of his over the top goal calls and excitement. Also painting the other team as villainous thugs vs the righteous sabres when it came to fights... But I would always point out. If you listen to an opposing goal in a vacuum, RJ put 10x more into those goals than any other home/regional pbp announcer.