Nextmanup

My sister/brother in law who live in a big old Victorian house in the city of Buffalo had this done a few years ago. I'm pretty sure they are happy with it. I believe the calculation that my brother in law performed said the system would pay for itself after 7 years via lower power bills.

How did SRO work at the Aud? You bought a SRO ticket for a reduced price, and were allowed access to that area up there where you literally had no seat, but could crowd around and peer over the concrete wall at the back of the last row of oranges? That's how I sort of remember it up there. I wonder how many of those tickets were allotted to a Braves or Sabres game. I can't imagine a team doing something like that now.

The win only sets things back for another 3-4 losses. Then the pressure for the organization to do something will mount again.

I shudder to think what a game might look like if and when the NFL starts charging the networks DOUBLE. They are just going to shift those expenses forward. Maybe they can charge twice as much for ad time, but what if they actually have to increase ad time? I'm not sure there is anywhere left for them to do that! They now run little commercials during the game even while not at a break!

I'm surprised to see we are more expensive than the Jets! We have been hearing for years bout NYC people coming to see their team (Jets or Giants) in WNY against the Bills b/c it's actually cheaper for them to see their team here instead of at home! That doesn't jibe with this data, at least regarding the Jets.

This is what Fox did with NFL football many years ago. Way overplayed to be allowed into the party as a network player. A "loss leader" they call it.

Funny you write that; when I think back to my initial experiences in the Aud watching a hockey game, there is one that sticks out above the rest. When someone scored a goal my instinct was to see the replay, as I got to do at home watching on TV. Nope! No instant replay available! As a fan, you had to pay attention, live in the moment, and catch the action the first time around or it was gone forever. Imagine that...

Only if Pegula agrees to sell the Sabres first.

Another solid loss tonight in DC. A couple more of these and there's no way we'll be able to make the playoffs. The good news: we aren't dead last in the NHL! We are only 30th.

The line was "Lighten up, Francis."

LOL. I was just thinking the same thing! I'm not entirely sure how I ended up at the concert to be honest. I think it was a product of wanting to be included in what was really an activity of my older sister and her buddy. Which is kind of funny, as my sister and her buddy would have been like 12 and thinking to themselves, in 1979, "Foreigner is coming to town; we gotta go!" LOL

There are a lot of modern sports fans who seem to thrive exclusively on this aspect of sports. They enjoy playing the role of the GM, and seem to be quite knowledgeable on even the fine print in the CBA. I never got that. Nothing is further removed from the fun of watching a sporting competition than the legal drudgery of sorting out a CBA, and I'm an attorney! I come to sports entirely to leave stuff like that behind.

Yeah, I did some googling after I posted that and it looks like our first concert was October 26, 1979. I would have been 8! My mom bought me a pin which I think I still have that said "STROKE ME". LOL

You mentioned Dahlin. I think a lot of Sabres fans right now are frustrated at our standing in the league, thinking we should be much better than we are. One reason for this is Dahlin. Fan expectations were off the charts with him. The reality is that he is probably not one of the best 30 defensemen in the league, at least right now. I also think we have seen enough of his playing to suggest that he will never be a Norris trophy candidate. I.E., the reality of Dahlin is nothing close to the advertising for Dahlin. Eichel is a great talent, but he likes to take shifts, periods, and games off. That's a problem too. Skinner is a really good goal scorer in this league, but he has been so mis-managed and used by Ralph from the beginning that he has been turned into an insignificant piece. Reinhart brings a lot to the table but he can't play center, which is what he was drafted to be---a line driver, and that he is not. The whole team is nothing close to the sum of the parts, at least as they look on paper. Ralph is not a good coach and he *will* be replaced. Just a question of when. If you re-adjust your expectations based on reality, things make more sense.

Stephen King has a very particular voice in his writing that I personally can't get past. I just can't read his books, and I've tried a few of them. In fiction, I'm currently reading "Pope Joan" by Donna Woolfolk Cross. Great book and super interesting. In non-fiction, I'm reading "The First and the Last" by Adolf Galland.

That jumped right off the screen at me too. I think he's going to go top 5 overall! If he starts to fall and there is ANY way to ***** him, I would try to do it. I *hate* trading up but I might make a limited exception for him, as long as we didn't go too crazy in the move up.

You think after his franchise record setting rookie season, and then the 11-2 run in 2017 before going down with injury, the fans of Philly thought they had their next franchise QB? I do! And he just got kicked to the curb for almost nothing in return. Nothing is guaranteed in this league!

Numbers like that, for Watt at this point in his career, scare me to death. I hope we pass. Or he passes on us!

My first ever concert was seeing Foreigner at the Aud, with Billy Squier opening. I'm guessing it was around 1980. I was little kid and if you can believe it, my mom took me, my older sister, and her best friend. I remember the lights going on at the intermission and the entire auditorium was filled with one giant smoke cloud that hung up near the ceiling. Probably made up of about 50% cigarette smoke and 50% pot. LOL

I remember 2 primary things about Crystal Beach: the homemade cinnamon suckers and riding the Comet. The Comet had an advantage over more modern roller coasters in that it was made out of wood, and it felt like it was falling apart every time I rode on it. It had a raw element of fear going for it that the slick modern steel coasters couldn't match! The thing really shook and vibrated as you went along the tracks.

I know nothing about valuing sports memorabilia, but my guess is these tickets are worth more to you as a Bills fan as tickets than they would be converted into money. The price just isn't going to be big enough to sell. Though how much is enough to sell is different for everyone. Great story! Great memories! It's funny, but that game is going to be like Kennedy getting shot or the Challenger blowing up for any Bills (or Oilers!) fan alive at that time and old enough to remember. We all have our different experiences of the game and who among us is going to forget them?

I'm pretty sure there are now building codes that would prohibit a new Aud from being built. The idea being that the old buildings were too steep to safely get people out of them in case of a fire. I have never really dug into that, though, and don't know the specifics. It would make sense that TO and MON might be better, as they aren't in the USA and they have their own legal system to deal with. Are any of the new generation of American buildings really steep like in the old days? I didn't think so, but I don't really know. I've been in the buildings for Lightning, Panthers, and Caps. They are all the same as the new building in Buffalo...very gentle incline. That's the right time! But I'm mis-remembering here. My buddy didn't run the Hatch. He ran the little convenience store in the bottom of the light house at the end of the point; they also had a gas pump for gassing up the boats. I'm sure he would still have known your sister as it was a little world down there at the marina and everyone knew everyone. The lighthouse:

Here is a crazy memory I have from my childhood that for some reason I have always held onto. I was at an event at my grade school--St. John the Baptist in Kenmore, and Shane Nelson the Bills linebacker was a special guest speaking at this thing. I think it may have been a Cub Scouts sort of event, I don't remember. Nelson was a Bill from 1977-1982, this would have been some time during those years. I'm thinking 1980, so I would have been 9 years old. After Nelson spoke, they took questions from the crowd, passing around a microphone. Some kid asked Shane Nelson, the Bills linebacker: "Are you related to Shane on the radio?" And the gym (where we were all assembled) roared with laughter. That was like 41 years ago!

During what years was your younger sister working at the Hatch? I am very good friends with a guy who kind of ran The Hatch for a while during high school and college. I'm wondering if I know your sister; Buffalo is such a small place.

I thought that was you; that's why I posted it here. You and I have "talked" somewhere else, though I'm not sure where right now. Hfboards? Sabrespace? Your urban exploration of the Aud after it was shutdown is really cool; I think I have one of your photographs as my avatar at another site! I find these photographs of the Aud to be really compelling. They transform me to another time and place. I think it has to do with a few things. First, I didn't grow up in a household with season tickets and it was always a rare and special event for me to attend a game at the Aud. Second, a lot of this came in my childhood, so I am dealing with somewhat mirky memories, though not all mirky. Third, I am struck by the interesting juxtaposition of the old, rundown nature of the Aud as balanced against the fondness I have for the building in my mind's eye. It really was an old, no-frills, kind of gross place! And yet I have *nothing* but really fond memories of being in the building. I think a lot of that comes from being a kid and it being an interesting adventure to be there. The ramps! The steepness of the seats and stairs! The utter intimacy of the building! The crowd noise! The way the boards and glass shook like a tidal wave behind the nets when someone threw a big hit on the end wall! The way those "sand bag" sound damper things swung violently up at the ceiling, being moved by nothing more than sonic energy! I would replace the current building with an exact copy of the Aud (with all of its blemishes!) tomorrow if I had the power to do so. I attended the very first game ever played at the new building; it was a pre-season game against the Maple Leafs. I didn't like the building then and it never really grew on me after.