LongLiveRalph

Just a question about your wing-eating habits...

I like when they compare every white WR in the draft to Brandon Stokely or Wayne Chrebet.

I am not anti-Vanek, trust me. But you are not going to convince me that he isn't soft. On and off the ice.

I live in Tampa, Vinny is the guy that the Sabres have six of. He's soft and is a fringe player, and likes the pretty play and likes when goals come easily. It's even more frustrating with him because unlike the Sabres' midgets, he is 6'4" 225. As for your "true" #1 center, Lecavalier is the #2 center on one of the worst teams in the league. Stamkos is the face of that franchise now, and they would trade Vinny in a heartbeat if he didn't have 10 years and $80 million left on his contract.

I realize what you're saying and I agree. The front of the net is where goals are scored and where beatings go down. But the truth is, Vanek really only stations himself in front of the net when the Sabres have a power play, when the defense is playing their box, and he isn't necessarily getting bodied 1-v-1 and having to battle for position. Other than that he is a fringe player when it is full strength, causing him to often morph into Thomas Vanish. But like others have said, he certainly would've helped, especially on the PP, in this series. He is an incredibly streaky player and it looked like he was starting up a hot one just before he got injured. But there is no question he is soft. Personally, I can't wait for Regier and Quinn's season-ending press conference where they lecture the fans on how this "young" team (even though they're all 28 and have been in the NHL for six years) gained some valuable playoff experience and they look forward to the internal improvment. Which obviously means 100 points for Connolly next year, 36 goals for Stafford, and Pommer as the league MVP.

Boston was 1-6 going into last night...And scored the game winner on the PP.

I don't think so, no. But I haven't really thought that all year. However, if they were 3-12 on the PP instead of 0-12, this series might look drastically different. They could be looking to close out the series tonight, and I guarantee people would be discussing a deep run. Especially with the struggles of some of the other favorites.

This is just getting ridiculous. Mizzou should go to the Big Ten, and then TCU will fill their slot in the Big 12. Simplest solution. I realize the Big Ten wants that chunk of east coast viewership and media coverage, but they are a Midwest conference. Why wouldn't they want to pick up the St. Louis market? Obviously Notre Dame to the Big Ten makes the most sense for everyone, except ND's pockets. Also, I love when people target Rutgers for the "NYC market." Nobody in NY gives a rats ass about Rutgers. Their football team beat Louisville on a Thursday night and were good for about five minutes. Other than that, it's Rutgers, and it's Jersey, and nobody cares. (Obviously, if the conference landed UConn and SU also, well that's different...Those are Big East stalwarts...)

It's just absurd that they have to call up a guy with some size and tenacity from the minors because there's nobody on the current roster who wants the "badass" role. Sad.

Sad but true. The most frustrating part is watching them play their asses off for the last four minutes of a game when they're down by a goal. Guys throwing weight around in the corner, forcing a weak clear, a defensemen at the point keeping it in, and throwing the puck to the net, where players are crashing and looking for a rebound. It's not rocket science and they obviously prove they can play with that urgency, they just choose not to do it for 56 minutes. It's to the point where when a forechecker for the Sabres actually lays a hit, you almost do a double-take. You have to wonder what Miller is thinking after he's kept them in the game with 30+ saves, they're down 2-1, and suddenly they start to play hard. Because the difference in their aggression, when losing at the end of a game, is obvious.

Please don't have two glasses of wine with dinner at a restaurant and drive home. You've never done that before...

Oh yeah I was definitely only talking about this series. I have been critical all season of this Sabres team, and catching serious flak for it because "they're in 1st place, what more do you want." I mentioned earlier in this thread that they were missing major pieces to be a Cup contender and few people jumped all over me. Perhaps it was just the pre-playoffs optimism and the excitement of being back in the postseason. It would be nice to see them advance, only because of the man between the pipes. He gives them a chance every night. But in a very mediocre East, the stars play for two teams, who will be tough to beat. The Sabres "no #1 line" motto is cute but it just doesn't pass the eye test. When you have a bunch of guys who only score 1 goal every 8 games, who gets the goals in a 7 game series? You need some stars to win, backed up by two lines of guys who get nasty, earn every inch of space on the ice, and take no bullshiit. At least when the Sabres had Hasek, they prided themselves on being the "hardest working team in hockey" and actually focused on being a horribly difficult team to play against. They wanted to be physical, ugly, fight, and then when you fought your way into a scoring area, you had to beat the Dominator. They were tough to play against, you knew you were in for a 60 minute grind. Other than lighting the lamp on Miller, this Sabres team appears to be incredibly easy to play against. They want nothing to do with battles.

If the Colts are 13-1, you can guarantee Peyton Manning is sitting on the end of the bench eating hotdogs the last two weeks, regardless of the opponent. Fans pay their hard earned money realizing that this is a distinct possibility at the end of the season. Other fans hope for these occurances so that they buy scalped tickets for $10 and take their four kids to an NFL football game, just to be in the stadium and have the experience. The day costs them $100 rather than $600. I do applaud the NFL for trying to maintain a competitive atmosphere where they put their best product on the field, and divisional games is a much better idea than docking draft picks or something like that.

Seriously! Win tomorrow and they're in pretty good shape. They still have some guy named Ryan Miller...

Mair is the least of their problems and is the type of player they need more of. He's a 4th liner and earns everything he gets. Getting rid of Mair and replacing him with another Pominville/Connolly/Stafford type would be a problem. We have enough guys who like to hang around the fringes and hope everything comes easily. Kaleta's lack of ice time has been shocking considering the lack of intensity the Sabres have shown, and the way the series has been going. Lydman has been excellent, not kidding...Rivet is the worst player on the ice everytime he's out there. Lindy will probably rotate 4 defensemen and give the Rivet-Sekera pairing about 5 minutes (or less) in game 4. At least that's what he should do. Remember when Campbell hit Umberger in 2006? The other four players on Philly chased Campbell down the ice, and a skirmish ensued as they all wanted a piece of him. Ellis gets popped tonight in much the same fashion (by the same player who injured Vanek) and the four Sabres stand around and hope someone else does something about it. It's a joke.

You must be symptom free before you can even skate, much less participate in practice. He suffered the concussion last Saturday, 9 days ago. He went through all of the testing and baseline comparisons during the week, and was cleared to return to activity last Thursday (he skated on his own the morning of Game 1 after the team had their AM session.) He had no recurring symptoms from skating and was cleared for practice, which he did fully yesterday. So I guess the protocol was followed. The "80-90%" number probably came from the fact that Stafford has been awful the last month of the season and Ruff was considering calling up Mancari or Gerbe from Portland to fill out the dress roster.

I don't doubt the impact that Vanek's injury had on the psyche of the team. Any team that loses their big gun, off of a line that had been really clicking, will likely stumble for a few minutes. However, I'm all set with hearing how young this Sabres team is. It's a b.s. excuse that has been perpetuated by Quinn and Regier, and it's just not true anymore. If you take their likely roster on any given day in these playoffs (20 players): Forwards: Connolly- 28 Roy- 26 Gaustad- 28 Ellis- 28 Hecht- 32 Kennedy- 23 Torres- 28 Mair- 31 Pominville- 27 Vanek- 26 Grier- 35 Stafford- 24 Kaleta- 23 Defensemen: Myers- 20 Tallinder- 31 Lydman- 32 Montador- 30 Rivet- 35 Butler/Sekera- 23 (both) Miller- 29 AVERAGE AGE: 27.95 YEARS OLD Of those, the following players have been on the team since the lockout, in the '05-'06 season and have been involved in two runs to the Eastern Conference finals: Connolly, Roy, Grier (traded after '06), Pominville, Vanek, Hecht, Gaustad, Lydman, Mair, Tallinder, Miller. Stafford came up in the '06-'07 season and was a part of that playoff run, and Kaleta made his regular season debut during the '06-'07 season as well. Regardless of age, I would hardly call those guys "green" in the ways of the NHL. They have been through the trials and tribulations of full seasons, ups and downs, playoff pressure, etc. Myers is probably their best player besides Miller on any given night, so that also hurts the "age" argument. Darcy continues to talk like this team is going to magically blossom into something special, once they get older. He talks like they're all 22 years old, and a lot of fans buy into their "young" team. It's just not true. It's a salary cap league, every team has cheap young players on their roster. The Sabres actually have a big chunk of NHL experience and playoff experience on their roster, compared to the majority of the playoff teams. I realize that in the previous go-around, guys like Roy, Vanek, and Pommer didn't have to be "the guy." But they were there, they know the ropes. And they're deep into their 3rd season beyond the Drury/Briere regime. In my opinion, if they can't step up and get it done now, it's because they aren't good enough, not because they are young.

Bills Sabres Tribe here. Sweet World Series last year, Sabathia vs. Lee in game 1...UGH

They lost to Gruden's team who knew every single offensive set the Raiders had.

Yes that's how I remember it too. Ups and downs but never had one guy consistently succeed.

Gannon took the Raiders to the Super Bowl the year after Gruden left... Gruden was the "Quality Control" coach for the 49ers under O.C. Mike Holmgren and then went with him to Green Bay to be the WR Coach. I'm sure he worked with Favre but he wasn't his "coach" per se.

QUESTION: How did Jon Gruden become a quarterback "guru" in the first place? I know this was somehow his M.O. when he was a head coach, that he was thought of as a great West Coast offensive mind and a QB expert. If I remember correctly, he had success in Oakland with Rich Gannon, who I would hardly say was "groomed" by Gruden...Gannon played through the hard knocks and was a savvy veteran by the time Gruden took over. In Tampa, Gruden won a Super Bowl with Brad Johnson, yet another savvy vet... Then had some ups and downs, with the majority of his "ups" occurring with Jeff Garcia under center, who made plays outside of the offense with his legs and veteran experience. I can't recall one QB that Gruden has himself developed into a quality starter. Am I wrong about this? Is "GRUDEN AS QB GURU" just a myth that continues to perpetuate itself, even more so now with the force of ESPN behind it???

I'm still on the fence about the Heatley incident...

The congregation is upset but the priests think it's perfect!

Sabres playoffs in Boston, get to a game! Tell those chowds we said "Fah Q!!"