PromoTheRobot Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Looking at the Sabres free fall, I have to look at Ralphie and think they guy ain't all bad. Sure he's made a few bad moves over the years but he's never scuttled his team in one season like Tommy Boy has. The Titanic sank slower. PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBilliever Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Looking at the Sabres free fall, I have to look at Ralphie and think they guy ain't all bad. Sure he's made a few bad moves over the years but he's never scuttled his team in one season like Tommy Boy has. The Titanic sank slower. PTR Couldn't have put it better myself... Let go of Zubrus, Drury, Conklin, and Briere and... oh look, they're all on playoff bound clubs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwight Drane Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 I was at the same point with Donahoe and Mularkey that I am now with Quinn and Darcy. The fans were constantly being talked down to, if you had a concern or a crticism you weren't a "real" fan, and they were worried about perceptions and marketing the team instead of the reality that they were actually F'ing the whole thing up. If Golisano does what Wilson did and cleans house, bringing in people we can trust like Levy and Jauron, then I will give him my support and buy tickets. It only took 2 years for the Bills to go from rock bottom, to a young, hard working playoff contender. They brought in people of character from top to bottom though. Marshawn Lynch doesn't cringe when he sees a tackler coming at him. Angelo Crowell gets up off the turf and tries to make a play when thrown down, he doesn't go crying to the refs. And most importantly, when the team could have quit week 4 because of all the crazy injuries, instead they tried harder and almost pulled of a shock in December. The difference is, Ralph at almost 90 cared enough about his reputation to make a change. I doubt anything will be done since Quinn and Golisano have been down in the Dick Cheney Bunker since the Ice Bowl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmac17 Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Let go of Zubrus, Drury, Conklin, and Briere and... oh look, they're all on playoff bound clubs! yeah, with teams who have how many more points than the sabres? 5? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsfanmiami(oh) Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 yeah, with teams who have how many more points than the sabres? 5? Yeah and those 5 points will keep those teams playing at least a little longer while the Sabres will be home cleaning off their golf clubs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drnykterstein Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Tell that to Doug Flutie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SABURZFAN Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Ralph Wilson didn't take over a team and its $50 million debt either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornerville Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Sabres will miss the playoffs because of the skills competition and you get all over TG after a President's Trophy season. Boy, Buffalo fans sure do have high expectations for being a small market. The sky is NOT falling for the Sabres. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
will Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 wow, promo, you must be really pissed to not only cry about tom on sabrespace, but to mirror your discontent on a football messageboard. not to mention that with three games left in the season, the sabres still have a chance to make the postseason. relax, fella. it's just the entertainment industry. i hope that last statement doesn't disqualify my fan status. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwight Drane Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Ralph Wilson didn't take over a team and its $50 million debt either. Actually, it was $25 million in debt to Adelphia which was settled in bankruptcy for 30 cents on the dollar, and the other $22 million was the mortgage on the HSBC Arena. In return for that he gets to keep all the gate, merchandise and concession sales. Tell me again why I should ever so gently balance Tommy G's pocket of marbles on my tongue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwight Drane Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 wow, promo, you must be really pissed to not only cry about tom on sabrespace, but to mirror your discontent on a football messageboard. not to mention that with three games left in the season, the sabres still have a chance to make the postseason. relax, fella. it's just the entertainment industry. i hope that last statement doesn't disqualify my fan status. I'm behind Promo all the way. Do you not see any similarity in how the current Sabres front office mirrors the Bills' front office during the Donahoe years? I guess we are all stupid little Rubes who don't know how to tie our own shoes, let alone run a pro sports franchise. If it wasn't for a lockout that suddenly placed a premium on metrosexual hockey with it's rule changes, the Sabres would have been much closer to the middle of the pack. And for everyone that hum-zings Darcy and Ruff, take a look at what a 62 year old Dominik Hasek is doing today, then imagine how much more valuable he was in his prime. Maybe if Quinn or Regier would talk to the local media sometime in the past 8 months, we'd have a better understanding of what they were thinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawgg Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Looking at the Sabres free fall, I have to look at Ralphie and think they guy ain't all bad. Sure he's made a few bad moves over the years but he's never scuttled his team in one season like Tommy Boy has. The Titanic sank slower. PTR Nice knee-jerk reaction. Let's see how long the Sabres remain out of playoff contention before comparing Golisano to one of the worst owners in football. Given that they have a solid coaching staff and an excellent front office, I have hope for the franchise. The Bills, on the other hand, have been an inept franchise for a decade, in large part, thanks to our bumbling owner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted March 31, 2008 Author Share Posted March 31, 2008 wow, promo, you must be really pissed to not only cry about tom on sabrespace, but to mirror your discontent on a football messageboard. not to mention that with three games left in the season, the sabres still have a chance to make the postseason. relax, fella. it's just the entertainment industry. i hope that last statement doesn't disqualify my fan status. True. I'm not one of the "Stepford Fans" on SabreSpace. PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsfanmiami(oh) Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Nice knee-jerk reaction. Let's see how long the Sabres remain out of playoff contention before comparing Golisano to one of the worst owners in football. Given that they have a solid coaching staff and an excellent front office, I have hope for the franchise. The Bills, on the other hand, have been an inept franchise for a decade, in large part, thanks to our bumbling owner. Have you been in a coma the last 8 months? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawgg Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Have you been in a coma the last 8 months? Over the years, they have drafted well and made some solid trades. Let's see what they do this year. The Bills, on the other hand, have been void of talent going on 10 years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Doug Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 Over the years, they have drafted well and made some solid trades. Let's see what they do this year. The Bills, on the other hand, have been void of talent going on 10 years! Let's see: they let 2 of our best players walk last year (for nothing), they signed an overrated player to an ungodly amount of money (talk about painting yourself into a corner!), they continue to pay Connolly while he spends more time in a hospital bed than the ice, and looking towards the future, they fired all of their scouts. However, I don't think this is TGs fault. He basically saved the team. I would say Darcy has his head in the sand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramius Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 I'm not pleased with what the sabres did over the last 12 months, but theres one simple thing to be addressed: I have yet to see anyone, and i mean anyone, explain to me, or come up with a reasonable plan, where we could have kept all the "players we should have kept", kept all of our young players, and still stayed under the salary cap. And a big overlooked reason as to why the Sabres didnt do so hot this year is the return of boring ass pre-lockout hockey. Watch the playoffs this year, and it'll seem like 10 years ago. With regards to gameplay and salary structure, it only took a bit over 2 years for the NHL to return to its old ways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuffMuff Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 Let's see: they let 2 of our best players walk last year (for nothing), they signed an overrated player to an ungodly amount of money (talk about painting yourself into a corner!), they continue to pay Connolly while he spends more time in a hospital bed than the ice, and looking towards the future, they fired all of their scouts. However, I don't think this is TGs fault. He basically saved the team. I would say Darcy has his head in the sand. LOL - Right on Kas, don't forget that they shoved that stupid SLUG down our throats too and Quinn had his hoof in on that one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philly McButterpants Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 I'm not pleased with what the sabres did over the last 12 months, but theres one simple thing to be addressed: I have yet to see anyone, and i mean anyone, explain to me, or come up with a reasonable plan, where we could have kept all the "players we should have kept", kept all of our young players, and still stayed under the salary cap. And a big overlooked reason as to why the Sabres didnt do so hot this year is the return of boring ass pre-lockout hockey. Watch the playoffs this year, and it'll seem like 10 years ago. With regards to gameplay and salary structure, it only took a bit over 2 years for the NHL to return to its old ways. Yeah! It's not like Ottawa or Detroit or the Devils keep all of their talented players and contend year after year . . . oh, wait . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwight Drane Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 I'm not pleased with what the sabres did over the last 12 months, but theres one simple thing to be addressed: I have yet to see anyone, and i mean anyone, explain to me, or come up with a reasonable plan, where we could have kept all the "players we should have kept", kept all of our young players, and still stayed under the salary cap. And a big overlooked reason as to why the Sabres didnt do so hot this year is the return of boring ass pre-lockout hockey. Watch the playoffs this year, and it'll seem like 10 years ago. With regards to gameplay and salary structure, it only took a bit over 2 years for the NHL to return to its old ways. As for the play returning to pre-lockout....it was headed that way by the 2nd half of last year. The '06 playoffs were called loose, but the Sabres had more grit then with Dumont, Grier, Pyatt, and McKee. After the All-Star numbers came in last year, and it was shown that reruns of Essence With Emeril outdrew the All-star game in viewers, and that was with 30% of the viewers from Buffalo.....Bettman gave the order to go to a more traditional game. While fans were showing up to the Arenas in terms of revenue, the real revenue stream, TV contracts, were in the dumps as fans couldn't even bother to try and find Versus on their system, if it was even carried in the first place. The NHL was actually losing long term revenue opportunities by trying to get too fancy. Instead of understanding what was happening, the Sabres closed their eyes, crossed their fingers and hoped for the best. You still hear them whine about how games are called. They got lucky with the rule changes for 18 months, then didn't adapt back to a more traditional game. As for signing Drury, Briere, Campbell, DuMont, McKee, (not Grier since he was gone no matter what)....true, they couldn't afford everyone at the prices the players were eventually signed to. BUT....if Regier had any foresight, all could currently be on the team. He makes trades for players that turn out to be good deals, yet he doesn't take advantage of that ability by signing guys to long term deals ahead of their breakout. If you are so confident the guy is better than what you are giving up....put your money where your mouth is. Darcy would look brilliant if he had any balls. He just sits back and watches. McKee...offered to sign for 4 years $10 million before his last season here. Ended up leaving for $4 mil per year. Briere....offered to sign for $5 million a year long term before his arbitration. Sabres said no. Briere wins case. Sabres panic and start signing all arbitration cases to contracts to avoid the process. Afinigenov, Connolly, Kotalik....$2.5-3 million each per year. WHich leads to: Dumont....offered to sign for $2.5 per year long term. Only player Sabres take to arbitration. He gets awarded and has to walk after Sabres opened the piggy bank out of fear. Dumont signed for $2 million at the end of free agency when teams were tapped out, but now just signed an extension for $4 million per. Drury...agreed to verbal 4 year $22 million. Sabres dallied around for 2 weeks as Drury went on a hot streak and risked injury as he led the Sabres to a 5-1 record by the time the front office came to him with a written contract. He said..no thanks..we'll talk later, as his stock continued to rise. The Sabres could have very well used that information of what Drury would sign for, and shopped around for prices on other potential free agents, or even shopped for a trade knowing they could commit a price on a contract to another club. Drury ends up signing for $7 mill per with NY. Campbell....offered to sign 5 years $25 mil before the season. Sabres balk, but offer same amount 7 months later after another AllStar game. If all these guys were in the fold, we could have let Vanek walk for 4 #1 picks, or there is a good chance Lowe wouldn't toss up a hail mary because we weren't in a position of weakness. In summary...here are the numbers we could have all of these players under contract for this year, and what they actually make. McKee $2.5 $4.0 Dumont $2.5 $4.0 Briere $5.0 $10.0 Drury $5.5 $7.0 Campbell $2.0/$5.0 next year.......will make $6-7 mil Vanek 4#1's $10 million Who would you rather have? Vanek, Connolly, Kotalik and Afinogenov? or: Drury, Briere, Campbell, Dumont, McKee, 4 1st round picks? Regier+Quinn chose Door#1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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