Ugh

by Ryan

Twenty minutes ago I was staring at this:



I literally had to take a shower and try convincing myself I didn't want to spend $500 on tickets to a hockey game I had no way of getting to. Needless to say, it was a long shower.

We will have some late Christmas gift ideas for you in a bit, but if you want Winter Classic seats they are available. It's going to cost you, though.

Snow Day and Other Thoughts

by Ryan

- When I was a little kid, snow days meant no school, sitting around the house all day, watching The Price is Right, playing video games., and building a snow fort. Now it means I can't go places, shovel six times, and try to help my neighbors avoid a crippling heart attack. Either way I wish I had one of these (second one)



- This is why I don't consider myself a "well informed citizen": Yesterday I saw this headline and my first thought was, "Wow, he's really taking this college football playoff thing seriously."

- Jonathan had an excellent point in the comments regarding Ellis' callup. To quote:

Ellis played with the Kings so he got called up so they know what their gameplan will be. Then sent right back down

A move right from the Belichick play book.

I'm not sure I believe it or not, but it sure is fun to consider whether Darcy and Lindy are that smart.

- A quick look at the ticketing system for the Sabres says that there are plenty of seats available in the corners for tonight's game. I made the joke that because of the weather they should immediately drop the prices to "value" level. Not sure if it's a coincidence, but there's a fancy promotion button there now. Quick! Check the Blue Jays website!

- I find it sort of sad that I have 25 posts labeled with "seriously punch me in the face". Speaking of that, is having that huge list of tags annoying to anyone? I feel like we should work on a tag cloud or something, but I'm not the one who has to look at the site all that much. Let me know what you think.

- Okay, back outside to shovel. If you don't see a post before gametime, well, I hope you like when Chris posts.

Oh Mi Corazón

by Ryan

Just a few thoughts to close out the night as I watch the Sox get murdered.

- Hecht out two weeks is going to hurt this team, I think that's pretty obvious. However, this is going to be another chance for Ales and Max to make an impression. So far Ales has played pretty well, but shootout goals have to be a compliment to the rest of his game.




- Thomas Vanek has already matched his goal total from last October. Yeah, he's going to have a big year.

- Did anyone else get the "GREAT SEATS STILL AVAILABLE!!" email for the Canucks game on Friday? Do you think the lack of sellouts will be a result of shaky fan support or do people just not want to see the West? I know personally I'm pretty excited to see the Blues, Red Wings, Canucks, and other Western Conference opponents at the Arena this year. The West is still the stronger conference, and getting a good look at them will be important to gauge how good this team is.

My other theory is that because all the weekend games are at least a silver on the price scale many people are unwilling to drop that kind of coin on a team with some question marks. I'm eyeing the November 1st Caps game, but it's going to cost me if I want to see me some AO.

- Chris showed me a Buffalo News review of Klosterman's Downtown Owl. I'm surprised to hear that a guy claiming to like Klosterman didn't like the book. Literrary critics don't really mean much to me, but I think he misunderstood what Klosterman was trying to do with nicknames and blurs the line between his past works and his first novel. This was no "Zach Morris" story, and that was intentional. Strange review overall.

- If I hear TBS apply a terrible Bon Jovi song to one more city I'm going to stab Frank Calliendo in the taint. So they better stop, because I don't ever want to touch Frank's taint.

- If this isn't a cry for help, I don't know what is.

- Is this really the best video of Peca getting a ten game suspension?

- The Cowboys trading for Roy Williams is like throwing water on a gas leak. How does it help your current problems?

Bills vs Steelers: Tickets Still Available!

by Ryan

If you still want to pick up tickets to (last) Thursday's historic Bills game in Toronto, it's not too late.



Only a few hours left, but at $50 bucks, that's a steal!

The Golisano Code

by Ryan



Does anything about that image strike you as odd? Season ticket renewals are nothing new; many people in the blogosphere have already received their forms. However, the button on sabres.com is a bit... intimidating, isn't it?

Think of it this way: do any of the people shown in that picture have season tickets? The photo is obviously taken during a Party in the Plaza last year during the playoffs, so anyone with seasons is going to be, you know, inside the arena. Yes, some people sell seats and maybe it was just a really nice day outside; but it is an interesting, if not subliminal message to send to your season ticket holders, eh?

Renew your tickets, or these people get them.

Now I know the Sabres front office isn't trying to send that message, but the reality is that it is true. How many people are in the Blue and Gold Club? How many more would be interested in seasons but don't want to plunk down that $100 bucks? For the first time in the decade, there is an overwhelming demand for Sabres tickets, and raising ticket prices isn't going to drive that demand down. The Sabres have a groundswell of support, and a few nagging season ticket holders isn't going to make a difference when there are thousands waiting to take their place.

I'm not trying to sound like a conspiracy theorist here, but it is interesting to consider the message sent by this image. The obvious intent of the picture is to show the enormous support Sabres fans have shown the team recently, but when you consider what that means to your bank account, things suddenly seem a bit more dubious. Maybe it is Larry Quinn showing us just how helpless we are in the grand scheme of supply and demand.

---

See Bucky? I can do it too! It's not that hard, man...

People of Atlanta, Lend Me Your Ears!

By Chris

On November 8 I saw a link on NHL.com that advertised a way to get All-Star Game tickets. I said, "Hey, why not?" The link took me to the Thrashers website where I signed up to be "Thrashers Fan #29" and I got this e-mail:


That's right, buy three, get one free PLUS the All-Star Game, which includes the Skills and the actual game. They even give you a chance to resell the tickets you can't use. Essentially get the All-Star Game for free! But I waited. I had no intention of going, as I'm a poor college kid, I just wanted to see what it would take for the NHL to sell this game out.


On December 18 I received this e-mail.


Let's focus on the term "very limited."

According to Merriam-Webster (Do you believe that dictionaries were once actually books? What a world):
Main Entry:
very
Pronunciation:
\ˈver-ē, ˈve-rē\
Function:
adjective
special particular

Main Entry:
lim·it·ed
Pronunciation:
\ˈli-mə-təd\
Function:
adjective

1 a: confined within limits

Basically, very limited would be a particular number of seats are available and there aren't a helluva lot of seats there so get em fast.

So to my surprise (or maybe not, since it is Atlanta), I went on that site again twenty five minutes ago, just for kicks and found this:


If you clicked on the image so you can actually read it, then you're reading that right. Just under two weeks away and you can still get six (SIX!!!!!!!) seats in a row. The game will sell out, I'm just surprised it's taking this long.

Man them Atlantans sure love the hockey.

UPDATE 1/16: With final individual tickets released to the public today, THE GAME HAS SOLD OUT! HURRAY!

Ice Bowl Shenanigans

By Chris

Obstructed view seats went on sale today. Well, not really on sale. Your name goes into a raffle and then, if you're lucky enough, you get the tickets. And even then there are certain restrictions.

“The excitement for this event continues to build and I'm pleased to announce the Sabres were able to acquire 4,500 additional obstructed-view seats for our fans from the NHL for the Winter Classic,” said Quinn. “At the same time, we wanted to make these tickets available to as many families and children who wanted to attend as possible. Making the tickets available on-line was the safest way to ensure this process was fair and equal to all of our fans.”

Fans can register for the opportunity to purchase between two and four tickets, however, one person in the group must be 16 years of age or younger. No single seats will be sold. The ticket for the child will be clearly marked so no one over 16 will be granted admission with that ticket. In addition to these 4,500 tickets, 500 tickets will be donated to local charities associated with children.

I'm a little bitter because I was shut out on tickets with my mini-pack. Most of the blame goes to the NHL. They're the ones organizing the event and gave the Sabres only a certain amount of tickets to distribute. The Sabres dropped the ball on communication. The order forms mailed out were uninformative and left a lot of questions unanswered.

If the league ever decides to do this again, maybe next time they'll have everything prepared. Then again, this is the NHL we're talking about.

Train Wreck

by Ryan


The last 36 hours have just been a mess. It is almost laughable how long it took to announce this thing, and downright tragic how fast it went by.

Here's a brief timeline for those of you interested:

7/10: Rumors of the event first start swirling.

7/11: NHL 07/08 scheduele is announced, with Pittsburgh coming to Buffalo on January 1st.

8/11: One month later, mini pack orders arrive with the New Year's Day game not listed.

9/13: Sabres Media Relations plan an announcement at The Ralph for September 17th.

9/15: Sabres single game tickets go on sale, excluding the 1/1/08 game.

9/17:

-Morning: Mini Pack and Season Ticket Holders recieve
letter offering tickets to Winter Classic
-2PM: Sabres and NHL officially announce Winter Classic.
Tickets set for sale at 10AM Tuesday(9/18)
-5PM: Sabres Account Services closes for the day.

9/18-

-10AM: Winter Classic Tickets go on sale to general
public.
>30 minutes later: 41,000+ available tickets sold
out.

Now, that's a solid 10 weeks from first word to tickets sold. Ten weeks. And the NHL announces this game 20 hours before tickets go on sale? Really? I understand that the logistics of organizing an event like this are very complicated, but that timeline really doesn't make sense.

Let's assume that in 10 weeks they settled the TicketMaster/Tickets.com dispute, signed agreements with sponsors, did a TV deal, negotiated with the Bills and Ralph Wilson Stadium brass, aligned concessions, and finalized a rink/seating design. Fair enough. But why wait so long to announce the event itself, then rush the sale of tickets?

Twenty hours is an extremely short span of time to get the public educated on the ticket procedure for any event, let alone a monster event like this. Not to mention Account Services were open less than three hours after this announcement to answer questions.

Yesterday's announcement was so unclear, Sabres spokesman Michael Gilbert calls in to WGR550 that night to clarify questions the show's hosts had. Just imagine how many other questions were left unanswered. Season ticket and mini pack holders were given no specific limit on tickets that were "reserved" for them. They will have to send their orders in and hope they have enough seats to go around.

According to this story, no ticket limit was put in place because the NHL could not gauge demand for an event like this and wanted to encourage youth hockey and other large groups to have a crack at tickets.

My reaction to that is this: Youth Hockey can go [verb] themselves in the [noun]. Send the little booger eaters to an AHL game. The same goes for the Penguins organization requesting more seats for Pens season ticket holders. Pens fans had just as much an opportunity to get tickets as everyone else in Buffalo. There are plenty of people in this area hoping for more tickets, and most will have to settle for the 7,000 or so obstructed view seats down low.

And as far as Leafs and Blue Jays(!?!) season ticket holders getting a special crack at tickets, well, I can't even begin to describe how asinine that is. Forget the fact that only a few hundred or so tickets were sold through that method. Who the hell decided that Leafs fans should get preferred treatment? And what about Blue Jays fans? What, is Russ Adams a big Paul Gaustad fan?

Also, why was this information not revealed to the public as part of the big shindig at the Ralph yesterday? Did Bettman not want to disclose he was giving a completely uninvolved fan base a special shot at tickets?

When it comes down to it, today's events were a train wreck. Very little information was given, zero preparation time was allowed, and very few people are walking away from this happy. So now comes the fun part: who's to blame?

Gary. Freaking. Bettman. Remember, this event is completely coordinated by the NHL. In 2003 the Oilers orchestrated the Heritage Classic, not the league. Bettman and Company let Edmonton plan the event and coasted along as it happened.

This time is different. The league approached the Sabres to host the event, but did the planning with the teams following their lead. Regardless of how much the Sabres screwed up this off season, the ball is not in their hands with the Winter Classic.

So when thousands of fans are left watching on TV this winter, remember all those seats taken up by NHL execs and the event's sponsors. If you are a mini pack holder and don't get your tickets, keep in mind the week of uncertainty you were left with, and the chances for seats you passed on. And if you are a Regular Joe who hoped to score a ticket today based on God's Dice, be thankful for that whopping 20 hours notice you were given. You can't even order a freaking party sub with that notice.

Today was just another example of how bad things can go when you put something new and shiny in a toddler's hands. Gary Bettman is the toddler in this case, and I for one curse the day David Stern and the NBA left him in a box on our doorstep.