Rob Ray is Not Impressed

That's Alexander Semin, uh... pawing at Marc Staal. I'm glad he knew enough to get the jersey off, but he does know you're allowed to use fists, right?

Quickly

by Ryan

Today I'll post a ton, I promise. Here are some thoughts on Wild Card weekend thus far:

- NBC had on Matt Millen before the Cardinals/Falcons game and pretty much the entire day. Now while it's great that he feels well enough to show his face these days, what the hell was NBC thinking? Why would we want to listen to him? What could he possibly have to say about playoff football after HE BUILT THE TEAM THAT WENT 0-16!!! What could he possibly have to say that ANYONE would believe? What does he know about winning, besides nothing?

I am honestly more qualified to be on the pregame show, if only because I didn't draft a pro football team that couldn't manage to win one game. There is no coming back from that, and you are never, ever credible again.

- I was surprised by how enjoyable both games turned out to be. I'm not really rooting for any one team this postseason, but I really thought the Buzzsaw would fold and Peyton would blow out the Chargers. Both didn't happen, and they were two pretty good games all things considered. If the other two games live up to it I'd say we are heading for a heck of a postseason, because we won't even seen Carolina or the Giants play anyone until next week. A potential Panthers/Cardinals match up in the divisional round? Heck yes.

- I've never drafted Tomlinson in a fantasy league. I've honestly never been given the chance. After this season I'm pretty sure I'd like to keep it that way. Is that what he's turned into? Some guy who plays five snaps and sells crappy televisions? Yikes. He morphed into Shaun Alexander faster than Shaun Alexander did.

- Matt Ryan looked like a rookie quarterback today. His brother also looked like a cyborg. I know there was a terrible car accident and everything, but Kurt Warner thinks God wants him to smile a little.

- Speaking of Kurt, he didn't thank God in his postgame interview, which immediately made me think of Pedro Cerrano and Jobu. "F#$k you, Jesus, I do it myself."

- Commercials are getting out of hand these days. I feel like that will become its own post soon, but there wasn't much to like out of what NBC was selling yesterday.

- We are going to talk about the Sabres game for sure, I just want to watch it again. Live blogging the UB game means I didn't see as much of it as I'd like, and the result immediately makes me want to take a closer look. I'm going to be watching football all afternoon, so I'll be checking in quite a bit today.

Enjoy the games, and bask in the afterglow of a two game winning streak. I think I hear a choir singing.

Big Saturday

by Ryan

There are too many sports happening today. UB plays at noon. The Sabres play at one in Boston. The NFL has two wild card games at 4 and 8. Then there's the obligatory Hockey Night in Canada doubleheader to top it all off. Plus HSBC Arena gets to see another banner hit the rafters, as the Bandits kick off the 2009 season. That's a full day, and that means we're in front of the television for all of it.

As we said before, Rich and I will be covering the International Bowl for WNYMedia, so check out their live blog if you want to talk to us about some bowl games. It looks to be a great match up for both teams and should make for an interesting game. It looks to be the only college football game on the schedule, so it will have the spotlight before Wild Card Weekend kicks off.

What most of you are more interested in, of course, will by the Sabres taking on the Boston Bruins. I love that this game starts at one because the Bruins probably figured the Patriots would be prominently involved in the playoff schedule and wanted to be out of the way. Better safe than sorry, I suppose.

Anyway, after getting back on track against the Leafs it will be interesting to see just how well Buffalo plays against the best team in the East. Boston has been on fire all year and has owned the Sabres recently. The start time is odd for sure, but the atmosphere will be the same. If Buffalo can lock it down in their own end they have a good chance to win, but that's not easy task. Savard, Kessel, and Krejci all have 39+ points, and there's plenty of talent to go around on a team that's tough to boot.

The Sabres have talked a big game once again, but there's a big difference between beating the Leafs and taking out the Bruins at home. This is a necessary test for a team that has claimed to turn the corner. If they can compete against Boston then they are worthy of a playoff spot for sure. If things end up the way they are today, they will need to learn how to beat Boston sometime. Might as well start now.

This game won't get the most of attention due to the UB game, so we're taping it with the intention of watching it twice. Either way we hope to hear from you sometime today. Enjoy the big sports day, and go Bulls. And Sabres. And Bandits.

Go sports?

Back in Action

by Ryan

I must apologize for the Roost going dark yesterday. A late start to a busy day meant no time to talk about the Leafs game or what's on tap for this weekend. It's too bad, I think I had some decent things to say. A post will be coming in a bit about this big sports weekend, but I just thought I'd ramble for a bit about a few things before I get blogger's backup and explode into a neat little pile of confetti.

- People give Tim Connolly a hard time with injuries, but Marian Gaborik is getting up there. Jesus, ten weeks for hip surgery? Is he 67? I have to go, his trade value just plummeted into my basement. I should see if it broke anything.

- I was pumped to see Thomas Jones say what half of America is thinking. I think a big reason so many people get upset about Brett Favre and how the media treats him is because there is such a singular message attached to it. Everyone thinks the same thing about Brett Favre, and all we hear about is how great he is.

In the field of communication there is a theory called the "spiral of silence". The basic theory is that people gravitate towards the opinions and voices they hear most often, and therefore the less popular opinions get lost in the shuffle. Those that feel differently are pressured into silence, and therefore those thoughts are strangled by the climate of opinions.

That's why it's so important to have differing opinions on something, and why the media praise of Brett Favre is so insane. People have a wide variety of feelings about him, but somehow the major sports outlets are convinced we all feel the same way: that he's a football god. Hearing someone, let alone his own teammate, say he just might not be infallible is outstanding because it's true. Somehow all that has been lost in the hype and praise. I honestly don't care what happens to Brett Favre next season, but I'm glad someone called him out for this year.

- Team USA lost in the the quarterfinals against Slovakia. This is probably all that karma from making fun of Miroslav Satan; or maybe the fact that their goaltender had the game of his life. What a performance.

- I know I should be upset about this, but I think it's kind of hilarious. Considering no one made any noise about Roscoe's DUI last year, I doubt this will be a big deal either.

- Tomorrow Rich and I will be live-blogging the International Bowl at WNYMedia. I did the MAC Championship and it was a good time, so stop by for the fun around 12 or so.

- I still can't decide if the Sabres played well or the Leafs just sucked that badly. I think it's more of the latter than the former, but either way it was good to see them take advantage of a bad showing from an opponent for once. Boston will be the real test, and it's just another part of the huge sports day coming up. More on that later.

The Little Things

by Ryan



What do you mean we can't move our lockers back?!? But... but... but... IT'S NOT FAIR!!

Happy Winter Classic Day

by Ryan

So I guess the Sabres play tonight or something. Probably the Leafs from what I've heard. It's not that I don't care about the game tonight, but any hockey game played tonight is going to be second fiddle to something, especially something like this:



I was going to talk about the Winter Classic, but I think we've said pretty much all there is to say about the events of last year. It was an amazing experience and probably the best sporting event I've ever been to. The fact that it took place in Buffalo is incredible. You saw where the second one took place, so when is the next time a small market holds an event like that?



Today proved a few things to me. First, the Winter Classic certainly translates well on television. Being at last year's Classic didn't give me the chance to see how it plays out on television, but it's safe to say the game was watchable. Camera angles were solid, the broadcast was well done, and if I was just flicking channels on New Year's Day I would stop and watch for a bit.

We won't know the numbers for some time, but I'd guess that this year's Winter Classic is just as big a hit as the inaugural event. What makes last year better, of course, is the fact that we all were a part of it. As years go on and more and more of these take place, what happened last January 1st will only feel more special.

---

Tonight the Sabres do play in Toronto, and from what we've heard some things will be different. You've heard all the talk, all the big words, and all the locker and line shuffling. We've all heard these things, but what matters is what we see. If this team is going to turn the corner it won't be words but rather actions that accomplish this. Tonight is the game they have to show up and take action in, and that can't be the end of it.

It takes a lot of games to slide down the standings, and it will take a lot more to climb back up. If this team wants more than 8th place they need to win a lot of games, and every game against a team below you is a must win. The Leafs are three points behind the Sabres.

Will it be actions tonight, or more big words and another two points down the drain?

They Scare Easily?

By Chris

Remember back in elementary school where if you acted up, the teacher would move you to the front of the classroom?

You'd be shamed into behaving better because no one wanted their seat moved.

Looks like Lindy Ruff is playing teacher to his team of prepubescent pansies.

Lindy Ruff warned there would be some changes in the locker room. The players just didn’t think their head coach was being so literal.

Following Buffalo’s dismal 4-2 loss to the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night, Ruff revamped the dressing room moving the majority of players’ stalls.

“We put some different voices next to different guys,” Ruff said.

The defensemen were all placed next to each other, displacing forwards Adam Mair, Jason Pominville and Tim Connolly.

Connolly’s stall was moved between two centermen in Matt Ellis and Derek Roy while Mair and Pominville were moved between Thomas Vanek and Jochen Hecht.

Paul Gaustad sat between Clarke MacArthur and Vanek while Drew Stafford was placed next to fellow Rochester American teammates Nathan Paetsch and Dan Paille.

“It’s something I’ve thought about for a long time and a decision we made as coaches,” Ruff said. “That might not be the end of the changes. There may be some other stalls moved.”

“I like the change,” Pominville said. “The defense are one one side and the forwards on the other. That’s the way it should be.”

The Sabres need more than a few seat changes. And Matt Ellis as the No. 2 center doesn't answer any of the troubling questions surrounding this team (does Connolly even use his stall anymore?).

Faceoff against Toronto from the Air Canada Center is set for 7 p.m.

It's a new year, let's see if anything changes.

A Lot of Oysters but no Pearls

by Ryan

At 1:09 AM Rich sent me the following:

Happy New Year dude. Maybe '09 will be a less fucked one in sports. Or not, we'll survive either way.

Amen, man, amen. Happy New Year, everyone. May 2009 be a year you look back on fondly when it is all said and done.

The Ten Best Sports Moments of the Year

by Ryan

Always end on a high note, right? This probably won't be our last post of the year, but we wanted to at least give the impression that 2008 was an enjoyable sports year. I mean, at least 4 teams wind up happy per year, right?

10. Sabres trade for Craig Rivet.

You knew something was up when the Bernier jerseys went on the clearance rack early. Getting Rivet hasn't paid off just yet, but the Sabres did go out and get a captain. Too bad it took them a year to do it.

9. Sabres/Lightning, 3/19/08

The "cone of silence" game where the Sabres came back from a huge deficit at home. A 7-4 final was a complete surprise, and Vanek got two more in the win. You will be seeing a lot of these involving Thomas Vanek.

8. Red Sox Home Opener, 4/7/08

This one's just for Rich and I, but it's always special to see banners get raised.

7. Manny's catch in Baltimore

This was the catch/high five double play that MLB appears to have destroyed all video of. It's probably on the league's video portal somewhere, but you don't need to see another e-trade ad, do you?

6. Buffalo is awarded World Juniors, 10/27/08

It may not seem like a big deal now, but it will be a big, big deal in a few short years.

5. ALCS Game Five, 10/16/08

This game was absolutely ridiculous, and set up a Game Six road trip that Rich still isn't prepared to talk about. This year's ALCS was a very interesting one for Red Sox fans, but the implausibility of winning that game still stands the test of time despite the end result.

4. UB Wins the MAC

A great moment for college sports in Buffalo, and even more fun because it was pretty unexpected. The Bulls beat an previously unbeaten Ball State and won their first (accepted) bowl bid in one of the best seasons in their D-I history.

3. Sabres/Lightning, 2/20/08

This is the "Vanek Scores a Natural Hat Trick" game.

2. Giants win the Super Bowl.



Ah, schadenfreude. You were good to me this year, old friend.

1. Winter Classic



After January 1st it was all downhill from there. Probably the greatest sporting event of my life, and just the fact that it actually happened still blows my mind. I have a feeling we will talk about this a bit more tomorrow.

A View from the Roost: The Smoking Gun

by Ryan

I've been examining the work of Bill Wippert for hours, searching for photographic evidence of the train wreck I saw tonight. There are many ways in which to look back at a hockey game, and oftentimes the most effective method is a picture. While your memory may shift and fade over time, and a final score can be deceiving, a photograph gives indisputable evidence of what actually happened. Pure, unaltered, professional; pictures tell the story in a way only the most vivid of writers can replicate.

The problem is that I keep looking for the smoking gun in all these and I've yet to find it. Sure there's one where Derek Roy looks lazy, and one where Teppo is outworked in another; but where is the concrete proof that a 4-2 final score is completely deceiving? Where is the picture with the "I don't give a crap" look on someone's face?

These pictures don't exist, and unless Derek Roy snuck in a break for tea somewhere I'm not going to find them. What I do know is that what we saw tonight was laughable, and no matter what frame of mind you watched this in we all saw the same thing: the Sabres didn't come to play hockey, and the scoreboard didn't reflect the performance at all. It was much worse.

The closest representation of tonight's game is not a smoking gun but rather a simple comparison.



Alexander Ovechkin and Adam Mair. Is that really what we want to see? I know Ovechkin didn't put one in tonight, but who actually disrupted what he was trying to do? Mair and Gaustad. When the Capitals did score, what line was relied upon as the counter-punch? Mair and Gaustad. Lindy's right, when Mair, Gaustad, and Ellis are your best forwards you will not win hockey games.

The truth is that there is no smoking gun that encapsulates everything that went wrong tonight. No picture, no recap, and no single highlight is going to capture the problems the Sabres have. In a season that has given us the same results over and over again, the Sabres dropped the ball once again. Another home loss, and another set of excuses for the same problem.

There was no smoking gun tonight, but I think we all know better.


A few other things while you ponder where those 33 shots were hidden last night:

- If I ever get a press pass I'm going to ask Teppo what the dinosaurs were like. I'm only half kidding.

- A note to the gameday production people: no one cares what Matt Ellis' favorite movie is. Nor do we care what Patrick Kaleta's favorite movie is, or Derek Roy's favorite food, or even Ryan Miller's favorite hooded sweatshirt. These things do not matter and never will.

- Alexander Ovechkin absolutely owns Hank Tallinder at this point. The poor guy is going to have nightmares of red bald eagles with little eights chasing after him for weeks.

- The NHL video portal is annoying, but I just want to show you the difference between how Paul Gaustad and Jason Pominville reacted to the loss. Here's Goose:



And here's Jason:



Is it just me or is the difference between the two absolutely phenomenal? I mean at least Gaustad has a vague idea of what the problem is. Even Vanek used the term "embarrassing" and put blame on himself. Is Jason's inner dialogue only filled with thoughts of rainbows and getting pucks deep, or does he actually realize that Clarke MacArthur is winning the scoring race between the two?

- Are any of our defenseman aware that contracts expire? Like, when is the last time we've gotten the obligatory contract year out of a defenseman? Even Campbell struggled for an extended period. Kalinin was terrible last season, and this year Jaro and Teppo have been freaking awful.

I mean, what the hell was Spacek doing on the second goal? I know Miller's not supposed to give up a ten foot rebound, but I'm pretty sure Jaro shouldn't be circumambulating Chris Bourque like a Buddhist stupa. It would be really nice if he even pretended to care about picking up the extra guy, no matter how bad a save Miller made.

- For the record, the "Goose's Roost" sign that was up in section 315 was not us. Our sign is all but retired at this point, so feel free to take up the cause. Just do us justice, that's all we ask.

The Company Line

By Jon



The word of the day: continuity. Ralph Wilson wants continuity. Chris Kelsay wants continuity. Duke Preston wants continuity. What do the fans want? Definitely not continuity.

In other news, Lindy Ruff says the Sabres need to stick to the system.

Hey... at least we get another year's use of the "We got Dick for less..." tag.

UPDATE: Try reading a few of these without vomiting. I dare you.

The AO Show

by Ryan



A note to Sabres fans: please don't boo Alexander Ovechkin tonight. He doesn't need the extra motivation to score, and unlike Miroslav Satan he actually can.

Should be an interesting night down at the Arena, with Goose and Gerbe back in action. Maybe this means there will be some semblance of a forecheck, which will be a nice belated Christmas gift. Miller looks to get the start, and tonight looks like the perfect time to start the climb out of the bottom half of the conference. With Toronto coming up on New Year's Day and just five points between the two, it would be nice to get a little more breathing room before they go and think the playoffs are realistic.

7:00 pm from the Arena. I'll be there hoping Hank can redeem himself, and Atlas can get back to business.

The Ten Worst Sports Moments of the Year

by Ryan

Everyone releases a top ten list of some sort around this time of year. Why not do two? Tomorrow I will run down the best, but we should get the worst out of the way, I suppose. These may not be in any particular order, but they all weren't very good times for me.

10. Eight Bells dies.



If only because I saw this at Target and decided I needed to fit it in.

9. Sabres/Panthers, 2/10/08

The Richard Zednik game. The Sabres won, but I've never heard a crowd at HSBC Arena so quiet. Scary stuff, and if not for some fantastic response time by medical staff it could have been a tragedy unfolding right before out eyes.

8. Sabres/Sens, 1/4/08

This was the first game after the Winter Classic, and the Sabres laid an egg on home ice. It continued a ten game winless stretch for the team that pretty much killed the season and any chance for the playoffs. Ah, memories.

7. Brett Favre retires, second guesses himself, comes back, then murders Rachel Nichols in self defense.

Boy I can't wait for the next episode of "Brett Favre Retires". Check local listings in 2009!

6. Sabres/Bruins, 2/8/08

Sabres completely gave this one away, with Phil Kessel sneezing the puck past Ryan Miller it the shootout. An absolute meltdown in a season littered with similar performances.

5. Sabres/Flyers, 2/25/08

See above, plus Danny Briere and the words "poetic justice".

4. Bills/Jets, 12/14/08

Also known as the J.P. Losman Bowl. This was a completely winable game that was blown by a questionable play call and a quarterback's inability to feel pressure coming from behind. Apparently he couldn't hear me scream "GET RID OF IT" from my couch, but he probably should have heard the collective yell coming from Western New York. The cloud of smug emitting from his postgame press conference is floating out over the Atlantic as we speak and will one day destroy a small village in Africa.

3. Boston Red Sox trade Manny

Losing the ALCS to the Rays was tough, but I was more proud of how hard the team fought than anything. Trading one of my favorite players was brutal, and I still haven't really come to grips with it as a sports fan. There's a lot of questionable things that Manny Ramirez did, but I'll never hate him as a player no matter where he goes.

2. Bills vs. Browns, Monday Night Football



Do we even need to talk about it?

1. Bills vs. Dolphins @ Toronto

As much as the Monday Night game hurt, I've never been physically sick after a football game until this one. Everything about what took place in Toronto will bother a part of me that sports never get to. We will never be sure what happens to this team until it already comes to pass, but we will always know where it started. This game will be the fulcrum point, for better or worse.

Great Moments in Anonymity

by Ryan

There is always a downside to showing up in Google searches. When people are actually looking for your site it is a positive, but sometimes people are just looking for trouble. Most of these come from searches such as "game use russian penguin" or "mike ryan quarterback shirtless". You know, practical stuff like that. The result of such inquiries most often result in everyone's favorite internet hobby: anonymous commenting.

Here's a good one from Sunday:

Once again you Bills fans have this perception that your team has some ability. 2nd rate coaches 3 back-up QB's and no Lynch. You will be worse next year. Let them go to toronto. JP will find a betterteam with better play calling and will be a reliable QB. Trent will be a backup again when you draft some young gun. The fans in Buffalo are the most bandwagon fans in the NFL. Sad place. Good luck losers.

There's a lot to talk about with this one, but I think it's better to just leave it alone and let it fester. We always seem to get one or two trolls following a Patriots game. Good thing this one only stuck around for one post.

Here's my favorite of all time. From the J.P. Losman post following the Jets game:

glad I don't live in a town that has some really sick people. You all have lived in that hellhole Buffalo way too long. It's football, a game you frozen idiots. I've known JP since he was 5 yrs old. You people do not know him and believe me he cannot stand Buffalo. He may not be a starter anywhere, but anywhere is better than where you live. No NFL player ever wants to go to Buffalo, remember that. You will always have 2nd rate layers and coaches.

Plenty to love here, especially the "I'm J.P. Losman's lifelong friend" angle and the forgotten "p" on "players". You would think someone would proofread before they post faceless, nameless comments on sports blogs, but maybe that's asking too much. I do enjoy the theme developing here. Buffalo is an awful town and obviously this argument has some merit when discussing football.

Still, the timestamp is the best part about this one: December 25, 2008 2:51 PM. I mean, that's all kinds of awesome. Forget spending time with family or playing with presents, let's go Google search J.P. Losman and look for derogatory comments about him. This is the best kind of commenter, the one who literally has nothing better to do, even on Christmas. Either he's J.P. Losman's Muslim friend or one sad, sad individual.



Either way, he wins commenter of the year. We've had some really great, insightful comments over the past twelve months; but no one's claimed to know a backup quarterback. Totally dropped the ball there, guys.

Sort of Says it All

I feel like we are in a holding pattern of some sort until news of Dick Jauron's future is disclosed. Already we've seen some coaches get the axe today, so maybe it's not that far away. You could argue that some coaches better than him have been let go, including Eric Mangini. Say what you want about the guy, but at least he managed a winning record once or twice. Plus you can't blame him for his quarterback leading the league in idiotic (and total) interceptions.

Looking back on the season it's hard to properly describe what a letdown it was. A lot of us were wrong about this team, and I'll be the first to admit I am in that category. Five weeks into the season there wasn't much to hate about the Bills, and based on the odds the team had of making the postseason I still don't think there was anything wrong with the excitement most people felt. I will never apologize for hoping this team can turn the corner, but there is a point in which that hope is pointless.

There is reason to hope for Trent Edwards, and plenty of reason to get excited about Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson. There are question marks on the defense once again, and a lot of worry about the durability of some players. Where there is no hope is the head coaching position, and having any hope that Dick Jauron can suddenly morph into a better football coach is absurd. We know what we are getting in him, and it's simply not good enough.

I know I'm restating what I said yesterday, and honestly Kevin says it better over at Bfloblog. The conclusion we are all coming to is that something needs to change, and we can only hope the brain trust at One Bills Drive notices as well. Until then we can only watch the postseason and notice what these teams have that the Bills do not. The have-nots watching the haves once again.

About Saturday Night

by Ryan



FACT: Clarke MacArthur has the same amount of goals (10) as Jason Pominville.

FACT: The Sabres gave up two goals in the final 1:34 of play.

FACT: The Sabres got two points.

Which fact is most important to you? That third one should be most important. That's the one that really matters, I suppose. Still, it really feels like there isn't much positive to take out of the Islanders game because of how long it went on. When Clarke MacArthur wrists it home it should be over. A 3-1 game on home ice is money, right?



All of a sudden you're in overtime wondering what the hell happened. It should have been over at least four times, but that's how the Sabres have been playing this season. Rich and I kept saying "This is one of those games that slips away," and sure enough it's tied up with two seconds left.

Maybe it's not a major sign of weakness to give up a two goal lead that quickly, but this was the freaking Islanders. They looked terrible all night and scored once on a Miller brain fart. Where did that suddenly firepower come from? Chris Campoli and Mike Comrie, with five goals between them before Saturday night. (Speaking of that... Mike Comrie is making four freaking million dollars this year to score three goals? He's the Canadian Maxim Afinogenov. Jesus.) Not exactly a murderer's row that did the job on Saturday.



Thank God for the fact that Joey MacDonald was in net for the Isles, who looked completely lost in the shootout. I think he was the only person in the building who didn't know Kotalik was going backhand, and Stafford barely put the deke on him before it was in. Getting past the overtime period pretty much locked up that second point, but it should have never gotten to that point in the first place.

I want someone to invent a stat that calculates how many points a team gives away per year. It isn't an exact science, but it's safe to say the Sabres are already in the double digits in this hypothetical stat category. We aren't chasing the Islanders these days, but you aren't supposed to leave the door open for teams below you, either.

A good team takes care of New York with ease. The Sabres were about six minutes away from doing just that. The question remains, are the Sabres just a few minutes away from being a "good" team, or is something more truly necessary? It's an honest question, one they may not know themselves and may take the entire season to answer.

One Last Time

by Ryan

Your Dick Jauron Losing Face for the last time this season. It's been fun watching it progress from... actually, it's always the same.



I would hope this would be the last time we ever have to post something like this, but I'm not taking anything for granted. If Ralph Wilson is satisfied with another three 7-9 seasons then so be it. For me the biggest reason Jauron should go is this: there was never a doubt in my mind that he would get flatly outcoached today, but what actually went on was flat out ridiculous.

Looking back on the season there were only a handful of times in which Dick looked relatively in control: against Kansas City and against Oakland. Oakland fired their coach mid season, and Kansas City should have cut ties with Herm weeks ago. Dick couldn't even out coach the Browns, who haven't scored an offensive touchdown since.

As a fan we always seem to jump on head coaches quickly, but the complete collapse we saw this year and the consistent failure to win games within the division puts a whole lot of pressure on the front office to make changes. When you are watching on your couch you couldn't care less if the players like a guy. The consistent mediocrity his efforts have given you is reason enough to try something different. This was three years of opportunities and missed chances, with the same mistakes being made over and over again.

It will be interesting to watch what happens over the next few weeks with head coaching positions throughout the league. At times it seems like half the league has a coach on the chopping block, and Buffalo's decision will probably rank low on the totem pole no matter what route they take. The Bills will never go out and get that big name head coach, but if Ralph and company see progress being made I can't find it. To so many people it's apparent that a fresh start is in order. Settling on Jauron would look like a claim of indifference to so many people, and I'm not so sure the Bills can afford more bad PR after what we've seen this year.



I'm sure this guy is acting on behalf of a lot of Bills fans. Fred Jackson came to play today, and you can't say that about everyone on the Bills roster. Changes have to be made all around, that's for sure. Bills fans deserve better than 7-9 no matter what anyone else says. In a league full of parody and drastic changes from season to season the Bills have been stuck in the lower half for years.

Something has to change.

Gameday Prep: Bills vs. Patriots

by Ryan

Here are the games we get today, and here are the playoff scenarios. However,we're doing the gameday prep a bit different today. Do you remember the last time the Bills beat New England? It looked a little something like this:



I think that's all you need to know. Forget all the talk about saving Dick Jauron's job, or the notion of players quitting or whatever. Consider this: the Bills have the chance to knock New England out of the playoffs. I think that's reason enough to play, and motivation enough to win.

I'm not saying they will, but it's six in the morning and I just watched The Shawshank Redemption. If that movie doesn't call for hope I don't know what does. I will have much more to say about all this later, but for now let's try to enjoy one more Bills game this year.



Go Bills.

Flat

by Ryan

This picture sums pretty much everything about last night:



Well okay, this one does too.



I think it's pretty clear the differences between the two teams. The Washington Capitals pinned their hopes on a superstar making a spectacular play, while the Sabres had theirs riding on an utter disappointment getting really, really lucky. Is that really where the Sabres are right now? I know injuries have taken a toll and the backup was in last night, but can Maxim Afinogenov really be the hero of this team?

What we saw last night was a flat hockey team after a holiday that's supposed to refresh. Single digit shot totals all night, and a lackluster performance that even the final score overstates. The Sabres were given a chance to score on a bad turnover and put it in. The Max goal late was a complete surprise to everyone, and a mistake to begin with. (Either Max isn't supposed to leap out of the way of that, or it was supposed to hit the net. Either or.)

But that was it. Not many chances, not much of a forecheck, and sloppy play in their own end. Again. It feels like the same old story over and over again, this time with a different all-world player ending it. Alexander Ovechkin played another fantastic hockey game, and showed why he is the best goal scoring talent in the league. He probably should have had two last night, but the completely inconsistent goaltender interference penalty calling took one away. Give credit to the officials for making the right call last night, but how many times is that not called this year?

What was so disheartening about last night was that there really wasn't much effort to get excited about. The two previous games were theirs for the taking but slipped away, last night was never in doubt. You knew after the first that there was no way the Sabres were coming out of there with two points. That's not good, and that's not even something we can "build" on. That was losing a game you need with a complete disinterest in playing hockey. What, did Jason Pominville get Animal Crossing for Christmas? Did he have other things to do?

He wasn't the only one. There was no forecheck at all last night; only Adam Mair looked like he gave a crap. That's not a good sign when guys like Kaleta and Gaustad are still missing time. I've said it before, but the more and more I watch this team the more obvious it becomes that something needs to change. The Sabres have gone to the farm once again, but when that injection of fresh rookie excitement fades what will be left?

Tonight the Sabres come home to face a team much worse than they are. It's two points they absolutely should take, but I feel like we've heard this story before. A home game with your starting goalie in net against a team just as "tired" as you are should be a win, and a convincing one at that. Then again that's quite a mouthful, and last night the Sabres showed they can't focus on much.

Let's hope the up and down play continues, and this one will be an up.

Ladies and Gentlemen...Tim Kennedy!

From Sabres.com:

Buffalo Sabres GM Darcy Regier announced today the Sabres have recalled LW Tim Kennedy from Portland (AHL). The 22-year-old Kennedy was born and raised in Buffalo, NY.

Currently in his first pro season, Kennedy (4/30/1986, 5’10”, 176 lbs.) is second on the Pirates in scoring with 27 points (5+22) in 29 games. Kennedy’s 22 assists lead all rookies, and his 27 points are second behind the 33 scored by Philadelphia’s Claude Giroux.

Let's see what the kid can do on, literally, home ice.

Faceoff against the Islanders is at 7 p.m.