Mango

Yes and no. Part of the issue that makes it trickier is that the NHL is not all that popular to begin with. Where as the Bills can basically break even just from the TV contracts alone. ($255M per year and $198M salary cap) It isn't that different than most teams in the NHL. They need to have lots of butts in lots of seats just to hit a break even point. What is happening to the Sabres is just 10 years of futility catching up to them in a bit of a niche sport. Not necessarily that Buffalo cannot support an NHL team unless there is some wild set of circumstances. The Pegulas are actually in an enviable situation professionally. They have a market that will support their team and make them millions without much issue as long as they are even average at your job. But they can't get out of their own way. They are tanking their own business. Sure, maybe LA could make them more money, but Buffalo isn't a town where it should be costing them money to run the team. If they just made the playoffs every other year, people would literally camp out overnight to get tickets and buy merch. Could you imagine you go to work and people are begging you for your product already, there is almost no customer acquisition costs, no consumer education, no real key verticals. Just a base of people that already want your product. All you have to do is hire people who are about average at their job and get out of the way. Then you can make millions. Most of us are not that lucky. They are actually in complete control of their destiny here. This is their problem, not the towns. They have been absolutely miserable owners of the Sabres. Like one of the worst owners in all of professional sports. It's not the market (albeit there are some issues with comparative profitability to other franchises)

I actually used to sell signage like this for a bit. I think it is funny that they used a picture with the test screen to make sure all of the "cabinets" are working properly. Like there wasn't somebody there from Samsung with some football content loaded on a player to show of the new install.

Jesus, my new puppy kept me up ALL night last night in the crate, after a weekend of no crate hanging at the lake. Normally I am pretty good with this stuff. I appreciate you pointing out the my WA debacle using old data. My CA reference was more in comparison to the size of the population and total population sprawl across the state (mostly along the coast). They are definitely trending up, but not at the rate of say Texas or Florida in total cases and they only have 50-60% of the total population. I totally agree with you here, I was just painting with a broad brush. California is an interesting case study for all sorts of issues. As much as everybody wants to think that CA is all hippy-dippy and surfer dudes, there are large communities that are not. CA should see another large pop early this week. No reporting from San Diego or LA this weekend with the 4th.

Sorry, I misread the article from CBS News. It is Yakima County, which is SE of Kings County. They are moving patients from Yakima to Kings County. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/washington-state-require-face-mask-hospital-beds-coronavirus/

This is actually less from you, and more for everybody trying to make some wild, "BuT tHe PrOtEsToRs" and "MuH FrEeDoMs" claim 1. Protests were outdoors 2. 99% of people there are wearing masks So fine, abide by CDC guidelines. Everybody HAS to wear a mask or they are booted and/or fined. Also no attendance at indoor stadiums. Houston, Dallas, New Orleans, Atlanta, Minnesota, Detroit, Arizona, Indy, Vegas, LA Rams, LA Chargers. Playing by the same rules, here are the other stadiums that cannot host any games because their hospitals are pushing too close to capacity. Miami- Hospitals are 75% + Carolina- Hospitals are at 75% + Tampa- 4 hospitals in the county are at 100% capacity Seattle- Ran out of beds 2 weeks ago. San Fran- Taking patients for neighboring counties who are at capacity. Cannot afford to lose beds. Oakland- See SF So here we are. Only football that is left is basically from the coalition of states with everybody's least favorite "DiCtAtOr" Andrew Cuomo. All the places where there was some big government conspiracy. But turns out, had everybody across the country just effing listed, instead of whined like entitled little babies, we could actually be talking about going to games in some capacity. Here are the home teams of games that we can go to: Browns, Bengals, Steelers, Bills, Pats, Jets, Giants, Ravens, Skins, Eagles, Chiefs, Broncos, Bears. ...but edit that down, because I am not sure they would want a bunch of fans in Kansas City, from Tampa Bay.

Can somebody help me clarify this one. I am reading this at first as, "She organized this "Listen, Learn, Love" group. Which is great. But then says all the participants were black? Did she mean all the speakers were black? When I read "participant", I read that all people, attendies, presenters, etc. If that is the case, is this just an echo chamber of POC telling each other what it is like to be a POC. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot to be gained from a group therapy model, especially in trying times, but it almost reads like she organized her own focus group to explain to her what living as a minority is like. She organized the whole damn thing and named it "Listen, Learn, Love" I would imagine that having white people their to, ya know, "Listen, Learn, and Love" is imperative for this entire exercise.

Literally one city, in a state that is on a steady decline, is your big "contact tracers are infected by politics". Cool, DeBlasio sucks, always has. He was wrong here. Reads a lot like you are implying protests are leading to spike, which is silly. But oddly enough most states spiking are generally not a bastion for liberal protest on a large scale. You know Arizona, still locking kids in cages, they love to protest to help protect POC. New York is continuing to trend down. Minnesota has been trending down. Washington State is trending down. California has remained largely stagnant, but high as the largest state in the country. Florida and Texas will probably pass California this week. All these places that are making headlines for the size of their protests have seen a continued and significant downward trend in infection rate.

That was only in NYC, and is so incredibly irrelevant. You are trying to make a point that has no basis in any sort of reality. 1 week before protests began in NYC there were 2000 cases in the entire state. A week later we were down to about 1000, and now we are in 6-800 area. It is almost as if the people who marched for George Floyd also believe in science and protecting their fellow man.

Just put it this way, if people stopped making up some load of crap about "PeRsOnAl FrEeDoMs" and how a mask somehow impairs that, there is a good chance that they could go to a football game in September with minimal risk of killing people.

It may not “do anything” but they are the largest TV draw of the week, and they’re making a public display of which side they stand on. People don’t like their side, not their action in this.

Correct. As I posted earlier, it’s not about a second song, it’s people being made to feel uncomfortable about their pen crappy ideologies. I just had a similar conversation with a neighbor a week ago. She was upset that another neighbor, who is a POC, was racially profiled in our neighborhood. Others were of color cited being ID’d in their own driveway and yards by police. She was upset that “people were bringing this to her doorstep”. Well lady. The world exists, and whether you like it or not, this is life for your neighbors of color. By opening your door, these are the issues of the world. You can deal with them or keep your door closed and wait to die. People hate inconvenient truths.

I think this should be boiled down to the nuance of what’s happening. People are upset that the NFL is finally saying that there are systemic racial injustices in this country and some don’t like that they are disagreeing with their POV so publicly. Call it what it is. This isn’t about a song.

With Cuomo's coalition of states, it won't be in the north east. Maybe they could go to Ohio. The Pegulas are probably going to be asking NYS for money in the next few years for a new stadium. Based on the economics/budget of the pandemic in NYS and the way the Pegulas have been managing their business (outside of football). Pegula will need NYS to help with that. Not sure pissing off the government to skirt pandemic safety rules is the best course of action long term.

I am mostly joking here. Just treat it like March Madness, but instead of traveling weekly, you stay in a region/city with a few stadiums and low covid cases. Rip through 4 games in a row on the same 2 fields, 2 days per week. Treat it like a weird crossover with the Truman Show and Bio Dome. Then the entire league goes home to live in their NFL bubble village in one location.

I actually think it is a valid concern. The Pegulas have a history of trying to micromanage. I don't think it will be immediate. It will come as franchise begins to peak and valley as all franchises do. When things start to trend down is when the Pegulas start to tighten their grip and make things worse.

Chesapeake has been rough for years, especially since Aubrey Mclendon died/got charged. They have laid off something like 1000 employees over the last 5 years or so. This is not really new. And coming out of this with only 200 layoffs is actually pretty good for them these days. It was a shame, I have met Aubrey, he always came across as genuine and caring. His philanthropy towards the olympic training center is the reason it existed in OKC. Folks like Devon, Sandridge, OG&E, etc. didn't want to be left in the dust. But that is a different story.

That defense in that era had a couple of absolutely great years. I actually can’t recall in recent memory a top 3 defense as good as they were not making the playoff. One of those years they held the Bengals to something like 25 yards. It was insane.

Would I listen in if I were an owner? Absolutely! How cool would that be?! But I also know I couldn’t be less qualified at an NFL level to scout a college kid, or know a play call. And no matter how long I own a team I probably never will be. My only job as owner is to be in charge of grading pass/fail for the people who are qualified to make those decisions. Are we drafting well? Are we retaining talent? Are we acquiring quality FA? Do we manage game day we’ll? Yes! OK, as you were folks. No, time to find people who can do those things.

As the team stands now at least, Jerry is too hands on as a GM, let alone an owner. They have a quality roster. Obviously he can do what he wants as owner. But he’s far too involved in game plans. His need for control has limited his HC’s to yes men.

I think the bigger worry based on how they manage the Sabres is, that McD either falls short of expectations for a year or two, or has a down year or two, and now KP is talking about how chaotic the headset was. Now we have some BS flow chart in how she thinks they can better their game day communications.

I think the issue is, this isn’t like a Buscotti who lets his football people do football things, but takes an afternoon to experience what game day is like. When it comes to this, you can’t separate it from the constant meddling from the Pegula’s. Especially on the Sabre’s side.

I am not sure outrage is the right word. But those were her comments on a league wide call, specifically to address solutions for the lack of hiring of minorities in HC/GM positions. It reads (at least to me like) like her solution to the problem is "it would be easier to higher minorities if I could hire/fire them faster or with less commitment" I think her point has some credence. I mean, you don't know what you have until you are fully committed to it. So from a general hiring perspective it makes sense in a way. (Although I would argue that if she hired somebody who knew about the specific sport to help, it would drastically reduce her risk) But given the nature of the forum it kinda sucks.

Since we are talking the Pegulas and dysfunction. Here is a a little diddy, right up there with the “maintain family lifestyle” slide deck. “No one has ever taken me up on this, but I think there should be a trial period, right?” the co-owner and president of the Buffalo Bills and Sabres said during a Zoom call Tuesday that was part of the two-day NFL Quarterback Coach Summit, geared toward helping minority candidates move up the professional ladder.“ I am guessing she was trying to say that hiring coaches is such a large commitment of time and money, and vetting is difficult. But it didn’t quite come out that way.

Turned out his load unknowingly didn’t have DoT numbers. They told him to call in the numbers when he got to the truck and he would be fine. But since their were no numbers (not his truck) he wasn’t “essential” and they told him he had to stay. He waited a few days and decided to make the run anyways because he couldn’t afford 2 weeks of hotels. Long and short. He got popped by a trooper at the Texas border. Lucky for him, they cut him a break and escorted him back.

I had a friend who is a transporter. A few months ago he picked up a run where he flew to Texas to pick up the load. He had to give the place he was staying to a cop, Marshall, whatever, for random checks to quarantine.