Taro T

So, is this idiot saying she knew her daughter was going to stick her head inside a helium filled balloon or merely trying to justify it? Either way, wow, I'm starting to understand why her daughter didn't have enough sense to NOT stick her head inside a helium filled balloon.

Before Kentucky's governor got involved, Paul Snyder had already sold off Bob McAdoo and tried to sell the team to a guy that was going to move them out of town. Snyder had already put the Braves into the guillotine, JYB just threw the lever. Actually, I'm not even positive that he is the one that officially moved the team as he traded the Braves franchise for the Celtics franchise. I squarely put the blame for the Braves leaving town on Snyder. Although basketball would be an easier sport to start up, I don't see enough interest in the pro game for Buffalo to ever get an NBA team. The city doesn't support the minor league pro team it has and IIRC TV ratings for pro games in Buffalo aren't exactly high. I definitely don't see what the league gains (or think it gains) by going back to a small market in Buffalo (or an even smaller market without a viable building - Ra-cha-cha, sorry the BC Arena at the War Memorial does not cut it as a major pro sports building). Heck, unless things have changed drastically in the last year or 2, the city doesn't typically sell out the local colleges even though there have been some good teams recently. Buffalo is much more of a baseball town than a basketball town. But with no salary cap and several big league teams being essentially glorified AAA teams (KC, Tampa Bay, and Pittsburgh), I don't see people paying big league prices to watch a AAA quality expansion team get crushed by the Braves and the Mets and everyone else. Since there is little likelihood under the current economic system in baseball for a team to be successful in Buffalo, I see no possibility of MLB returning to Buffalo in the foreseeable future.

With changing the rule on icing to one where the offending team can't make a player change on the ensuing faceoff, this rule was put in place to prevent teams from "accidentally" throwing the puck into the stands to be allowed to get the change. Not only that, but by throwing the puck out of the rink "accidentally", the team could get a better faceoff location if the puck was launched from the half wall or higher in the zone. "Deliberately" sending the puck out of play has always been a penalty for all players and anytime a goalie sends the puck cleanly out of the rink has been a penalty for the past several years. The league this season put in rules to increase scoring chances, "penalizing" icing is one of the ways the league did this as additional scoring chances have been generated this season by teams trying harder to skate the puck out of the zone and over the red line (especially at the end of long shifts). There are more chances for a team to steal the puck on a forecheck if the other team is working the puck out of the zone vs launching it out of the zone. Likewise, there is a better chance of generating a scoring chance by intercepting a clearing attempt through the middle of the ice vs one that is simply launched over a corner of the boards or up off the very top of the glass. While it is possible that the league may change the sanction for "accidentally" throwing the puck over the boards to be identical to that of icing, I don't expect that as it's pretty obvious that the league wanted to reduce the incentive to clear the puck by launching it high. One additional reason they put that rule in for is to limit the number of faceoffs per game and to speed up the game. Every time the puck goes out of play, the game gets lengthened by ~15 - 30 seconds. The league has been trying to not only increase scoring opportunities and bring more speed to the play, they also wanted to make sure calling increased #'s of penalties did not significantly lengthen the time it takes to play the game. The Sabres have now taken it on the chin from that rule being called hard and fast (and actually enforced) this past Thursday, and also from leaving discretion to IDIOTS like Koharski (May 10, 2001) who let Kasparaitis grab the puck and throw it into the crowd without calling any penalty (although he could have gotten 4 minutes for violating 2 separate rules). I would not mind seeing the play dealt with the way icing is now, but definitely do not want to give any more discretion to the Koharski's and Fraser's of this world than is absolutely necessary. It stinks that the rule cost the Sabres the powerplay that eventually decided the game, but the Canes could just have easily been called for a penalty like that if the Sabres forecheck was more effective and the "quirkiness" of the call didn't keep Rory from looking for the puck before Brind'Amour shot it.

Stanley Cup: 2 Caro-whine-a vs 8 Edmonton - Eulers in 6.

He's back in the NFL? Really? I thought the article said he was with the Giants.

That "facemask" happened in the 1st quarter. IIRC, that kept the drive where Smith got injured alive. After he messed up his leg, he was a shell of himself. The 2nd huge call against the Bills was the phantom personal foul call on Burroughs that let Cincy go up 21-10 rather than try for a field goal.

That would be sweet. Any confirmation on this from Mr. Clutch?

You don't want to know!

Haven't you ever seen those "Bush's Baked Bean" ads? The dog is always ready to talk for a price. My guess is, the dog was the 1st one they were going to off to make sure he didn't warn the rest. Dogs and hamsters, they're sly ones, they are.

Sorry, but that is not enough to tell me that Cole is a "consensus top 3 pick for player of the year". That was a foolish thing to say yesterday and it is a foolish statement to defend today. Also, the people that picked Montreal to beat your Canes could not have possible expected that hack Williams to high stick Koivu in the eye (and not even get a penalty for it, WTF). (Although I guess, in hindsight, we should have expected it.) Montreal was up 1-0 in the 3rd game of that series, heading into the 3rd period (oddly enough, the 1st period that Koivu didn't play). If Williams doesn't hack him, Carolina is sitting at home for the past month. As far as "throwing talent out the window" in the playoffs, that is just plain funny. The Sabres had more talent thrown under the bus than any playoff team at anytime in any sport that I can think of, and were still less than 20 minutes away from defeating the presumably loaded with heart Canes. The Sabres lost their best playmaking centerman (sound similiar to losing your best winger?) and 4 of their top 6 defensemen. That is 2/3's of their defensemen. They had to make up 40 minutes per game at both D spots with a 7th D man that was a significant downgrade to any of the top 6 and 3 AHLers that had played a grand total of THREE NHL games this season. Two of the 3 were rookies. With all that, you honestly believe that the HEALTHY Hurricanes had more HEART than the Sabres? Yes, the HEALTHY Hurricanes. They picked up Recchi and Weight to replace Cole and had the same lineup all 7 games in the series. The Canes barely squeaked by a depleted Sabres squad. Your wishing that they had beaten the Sabres varsity squad doesn't change that fact. Enjoy your team's run, but don't go spouting out inanities and expect to not be challenged.

Cole is a very good hockey player, but there is no way in the world that he is a "top 3 consensus pick for player of the year". He plays on Carolina's top line and hits anything that moves, but he isn't even close to being Carolina's best player, Staal is. The Sabres were missing a forward that was as important to them as Cole was to the Canes - Timmy Connolly. The Sabres powerplay never fully recovered from his loss. The Sabres were also missing 4 of their regular defensemen. The Canes used the same roster for the entire series, Buffalo did not have that luxury. "In case you have forgotten", the Canes 4th goal came at the very end when the Sabres were pressing for the tying goal. For all intents and purposes, it was equivalent to an empty netter and the game WAS a 1 goal game. "Also, need I remind you" that not for Max's "choke job" in game 5, the Sabres win the series in 6. He missed the 5 hole and so it goes. Carolina beat the Sabres this series. Considering the rosters that were put on the ice in the last 3 games, the Canes should have put a whooping on the Sabres. They didn't. The Sabres can take a lot of pride in the way they battled through adversity and were within 20 minutes of playing for Lord Stanley's Chalice. The Canes should be excited about the chance to play for the SC and focused on that but they were still whining about Lindy Ruff after the series was over. That is sad. The respect thing goes 2 ways and your post isn't garnering you much right now.

Grier is also an UFA.

Eh, maybe if Lydman goes down too the Sabres can bring him in. Right now I'd like to see someone with a bit more bulk on him.

Paul Hamilton just confirmed that McKee is out.

Unless that reporter called Lindy from the West Coast, that article is 3 hours old. McKee's agent was on GR about an hour ago and said he was going to try to go to Carolina and made it sound more like he had a flu. I would expect someone more closely related to the Sabres to get the story before TSN would. I don't believe the "he's definitely out" story one bit. Not yet at least.

Can he play D?

This Friday OLN is running "The Tournament" marathons at 6:00 PM and then again at 9:30 PM. You are correct. The show is hilarious. Think of it as a cross between The Mighty Ducks and This Is Spinal Tap but focusing on the parents.

Tom, Thank you for the very moving eulogy for Paul. I haven't even been posting here for a year and never met him, but I truly feel as though I have lost a friend. Seeing the post in OTW linking to this thread hit me like a ton of bricks. I can only imagine how much harder it is for you and Ken and Scott and Debbie and the others here that did know him well. His posts were the best part of checking out the PPP board. I respected his posts and looked forward to them. I hope he is finally at peace and also that he is with his love. Maybe someday I'll get the chance to have wings and a few beers with him. I also hope that where he's at that he has the ability to realize how many people he reached and affected. He will be (and is) sorely missed.

That was pretty bad. But it wasn't nearly as bad as the (non and blown) calls in Game 2. If the Bondra "goal" is reviewed, the Sabres sweep that series.

Yes. They've lost game 7 in the 1st round to Boston and the team Ed roots for and beat Ottawa. They've lost in their only round 2 game 7 at Boston. They were robbed of the opportunity to try for a game 7 in the Finals against Dallas.

Royal Bank of Canada.

They definitely have the talent to do it at home (even with 1/2 of the D in the press box). Will they? I have no friggin' idea, but I know I will be there screaming my fool head off along with 18,689 other maniacs. It's been a great run. I hope to see it last another 2 or so weeks. This team seems to relish the underdog role. Well, they have it now and unless Carolina suffers a major injury will have it if Game 7 is necessary as well. Maybe Lindy has the Canes right where he wants them. (PLEASE let that be the case.)

No hockey coverage to speak of and the little bit they have tends to come from Barry Mullet. If I cared about the NBA, I'd watch the NBA channel. The rest of the football guys don't love the Bills the way Berman used to.

I believe that On The Fly is actually produced by the NHL network in Canada, but you are right. That show is what NHL2Night should have been. OLN runs hockey ads pretty much all day long, and their evening programming is entirely hockey oriented ever since the playoffs started. While they could definitely improve their camera work and some of their announcer choices have been questionable, overall, they have done a good job. This is their 1st season broadcasting the NHL and they only had about 2 months to get their act together as they didn't get a chance at the contract until after ESPN declined its option. Even when ESPN SHOWED hockey, they rarely if ever led Sportscenter with a hockey story unless it was a McSorley or Bertuzzi type thing. They probably led a show with the Tocchet scandal this year, but you get the idea. They rarely if ever cross promoted hockey. My only problems with the games switching to OLN is OLN isn't in enough households and too many non-hockey fans don't even know it exists. When hockey was on ESPN, I'm sure a few casual fans watched simply because they always watch ESPN, but I doubt there were many that did. Bottom line, hockey on OLN is 1000% better than it was on ESPN.