JohnC

As Kirby stated neither participant acted with grace. But the adult (the coach) created a situation that escalated. He could have handled it better and not allow a stupid rule infraction to turn into an ESPN segment. But there is another side of this issue that many people are not focusing on as much as I am. This rule is intended to separate the injured players from the active players. It is an insidious rule made to make the injured players not feel part of the team. The danger with this type of separating rule is that it creates an environment where injured players feel pressure to get back on the field before they actually feel ready. With many injuries such as concussions and sore joints it is difficult to determine the health status of the player. The person who knows how he really feels, regardless how it looks, is the player.

Your characterization of his response is an exaggeration and is inaccurate. And how do you know what the actual condition of his knee is? If I were advising him I would recommend that he should leave the team and get away from this fool coach.

Usually I'm riding in the same choo choo train that you are riding in. Not this time. If this player was available when we drafted and passed on him because of the position he played I would be upset. I'm not suggesting that your other draft strategies don't have merit because they do. I have no problem trading down or selecting a player such as Jonah Williams. But if a player such as Oliver who is rated at the top or near top of the draft was available I would without any equivocation pick him.

You answered your own question with a question: Why have this idiotic rule? There certainly are more than enough jackets to go around. The reason why there is such a fool rule is to put pressure on players who are hurt to get back on the field. You act as if if there would be anarchy by challenging a moronic rule. This issue goes beyond a stupid rule to the action of publicly enforcing to embarrass his player. The intelligent and common sense way for the HC to have handled this situation is do it at halftime in the locker room. The HC made an issue of it to embarrass the player. Of course the kids of today that your wife teaches (I salute her for her noble and challenging profesion) have changed. The world has dramatically changed compared to the 60s or whichever prio era you choose. Students will challenge stupid rules just like employees of today will challenge stupid rules in the workplace. In my view the coach acted foolishly and the player understandably reacted the way he did. I have no problem with the player while I do have a problem with this fool coach.

I don't care if Oliver is going to be the first pick in the draft or an end of the bench scrub. What's the point of this pointless rule? If a player is injured he is still part of the team. There should be enough coats for the players. This is a stupid rule that is used to make an injured player not feel part of the team and to induce the player to get beyond his injury and be active. In this case even if the rule is going to be enforced it still should have been handled with more discretion. How about waiting until the players were in the locker room at halftime and then address this issue in private. A coach who wanted to flex his muscle in public was challenged by a player who felt he was being unnecessarily slighted. His response was understandable, at least to me.

Who comes it with such a ridiculously stupid rule? It's moronic and reflective of an archaic Woody Hayes era maniacal control. Whether the players are inactive or active there should be enough coats for the players. Even if there were not enough coats for everyone not everyone was wearing one so no active player was being deprived of a jacket. Where I have a different take from you is that whether the player is a marquee player or a scrub the coach has no business pulling the jacket off of the player in order to humiliate the player. The coach could have handled it differently like having an assistant approach the player or wait until half-time to discuss the issue. The issue here is common sense and good/reasonable judgment. The fool here is the coach who acted like a jackass to publicly assert his authority to embarrass a player. More often than not the issue goes beyond a nonsensical rule to the real issue of how a trivial problem becomes a bigger problem because of the way it was handled.

He's a prodigy. He was playing with men over the past couple of years. The brilliance in his game isn't his physical play as it is his hockey intelligence. He reminds me of Gretzky not on the basis of his scoring but thinking three steps ahead of the opposition. His instincts of where to go with the puck have a natural flow whereas less talented players are more mechanical.. You have to give credit to the way Housley is handling him. He's not overloading him but gradually increasing his role. In this sport you don't become a serious cup contender without a couple of stars on your roster. The Sabres have two of them on the roster in Jack and Dahlin. The Sabres beating the Jets, however they did it, is an accomplishment. They are talented and are capable of being the representatives for the west for the cup. What's really impressive about them is the combination of size and skill. I was really impressed by them. Between them and Tampa these are two of the best teams I have seen so far this year.

This is the latest on the standings with some games still in progress. https://www.nhl.com/standings/2018/wildcard

Even when they are being outplayed you never get the sense that they are slacking. Whether they are winning, losing or tied their style of play for the most part stays the same.

Botterill added Hutton, Skinner and Sheary for almost nothing. What a difference these additions are making! The Sabres were outplayed by a better team when they beat Tampa. We won. The Sabres were outplayed by a better team when they beat Winnipeg. We won. Because this team doesn't quit they always have a chance to come away with a win or a hard earned point.

Paul Hamilton, Howard Simon and Jeremy White from WGR all made the same point that the demotion of Rodriquez is perplexing. Rodriquez may not be the best finisher but in the games he has played his line has been very active causing the opposition to respond to them more than they responding to the other line. With respect to the Sobotka-Bergulund-Pominville line my guess is this third line was put together because of its collective size trying to counter a very big team. However, I'm with you that I would rather see Rodriquez playing.

If you are an inauthentic city farmer and wake up at 0912 it is good news. But if you are a genuine good county farmer and wake up at 0430 it is sad and pathetic news.

Just curious: Do African red necks wear MAGA (Make Africa Great Again) hats?

Another attribute that I like about Paul Hamilton is that he is not reluctant to say that his original assessment about a player or team is wrong. He does it all the time. There is nothing flashy about him. He's a solid sports reporter with hockey being his strongest sport. I'm sure that his leaning toward the sport has to do with the fact that he played the sport in college at Iowa State.

The link is a WGR segment with Kevin Oklobzia commenting about Rochester prospects.It is about 20 mins. long. There are a number of players who are not far from being ready. He speaks highly of the Swede prospects but not so much about Nylander. https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/11-15-kevin-oklobzija-schopp-bulldog

In the big time basketball programs there is a lot of back door activity to get stud a player/s who can instantly make you a contending team. Petino was to a large extent able to compete against Kentucky, the marquee state and national program, without getting the quantity of pro prospects that the Wildcats were able to recruit. Without question he is a better coach than Calipari. What got tiresome about Petino is his posture that he didn't know what was happening in his program. That's utter nonsense. Being slick doesn't mean that eventually you won't be caught.

This link is Paul Hamilton being interviewed by Sal C on WGR. It is a little longer than 18 mins. Paul follows the team and has a good bead on the hockey team. His style is usually very candid but he has a non-scathing style when talking about the Sabres. https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/11-15-paul-hamilton-sal-capaccio

I'm not sympathetic to the schools that hired him because his reputation was well known. One school after another, including pro programs, seen him pull his unsavory act with them. What's the surprise? When you go to the grocery store and buy an already rancid piece of fruit you end up with an non-edible piece of fruit. When you hire a Rex Ryan you get Rex Ryan that includes his circus act. When you hire a Bobby Knight to coach your basketball team you get a thuggish autocrat who believes he answers to no one. When you hire a Petino to coach your basketball team you get a coach who is always going to have the stench of cheating swirling around his program. Some of these types of tarnished characters stay longer in one place because they win. But in the end you get what you get.

Wherever he decides to go he is going to get his money. It's all about the comps i.e. the numbers. After listening to him on the radio one major advantage he has in this location is that his family can come to the games and be accessible. From the WGR interview that seems to be an important issue for him. With the two additions of Hutton and Skinner for an insignificant price the GM changed the dynamic of the team with these two impacting players. It's obvious to say that that our GM did a terrific job in reworking the roster. Without question Jack is our star player. By surrounding him with better talent the organization will get an even bigger return from him. It really is a refreshing change to now follow a team that is playing for something more than its draft position. The abused fans certainly deserved this change of fate. .

You should have kept the money in your pocket and use it for a nice dinner. At least it could have been used to satisfy your tummy instead of it vanishing for such a long shot improbability.

You were better off not knowing that it was on! Buffalo's defense was brutal, especially its run defense. It was a reprise of the Army game. On the positive side if you put things in perspective UB is having a terrific season. The most important aspect of this season is that the "program" is year by year getting better. It's evident that the talent base is getting wider.The number of legitimate pro prospects on the roster is increasing. I'm impressed with the receiver group and the OL group. I'm not as zealously invested in UB as PTR is so I can fairly say that I am more objective.(Few can challenge him of his knowledge about the program.) Without question the losses that they have sustained have exposed the imbalance on the roster between the offense and defense. Nevertheless, UB should be playing in the championship game in Detroit and be invited to a bowl game. When everything is tabulated the coach is steadily moving the program up the ranks. He has taken a program that was comatose and over time made it an entertaining and a success with the future looking much brighter. Assuming the HC stays with the program its fans should be very optimistic.

UB is getting their assess kicked in. Their defense is being repeatedly gashed by Ohio. The officials have nothing to do with Ohio brutalizing them. Stop making lame excuses!

Regardless how Allen performs for the rest of the season this regime is invested in him. Even if he flops in the upcoming games the Bills are not in the next draft going to use a high pick on a qb. If they conclude based on what they see from him in these remaining games that he doesn't have the wherewithal to be a franchise qb they will probably go out and get another veteran qb or go with Barkley as a holding pattern qb while they continue to rework the roster. When the Bills selected Allen it was with the intention of not playing him right away because they knew that he wasn't going to be as ready in his rookie year as some of the other top tier prospects. Their ideal situation was not to play him right away and to bring him along slowly and get him acclimated to the pro game. It didn't work out as planned because of the failed play of the other starting qb forced their hand to put him in. So I disagree with the notion that this is a test for the HC and GM as regards to their commitment to Allen. I don't believe that it is the case. They are using this year, although it wasn't their original intention, to play Allen so that he will be better prepared for next year. If he doesn't play well in the remaining games it will not alter his position as the future qb.

Induce your dog to have puppies so then your circle can be expanded. side note: Canisius won its opening game against Bucknell.

I'm not blaming the fans for their tepid reaction. On the home team's side of the ice there wasn't much action. It seemed that we were on our heels for most of the game. Don't misinterpret my comment because a win is a win. And I certainly appreciate that.This win was against a genuine Cup contender. But from an entertainment standpoint for the paying customers it was lackluster. Milbury made the comment in his post game analysis, that some are criticizing, that this was essentially a blah game that had little entertainment value. He was right. This was a highlighted game to the North American hockey audience.It had few scintillating plays that would make the fans stand up and appreciate and there wasn't much of a flow to the game. Okposo made an astute comment after the game that good teams win games like these when they don't play a good three period game. He was right that the Sabres in general didn't play well. There was drama in this game because it was close the whole game. But the drama certainly didn't emanate from the home team's offensive game. From a home team standpoint this game was a dullard.