Our current favorite ad during Sabres’ games these days is one the announcers read for the Upstate New York Transplant Services, that says:
“You’ve been given the gift of life… give it back.”
Depending on your inflection … it can be quite funny!
Category / Sports
Last Night in Pittsburgh…
Last night the Buffalo Sabres were the visiting opponent of the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh, PA … USA. (The country is important here.)
Prior to the game, the hosting team apparently showed a video replay of the overtime goal scored by—Pittsburgh Penguin superstar, Sidney Crosby—and, though I’m certain they anticipated a loud cheer for the hometown hero, instead the crowd booed! Ha! They BOOED!
Meanwhile, they also introduced the MVP of the Olympic tournament—Buffalo Sabres superstar goalie, Ryan Miller, who was not playing that night—to a standing ovation! What??! How great is that! The visiting goalie got a standing ovation, while the hometown superstar—arguably the most recognizable NHL player in the world?—was booed in his own building???
That is flat-out awesome.
Four more years, and the gold medal could very likely go to the United States.
Now if the Sabres could somehow manage to make a run at the Cup…
Olympic Hockey: National Personalities?
Team USA, on the strength of Ryan Miller’s shut out, and Zach Parise’s two goals, advanced to the Olympic “final four” yesterday. It was a fantastic day of hockey! The Canadian team looked super impressive, beating up on the Russians, 7-3… but making it look even easier than that. (And Russia is loaded with NHL all-stars!) Actually, all of the teams—not just the Russians—are loaded with NHL all-stars.
(Except for the United States team. Fascinating.)
Team USA has had superb goal tending—much like the Buffalo Sabres—and are the only undefeated team left in the tournament. They are also “scrappy” and physical, and they just play like they won’t accept losing. Aside from the Canadian players, it was interesting to see the “personalities” of each nation’s players. The United States players are as I described above. Mostly second and third-line players who are the “heart and soul”, the “grit” of their teams. You can’t win without them. (But usually, you can’t win if they are your whole team… So, we do have Patrick Kane and even Zach Parise, who are more “skilled players” and natural scorers.)
Then there is the Russian team. If you look at their roster, it’s just staggering how much fire power they have. Alexander Ovechkin is the leagues top goal scorer. And right behind him—sometimes in front of him—is Evgeni Malkin, and right behind them in the scoring column is Ilya Kovalchuk. All three are members of the Russian team, along with a handful of other amazing, all-star players.
But what I noticed about these guys was, they almost looked inept. They were definitely not the offensive machines that they are each night in the NHL. Yes, Canada had a good defensive scheme and some pretty talented defensemen (and a talented goalie) but, they face that from most teams in the NHL.
What they were missing was their teammates.
They needed the guys who are on Team USA. The grit guys. They needed the guys on Team Canada, the guys who set up their scoring. They need the skill and experience of the Fins and Swedes… the savvy veterans who set up their amazing scoring plays. Sadly, even their goalies (who are equally amazing) just looked silly, as all these highly skilled scorer try to play defense in front of them.
I just found it really intriguing to see how a country could have a hockey “personality.”
It’s certainly why the Russians lost. For the most part, every NHL team would want any of those top 6 or 7 guys on the Russian’s team… but with a few guys sprinkled in to help them thrive.
The four remaining teams seem to have a bit better balance. (Though, as I mentioned, Team USA is the most unbalanced, with hardly a “star” player on the roster.)
Really fun hockey being played these days. The semifinals are tomorrow. USA vs Finland, and surprising (but talented) Slovokia vs the homeland favorite, Canada. A rematch of USA vs Canada (which team USA won 4-3) would be a fantastic Gold Medal game … but all four of the remaining games should be fantastic. Can’t wait!
Ready For The Winter Olympics
Are you ready for the winter olympics? It’s almost here! The Campbell household enjoys watching all of the olympic sporting events, but I am partial to the winter sports. (Perhaps because I like snow and cold?)
We’re excited to see the hockey, featuring all of the world’s best players (kind of like an extended NHL all-star game!) including Ian’s new favorite team, the Russians! 🙂 We watched the 80s movie, “Cool Runnings” (with John Candy, about the Jamaican bobsled team) so we’re excited to watch the bobsled event. Figure skating, speed skating, all the skiing events…
CURLING! (Need I say more???) 🙂
To prepare for the upcoming games we have been doing all sorts of olympic-related things. Watching “Cool Runnings” was one. Jen has picked up some books from the library. The boys used the rest of their Christmas money at Blockbuster to rent Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games! (Which we have found is quite entertaining! We highly recommend!)
AND, finally, once we discovered that NONE of the hockey games would be on regular NBC TV, we decided to “bite the bullet” and upgrade our cable for the month. (Ian also offered to chip in, since he has had a paper route since last year, and has some extra spending money. That was awesome.) 🙂 Even “awesomer” was the flyer we received in the mail the day we ordered the upgrade … the current promotion will cost us only $5 extra per month! Sweet.
So we are psyched. Looking forward to two weeks of winter sports fun. Go USA!
Nemesis
It’s really unbelievable when in the world of professional sports, one team can totally dominate another, game after game, season after season.
Unless you are a fan of a Buffalo pro sports team.
No, I am not speaking of the incredible streak that the New England Patriots are still enjoying against our Buffalo Bills… though that is a pretty frustrating one for we Buffalo fans. Tonight I’m befuddled by the way the blue and gold managed to post another ‘L’ in the standings after sixty minutes versus their current (and long-time) nemesis: the Ottawa Senators.
The Sens have won 8 straight against the Sabres, and their dominance has extended to the post season in recent years, with their last meeting being a win in only five games against the President Trophy winning Sabres of 2006-2007. (I believe that was the highest point total in Sabres’ history that year.)
From what we’ve heard, it was a hard-fought game. They got the first two goals, then the Sabres scored two goals in 27 seconds to tie it up … then the Sens scored in the last minute of the game to get the win, 4-2. (Empty netter added at the end.)
Oh, I forgot to mention… all four goals were scored by Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza, each with two. (All that was missing was two more from Dany Heatley, who now plays for San Jose.) Those two continued their strange dominance of the Sabres.
The Sabres are really having a very good season. They have a great goalie, who is having a good year. They have just enough scoring from the right players (but could certainly use more…) And for a while they had quite a lead in their division.
They just better hope that they don’t face the Senators in round one of the playoffs.
The NFL Network Comes to Hulu!
Following up on yesterday’s recommended Hulu show … they announced today that there is a slew of NFL content now available on their site. They even have their own channel there!
This is great news, and I hope to see more. Perhaps next season NFL GameDay will be there as well? (Come on, NFL!)
Until then, we in the Campbell home will be watching some great NFL games from the past, including some video from when our team was actually good, too! 🙂
Enjoy!
Bills’ Choice Continues to Baffle
According to this blog post, former NFL head coach Brian Billick was very interested in the Bills vacant head coaching spot—filled yesterday by Chan Gailey—but the Bills showed no interest in him. Marty Schottenheimer has said the same thing.
In Marty’s case it’s interesting in that he and Bills’ GM Buddy Nix are good friends, who have spoken since Nix took over and the search for a head coach was on (just not in regards to his being a candidate for the head coaching job.)
What’s most baffling is that the Bills did not even grant these fellas an interview. Seriously, Bills??? They say they have the guy they wanted all along. Again, we will only know if they start adding up some ‘W’s.
Seriously, Bills?
After all of the talk of Bill Cower, and Marty Schottenheimer, and Mike Shannahan. Even Jon Gruden and several more lesser known, but highly-qualified candidates. After all of the “due process”.
The Bills announced today that Chan Gailey will be their next head coach.
Chan Gailey. Former Dallas head coach (for only two seasons). Former Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator. Former Kansas City offensive coordinator (who was let go before the season began last year, in much the same fashion as our own Turk Schonert.
Lots of “formers”.
Maybe this time will be different? Maybe he’ll become a legendary coach who “turned the Buffalo Bills around” much like Marv Levy, and Chuck Knox, and Lou Saban? Those guys took Bills teams who had been struggling near the bottom—much like the current Bills—and turned them around quickly. Within a year or two.
Could that be Chan Gailey?
That is apparently his history. In an article from the Buffalo News, Mark Gaughan listed some of Gailey’s accomplishments, and they were at least intriguing.
Gailey took the Miami Dolphins (as their offensive coordinator) to two straight 11 win seasons, after Dan Marino retired. They were the 8th ranked offense with Jay Fiedler at QB!
Also, in his only head coaching stint, Gailey took over the Dallas Cowboys after a 6-10 season, and in his first season with them they won their division with a 10-6 record. He made the playoffs his second season, too, even though they only managed an 8-8 record. Dallas owner Jerry Jones said this about Gailey this week:
“The most unfair that I’ve ever been in anything in sports and maybe in other parts was dismissing Chan after two years,” Jones said. “That wasn’t right. . . . That is one thing I look at today in my mirror and say you just weren’t as fair as you needed to be there to the team, the fans and certainly to Chan to make that change after two years.”
Huh. I’m still not convinced. But… huh.
Yes, Chan Gailey is the offensive-minded, experienced head coach that we need, but … what happened to the “big name” angle? Are they going to pay Gailey the same money they were reportedly offering to Bill Cowher? Hope not…
So, we’ll see what the new head coach can do. Who will he assemble as his coaching staff? Which players will make the cut, which will they get to perform much better than the Jauron regime could draw out of them? Will the Bills have the 8th ranked offense, even with their current players?
Will they be better?
I guess, in all honesty, you never know. You can’t know. You can’t predict 19 players in the injured reserve, either. So, the Bills are re-tooling, and perhaps they will get it right this time.
The pieces are being put into place: Buddy Nix at General Manager, Chan Gailey at Head Coach. Now the other coaches will be brought in … then maybe a QB?
For now, I’m not holding my breath. I think the Bills may have to go 10-0 in 2010 before I believe they’ve made the right choice…
A decade of losing will do that to any fan.
Regarding The Buffalo Bills
Perhaps you have heard that the professional football team nearest to the Campbell family hearts both geographically and emotionally has recently been making some changes. Starting a couple months ago when they fired their head coach, Dick Jauron. (Well, they really started just before the season began when they fired the offensive coordinator, Turk Schonert, and released the converted-to-starter LT Langston Walker. Yes, just days before the season began. Neat.)
The shake-up continued when they announced that they had hired “football man” Buddy Nix (technically, he was promoted from within the organization) as the new General Manager. For a few years, Russ Brandon (former Marketing Guru for the Bills) has been handling those duties… sorta. Now he has been promoted to CEO. (I believe his official title is President and CEO. Impressive.)
Following that job responsibility shifting (and press conferences with Hall of Fame Bills, Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas) the Bills then announced that every single member of the coaching staff had been fired. But they said it nicer, something like, “The coaching staff has been told that they have completed their obligations to the Buffalo Bills.” (That probably makes it easier to swallow?)
Rumors are flying everywhere about whom the Bills are interviewing and who might be the next Bills coach. Bill Cowher, Mike Shannahan, Charlie Weis… (Yes, he was actually mentioned as an option!) We now know that Shannahan and Weis are with their 2010 teams. Cowher won’t decide till after the season (and post-season) are over. And the Bills continue to interview lesser-known candidates. (Though, intriguingly qualified… more than the recent list of head coaches.)
If last year’s signing of Terrell Owens is any indication of what the Bills organization is intent on doing, there is a good chance the Bills might actually have a recognizable name listed as their head coach in 2010.
Many Bills fans long for someone like Cowher who not only has the highest winning percentage of any current coach (not sure how he’s a current coach, but, I just report what I read/hear/see) he also brings discipline and toughness that has not been part of Buffalo Bills football for quite a while. At least, it has not been very evident to the fans.
Personally, I like the idea of Marty Schottenheimer. I’ve said that before (when I was doing the Buffalo Bills Review in years gone by) and I maintain that he would at least bring wins back to Buffalo. He’s always done that. In fact, I believe he has the second best career win percentage of any current coach. (Maybe it’s “available” coach?) The knock on Marty is that he can’t win playoff games. And, his record does show that.
At this point, Bills fans just want to GET to the playoffs!!!
Schottenheimer is also a former Bills linebacker, from the AFL championship teams in the 60s. (I believe he was on those teams.)
The Bills have also reportedly interviewed (or are seeking an interview with) his son, Brian, who is the offensive coordinator for the NY Jets, and has been sought by other teams for their head coaching position.
So… the intrigue continues. Bills fans are hoping that the Buffalo Bills of 2010 and beyond will look different than the Buffalo Bills of the aughts. (They ought!)
Perhaps they just need new uniforms…
NFL Players Are Amazing
Are these for real? They look for real. But, really?
I like the warning before Mauroney does his stunt, “Do not attempt unless you are an NFL athlete.” (Perhaps not even then?)
I know these are old, but my Dad sent me some in an email today, and they’re just fun, so… enjoy!