Category / Sports

by Greg

R.I.P. Big Ten

With State being trounced 92-74 tonight, that completed the “sweep” of the Big Ten teams in the NCAA tourney this year. Two made it to the Sweet Sixteen, none made it past that. Quite uncommon.

State scored 54 points in the second half, and did pretty well in all aspects of the game for that 20 minutes. That should tell you how the first half went. 🙂

In other sporting news…

The Sabres did manage to salvage a point, but gave up another lead to lose in overtime. They basically threw away a much-needed point. That pretty much sums up the Sabres’ 2007-2008 season. Work really hard, get some great goals… then have the other team tie it with 14 seconds to go, only to lose in OT. (I believe it’s our 12th OT loss.) Surprisingly they are still in the hunt for the final playoff spot, but at this point, every game is a win or your out kind of game. Fun stuff.

So, it looks like my teams are either out, or soon to be out of my two favorite annual sporting events. Not a good sports day here!

by Greg

March Madness

I may have mentioned this in years past, but I must say… 18 March Madnesses ago, my friend Adam invited me to his house, and he invited Jen Walker. And that night, a friendship began that is still going strong, and only getting better. I sure love my Jen, and in a strange way, March Madness reminds me of that. 🙂

The tourney is also fun when my team (Michigan State) advances. They did that today with a pretty easy win over #12 Temple. #4 Pittsburgh is next. Bring ’em on! 🙂

by Greg

Just When We Thought They Were Finished…

The Sabres continue to surprise us. This team has been very streaky in 2007-2008, and thought replete with talent, they seem to lose to teams they should not lose to.

Partially that is due to an amazing season of equality in the NHL. Every team can beat any other team on any night. Pretty amazing. There are 6-7 teams fighting for the final few playoff spots in each conference, separated by only a handful of points. Pretty spectacular for the fans, for the most part.

But also very frustrating.

Wednesday night the Sabres were hosting the last place Tampa Bay Lightning, very much needing to win due to the teams closest to them in the standings winning the night before. Seemed a perfect opportunity, being on a bit of a winning streak, and playing at home against a seemingly easy opponent. But don’t forget what I said above. This season, every team in the league can beat any other team on any night. The Lightning apparently knew that.

Leading 2-1 after one period, and 4-1 after two (with the Sabres mustering only 2 shots in the second period) the Lightning seemed in complete control, and Sabres’ fans booed their team off the ice into the intermission.

Perhaps that had the desired affect. In the third period, the Sabres looked like the team they really are capable of being (super-talented, high-scoring, fast, aggressive, fun-to-watch, young team) and posted their second and third goals within 16 seconds of each other, then once they tied it, didn’t stop till they tallied six altogether in the third period! Thomas Vanek even had a natural hat trick, scoring the tying goal, the go-ahead goal, and the clincher! Fantastic.

Tonight (Friday) the Sabres host the Toronto Maple Leafs who are closer in the standings to the Sabres, but whom the Sabres have recently had a pretty easy time with. This is a game the Sabres should win, and need to win. Two points are a must.

After the second period Wednesday it seemed the team had given up, and with only 8 games to go, it seemed time for me to face the non-playoff reality. BUT, after that third period… perhaps we are seeing the final streak for our boys in Blue and Gold? A good streak in the final eight games could conceivably get them as high as sixth place. That would pit them against the Southeast division champ (likely Carolina) whom the Sabres have had a pretty good time with this year!

They’re still sitting in a very precarious 9th place for the time being, but this team has a good chance to land a playoff spot, as long as they can be the team that we saw in that third period last night.

Here’s hoping they’ve got one more good streak in them this year! 🙂

by Greg

Too Many Streaks

Buffalo SabresThis is the year of the streak for the Buffalo Sabres. Frustrating to fans, perhaps even more frustrating to the players and coaches.

Just when it looks like the team is getting back to their winning ways, the Sabres seem to match a long winning streak with an equally long losing streak. The result has been hovering about in the middle of the conference standings, with just over a .500 record on the season.

Now three points out of a playoff spot, with key losses to the teams they are chasing in this current losing streak, the Sabres are definitely in danger of not even qualifying for post season play. And they know it. The players held a “players only” meeting following yesterday’s embarrassing 4-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings.

At least they understand that they need to step it up. And I believe they can. But will they? Maybe they can have a nice win streak to make the push for the playoffs, followed by their typical long losing streak, followed by a long winning streak to carry them into the playoffs? Not sure there’s time. Then, wouldn’t they just be saving their losing streak for the first round of the playoffs? 🙂

It looks as if this year’s team may have taken too much of a hit with the loss of Briere and Drury in the summer, and now losing one of their top defensemen, Brian Campbell (who always logged a lot of ice time) in a trade to the Sharks. Time will tell. And it will tell soon.

I remain hopeful, but weary of the streaks.

by Greg

Trade Deadlines and Free Agency


It’s that time of year again, in fact this year it’s one week of craziness in my two favorite sports.

On the one hand, the NHL has set tomorrow at 3pm as the deadline to deal players. A couple trades have already occurred, more will come tomorrow. The NHL is pretty good at keeping things fresh, to be sure. People get caught up in the frenzy of the deadline as Sabres’ GM Darcy Regier says above.

The main name on the board for the Sabres is all-star defenseman Brian Campbell. (Note: had my sister have been a boy, that would have been her name!) Campbell is fantastic, and could be a foundational piece for the Sabres for years to come, but for some reason, they have not come to terms on an extension. He’s set to be a free agent come July 1st of this year, so the Sabres are certainly considering a trade in order to get something out of losing him (if he were to choose to leave).

On Friday, we have the other side of things. Free agency begins Friday Feb 29th for the NFL. That means players whose contracts have expired can shop around to the highest bidder. Last season the Bills knew exactly who they wanted, and they got them within half a day of the free agency period starting gun! Will that happen again? Not sure. We had some big name guys who were set to leave last year, not so much this year. And there aren’t a lot of big name players on the market who have generated the press you might expect leading up to such a deadline.

One deadline ends with a frenzy, the other begins with a frenzy. And all in one week!

So, stay tuned, I’ll probably have a report here, and definitely on my Buffalo Bills site.

by Greg

Free Hockey Tickets, Anyone?

Two nights ago we decided at the last moment to spend our evening celebrating Ian’s birthday (yes, he’s the Christmas boy…) at Chuck. E. Cheese. We have made a tradition of celebrating birthdays there (even mine!) and so though not actually on his birthday, we wanted to do the same for Ian. (As did he!) We planned a day in January, and invited our friends, the Vs. Problem was the day we picked was a super windy day… that knocked power out in some places, including the block where you find Chuck E. Cheese.

SO, about a month later, we packed up the van and headed out! Had a nice little dinner at Wendy’s first. Always a good time. (My favorite fast food place, I’d say…) and then we were ready for the real fun! We got to CEC and were grateful that they had power this time. A bit less grateful that there was a vacation week crowd (forgot about that…) but we figured out a good game plan (Dad took the girls, Mom went with the boys) and we headed out to have some fun!

After a little while of singing with Chuck E. in the other room, I decided to reunite with Mom and the boys. We made our way back and when we did, Jen had a surprise! An employee had approached her earlier and offered her FREE tickets to the Amerks game the next night! FREE??? Free. And not only that, they had a TON of them. So we could have as many as we wanted, and give them out to friends! We’re in!

We’d never actually gotten to go to an Amerks game. They are the local AHL team, affiliated with the Buffalo Sabres (at least for now they are) and for many years have been quite good. Most of the current Buffalo Sabres have come through Rochester. For whatever reason, we’ve tried, but never been successful at getting to a game. But now it looked like we were going to finally make it!

We left CEC with 18 tickets. There are only 6 of us that fill seats. And one of those doesn’t need a ticket. That means there were 13 available tickets!! We phoned a couple families we thought of first thing when we got home. (Yes… it was late.) The first were our friends, the Vs. It was Scott’s birthday that next day, so it seemed like a fun birthday thing to do! BUT, he was sick. As were a couple more in the V house. So, no go there. And in fact, no go with the other family I called that night. More sickness.

So the next morning we tried to think of some more people who might like to go. One friend was able to go. Steph was going to come with her three girls – not big time hockey fans, but Steph remembered going to games at her college. Next, we invited some friends from the other side of town who weren’t available, but they knew some people who were big Rochester sports fans… and perhaps we could give the tickets to them? Why not?! 🙂

Surprisingly, we have another friend whose birthday is February 20th, so I called him to see if he and his family would like to go. But, alas… they already had some family plans for the night… so no go there. Still had a few tickets to hand out… but running out of ideas for who could go.

Finally, I thought of my friend with whom I play basketball once a week. We haven’t gotten to spend a lot of time with their family, but I knew they sorta were into sports, and just might be able to go. They were! With our friend Steph bringing their 8-year-old neighbor, the tickets were now fully accounted for! 🙂

The adventure had only just begun however.

Just before we were to leave, Steph calls and says, “My van won’t start!” She said she’d keep trying and call us back. Well, she called back, but to tell us it just wouldn’t work. I said, “OK… no problem. But, just in case, I’ll bring the tickets with us, if you can get it started, and you’d still like to come!” She agreed, but it didn’t sound promising. So, that was too bad.

Add that to our lateness, and the night was not starting as I had hoped.

We got to my basketball friend’s house to begin our van caravan with them. They were just sitting in their driveway waiting for us… who were now at least 15 minutes late! Oh boy. They have been to the Blue Cross Arena before, so they led the way.

On our way, Steph calls and says, “I’m on my way! We got it started!” Ha! Perfect! Things were shaping up!

Just as we were getting to downtown Rochester, I remember that we were meeting our friends’ friends at the arena at 6:45 to get them their tickets. It’s well past seven at this point, so I checked our phone and sure enough there were two missed calls!

I called them back to reassure them that we were almost there. Left a message. I hoped they had stuck around.

We got to the parking garage and parked for four dollars! Great deal! Wasn’t expecting that cheap! Bonus! We quickly got out of our vehicles (the game had already started!) and briskly walked through the cold streets (around probably one big city block) to the place we were to meet our friends’ friends.

(Are you with me still?) 🙂

Finally got there and I recognized Shane from a previous meeting at Cross Creek a few months back. (That was a funny encounter. Not sure we had met before that. He saw our oldest son Ian wearing an Apple shirt, and some other distinguishing clothing that made him realize that Ian must be the son of Greg Campbell, whose blog he regularly reads.)

Yes, I’m famous. 🙂

So we all meet up there, and have a good laugh (at least I did!) at how little we all know each other. In fact, none of the others we invited had even heard the name of each other. They all had a connection with us, but to varying degrees. Pretty funny!

After hearing of this assortment of people who were joining us at the game, my basketball friend’s wife (who is not the most socially outgoing person you’ll ever meet) said of me, “They don’t come much friendlier than you, do they?” Guess she thought it was odd that I was giving tickets to a hockey game to people that I really didn’t know (Shane and his fam…) But I thought… why not? 🙂 Seemed like a fun plan to me!

And it was. We all finally got there, and watched a decent hockey game. There were plenty of snacks. Plenty of children! A little bit of hanging out with friends, meeting new friends, and watching some live hockey! Nothing like it! Love watching hockey in person. My boys were instant Amerks fans. Cheering and – as much as possible with many friends there – watching the game intently.

Sure hope we can go again!

The night ended with a pretty cool view of the lunar eclipse while we crossed over the rushing Genessee river which flows right by the side of the arena! Beautiful. Fun! Superb evening.

And all cause we went to Chuck E. Cheese at the last minute, on a whim!

Next whim that comes along will be taken more seriously… 🙂

by Greg

Buffalo Bills Things

Toronto, CanadaFor those of you who do not regularly follow along at my Buffalo Bills podcast website… I posted a few things there this week and just thought I’d link to them here. First I wrote an article responding to all the speculation about the Bills moving to Toronto. Then we did a special edition of the BBR where we talked about that and more.

Check it out if you are so inclined…

by Greg

18-1*

Patriots' Coach Bill BelichickI’m a little late to the party here, but I wanted to get some of my thoughts on the “cheating” scandal(s) that surround the New England Patriots.

News has surfaced that the Patriots may have video taped the St. Louis Rams’ walk-through practice the day before the Super Bowl in 2002. That was the one where the Pats managed to somehow upset the heavily favored Rams. The Rams offense was just sensational that season, and somehow, the Pats had the answer – enough to have a 14-3 halftime lead! It ended with the Pats kicking a FG to win it, and stun the world. Of course, then they went on to win two Super Bowls in the next three seasons.

But all this talk – and hard evidence – of the Patriots finding unethical, against-the-rules ways to get these wins, made me notice a couple things.

First, the Pats were 11-5 in that first Super Bowl season, finishing 14-5 with the stunning Super Bowl victory. Then, for some reason, they didn’t even make the playoffs the next year. They finished 9-7, in a three-way tie with the Jets and Dolphins. (Poor Bills…) 🙁 By a tie-breaker, they were excluded from the playoffs.

Perhaps they were trying to do it “by the book”? Well, that didn’t work.

So here are the following seasons’ results. (I’ll include those first two as well.)

  • 2001: 14-5 (won Super Bowl)
  • 2002: 9-7 (no playoffs)
  • 2003: 17-2 (won Super Bowl)
  • 2004: 17-2 (won Super Bowl)
  • 2005: 11-7 (lost divisional round … and maybe got a conscience? or… just didn’t cheat as well?)
  • 2006: 14-5 (lost championship round)
  • 2007: 18-1 (LOST SUPER BOWL!) 🙂

Those are impressive win/loss totals. 100-29. Four Super Bowls. (But they did not win them all…) 😉 Could they all need to be followed with an asterisk? Should it read 100-29*?

Not sure yet. There is talk that a more thorough investigation could be coming. One run by the US and various state governments.

What will the NFL and the Patriots do then? The games have been played. Is an asterisk enough? Can they take the Lombardi Trophies away from the Pats? Can they give them to their unethically-beaten opponents? Do they want them? Then they would have a championship with an asterisk.

Not sure if fines, suspensions, or even jail time will befall the New England Patriots, but it could get pretty ugly over this off-season.

The last minute blemish to their perfect season (and the shenanigans that followed by Belichick, Brady, and Moss) might be only the very start of a long, dark off-season for the Patriots.

by Greg

Why The Super Bowl Is Not A Big Deal

Vince Lombardi Trophy - Super Bowl
At least, not to me. And, I actually mean that more as a compliment than a slam. Let me explain.

When it comes to the playoffs, and especially the finals of most sports there is an intensity like no other time during the season. The players step it up, the fans step it up… the atmosphere and the play on the field, court, ice are electric. There’s a big difference for example between a regular season hockey game and a playoff hockey game of any level, let alone the Stanley Cup Finals or especially a Game Seven of the finals!

Other sports are the same way. Looks at the fantastic athletic event that is March Madness in college basketball. Play in the regular season may be exciting for die-hards, but come March, tiny schools who weren’t even on the national fan or media’s radar are suddenly playing like – and becoming? – champions.

There’s just a different level to the playoffs in most sports.

Except the NFL.

I don’t mean that as a knock on the NFL players, coaches, fans or anything. Again, it’s really more of a compliment. I don’t know if it’s because there are fewer games, or because of the sheer intensity of the sport, but I believe every NFL game offers the same level of competition, energy, atmosphere, and fun for the fan. Now, there are some that are a small step up. The Bills hosted their first Monday night game in over a decade this past season and their stadium was rockin’! Fans were totally pumped up. The team played out of their minds. But what for? Just a regular game.

This is my point. The NFL has the best overall product because every game can be – and usually is – as intense as if it were for the ultimate championship.

But then we have the Super (Hype) Bowl. Two weeks of incessant media hype, covering every story from every possible angle ad nauseam. We don’t watch much TV around here lately, so actually I haven’t been bombarded as much this year as past years. But it’s still there. I’ve caught the fringe stuff. And tonight there will be all the flashiness that the NFL wants to bring to their “showcase event”.

Does that make it better? Does that make it a more competitive game? Do we really need all that stuff?

In the end, I’ve already seen all the best games this season. (I could be surprised, but usually the Super Bowl does not live up to its hype…) The Patriots vs Dallas, Indy, and even Jacksonville in the playoffs. All the Bills games… 😉 And a handful of other very exciting competitions. Probably were better games than tonight’s game will be. At least they were better than some other Super Bowls I have seen.

So, I’ll stick with my vote for the NHL playoffs, March Madness, and maybe even a few others as being a bigger step up in the post season than the NFL offers. I’d rather watch most any NHL playoff series than the Super Bowl most year.

(Of course, it would help if my team was in the Super Bowl… then I might be saying, “This is going to be the best game EVER!!) 😉

Nah. Gimme some NHL playoffs and March Madness. I’m good to go.