A word of warning: Things might be fairly quiet around here for the next few weeks. I'm sure I'll pop in here and there - I'm pretty incapable of not getting on the internet unless someone kills our connection and even then I have my ways - but I suspect it'll be irregular at best.
This coming week is the last week of summer school and while that is definitely a good thing, there's a reason some of us refer to it as Hell Week. The kids are totally off the wall. They're partly excited about getting out of school. Most of their friends and siblings haven't been in school all summer so they're not very happy about those six weeks of summer school. But they're also partly nervous about being at home for two weeks. It's unfortunate but many of them will go home and get no attention - or very negative attention - until school starts back up. And then at this point of the year there are a number of kids who are moving to new classes in September or changing programs altogether and both of these things cause a lot of stress for our kids. Take a bunch of kids who have a hard time recognizing and identifying their emotions and don't always cope with them in the best way and pour a ton of conflicting emotions on them and you have a lot of acting out. A lot of acting out equals tired staff. A lot of acting out with five days till break equals VERY tired staff. We're going to be walking around all week, hands raised and fingers wiggling, yelling, "SERENITY NOW!" Survival is the name of the game.
The following week we'll hopefully be moving into the house. We had a bit of a snafu that made it look for a while like the deal was going to fall apart but we got it all straightened out (and actually ended up paying less so we're not complaining) but it's slowed everything down. Mark called our realtor this week to remind me him that hey, you know, we have NO PLACE TO LIVE once August is over so we're still hoping that everything will pull together so we can move some time over the course of that week. We'll be moving at least all of the small stuff ourselves so I'm going to be making quite a few car trips from the Southtowns to the Northtowns.
The week after that I'll be driving around Pennsylvania with the family. My mom and two of my brothers are flying into Buffalo and we'll then drive to Pittsburgh and pick up my grandmother and my other brother and his family who are coming in from Florida before heading out to Gettysburg, Harrisburg, Hershey and back to Pittsburgh. And maybe Lancaster. I forget if that got dropped or not. I'm totally stoked because it'll be the first time in almost two years that all of my family has been together. My mom, Grandma, and I have done some variation of this trip for quite a few years now but Lee and Chris, the two who still live in Birmingham, have taken turns coming up and John and Sarah haven't joined us since before they got married. And that was before Luke, the world's cutest nephew, joined the team. However, since we'll be on the road for a lot of the trip, I don't know how often I'll have a wireless signal although I will have the laptop with me.
So all that to say, if it's quiet around here for a while, don't forget me. I'll be back. And that's if I actually go away in the first place.
A few quick thoughts before I call it a night:
- I'm super happy that Teppo Numminen has officially re-signed and I think $1.1 million is a great deal for him even if he does end up being a 7th man who takes a night off every few games. (Though I'm totally fine with him being in the top six too.) I'm not sure how that means the rest of the defense shakes out. I'm guessing Henrik Tallinder, Toni Lydman, Jaroslav Spacek, Craig Rivet, Teppo and Andrej Sekera start the season in the top six with Nathan Paetsch acting as the 7th. I'd really, really like to see Mike Weber playing up with Sekera since I think Sekera played his best hockey last season when Weber was up with him, but I'm just not sure there's room and Weber is definitely better off playing every night in Portland than sitting in the press box in Buffalo. Plus I think Teppo will be a wonderful partner for Sekera on and off the ice. I've said it before and I'll say it again: The Sabres missed Teppo desperately last season and his loss might have been the death knell of the season. The kids came into camp girded for the season without Chris Drury and Daniel Briere but they fully expected Teppo to be with them. Losing him so unexpectedly, right before the season, for such serious reasons had to have an effect. I love Teppo.
- All that said, I think Hank and Toni are the key to the defense. If they struggle the way they did last season, the whole group is going to struggle. If they return to previous form, the defense should be very solid if unspectacular. Hopefully Teppo can soothe their nerves and frustration when they don't play well. And hopefully the don't need that very often.
- Another reason Mike Harrington is the best guy at the Buffalo News? Check out that headline on his post about Teppo's return. I have a soft spot for punny/jokey headlines to begin with but a headline that's also a Seinfeld shout-out? Awesome.
- Speaking of Sabres Edge, on Thursday Bucky Gleason writes about how he thinks it's a terrible idea to re-sign Teppo. On Friday the Sabres announce that they've re-signed Teppo. I'm pretty sure Darcy Regier and co. held out all these weeks, waiting for Bucky to go on the record about this. Of course, in my world, everyone does everything to spite Bucky.
- While we're on the subject of TBN, the one sports blog I never, ever read unless someone points me there is Jerry Sullivan's blog. I don't think Jerry Sullivan likes blogs. I don't think he likes people who write blogs. I don't think he likes people who read blogs. I don't think he understands blogs at all. How he ended up with a blog of his very own is a mystery to me. I'd rather read the opinion of pretty much everyone else in the sports department. But I knew he was going to Beijing to cover the Olympics and I was pretty curious to see how often he would blog from there so I've been keeping one eye on things and you know, he's done a pretty good job so far. He's updated often and he's shared some really interesting things. And kudos to him for coming out in support of softball which, despite what anyone says about the lack of competition, got voted out of the Games because of an unfair association with baseball and its steroid scandal. It's a shame because the Olympics are pretty much the height of a softball career. Little boys who grow up playing baseball dream of playing in the Majors. Little girls who grow up playing softball dream of playing for Team USA. Hopefully the push for reinstatement is successful. Anyway, if you're a fan of the Olympics I'd check out Sullivan's blog. I'd get out as soon as they're over though.
- I was all geared up to watch the Cubs on Fox this afternoon so I was pretty disappointed to find the friggin' Yankees. I understand that I'm in the minority in the Buffalo market but just once I would like to get a national game that doesn't involve the Yankees or the Red Sox. Is that too much to ask? Really? It was shortly after that that I discovered the Ultimate Sports Road Trip's tribute to Yankee Stadium. Beautiful. In this case, a picture really does say a thousand words.
- So I have a steel plate on the outside bone of my ankle, I don't know, 3 or so inches long. When I first went back to work, people asked me if I could feel it when it rains. The last time we got a lot of rain it was hard to tell because my ankle was still hurting a lot, especially at the end of the work day. Well, now I can tell you definitely, yes, I can feel it in my ankle when it rains. Sometimes it really hurts, sometimes it doesn't hurt so much as I'm just really, really conscious of the plate's presence. I feel like a robot.
Showing posts with label injury update. Show all posts
Showing posts with label injury update. Show all posts
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
Big Wheels Keep On Turning...
Wait, there's no game tonight? Why didn't someone tell me?! What am I supposed to watch while I eat all this pizza?
I keep meaning to complain about this and now seems as good a time as any. What is up with the schedule this year? Were the schedule makers drunk or what? The Sabres played what felt like once every two weeks for the first couple months of the season and now I've gotten so used to them playing every other night that I'm sitting here in front of my television waiting for the game to start. I know a lot of teams are in the same boat so I'm in no way using this an excuse for the Sabres' struggles but it's puzzling. And I'm so excited about all the divisional games we're ending the season with. Why spread those out across 82 games when we can do them 10 at a time, you know?
A couple of non-hockey notes:
First, I am now walking. I repeat, I AM NOW WALKING! Okay, I'm actually hobbling like an 85-year-old man who's about to chase kids out of his yard but I managed to successfully carry a glass of water from the kitchen to the living room by myself. I am AMAZING. (Don't tell Mark. I plan on taking advantage of the "But I can't do it!" situation as long as I can. In fact, I typed this whole paragraph in a secret font that won't show up on his computer screen.)
Secondly, I decided that I might as well make use of this time off to visit the family at the old Henderson homestead. Since the Henderson homestead is in Sweet Home Alabama (Where the Skies are So Blue), I'll be far, far way from the Sabres and professional hockey in general. I'm sure I'll cue up WGR on the ol' laptop here and there and force the family to listen to some Rick Jeanneret and I'm sure I'll be poking in on other blogs to see how things are going. But since I won't actually be seeing the games myself, I probably won't have much to say here while I'm gone. Let's face it though... I've posted almost every day since I got home from the hospital in late December. You folks could probably stand a ten day or so break from me.
I'll be here after tomorrow's game though so don't start the party yet :P
I keep meaning to complain about this and now seems as good a time as any. What is up with the schedule this year? Were the schedule makers drunk or what? The Sabres played what felt like once every two weeks for the first couple months of the season and now I've gotten so used to them playing every other night that I'm sitting here in front of my television waiting for the game to start. I know a lot of teams are in the same boat so I'm in no way using this an excuse for the Sabres' struggles but it's puzzling. And I'm so excited about all the divisional games we're ending the season with. Why spread those out across 82 games when we can do them 10 at a time, you know?
A couple of non-hockey notes:
First, I am now walking. I repeat, I AM NOW WALKING! Okay, I'm actually hobbling like an 85-year-old man who's about to chase kids out of his yard but I managed to successfully carry a glass of water from the kitchen to the living room by myself. I am AMAZING. (Don't tell Mark. I plan on taking advantage of the "But I can't do it!" situation as long as I can. In fact, I typed this whole paragraph in a secret font that won't show up on his computer screen.)
Secondly, I decided that I might as well make use of this time off to visit the family at the old Henderson homestead. Since the Henderson homestead is in Sweet Home Alabama (Where the Skies are So Blue), I'll be far, far way from the Sabres and professional hockey in general. I'm sure I'll cue up WGR on the ol' laptop here and there and force the family to listen to some Rick Jeanneret and I'm sure I'll be poking in on other blogs to see how things are going. But since I won't actually be seeing the games myself, I probably won't have much to say here while I'm gone. Let's face it though... I've posted almost every day since I got home from the hospital in late December. You folks could probably stand a ten day or so break from me.
I'll be here after tomorrow's game though so don't start the party yet :P
Friday, February 8, 2008
The Wheels on the Bus Fall Off in the Third Period
First a few comments on the Tom Golisano interview:
1. Tom, don't think we're impressed that you're showing your face during a win streak while avoiding us during the ten game losing streak.
2. That interview was clearly very carefully planned. Have you seen the commercial Roby does for the back healing guy? The one where's he's obviously reading cue cards? Yeah, that's what he sounded like tonight.
3. If Buffalo is such a great place to be, Tom, then why are you being beamed in via satellite? If the team is so much fun to watch why no TV shots of you grinning in your box at HSBC Arena? At least Darcy Regier shows his face in public.
4. Dude, I get what you're saying about it creating cap relief but you might want to avoid expressing sentiments that sound anything like, "Boy, we're really lucky ol' Teppo had to have that heart surgery, huh?"
5. Buffalo owners suck. No wonder we think God hates us.
That said, I don't really care to dredge up the Drury/Briere fiasco yet again. Could management have done something different to keep one or both of them here? Maybe. Probably. Would it be nice to hear Golisano take some blame? Sure. Should he be called out for his garbage? Absolutely. Is anything going to change what happened last summer now? No. Seriously, how long are we going to hammer the same people for the same mistakes over and over and over? We're more than halfway through the season. At some point don't you have to step back and see if management learned from the mistakes? Jochen Hecht was signed during the season. Not liking the player or the contract doesn't make that any less true. They've been negotiating with Brian Campbell during the season. The fact that a contract hasn't been signed is not management's fault since it is ultimately Campbell who has to sign the thing. Don't complain about the team a) not trading Campbell or b) not re-signing Campbell until we see what actually happens. They have another huge free agent coming up in Ryan Miller. Instead of talking about Miller going to the Red Wings, let's see WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS.
And please, for the love of all that is holy and right in this world, stop calling Thomas Vanek lazy! He's not lazy! Hesitant? Yes! Lacking in confidence? Possibly! Lazy? NO! He's not converting consistently but he's working hard. His goal tonight was created by his own work. His backchecking has been miles better. He's generally in good position on the ice. You wanna know why he looks slow? Do you?! BECAUSE HE'S SLOW! BECAUSE HE'S NOT FAST!
Oh, man, I'm doing that "make a point by asking yourself a question then answering it" thing which I hate. There's someone at my place of employment who does that and I find it to be annoying and a little condescending. I apologize. I'll take a deep breath before we move on to the game.
- I hate shootouts. I really do. They have nothing to do with who has the better team/shooters/goalies or who played the best that night. (Which is not to say that I think we deserved to win tonight because we did not.) The NHL keeps saying shootouts are for the fans but I wonder what kind of result they would find if they polled fans at games. I kind of feel like this was a change they made in an attempt to appeal to the mythological casual fan while ignoring what traditional fans would prefer but that might just be my bias showing.
I hate ties though. I hate them. Maybe it's because I grew up watching baseball and not hockey but I feel very strongly that there should be a winner and a loser at the end of a sporting event. I'd like to see the NHL increase the overtime period to ten minutes of 4 on 4. As it is now, OTs are always the same. Four minutes of teams trying not to lose followed by one minute of pretty intense back and forth. By the time anyone creates any pressure, the period is over. I think if we went ten minutes, more often than not we'd end up with a winnder.
- That said, nice try, Hank. Couldn't quite get it over Auld's leg but it was a good move nonetheless. (The fact that one of our best defensive d-men looks better than any of our forwards in the shootout shows you that either a) shootouts are a stupid way to decide a game or b) our forwards are really, really bad.)
- Thank you, Dmitri Kalinin for taking a penalty to protect your goalie. Wow, I didn't think any of them had that in them.
- Listen, I know I'm beating a dead horse at this point but Brian Campbell was brutal in this game. Completely brutal. We really want to pay him six million dollars? I had to laugh at Pierre McGuire's "he's a better true defensemen than Sheldon Souray" because that is seriously damning with faint praise.
- I'm not into booing your team. I understand why other people do it, I'm certainly not going to tell someone else they shouldn't. They can do whatever they want as far as I'm concerned. Booing just isn't my thing. (I prefer writing hate letters on my blog.) But I adore Bronx cheers. I'm fascinated by how the sound of a crowd cheering can shift enough that you can't mistake it for the real thing. The loathing and sarcasm within it is impossible to miss. How you could get that deep into the third period - with multiple power plays - and not get a shot on goal is mind-boggling. The team earned that sarcastic cheering.
- It was not a pretty loss but the team was eventually going to lose again. I'm not ready to toss them overboard yet. We'll see how they respond on Sunday. I'm at least encouraged that there were no excuses floating around as far as I heard. Jason Pominville and Jaroslav Spacek both admitted the team choked the game away by not playing a full sixty minutes and Lindy Ruff said, "We didn't deserve a point, Ryan earned it for us."
Since I know you're all dying to know how my doctor's appointment went today, I'll fill you in. The good news: I got the cast off and the bones look good. The bad news: The joint is still weak and I have to remain non-weight bearing for another month. I'm now rocking a snazzy moon boot.
A couple people have asked to see my scar so if you're interested, you can check it out here. It's under a link for the squeamish. I think it's awesome but I'm weird like that. As a kid I always wanted my uniform to be dirty (which partially explains my love for Craig Biggio) and I loved injuries that bled and scarred (which partially explains my love for Jay McKee). Earlier I was watching an interview on the Bills website with Paul Posluszny and he talked about the plates in his arm and I admit, as dumb as it is, I felt pretty cool about the fact that I have hardware in my body too. It's weird because if you feel along the scar in the right spot, you can feel the outline of the plate.
Anyway, yeah. I hate the Bruins.
1. Tom, don't think we're impressed that you're showing your face during a win streak while avoiding us during the ten game losing streak.
2. That interview was clearly very carefully planned. Have you seen the commercial Roby does for the back healing guy? The one where's he's obviously reading cue cards? Yeah, that's what he sounded like tonight.
3. If Buffalo is such a great place to be, Tom, then why are you being beamed in via satellite? If the team is so much fun to watch why no TV shots of you grinning in your box at HSBC Arena? At least Darcy Regier shows his face in public.
4. Dude, I get what you're saying about it creating cap relief but you might want to avoid expressing sentiments that sound anything like, "Boy, we're really lucky ol' Teppo had to have that heart surgery, huh?"
5. Buffalo owners suck. No wonder we think God hates us.
That said, I don't really care to dredge up the Drury/Briere fiasco yet again. Could management have done something different to keep one or both of them here? Maybe. Probably. Would it be nice to hear Golisano take some blame? Sure. Should he be called out for his garbage? Absolutely. Is anything going to change what happened last summer now? No. Seriously, how long are we going to hammer the same people for the same mistakes over and over and over? We're more than halfway through the season. At some point don't you have to step back and see if management learned from the mistakes? Jochen Hecht was signed during the season. Not liking the player or the contract doesn't make that any less true. They've been negotiating with Brian Campbell during the season. The fact that a contract hasn't been signed is not management's fault since it is ultimately Campbell who has to sign the thing. Don't complain about the team a) not trading Campbell or b) not re-signing Campbell until we see what actually happens. They have another huge free agent coming up in Ryan Miller. Instead of talking about Miller going to the Red Wings, let's see WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS.
And please, for the love of all that is holy and right in this world, stop calling Thomas Vanek lazy! He's not lazy! Hesitant? Yes! Lacking in confidence? Possibly! Lazy? NO! He's not converting consistently but he's working hard. His goal tonight was created by his own work. His backchecking has been miles better. He's generally in good position on the ice. You wanna know why he looks slow? Do you?! BECAUSE HE'S SLOW! BECAUSE HE'S NOT FAST!
Oh, man, I'm doing that "make a point by asking yourself a question then answering it" thing which I hate. There's someone at my place of employment who does that and I find it to be annoying and a little condescending. I apologize. I'll take a deep breath before we move on to the game.
- I hate shootouts. I really do. They have nothing to do with who has the better team/shooters/goalies or who played the best that night. (Which is not to say that I think we deserved to win tonight because we did not.) The NHL keeps saying shootouts are for the fans but I wonder what kind of result they would find if they polled fans at games. I kind of feel like this was a change they made in an attempt to appeal to the mythological casual fan while ignoring what traditional fans would prefer but that might just be my bias showing.
I hate ties though. I hate them. Maybe it's because I grew up watching baseball and not hockey but I feel very strongly that there should be a winner and a loser at the end of a sporting event. I'd like to see the NHL increase the overtime period to ten minutes of 4 on 4. As it is now, OTs are always the same. Four minutes of teams trying not to lose followed by one minute of pretty intense back and forth. By the time anyone creates any pressure, the period is over. I think if we went ten minutes, more often than not we'd end up with a winnder.
- That said, nice try, Hank. Couldn't quite get it over Auld's leg but it was a good move nonetheless. (The fact that one of our best defensive d-men looks better than any of our forwards in the shootout shows you that either a) shootouts are a stupid way to decide a game or b) our forwards are really, really bad.)
- Thank you, Dmitri Kalinin for taking a penalty to protect your goalie. Wow, I didn't think any of them had that in them.
- Listen, I know I'm beating a dead horse at this point but Brian Campbell was brutal in this game. Completely brutal. We really want to pay him six million dollars? I had to laugh at Pierre McGuire's "he's a better true defensemen than Sheldon Souray" because that is seriously damning with faint praise.
- I'm not into booing your team. I understand why other people do it, I'm certainly not going to tell someone else they shouldn't. They can do whatever they want as far as I'm concerned. Booing just isn't my thing. (I prefer writing hate letters on my blog.) But I adore Bronx cheers. I'm fascinated by how the sound of a crowd cheering can shift enough that you can't mistake it for the real thing. The loathing and sarcasm within it is impossible to miss. How you could get that deep into the third period - with multiple power plays - and not get a shot on goal is mind-boggling. The team earned that sarcastic cheering.
- It was not a pretty loss but the team was eventually going to lose again. I'm not ready to toss them overboard yet. We'll see how they respond on Sunday. I'm at least encouraged that there were no excuses floating around as far as I heard. Jason Pominville and Jaroslav Spacek both admitted the team choked the game away by not playing a full sixty minutes and Lindy Ruff said, "We didn't deserve a point, Ryan earned it for us."
Since I know you're all dying to know how my doctor's appointment went today, I'll fill you in. The good news: I got the cast off and the bones look good. The bad news: The joint is still weak and I have to remain non-weight bearing for another month. I'm now rocking a snazzy moon boot.
A couple people have asked to see my scar so if you're interested, you can check it out here. It's under a link for the squeamish. I think it's awesome but I'm weird like that. As a kid I always wanted my uniform to be dirty (which partially explains my love for Craig Biggio) and I loved injuries that bled and scarred (which partially explains my love for Jay McKee). Earlier I was watching an interview on the Bills website with Paul Posluszny and he talked about the plates in his arm and I admit, as dumb as it is, I felt pretty cool about the fact that I have hardware in my body too. It's weird because if you feel along the scar in the right spot, you can feel the outline of the plate.
Anyway, yeah. I hate the Bruins.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
This Has Nothing To Do With Hockey But...
I need this thing off like... last week. I can't sleep, I can't eat (okay, I can eat fine), I can't get comfortable, and my butt hurts from all the sitting around. My leg itches, my foot is layered in dry skin, and I'm hot. Oh my gosh, I'm so! friggin! hot! Somebody please turn on the air conditioning!
I need to get out in the world. I need to walk and ride my bike. I need to go to work and complain about how much I hate my job even though I love it. I need to step away from the computer. I posted 32 times in January, people. Thirty-two! I was pretty happy with what I blogged for the first few weeks but now I'm writing about Mark Cuban. Mark Cuban! Why am I even thinking about Mark Cuban?!
I'm losing my mind for reals.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Odds and Ends
Odds and ends ahoy!
As much as I love Darcy Regier, I really hate his tendency to respond to building hysteria by calling press gatherings where he gives some variance on "EVERYTHING IS UNDER CONTROL! PLEASE REMAIN CALM!" They don't work. It just feeds into the panic. It's like poking a sleepy but awakening bear with a really pointy stick. I suppose I can understand responding to the masses, but I don't know, I think he'd be better off just leaving it alone. Pick up the phone when the newspaper calls and leave it at that especially since, last I saw, Brian Campbell is still here. I understand fans getting nervous, but geez, nothing has even happened yet. (Note: I actually do NOT understand getting nervous because Brian Campbell is not Chris Drury or Daniel Briere.)
More than a few people have pointed out to me that, regardless of how I feel about Brian Campbell, the market is the market and the Sabres can't expect to pay an offensive defensman less than everyone else is. To them I say... you're right! Ha! Wasn't expecting that, were you? I'll admit that part of my problem on this issue is an overall frustration with how quickly the GM's and owners have let the market spiral out of control post-lockout. Brian Campbell shouldn't be within spitting distance of making what Nicklas Lidstrom makes and he might be when all is said and done. I'm amazed that a group of people with so much knowledge can - time after time - shoot themselves in the collective foot. I give Darcy a lot of credit in this area. He may be cautious, sometimes overly so, but atleast he's attempting to use his brain. Too often I think that puts him in the minority.
For the record, however, I'm not changing my tune on Soupy. Six million plus is too much of the team's cap to sink into a player like him. So there! I am not, however, looking forward to the sure-to-come city-wide freak-out if Soupy moves on.
Quick injury update. I had my first post-op appointment a week or so ago. The doctor said everything looks okay - which was mildly amusing because my foot looked pretty disgusting - but I still can't put any weight on it until the next appointment which is at the beginning of February and that's only if everything still looks good. The staples were taken out and I got a shiny new plaster cast (white - I was so disappointed that I didn't get to choose a color) and I'm getting a little better on the crutches but it's still pretty darn boring sitting around all day which is why I've posted something almost every single day. Apologies in advance if you get tired of me. This isn't my personal x-ray but this is the surgery I had done and pretty much what mine looks like:
Pretty snazzy, eh?
And finally, a few days ago I wondered about Paul Hamilton generally being the only person who speaks in the media scrums after Sabres games. Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News happened to see that and he emailed and elaborated on it a little more. A few of you commented when I mentioned it so I thought you might like to read what Mike had to say because it's pretty interesting. (This is fully with Mike's permission, just in case you're wondering.) I cut out a few sections just so it wasn't quite as long so if it seems to flows funny, that's all on me.
He is very knowledgeable (played in college at Iowa State FYI) and well-respected in the media. When you see a gaggle of microphones around a guy after the game, Paul is usually the only REPORTER there. The local TVs, in what I think is just a ridiculous decision, often do NOT send a reporter into the locker room after a game and just have a cameraman so that guy isn't a journalist and for the most part couldn't ask a question if his life depended on it.
Furthermore, the print guys very rarely go to the same guy Hamilton and the cameras go to. I don't mind Paul using one of my questions but when a station just sends a camera, they're sponging off me and I don't like that. So if Paul goes to say Pommer, the cameras tend to follow and I'll go to maybe Kotalik. Then switch off, etc. So you'll almost NEVER see or hear us on those interviews.
On the road, it might be a little different cuz there's usually no one in the locker room except Paul, me or John Vogl and maybe a local AP guy. You might hear us once in a while there.
At the end of an interview, you'll hear Paul say, "That's Jason Pominville on the postgame show, back up to you." But that's not the end of the interview. Paul is off to the next guy but after that, the player usually talks for another few minutes to us ink-stained print wretches.
Something else to consider: Paul is a rights-holder collecting comments for a live postgame show on the station that broadcasts the game. Professional courtesy dictates you try not to step over his questions too much, especially since his stuff has to get to air within 10 minutes or so. You let him get the first 2-3 questions before you jump in if you're with the same player.
And on the road, Paul is in a major time jam. He flies home on the team charter (because he's on the flagship station). We do not. He has to be on the plane within an hour after the final horn so he has to email his MP3s to the station for air. You gotta let him get done and go.
So as you can see, there are a lot more dynamics to the situation than just people letting Paul ask all the questions.
I had no idea Paul Hamilton played in college. That's totally awesome. Also, I'm really surprised that the TV stations don't send reporters into the dressing room if for no other reason than to build some kind of relationship with the players. Crazy.
(Thanks, Mike! Tell Bucky I said hi!)
As much as I love Darcy Regier, I really hate his tendency to respond to building hysteria by calling press gatherings where he gives some variance on "EVERYTHING IS UNDER CONTROL! PLEASE REMAIN CALM!" They don't work. It just feeds into the panic. It's like poking a sleepy but awakening bear with a really pointy stick. I suppose I can understand responding to the masses, but I don't know, I think he'd be better off just leaving it alone. Pick up the phone when the newspaper calls and leave it at that especially since, last I saw, Brian Campbell is still here. I understand fans getting nervous, but geez, nothing has even happened yet. (Note: I actually do NOT understand getting nervous because Brian Campbell is not Chris Drury or Daniel Briere.)
More than a few people have pointed out to me that, regardless of how I feel about Brian Campbell, the market is the market and the Sabres can't expect to pay an offensive defensman less than everyone else is. To them I say... you're right! Ha! Wasn't expecting that, were you? I'll admit that part of my problem on this issue is an overall frustration with how quickly the GM's and owners have let the market spiral out of control post-lockout. Brian Campbell shouldn't be within spitting distance of making what Nicklas Lidstrom makes and he might be when all is said and done. I'm amazed that a group of people with so much knowledge can - time after time - shoot themselves in the collective foot. I give Darcy a lot of credit in this area. He may be cautious, sometimes overly so, but atleast he's attempting to use his brain. Too often I think that puts him in the minority.
For the record, however, I'm not changing my tune on Soupy. Six million plus is too much of the team's cap to sink into a player like him. So there! I am not, however, looking forward to the sure-to-come city-wide freak-out if Soupy moves on.
Quick injury update. I had my first post-op appointment a week or so ago. The doctor said everything looks okay - which was mildly amusing because my foot looked pretty disgusting - but I still can't put any weight on it until the next appointment which is at the beginning of February and that's only if everything still looks good. The staples were taken out and I got a shiny new plaster cast (white - I was so disappointed that I didn't get to choose a color) and I'm getting a little better on the crutches but it's still pretty darn boring sitting around all day which is why I've posted something almost every single day. Apologies in advance if you get tired of me. This isn't my personal x-ray but this is the surgery I had done and pretty much what mine looks like:
Pretty snazzy, eh?
And finally, a few days ago I wondered about Paul Hamilton generally being the only person who speaks in the media scrums after Sabres games. Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News happened to see that and he emailed and elaborated on it a little more. A few of you commented when I mentioned it so I thought you might like to read what Mike had to say because it's pretty interesting. (This is fully with Mike's permission, just in case you're wondering.) I cut out a few sections just so it wasn't quite as long so if it seems to flows funny, that's all on me.
He is very knowledgeable (played in college at Iowa State FYI) and well-respected in the media. When you see a gaggle of microphones around a guy after the game, Paul is usually the only REPORTER there. The local TVs, in what I think is just a ridiculous decision, often do NOT send a reporter into the locker room after a game and just have a cameraman so that guy isn't a journalist and for the most part couldn't ask a question if his life depended on it.
Furthermore, the print guys very rarely go to the same guy Hamilton and the cameras go to. I don't mind Paul using one of my questions but when a station just sends a camera, they're sponging off me and I don't like that. So if Paul goes to say Pommer, the cameras tend to follow and I'll go to maybe Kotalik. Then switch off, etc. So you'll almost NEVER see or hear us on those interviews.
On the road, it might be a little different cuz there's usually no one in the locker room except Paul, me or John Vogl and maybe a local AP guy. You might hear us once in a while there.
At the end of an interview, you'll hear Paul say, "That's Jason Pominville on the postgame show, back up to you." But that's not the end of the interview. Paul is off to the next guy but after that, the player usually talks for another few minutes to us ink-stained print wretches.
Something else to consider: Paul is a rights-holder collecting comments for a live postgame show on the station that broadcasts the game. Professional courtesy dictates you try not to step over his questions too much, especially since his stuff has to get to air within 10 minutes or so. You let him get the first 2-3 questions before you jump in if you're with the same player.
And on the road, Paul is in a major time jam. He flies home on the team charter (because he's on the flagship station). We do not. He has to be on the plane within an hour after the final horn so he has to email his MP3s to the station for air. You gotta let him get done and go.
So as you can see, there are a lot more dynamics to the situation than just people letting Paul ask all the questions.
I had no idea Paul Hamilton played in college. That's totally awesome. Also, I'm really surprised that the TV stations don't send reporters into the dressing room if for no other reason than to build some kind of relationship with the players. Crazy.
(Thanks, Mike! Tell Bucky I said hi!)
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