TGIF

I just want everyone to know that every time someone sent me a link of Hank's goal/goal celebration, here or via email, I sat down and watched it at least three times - even Vanek's Hair's link (it's funny cuz it's true). I had the WORST day at work - if the day had been one hour longer I probably would've walked right out of the classroom and never looked back - and as stupid as it may sound, coming home to all those clips made me so happy. Hey, sometimes it's the little things. I've managed to work myself into such a better mood that I really don't want to dwell on last night's game. Outside of the initial barrage of shots/goals and Hank's goal, I thought things were pretty sloppy. Also, I am outraged that Andrew Peters got the pigeon.

In case you've somehow escaped it, here's the best video I watched of Hank's antics. (Thanks to the Tick for putting it together for me! If you go through to You Tube you can watch a higher quality version of it.) It really is adorably dorky. I love how everyone else is always particularly excited when someone who doesn't score a lot of goals comes up with one. I can't tell for sure who's patting Hank on the head on the bench (I think Jaroslav Spacek) but it's awesome. Hey, did you realize this was the game-winning goal?



A few quick words about Jay McKee:

For all the crap Darcy Regier took about letting Jay McKee go, I really think that move, maybe more than any other in recent years, shows what a very good GM Darcy is. He recognized that Jay was being overrated and overpaid by other teams and instead of jumping into the fray in an effort to appease fans and media, he put sentiment aside and let Jay walk. Sentiment and affection are great for fans but GMs - especially ones who have to count every single penny - can't think like that. Is there really any doubt that St. Louis has not gotten what they've paid for out of Jay?

That said, I do wonder what would have had happened had Jay stayed here. I really do believe that some athletes are just made to play in certain cities for certain fans with certain coaches and teammates and I really do believe that Jay's place was in Buffalo. He was Buffalo: not beautifully skilled but tough, hard-working and mostly lovable. Reading some of the articles leading up to the game about how unhappy the St. Louis organization and fans are with Jay really made me sad. I certainly understand where they're coming from - he was pretty terrible last night - but it still bums me out. We loved him. If he had taken less money and stayed in Buffalo I think we would have gone right on loving him even if he'd missed the same number of games and even if he'd suffered the same drop-off in play because we had such a history with him. We saw him fight night in and night out, season after season, for us and for our team in a way that St. Louis never did. Even if his body started to fall apart while he was wearing a Sabres uniform, we would have understood that it was falling apart partly because of the way he played in that Sabres uniform. On an emotional level, I don't miss Chris Drury or Daniel Briere. I definitely appreciated them as hockey players but I never felt that connection with them and when all is said and done, the amount of time they spent in Buffalo will be a blip in their careers. But I desperately miss Jay because he was one of us and I really feel like he should have finished his career as one of us. And while he's probably perfectly fine, I wonder sometimes if he doesn't look back and feel the same way.

Crap. Now I'm depressed again.

Let's enter this hockey weekend with a bit of happy non-hockey news. (I know it doesn't make sense. Just go with it. I'm trying to change the mood!) Wanna see what I'm getting for Christmas/my birthday/pretty much every other holiday for the next year?


That's Marlowe, my two week old St. Bernard.

Here's her mom, Diva (on the left) and dad, Willie (on the right). She'll be a rough coat (long-haired) like her Pop.

Click to enlarge.

Due to vacation in December I won't be picking her up until after Christmas but I'm awfully excited already. Pretty cute, right?

Okay, good. Now I feel better. Happy Friday!

How We Got to Hank (Or How Many Post Titles Can I Squeeze Henrik Tallinder Into This Month?)

I've been thinking a lot the last few weeks about favorite players. I love knowing who other fans love and why. I think it's really cool how different things about different players call out to different people. I think it's really interesting how different fans appreciate different skills and abilities. Since my hockey fandom is still relatively young, it's pretty easy to trace my favorite hockey players through the years.

My first favorite hockey player was Ron Francis. I was born in Pittsburgh and still have family there so before I even knew the Buffalo Sabres existed, I had a soft spot for the Penguins. I partly liked Francis because he was handsome - even as a kid I was more drawn to more mature looking men than baby-faced pretty boys so that salt and pepper hair was a killer. I also liked him because he seemed like the low-key, slightly overlooked guy on a very good team. Mario Lemeiux was on one side, Jaromir Jagr on the other, Francis in the middle. My brother once said he was kind of the Penguins' version of Andy Van Slyke who, while popular, was often overlooked in favor of Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla. I also very clearly remember reading this Sports Illustrated article and falling in love with the story of him and his younger brother Ricky and how he asked the Penguins if he could take time off during the season to go see Ricky run in the Special Olympics. As I've become more knowledgeable about hockey, I've been pretty delighted to discover that everything I thought about Ronnie all those years ago is apparently true. I could probably count on one hand the number of games I actually watched him play but I was definitely aware of him and he was the first guy who really brought hockey to the forefront for me even if it was in a kind of a superficial way. I think I've mentioned this before but the first hockey jersey I ever bought was a Francis #10. Even though I'd never wear it now it's still in a box somewhere because I've never been able to throw it out.

The first two Buffalo Sabres I really liked were Matthew Barnaby and Michael Peca. I have to admit that looking back, I'm not sure how this worked. I was thinking that the Sabres weren't on my radar at all until the '99 Cup run but Barnaby wasn't on that team, at least not by that point. Mark said he was pretty integral in the previous season's success and talking over dates and trips to Buffalo with him, I must have gotten attached to Matt during that season. I remember a big interview with him in ESPN Magazine that probably ran around that time even though I was sure it was after we'd actually moved to Buffalo. So it turns out the Sabres were working their way into my blood before I even remember. I liked Barnaby because he was small and scrappy. Looking back I also think maybe his role on the team was easy for a new hockey fan to get a handle on. He was there to bug the heck out of the other team and try to sucker them into doing something stupid. I didn't need to understand a lot of strategy and intricacies to recognize when he was doing his job well. I also thought that little rat-faced grin - you know the one - was totally charming.

Mike Peca is also kind of a surprise looking back because I would swear that I saw him play a fair amount in person while he was with Buffalo but I didn't. The year that Mark and I moved to Buffalo we went to the preseason carnival the Sabres used to do (they should really bring that back, by the way) and Peca wasn't there because he was holding out. And then he never played for the Sabres again. I saw him once on a pre-move trip we made to Buffalo and once on our honeymoon. (We spent our honeymoon in the mountains of Tennesse - absolutely beautiful - and our trip home just happened to coincide with a Sabres visit to Atlanta so we stopped for the game on the way back to Birmingham. I hadn't thought about it until just now but seeing the Sabres on our honeymoon seems pretty fitting in retrospect.) So I mostly saw him via TV, but I think Peca was my first stepping stone towards really becoming a hockey fan even though it still took a few years for the bug to really bite me. There was probably a little bit of "hey, I know what that guy is supposed to be doing!" involved because of his propensity for big hits but he was the first guy that really made me ask a lot of questions about the sport. What's the Selke? How exactly is a forward defensive? Is there an award for offensive defensemen? Why not? But if offensive defensive win the Norris what about defensive defensemen? How come some guys are good penalty killers and some aren't? Even then I was kind of fascinated by penalty killing. My pea hockey brain figured it was easy to be good on the power play - I mean, you have more players on the ice than the other team! - but penalty killing was totally different. It seemed hard and challenging and I automatically liked a guy a little more if he was a penalty killer, something I still feel today.

Barnaby and Peca led to Jay McKee who was probably my first genuine, real-thing favorite Sabre. I saw him play a lot on TV, I saw him play a fair amount in person, he was here while I was in Buffalo, I read all those daily game interviews and quotes from him, I saw him on the news... all those little ordinary things that you take for granted that somehow add up. I'm not going to lie. At first I liked him for two reasons. One, I thought he was handsome in a slightly off-beat kind of way. Two, he's the same age as me which was pretty young at the time. I thought it was cool that someone my age was in the NHL full-time. Eventually I did come to like the way he played and my fondness for defense fully bloomed. I was especially taken with Jay in the 2005-2006 season. The New NHL favored speedy skaters and puck carriers and that wasn't his game. He did a great job of finding a way to make his skills work in a changing game by becoming one of the best shotblockers in the league. I think shotblocking can be overrated sometimes but I admired his fearlessness and how he he would just show up and play with some pretty gnarly bruises and cuts. I know he's hardly the only hockey player to play through pain but he was a toughie. Since I was actually in Buffalo for a chunk of his time here he was also the first hockey player I loved who I really connected with the community. He was fully embedded in Buffalo by that point - we loved him and he loved us - and I thought that was very cool. Remember I didn't grow up with professional sports teams so I'd never really seen that firsthand before. The only reason I never bought a McKee jersey is because by the time I decided I wanted one it was his last season here and Mark suggested I wait to see if he re-signed. Even though he didn't and I wouldn't have gotten much use out of it, I'm a little sorry that I didn't buy that jersey anyway. It would've been right for Jay to be my first Sabres jersey.

Instead it was Tim Connolly. I know, weird, right? Mark said one day a few months ago, "I always thought Timmy was just a fling for you," and I guess that's what he was. Sometimes you have to date the bad boy to know the bad boy isn't your thing. I had to cheer for the flashy offensive player to realize that flashy offense isn't my thing. Don't get me wrong, I definitely enjoy seeing Sabres score - kind of hard to win games when that doesn't happen - and I do think Timmy is amazingly gifted (when not hurt) but I really am more thrilled by an awesome defensive play or a nerve-wracking penalty kill. When the 2006 playoffs started I, like most of the city, was totally swept up and decided I had to have a jersey and I had to have it stat. Mark had scared me off the McKee so I had kind of decided a Connolly would do and one day while walking through the mall I saw one hanging in the window of Laux. I think sometimes an impulse buy like that is pretty indicative of how you really feel but sometimes an impulse buy is just an impulse buy. If I'd waited until a few months into the next season I wouldn't have made that purchase but now I'll always have a memento of my short but intense love affair with Timmy.

When the 2006 season started, Jay was gone (::sniff:::) and Timmy was still sidelined with his concussion. While I missed Timmy and worried about him at first, eventually I... kind of forgot about him. That was my first hint that I was probably not as attached to him as I thought. And before I knew it, bam! I was in love with the unassuming Swedish d-man who was coming off a great postseason. I've written many a post, including one mini-opus, about why I love Henrik Tallinder but the short story is this: beautiful skater, often unnoticed and underrated, smart, and super pleasant. I think Hank is partly a reflection on my growth as a hockey fan - understanding and appreciating defense requires a little more knowledge, I think because it's not always obvious and easy to miss - but I also think part of me has always been drawn to guys like him. Barnaby to Tallinder seems like a bit of a leap but Barnaby to Peca to McKee to Tallinder makes some sense. And I suppose it comes as no surprise that Mike Weber is the youngster I'm most excited about. As Mark said, "Yep, you have a type."

How about you guys? Who's your favorite now? Whose jersey do you don at game time? Who's your all-time favorite? Who was your first favorite? Do your favorites have similarities? Or are you all over the map? Can you articulate why your guy is your guy or is it just a gut feeling that can't be explained? Please share if you're so inclined. Like I said, I love knowing who other people love.

Hockey Love

Top Shelf's second sponsorship. A couple of you guessed it but here is is anyway. What can I say? I'm very predictable and you guys are clearly paying attention. Well done.

If you don't know how I feel about this particular guy, check out this entry. It doesn't go into a ton of detail but it does touch on it some.

More later, I think.

One of Us

In honor of NaBloPoMO, I'll be attempting to post something every day in November. If you're not checking in every day, make sure you're catching all the posts! Here's a quick one before I run off to the game...

I have some odds and ends I want to deal with, but I'm short on time. I do want to quickly respond to this quote from Greg Wyshynski at FanHouse however: Jay McKee makes his return to Buffalo with the Blues. Remember, kids: Jay McKee leaves Buffalo for a big free-agent contract = veteran getting his due. Briere and Drury leave Buffalo for big free-agent contracts = traitorous bastards.

I don't know that that's entirely fair. When Jay McKee first signed with St. Louis there were a lot of people in Buffalo who were pretty furious because he was chasing the money and signing with a non-contender, turning his back on the team that drafted and raised him. I heard more than a few comments along the lines of, "I hope you enjoy that money, Jay, since you just played in the last playoff game of your career." But you know, time goes by and sometimes fans cool off on guys. Jay was here for a long time and was an important part of some of the best teams of the past ten years. Many of us grew up with him and eventually people started to remember that. What separates him from Briere and Drury in my mind is that he was very embedded in Buffalo when he left - a decade is an eternity for a player to be in one city these days - and he's remained that way since. He married a Buffalo girl and they still live here in the off-season. Fans still see him around town and he's still the same funny, lovely guy he always was. I think some fans also softened toward him as it became clear that the Sabres weren't overly interested in keeping him around, not at a high price atleast. Fairly or not, fans seem to separate former players into one of two categories: He Was Never Really One of Us OR He'll Always Be One of Us. For a lot of Buffalo, Jay McKee will always be one of us. Time will tell what happens with Drury and Briere.

All I know is this. I loved Jay then, and despite some rocky feelings when he first split, I love him now. I insisted we buy tickets for tonight's game just to see him again. I've said fans should be free to greet former players however they choose, but I will throw ice cubes at anyone in my vicinity who boos when Jay has the puck. That's a promise.

Jay McKee, 1996

Bucky Gleason? Still Pretty Stupid.

I've been living a happy, Bucky Gleason-free life but Gambler went and blew that out of the water by commenting on his weekend column over at Desperation Hockey. There were many, many things to be annoyed about: Is Jochen Hecht someone who commands respect in the dressing room? I don't know, why don't we ask the teammates who voted him captain? The defense sucks but Brian Campbell should be re-signed right away? The Rangers' slow start isn't indicative of trouble but our slow start means disaster? Dmitri Kalinin has been mediocre? Bucky, do you even watch hockey?

Here's the part that really got me though:

The Oilers gave Ryan Smyth a video tribute when he returned last week with Colorado in his first game back since Edmonton traded him. They did the same for Jason Smith when he returned with Philadelphia. It was a classy move in both cases. Just wondering if the Sabres have anything similar planned for Drury and Briere.

Now I already mentioned in my last post that I thought what the Oilers did was stupid. If you want to give Smyth a tribute when he retires, fine, great, have at it. But while he's still an active player and he's on the other team, treat him like every other opposing player. If the fans want to give him a standing ovation or acknowledge him in some way, let them do it. Otherwise let it be.

But atleast Smyth and Smith played in Edmonton for a long time, eleven and seven years respectively, I believe. Chris Drury and Daniel Briere played in Buffalo for seven years combined and both chose to play somewhere else. Why should they get a video tribute that other players didn't receive? Jay McKee played here for almost a decade and was as valuable - I'd argue he was even more valuable - as Briere or Drury. No video tribute for him? Everybody loves Marty Biron and he also played here for close to ten years. Not worthy? Heck, Stu Barnes played here longer than Briere and Drury, wore the C, and played in a Stanley Cup Final. Dominik Hasek was the team for many, many years and while he was a prick at times he was also arguably the best hockey player to ever put on a Sabres uniform. How was he welcomed back to Buffalo? We booed his ass. Which is exactly how it should be. Let the fans welcome back returning players in the way they see fit. The organization needs to stay out of it. How are Tim Connolly and Ryan Miller and Jason Pominville supposed to feel, sitting on the bench before a game, watching a tribute to a player who left Buffalo of his own free will and is about to step out on the ice in a different colored jersey, especially after an entire off-season of hearing, "Geez, this team is really going to suck without that guy!" No, I don't think so. Let it go. Move on. I enjoyed watching Drury and Briere and I wish there had been some way to keep them and everyone else around. But if there's a video tribute welcoming them back, I'm throwing stuff at the jumbotron. Let it go, Bucky. Good lord.

Rumors

My husband emailed me a rumor that he found on a Sabres message board earlier today. Now I didn't read this particular board even when I was reading them, but I went to take a look at it and it seems that this poster is pretty well respected and has shown himself to be reliable in the past. If you want to read the whole rumor - it's quite a lengthy story - go here. But here's the short version: Michael Peca wants to come back to Buffalo. Larry Quinn and Lindy Ruff want him to come back. Lindy wants to make him the captain. Darcy Regier is reluctant but willing to consider it after a conversation with Peca. Also, Jay McKee desperately wants to come back to Buffalo. It's unclear if the Blues are down with the idea of dealing him, but McKee and his agent are trying to move something along, possibly involving Spacek. I was interested enough to take a look at the thread despite my ban - the things a girl does for love - and I was fascinated to find that posters were almost overwhelmingly in favor of both guys coming back. So what do I think?

I think you're all nuts.

You guys do realize that Peca didn't leave Buffalo last season, right? He's put a lot of wear and tear on his not-very-big body since he last wore a Sabres jersey. Maybe he fills some of the holes Drury leaves. He can kill penalties, he can play on a defensive line and occasionally chip in some offense. He definitely brings a toughness to the ice that most of our forwards are currently lacking. But if you think you're going to get vintage Captain Crunch - and that's what most posters seem to be dreaming of - I'm sorry, you're in for a disappointment in my opinion. Speaking of which, I really hope the part about Lindy making Peca the captain is crap. I know Peca has a history with the organization and with Ruff, but he means nothing to the players in the room now. Campbell, Kalinin, and Afinogenov played a handful of games with him combined. That's it. Why should a group that's played together for quite a few years now between Rochester and Buffalo be expected to suddenly take leadership from a guy who's just coming into town? And what's wrong with Ol' Man Numminen who is a veteran, a leader, and oh yeah, has a relationship with everyone in the room already? And this isn't even mentioning that Peca hasn't played since seriously breaking his leg in Toronto.

And Jay McKee... I think I've made it pretty clear in the three months or so that I've been writing this blog how I feel about Jay. I love him. I was devastated when he signed with St. Louis last summer. I believed until the bitter end that he would remain in Buffalo. Sentimentally speaking I would love for him to come back and retire a Sabre. I would love to look back in ten years and say, "Hey, remember that year Jay was in St. Louis? Me neither!" I really, really, really would. But even with my desperate love of all things McKee, I was able to look at his 4 yr/16 million dollar contract and say, "Holy crap, what are they smoking in St. Louis?" And most people seemed to agree with that. How has a deal that looked so ridiculous a year ago become something we should absolutely do for the good of the Sabres, the fans, and Buffalo's very existence? I know Jaroslav Spacek was a bit of a disappointment especially with all the hype he got coming into town, but was he really so bad that we should throw him over for a guy who gets paid MORE and played way, way LESS? Let me point out yet again that Jay McKee only played in 23 games last season. Twenty-three! You know there are 82 games in a season, right? Granted, he was totally snake-bitten last season. And for the sake of argument, I'll overlook broken fingers and stuff like that. Those kinds of injuries happen over the course of a hockey career, particularly when you're a defense who throws yourself in front of slapshots. But hip problems? Knee problems on top of all the knee problems he's already had? Those things are much more worrisome. Look, Jay had a fabulous 2005-2006 season. He stayed pretty healty and he worked really hard to make himself valuable in a post-lockout game that didn't exactly favor his skill set. But the two years before the lockout he played in 43 and 59 games and I don't know that, logically speaking, you can look at that great season while overlooking past concerns about his injury history especially at his price.

I understand where people are coming from. Fans are heart-broken about losing a couple of fan favorites in Drury and Briere and there's a lot of sentiment wrapped up in Peca and McKee. They both had some great moments here and they were both warriors and leaders on their teams. But these really strike me as deals that seem like a good idea now, here in the off-season but wouldn't look so good once it's time to play hockey. I don't know, I could be wrong. It happens once in a while.

In closing, I'll say this: If it's true that Jay wants to come back to Buffalo, I'm delighted. I knew he'd miss me! I'll bet he'll be pretty devastated when he discovers that I've given my heart to another defensmen but hey, it's his fault. Never should've left in the first place, Jay.

I Still Hate the Off-Season - But I Still Love Hockey

I made it through this much of the off-season in good spirits but I crashed pretty hard this weekend. I was just cranky with pretty much everyone - Darcy for allegedly not making a firm offer to Chris or Danny yet, Chris for allegedly looking toward the west coast after being so important here for so long, fans for complaining about things that haven't actually happened yet and acting like Buffalo's entire worth is wrapped up in whether or not two hockey players are re-signed or not. The only person who really escaped my wrath was Danny because unlike everyone else, he's not holding his cards too close to his chest. He's said from the beginning that he and his family love Buffalo and want to stay here and he hasn't back off that yet.

It's ridiculous because this is, of course, all based on rumor and much of it involving two pretty tight-lipped individuals in Darcy Regier and Chris Drury. I doubt either guy is wandering around town, telling everyone who will listen exactly what he's thinking and feeling. But I just thought something - SOMETHING - would done by now. My husband has two thoughts on the lack of progress. One, the Sabres have decided Thomas Vanek is the priorty and they're waiting to see how much they're going to have to put into him and two, the Sabres have already decided that neither captain is a part of the plan for the future. The first one is possible - I agree that Vanek and Miller should be the nucleus of the team for the next few years. The second one is also possible - it's true that both Chris and Danny are going to be very expensive and I don't know if either guy, Drury in particular is a seven million dollar player. The front office has made no bones about the fact that they don't plan on spending to the cap again and it's probably not smart to pour so much money into two players, especially over the amount of years Danny and Chris allegedly both want. Miller is going to be a UFA in a couple of years and you don't want your hands to be tied financially when that happens. Intellectually, logically it all makes sense.

But... I don't like it! I know sports are a business. I do. But every time I start to think I've finally come to terms with the unlikeliness that I'll ever see one guy play his entire career in Buffalo, I find myself getting sad all over again about someone leaving or even potentially leaving. Being a fan is much harder than it should be sometimes, you know? After such a magical couple of years when the team and the fans seemed to live and breathe together as one, it's tough to switch back into business mode. It's tough to remember that the front office has to think about the long-term as well as the short-term and that sometimes they have to see players as numbers and dollar signs. It's tough to remember that the players really aren't as emotionally attached to us as we are to them. They don't love us in the same way, with the same fervor. We feel like we get to know them as individuals and to them we're really one big nameless, faceless mob of people. It's depressing.

So I spent the weekend in the doldrums. Ridiculous but there it is. Atleast it did lead me to Why I Love Hockey #7 - There's Always Somebody Else
It's true. As hard as it is to watch players go, atleast there are always new ones coming. And sometimes you realize there are other great players on your team already. My first real hockey heartbreak was when Jay McKee left Buffalo last off-season. I was devastated. He was my first favorite hockey player and he'd been a Sabre as long as I'd been a Sabres fan. I was a brand new fan back when he was a baby-faced youngster and we'd grown-up together. I was sure I would never recover. But when I finally bid Jay adieu and looked at the Sabres team in front of me I realized that you know, I'd always enjoyed watching Henrik Tallinder glide up the ice and man, he was so great in the playoffs. He has to be one of the most underrated d-men in the NHL. And just like that I had a new favorite Sabre and I was devoted enough to earn a silly but endearing nickname - Tally-Ho. (Thanks to the commenters over at Interchangeable Parts!) Even my husband, the guy with the mancrushes of all mancrushes on Chris Drury, has started pondering whose jersey he'll buy if Chris leaves. (He started with Miller but seems to be leaning more towards Stafford now.) I suppose some would call this defeatist or pessismistic, maybe even wishy-washy but I prefer to think of it as hopeful. In a world where guys sometimes change jerseys every few years, I need to know that there will always be another favorite Sabre out there for me.

Why I Love Hockey - Parts 5 and 6

Well, I got through four whole days of the "post every day" plan before falling down on the job. Honestly, that was way better than I expected so go me. Since I actually have time to write today - I don't have to go to work anywhere! - I'll bless you with a double post.

Why I Love Hockey #5 - Brian Campbell
I'll admit I was first drawn to Brian Campbell for a ridiculous reason - he's a red-head. But over the past few years I've found more defensible reasons to love Brian Campbell although most of them still don't really have much to do with hockey. Don't get me wrong - I do enjoy watching him play. He's quick and creative and there are times I actually mistake him for Maxim Afinogenov of all people before realizing what I thought was a 61 is actually a 51. It's been fun watching him really begin to put things together over the past couple of seaons, just as fans in Buffalo - and probably more than a few people within the organization - were beginning to think he was never going to stick at the NHL level.

But that's all secondary. I really just like Brian Campbell the person. In a league full of humble, down-to-earth guys, Brian still manages to stick out as particularly down-to-earth. I love watching him interviewed because he's very laid-back and really funny. And not funny in the desperate, trying-too-hard, overly prepared kind of way that many pro athletes are - just easily and naturally funny. I love watching him play because he looks like he's having so much fun. I adore Chris Drury and I hope he stays in Buffalo but he's so somber all the time. While it's a little unfair because I know that's just Drury's personality, he often looks like he's working in a coal mine instead of getting paid millions of dollars to play a game. Atleast once a game there's a shot of Brian on the ice or the bench with a huge "I can't believe I'm getting PAID for this" grin on his face. A fantasic, ear-to-ear, face splitting grin. I was thrilled when he made the All-Star game because there was no doubt in my mind that a) he really never did think that he'd be an All-Star starter unlike some guys who say that but don't mean it and b) he would have a blast. Miller, Vanek, Tallinder, and Lydman are on my "Cannot be traded because they're too important" list. Brian is on my "Cannot be traded because I'd miss him too darn much" list.

Something About Me #5
These are really supposed to be non-hockey related but in light of the "I picked Brian Campbell because he was a red-head" confession I'll also admit that when I first started watching the Sabres I decided Jay McKee was my favorite player because he was the same age as me. (He probably still is.) And while that is equally ridiculous as falling in love with someone's hair, it also stuck because as I watched him, I fell in love with Jay. He was absolutely fearless on the ice and I have a lot of admiration for the way he managed to make himself valuabe in the post-lockout season that didn't exactly favor his skills. I can't argue against Buffalo letting him go - he's definitely getting overpaid in St. Louis and between his style of play and his injury history he's due to start breaking down any day now (if he hasn't already) - but I was bummed for days after he officially signed with the Blues and okay, I might've cried one of those days.

Why I Love Hockey #6 -Community
I grew up in - all together now! - Alabama and one of the bad things about that was the total lack of pro sports. The closest Birmingham came to that atmosphere was college football and even that wasn't quite the same. While it was totally crazy - I can't even explain SEC football to people who haven't lived through it - the city was split between Auburn and Alabama and people didn't exactly bond over it. It could pretty ugly actually.

Atlanta was the closest city with big teams and it was close enough that we got there for Braves games every year or so but time and financial constraints made it hard to do that more often. As I've already stated, I was a Pirates fan as a girl and I did my best to follow the team but it was tough from so far away - this was before the days of team and league websites and MLB.TV - and no one else in my neck of the woods loved the same team. Part of me loved being the lone dissenter in a land full of sheep-like Braves fans, but it stunk to get all my Pirates news weeks later when my grandmother had cut out enough articles from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to fill an envelope.

So Buffalo was the first city I've ever lived in with a pro sports team and when we moved I was just starting to get into hockey some so I was kind of excited. I touched on this at the end of the season but hockey has been an amazing community thing here in Buffalo over the past couple of years. I know there's a bit of a lightning in the bottle aspect to it where certain things have met up at just the right time - a talented, likable, hard-working team in a blue collar city that came awfully close to watching its franchise move somewhere else. I know some of the excitement will fade when current players leave and the team isn't quite so successful. I know I need to embrace Buffalo's love affair with the Sabres right now while it's happening because it probably won't be quite like it is now forever.

All that said, man, it's freakin' awesome in this city right now. I wrote not that long ago about how unifying hockey has been in Buffalo so I don't want to repeat myself too much. But I will say, for that kid who would've killed to debate where exactly Andy Van Slyke ranked as a defensive outfielder with someone, it was very cool to be able to talk about the previous night's game with absolutely anyone - students, co-workers, bus drivers, fellow commuters, cashiers, and neighbors. The Sabres helped me fall in love with hockey but maybe more importantly, they helped me fall in love with Buffalo to the point where it's tough to imagine living anywhere else. Now that I've felt the buzz in the air of a great sports team, I don't think I could leave it behind.

Something About Me #6
Since it's Father's Day, I've been thinking a lot about my mom. My dad died very suddenly when I was four and because I was so young, he's only a vague memory at the outskirts of my life. What I remember is almost all Mom.

My mother never really got the whole sports thing. She's not athletically inclined herself and I'm not sure she ever really understood the appeal for me, but that didn't stop her from making an effort. I'll never forget the day she decided she was going to throw me some batting practice. I was around ten and we went to the old softball field at our church. It didn't take very long for us to realize this was a terrible idea. I was practically in tears because I just wanted to hit the ball and she was SO bad and SO far from the plate that I couldn't even get the bat on the ball by taking a couple of steps. I did not understand what was so hard about getting the ball near the plate! She was practically in tears because I was so upset and she was trying so hard. And I think we were probably both thinking about how my dad really should've been there with me which only made things worse. But looking back now, even though the day was a near disaster, saved only by Mr. Bailey seeing us and relieving Mom on the mound, I know the important thing was that she was trying awfully hard to do something she had no interest in because she knew it was important to me and she was sorry there wasn't anyone around to do those kinds of things with me. That's my mom. She was pretty awesome then and she still is. Happy Father's Day, Mom!