Playing Catch-Up

Just to be clear, when I made my resolution at the new year to post at least once a week, I was intentionally vague about how a week was defined. Did I mean there wouldn't be more than a week between posts, or would I be going by the calendar week? Well, considering it has been more than a week since my last post, I'm going to define it right here and now as the calendar week. So since my last post was on the Sunday of the last calendar week, this totally counts. Just so you know.

There's been a lot to say about the progress the Sabres have made in the last few games, but I haven't really had a chance to write about it until now, so instead of writing a series of focused and more in-depth posts like a real blogger would do, I'm going to have to do a bit of recap style of the past five games:

1. Considering watching the Winter Classic made me want to listen to Elliott Smith and lament the sorry state of my hockey team, I thought the outcome of the Detroit game was pretty okay. Sure, it would have been great to have held onto that lead for two minutes longer and steal at least a point, but at the end of the day, we didn't really deserve it. Miller played just as out of his mind as he did in the game before against the Rangers, but the skaters were largely overwhelmed and openly scrambling for most of the game. Still, it was a far better effort than I had been expecting/prepared to see, and I'm willing to give them a pass for it. Maybe I'm being too soft of a fan, but the Red Wings are just so damn good, that I'm just happy it wasn't a blow out.

2. Actually, I was so pleased with the effort in that game that I came out thinking we had a legitimate chance against Chicago, even with Lalime starting. Which, once again, when you consider the way the Winter Classic made me feel, is kind of incredible. Well, I'm not exactly sure what happened. Maybe I tricked myself into thinking the team had started giving a damn when they actually hadn't, maybe Miller was the glue that held it all together, but one thing's for sure. That game blew. It blew so hard, I can't even remember at this point what the big picture of that game was like. When I think back on it, all I see is this one Numminen pass that happened, I think, sometime in the second period. There were at least three other Sabres around him as he was crossing into the neutral zone, in varying states of pass availability, and he chose to float the softest pass I've ever seen right between all of them for an easy interception. As I said to my mom, as we rewound our TiFaux to watch and wonder what the hell he was thinking, it was like he was trying to use his pass to describe the axis of the center of mass for all the players he could have passed to. (I'm so glad I took AP Physics in high school, so that I could use it to find new and creative ways to describe how my hockey team sucks.)

3. In any case, it's a good thing they won the Dallas game the way that they did, or they would have put me dangerously close to breaking out the Elliott Smith again. Truth be told, I didn't end up seeing the game in it's entirety. I missed the OT period altogether, and only saw the shootout the morning after, because I broke the cardinal rule of TiFaux and forgot to record the show directly after the game in case it ran over. In my defense, I was under the impression that we were going to catch up to the recording before it finished, and at the point in the game when it still would have been viable to record the next thing, the Sabres were looking so lackluster and destined to lose that it never even crossed my mind that it could be going past regulation. Anyway, it's been a while since we saw the team come back like that, and on a day when Mike Schopp's assessment of the team as "gutless" wouldn't stop running through my head, it was nice to see them gut out a win. To be sure, the Stars aren't as solid a team as they once were, and have apparently had trouble holding onto leads all season, no matter how cushy they might seem, but taking the momentum back when the other team is running away with it is something this team has done far too seldom lately.

And I know I might be biased, but while Goose definitely stole the show, I thought this was Hecht's best game in a while. Given the fact that I reacted to him getting the puck in front of a wide open net by wanting to shout "I cannot believe he missed that!" there's definitely room for improvement over his recent play. Even with the goal aside, he was hitting (well, what passes as hitting from Yo-Yo anyway), actively backchecking, and moving the puck well in the offensive zone, at one point laying a beautiful pass right into the crease that Pommers couldn't get to. Sure, he was his usual stone-hands self at a couple of points when shooting at the net, but he's sitting past the halfway mark of the season with 5 goals, so I'll gladly take normal levels of offensive dysfunctionality as long as he looks like he cares.

4. Those of you that read Top Shelf and The Willful Caboose (which should be all of you, if you know what's good for you) already know that I spent Saturday's game with the lovely and talented queens of the Sabres blogosphere, Heather and Katebits. That's right, I have star power. If you want to know how you too can lure famous bloggers to your house, apparently the perfect bait is a combination of HDTV, various kinds of wings, and, in Heather's case, an Andy Van Slyke baseball card.

Aside from the HD feed acting up, it was pretty much the perfect game to spend with people you've been in touch with for over a year, have a lot to talk about with, but have never met. As Kate said before she left, it's been a long time since the Sabres have had a game that they've just straight-up won, without much drama or fanfare, and that sets the perfect background for a "getting to know you" type situation. Not interesting or boring enough to be a real distraction, and a pleasant result for everyone, especially since I still have a healthy hate for Carolina.

The HD problems were kind of maddening, though. Since I'll be spending the rest of the season trying to stream the games online, this was going to be the last game I'd see that was even vaguely in focus, and I wanted it to be the best. Instead we got to hear the same obnoxious guitar riff over and over again most of the time, and when we finally did get RJ, the audio was a second or two ahead of the video, so that we already knew the outcome of every shot, sometimes even before the shooter had the puck. Which was very comforting when the Hurricanes were shooting and we already knew it was going high and wide, but it was kind of a downer to know that Kotalik's slapper wasn't going into the net like we hoped. It was definitely frustrating, but also kind of surreal and hilarious, and the high-five celebration of Connolly's second goal was tinged with me giggling about watching that move set to the soundtrack of what sounded like someone diligently practicing Guitar Hero.

In any case, it was definitely a blast to have Kate and Heather over to my house, and I know my parents and I all enjoyed it. I think the Sabres did as well, to be honest. The first few minutes of the game were a little hairy, and we all got ready to brace ourselves for an oncoming disaster, but as soon as we got really settled--I needed to put my jersey on, and Kate had to use the bathroom--they scored and never looked back. Also, the second Heather started to pull out of my driveway just as the third was starting (she had to leave early to pick up her husband from the airport) the Canes scored and Tallinder got called for a penalty. Coincidence? I don't think so. Clearly the three of us present at one time is a force to be reckoned with. Clearly we need to do it again sometime, for the good of the team.

5. In all honesty, I didn't see the last game against the Panthers. Aside from the fact that I was somewhat out of sorts moving back out to school and busy reuniting with my friends after break, I just completely forgot that the game was even happening. And since it seems the routine text I got telling me the outcome and goal-scorers doesn't even come close to telling the whole story, I'm not even going to try to pretend like I know anything about what happened. Suffice to say, those were two points we needed, and I'm glad we got them.

I'm having problems with the internet right now, so it's looking like I won't be able to watch the game tonight in Tampa. In fact, it's looking like this post won't even make it online until after the game, but trust me when I say I wrote this beforehand: This isn't a team we need to beat to keep our place in the standings, not like Florida, but I believe it's a team we need to beat to keep our honor. Hopefully the boys keep that in mind. In the meantime, I'll be keeping my eye out for a text.

NHL Playoffs are Boring, Unavailable

My internet connection has been extra-finicky lately, and my schedule extra-packed, so my viewing time of these Conference Finals has totaled just about one-and-a-half periods of Game 1 of Detroit versus Dallas. Judging by some of the reactions of disinterested fans that I've been reading, I haven't been missing much. I came back from Krakow with the Final matchup more or less decided, both Detroit and Pittsburgh sitting on 3-0 leads over their opponents. Sure, both Dallas and Philadelphia have won a game since then, and there's still technically a chance they could pull their respective series out (if it has to be one of them, please please please let it be the Stars), but I find myself longing for first round, when there was still some semblance of parity at work. Don't get me wrong, I loved seeing the Pens sweep the Sens, but hard-fought, seven-game series are what the Stanley Cup Playoffs are all about, and with each passing game it's looking more and more like this year's Cup already has the Genetically Engineered Superhumans' names stamped on it. (Stars and/or Pens, feel free to prove me wrong.) So what's a Sabres fan overseas without any reliable internet streaming or captivating playoff hockey to do?

Luckily, Europe has the answer for me: UEFA Euro 2008

The summer of 2006, my first off-season as a hockey fan, I was saved from obsessively following contract moves and listening to the general belly-aching of the Buffalo fanbase (something I masochistically subjected myself to the following summer), in part by obsessivlt watching the World Cup in Germany instead. I'm one of the few Americans who actually admits to finding soccer an entertaining sport to watch, and the World Cup is as good as it gets. Second good as it gets, apparently, is the Euro Cup, which is being co-hosted by Switzerland and Austria this year, with some of the most important games, including the finals, happening right here in Vienna. I got a little taste of what the craziness is going to be like last weekend, when Krakow won the Polish-league title (which they apparently do without playoffs, how lame is that?), and hundreds of soccer fans poured into the streets, carefully supervised by hundreds of riot police in full gear. It was somewhat terrifying, but mostly exhilerating, hearing all of those people clapping and chanting in unison, spontaneously breaking out into Polish songs. So I've decided I'm going to take full advantage of being in the same city as the European soccer championships. What kind of sports fan would I be if I didn't? And what kind of sports blogger would I be if I didn't subject my readers to a sport and an event that they don't really care about? Well, you know me, I'm not going to pass up an opportunity to be a horrible blogger!

The purposefully garish countdown clock to your right says there are only 20 days left until the first game, so that means I have 20 days to beef up my knowledge of European soccer. Luckily the tournament website is built like an idiot's guide, so I'll be able to get to know the teams a little bit beforehand and prepare for the games. Stay tuned for a summary of my findings!

This is going to be fun!

While I'm Here...

I don't know if you guys have noticed, but my taste for blogging has recently returned in quasi-full force! It's somewhat puzzling: are my usual prolific tendencies of the off-season hitting me a little bit early this year, or am I just trying to procrastinate on writing this German analysis of stage design in any way possible? Um, for the sake of the sanity of the people who pay for my education and also happen to read this blog, I'd rather not say. (Just kidding, Mom and Dad! That German stage design is so analyzed, it's not even funny.) In any case, I figured since I'm already here, babbling on about blogging, my personal ratings of the Sabres, and Germans I may someday grow to love, I may as well write something about, you know, what's actually happening in the NHL. This thing called the "Playoffs" has just reached a point called the "Conference Finals," and apparently it's some kind of big deal. Man, I feel so separated from the NHL these days, it's like there's an ocean between us, or something. Anyway, let's see what all the fuss is about! (A better blogger than I would have had this up before the games actually started. But I am not, in case you haven't noticed, a better blogger than I, so this will have to do.)

Western Conference Final
First things first, I have to admit that after the Devils succumbed to my bandwagon poison in the first round, the Stars sort of took over where they left off. As a Sabres fan from a Sabres fan family, and someone with pre-teen, PTSD-y memories of No Goal, I'm a little surprised to be rooting for the Stars, but what can I say? 1999 was a long time ago, and they've won me over with their spunky underdog ways. They so kindly got rid of the two teams I most wanted to see gone from the West in their first two rounds, which surprisingly few expected them to do. Unfortunately, I see a problem here. They're playing the Red Wings. Before last night I hadn't seen the Wings play a single game this season, but Detroit's reputation definitely precedes them. One look at their stats and standings for the season tells you that they're a well-oiled hockey machine, and maybe it's mostly the red unis, but I can't help but be reminded of the "Feeling of Futility and Impending DOOM" you're supposed to get looking at the Soviet team in the movie Miracle. In less historically problematic terms, they're the Genetically Engineered Superhuman High of the NHL, and I'm probably going to spend the rest of the series looking for the zipper in Nicklas Lidstrom's belly. So while my heart says Dallas, my head says Detroit. But either way, based on the half-game I saw last night, I think I'm going to enjoy this series, if I continue to be able to watch it. The Wings may not be as endearing as the Stars, but they are good at hockey. And I, despite what my Sabres fandom might say about me, enjoy good hockey. As long as Hasek remains on the bench, that is. Totally uneducated guess of a prediction: Hockey Robots in 6

Eastern Conference Final
Wow, this is weird, isn't it? I know it's kind of "Duh" to point out at this point so deep in the playoffs that the Sabres aren't in it, but I can't help but find it strange to think that there are only four teams left, and the Sabres aren't one of them. It's a little bit heartbreaking, actually. Anyway, a Sabres fan's rooting interests in the Battle of Pennsylvania are clear. (Not that I followed the rules for Sabres fans in the West, but the Stars are far less repulsive than the Flyers.) You may hate the Sidney hype machine, you may think Malkin is a slack-jawed idiot, and you may think "Flower" is the dumbest nickname a grown man has ever willingly endured, but none of that matters because they're playing the Flyers. If their blood lust and dedication to goonery don't make you puke, that shade of orange will. Fortunately for me, I happen to like the Penguins anyway. I adore Sid, and I can't think of a single player on the team whom I outright dislike. Plus, they seem to clearly be the better team in these playoffs. They easily swept the Senators (delightful!), dismissed the Rangers in five (double delightful!), and looked good doing it. Of course, the Sens were a mess and the Rangers were the Jagr Show (I think that pretty much says it all) so we'll have to see how they respond when they're actually challenged. The Flyers, on the other hand, had some trouble getting rid of the Caps, as their first round match-up went to seven games, but seemed to pick up some momentum when they won four straight games to send the Habs packing in five. (I guess. I mean, I didn't watch one second of that series.) And while I'm absolutely in the Pens' camp on this one, I've decided an upset wouldn't be the end of the world after all. Out of the "Three That Got Away" from the Sabres over the past calendar year, Danny Briere is the one I hate the least. (Basically at this point I only hate him because he's a Flyer--unlike Drury, whom I hate for reasons additional to his Rangerness, and Soupy, whom I don't hate for being a Shark [for now] at all. I just hate him for being.) I wouldn't rejoice if he won the Cup, but I probably wouldn't die either. Besides, the Flyers have Marty Biron, who's like this playoff's version of "In Case of Emergency, Break Glass." I've decided that should Philadelphia go on to the Finals, and should they win the Cup, my unconditional love of Marty will be enough to get me through it. Still, I'm going with my heart on this one. Totally uneducated guess of a prediction: Sidguins in 7