I watched pieces of Friday's game which wasn't so bad 'til the 3rd period. Can we just have a bye for the 3rd per? GRRRRR. Stupid stupid Briere. I hate you.
Last night I was not really around for most of the game. I checked the score and it was 4-1 after 2 so I decided to save myself the torture and didn't watch the 3rd period- instead we checked out "Mary Poppins" which is much much better. LOL
But see, missing the playoffs is not new to me. Hockey failure is something I'm quite familiar with. Let's take a trip down memory lane..
I started watching hockey late in the 1994 season. I was cheering the Red Wings for 2 reasons- 1. They were closest to my location of Dayton, OH and 2. My sis picked them and she started the hockey crazy so I was going with the Wings too. Then I discovered Pavel Bure and the Vancouver Canucks. Wooooweee but he was amazing. And magically, those Canuckleheads made it all the way to an improbable final against the "Mighty NY Rangers" lead by none other than the GreatestLeaderintheHistoryofProfessionalSports- Mark Messier. Well, anyone knew that those underdogs were no match for the juggernauts and they were due to go down and go down hard. But no- my plucky team of overachievers won the first game in OT at MSG and thrilled my heart to no end. Then they promptly lost 3 games in a row and the champagne was ready for game 5, back in NY. The Canucks won AGAIN and were greeted at home like heroes, where in game 6, they drubbed the Rangers 6-3 to force a deciding game 7.
It was more than my newly minted hockeyheart could take. I still remember that night, like was yesterday. June 14, 1994. I was all prepared to watch the game.. had the tv on, some snacks ready I'm sure, and my white towel all set to cheer for my 'Nucks. And I could not sit still. All through the game I wandered from room to room in the house, full of a nervous energy I didn't know what to do with. I had no frame of reference for this- I was new to this whole sports fandom thing. My team was 60 minutes away from winning it ALL.... and they lost. It was heartbreaking but Trevor Linden's 2 goals were just not enough to deny the Rangers their first Cup in 54 years.
I can't remember if I cried that night. I know I wanted to but I think the tears would not come. I know that my heart was broken but I was at once shattered and completely, utterly IN LOVE and my life was changed forever. That was the defining moment of my transformation to a full-blown hockey fan. I literally went out the next day and bought every hockey magazine and card I could get my hands on (which wasn't much in Huber Heights Ohio in June of 1994 LOL) but it was enough to get me through a summer and into the sport that would define my life for the next.. 15 years (and counting).
Why do I tell you all this? Mostly because I love a good story, but also to say that I know defeat in its many forms. I watched my glorious Canucks go from within one goal of winning it all to making the playoffs in 1995-losing out in the 2nd round by a Blackhawks sweep, while my other team, the Red Wings, went to the finals to be zapped in 4 by the Devils (which was the seed of the Marty love that took a few years to flower).. Then the Canucks followed that up with a first round exit in 1996 and no playoffs at all for several years (you almost get used to it after a while). Then Bure was traded to the Panthers in 1999. They made the playoffs (with him) in 2000- but lost in (I think) 5 games to end early once more. Bure never saw the playoffs again and once my favorite player retired (I don't like to talk about the time he spent with the gaghurl Rangers) I was sort of without a main focus.
(now there were some good times with the Wings in 97 and 98, I'm not going to lie but it wasn't the same because my favorite favorite was not among them)
I was there when my minor league team-the Dayton Bombers (whose players I knew personally) LOST the Kelly Cup (ECHL) in 4 games. It was dreadful.
I know that I don't have to justify it to Sabres fans, who know heartbreak all too well, but after a while, you almost expect to lose. Everyone makes such a big deal out of the way the sabres made the conference finals in the first 2 post-lockout seasons, but what they seem to forget is how they missed by.. what was it- 1 pt? the season before the lockout and hadn't made the playoffs since 2001? So it was actually an anomaly TO make the playoffs. Just sayin.
I have no idea what this huge ramble was about except a nice walk down memory lane.. (most of them painful LOL) I guess I have not fully given up on the Sabres- they are down but not.. quite.. let's stretch it out just a little more and make it REALLY sting... out yet.
And I want to believe.. oh how I truly, honestly WANT to believe but it seems as if the boys don't believe themselves so really.. how can we? Maybe it's about faith- you know, believing in that which cannot be seen or proven (the Sabres' ability to play 60 minutes of hockey.. in a row?) and if we all had just a little more faith, someone magical can occur? They don't seem to want us to have any magic.
And if they are okay with being mediocre (because that's what they are- neither good not terrible) then.. I guess that's what they will be. But they shouldn't be surprised if (when) their fans show up in mediocre numbers next season.
To borrow a few from Herb Brooks:
"You think you can win on talent alone? Gentlemen, you don't HAVE enough talent to win on talent alone."
"The name on the front is a HELL OF A LOT more important than the one on the back."
Play for some frickin pride boys. If you have any left. Go out kicking and screaming and MAKE PEOPLE WANT TO SEE YOU. MAKE US BELIEVE in you because we desperately, honestly want to.
Don't just expect us to keep coming back. Eventually we won't come back anymore.
Okay, I've (finally) run out of words. Don't know if that makes a lick of sense. (or if anyone took the time to read all that drivel. If you did, I applaud you.)
To close, I have 2 pictures that describe my feelings about the Sabres in general. Take of them what you will.
That expression says it all, I think.
AND
Perhaps they are trying to tell us something. Yes those are real Buffalo (well they are Bison but you know.. and yes, I took that pic. )
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