Prayers, Thoughts and Love...

As a sister of a hockey player, and a fan of the NHL, this is never something you want to see or have to even say:

My prayers and my thoughts are with Richard Zednik, his family, friends, teammates, the entire Florida Panthers Organization and their fans.

Full story about his injury on TSN.ca

Read More......

I think I've ranted here before....

Pennsylvaniagate and the reports I read after it last night got me thinking about respect issues. I know I've chewed over and over fan respect issues, here, there, and everywhere, but respect for players seems to be starting to leave as well, and both as an athlete in a very public-based sport and as a sports fan, I'm not okay with that.

Here's my problem. In a Bears/BabyPens game last week, this is what I saw...
Curry, the WBS Pens' goalie, is hurt. Obviously hurt. Hurt on the Bears powerplay, so they're down in the WBS end. Curry goes to his knees, and doesn't get up. Can't get up. Tries to get up, and goes back down, and basically is forced to finish the penalty kill on his knees in the crease. The refs don't call a thing, even though the coaches are screaming at him. FINALLY, the penalty kill ends or they dump it or something, but play stops and he makes it pretty obvious that he's in pain. The trainers come out and work him over, the backup is masking up, and he's definitely seems to be favoring one leg. Lo and behold, however, he takes a few laps back and forth and decides that he can stay in for the rest of the game.

Cue booing Bears fans.

Honestly, I don't care which team you cheer for, when you have a hurt player who decides he can gut it up and stay in, you applaud. When you have a hurt player who can finally get up and leave the ice under his own power, you applaud. If you have to have a player stretchered off, but they showed some goddamned gumption about getting the injury you applaud. If they're there putting their motherloving lives on the line to entertain you, (because that's what pro sports come down to, as they wouldn't be playing for money if it weren't for the audience,) the least you can do is show that you appreciate the fact that they're playing hard and getting hurt FOR YOU.

The showing of booing Talbot at the Wachovia Center last night was just disrespectful. I don't care if you're a Flyers fan or a Penguins fan or what, if someone's hurt, you give them some respect, you don't say "Well, he deserved that" even if he did. These are humans we're talking about. Big hefty humans who know what they're getting into when they start playing the sport, granted, but humans none the less. To treat them like their lives and bodies don't matter because they're on a sports team specifically to entertain you is nothing short of shallow and when you think about it, really kind of horrifying. You wouldn't boo an actor on the stage if they twisted their ankle or had pneumonia and STILL went out there to do the show (both of which I've seen firsthand) so why should a sports figure be that different? The actor AND the hockey player are both there to be entertaining, so what the H-E-double hockey sticks is the difference in respect levels?

Just, really, people. Think about what you're doing before you follow the lead of a few idiotic and disrespectful fan sheep. I'd love to believe that people are mostly good, but between the recent few incidents at Bears games and the continual disrespect I see coming out of some other major hockey markets, you're making it hard right now.

Also over at THTM

Read More......

They Look Alike, in a Twisted, Messed Up Kind of Way

It is more difficult than I thought. Just bear with me on some of them.

Jason Pominville and Ryan Cabrera-

Thankfully, Jason Pominville does not look like this any more. That picture was taken when he was on our farm team, the Rochester Americans, but as soon as I saw that picture it reminded me of Ryan Cabrera. The hair is just so similar!

Danny Paille and Ashton Kutcher-

Okay, I know this one is a bit of a stretch, but I couldn't resist. Paille's favorite TV show is That 70's show and his hair looks like it came out of that show, so there it is. You have no idea how much I would like Danny Paille to look like Ashton Kutcher more.

Patrick Dempsey and Chris Drury- This one is quite shocking, and I actually can't take credit for it. Someone actually wrote into the Buffalo News stating this, and at first I didn't beleive it until I saw the pictures. Also, last night I was flipping between the game and Grey's Anatomy so I could really see the similarities.

Jaroslav Spacek and Fred Flinstone- Okay, okay, I know this one is sort of mean, but seriously, you see it don't you?! I've thought this since the begining- Spacek looks like a caveman, so to be nicer, I used the friendly, cheerful caveman, Mr. Flinstone!

Teppo Numminen and Antonio Banderas- I don't know why, but they look alike. It's especially weird because Antonio is Spanish and Teppo is Finnish. Maybe it's the hair, maybe it's the face, maybe it's something else, I don't know.

The sad part is that 3 out of the five I have are injured... Wow, that's pathetic. Also, I pray it doesn't turn out Drury has a concussion.

-Paige

Read More......

Madness

Six games, seven injured players. Chris Drury taking a blow to the head worries me big time. He looked coherent and left the ice on his own power so hopefully that's a good sign.

Crazy ass game between Buffalo and Ottawa tonight. Peters went a little overboard at the end of the brawl I think - he had no business going after Emery - but hey, mess with the bull (Drury) and you get the horns (Peters and Mair). The team has been listening to opponents call them soft for the past few months and good for them for standing up for Dru, the one guy on the team they should absolutely be willing to go through a wall for. (Not that they wouldn't or shouldn't do so for anyone else... But Chris is the heart and soul of the team, in my opinion.) And my beloved Marty was in a goalie fight! He got his ass handed to him by Emery but who didn't see that coming? (Marty after the game: "I hung on for dear life and tried not to get hit in the face.") Throw in the coaches standing on the benches to scream at each other, an overtime and a shootout and that was the most awesome game I've ever seen in person. Bizarre, hilarious, entertaining and totally awesome.

Here's video for the curious. It's worth watching if you haven't seen any footage or heck, even if you have:


(Please be okay Chris.)

Read More......

Another One Bites the Dust Pt. 2

Tonight, Daniel Paille, one of our best call-ups - he's been back and forth all season - got hurt. Broken finger, out 2-3 weeks. So now we have SEVEN STARTERS ON IR! Why does God hate us? Why?! Which one of you people has the little Sabres voodoo dolls and how much do I have to pay you to burn the remainders?

In other news, Andrew Peters scored for the first time in over two years and Brian Campbell had his first NHL fight. And I missed it all because of stupid frickin' second job. I desperately wish I could've seen the madhouse that was HSBC Arena when Petey put it in the net. (See, God does hate me.)

The crowd chanting "Peters! Peters!" kills me:

Read More......

Another One Bites the Dust

Buffalo's current injuries:
Paul Gaustad - severed tendon in his leg, done for the season
Jaroslav Spacek - broken hand, out for probably 4 weeks
Jiri Novotony - re-aggravated high ankle sprain, out indefinitely
Maxim Afinogenov - broken bone in his shooting wrist, out 6-8 weeks
and now Ales Kotalik - lower body injury, out for "an extended period of time"
(this isn't even including Tim Connolly, now out for 8 months and counting...)

All of these guys are supposed to be back before the playoffs with the exception of Gaustad but geez... We already have three guys up from Rochester and now we're going to have to pull up someone else. Can we get some kind of voucher saying that these guys have had their injuries for the season and are therefore ineligible for injury in the post-season? Please?

(No point to this post at all. Just kvetching. I know we're not the only team dealing with injuries so feel free to join me.)

Read More......