Category: Sports

Buffalo 2, Ottawa 1
Sabres lead series 2-0

I keep having to rub my eyes after looking at that, not quite believing it could be true. I have no idea how the Sabres are up two games to none but dammit, I’m enjoying the hell out of watching them play. G Ryan Miller was on top of his game, and finally had some help from the underrated Sabres defense, including another save assist by Henrik Tallinder, or maybe it was just a “ball save” by Miller. (I’ll leave interpretations of that up to the reader.) Ottawa looked like they were on the power play despite being 5-on-5 for large stretches of the 3rd period but every time it looked like a Senator was going to find the back of the net, at the last possible second, a Sabre would come out of nowhere and flick the puck away or muscle their way in and disrupt the play. While it was exhilarating to see Buffalo hang onto that 1-goal lead as time ticked inexorably off the clock, I think I’m primed to have a heart attack at some point during the playoffs if they keep this up.

I’ll be in Toronto Wednesday night to see Pearl Jam, but I’ll be sure to give all the Canadians in attendance hell. Back on Thursday for Game 4. I’ll leave you with this link to some postgame reaction from some hockey fans both belaguered and elated. It’s great to be a Sabre fan right now.

What’s that, Mr. Smolinski? I can’t hear you over the sound of Ray Emery and Anton Volchenkov gagging.

The highlights speak for themselves:

My sports attention span as of late has been focused almost exclusively on the Buffalo Sabres, but I’m going to try to keep my hockey thoughts to a minimum after jinxing them with my “Sabres in 5” prediction of a week ago. As the NFL Draft took place over this weekend, and the Buffalo Bills are a member of said NFL, I suppose I should offer a few quick thoughts.

The Bills picking Ohio State safety Donte Whitner with the 8th overall pick of the first round will bolster a secondary that’s lost Antoine Winfield and Lawyer Milloy over the last few seasons, and that will undoubtedly lose CB Nate Clements next offseason as well. A lot of so-called draft “experts” are calling Whitner a “reach” with the 8th pick, but who knows anything about these players? There is no way to predict how well a draftee is going to do until they actuall step out onto an NFL field and play for a few years. The fact that ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. sees the guy as a reach means what exactly? A guy with a ridiculous hair helmet who spends his nights hunched in front of a TV in a dark room, shoveling Cheetos into his face and taking notes on a defensive end’s swim move in passing situations on 3rd downs inside the 35 can see into the future and predict a player’s success? He can better find the best players in the draft than an NFL GM who’s been in the business for 20 years? To paraphrase a modern American film classic: “He ain’t found shit!” So, it’s too soon to judge whether Whitner was a “reach,” or a “stud,” or a “meth addict.” Time will tell.

The Bills addressed their hole on the defensive line with NC State DT John McCargo. I know absolutely nothing about him, other than that he has a good last name for a defensive tackle. Right? And speaking of names, the Bills hit the jackpot by drafting another member of the Ohio State secondary with 3rd round pick Ashton Youboty. Regardless of how Ashton pronounces it, he will henceforth be known as Yo-booty. I predict jersey sales will skyrocket when his is released.

Apparently, there were some other players drafted as well, but I haven’t bothered to look and see who they are yet. I think one of the names I heard was “Ko.” Yeah, that’s his first name. I’m too enamored with my beloved Sabres at the moment to care. Game 6 tonight; here’s to a much-needed Sabre win on the road.

My summary of tonight’s events at HSBC Arena:

2:22 Simon Gagne: 2 Minutes for Hooking Derek Roy
5:06 Freddy Meyer: 2 Minutes for Crosschecking Thomas Vanek
15:54 Robert Esche: 2 Minutes for Roughing Toni Lydman
17:41 Derian Hatcher: 2 Minutes for Elbowing Brian Campbell
19:20 Mike Rathje: 2 Minutes for Holding J.P. Dumont
1:53 Denis Gauthier: 2 Minutes for Hooking J.P. Dumont
6:23 Denis Gauthier: 5 Minutes for Checking From Behind Thomas Vanek
6:23 Denis Gauthier: 10-Minute Game Misconduct
11:44 Freddy Meyer: 2 Minutes for Hooking Maxim Afinogenov
16:09 Ben Eager: 2 Minutes for Interference of Dmitri Kalinin
16:09 Ben Eager: 10 Minutes for Misconduct
18:35 Jeff Carter: 2 Minutes for Interference of Brian Campbell
11:36 Freddy Meyer: 2 Minutes for Tripping Maxim Afinogenov
16:33 Ben Eager: 10 Minutes for Misconduct Thomas Vanek
16:33 Ben Eager: 2 Minutes for Roughing Thomas Vanek
16:33 Ben Eager: 2 Minutes for Roughing Thomas Vanek
16:33 Derian Hatcher: 2 Minutes for Roughing Derek Roy

“Use a different word if you want, but I thought they [acted like idiots],” Ruff said. “The more they acted like idiots, the more we wanted to play.”

Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock took offense to Ruff’s description after the Flyers took 17 penalties, including Denis Gauthier’s ejection and Ben Eager’s two misconducts when the play deteriorated as the Sabres built a 5-0 first-period lead.

“That’s Lindy’s opinion,” Hitchcock said. “I’ve seen his teams do the same thing. So he ought not to talk about that.”

Hitchcock took one more question before abruptly leaving the podium. On his way out, he used two profanities in muttering aloud that Ruff should mind his own business.

See you Wednesday!

Another typical Leafs/Sabres game at HSBC Arena last night: 50% of the crowd were Leaf fans, the beef on weck was Delicious with a capital D, and the Sabres thrashed the Leafs. I should note I am now 6-for-6 in the winning department when wearing the blue-and-gold Lafontaine jersey to Sabres games. So, please, give me all due credit for the win last night.

And it was simply a fantastic game all-around. The Sabres took it to the Leafs right off the bat in the 1st period, spending most of the time in Toronto’s zone. I think 5 of the 6 goals scored were all highlight-reel worthy, though perhaps the most exciting play of the game came on a non-scoring rush. Winger Maxim Afinogenov was rushing into the Leafs’ zone and made a move to his right, froze the defenseman, and slid the puck behind the defender and moved to his left to pick the puck back up. The defenseman promptly fell on his ass, to the delight of the 18,000 fans in attendance (yeah, by this point, even the Toronto fans were chanting “Let’s Go Buff-a-lo!”). Breathtaking stuff outta Max.

Things are looking much better for Buffalo than they were two weeks ago, amidst what looked to be their worst stretch of the season. I think they’re in good shape for the playoffs, which are due to start this Saturday against either Philly, New York or New Jersey. Ryan Miller was just as good as he was the previous night in Montreal when he stopped 43 shots, notching 31 saves en route to a 6-0 shutout. He made some absolutely outstanding saves and is a large part of the Sabres’ having a renewed swagger about them.

Most importantly, I think I noticed more fine femmaninas than I ever have before at the Arena. I was surrounded by a veritable sea of hot women, although the occasional drunk, nasally-voiced Leafs fan was interspersed with that sea. I don’t know where all these hot women came from, but I don’t think they inhabit Buffalo on a regular basis. For some reason, I didn’t get too much attention from them, either. I guess a bearded guy wearing a hockey jersey eating beef-on-weck doesn’t put me on the cover of GQ. But come on, ladies, where else are you gonna get a fine package like this?

A great story on Barry Bonds’ history of steroid use broke today on SI.com. You can read it here. What’s amazing is not just what he did, but how indirectly complicit the Giants’ organization and Major League Baseball were in all this. It was painfully obvious what he and McGwire were doing, and baseball did nothing about it. Regardless of the larger implications of all this, Bonds’ attitude has been laughable in the face of all the accusations. There are likely reams upon reams of proof of his actions, but I don’t have to look any farther than this picture of him in 1998 to see the painfully obvious difference in physique.

Some high(low)lights:

“They’re just letting him do it because he’s a white boy,” Bonds said of McGwire and his chase of Maris’s record. The pursuit by Sosa, a Latin player from the Dominican Republic, was entertaining but doomed, Bonds declared. As a matter of policy, “they’ll never let him win,” he said.

Anderson didn’t like to talk about another downside. Anyone who worked for Bonds had to take a great deal of abuse. If Bonds told you to do something, you had to drop everything and do it. If you were slow to comply or if you tried to explain why it wasn’t such a good idea, Bonds would get right up in your face, snarling, calling you a “punk bitch,” repeating what he wanted and saying, “Did I f—— stutter?” You had to suck it up and take the abuse and the humiliation — everyone did.

After Bonds returned from the offseason having gained 15 pounds of pure muscle:

Sportswriters didn’t press the question. Most attributed the changes in Bonds’s body to a heavy workout regimen, as though a 34-year-old man could gain 15 pounds of muscle in 100 days without drugs. The Giants, from owner Peter Magowan to manager Dusty Baker, had no interest in learning whether Bonds was using steroids, either. Although it was illegal to use the drugs without a prescription, baseball had never banned steroids. Besides, by pursuing the issue, the Giants ran the risk of poisoning their relationship with their touchy superstar — or, worse, of precipitating a drug scandal the year before the opening of their new ballpark, where Bonds was supposed to be the main gate attraction.

Bonds had never seen the ropes on the field before. “What the f— is this?” he demanded of the security guards. They told him the ropes were for McGwire. Furious, Bonds began knocking the ropes down. “Not in my house!” he said.

The Giants’ training staff wanted nothing to do with Bonds’s three trainers and urged management to ban them from the clubhouse, according to a source familiar with the conversation. The Giants had unofficial background checks done on Bonds’s trainers and learned that World Gym was known as a place to score steroids and that Anderson himself was rumored to be a dealer. But the club decided it didn’t want to alienate Bonds on this issue, either. The trainers stayed.

Bonds’s physical changes during this time were consistent with steroid use. His hair fell out, and he began shaving his head. Perhaps it was her imagination, but the head itself seemed to be getting larger, and the plates of his skull bones stood out in bold relief. Bonds’s back broke out in acne, and he would stand in front of the bathroom mirror and say, “Oh, my God, I don’t know where this is coming from.” Bonds also suffered sexual dysfunction, another common side effect of steroid use.

Weak or not, players still feared getting caught. Bonds despised the thought of being exposed as a drug cheat. He wanted no part of the humiliation he might endure if his status as the game’s premier player were called into question. But Anderson guaranteed that Bonds was protected. “The whole thing is, everything I’ve been doing, it’s all undetectable,” he would say during the spring of 2003, when he described Bonds’s drug use to an acquaintance who was secretly wearing a wire. “The stuff I have, we created it. You can’t buy it anywhere else, you can’t get it anywhere else. You can take [it] the day of [a drug test], pee, and it comes up clear.

“See, like Marion Jones and them — it’s the same stuff they went to the Olympics with and they test them every f—— week. So that’s why I know it works, so that’s why I know we’re not in trouble. So that’s cool.”

BALCO head Victor Conte

Bell was frightened. He left, and she went back to Arizona two days later without seeing him. They saw each other once more, when the Giants were in Phoenix to play the Diamondbacks at the end of May, and on his way out of town, he called her from the airport.

“You have to do something for me,” Bonds said. “You need to disappear.”

“What do you mean?” Bell said. “For how long?”

“Did I f—– stutter?” Bonds replied. “Maybe forever.”

Bell became angry. “Are you going to make your girlfriend in New York disappear too?” she asked.

“At the end of [the] 2002, 2003 season, when I was going through [a bad period,] my dad died of cancer…. I was fatigued, just needed recovery you know, and this guy says, ‘Try this cream, try this cream,'” he said. “And Greg came to the ballpark and said, you know, ‘This will help you recover.’ And he rubbed some cream on my arm … gave me some flaxseed oil, man. It’s like, ‘Whatever, dude.'”

This is all from a book due out, Game of Shadows, about the whole baseball/steroids mess. I think this is probably just the start of the tarnishing of a good many professional athlete careers. Most importantly, it will get that preening a**hole Barry Bonds enough negative media attention to drive him nuts. I’m sure he’ll make the same defiant dismissal of the charges against him, painting himself as the poor, misunderstood good guy, kept down by the racist media. Whatever, Barry.

One of the classiest individuals ever to wear an NHL jersey, let alone a Buffalo Sabres jersey, had his #16 retired at an HSBC Arena ceremony prior to last night’s Sabres-Leafs game. Forward Pat LaFontaine played in Buffalo from 1991-1997, not exactly a decade-spanner that you’d think a player would have to have to get his number retired. But in his time here, no one carried himself with more class, respect, and integrity than Pat did. Nevermind his unbelievable ability on the ice; it goes without saying that he is one of the greatest players in NHL history. His induction into the NHL Hall of Fame a few years ago is proof enough of that.

What really stands out about LaFontaine is the respect he had for his community. He was extremely active in the Buffalo community, founding the “Companions in Courage” organization, helping sick kids with their treatments, and perhaps more importantly, helping them maintain a postive attitude. Many of the kids affected were invited onto the ice last night, all wearing #16 jerseys. Pat gave a–you guessed it–classy speech, thanking everyone from former Sabres owners Seymour and Northrup Knox to the equipment manager who sharpened his skates. A great night for the Buffalo Sabres and the community. That arena is a better place for having that banner hanging inside.

* * *

I should also mention the game itself. The Sabres skated the Leafs right out of the building, winning 6-2, featuring a hat trick by #8 Derek Roy. Toronto took countless dumb penalties, looked tired, and resorted to cheap shots as the game appeared out of reach. They’re going nowhere fast, and I’d imagine coach Pat Quinn could be gone soon as well, if the team doesn’t get their act together. I’m sure all the columnists in Toronto are on fire over the team’s play. Rack up another two points for Buffalo; Ottawa is squarely in the Sabres’ sights for the Northeast Division lead.