Steve Manson is one of the pressbox regulars at HSBC Arena - first and foremost he is the publisher of Western New York Hockey Magazine, a must read for the avid hockey fan here. The paper covers the Sabres, Amerks, the OHL and area junior hockey programs. Steve is also a regular media pundit, with regular radio appearances and has hosted his own sports shows on radio in the past. He was also involved in franchise ownership in the OHL.

Steve knows just about everybody; he always has a good story to tell and has been around the hockey community for a long long time. He roots hard for our Buffalo Sabres, and his baseball heart is hands down with the Detroit Tigers.

We’ve just hooked up with WNY Hockey Magazine. Our monthly column is called “Hockey Road Trip”, where we profile a different sports venue and everything involved in road tripping to that venue. Catch it in their February issue, now at news stands.

A year ago tonight, Jason McElwain entered a high school hoops game in Greece. I just saw the highlights of those final four minutes and change…..I still tear up inside, even now….

Dear Sabres management:

Please sign Daniel Briere to a long term deal ASAP!

The Sabres won in front of a full house that had too many cases of Bandwagoning Canadian Hockey Fan(translation, way too many fans from across the border that root for Canadian based clubs in the house tonight).

The Sabres seemed to get stronger as the game progressed, I thought the Peters fight seemed to get things going for the Sabres and woke them out of their five day off lull. Notice how we bitch about the schedule when they play back to back and when they have a few days off….damn schedulemakers can’t win.

Max has an “upper body injury”….still waiting for what happened to Novotny….

In other news….Peter Forsberg is a Nashville Predator. The Preds need him not just for the Cup run, but simply to fill seats in a town that has been somewhat ambivalent to them(if attendance means anything).

Tonight’s win was the first over the Oilers for Buffalo since March 27, 1998 and it was the first win ever over the Oilers in the MMA/HSBC Arena….

Kind of disgusting actually

John Amaechi’s response to retired NBA player Tim Hardaway’s disgraceful rants was very frank, and appropriate:

“His words pollute the atmosphere,” Amaechi said. “It creates an atmosphere that allows young gays and lesbians to be harassed in school, creates an atmosphere where in 33 states you can lose your job, and where anti-gay and lesbian issues are used for political gain. It’s an atmosphere that hurts all of us, not just gay people.”

NBA Commissioner David Stern chimes in:

“It is inappropriate for him to be representing us given the disparity between his views and ours,” Stern said in a statement to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

I am done hearing from the Amaechis, Tuaolos and Kopays of the world. Yes, we share your pain. Yes it was tough. Blah blah blah.

3200 plus athletes wear the uniforms of 122 franchises in the four major sports. The next person I want to hear from with the big “Yes I am gay” announcement is one of those 3200 guys. C’mon…we know you’re out there! Stand up, and be counted. Change the world!

“Are These Guys Still ‘Scary Good’”?

This week’s Puck Stop. Check it out!

At Koessler, a wild renewal of WNY’s MAAC schools and a baffling and bizarre finish up at Alumni Arena…..just another night in local D1 hoops in town.

Canisius and Niagara played the latest in great games between these two with NU holding off a ferocious second half rally by Canisius to win in OT by the slimmest of margins(89-88). It was the ninth straight win by Niagara over the Griffs.

NU is looking to be the best bet….however slim to get a bid to the Big Dance next month.

Yet nothing compared to the end of the UB/Bowling Green game….it had to be one of the strangesst finishes one will ever see and I’m not too sure Hollywood could have come up with this kind of finish. The Bulls appeared to have lost to the Falcons when they missed a jumper trailing by two as the shot clock ran out nearly simultaneously to the game clock. Bowling Green, thinking the game was over headed for the lockerroom….but no, the refs huddled at the scorers table to determine how much time remained since there was some difference between the shot and game clock and they determined that six tenths of a second remained and ordered the teams back on the court.

While UB was still on the court, BG was in the lockerroom preparing to head out of town and beat the snow, and when officials determined that the Falcons were slow in returning nailed them with a T….two Yassin Idbihi free throws later, the game is tied and going to overtime and of course the Bulls win.

My thoughts, the Falcons were robbed….the game was over for all intents and purposes and officials probably should have let things be, but they were probably put in that situation when they checked for the time differential….since BG had possesion they had to be out there….heck just put two people out there for all I care, one to inbound and one to throw it to.

A win is a win for UB….a team who’s season ended when they threw a big scare into Pitt.

More useless stuff from the hoops world…….

Boston 117, Milwaukee 97….the losing streak ends

with the Knicks’ win over the Lakers last night they equal their victory total from a year ago. Who’d have thought when the season started that Isiah Thomas would win more games than Larry Brown? Not this Knick fan….

A crazy post is floating all over the blogosphere - about Tom Golisano’s back channel negotiations to buy the Bills, and being rebuffed by Ralph Wilson, who is secretly trying to move the team to Toronto to permanently cement his legacy, and is deliberately wrecking the team to make them unappealing to the Buffalo market (Think Rachel Phelps in the movie Major League and you get the idea).The crazy post goes on to speculate that Golisano will then pull a Cleveland - keep the team name and colors in Buffalo, with a promise for an NFL expansion team and a Super Bowl event for Buffalo in a new stadium that he would build.

Crazy, loonie huh?

But watch out for the Godfreys, sports movers and shakers in Toronto who very much have their sights set on an NFL team for their city. And they have a long friend and powerful ally in non other than NFL Commisioner Roger Goodell as this article in the Toronto Sun points out.

The Bills leaving… unthinkable, unimaginable. Then you see just how serious they are about the NFL coming to Toronto.

Things that make you go “hmm”.

This weekend the NBA All Star extravaganza heads to a non-NBA city for the first time, with the three day show set at the Thomas and Mack Center in downtown Las Vegas. Like everything that happens in this city, the event is larger than life, and again the attention is being focused on not if, but when a pro sports franchise will finally settle here and call Las Vegas home.

The big detriment thusfar has been the ready availability of sports betting in Las Vegas, but team owners are salivating over the burgeoning market size and possibility of suite sales and sponsorships that beckon here. And interestingly, it might be the NHL, not the NBA, that ultimately lands the prize.

From today’s New York Times comes this -

“Meanwhile, given the NHL’s struggles, perhaps it was not surprising that Bill Daly, the league’s deputy commissioner, said in a telephone interview Friday that the league would have a “flexible approach” toward local betting on the sport if a franchise ended up in Las Vegas.

(Las Vegas Mayor Oscar) Goodman first met with officials from the NHL several years ago. “There’s clearly a return interest,” Daly said, adding that some private parties in Las Vegas were having continuing discussions.”

And speaking of the NBA All Star Game, we had actually contemplated doing this trip at one point. There was no public sale of tickets, as all seats were assigned to sponsors and the league’s international partners. But we did put out feelers to our contacts at the Indiana Pacers, who just LOVE us, and indeed they replied that game tickets for us was a distinct possibility.

But in the end we reneged - Peter is buying his first house and is closing on Friday, and that means we are staying put - and left to contemplate if Las Vegas will ever get their team, and for us an official USRT visit down the road.

Talk about a sexy design… and for a CFL team to boot!

If Buffalo ever came up with this type of look for a new venue for the Bills, people around here would have something to get really excited about.

Ya think?

Ref: Winnipeg

Earlier this month the Buffalo Bills announced that they will be replacing the old and obsolete Sony Jumbotron scoreboard, installed in 1994, with a state of the art Mitsubishi HD video board. Also being added are digital ribbon boards which have become commonplace in major league stadiums and arenas. When utilized properly, these ribbon boards can create all sort of special effects and greatly enhance the fan experience.

The cost is expected to top $5.2MM, and will be borne by Erie County taxpayers out of a capital improvement fund.

Yeah, it’s nice, but is this really a good idea for the long term?

Ralph Wilson Stadium is old, it’s obsolete, and is ending its useful shelf life vis a vis its peer venues in the NFL. While the Bills have done an adequate job in making our venue functional and addressing its need to develop and generate revenue through premium seating, the fact is clear that RWS is devoid of fan comforts and fun amenities to make the gameday experience an extraordinary one.

Think food? Of course the first thing that pops to mind is putting together your own tailgate party. What concession item at RWS stands out as outstanding, a must have? Pretty much the standard “ballpark dreck”, watered down beer cut off at halftime, dogs, popcorn and peanuts.

Think pleasant gathering areas? The concourses are dank and dark caves.

And as for the scoreboard, yeah it will be nice, but unwatchable from 35% of the seats. Today’s NFL venues have TWO mammoth video boards, one at each end zone, so that all fans can view the screens.

In my belief, Buffalo’s survival as an NFL city will depend on a replacement venue. The NFL has identified the goal of modern and state of the art stadiums in all its cities, and they have developed a funding source to assist in that goal. It is not too early for Buffalo to begin the debate and discussion now. HD scoreboards and ribbon boards are nice, but this only postpones the inevitable day of reckoning.

For two of the iconic teams in the basketball world it has been as low as it has been in memory. Duke on a four game losing streak, among them a home loss to Florida State! The recent tumble has now taken the Dukies out of the top 25 for the first time in nearly a decade and you can hear Dickie V bawling with the naked ear no matter where you might be at.

While the Duke struggles are noteworthy, they pale in comparison to the stench coming from Boston where the Celtics are at a team record 18 losses and counting. The proud Celtics…..winners of a record sixteen NBA titles…..franchise of Bird, McHale, Parish, Russell, Cousy, Havlicek…the ghosts are many. One can only imagine how Red Auerbach is reacting to this from above as the C’s close in on the league record of 24. Think it won’t happen? The schedule looks favorable as Boston has a home game with Milwaukee and following the break go on a five game western swing against powerhouses such as Utah, Houston, and Phoenix.

The record breaker would come at home against the Knicks…the pessimistic Knick fan in me says the C’s win one there.

Quick thought….anyone think that the losing streak is Red’s revenge on his team for founding a cheerleading squad(Red never allowed one while alive….)

The Voice of the Buffalo Bisons, Jim Rosenhaus, got the long awaited news this week that he is going to The Show. After calling over 1600 games over 11 seasons as the Bisons’ play by play guy, Rosie is now heading to Cleveland, where he will be the pre game host and producer/engineer for the Tribe’s radio network.

Rosenhaus presided over the Bisons’ microphone during an unprcedented run of success in the team’s history - His arrival here coincided with the team’s affiliation with the Cleveland Indians, and in the 11 years that the Bisons have been their top affiliate, we have had nine appearances in the postseason, three league championships and an appearance in the AAA World Series. Rosie has had the chance to share his gifts and talents for all the great calls - 1997 and the 10th inning win at Iowa to seal the championship, Bartolo Colon’s no hitter in ‘97, back to back titles winning again in ‘98, and of course the Bisons modern era lone Governors Cup won at home, in September of 2004.

We got involved with the Bisons in a media capacity back in 2001. We were affiliated with Sportsblast TV, a quirky public access sports show with miniscule viewership. The producer of the show sent us in to “cover” the Bisons, and all of a sudden, there we were, in the pressbox, camcorder and microphone in hand and no specific assignment, just film interviews and gather stories for the show.

The PR guy for the Bisons back then was a guy named Matt Herring. Matt didn’t like Sportsblast and he didn’t like us, and we always got the sense that he was just waiting for us to stumble on the job or walk into some broom closet by accident so he could throw us out on our ear.

But we tried to make the best of it - after all it was a professional pressbox with a big league environment, and for us it was a big step. So we approached Rosie and asked him if he would be willing to participate in our show, basically the idea was to make him a monthly feature, and a five minute interview to talk Bisons baseball and offer his takes on the team. He willingly and enthusiastically agreed! I will never forget the first interview - we did it right in the broadcast booth and at first it was a disaster. I was really intimidated by my surroundings and was dropping the equipment and looking foolish. Because of the high tech equipment in the booth we were getting static and feedback on our audio, and had no idea on how to remedy it.

Some people would have lost patience and just said “forget it”. But not Jim Rosenhaus. He calmly offered advice on how to correct the glitches, we moved to a different area of the pressbox, and the piece got filmed. After that first interview Rosie generously gave of his time whenever we asked him for it, and his pieces ran on Sportsblast from 2001-2003. More importantly, he treated us like we belonged there, like we were part of the media team. His interaction and acceptance of us in those first days as “reporters” is something we look back now as a huge rung in the ladder as to where we are today.

Talk to anyone in Buffalo - fans, media, people with the team. Everyone has a good Jim Rosenhaus story. He has touched a lot of lives here in Western New York, and for all of us here it is a bittersweet moment - we are happy for Rosie for his new success and opportunity, but at the same time sad because in a few weeks the season will start and he will not be here calling the games.

Jim, thanks for the great calls, the awesome memories. We are proud to have known you and proud to have you as a friend. Good luck and knock ‘em dead in Cleveland!

Just a few random thoughts about the game tonight (Pete was in the pressbox, I hung out in the Harbour Club). First of all, where the heck did all these Flames fans come from??? I know that’s too great a distance for the Calgary road tripper, so I have to assume it was our good friends from Fort Erie. Some of these folks live within spitting distance of the Peace Bridge yet will don any jersey of a Canadian based team when they come to play against our Sabres.

Second, I am starting to develop a knot in my stomach after learning that we have lost not one but TWO of our players for the rest of the season - first it was Paul Gaustad with a freak cut to his shin, now tonight Jaroslav Spacek breaks his hand. This sort of stuff cost us the Cup last year..the freak and bizarre injuries. Hope that is the end of it!

Well it has taken a while, but the Ultimate Sports Road Trip website has finally joined the Web 2.0. We are up and running with a brand new blog, and what better way than just a generic “welcome” message. We’re going to be posting road trip stories, stuff about our local sports teams, interesting and unique sports stories, and of course updates on new and exciting things happening at sports venues everywhere.

We’re still learing how the features of all this stuff works, so bear with us and feel free to post your comments!