Nothing like opening up today’s Buffalo News, reading about the Bills and getting my blood to boil.

The Old Geezer chimes in about his team’s plans to play one game a year in Toronto, and how it is a done deal and all set for the next five seasons. Yeah, I had a problem with this whole idea when it was first announced, like who was going to reimburse the taxpayers of Erie County for the loss of revenues and the positive financial impact that comes to the community from each home game. Evidently nobody among our elected officials raised this issue, so it must be OK with everybody… hey… who needs sales tax revenue, bed tax from those filled hotel rooms, when you can just give away a game and play it up in Toronto.

Then the Old Geezer has the nerve to blurt out this comment:

“When I was making the presentation to the owners, I said, ‘I’m tired of standing on a street corner with a tin cup asking you guys to support us,’ ” Wilson said.

Tin cup? TIN CUP??? You rotten piece of crap! You have made hundreds upon hundreds of millions on the backs of this community in your life. You held this community hostage in the 70s, threatening to move to Seattle unless you got us to build you a stadium to your liking. When Congress forced the NFL to change the rules on home game blackouts, YOU were one of the stalwarts who didn’t want ANY home games broadcast on TV. Heaven forbid you lose even one sale on a $6 beer or a $4 bottle of water from a no show. You sent Vince Tobia into bars and restaurants to terrorize and extort them because they had the audacity to beam your games via satellite. You tried to extend your extortion racket into bars in Canada but got skunked at the border. And now you have the nerve to talk about a TIN CUP? Maybe you need to spend one night sleeping the streets or a homeless shelter to understand what real poverty is like.

When asked about the future of the Bills in Buffalo, a subject which is at the heart of raw nerves and anxiety for many here in Buffalo, the Old Geezer replies:

Wilson, asked about the fears of Bills fans that this might be the first step in losing the team to Toronto, said, “They can think whatever they want. I can’t speculate the future.”

Nice answer, Old Geezer. Thank you for assuaging all of our concerns about our football team. Since you will be raking in all that revenue in Canadian currency, make sure you trade it all in for $1000 notes, which are still available in Canada. That way you will be able to cram that much more loot in your coffin when you meet your maker.

If the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are ever going to advance their plans for a new downtown ballpark, they will have to get the voters of St. Petersburg to go along. A big part of the financing plans hinges on the sale of the property where Tropicana Field sits now, which would be redeveloped into a mixed use commercial, residential and office district. This plan would raise an estimated $250-$350 million, enough to pay off the remaining debt on the Trop and go towards funding the construction of the new venue.

So the Rays are taking their case to the community, holding a series of meetings with community groups, churches, condo associations, pretty much anywhere there is a group of people to listen.

Here is a web site which pretty much outlines every detail of the project. Pretty nifty renderings of the new ballpark, site plans for the Trop redevelopment, and even vintage photos of baseball in St. Pete in the old days.

My take on all this? Having owned residential property in the area (a condo on Treasure Island - I sold in ‘06 just as the market topped - YaY for me!), I am wondering if the plans for the new Trop neighborhood are just a tad too ambitious. Tampa/St. Pete is awash in surplus residential property with “for sale” signs everywhere one looks. Just who is going to buy all these new residences and what new exciting retail outlets are going to set up shop in an area that is in an economically challenged district? Cabelas? IKEA? ESPN Zone? Puh-leeze!

The best tonic to push the November referendum over the top would be a 2007 Rays team which would still be playing meaningful baseball in September. How about a pennant run? We can all dream, can’t we!

Sitting smack dab in the middle of downtown St. Louis is a gigundous hole in the ground. Right where the old Busch Stadium used to stand.

When the new Busch Stadium opened its doors in 2006 right next door, the old stadium was torn down and plans were trumped for a new “Ballpark Village”, a $700 million mixed-used retail, entertainment and residential district to be developed in partnership by the Cordish Company of Baltimore and the St. Louis Cardinals. The development is slated to cover six city blocks and directly connect to the new Busch Stadium, and will feature 360,000 square feet of retail/entertainment, 1,200 residential units situated in three towers, and 300,000 square feet of office space.

Well here it is almost two years later, and real work has yet to begin. And according to this article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the prospect of having a substantial part of this neighborhood open and ready in time for the 2009 All Star Game is looking very bleak.

I love this quote from the piece:

Complicating matters is that the city has approved two development agreements — with different specifications and time lines. The first, drawn in 2002, is binding on the Cardinals. The second, approved by the city Board of Aldermen in February 2007, is binding on the Cardinals-Cordish partnership. That agreement, however, is not in effect because it hasn’t been signed by the parties.

Is it me, or does this sound just like the Bass Pro nonsense coming out of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation?

What is missing from the St. Louis equation is their version of a piece of crap like Tim Tielman to start throwing around lawsuits. Come to think of it, couldn’t we call that Bowling Museum which is the last remaining building standing on the old Busch site, “sacrosanct”?

St. Louis leaders and officials from the Cardinals are putting the best spin on this as they can, saying the MLB All Star Game, set for July 7, 2009 at Busch Stadium, will go on and viewers around the world will see construction cranes in the air and how all is well in St. Louis. That is, of course, assuming they actually get this thing off the ground.

Meanwhile… back outside HSBC Arena… I see they’ve fenced off the Donovan Building so work can begin on demolition, and things are at least stirring around the Aud. For now I’ll take some solace in knowing that this shit, the lack of progress, the inertia, the months of inaction that stretches into years and years, doesn’t only happen in Buffalo.

Think outside the box here, think NBA, think Phoenix Suns….Apparently Suns ownership wants to play a game at the Indian Wells(Ca.) Tennis Garden. The venue holds over sixteen thousand seats and is home to the sports’ Pacific Life Open.

Don’t know about you, but this game if it goes off as planned it won’t have the same appeal as an outdoor NHL game has. Maybe if the NBA played a game outdoors using the same elements that playground players have it would look a bit more genuine. Get rid of the hardwood, bring in the asphalt. Screw the glass backboards and get some steel instead with metal chains for netting instead of the twine.

Hell, I’ll keep going….winners out’s….first to 21 wins…have to win by two….all field goals count as one, behind the arc two….and for a skills competition, drop the three point shootout and replace with a game of H-O-R-S-E.

And referees need not attend, players call your own fouls.For more on info on this click here.

We interrupt the constant barrage of negative local hockey stories to bring you a feel good piece on the “true American sport(so sayeth the author)….”.

Last night College Station, Texas was host to one of the great college basketball games in recent memory. It took the allotted forty minutes plus five, yes FIVE overtimes for a winner to be determined between #25 Baylor and host #16 Texas A+M before Baylor was able to pull off the 116-110 upset.

What’s even more amazing is the fact that Baylor is even ranked and with a 16-2 record. Five years ago this program was on the verge of being eliminated amidst a scandal which involved the murder of one of the players(Patrick Dennehy) by his own teammate(Carlton Dotson) and the subsequent coverup by the coaching staff in an attempt to portray Dennehy as a drug dealer. Coach Dave Bliss left in disgrace and with players free to transfer the Bears lost plenty of talent including John Lucas Jr.(Okla St.) and eventual SEC Player of the Year Lawrence Robert(Miss. St.)

It looked bleak, and for a program that hadn’t made “The Tournament” since 1988 it was a low point especially for an historically mediocre hoops school such as Baylor. To be blunt, until last week Baylor hadn’t been nationally ranked since 1969.

In stepped Scott Drew, the hero of Valparaiso’s run to the Sweet 16 in 1998 to clean things up. A herculean task it was dealing with multiple NCAA sanctions as he had to play two seasons with only half his team on scholarship, and yet another season was played without any nonconference games. Drew’s first four seasons in Waco resulted in a 36-69 record(12-52 BigXII play) and only last season did the Bears get out of the opening round of the Big XII tournament.

Which brings us to this season and last night, Baylor began the season with some respectable road wins over Wichita State and Notre Dame to gain some notice that things were changing for the better. Yet for the most part the team was racking up the W’s at the expense of some very mediocre competition…three SWAC teams, Brown, Florida A+M….Wayland Baptist…is that Division I??? And its only game against a ranked opponent was a close home loss to #6 Wazzu.
A road trip to Texas A+M would be a good guage for the the progress of the Bears.

One longest game in the history of the Big Eight/XII Conference later we had our answer and with that, the return of a program five seasons ago left for dead as the win put them off to a start not seen in Waco since the Truman administation. This will be a team worth rooting for regardless of how the rest of the season plays out for them.

Click here for game recap and box score.

“Tom Golisano… Where Are You?”

For this week’s Puck Stop, we call out the owner of the Buffalo Sabres in an open letter.

Check it out!

Here is an aerial shot of Arvest Field, the new home of the Rich Baseball owned Northwest Arkansas Naturals (AA). The new stadium should be ready by March 15, plenty of time before Opening Day.

This article in the Northwest Arkansas News provides a good snapshot on all the things the team has in store for their inaugural season. During the final Bisons’ 2007 season homestand, we continually bumped into GM Eric Edelstein and his crew at Dunn Tire Park. They were here to observe every aspect of the Bisons operation.

History was made tonight at HSBC Arena, as the greatest Bandit ever, John Tavares, reached his final statistical hurdle when he scored his fourth goal of the game and the 597th of his career. In doing so, he eclipses the record set by retired player Gary Gait, and takes his spot as the best player to ever have played the game.

The big moment came towards the end of third quarter, and after netting the historic marker, Tavares was mobbed by his teammates, and the game was stopped briefly as Tavares got an opportunity to salute the home crowd of 11,878.

The Bandits went on to win the game over the New York Titans, 17-13, to improve their record to 2-1 on the young season. Next weekend they travel to Philadelphia to take on the Wings at the Wachovia Center.

The losing streak is over. And how. Final score… Buffalo 10, Atlanta 1. 

Maybe it was some freaky karma… Lindy Ruff opting out of the morning skate and letting his assistants do the work. Or perhaps it was a pregame event lineup change, with State Trooper Dan Brown bringing down the house singing the national anthems, looking and sounding much like Ottawa’s famed Lyndon Slewidge.But throw out silly superstitions and it was Buffalo’s determined play right from the get go…it was 3-0 Buffalo after 6 minutes, and 4-0 after 10, with “Mr. September” Derek Roy netting two goals. Atlanta goaltender Johan Hedberg was then pulled in favor of Kari Lehtonen, although Hedberg would return in the third period. 

Buffalo would add to their lead in the second., with Jochen Hecht getting his 15^th goal of the season. Derek Roy then made it 6-1 with his third of the night, a tip in while airborne in the crease, although he was not credited with this goal until after the game. Roy had not yet learned of his hat trick feat when we spoke afterwards. “Yeah I was trying for that third goal late, just saying to myself if it happens it happens” said Roy. Thomas Vanek, who had one of his best games in a long long time, then added a power play goal late in the period to make it 7-1. The other highlight of the period was a fight between Sabres defenseman Nolan Pratt and the Thrasher’s Chris Thornburn. Thornburn had intervened in the initial war of words between Pratt and Garnet Exelby, and Pratt managed to land the majority of punches on Thornburn. 

In the third period, the Sabres killed off a 5 on 3 disadvantage for almost two full minutes, before Buffalo made it 8-1 on Stafford’s second of the night. The hats then flew a few minutes later when Stafford scored again to make it 9-1 with just over 8 minutes to play.By then the throaty crowd dispensed with the “1..2..3…” goal countdown and went the short route… “We want 10! We want 10!” Buffalo was awarded a full 4 minute 5 on 3 advantage after Eric Boulton was tossed for taking out two Buffalo players on six cheap shot punches. Buffalo played around with the puck and even had Vanek on the point for a portion of the power play, but got nothing out of it. A subsequent penalty was called on Atlanta giving yet another 5 on 3, and this time Ales Kotalik’s one timer made it 10-1 and that would be all the scoring for the night. 

The locker room felt like a mix of jubilation and relief, with big smiles all around the room. “We really needed this one to set the tone” said Nathan Paetsch. “I think we can head into Toronto now with a good feeling and kind of have the monkey off our back.” Paetsch admitted that he is looking very forward to the first game of the year at the Air Canada Centre tomorrow. “Hockey Night in Canada was a mainstay of my growing up years. The game is on across Canada tomorrow isn’t it?” (Yes it is Nathan.) 

Lindy Ruff was very matter of fact about the entire team’s effort during this excruciating streak which ended tonight. “I wish some of those bounces were a week ago… a few days ago” said Ruff. “we got some breaks tonight… Derek (Roy) gave us a big boost… It was an ugly streak but it was not an ugly effort during that streak.” When asked about why he started the Mair-Ryan-Kaleta line, Ruff replied “I wanted some energy right off the bat. I wanted to get the building into it.” One bit of bad news… Michael Ryan took a hit to the face in the last minute and was immediately taken to the dressing room. He took some stitches and has vision problems and will be examined by an ophthalmologist tomorrow. He may end up missing some time. 

So the Sabres head to Toronto tonight and will take on the Leaves in the first of four matchups at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday. This will be the start of a seven game road trip across the continent, and we won’t see the boys back home until February 6. But if you’re really desperate to see some action on the ice, Disney’s “High School Musical” comes to the H for seven performances!  

One very notable person was missing from the ice this morning when the Sabres did their morning skate at HSBC Arena - Coach Lindy Ruff.

“Yeah maybe he was in the back room breaking down film or something” remarked defenseman Nathan Paetsch.

Ruff’s absence may be checking video, or maybe he’s just trying to shake up the karma. Nonetheless hopefully the Sabres will be doing more than just looking at film when they try to stem the bleeding tonight at HSBC Arena, as the Atlanta Thrashers come to town. The Thrashers got a point last night in a shootout loss at home, and flew into Buffalo late last night. They come in with red hot forwards Ilya Kovalchuk and Marian Hossa, both of who are tearing it up in the scoring column. Last time these two teams met in Atlanta, it was pretty much all Thrashers in a 5-2 win over Buffalo.

One of the players who will be good to go tonight is forward Derek Roy. Asked if he will see regular ice time including power play shifts, Ruff replied “We will see. We will see how it goes. We’ll start it off limited and see where he’s at.” As for defenseman Jaroslav Spacek, he is definitely out for tonight.

Referring to the last game against Atlanta, Ruff commented “We made some pretty big mistakes that allowed them some pretty easy situations. We’ve been able to take away the easy situations since that game and have played a lot better. If you hand them opportunities you are asking for bad things to happen.”

Ruff also stated that there is no more emphasis on this game than the other opponents the team has faced. “We’ve placed emphasis on every game we’ve approached” said Ruff. “For us, we have to win a game.” Nathan Paetsch also stressed the importance of lifting the team with a good outing tonight. “We’re going to be away from here for about three weeks, so leaving on a high note would be huge. Hopefully we will respond.”

Regarding Brendan Shanahan’s hit on Clarke MacArthur in the closing seconds of the Rangers game the other night, Ruff said
“Colin (Campbell) called right after the game, for which I’ve got to give them a lot of credit. They saw the hit. They wanted to know how Clarke is doing.” Beyond that call Ruff has heard nothing further in terms of any sanctions being meted out to Shanahan or the Rangers.

Faceoff tonight is 7:30PM. As of a week ago there were quite a few tickets remaining for this game and the team was pushing heavily on the video board for ticket sales, both on the arena board at last weekend’s Bandits and Sabres games, and on the MSG telecasts. I just checked tickets.com and as of 1PM there are only scattered singles available, so it looks like 18,690 will be the attendance. I’ve got the AV chair tonight and will have a post game recap.

It appears that Ottawa will not miss a beat in the world of professional baseball. In 2008 a yet unnamed club will join the Can-Am League playing their games at Ottawa Stadium (nee Lynx Stadium, Jetform Park).

The Can-Am League is an eight club independent pro baseball league with franchises in Quebec, Worcester, Nashua, Atlantic City, Brockton(MA), Sussex County(NJ), and Montclair(NJ) along with its newest member. The league has been in operation since 1995 under various names. From 1995-1998 and 2003-4 it was known as the Northeast League, and in between was the Eastern Conference of the Northern League. It has held its current name since 2005.

On a totally trivial note: The 1997 League Champions! The bestestest baseball team EVER!!!

Here’s some news which
hit so suddenly it caught us flat footed - another franchise will be on the move in the International League come 2009, and things are happening at breakneck speed.

After years and years of unsuccessfully trying to secure a replacement venue for The Diamond in Richmond, the team will be relocating to Lawrenceville, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, as reported in today’s Atlanta Journal Constitution.

A 30-year lease was approved by the Gwinnett County Commission today. The lease calls for the Braves to pay $250,000 a year in rent for a new ballpark on a 12-acre site on Buford Drive, just off I-85. County officials signed the lease before actually coming up with a ballpark plan: their previous plan was for a $25-million, 5,500-seat ballpark suitable for an independent-league team, but the current plan is for a larger $40-million ballpark which would work for the Triple-A team. County officials were so eager to close the deal with the Richmond Braves they didn’t even identify a funding source for the new ballpark.

Additionally, a new web site for the “Gwinnett Braves” was hurriedly brought online, with some very rough sketches and a site plan for the new ballpark, and an icon inviting fans to reserve season tickets with a $100 deposit.

Although Gwinnett County must begin construction of their new stadium by April 1 and have it ready by March of 2009, they have yet to secure funding for the venue, only saying they hope to secure private financing.

Meanwhile, the shock is spreading across Richmond over this sudden turn of events.

The USRT made a journey to The Diamond in 2003, and what we found was a crappy, hastily built stadium made of concrete, located in the middle of nowhere next to a shabby industrial park and a bus terminal. We saw Third World clubhouses and player facilities, not to mention a pressbox mimicking a phone booth. And if you remember, the 2004 Governors Cup playoff games between the Buffalo Bisons and the R-Braves were all played at Dunn Tire Park, because The Diamond was underwater from a tropical storm and was deemed unplayable.

So looks like the USRT has TWO new International League venues to travel to in ‘09… Columbus’ Huntington Park and Gwinnett County in Georgia. It will be interesting to see if and when the League chimes in on this relocation, as this eliminates the natural rival for the Norfolk Tides and drives up travel costs and distances to go for just about everybody in the IL.

Update: More on this story at MiLB.com.

We are proud to unveil our venue profile and thumbnailed photo array for the Prudential Center, the new home of the NHL New Jersey Devils. You can read our entire report here.

We gave “The Rock” a total score of 64 points out of 100, good enough for 10th place in our NHL venue rankings. Here is the breakdown for each category:

Architecture 8
Concessions/Team Store 7
Scoreboard/Electronics 6
Ushers 8
Fan Support 2.5
Location/Neighborhood 3
Banners/History 8.5
In Game Entertainment 7
Concourses/Fan Comfort 9
Bonus: 5

We welcome your input and critique.

And once again, we claim bragging rights: we have attended a home game of each of the 122 teams in the four major sports in their current and active venues!

Yankee Stadium’s final game might not be a baseball game after all, as the NHL is seriously considering repeating it’s highly successful “Winter Classic” outdoor game at Yankee Stadium next season.

Today’s New York Daily News reports that the New York Rangers are interested, and the New York Islanders want in as well. Apparently the Yankees organization is fine with all this and has even had talks with the NHL about logistics and planning.

For the ninth time in a row, the Sabres wind up on the wrong end of a decision…..For several games during this streak one could say that while not winning the game outright, the Sabres had their opportunities to win but didn’t. One could walk away knowing that while Buffalo’s effort was good enough to earn a win, it could also be said that the opposition played well enough to win…and would.

Tonight was different…this was a game where the Sabres were the better team outright and going away, yet still the letter “W” remained an elusive target once again. On this night the Sabres failed to convert on several glorious scoring opportunities, couldn’t hold onto a two goal lead in regulation, and for the fifth time during the streak lost a shootout.

As a Buffalo sports observer I left the arena with much the same feeling that I had after the Cowboys stole one from the Bills in October, that kick-to-the stomach feeling though really not as strong. It was that type of game tonight…woulda, coulda…how the ….did they not…..ugh.

It was a night for which Daniel Paille should have been THE star of the game, as he was responsible for both Sabre goals in the first period. While not the prettiest of goals it was no matter. The team had the quick early lead that they needed.

And in period two the Sabres stellar play continued. As Coach Ruff said afterward “we went after it” instead of sitting back against a team not known for giving up or getting too many opportunities. Time and time again in the second period there were point blank shots to be had, yet not a one found the back of the net. The longer the game went on like that it would only be a matter of time before the Devils found the scoreboard and did on a goal from Paul Martin late in the second on a delayed penalty call.

The goal put to an end the dominance of the game by Buffalo and Jersey came to life as they outshot the Sabres from the end of the second stanza by a 15-6 count. The Devils even had a four minute power play early in the third from a Kotalik high stick, but failed to convert. Yet the score wouldn’t be tied until just over a minute to go when David Clarkson snuck one in with the extra attacker on the ice.

The Sabres seemed to be the better of the two clubs during the OT, but the game continued to the shootout where Jason Elias put the finishing touches on the theft of the victory with his shootout goal in the third round.The frustration was and is unmistakable in the Sabre locker room right now, yet Toni Lydman tried to put the best face on it stating repeatedly that “frustration is going to get us nowhere, we just have to keep playing….”It’s a tough time for the Sabres (I believe Lindy used the word tough eight times in his post game Q/A) but here’s some silver lining….

This nine game stretch was the toughest of the entire season schedule wise. Consider that eight of the nine were played against the top three teams in the conference heading into tonight and that only three of them were played at home (OK, the Winter Classic was a home game yet truly not on home ice). This team while not winning any of them took five of them to a shootout before losing. Not the results anyone would want, but certainly upon closer look maybe not such a hideous stretch of play by the Sabres.

“Better Days” are ahead for the Sabres. Trust me on this one.