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Buffalo, NY • United States • 26 Years Old • Female

stay classy!

Posted 9:08 AM ET | Comments 13
Okay, I just want to make a few things clear. I have now attended three Sabres games in three different arenas: HSBC Arena, Madison Sq Garden, and Nassau Coliseum. Of course, the crowd at HSBC is unbeatable when you're rooting on the home team, so I'll leave that aside. As for the MSG crowd, they were more than friendly and I struck up a good conversation with the guy next to me. At that time, I was really amazed by Lundqvist and the guy was impressed with how fast Sabres were able to start the rush from zone to zone. I only got nudged a little when I stood up and cheered at one point -- very friendly crowd. Zero insults. Oh yes, and no trash on the ice, even with a sold-out crowd and the Sabres beating the Rangers in OT.

So what about last night's game? Verbal insults EVERYWHERE. In fact, across the aisle, there were a couple Sabres fans, in dress shirt and tie. Right behind them were a group of rowdy Isles fans and as these two guys walked up to their seats, the Isles fans started whipping them with the towels. And this was before the game started.

I had insults shouted at me just about all night. The few Sabres fans in my section (318) were extremely polite. With the insults getting shouted at us every moment possible, we all shrugged them off, basically letting the scoreboard speak for itself. Even the usher, though jokingly, insulted me.

As for the trash-throwing: seriously seriously? That was ridiculous. I think it's not just disrespectful to NHL officials, but to your own team as well. It's a completely defeatist attitude. It lets you walk away from this game blaming the refs and not realizing there was still a chance to tie it up. But after trash-throwing, the Islanders completely gave up by that point and Pominville undressed the Isles' top defencemen and scored easily on DiPietro, your star goalie who slashed his stick in half on the goalposts. Sorry; I'm not impressed.

Most Islanders fans came by car, while the Sabres fans headed to the bus stop. There was this old lady there, you could tell she was a long-time Islanders fan. She was screaming profanities at the rest of us! Maybe a dozen of Sabres fans there and she's telling us how we're all worthless and don't deserve any of it. C'mon old lady! What's up with that?

All in all, Rangers fans > Islanders fans. I mean, they completely gave up on their team. They were not at all being provoked. When I went there, the LIRR already had a few Sabres fans riding the train, so I was thinking there would be a pretty good Buffalo representation -- not at ALL. So any speak of Sabres fans being rowdy and disrespecting the "home team"? I didn't see any of that.

I wish I had a photo of the Nassau Coliseum ... it is architecturally very unattractive. Just on the side of a large highway in sort of a blah area. The seating was horrible; I was way up in the nosebleed seats, but there was this ledge that blocked my sight if I tried to stand up. Very claustrophobic design. The ledge also obstructed my view of the jumbotron, so I had to get out of my seat and crane my head to see the time. This was also just bad luck, but the replay tv in my section wasn't working, either.

And come on, the main Long Island defense for being better than Buffalo is that they border New York City, but SERIOUSLY everyone in New York makes fun of Long Islanders the most, right behind people from New Jersey. A New Yorker's geography: trashy people in that island to the east, upstate are all those rich people in Westchester, and Buffalo is some place that's in the state but it's basically Canada.

Anyway, I'm just rambling.

I'll leave you with a few of my favorite insults of the night:
1. "Go back to Canada, where you guys belong!"
2. "Let's go Islanders ... BUFFALO BLOWS!"
3. "Aren't you guys all just hicks up there?"
Filed Under:   sabres   new york   islanders   rangers   buffalo  
April 19, 2007 9:51 AM ET | Delete
This is all very sad. I was born on Long Island and my dad was a Isles fan back in their heyday. I am glad he is not going to read this because it will just get him upset and glad he is no longer associated with that fan base.
April 19, 2007 11:06 AM ET | Delete
suprising coming from joey bottofuccoville lol
April 19, 2007 11:44 AM ET | Delete
Yes we all know that the friendly folks in Buffalo define class, it is always sunny and everyone always greats you with a smile in Buffalo. Hell we should make Buffalo its own state. With its wonderful clean city and with more jobs then people to fill it really could and should be the 51st state of this wonderful country. Oh boy then we should sink Long Island due to the fact that their fans are to loud and verbally abusive to those wonderful happy folks from western NY. Long live Buffalo!!
April 19, 2007 12:23 PM ET | Delete
hey man, I am just representing things as I see them. I am sure there were plenty of other experiences, some much better than others. But I was just sick of all these supposed stories about how Buffalo fans were provoking fights and being disrespectful. This post has nothing to do with Buffalo itself ... way to read the entry just for what you want to hear.
April 19, 2007 1:09 PM ET | Delete
A few bad apples and such...Edmonton fans went through major bashing for what a few idiots (probably not even hockey fans) did on Whyte Ave. last year....I think we all need to remember we are all hockey fans first and team fans second...Good natured competition is fine, but some of the disrespect between opposing teams fans is getting out of hand. What are we becoming, Soccer Hooligans? ;)(The "soccer hooligan" remark is a joke...now get back out there and have some fun!)
April 19, 2007 1:23 PM ET | Delete
I love how sabres fans take this as their moment to stand up on a pedistal and look down on fans of another team.Every cities fans at one time or another have thrown stuff on the ice. If Buffalo had been put in the same situation that the isles fans faced, I am pretty sure that one drunk bandwagon jumper(93% of the sabres fans) would have tossed something on the ice and other would have followed suit.
April 19, 2007 2:24 PM ET | Delete
Well obviously Ranger fans are better than Islander fans.I think there are two sides to every story. I think the bad experiences are very valid, but only when the context is understood and everyone realizes that there are lots of bad Islander fans...but lots of good ones as well. I didn't have any major beef with the blog and the explanation of your experience. I could understand how some of the sane Islander fans may have been a little offended though.As far as Nassau Collessium goes...It's not a pretty building, but the seats are closer to the ice than in a lot of buildings.And honestly, and old lady cursing at people over a hockey game should have been a highlight of your night.
April 19, 2007 3:12 PM ET | Delete
It is my hope that Long Islanders can find comfort in the Lyrics of Donny Osmond:I can tell you've been hurtby that look on your face, girl.Some guy brought sad into your happy world.You need love, but you're afraid that if you give in,someone else will come alongand sock it to ya again.
April 19, 2007 3:12 PM ET | Delete
It is my hope that Long Islanders can find comfort in the Lyrics of Donny Osmond:I can tell you've been hurtby that look on your face, girl.Some guy brought sad into your happy world.You need love, but you're afraid that if you give in,someone else will come alongand sock it to ya again.
April 19, 2007 3:46 PM ET | Delete
Good point Flyers fans, 3-4 years ago you could not find a Sabres fan anywhere. Now all of a sudden they come out of the woodwork, they are pathetic. The last person anyone in the NHL needs to hear when it comes to class are some morons from probably the most depressing city in the Northeast. No need to compare Isles fans to Rags fans to Flyers fans, etc. because we all agree that you all sound like ignorant asses. The Sabres have not impressed anyone, you won't make it to the Cup. No one cares if the HSBC arena is nicer then the Coliseum, Garden, etc. I would hope so since it is pretty new. When you actually win a Cup or you know what, when you actually make it to the Cup Finals then you can come back and run your mouth.
April 19, 2007 3:54 PM ET | Delete
I was surprised at how genuinely nice the Rangers fans in MSG were when I went to see the Habs play at the final Rangers' regular season game. I won't go so far as to call them "classy" by any means ("Classy" fans wouldn't boo the Olson twins on the jumbotron despite how funny it was) but they are knowledgable and entertaining. I think the fans in MSG are more entertaining than the product on the ice some nights!
April 19, 2007 8:24 PM ET | Delete
MSG during an Isles/Rangers game is where you will see the Ugly side of Ranger fans.
April 19, 2007 9:51 PM ET | Delete
Anywhere during an Isles-Rangers game is where you will see alot of ugliness but there is no better rivalry or atmosphere then at those games.
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