A View From The Top
Posted 3:04 PM ET | Comments 7
So, here we are on the cusp of the playoffs and I find myself in very unfamiliar territory. My beloved Sabres are the Stanley Cup favorites for the first time in my lifetime.
This isn't like '99 when it was "an average team with the world's best goaltender". This isn't like last season when no one outside of the Sabres' organization thought much of that team. This is different. They are the favorites. It is expected. I should be incredibly confident.
So why am I scared as hell?
I have friends that are Leaf fans that expect the team to win the whole thing every year even though they haven't in 40 years. I have friends that are Flyer fans that honestly believed the team would be able to turn things around this year and make an impact in the playoffs.
Yet I'm scared as hell.
Maybe it's Wide Right. Maybe it's No Goal. Maybe it's something built into the collective psyche of all WNYers. Maybe it's none of that.
I think it's that this town wants to win something...ANYTHING...so badly that it's making us uneasy. If the Sabres manage to pull this thing off, there will be a rally in downtown Buffalo...it wouldn't surprise me if the number reached 300,000 people - roughly 1/3 the population of WNY.
I'm supremely confident in Lindy Ruff. I'm supremely confident in Ryan Miller. I'm supremely confident in Chris Drury, and Daniel Briere, and Henrik Tallinder, and.....
Let's Go Buff-A-Lo!
...please.
This isn't like '99 when it was "an average team with the world's best goaltender". This isn't like last season when no one outside of the Sabres' organization thought much of that team. This is different. They are the favorites. It is expected. I should be incredibly confident.
So why am I scared as hell?
I have friends that are Leaf fans that expect the team to win the whole thing every year even though they haven't in 40 years. I have friends that are Flyer fans that honestly believed the team would be able to turn things around this year and make an impact in the playoffs.
Yet I'm scared as hell.
Maybe it's Wide Right. Maybe it's No Goal. Maybe it's something built into the collective psyche of all WNYers. Maybe it's none of that.
I think it's that this town wants to win something...ANYTHING...so badly that it's making us uneasy. If the Sabres manage to pull this thing off, there will be a rally in downtown Buffalo...it wouldn't surprise me if the number reached 300,000 people - roughly 1/3 the population of WNY.
I'm supremely confident in Lindy Ruff. I'm supremely confident in Ryan Miller. I'm supremely confident in Chris Drury, and Daniel Briere, and Henrik Tallinder, and.....
Let's Go Buff-A-Lo!
...please.
Go Sabres Go
same
The Sabres will sweep the Islanders, regardless of what Dooby Dooby Does
great blog!! I feel the SAME EXACT WAY. You really captured the feel of the city and the emotions a lot of us Sabres fans are having right now. Lots of anxiety. I just think more than anything our city really understands sports, the difficulty of winning a professional sports championship - how everything needs to fall in place. We APPRECIATE the game, we appreciate sports, we value all of this. That's why it would mean so much to finally get this done. I'd argue the turnout for the rally would be even larger....I'd be there, and I can easily name about 50 people off the top of my head that would too. If every Buffalonian can name 50 people, we're hitting some exponential numbers here.
This IS a great blog. And I also feel the same way. Though heres the funny thing. At the beginning of the season alot of my friends and people I work with cheered the sabres on and were good fans but some said they didnt think they sabres would go all the way, While i was sitting there thinking about nothing other than the cup. Nowadays all my friends are saying were going to kill everyone, But like you, im a little more reserved and concerned. I do beleive its the WNY mentality that we never win anything. And im just hoping that this year we as a community can finally shake the looser persona and revel in the fact that the Sabres are stanley cup champions. But like you said. Im Worried...
this is unchartered territory for ALL Sabres fans..we were great in 1975 and 1980 but this team is different..very different.I am going to enjoy this as much as I can..lol.Great blog by the way....
The B-Lo is in dire need of a Championship and Chris Drury is just the man to bring that home! The kid is a winner and a classy, humble dude. Big game tonight, lets keep those sticks sharp and get to those loose pucks a lot faster than Game 2. LETS GO BUFF-A-LO!!