Weekend thoughts

Admit it. Even if you’re the biggest Sabres junkie and your refrigerator is loaded with Robie’s Yancey’s Fancy cheese, don’t you want the hockey playoffs to just start tomorrow? And I don’t exactly mean that as a good thing. It’s just some of these Sabres games are just sooooooooooooo boring.

I wrote after their western road trip, that the Sabres played some of their most entertaining hockey of the season. I questioned if it was more of their play that dictated it or was it their opponents who brought out their skating. I think after watching the last two games, we know the answer. Can we please play Vancouver and San Jose again?

But look, two points are two points, and the Sabres are winning and have exceeded expectations. It’s just now, I’m kind of over the regular season, especially when they play opponents within their division. The North East Division must be the dullest division in all of hockey. Seriously, if your biggest division game is playing at a 50/50 crowd against the crappy Leafs, then you know your rivals are just blah. No star powers on offense and just clutching and grabbing games.

Look, I’m just telling you how I feel about their games. I try to get into the 2-1 games and get excited when Robie is describing Steve Montadour clearing the puck. It’s just…I need scoring!

But here’s the bottom line: The Sabres are a gritty hockey team with superior goaltending and a not so exciting offense. I’m not stupid, and after all my gripes about how they play some of the dullest hockey this side of Lake Erie, I know that it’s this style that will get them past round one or beyond in the playoffs. If they win with this style in the postseason, then I’m sure their playoff success will overcome the boredom that I have with them.

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Look, I have made no bones about my opinions on what athletes do off the field. I don’t give a rats a$$!!! As long as you are playing well on Sunday or other game days, you can do whatever you want. It’s your life, not mine. With that being said, what’s the big problem with Patrick Kane sitting in a limo and posing for photos with his shirt off?

It’s not like the dude was funneling beer and making a porno called Raising Kane or Limhoes with the girls. He was in a Limo, not on the streets, where it’s illegal to have an open beverage container..just a limo. You know how many Labatt Blues have been brought into a limo in my lifetime? And to top it off, he had girls who were wearing flannels around him, not wet t-shirts. This sort of thing has happened before and will happen again.

Beating up a cab driver is bad, but to be in a limo with your shirt off and taking photos, I just don’t get the uproar.

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-Well I got good news and bad news for the Bills coaching staff. The good news: the Bills are bringing back Bruce DeHaven to coach their special teams. DeHaven was the man during the early 90’s helping the Bills become number one in kick/punt coverage in the NFL for a number of years. For whatever reason, the Bills have always been big on finding established special teams coaches.

However, I should warn you, DeHaven’s later years in Buffalo weren’t anything to write home about, and I’m not talking about “The Music City Miracle.” When Steve Tasker was converted to the Bills legit third wide receiver, the Bills special teams started declining. They ranked in the bottom third of the league in punt and kickoff coverage from 1996-1999, and then bottomed out in DeHaven’s last year. Look, I’m not trying to stir s#$t up, DeHaven is good addition, but I’d rather see the Bills get an established defensive coordinator than bringing in another special team’s ace. Which leads me to the Bad News.

Mark Gaughan said in his chat on Friday that he thinks the Bills may promote Bob Sanders as the Defensive Coordinator. Look, I’ve heard all the stories about how Sanders is a good coach, but there’s no way in hell anyone deserves to get promoted from the Bills defensive coaching staff. I get that he helped Kyle Williams become a pro bowl alternate, but that still doesn’t overshadow the Bills giving up over 500 yards rushing against the Jets in two games.

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So I was listening to WGR’s round table on Thursday with both the morning and afternoon hosts. It was an OK listen, even though all the topics that were brought up have been heard countless times on their respective shows within the last week or so. But the biggest bombshell at the round table came from Paul Hamilton, who said that one of the reasons why Gregg “Double G” Williams was hired was because he allowed Tom Donahoe to sit in the coaches box and sometimes tell him what plays to run.

Um, where the hell was this breaking news from say..um..SEVEN YEARS AGO!? I mean what’s next? Are we going to hear that JP Losman couldn’t remember the plays because he had A.D.D.? Maybe we will hear that Ralph Wilson’s wife has been running the team since marriage? Or maybe the Bills had signed a deal in 2003 with Rogers Communication to move the team to Toronto by 2012?

You always hear media members unload stories on former players and coaches after their time in Buffalo has come to an end. When this happens, it just gets me more frustrated than anything, because it should have been mentioned then, not seven years later?!