– I’m sure you all know that the Bills announced that they were changing their uniforms for next year. Well, this shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone. We all know that Buffalo sports teams love to make a quick buck off their fans. By my count, since 1996, the Bills and Sabres have had 15 different types of uniforms. Anyways, I have to say, a lot of people have been taking a ton of shots at the Bills uniforms since the news broke. Frankly, when they came out in 2002, I didn’t hate them. In fact, I actually kind of liked them. Sure, the road uniforms were a little odd with the blue shoulders, but I didn’t think they were on par with the slugs-
-So, do you want retro uniforms or a totally new design? I’m not trying to stereotype people, but I’m sure fans who are 40 and older, really want the old school ones from the 60’s. Here’s the deal: When it comes to jerseys, owners only care about selling them as quickly as possible. Now, who are going to be buy these outfits? The kids. Not the adults, who are still trying to hold onto their childhood of the 70’s or whatever. I remember when I was a kid, I thought the Blue and Gold jerseys were ugly as hell. I just thought the color scheme resembled Bingo colors. In other words, they just weren’t cool colors. Now, when the black and red came out, frankly, I thought they were awesome. Now, I was only a young teenager, and my taste is obviously different now than it was then, but the Sabres were targeting kids when it came to their jersey design. In the end, I don’t care what the jerseys look like. I’ll still buy one, as I’m already due, because my previous jerseys of Poz and Lynch are outdated-
-All along, I’ve been making the case that I didn’t care about what Cam Newton did off the field at Auburn. As far as I’m concerned, kids make mistakes and all college players take money. Yes, it’s a stereotype. However, I do believe that players eventually evolve. Anyways, I was a little put off by Newton conducting a pro workout for, of all people, the media. I don’t get it. From afar, it tells me that Newton and his camp are really concerned with the way the public view him. It also tells me that he may have some self-esteem issues. I mean, what’s the point of doing it? Do you think Buddy Nix is going to care that Trent Dilfer was smitten over his performance? I would hope not. I don’t even think fans would read too much into it-
-Even though the Sabres have been on a roll as of late, and you have to give them a ton of credit for clawing their way back into contention for the playoffs, I still think they should be sellers. Now, lets just clarify what I mean by sellers. If the Sabres want to trade Drew Stafford for a player that can help them now and beyond the season? Fine. However, I don’t want them to trade away draft picks or prospects for veteran players, who are on the wrong side of 30 or who are just rental players. Just build beyond this season-
-I just finished reading Jackie MacMullen’s book, “When the Game was ours.” The book chronicles the rise of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and the NBA. It’s a great read if you’re a NBA fan, and really makes me wish that I was watching the NBA during the 80’s. Favorite moment in the book: Larry Bird asked the media if Bill Laimbeer made the all-star team. When the media told him no, Larry said, “Good. Because I didn’t want to get on the team bus, and hear him say, Hi, Larry…because then I would have to say, F#$k you, Bill.” Classic!-
-Interesting that John Clayton said that Newton was on Buddy Nix’s radar. His main reasoning had to do with Nix liking players from the SEC. I’d also like to throw in that Chan Gailey has always liked mobile QBs and Newton fits that bill-
-I was shocked to hear that the Sabres have a no-twitter policy for their players. Why on earth would that be the case? If there is one thing that the NHL has a slight advantage over the other major sports, it’s that their fans are very Internet savvy when it comes to blogging and being on twitter. If I’m the NHL, I would try to get the players as interactive as possible with their fans-
-This weekend, I plan on seeing The Social Network. The movie is going to have a long hill to climb to impress me when it comes to Best Picture. I saw the movie The Fighter and True Grit, and was blown away by both flicks. Still debating between the two-
-I just picked up tickets to the Sabres road crew extravaganza that is taking place at a NYC watering hole on February 28th. Very looking forward to saying goodbye/happy trails hello to Darcy Regier 😉
-When the hell are the Sabres going to give Ryan Miller a night off? Hell, the last time the back-up goalie played, I don’t even think we heard of Terry Pegula-
-On a recent WGR poll that asked whether you wanted Lindy Ruff fired, an astounding 90% of the fans said no. WOW! Are you kidding me? Lindy has got to be the Teflon Don when it comes to NHL coaches. I mean, what the hell does he have to do to become unpopular? Run your star goalie into the ground? Oh, wait-
-Todd McShay’s latest NFL mock draft has the Bills selecting Von (Don’t call me Van) Miller, outside linebacker from Texas A&M, with the 3rd pick. As much as I want to see the Bills add some pass rushers off the edge, and from what I read, Miller can be that guy, I’m still not sure the Bills will feel the same way. The Bills already have deals with Chris Kelsay and Shawne Merriman to go along with the emergence of Arthur Moats. Of course, the big question is about Merriman’s health. If he returns to his 2006 form, then there really isn’t a reason for the Bills to draft Miller. However, that’s a big “IF”-
-Alright, so I declared that the Sabres were dead and buried back at Christmas. Of course, I wasn’t the only one who thought that. You have to give the Sabres credit though. Their streak has come without Derek Roy and they always seem to be juggling the line-up because of injuries. The weird part is that their winning streak really hasn’t been about Ryan Miller’s play, but rather the play of their younger players. I guess you can look at it as a double edge sword. It’s great that the younger guys are playing well, but your all-world goalie hasn’t really done much this year. Anyways, you gotta give the team credit-
-You want to know the best part about their recent surge to 8th? It’s that I still believe ownership will try and make some changes with the roster in order to get better in the offseason. You could already set your watch to Larry Quinn making a statement about injuries and what not, as an excuse for the team not to make changes. I don’t know, but I don’t think Pegula will go about it that way. Hopefully, he’ll say that we need to get our guys some help-
-So, do you think the recent surge by the Sabres has anything to do with Terry Pegula buying the team? For the record, the news of Pegula possibly buying the Sabres took place on 11/30/10. Their record at the time was 9-16. Since then, the team has compiled a 17-11 mark (No, I don’t include OTL, so kiss my butt)-
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