The Sixer: 6 pack of opinions: Sabres get defensive

Opinion 6

Sabres believe in the blue Line
Lost in all my blogging this week was that the Sabres actually made some player signings. The Sabres locked in defenseman Andrej Sekera and left winger Clarke MacCarthur to new contracts. The MacCarthur deal is a 1-year deal worth a reported 1.4 million dollars, while the Sekera deal is 2-year deal worth 2 million.

The interesting part of the dealings has to be the Sekera signing. We all knew it was bound to happen, but the sabres are now knee deep in defenseman (and s$#t). The Sabres defenseman from last year were Sekera, Tallinder, Rivet, Lydman, Butler, and Paetsch (Teppo is FA), with the team normally playing 6 a night. Now you have the signing of Montador. Now we have 7 D-men. Add in Mike Webber and Tyler Myers and you got 9.

I guess Lindy Ruff is taking a page out of Dick Jauron's playbook by signing and drafting an abundance of players from his old position from his playing days. But what are the Sabres to do if opening night comes and they still have all 9 defenseman? I believe in the notion of baptism by fire. Play the young guys and let them learn from their mistakes. Sometimes coaches in sports get so worried about their young players psyche that you think they were teaching kids. These players are adults. Let them learn in the NHL. We already know what we got with Lydman and Tallinder, which isn't much and more importantly they have peaked. So lets get these young guys that Darcy and MulliQuinn have been building up and telling the public that FA doesn't matter because we got the goods in minors. Trade Lydman or Tallinder right now. If this team is as good at drafting and developing as they say they are, then they should welcome whatever prospects or picks they get for the duo.

This organization makes the process of going from the minors to the NHL seem slower then developing the waterfront. I'm sick of waiting for 6 years to see what we have in a player. McCarthur for instance was drafted in 2003 and I still don't know what type of player the Sabres have in him. Daniel Paille same thing (2oo2). It's time for the team to go with the youth moment. Colts QB, Payton Manning once said that the best thing for his career was that he was able to start every single game as a rookie and learn from his mistakes. The Sabres need to start reading up on history of other young players, because those who don't read history are doomed to repeat it.

-Joe-

"The Sabres are 17-21-3 when Lindy Ruff eats chicken and wears a green tie"
-Harry Neale-

The Sixer: 6 pack of opinions: Bills Draft Class ditching camp?

Opinion 5:

60 hours and counting...
The Bills open their training camp this Saturday in Rochester, NY and they are missing some key players. Like who you ask? How about over half their 2009 NFL Draft! The Bills have to sign 5 draft picks (2 first-rounders, 2 second-rounders, and 1 third-rounder) in less then 60 hours. I can't remember the last time the Bills were having this big of a problem signing their picks. Normally the Bills would get their whole draft class signed prior to camp and maybe once every 3 years a first rounder wouldn't sign till the first week of camp. I'm not the type of person who gets all worked up if someone misses parts of camp. But with this group of rookies and what their expectations are, you have to be concerned.

Unsigned are DE Aaron Maybin , OG Eric Wood, CB Jarius Byrd, OG Andy Levitre (not to be confused with Andy Viagra), and TE Shawn Nelson. Of the five, I think we can cross Byrd off the list of guys that really need to get in camp because he's already joining a crowded defensive backfield. Shawn Nelson who was considered to be the Bills steal of the draft isn't needed that badly, considering that TE is an easy position for a player to transition in from the college game. Heck, I'll give you that Aaron Maybin coming to camp late won't make me lose any sleep considering he has been termed a project because of starting only one full year of college. Maybin is also coming into a situation where he has Aaron Schobel and Chris Kelsay penciled in as the starters.

Now, here's where we get nervous. Chris Chambers and Seth McKinney (Insert kid from Home Alone screaming!). Those 2 should not be starting in the NFL! As a matter of fact they should be joining Mr. "Tree Hugger" JP Losman in Vegas. Levitre and Wood were drafted to play from day one. The hierarchy at 1 Bills Drive kept telling us that with Peters leaving, it wouldn't hurt the line as much with these two guys coming in. Also history tells me whenever a player from the O-line holds out, the team then starts making excuses. Remember last year the Bills were suppose to run more no huddle, but couldn't because Jason Peters held out of camp and the o-line wasn't able to the get enough continuity from practice. I'm in no mood to hear that excuse again this year.

I may be panicking to soon about this, but like I said 5 draft picks unsigned and 60 hours till training camp. This is a make it or break it year for the Bills and I'd like my training camp to be as uneventful as possible.


-Joe-

"Tick Tock"

The Sixer: 6 pack of opinions: Marty Biron NYC bound

Opinion 4:

Fans cry for Biron
Well he just has to go up the turnpike and go over the GW Bridge and head down the L.I.E. Marty Biron is an Islander after signing a 1-year, 1.4 million dollar deal. Biron will be joining a loaded goaltender group, with former Sabre Dwayne Roloson and the most overpaid goalie in hockey history, Rick DiPietro. DiPietro is batting knee injuries, so look for Biron and Roloson to compete for the starting job.

Now look, I've been reading a lot of chats and even hearing some media members who would of loved it if Marty came back. Marty is a slight upgrade from Lalime. I know some of you may act as if Lalime is the biggest reason the Sabres didn't make the playoffs, but if you look at his numbers when Miller went down, Lalime had a 3.22 goals against average. Biron's was slightly better last year at 2.76. Maybe the Sabres should of scored more then 2 goals for Lalime against the Islanders and Hurricanes.

Again, this is where a fan has to look at the on ice product. I know Marty's a fan favorite and a great interview. Maybe if I was younger and not so bitter towards the Buffalo teams for their lack of success over the decade, I would be a fan of players with great personalities. But this isn't a popularity contest, it's about winning.

-Joe-

"Hating on fan favorites since 89"

The Sixer: 6 pack of opinions: The final word on JP

Opinion 3:

Why do fans care?
I was reading a poll that WGR had on their website (BTW-good looks on stealing my Viva Las Vegas headline),and the poll asked if fans would watch the UFL to root for Losman to either fail or succeed. The 3rd choice was if you would even watch the UFL. An astounding 676 fans (46%) voted to watch the UFL and root for Losman, while 19% said they would watch to just to hope that Losman failed (36% said they weren't going to watch).


I didn't know that Losman was 2009's version of Doug Flutie. If I was to vote (and I did) it would be that I could care less what he does in the UFL and the league for that matter. It's a crappy football league that will most likely go down the same route as the XFL and USFL did (Arena League is on that path too). The bigger questions is why do fans want to even root for the guy?

1) Fans love to crap all over the Bills. You can almost set your clock to it, the first TD Losman throws in The UFL, chat rooms and call in shows will light up with people saying, "we should of kept Losman man, he's MVP of the XFL or whatever league he is in, The Bills suck!!!" Fans and people for that matter love to hate.

2)It's very easy to make it in Buffalo in my opinion as a athlete. All an athlete would have to do is tell the fans he loves the city, the architecture , the food, the bars and the player can just be average at best. Fans in Buffalo are like the kid who was picked on when he was younger and is now grown up and just wants to be excepted. JP excepted Buffalo, heck he even started a "Buffalo Lives" group where he and 100's of people would clean up Buffalo by planting trees. Hey, I'm all for keeping Buffalo clean and preserving the Ozone layer, but Unless the guy throws TD's and wins games for me I could care less.

Again, I wish the best for Losman and I'll be sure not to be watching him.

-Joe-
"Saw JP at Coles once"

The Sixer: 6 pack of opinions: ESPN & Big Ben

Opinion 2:

ESPN invisible coverage
So I was doing my normal morning readings on Profootballtalk.com, the Buffalo News, and Fox Sports. All the sites had reported that Ben Roethlisberger was being sued in civil court by a Las Vegas hotel employee for rape. The women claims that Big Ben was staying at the hotel she worked at when Roethlisberger told her to come up stairs to fix his TV (or his Big Ben). The suit clams that Ben started kissing the girl and when the girl rejected him, Ben threw the girl on the bed and raped her. This encounter allegedly happened in July of 2008.

You would of thought that the powers that be at ESPN would be salivating at this story since they've spent so much time on the Pac Man stripper tape and 2oth millionth scenario on which NFL team maybe interested in Mike Vick.

Alas, the network is responding with a "Do Not Report" alert. So what the hell is going on? Well from reading Pro Football talk (sorry I don't have sources) ESPN is clamming that they don't cover civil suits only stories. That's a crock. I remember ESPN doing stories on NBA Players who were being sued by their baby's mothers who were looking for child support. ESPN also got flack during the NFL season when Fox Sports reported that Brett Favre had called Detroit Lions coaches to offer tips on how to beat the Packers defense, ESPN responded with the same "Do Not Report" alert.

Being the s#$t stirrer that I am, Here is the reasons why I think ESPN is doing the "Do Not Report" alerts.

1) The network wants to maintain the good relationship they have with Big Ben when it comes to doing interviews (That was the same rumor why the Favre story wasn't reported).

2) The ABC network which is owned by the same people (Disney) who own ESPN are about to debut a new show called "Shaq vs" which will be featuring Big Ben and don't want to cast a bigger shadow on the show for bad PR. I'm not sure what the format of the show is, but if it's an elimination show look for when Ben gets eliminated for ESPN to have late breaking news on the suit.

3) Kobe vs Big Ben debate. When I first realized that ESPN wasn't reporting this, the first thing I thought of was how much coverage the Kobe story got. Hell, two months after Bryant was charged, ESPN voted him the 8th biggest story on their Countdown show "Headlines," showcasing the top 25 stories in the 25 years of ESPN. I know some will say Kobe was charged by police while Ben is being sued in civil. But I go back to the stories on NBA Players from above. Maybe ESPN sees Kobe as more of a lightening rod then Ben.

Any way you slice it, This makes ESPN look like fools, but in all honesty why would ESPN care if they are pissing people off. They are the only big sports entity on TV, so who are they going to compete with?


-joe-

"No means no People"

Update!!-ESPN.com and ESPN News has finally picked up the AP Story.

The Sixer: 6 pack of opinions: TO Show reviews

Opinion 1:

T.O. Show Reviews
Whether you like T.O. or you don't, fans in Buffalo are definitely watching his new show. The show scored a monstrous rating in Buffalo of a 3.4, nearly doubling the local ratings for a normal VH1 show. The T.O. show was a hot topic in the print and radio world the following day in Buffalo. WGR's host, The Bulldog (Schopp is on vacation or playing tennis) said on his afternoon radio show that he's too old to be watching reality shows and doesn't really care to know the personal life of T.O. (agreed).

TBN had two reviews up on the show from Sabres beat reporter Mike Harrington and TV columnist Alan Pergament. Harington, who had is DVR set to channel 61 (61? does the dude have an antenna) says that all he cares about seeing is how the show profiles Buffalo when Owens arrives for T.O. Day (that episode is next week). After that, he can care less what happens with the show and Owens personal life. Pergament's opinion was more favorable and was based on the production value and story telling of the show. He stated that the up coming episodes of Owens emotional meeting with his Grandmother is a reason to cheer for T.O. If you read my live Blog, I mentioned the meeting with his grandmother would be something I would be interested to see.


Chris Brown, from BuffaloBills.com wrote a quick blurb in his blog stating that Owens publicists act as if they are his sisters and are always looking out for him. Um, if I had sisters who were looking out after me by trying to c#@k block me like they did to Owens, I'd disown them. Don't look for Brown to be critical of the show since the guy does work for the organization that pays T.O. the money to buy those earrings from the first show.


I'm not a big reality show watcher and to be honest I can't stand it. The T.O. Show is geared towards the typical VH1 audience which is young women. If you football fans are hoping to get all this insider info on T.O. reading play books, training, and talking to Edwards then you better turn the channel to ESPN. I'm hoping that the show makes Buffalo look like a great city to live. If I were asked to predict what the city will look like to the viewer outside of Buffalo, it would be that we are a small time city who just feels like we hit the lottery and have never seen a camera before (I'm thinking Edward Scissorhands movie). Don't shoot the messenger, but I've already received that input from NYC fans who saw the "Welcome Owens to Buffalo" celebration on ESPN. I'm sticking up for Buffalo, saying its all TV propaganda and they gave the key to NYC to Brett Favre last year. But I can only do so much.


-Joe-

The Sixer: A 6 Pack of Opinions

What greeted me today
I was walking by MSG today in Manhattan and found myself next to a bus stop station. The next thing I know my face was right next to T.O.'s butt cheek. This add was covering the bus stop and I almost starting gaging. The add was a reminder that T.O.'s reality show was debuting at 10pm this Monday. Should be a fun scripted... err... reality show. I'll admit, I'm intrigued to see if the cameras were with him around the time he got cut from the Cowboys. And let us not forget "Terrell Owens Day" when the wide out received the key to the city. And of course the wild group of casted..errr..fans that greeted him at the airport. I'll definitely be watching and giving my review and let us hope he doesn't make the city look worse then it already is.



Pacman Exposed
You thought T.O.'s photo was exposing, how about Pacman's strip club video being released to the public. The Jay-Z video..errr.. evidence video of Pacman making it rain at the strip club he was arrested at made its countdown debut on ESPN. I started laughing my ass off the way announcer, Trey Wingo introduced the video. His tone was as if he was introducing a video of a child pornographer sting operation. I've never been a fan of Trey Wingo, he just has an annoying smugness and laughs at his own stupid jokes. But the intro was so over the top. Wingo acted as if we were going to crack the case of Pacman vs The Strippers with watching this video. Wingo also warned us at least 4 times to hide the kids before you watch this (heard you the 1st time Trey).

Obviously the video was the best part. Not only did we get to see Nelly and Jermaine Dupri, but we got strippers! But that wasn't what made the video funny. John Barr's (who?) over the top serious voice over during the video was fantastic. He was describing the video as if we were watching a sting operation. "There you see recording artist Nelly pulling out a 1000's of dollars, while Pacman is pouring dollar bills all over the strippers, the term is known as making it rain, Dupri gets angry and goes to the DJ booth." I was waiting for the Tommy Lee Jones character from "The Fugitive" to come out and make the sting.

But the stupidest part was after all the ESPN hype and the political campaign smearing voice over, the video did absolutely nothing in answering questions about the crime that happen. The quick version of what supposedly happened was: Jones throws 1000's of dollar bills in the air/strippers try and collect/Jones punches stripper/Bouncer throws Jones out/One of Pacman's entourage members returns/shoots a gun at a crowd and injuring 3 people. And how much did the video capture of this? None! Just strippers and Pacman. That's ESPN in a nut shell, they make ever little thing seem as if it's breaking news and will change your life. I learned nothing from the video (except wanting to go to a strip club)


Rookie Camp is Overrated!
Since Mr. MuliQuinn has finished his top to bottom biggest evaluation since Watergate, we learned a couple of things. The Sabres signed a couple of unknown defensemen (one was so bad he played in Sweden last year)..... Um, they moved the draft party to the art gallery...And that's it! So the evaluation did nothing! Status quo as usual. So what do the Sabres shills in some of the media outlets do? They act as if rookie camp was going to be where the stars would rise.

Hey shills! 13 years under Regier and only 3 all-stars developed! I took a look at the list of rookies from the 2006 rookie camp and it's not good. Only Stafford and MacArthur are with the club today from that camp and they haven't exactly lit the league on fire. I understand some of you crazy hockey fans treat any sort of Sabres news as gold, but don't tell me to get excited because TJ Brennan is kicking Mike Foligno's kids ass in camp. Until the Sabres farm system becomes like the Red Wings, wake me up when the rookie makes it to the NHL.


Bulldog is a Drinker
I wasn't able to listen to much of WGR this week because I was crazed at work, but I was able to get some snippets from their Monday afternoon show. Bulldog was back from a week vacation and told us that all he did was drink all week. That sounds like a fun week, but why are you talking about that on the air.

This is where my beef is with WGR, they make their hosts act as if they are your best friend and you care about what they do in the spare time. Listeners don't care what your favorite food is and what kind of drink you enjoy, maybe I'm nitpicking here, but this isn't Howard Stern Radio where it's about your personal life. It's about sports. I do want to give WGR credit as the station hosted its annual golf tournament on Monday. During Schopp and the Bulldog's show with guest Jerry Sullivan, they had a couple of on the fly interviews with some of the Bills former greats. Andre Reed gave a great interview talking about the 90's Bills and gave his thoughts on today's current Bills. It was also interesting hearing Sully exchange stories about how Reed and some of his old teammates would take everything so personal with the media. I wish our sports teams would care how the public views them.


Why do I like Brady more then Romo?
I know this is suppose to be a Buffalo Sports blog, and I'm bringing up Brady who has owned the Bills, and Romo from the hated Cowboys. But it's my blog so p#$s off! I was watching ESPN tonight and they had some sort of comedy sketch with Romo in it. The sketch went as bad as Evgeni Malkin's joke at the Stanley Cup Finals (can someone please translate for me what Malkin was saying). Romo is the biggest Brady wannabe ever. The thing that ticks me off is Romo is trying to pull the whole "Bennifer" thing and just shove his smugness down our throat with media appearances. Lets see Romo on red carpet events, lets see Romo doing sketch comedy, lets see Romo show off his motorcycle on ESPN Hollywood (god that show was awful). The dude has absolutely no Charisma. Brady on the other hand, just plays it as cool as a cucumber. He acts as if he isn't bothered by it and he's not seeking the spotlight. Brady does let the media see a little bit of his personal life, but he does a great job of keeping the public wanting more. As for the girls, I'd take the super model over the ditz (Yes I know Romo dumped Jessica, but that is as far as I will go to making this blog be like US Weekly)

Thanks TBN!!
We the people (the homeless guy and I)at "Joe from NYC Blog," would like to thank Jerry Sullivan and Bucky Gleason (Heather too) for giving me the cheap plugs the last two days on TBN Sports chat. It was very nice of you guys to let people know about this blog. I hope some of you have enjoyed it and aren't laughing too hard at the the notion that some regular on TBN chats is doing a blog. To be honest, I'm doing it because I'm a wannabe sports reporter who for whatever reason never tried to move forward in that career path (Yes, save the I see from your writing skills why you didn't). I'm really hoping I can get better at Blogging and that any feedback you readers could give to me I would really appreciate. My short-term goal is for some of TBN staff to read this and give their blessing on how good and well written my pieces have been. Thanks again Bucky and Sully. Now can you please tell me what the 20 bucks thing means?!



-Joey P-

-Keepin it real since 99'-

6 Pack of Opinions

(Taking a break from my media columns)

All-Star makeover
Man do I hate all star games. I was reminded of that after watching 10 minutes worth of Tuesday night's MLB All-Star Game. The whole thing is all about making money for corporations and selling add time for Fox. If I was in charge of the MLB All-Star game, I would change up the format and have 2 games. The final 2 teams of last years World Series play the opposing all star teams in each league (Phillies vs AL and Rays vs NL) Do it as a double header starting at 5pm that way kids don't have to stay up until 11:30pm to watch the game. (BTW-8:45 first pitch is a joke)Heck, I'd do it for MLB, NHL, and NFL All-Star games. As for the NBA, I do a international team vs the Americans. Something needs changing, the ratings stink and All-Star games over the years have become a blur. A Blur of Boredom.


NHL should be watching UFC
UFC's latest pay per view final numbers aren't in yet, but UFC reps are expecting the PPV to top 1.5 million buys. Why am I bringing up this staggering PPV buy rate? It's because the UFC Fighters know how to get the viewer or fan buying into the fights before the fight actually happens. Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir were masterfully with their pre-fight trash talking and hyping up the PPV fight. Brock even punched a wall during a press conference and got in Mir's face multiple times. When was the last time a NHL Player talked junk about another player to just amp up the hype for a game. NHL players may be nice but their dry personalities don't go over well with people in the states. Heck, I still can't get what was so funny about Evgnei Malkin making a joke during his press conference at the Stanley Cup Finals last month.


Obamania is wearing thin
Look, I like President Obama and I definitely consider myself a liberal. But the Barack National tour is getting out of hand. I don't mind him going on Jay Leno once a year, but I dont need to see him filling out brackets for the NCAA Tournament and throwing out first pitches at the MLB All-Star games wearing a White Sox jacket. Remember what happen to "Bennifer?" Once J.Lo and Ben started doing all the media tours and magazines together, people got over them pretty fast.


Donte Whitner Tweaking on Twitter
No, I wasn't tweeting with Donte Whitner, but I did see that he was a little pissed on his account at the people at Profootballtalk.com. The website had an article stating that Donte Whitner may be in jeopardy of losing his starting job. Whitner was none to please about reading the post and wrote on his twitter page that Profootballtalk.com wasn't a credible site and that they should write about better things. All was settled after a few Tweets between the parties with Profootballtalk.com stating that the report came from Fox Sports. Call me crazy, but I wouldn't be shocked if Whitner lost his job at some point. Whitner is in the 4th year of a 5 year contract and will be up for FA after the 2010 season. Judging from history, Mr. Wilson doesn't pay for DB's after their rookie contracts expire. Maybe the Bills are thinking about getting the air apparent ready before Whitner hits FA.


Lindy likes what he sees
In the BTN yesterday, Bucky Gleason wrote that Lindy Ruff was wrong by stating that he was very confident in this Sabres team. What did you expect Lindy to say? It's evident that Lindy Ruff has fallen in line with the brain washing that is going on at 1 Seymour Knox III Plaza. I'm sure the marketing people will be putting up bill boards across town talking about how Gerebe and Myers are the next big thing and will play up the Buffalo Hometown boys (Kennedy & Keleta) as the hometown heroes. Didn't Darcy and Mr. Mulligan say they going to make changes at the end of the season? Of course they did, they had to give season ticket holders a reason to be optimistic and buy tickets. Of course, it's July and they have a 94% season ticket renewal rate and now they don't have to BS people about changes that will never happen.


Derrick Brooks isn't a good fit
I was listening to WGR this weekend and the Saturday host was making the case that the Bills should go after Brooks. Hate to break the news but Brooks is done. How do I know without watching any Bucs games last year? Because the guy has been on the market for 4 months and hasn't even garnered a offer or even a free plane ticket to a NFL city for a visit. Getting a defensive leader is overrated especially if the guy can't play anymore. And for all the Brooks' lovers who are going to say the guy made the pro bowl 2 years ago, you should know that father time in the NFL is a funny thing. Marvin Harrison was a pro bowler one year and the next he couldn't even run routes or catch passes anymore.