What Hockey Heaven Means to Me

me and missy at the ralph, a photo by kel h on Flickr.

(this post was written as an entry in the Buffalo Sabres Nation Hockey Heaven contest. I was one of the two winners selected and I get a super sweet T-Shirt from the folks at Hockey Heaven. The picture above is me and my sister AKA Her Heiny Granger of the Queen City Roller Girls' Devil Dollies)

I was born during the game that put the Sabres in their first Stanley Cup Final. Legend has it my dad had the game playing in the delivery room, and when I came home from the hospital he would rock me while watching the games on TV. I’ve been a Sabres fan since I was born, and Feb 22nd felt like a new beginning. For me Hockey Heaven is a rebirth, with the team and fans coming together as a hockey family. Seeing the Pegula family handing out programs, alumni welcomed back with open arms, and fans being truly listened to all reminded me of what brings me back to the Sabres year after year. It’s that sense of belonging to a community all dreaming of and working towards one common goal. Now we’re ALL united as a family, working towards the same vision: bringing the Stanley Cup to Buffalo.

Here's some old tyme hockey for ya!

It Gets Better....with the Boston Red Sox

OK, I didn't think it was possible to like Kevin Youuuuukilis any more....and then he took part in making the It Get's Better video from the Red Sox, and admitted that he went into therapy.

There is an blurb in the Globe about who's in the video. Props to the SF Giants and Cubs for making videos supporting GLBT youth and speaking out against bullying.

Kids who identify as Gay Lesbian Bisexual or Transgendered are four times more likely to try to kill themselves. Sports are one area that is particularly rife with homophobia, as seen in multiple players in the NBA using anti-gay slurs to insult refs and fans, and a sports management team tweeting against marriage equality in response to Sean Avery's support for New York's marriage equaility bill (which left a lot of hockey fans in the unusual position of agreeing with Sean Avery about something). There has never been an active athlete in a major sport who has come out while playing. John Amaechi came out after he retired, and Brian Burke's son Brendon came out while involved with Miami University's hockey team (and tragically died in a car accident), but that's as close as it has gotten.

I'm curious which of the four major mens sports will have an active athlete come out. Interestingly women athletes have had an easier time coming out, with Martina Navratalova and Sheryl Swoopes both being out while playing.

At any rate, it's nice to see some athletes take a stand and try to reach out to vulnerable kids.

I Believe in Pegula-Claus or: The Haves and The Have Mores

Happy NHL Free Agency Day (AKA NHL Christmas)! Apparently Darcy Reiger (GM for the Buffalo Sabres) was a good boy and is getting everything on his Christmas list so far. It's a new day for Sabres fans, who more used to being played and only beginning to adapt to being playas.

Clip is from Tropic Thunder and is NSFW

I kind of want to see Darcy walk out in his next press conference to this music.

As a Buffalo sports fan, you get used to the label "small market team" and all that it implies:

• You're lucky you still have a team
• We can't compete financially with the "big boys"
• Nobody wants to live/play there
• We have to be cautious and build through the draft because we can't afford free agency

and there's a narrative around those assumptions. Teams that circumvent the cap are "cheaters", or aren't getting there honestly. We turn these limitations into virtues, and romanticize the situation. David and Goliath. The plucky, loveable undrdogs. USA vs USSR in the "Miracle on Ice"

Well, under Pegula, we're starting to look less like David, and more like Goliath. WE are the team other NHL fans are upset with because of our wheeling and dealing. People are waiving "No Trade Clauses" in their contracts to come to Buffalo. As Corey Grizwold said on Twitter: Kinda weird to be the Red Sox. We are totally the Red Sox now. (By the way, if you are a sports fan and you aren't on twitter yet, you should be. But that's a whole other post).

I'm interested to see how changing the way Buffalo thinks about it's hockey team changes the way it thinks about itself. Pegula didn't just talk about spending more, he talked about changing the culture of the team. So far it seems to be infectious. Twitter is ablaze with rumors and excitement about possible free agents. People are upbeat, and looking forward to October and the start of the season. People are talking about WHEN the Sabres win the cup, not IF.

The more I think about Corey's comment, the more it rings true in a way. The dirty little secret about Boston is that there is a HUGE inferiority complex with New York. The Red Sox vs Yankees rivalry seems to be an externalization of that inferiority complex. The Yankees are the "evil empire" that bought their rings, and the Red Sox are the plucky underdogs....or at least that's how it used to be.

It's a lot harder to pretend to be the underdog when you have the second highest payroll in the game, and baseball's approach to salary management means you can just keep throwing money around as long as you pony up for a "luxury tax". While Bostonians can still be touchy about how we're "not New York", having those rings, and the cup, and the super bowl and NBA Championships can help. At this point you can argue that Boston sports fans are spoiled (and you would be right). You can also argue that the wins have added a bit of a swagger to the town, for good and for not-so-good. It will be especially interesting to see what happens to young fans who weren't around for the lean years of Boston sports and only know a decade of championships as the pendulum inevitably swings the other way.

And it will be interesting to see how winning the cup will change the way people in/from Buffalo respond to their city and their team. As for me, I'm going home for the parade when they win the cup.