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If we don't make the playoffs next year

SwordsgoneWild

SwordsgoneWild

WhenyougazeintotheabysstheBuffaloSabresgazeback
Mar 6, 2011
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Lake Worth,Fl
Then where would that leave you as a fan? If we make it 15 straight years then I will seriously think about not rooting for them until Terry sells ( fat chance of that though ).
 
Honestly they are already an afterthought for me and I think thats about as low as it gets for me. I don't actively hate them and I won't root against them, I just don't think about them much.

I am not gonna pretend that if they ever get good I will still be gone because I know i'd come back. But they'd need to be like good good. A fluke/lucky season where they make the 8th seed won't cut it. There needs to be good underlying stats that back up good eye tests that end up with the team solidly making the playoffs and not being an easy out. I don't see myself really engaging until this happens. We have had too many false hopes or good stretches that turn into nothing.

So I guess my answer is it won't change much for me because I already tapped out.
 
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Mattilaus said:
Honestly they are already an afterthought for me and I think thats about as low as it gets for me. I don't actively hate them and I won't root against them, I just don't think about them much.

I am not gonna pretend that if they ever get good I will still be gone because I know i'd come back. But they'd need to be like good good. A fluke/lucky season where they make the 8th seed won't cut it. There needs to be good underlying stats that back up good eye tests that end up with the team solidly making the playoffs and not being an easy out. I don't see myself really engaging until this happens. We have had too many false hopes or good stretches that turn into nothing.

So I guess my answer is it won't change much for me because I already tapped out.
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Same. I love hockey from afar so I'll still follow the rest of the league and the History of Hockey forum here but I'm just checked out from the Sabres these days. The Bills becoming good again really made the contrast in organizational competency stark.

Even when the Bills were in their drought, they took legitimate swings at guys that made them interesting (Bledsoe, TO, Mario Williams, etc.). The Sabres have just done next to nothing for so long. The last time I truly felt invested in them to the same level as the Bills was when we had Kane/Eichel/Reinhart/O'Reilly. It hasn't been the same since.

It's sad because hockey is so fantastic right now and the NHL has a lot of good things going for it, but I root for the Sabres at the same level that I root for the Cavs or the Guardians these days. They're not my hometown team any longer.
 
The way I'd answer this one is that if the Sabres somehow win the Cup at some point, it will probably mean about 25% of what it would have meant to me back when real hockey was played in Buffalo. The reality is it will probably end up meaning nothing at all because I probably won't be alive long enough to see it, at best I'm only going to live 25 to 35 more years.
 
My reaction after leaving the fandom THIS offseason. Same energy.

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I’ll be honest, my fandom is going to be pretty meh until they prove they are building towards contention. Them making the playoffs and being kicked out after 5 games doesn’t prove much. 16 teams make the playoffs. It’s not a huge accomplishment. I frankly don’t see how the current iteration can do much other than be a perennial bubble team. A few prospects are going to have to make major leaps beyond their current projection.
 
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Being a fan isn't contingent on team performance or winning or losing. If that was the case, I would have hated my high school (Canisius) because they got their asses kicked by Joes for 20 straight years, or I would have abandoned PSU during the Sandusky years. Hell, I would have walked out on my own kids games because some of their teams were horrific.

I love my teams because I was born into them or I chose to make them a permanent part of my life. The Sabres are no different, nothing can remove the nostalgia I had growing up with them. Hell, they really weren't very good back then, it was 82 games of waiting to see whether Montreal or Boston were going to curb stomp us in the first round.

So no amount of losing will make me say "f*** you, I'm out". Honestly, I'm probably as sour about how the NHL game has progressed and the mentality of modern day athletes as much as, if not moreso than the Sabres continued losing. I don't enjoy watching most of the NHL games, I find myself enjoying college and local high school games much more than the pros.

But at the end of the day sports are supposed to be an enjoyable release from the stress and strain of everyday life. So when I'm not enjoying the games I just turn them off and do something else that's enjoyable. I don't dwell on how much I hate the team and how they're somehow let me down, I don't have time for that kind of energy. Also, the rise of streaming and the difficulty of accessing RSNs like MSG make it very easy to ignore games when I'm not extremely vested into the results.

So I'll be here until they're not.
 
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I'm going to be retired in under two years and living a much different life, in a much different place. I will be so into a new existence that by the time the Sabres ever become a contender, I will probably have forgotten all about how much I used to care, or look back and laugh about it. There's nothing but a flickering ember of morbid curiosity for me right now, just wondering if the KA era FO will realize they're screw ups and do anything to change course. I assume not. This draft doesn't matter because they'll pick a guy, and it doesn't matter who it is. They'll try some trades, and it won't matter because they won't risk enough to get the players they need. They won't sign a blank check for an FA they desperately need like Bennett. I'm just curious if they at least try anything, even though it's a lost cause.
 
It's crazy that now only after 14 seasons and if they make it 15 your interest will wane.

People still go to games and that's insane to me. I'm starting to believe I'm borderline insane because I still visit this site once a week which means there is like a 2% in me that still gives an F.

But to only have your interest wane now or next year if they make it 15 is peak delirium.
 
Fezzy126 said:
Being a fan isn't contingent on team performance or winning or losing. If that was the case, I would have hated my high school (Canisius) because they got their asses kicked by Joes for 20 straight years, or I would have abandoned PSU during the Sandusky years. Hell, I would have walked out on my own kids games because some of their teams were horrific.

I love my teams because I was born into them or I chose to make them a permanent part of my life. The Sabres are no different, nothing can remove the nostalgia I had growing up with them. Hell, they really weren't very good back then, it was 82 games of waiting to see whether Montreal or Boston were going to curb stomp us in the first round.

So no amount of losing will make me say "f*** you, I'm out". Honestly, I'm probably as sour about how the NHL game has progressed and the mentality of modern day athletes as much as, if not moreso than the Sabres continued losing. I don't enjoy watching most of the NHL games, I find myself enjoying college and local high school games much more than the pros.

But at the end of the day sports are supposed to be an enjoyable release from the stress and strain of everyday life. So when I'm not enjoying the games I just turn them off and do something else that's enjoyable. I don't dwell on how much I hate the team and how they're somehow let me down, I don't have time for that kind of energy. Also, the rise of streaming and the difficulty of accessing RSNs like MSG make it very easy to ignore games when I'm not extremely vested into the results.

So I'll be here until they're not.
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For me, my time and energy are finite. For what the Sabres organization has become, I’m not investing my time and energy into something that treats its fanbase the way it does. I’m going to love hockey for all my life. But I’m at an age that and a place in my life where it physically made me ill hanging onto the anxiety this team produced. The manner in which they interacted with their customers has been a joke and they have convinced me, they are not getting a penny from me.

The losing doesn’t even factor into it. I’ve said it another thread. Hell, I’ve stuck with the Buffalo Bills for 20 years of no playoffs. They were just as mediocre as the Sabres were and ran through so many more GMs and coaches. But they never made me feel such disdain for their product as what the Sabres have done.

I haven’t reached the point of actively rooting for the players to lose, but I’m hoping beyond hope that things happen that Kevyn and company are ousted.
 
Losing no matter for how long or how painful shouldn't determine if you are a fan.

Its shitty but I have been a fan since I was 10 years old. Should I just turn that off because of a shitty owner or losing team?

It doesn't make sense to me this method that being said I wont financially support the team until I agree with the direction the team is going.

Even when the team was losing when Ted Nolan was coach I supported the team and went to games because as the slogan said,"The hardest working team in hockey" I could get behind that and support that.

I cannot support financially what I see on the ice with management now. Until things change I will continue to suppor tthem from my sofa but not with my wallet.
 
I'll always be a Sabres fan, all the playoff drought has done is change how much money I spend on it.

At this point I spend zero actual dollars on them, but I still find ways to watch... if not for the enjoyment of winning, then dissecting the good and bad, and appreciate the few highs (before the crushing lows) every season.

If they can manage to put together an enjoyable season or two and I'm convinced it's not a fluke... I'd actually spend on more reliable ways to watch, maybe go to a few games, buy a jersey, etc. Like I used to.

If they don't, I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.
 
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I think I've reached the low point already. No excitement.
I don't even care about the playoffs, I miss guys like Konopka, Foligno and Scott. Even Lehner made things fun.

It's essentially Dahlin and Benson that I like. Feelings towards the rest of the team is pure apathy at best and absolute disgust at worst.
 
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