Stigma stigma stigma - The Sabres

[PlamsUnlimited]

I'm of the opinion that the big thing players want is to play in a good environment where they can be successful and not somewhere they'll hate life at work. Look at it this way, the Islanders have 4 Cups in their history, and basically no one wants to be there.

Good point. They don't really treat their guys that well either. But yeah. T-Peg is in his 2nd and a half year of ownership, and so far, he's doing things that are positively noticeable for Buffalo. Good steps forward.

 

[wilson1379]

You're ignoring the financial issues that cause much of that player exodus in that time frame. Assuming the region was the problem is pretty far off base.

Also, saying 'your city sucks' when you've never been here won't endear you to many around these parts.

I live in the city that's considered the worst place to live in Canada. Get over yourself.

 

[SackTastic]

I will not 'get over myself'.

You've never been to Buffalo, by your own admission, but you feel the need to parrot the opinions of a few people who think it sucks.

Come down here. See for yourself. Get outside of the airport - 33 - hotel corridor that NHL players see and look around.

 

[heartsabres*]

I will not 'get over myself'.

You've never been to Buffalo, by your own admission, but you feel the need to parrot the opinions of a few people who think it sucks.

Come down here. See for yourself. Get outside of the airport - 33 - hotel corridor that NHL players see and look around.

I have been to Buffalo 100 times, from Sabres games, the walden galeria to shopping and dining.

There are lots of great places but the city center itself is horrible, there are places you really don´t want to be in and are not safe.


This team needs a Steve Yzerman, then we can move forward. A face of the franchise, a spokesman for the sabres.

 

[wilson1379]

I will not 'get over myself'.

You've never been to Buffalo, by your own admission, but you feel the need to parrot the opinions of a few people who think it sucks.

Come down here. See for yourself. Get outside of the airport - 33 - hotel corridor that NHL players see and look around.

This is not the opinion of a few people, this is more or less the only opinion I've heard from people.

You're from Buffalo clearly, you obviously love it, it's home for you. I understand that.

No, I've never been, I've heard in interviews opposing players refer to it as the worst city in America. I met Doug Gilmour in person and he told me he hated playing in Buffalo.

I didn't have one person tell me Buffalo sucked, instead I've had numerous, and I've never had anyone tell me the opposite so.

 

[SackTastic]

This is not the opinion of a few people, this is more or less the only opinion I've heard from people.

You're from Buffalo clearly, you obviously love it, it's home for you. I understand that.

No, I've never been, I've heard in interviews opposing players refer to it as the worst city in America. I met Doug Gilmour in person and he told me he hated playing in Buffalo.

I didn't have one person tell me Buffalo sucked, instead I've had numerous, and I've never had anyone tell me the opposite so.

You've never been here, so your opinion of our area means zero.

Good day sir.

 

[wilson1379]

You're right, sorry.

I heard Africa is pretty hot. Never been, so I guess I couldn't tell you though.

 

[heartsabres*]

You've never been here, so your opinion of our area means zero.

Good day sir.

I have been to Buffalo and Downtown is a dump. Some places I rolled up my window and locked my doors, I didn´t have air conditioning in my car and it was +40! (+102)

 

[PlamsUnlimited]

Quit it... Buffalo is a city you have to COME TO and actually explore and branch out to enjoy. It has bad areas but it also has good parts, great food, good people. I don't consider animals who shoot eachother people.

If you haven't even been here I suggest taking a trip sometime and stepping further than the boundaries of the airport...

 

[Due North]

I’ll try to be short… I was born in 1950 and grew up with the Sabres…. Let’s not forget the Buffalo Sabres are over 40 years old and the Buffalo area is a hockey mecca with many professional players growing up and playing here in their youth.

If one wants to know how the NHL league feels about the Buffalo Sabres just ask anyone from Philly; they toss darts at the Crossed Swords, they hate us and the reason is… the Sabres have a storied history and generally play well.

As for the city, I remember a time when Buffalo was the star on the lake and Toronto was a dump…. , but that was a long time ago..

Pegula is changing not only the Sabres but Buffalo as well; there are plans for new hotels and rinks across from the Niagara Center… There is even talk of a downtown stadium for the Buffalo Bills… Also, thanks to global warming Buffalo’s winters are not much of a winter at all; business people are looking to Buffalo as a future city with tons of potential…

Oh, the best American football tailgate in NA happens every time the Buffalo Bills play at home… nowhere in the world can one find 30,000 fans in parking lots 3 hours before a game for a team that sucks…

You are a little older then I am, but when was Toronto a dump and Buffalo a star on the lake ? Toronto was never a dump. I've been there hundreds of times and it's a
modern world class city. Another thing, Buffalo a hockey mecca of professional
players ! How many players are you talking about?

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

You are a little older then I am, but when was Toronto a dump and Buffalo a star on the lake ? Toronto was never a dump. I've been there hundreds of times and it's a
modern world class city. Another thing, Buffalo a hockey mecca of professional
players ! How many players are you talking about?

According to my parents and grandparents in the 1940's and earlier folks used to come down to Buffalo from TO to go to clubs and dinner and stuff.

I'm not making that up because I used to do the exact opposite in the mid 70's (Yonge Street) and was told then how the cities had switched places.

Buffalo's was tops from about 1900 - 1950's. Pan American Exposition, terminus of the Erie Canal, break in bulk point for grain shipments off the greatlakes freighters....where everything inland had to be shipped by rail to NYC. The Welland Canal and St Lawrence Seaway killed all that (Thanks Canada!).

And then the steel mill closed in the 1980's and the rot really settled in.

I believe Toronto used to be called York. No skyscrapers and world class dinning/entertainment back then. Red/brown brick frame warehouses and city blocks.... just like Buffalo still has in many parts of the city.

Toronto went world class in the 1960's with the new city hall bldg. Try visiting your historical society to see what things looked like back then. It wasn't always a city of steel and glass. It was a village once...

NHL players in the 1970's loved being part of the Buffalo franchise. Perreault, Martin, Robert, Gare, Shoenfeld, Korab, etc.. Away from the glare and constant media pressure of Toronto and Montreal. But able to play for a world class NHL team. Many lived across the border in Ft. Erie and commuted to practice over the Peace Bridge. Others came to Buffalo and lived in Amherst, Williamsville and Clarence. Top flight suburbs where you had a lower cost of living than Toronto or New York or Boston and could get a home that wasn't on a postage stamp sized lot. And where people (and the press) honored your privacy and didn't invade it all the time with autograph requests or stupid media traps.

P.S. It wasn't Buffalo the city that drove Briere away. He loved the town. Drury was a Conneticut boy who always wanted to play for the Rangers. And I've met Peter McNab and Pat Lafontaine and they both told me they loved the city.

 

[zenthusiast]

As someone who's been to upwards of 75 major US cities, Buffalo's negatives are far overblown. Maybe the people who like to rag on it haven't spent much time in cities in general?

 

[Reddawg]

I've heard the same type of thing from my father, although I haven't fact checked it at all. The way he tells it, Rochester and Toronto used to be similar cities in terms of size, scope, culture and city vibe, so to speak. In the 40's-60's, Toronto started building 4 and 5 lane highways into the city center to spur growth and improve the infrastructure, and they shot way past Rochester to become the glittering metropolis that it is today.

 

[whiplash]

I love these threads. One way ticket to locktown.


As for the team itself: create a culture of winning, pay your stars, cultivate your young players and it doesn't matter what the city is like. WNY has plenty of affluent areas that even moderately paid players can afford

 

[Reddawg]

I love these threads. One way ticket to locktown.

The tangent is still pretty much on-topic with the thread as a whole.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

I've heard the same type of thing from my father, although I haven't fact checked it at all. The way he tells it, Rochester and Toronto used to be similar cities in terms of size, scope, culture and city vibe, so to speak. In the 40's-60's, Toronto started building 4 and 5 lane highways into the city center to spur growth and improve the infrastructure, and they shot way past Rochester to become the glitteringI metropolis that it is today.

Yep, your dad's got it right.

There's nothing wrong with Buffalo that couldn't be cured by a lowering of property taxes and reduction in the size and scope of village, town, county and city government.

Toronto organized itself into a metropolitan district back in the 1960's and that also helped reduce duplication of Govt services. So social services don't have to suffer.

Sorry this is boring most of you to tears. Blame U.B. and WNY public schools.

 

[ZZamboni]

Yep, your dad's got it right.

There's nothing wrong with Buffalo that couldn't be cured by a lowering of property taxes and reduction in the size and scope of village, town, county and city government.

Toronto organized itself into a metropolitan district back in the 1960's and that also helped reduce duplication of Govt services. So social services don't have to suffer.

Sorry this is boring most of you to tears. Blame U.B. and WNY public schools.

I blame politicians who love spending other people's money with little regard for fiscal responsibility.




And Larry Quinn

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

I didn't have one person tell me Buffalo sucked, instead I've had numerous, and I've never had anyone tell me the opposite so.

Well then it must be true.

If I say you know nothing then it must be true because there is no one saying the opposite

If Buffalo was so bad, why do HoF players like Marcel Dionne and Darryl Sittler live in Buffalo when neither ever played for the Sabres?Why do 90% of former Sabres move back or stay in the area because they never left after their playing days?You know nothing about the city.Buffalo is larger then just the actual city limits, suburbs like Amherst,Williamsville,Tonawanda etc are beautiful places to go/live.If your going to diss my city/region then actually know what your talking about, instead of listening to some ****** bag like Doug Gilmour who was a whiney piece of ****.I love when some of the ignorant numb skulls on HF like to diss Buffalo, when they are ignorant that the Buffalo region is home to the safest city in America (Amherst) or that according to Reader's Digest that Buffalo is actually the cleanest big city in the country.Or that in places like East Amherst/Spaulding Lake etc that none of the ignorant haters could even afford to pay a years mortgage on a house in that area even if they combined 5 years of wages

 

[joshjull]

I love these threads. One way ticket to locktown.


As for the team itself: create a culture of winning, pay your stars, cultivate your young players and it doesn't matter what the city is like. WNY has plenty of affluent areas that even moderately paid players can afford

Succinct and spot on.

 

[PlamsUnlimited]

Layne is awesome. Much more to this city that what people who've never been here say.

 

[dma0034]

There are good parts of Buffalo and bad parts.... A player living here in Hamburg isn't in the same situation as a visiting player in one of the hotels downtown. If the Bills move downtown than I fully expect the city to start building up the area.

 

[Jim Bob]

It may take a few more years.

But, I believe that Pegula is on the right track for making Buffalo a destination for players.

Detroit isn't the greatest place to live. Joe Lewis Arena isn't the most modern.

But, Ilitch built the organization the right way and the the results got there eventually.

But, it did take about a decade for Ilitch to win a cup in Detroit.

It's not a 2 or 3 year thing.