A Look at my Sports World

As of October 28, 2007 the Buffalo Bills are 3-4, the Buffalo Sabres are 5-5 and the Boston Red Sox are one win away from winning their second World Series this decade. The Buffalo Bills are playing some inspired football right now. Their defense has been pretty impressive the last several weeks. Today they had 3 sacks, 2 interceptions, and 1 forced fumble recovery. But what is this team without some controversy? JP Losman came in for an injured Trent Edwards during the fourth quarter and threw for a 85- yard touchdown pass to Lee Evans for the eventual sealer in a 13- 3 win over the New York Jets. Edwards left the game with a wrist injury. I can not imagine what the coaching staff of this team is going to decide to do next week when they take on the Cincinnati Bengals. If you watch the play that Evans scored on, the ball is originally caught by the Jets defender than stolen away by Evans who then parades into the end-zone, so this ball is not perfectly thrown. Right now though with the way the defense is playing I think the Bills will win with either Edwards or Losman in the lineup. If I had to decide I would still go with Edwards. There is also the option in which the Arizona Cardinals decided to take where they played 2 quarterbacks per game; sharing the amount of snaps per quarterback.
As for the Sabres, last night against the Tampa Bay Lightning was in my opinion the best game I have watched so far this season. The Sabres showed some determination last night that I have not seen all year. Funny thing is that last year right now this team was 10-0-0 and everyone was talking about them breaking all of these kinds of records and winning the cup. At this point this year this team is certainly not a playoff team, but luckily the season does not end until April and the games don't start to count until December and January. One player on this team though that continues to tick me off every time I see him out there is Jochen Hecht. There was one play in particular that really got me peeved. It was on Friday night in Florida when he gave up on an odd man rush. I DON'T CARE IF YOU ARE AT THE END OF YOUR SHIFT, IF YOU'RE ON AN ODD MAN RUSH YOU NEVER EVER EVER GIVE UP ON A PLAY. That was disgusting. I'm really surprised that the Sabres actually won that game because of that. I mean that could be very demoralizing seeing your capitan which you decided to chose give up on a play like that. Another player on the team who I have not been to impressed with who actually played a good game was Maxim Afinogenov. Max scored a goal, was creating opportunities for teammates, and drew at least two penalties. This is something you expect out of this guy every night, but because I am not seeing this out of him consistently I want him gone. I think the Sabres could get a decent player for Max though. I was thinking of names and I came up with Olli Jokinen. The guy brings leadership, scoring abilities, he's good at face-offs, he can play the pk, and he is physical. Face-offs have been a problem for this team because of the lack there of at that position and adding a guy with offensive talent with some grit is always a plus to have during the playoffs. The Sabres obviously do not have this with Afinogenov. I think Nolan Pratt right now isn't a bad idea either. I think this might be a definite right now from what I have read in the paper. The guy brings grit and experience in the playoffs. They were showing some highlights of this guy during one of the intermissions and Pratt a couple highlights showed him knocking Briere on his ass. Hey if this guy plays for our team and ends up injuring Briere I would have to say this might be one of the greatest signing ever by the Buffalo Sabres. I would also like to add the Sabres were really lucky to win last nights game. Two plays in that game really decided the outcome and they were the goaltender interference call that actually negated Vinny's go ahead goal for Tampa in the third on a powerplay and then in OT when Vanek scored the winner how offside Buffalo was on the 2-1 break. Nathan Paetsch was about 2 strides offside on the play and for some reason the linesman didn't call the play offside. Very lucky, but a win is a win I suppose.
As for the Red Sox, it is probably going to end tonight. This team is very lucky and I do not think they deserve it. The Rockies were white hot and sooner or later you just knew this streak was going to end. I was hoping it was going to come against the D'Backs but that is history now. One more thing on baseball. This idea has been in the back of my mind and it was something I did not want to think about until the ALCS was over partially because I did not want to jinx the Indians run(like that mattered) and also because I felt like I was overly biased until I read this today in the Sports section of the Buffalo News-- Why is it that the national media had to come out with the whole Paul Byrd HGH thing right before Game 7 of the ALCS against Boston. This could have easily thrown Cleveland off their game and this is why I think the media did it. The nation wanted Boston in the World Series and so they received it. Reason number 1 of three things why I think America is so screwed up. Politics, the media and sports run the show here and in my opinion always raises that question in my head that sports, which I extremely enjoy could be fixed.
I hoped you enjoyed this edition. I put some real thought into this post. Peace, John aka Ronnie James Dio aka Holy Diver

Some Sad Days

Well the Red Sox are up two games to none on the Rockies which blows, the Sabres are currently on a three game losing streak, and the Bills are three point favorites over the Jets this weekend in New York. I have watched one whole inning of the World Series and I plan on keeping it that way. There are more important things in life than watching some garbage team win the World Series. The World Series is more like the Dump Series . The Sabres are very disappointing so far. I'm not quite sure if this really surprises me though. The team reflects the idiots running this franchise. The two headed monster at HSBC Arena thinks too highly of their draft picks. It's okay though, the Sabres will just continue to sign these overrated players like Campbell, Kalinin and, well they already signed Jochen Chokin' Hecht. This team sucks and I'm ready to stand on the corner of Eggert and Sheridan and start handing Sabre tickets out like food stamps. Even if this team makes the playoffs, I am not spending the 7, 800 dollars that I dished out these past two seasons to watch Dora the Explorer on Ice. As for the Bills, I like the decision on starting Edwards. This team could be going somewhere (playoffs) in two years when they are in Toronto.
My relationship with Canisius College has finally reached it's last straw. I'm done with St. Peter so I'm moving on. I'm extremely disappointed in the way they treat commuters and the how the college runs itself. Holy Diver is looking for a new home. Look out Fredonia and Buff State.
See ya,
John aka Ronnie James Dio aka Holy Diver

ALCS

I FUCKING HATE THE RED SOX

Going to Cleveland

Yesterday I found out that my two good friends, Nick and John Sanders, were planning on going to Game 5 of the ALCS in Cleveland, Ohio. As soon as I got the message from Ryan, I called him up and got in on the action. Now we just have to pray for a Game 5.

Predictions:

ALCS
Cleveland over Boston in 6 games

NLCS
Arizona over Colorado in 5 games

In my opinion both the Diamondbacks and Indians have the most complete rosters of the four teams left, let alone the entire league. Pitching wins it for ya, and the D'backs certainly have that plus home field advantage during this series against the Rockies which is HUGE. Coors Field plays a factor in this, and luckily for the D'backs there is only going to be 2 games played there plus one if necessary. I must say I'm happy for both of these teams. Both the Rockies and D'backs have done it the right way in building through the farm systems with real good drafts(not like the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, etc.). This can also be said about the Indians. Being from Buffalo you would think the Red Sox were playing the Buffalo Bisons! These are three real likable teams. As for the BoSox, I hope their franchise rots.

NOTE TO BUFFALO FANS

Two things are killing Buffalo sports. One of them is something that fans can play a role in and that is to forget the whole working, blue-collared sports town thing. I know lots like this kind of philosophy because that's who we are, but this will always give management (second thing that’s killing our sports) a reason for all of the improbable losses year in and year out. As quoted from Jerry Sullivan's article today, "Ralph Wilson, the owner, said he would be happy if they put on a decent show, even in defeat." ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!! That's how our football teams owner went into a Monday Night Football game televised across American against a team that beat us two consecutive times in the BIG GAME 11, 12 years ago. Come on, show some confidence. Going into that game I was saying that there had been no upset and that football was due for one that week. But because our owner felt this way, our head coach felt this way; translating into the outcome. I like Dick Jaroun as a person, but not as a head coach of my football team. The same can be said about the offseason for the Sabres, but I'm not going into detail because I have already done it countless times and I know that all Sabres fans know too. Sullivan ends his article saying, "Their long- suffering fans will pick themselves up, too, and come back for more. It's part of being a Buffalo sports fan. How many times can you do it, though? Really, after a night like this, how much more of this can you take?" Management knows that they have us by the balls. If we don't show up, the Sabres and Bills will pack up and move to Las Vegas, or Las Angeles or even Toronto. We seriously must be insane when it comes to sports. I, like so many other Buffalo fans, have no voice today. I, like so many Buffalo fans, are tired today. I, like so many Buffalo fans, had to go to work today. For what? For a championship that is never coming.

Lets go D'backs!!!

Game 1 is set. The Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Chicago Cubs 3-1 last night. Brandon Webb, Brandon Lyon, and Jose Valverde did their job in only allowing one run. The bats were also cracking for the Diamondbacks with two homeruns, one by Stephen Drew in the fourth inning (stupid me I was watching the Stars/ Avalanche game at the time) and Mark Reynolds after the Cubs tied it up in the seventh. Both were solo shots. The D'Backs also added another run during the seventh inning with a sac fly by .
Tonight is Game 2 at 10 o'clock PM. Doug Davis goes to the mound for Arizona while Ted Lilly pitches for the Cubs. Arizona is going to win this game 6-3.
In other sports news, the Toronto Maple Leafs lost their first game 4-3 in overtime. Nik Antropov had two goals while Stajan had the other. Raycroft made somewhat of a surprise start for the Leafs, but I've talked to several people who follow the Leafs and they say Toskala is supposed to start tonight. On the other side of the rank, the Ottawa Senators received goals from Vermette, Alfredsson and Heatly had two including the winner in OT. Martin Gerber started in goal last night, but I think you might see Emery tonight. If this is the case, I think you will see a Leafs victory. Prediction: Leafs 405- 1 (Toskala will unfortunately not get the shutout). One more note on this game, one of my sleepers as posted in a previous post on Fantasy Hockey, Andy or is it David or is it Carl Woznieski had to helpers in a losing effort. That's okay Woz, you'll get them tonight.
October is looking like a tremendous month of sports. The baseball playoffs finally have some interesting teams to watch in the playoffs, hockey has started, and the Bills have a quarterback who has a brain and might just win a few more games than people expected.
Gotta go. Post Please! Peace, john aka ronnie james dio aka holy diver

PS The picture on the left is of Ryan John Sanders Welch as the "WOZ." The one on the right is the great "WOZ"
PS I'm going to start a "Vote for WOZ" campaign for the all-star game. I hope all of my loyal readers will help me out in the effort of getting the Woz to the all-star game.