Rekindling the Flame, We're All in This Together, and Brutal Practice Makes Perfect

I've rekindled the flame of an old mini-crush! Ben Affleck! I watched Daredevil Saturday night and fell in love with Ben Affleck all over again, just I like I had in such movies as "Pearl Harbor" and "Jersey Girl" (yes Jersey Girl, I love the scene where the little girl sings a song from Sweeney Todd, classic!). I really wasn't planning on Daredevil being that good and since it was 10pm when it started, I figured I would fall asleep during it anyway. Oh no, I couldn't be anymore wrong! Ben Affleck in that red leather suit, kicking ass and taking names in the name of all that is good and just like a modern day blind Robin Hood. The reason why I have a mini-crush on Ben Affleck came back quicker than the speed of light. I'm sure it will only last until I see the next picture of Robert Redford or my ultimate crush (not just a mini-crush) Rob Lowe. But for the next week or two you have a nice place in my dreams, but only if you have the red leather crime fighting suit or pilot uniform, otherwise no deal!

Since it is Friday and elections were Tuesday, I am sure we are all aware of the results. I'm not pleased with them by any means, but God does everything for a reason. I am glad to say that I don't have to watch any of the annoying political commercials anymore. Not that I really did anyway, because I would flip the channel or take a much needed potty break, but in any event, I'm glad they're done and I'm glad the elections are over, even if I don't like the outcome. Yet, at the end of the day we're all American citizens and all route for the same country, so now we need to stay together and do what's best for the country.

Onto a lighter topic. Sabres game tonight. Could that Ryan Miller be any hotter! (and I don't mean physically, even though he's not shabby) But two shut outs in a row! Not just one, but two! Amazing. Also, the team has played really well the past two games or so I've heard. I was working Monday and unable Saturday to watch the games, but my boss said the Sabres couldn't have been anymore on their game. It was a very well-played game. Hopefully, they can keep it up tonight against the Thrashers. I especially like Vanek's latest blog entry and the last paragraph where the "drills normally aren't that brutal". hahaha Oh, you know that the Ruffinator was beating their arses into the ground because of the previous two loses and it worked because the last two games were phenomenal. I shouldn't laugh that the Sabres got an booty kicking, but it reminds me of my college dance classes when the professor got mad and would just run our arses into the ground. There were days I thought I was gonna bite the big one at the ripe young age of 20, but you know the old saying, "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger".... must be the Ruffinator's motto.

I'm Not a High Class Dame, So Let's Not Get Fancy, I'm Sad to Admit My Disappointment in Tredwards, and Running Out of Time for My Personal Stories

Well, so much has happened since my last blog in Buffalo Sports news and my life (oh I am sure you are all dying to hear about my life *please note the sarcastic tone*) So, I will start my blog talking about Buffalo Sports and after I finish with that  if you would like to continue about my personal life which I swear should be a flipping reality show, you may, if not, it's cool, I just need to vent a bit.

First off, the Sabres... well, what can I say, I'll say this, I will still love them even though the past two games were rocky. This is just a minor bump in the road on the way to the Stanley Cup. Jason Pominville and Ryan Miller commented on why this little snag is happening, the Sabres are trying to play to fancy and cute for the home crowd instead of playing to get the job done. This sounds a little familar to last season, now I'm not saying that the Sabres are repeating last season, I'm just saying trying to play a little too fancy sounds like a symptom of how they played last season. I know they have some very talented players on the Sabres roster, but sometimes fancy isn't better than the basics which get the job done. I think Ryan Miller said it best with this quote....

“We have a lot of creative guys that want to break out and it’s hard to keep them reigned in sometimes. It’s hard to keep the horses in the stable."

So, Lindy has to be the head of the ranch and tame the horses. He can be like Robert Redford's character Tom Booker in the Horse Whisperer. (You should of guessed I would throw a Robert Redford reference in at any chance I got) If anyone can tame the Wild Stallions on Ice that we call the Buffalo Sabres, then it would be Lindy Ruff. I see some of his taming techniques include switching up some of the lines. I really don't like the fact that the Ruffinator is breaking up the Vanek, Roy, Stafford line by switching Stafford with Kotalik, but "In Ruff We Trust", so I won't argue with him. Hopefully, the taming has begun in a rough afternoon practice today and tomorrow the Sabres will wipe the Caps and their beloved Ovie all over the ice.

Harley informed me that on the New York Jets website there is a transcript posted of a conference call with Edwards and Jauron. Now before I say my next statement, if you have ever read my blog, you know I am a big Trent Edwards fan and think he is a tremendous player and person. I have even listed traits about him that I find admirable on this site. With that being said, I am a little disappointed in him. In the transcript they asked him who he would be voting for and he said, "Obama". Now, I am not judging him for his choice on who he is voting for, that's the great thing about America, we all have our voice and can choose to vote for whoever we like, even though I am voting for McCain/Palin, I'm not disappointed that he is voting for Obama. I am however disappointed for his reason for voting for Obama. Seeing that he has a Political Science Degree from Stanford University, I was expecting a very thought-out list of reasons of why Obama was receiving his vote. This is is reasoning....

"The reason is I think that a changeneeds to be made and that’s the biggest change out of the twocandidates. 

Besides that, I haven’t really been following it tooclosely in terms of their issues, their policies and what theydiffer on. I just feel like he’s the most different from the one wehave in power right now."

"This isgoing to sound really shallow but I’ll just say this, that I feellike he presents himself a lot better in the media and he handles himself well in interviews. I know that doesn’t dictatehow good a president is going to be, but in terms of the reason I’m voting for someone, again it sounds really shallow,but I just think he exudes a confidence and a presence about him that this country needs to see."

Yeah, it does sound shallow and I expected more of a real reason on why you were voting for Obama besides the fact he's a good public speaker and you think he will bring the change this country needs. What about his issues? Did you consider the fact that if he gets voted to be our next President our country will turn into a socialist country? How about the fact that Obama is pro-choice and finds it okay to fetuses because supposedly they aren't a real human being? (Are you kidding me? I'm with McCain/Palin on this, Life begins at conception) Or how about that Obama really has no friggin' clue on how our military works and pretty much will screw the country when he takes to take over the War in Iraq? Trent, I'm disappointed because you couldn't give me a real solid reason on why you were voting for Obama, except he's a quality public speaker who may or may not bring the change that this country needs. But then if I think about it, you know you aren't the only one who can't list quality reasons on why you should vote for Obama, all the people who are Obama supporters can't come up with a list either, You are not alone on this, there really isn't a quality list of reasons for voting for Obama, so how were you suppose to think up one with your busy schedule and master plan of winning the Super Bowl Championship for Buffalo in 2009. Actually to think about it, you took the hard route by trying to use your intellect to come up with a list of good reasons to vote for Obama, but even an extremely intelligent man like yourself couldn't create one. If you said you were voting for McCain/Palin, it would have been easy and right in front of your face on why you and the rest of this nation should vote for McCain/Palin, but you were trying to tackle the impossible by coming up with a single good reason why you and the rest of the nation should vote for Obama. Don't feel bad Trent, you are amazing, but even you can't tackle the impossible. Just keep up the amazing work of being one of the top signal callers in the NFL and winning games for the best city in the country.

Sad to say, my personal stories are going to have to wait for another day. I must go and chaperone my youth group for a Halloween event at my church. Happy Halloween, everyone!

Can We Erase This Week-end, too?, Human Error = Free Trips to Disney World, and Sabotaging Your Own Marriage

As I sit here on my couch blogging, I'm watching the bills game, there is 3:04 in the 4th quarter and I refuse to give up on the Bills, but it's not looking so hot. The worst thing about it all, we're playing Miami and we HATE Miami in WNY! Trent just ran his booty off trying to get the touchdown! Nice hustle Tredwards! But it didn't count for some odd reason, stupid refs! There was a flag, but I don't know why and why that didn't count. I have to give Trent credit, he's really given 110%, even if he had some rough plays, but hey, we all have our bad days at least ours are broadcasted across the entire nation. I'm glad I'm not in the public eye because the press would have a field day with my bad days. Personally, I really don't understand how athletes or celebrities do it, but I guess the pros out way the cons!

CRAP! So, Tredwards just had an awesome pass and Royal just fumbled.... Oi! Well, you win some and lose some and you can't get tickets to the rest, I guess. Poo, but there's just a little extra salt in the wound because we aren't playing well against the fish! I guess it's just a bad week-end for Buffalo Sports. Sabres lost last night as well..... in a shootout none the less...*cringes*! But, at least the Sabres are still undefeated in regulation and they did have to put up five shooters to lose, so the effort was there, but hey, you can't win them all. There's 82 regular season hockey games, I love the Sabres, but they are human and aren't gonna win every game, as nice in theory as that is. But they are still a doing really well. I didn't watch last nights game because I was chaperoning my church teens at a retreat, but Harley was texting me the game results. I did watch the game on Thursday against the Wild and I felt absolutely horrible Miller. You can tell him scoring that goal on himself really ate away at him, but again hey he's human, as much as I like to think of him as a brickwall and again to error is to be human. I must say the team rallied around him and they won. You can tell in Miller's interview that he felt bad because he was buying the team a five course meal and trips to Disney world. Personally, he's bailed the team out of a lot of when they weren't playing good defense, so they owe him and were just repaying the favor. The Bills officially lost, 25 -16, poo! Oh, well, we're just gonna call this a bad week-end for Buffalo Sports. Can we erase this one too?

Switching to the E! channel, "Love and Cry in LA" why Hollywood couples split up. Yes, I'm watching this stuff and yes, it's a guilty pleasure. The are talking about Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson and how their relationship fell apart. Well, basically if you add a camera and the entire world into your personal life, it's like sticking a knife right in the middle of the relationship and ripping it to shreads. Have you noticed how every Hollywood couple that does a reality show together usually end up divorced/separated after it? Nick Lachey & Jessica Simpson, Dave Novarro & Carmen Electra, Hulk & Linda Hogan, Travis Barker & Shana Moakler, so on and so forth. Why is this? Because personal lives should remains just that.... Personal. I would never want my personal open for the world to see. It's bad enough that the media goes after celebrities who aren't asking for the attention, but why invite them to rip your relationship apart? hmmmm.... where is the intelligence in that? Oh, wait, there is none!

Winston the Game Pigeon, Imitating Lindy, and the Goot

A lot has happened in Buffalo Sports news since the last time I posted in six days and I am very proud and pleased to say that the Buffalo teams are incredibly strong this year. Both of them. At the same time. If I was going to recap everything I didn't write about in the past 144 hours, then this blog would take me about entire day to write, so I am just going talk about a few Bills and Sabres tidbits that I found incredibly interesting.

First the Sabres...

I was watching the video, Rick Jeanneret "Voices", on Sabres TV and I'm really glad they have a feature on RJ, because he has been a great part of Sabres history. I'm probably partial, but I have have to say that he is the greatest Hockey commentator of all time. His sayings are so memorable that I was quoting him when I was six years old.... "La-La-La-Fontaine". To this day, that is why Pat LaFontaine is one of my all time favorite hockey players. Below is the video, so you can watch some of RJ's memorable sayings and it's nice to have some of Lindy's input on it.

So, the Sabres have a new mascot, well, I should rephrase that they don't have a new mascot, wrong word, my bad. They have new traveling companion. The pigeon of the game. It goes to the player that played the best that game. My mom (who was a pre-K teacher for many a years) had something similar to this for her class, except it was a teddy bear. The students in her class would get to take home the bear and they would have to take pictures of where they went with the bear over the week-end, ie. if they went to the library they would take a picture with the bear at the library or Mickey D's, the kids would be shown feeding the bear french fries, so on and so forth. The kids loved taking home the bear, I think his name was hunter? I could be wrong about that one, any who... Maybe the Sabres do that. Like if Drew Stafford has the honor of spending time with the pigeon, he takes it to band practice with him and you have a picture of Drew rocking out on the guitar and the pigeon playing the drums or if Derek Roy gets a day with him, you see a pic of the pigeon and Derek on his boat. Maybe the Sabres are keeping a secret scrapbook of each players time with the pigeon. At the end of the season each player brings in the pages they made for the special scrapbook and then the Sabres put it in a special library and years later new Sabres can look at the pigeon's and the Sabres' alumni special moments together. It's just a thought. Well, now the pigeon is sort of reminding me of the Travelocity Gnome. hmmm.... you know, the pigeon needs a name, the didn't state whether he was donned one by the organization, but since I don't know what it is and I like to give inanimate objects names, I'm going to name the pigeon of the game, Winston, because we are going to be doing a lot of winning this season. Winston. It's catchy I like it.

Winston, the Sabres pigeon of the game.

Jason Pominville has written a new blog and answered a many a Sabres fans questions. I like reading J.J. Pom's blog, it's so polite. A fan even asked him about it.

How do you stay so friendly with people when they are so demanding and ask such strange questions? Sheryl – Jamestown, NY

It’s just the way I interact with people. Sometimes they have funny questions, but if I can answer it I’ll do my best. If I can’t I’ll just say I can’t… like the dancing question. I just don’t think I can! It’s part of the game, the fans like it and as a player I don’t mind it. I think overall it’s actually pretty funny and a good thing to do.

Honesty... a very admirable and attractive trait. You know, Pommer's possesses a lot of great qualities, honesty, politeness, kindness, hardworking, good-looking, and athletic. He's one of those guys you wish they would multiply and pass out to the well-deserving single women of this earth to have as a significant other. But until they figure out how to clone humans, I guess the females of this earth will have to wait and ask the age-old question that all women ask of guys who are great, but in a serious relationship, "Does he have a brother?"

One more thing on the Sabres and Pommer's blog, he said that the best team costume was when Tim Connolly dressed up as Chris Drury in the Little League World Series. Well, that might have been a good one, but my Halloween costume this year is going to trump that one big time. Tomorrow night at 8, when I go to my friends house for a party, I am going as the one and only Lindy Ruff! That's right folks. I'm going as the Ruffinator. I'm going as Lindy during practice, wearing a Sabres ballcap (easier to hide my long hair) and sweats, I'm drawing a Lindy-esque mustache on my face and I don't own a hockey stick, so I may walk around with a clipboard. I'm going to yell things like, "Move your feet, Move your feet, Move your feet... away from the snacks!" and "That's BS!" Ahhhhh... yes... I have been planning this costume for a year and I can't wait to impersonate the greatest hockey of all time.

Second, Bills news.....

They won on Sunday against the Chargers! Kawika Mitchell was on fire! That inception he made was exceptional! I looked for a video of it on youtube, but no such luck in finding it, maybe because of the whole power outage situation. hmmmm.... but if you didn't witness it, take my word for it, he's worth every penny that he's getting paid. Another person earning their paycheck, Mr. Trent Edwards! Watching him play on Sunday, you would have never of guessed that he suffered a concussion. He was on top of his game and then some. I'm glad to see he's back, well, not just glad, over the top ELATED! Yet, Trent is still humble as ever. That amazing catch that Lee Evans made where he held the ball next to his shoulder. Trent gave Lee all the credit saying that it wasn't one of the best throws of his career, but Lee made it look that way. Humble, another quality I have to add to my "Why I am a Trent Edwards' Fan" list. I also read on the Bills' website that Trent might be up to play in the Pro-Bowl, a well-deserved honor indeed. Since his birthday is in one week, he's accomplished a lot before the ripe, young age of 25. Man, he makes me feel like a slacker. grant it I'm a couple years younger (almost), but I have a lot of work to do, if I'm going to accomplish an amazing and detailed resume as Trent Edwards by the time I'm 25. I better get on that.

Thirdly, Steve Guttenberg. Now, I know this has absolutely nothing to do with Buffalo Sports, but I must write about this new little tidbit that I have learned about myself. Now, as I have stated before I love cheesy chick flicks circa 1980 to mid 1990's, examples of this would be my love of the movies, "Groundhog Day", "While You Were Sleeping" and "Father of the Bride part 1 and 2". Well, I was at a flea market two weeks ago and was buying more cheesy, vhs, chick flicks for a buck and I purchased, "Three Men and a Baby" (see where I'm going with this?). Ted Danson, Tom Selleck, and Steve Guttenberg all star in this movie as big man whores who have to take care of the illegitimate of Ted Danson's character. It was pretty good, but I was beat and fell asleep half way through, I'm sure I'll be watching it again some time soon. But before I feel asleep, I hate to admit it, but the Goot was looking pretty good. I mean not Robert Redford good, but sensitive, quirky guy with a baby good. I guess I'm just remember him from Dancing with the Stars last season when he danced with Jonathan and proclaimed his love of dance. But, I developed a mini-crush on him for about 12 hours and so for a 12 hour period, I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but I must come clean with my feelings, I had a crush on the Goot.

Kids Who Think They are Capable of Being Adults, A Heartfelt Update, and Reuniting with My Other Half

I need to stop watching shows with topics that aggravate me. I was watching the Tyra show this morning (I really do love this show and I am a Tyra fan) and they were talking about child brides. The first guest on, was a girl who was 15 and wanted to marry her 18 year old boyfriend. (Can we say jailbait?) She met him when she was 12 and he was 15, he was her day camp counselor and they are both currently living in her mom's house, living in her bedroom, sharing the same bed. Of course they are having sex, but the kicker is they are trying to have a baby. She has been trying to get pregnant for a year and since she couldn't get pregnant the natural way, she has bought fertility drugs over the internet. She recently doubled her dosage of fertility drugs because she still wasn't getting pregnant. When asked why she wanted to get married, her response was, "Well, like, I'm responsible for my age, like more responsible than most kids, and like, I take care of my younger sisters when my mom needs me to. I, like, dress them and feed them, and like play with them." Tyra's response, "That's called babysitting. Every girl your age has babysat." The girl's response, "Yeah, that's what I do, so, like, I can take care of my own kid." Tyra asked her who her role model was, the girl's response was Jamie Lynn Spears, because "She is , like, so much more responsible than her sister. Like, she hasn't her kid taken away from her yet, and like she's young, unlike Britney, who like an adult and old. So, I can take care of my kid too." All righty, so I don't even know where to even start critiquing this and I'm not even done summarizing, but let me add a few personal comments to all this. A) Jamie Lynn hasn't had her taken away from her yet. Even she said yet. So, give it a little time and I'm sure the odds are in her favor to have her kid taken away from her. B) Britney has had many personal problems (many is an understatement) which I'm not even going to talk about any of those, but Britney isn't old to be having kids. She had her first child at age 23. I think that's a normal age to have kids. Britney is turning 27 in December... since when is that old? But I digress... They asked the boyfriend why he wanted to get married and his response was, "Well, I really love her and I have a job as a pizza man, and we're already having sex, so why not?" Tyra asked him how much money he made year and he said about $1,000. Then the girlfriend said, "No, you make about $5,000 maybe. Well, you make $8.10 an hour." He replied with, "Oh, that's right". Seriously, you can even do the mathematics on what your annual income is and you are ready to get married and raise a kid. If you are still living in your mom's or significant other's mom house, you are not ready to get married and start a family. If you have to sneak behind your mother's back and order fertility drugs off the internet instead of seeing a health care professional, you are definitely not ready to be married or raise kids. You aren't even a responsible adult. You can't even vote, drink, buy cigs or porno. You can't even drive a car! Marriage isn't all fun and games. It's a lot of work and responsibility. There are a lot of wonderful benefits from marriage that can fulfill your life, but it's not all sunshine and lollipops. When Tyra asked the girl why she wanted to marry her boyfriend she responded, "Well, like, he's perfect, he, like, buys me stuff, when he gets a paycheck, and cleans my room and like I always get what I want." ARE YOU KIDDING ME? How are you suppose to pay for a baby if your hubby's money is all going to buy you stuff. If you want to raise a family, you can no longer be ego-centric. You have to grow up and sacrifice your needs for your children. What Jamie Lynn Spears makes it look so easy? Well, I wonder why, she has the money to pay people to help her. Guess, what if your hubby is only pulling in $5,000 a year (if that) then your butt is probably going to have to get a job and I'm sure at that point you'll be happy if you can buy toilet paper to wipe your ass with. You won't be able to buy whatever you want. I'm glad to say at the end of the show, Tyra talked her out of getting married right now and her boyfriend was getting his own place (I'm sure it's a hole in the wall with his income, but at least it's his own place). She also took a pregnancy test and Praise the Lord she wasn't pregnant. If she was, the only victim in this whole situation would have been the child. What is wrong with kids now-a-days. When I was 15, I still thought boys had cooties. (actually, if you go to such places as frat houses, or places where multiple heterosexual males co-habitat, I still believe cooties exist. There's always something crawling around in those places and the weirdest smells, too) Ok, well, maybe not at 15, but I was more worried about my academics and dancing than boys. And I certainly didn't want to get married or have kids at that age, heck, I'm still not ready for that.

So, I know I've been blogging a lot on how Ryan Miller has been slacking on updating his blog, but I must say when he updates, he updates. There was definitely a lot of thought put into his latest blog. Of course he talked about the success of the Sabres, but not too much, because as he pointed out you can find out how well the Sabres are doing on various places on the internet. He preceded to talk about his cousin Matt who passed away about a year ago from cancer. It was a very heartfelt entry and I'm not going to even begin to summarize because I can not even begin to give it the ounce of justice that it deserves. But, I truly do recommend taking the time to read it. It made me want to go and comfort everyone who experiences this heartache of losing a loved one much too early in life to such a dreadful disease. Ryan stated that The Steadfast Foundation website (www.thesteadfastfoundation.com) will be having a link on their website on how you can help out.

A good time is had by all at The Steadfast Foundation's Catwalk for Charity. Having fun and helping other what in the world could be better. I mean Jason Pominville is having a good time with his yellow canary boa and even though the puppy looks a wee bit sad, it went to a good home with the Thibaults. (editor's note, this isn't my picture it belongs to CSINickStokslvr I pinked out her face because A) I wasn't sure if she wanted her face displayed on my blog and B) Pink is a fierce color, I was thinking of going with canary yellow to match Pommer's boa, but decided it would be a wee too much.)

Speaking of loved ones, I get to see my Chi Chi tomorrow! *overcomed with great joy* Yes, I get to see my other half tomorrow and it may only be for about 20 hours, but I am in great need of a Chi Chi fix. I haven't seen her in 7 months and that is far too long. Grant she lives about 1,000 miles away and since we are both poor fairly recent college grads who majored in dance and do a have career in our chosen field, but our chosen field pays us mere peanuts, so we can not afford to travel and see each other as much as we would like. But, the reason I get to see her is for a very special occasion, our dear friend, Tallie, is having her Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party all in the same day. The wedding is in another six weeks and I'll get to see Chi Chi again! Yes, I'm going to another wedding event, but I get to see so many of my beloved friends and dancers, I fun time should be had by all. I haven't seen Tallie, Luan, and Chevelle in 7 months either. It feels like eons. After tomorrow night which will turn into Sunday morning, I'm sure I'll have many stories.