Well kiddies, the day is nearly upon us. The day when Buffalonians shed their New York City selves and don their Sabres armor for a journey into enemy lands. Like Frodo and his manservant, our fate is certain and there is no turning back from the kind of darkness that awaits us just 25 miles to the west.
Uniondale, NY is a scary ass place. Orcs, man. ORCS.
Despite the Sabres season being an all-but-official wash, and despite the real life obstacles that have ultimately kept many would-be Occupiers away, I am quite excited about the hearty group that has signed on for this game. As noted in the last CrapTastiCast, the four members of the Deeg and Joe from Buffalo Wins will all be in attendance, along with Scizz's newly locked in wife-to-be and my wife-that-already-is. Add in the Apologist's brother (Dr. Ooo of Buffalo hip hop fame), my Best Man and his wife (who is a DEVILS FAN... acceptable...), good friend of the Deeg, Grampa Tim, and a few others that would likely prefer not to be associated with us, but for our organizational abilities when it comes to the combination of marathon drinking and sport, and we've got ourselves a host of possibilities for good ol' fashioned fun. Or embarassment. Or both.
Back on topic, as for the Sabres themselves, I am certainly heartened by their recent play. It had been a while since they had actually demonstrated that they were aware of how to play the sport of ice hockey, so I am happy to acknowledge that progress. This does not, however, mean that I am ditching my plan to heckle the crap out of Derek Roy and Drew Stafford about how they should just give up and play in the KHL. And it certainly doesn't mean that our group of sixteen asshats don't all expect that the Sabres will leave Long Island losers. Again.
Even so, buoyed by recent optimistic pieces of Sabres opinion in the blogosphere, I'm at least encouraged to talk about this team again, and am even excited to see them live and get a better grasp on whether they've actually turned a corner towards giving us watchable hockey on a consistent basis again. I'm also really pumped to see Miller in net (assuming he is), as it looks - from the Rangers game the other night especially - like he might be rounding back into form for the first time since Milan Lucic made off with his marbles.
Consistent with this desire to actually pay attention to this team, the Deeg will be taking some time to record the next CrapTastiCast this Saturday, with segments both pre- and post-game (and perhaps during) in the works. Expect a barrage of real-time "coverage" as well through our various twitter feeds (@DGWUSports, @theycallmedubs @TheScizz, @Y_vo, @Sam_Hartman, @jstanny1 and - since he'll be present as well - @JoeBuffaloWins Ed. note: Like he needs anymore follows), and expect that episode #23 of the CrapTastiCast to hit the interwebs sometime next week (i.e. whenever Scizz wakes up from the inevitable three day hangover).
Until then, keep the faith, Sabres fans, and Let's Go Buffalo.