Lassie! Go Quick! Timmy Fell Down the Well and Landed in Toronto

I’m really going to have to get some new material. There’s only so many games next season where I’ll be able to make a Timmy & Lassie joke.

Earlier today, Sully posted a link to this Steve Simmons story from the Toronto Sun discussing the underwhelming career of one Tim Connolly. I’m of a lot of mixed emotions and feelings after reading this article. On the one hand, the article does seem to cohesively describe a lot of what Buffalo fans have been rumbling about for years. On the other hand, Simmons does kind of write Timmy off before the man even has a chance to put on a Leafs sweater and attempt to prove he’s worth the contract he signed. I mean, look at some of the words Simmons included to describe people’s off-the-record impressions of Connolly:

Soft. Sullen. Difficult. Loner. Spoiled brat. Silver spoon kid. Entitled. Not a team player.

I’d really like to know who Simmons talked to, but I grasp the sanctity of off-the-record. I can understand the use of the first two words because we all know that Timmy’s had his share of injuries and associated issues and doesn’t exactly give off a lot of warm & fuzzy vibes. And there may have been a few times where he’s put self over team, but it’s not like it was an every night thing. I was also struck by the use of the words loner, spoiled brat & silver spoon kid. Those are words that carry a lot of negative weight. However, where are the examples of Timmy’s spoiled brat, loner self? We’re just told that these characteristics are a result of Milbury keeping him with the Islanders rather than let him grow up in juniors. Show me that he’s a spoiled brat. Don’t just tell me.

And what are these “rumors” regarding his off-ice conduct? I’ve only ever heard of one Timmy rumor, and it’s been around since I was in college. What other rumors are out there? Is Timmy a lousy tipper? A puppy kicker? A drunk? Did he steal cookies from a troop of Girl Scouts? Is he a pyro? A flasher? A bank robber? I feel like we’re missing a large part of the picture.

And then there’s this quote from the GM of the Erie Otters implying that Timmy is a screw up compared to his successful parents & siblings.

“He was a kid from a high achieving family. His father was very successful. His mother was very successful. His sisters were successful. You would think he would follow in their paths.”

Now, I don’t know what his parents & siblings do for a living, but I would think that making it to the NHL would mean that one is fairly successful in one’s career, especially if one has been working towards it one’s entire life. I mean, one doesn’t just wake up one morning and decide that one is going to be an NHL player that day. The above quote is very powerful and makes Timmy sound like a right royal loser. (And it makes me kind of feel bad for him!)

Also, what the hell is this story about?

This came after a playoff game in which Connolly skated to the Sabres bench and was asked by a television announcer why he was so glum. His answer, paraphrased: How would you feel if the entire arena hated you?

With how much chatter happens within the press, why didn’t this story hit the Buffalo media? (It didn’t, right?) We know there are some members of the press who appear to get their jollies from writing negative pieces. This item would have been the perfect fodder for a column from one of them.

I think that while Simmons’ intent is to provide Toronto fans with more info on the newest member of the Leafs, I think that he did nothing more that tease the beginning of the Tim Connolly episode of E! True Hollywood Story. All that’s missing is the happy ending or the tragic ending shot of a tombstone overlapped with somber music.

And now that I just wrote an entire blog post defending Timmy, I think I might need a cookie.

What We’ve Learned Today

1. Derek Roy did not punch Tim Connolly and is upset that you would think otherwise.

2. Tim Connolly still has not spoken to the media regarding this entire situation. If he would just come out and say that he was (potentially) sauced up and tripped over his own two feet while attempting to be cute and clever, no one would judge him and this entire thing would probably just fade into the sunset. Let’s move on.

3. John Vogl does not like Twitter and thinks those that use it need to get out and get a life. I know Vogl has made his internet disdain known before (see his comments on Sabres Edge about how he wishes he could just be a newspaper writer, rather than a newspaper writer that writes blogs on occasion), but this is the first time he has been so vehement about the evils of the internet.  By delivering an anti-Twitter rant on Sabres Edge, Vogl made himself – and his opinions on Twitter – the story, rather than Roy/Connolly’s alleged conduct at the Catwalk for Charity. Interesting deflection tactic by what you would think would be a non-biased source of information.

I understand that Twitter might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but to insult those people that use it because you yourself have no use for it is not fair. The world is going digital. Don’t mock those of us that are exploring how to widen our communication pool because you yourself don’t see any value in it. That’s one of the great joys of a digital world. You can either choose to – or choose not to – use a tool.

That said, I would think that newspapers would want to encourage writers to use Twitter to promote articles that appear on the paper’s site in order to generate traffic on the site. (Traffic = revenue. And that’s a good thing.) However, I can also see the other side of the argument that Twitter allows for much more immediate feedback from the public. That uncensored & rapid feedback is probably disconcerting for people who are not familiar with how the tool works (or those that just don’t want to hear from their adoring public).

That said, there are some journalists that do use Twitter (Mike Harrington, James Mirtle, Elliotte Friedman, Bob MacKenzie, the ESPN writers, etc) and use it well. I hope we continue to see those ranks grow in the future.

4. This entire situation reminds me why I did not go into PR as a career. I’m sure the Sabres PR department was having a field day with this one. I may have messes to clean up in the ad world, but they are nowhere near messes of this scale.

5. The fact that most people are not ashamed of Derek Roy, and would probably throw him a parade if Sunday’s alleged event actually did happen, is astounding. I’m not sure if Roy was aware of this when he made his comments to the media earlier. However, what does it say about Timmy’s shelf life in Buffalo if people are happy hearing that he got popped one by a teammate? (Or not, as it were.)

6. It stinks when you write a draft of a post (“Reasons Why Roy-Z Would Have Popped Timmy”) over your lunch break, but due to time restrictions, cannot post it. By the time you are able to post, the topic is no longer valid.

7. On a non-Timmy/Roy-Z note, Lindy hit about a 9.0 on the rant scale today at practice. Very nice work, coach!

The T Word

(Image from Ihasahotdog.com)

Really, after that debacle of a game, most people would be quite happy if the T word was put in a box and shipped to a land far, far, away.

Flies on the Wall

There’s been some recent implications by some members of the mass media that Tim Connolly is currently an issue in the locker room. Some writers (coughSullycough) have stated that several of Timmy’s teammates are disenchanted with Timmy’s play. Mike Harrington even implied as much on Twitter this afternoon. We here at Shots off the Crossbar accessed our super secret spycams to be a fly on the wall in the Sabres locker room to get to the bottom of this situation.

Timmy: “‘Sup, dogs.”

:::crickets chirp:::

Timmy: “What did I do?”

Millsy: “Nothing. That’s the problem.” [goes back to taping something or other]

Timmy: “You have to understand. It’s difficult being me.”

Goose: “It’s difficult being all of us. We’re a team. We win together. We lose together. That’s how it goes. You’re dragging us down. We can’t even listen to the honking radio without being accosted by your dreckitude.”

Timmy: “That’s fine. Thank you for bringing that to my attention, here. In private.”

Vanek: “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Timmy: “Somehow, the distinguished members of the fourth estate know that you all are pissed at me.”

Pommers: “The fourth estate?”

Timmy: “The press.”

Pommers: “Oh. I thought you might have bought another house.”

Timmy: “Oy” [rubs a hand sheepishly over his forehead and cheek].  “Still, whenever you guys are bitching at me, there’s no media in the room. Where the hell are they getting this [profanity redacted] from?”

Timmy’s rant is interrupted by the sound of small thwacks coming from the players lounge. Our intrepid Timmy goes to investigate and it’s revealed that Sabretooth is throwing darts at a picture of Timmy nailed to a dartboard. The picture appears to be well pockmarked, so it’s fairly obvious that the cat has been at it for awhile.

Timmy: “The damn cat is ratting me out?! I want to talk to someone in power!” and stomps away.

*~*~*~*~*

* Yo. In case you didn’t realize it, this was satire. No super secret spycams are in the Sabres locker room.

A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words

Zdeno Chara is so good that he tries to take Briere’s head off with Briere’s own stick.

As seen on ESPN’s homepage a couple of minutes ago.

Moving on,

And I know that Timmy’s not 34, but at some point, Lindy Lassie is going to stop fetching him from whatever well he falls into during the playoffs. If that happens, the threat of getting sent to a farm downstate is going to look like the least of Timmy’s problems.

Quick Hits From Locker Cleanout Day

– I’m still upset that the Sabres were bounced so quickly by the Bruins, but when you look at the big picture, this season was a definite improvement on the last two. When you look back at the preseason predictions, most people in the know had the Sabres fighting for the final playoff spot in the East. Fifth place was considered overachieving for this crew. But then – due to heads being removed from behinds and some epic collapses by their divisional rivals – this team actually won the division. That blew everyone’s mind, but still didn’t stop those in the know from saying that the Sabres were ripe for upset. Sadly, this prediction was correct.

I’m excited for next season. Ennis, Gerbe and Myers showed a ton of potential (and heart…and effort) and I’m sure some of the core have to be worried about those little spitfires breathing down their necks and challenging them for playing time. That might motivate them even more…provided they’re still here and haven’t been traded for a Sports Night DVD set and a box of microwave popcorn.

– I’ve been pondering this for most of the day: would a professional hockey team’s locker room be just as gross on locker cleanout day as the locker alley at an all girls high school was on locker cleanout day? I know hockey equipment comes with its own special brand of stink, but high school comes with its own personal level of stuff finding (“Hey! That’s where that skirt went!” as you pull your spare uniform skirt out and give it a shake to return the polyester to its unwrinkled glory. And the skirt was usually just the tip of the iceberg  of crap residing in the locker.)

– I’m falling into the non-surprised, surprised camp regarding Rivet’s injury. He was not playing up to a veteran’s standards during the season, so an injury seemed to be a likely reason for his play. I still am amazed that hockey players suck it up and go out and play even when there’s broken bones involved (Timmy) missing teeth, pucks to the head, etc. I turn into a whiny baby when I’m sick (and just ask my parents how I was while I had shingles) so their resilience and stubbornness to play amazes me. I’m not dumb enough to think that it’s without medicinal aid, but unless their getting horse steroids (which I’m pretty sure is against the law), these guys have to just be mentally strong to deal with what body breakdowns they have during the year.

– I’m incredibly amused by Timmy color coordinating his green Yankees hat to his gentle sea foam green polo shirt. I can’t help but wonder if this was an intentional decision on his part or just an “I’ll pull whatever hat I want out of the closet and roll with it” thing.

– Speaking of hats, the less said about Miller’s chapeau, the better. Male hats should not be gaudy. Ladies hats should be gaudy. Kentucky Derby hats should be gaudy. Goalie hats…not gaudy. However, I can give a thumbs up to how Miller’s skates do look like Chuck Taylors. That’s a neat look and I know it’s probably unintentional, considering the bottom of his pads are white and the white skate tips make everything very matchy-matchy.

– I’m also amused by Paul Hamilton’s peeking around the locker wall while interviewing Timmy. Every so often this little Hamilton head pops around the corner and into the frame.

– Goose still looks pissed off. Like rage-y pissed off. His voice may be calm, but his facial expression is betraying what he’s saying.

Buffalo vs. Boston – Game 3

– Before we head into hockey coverage, has anyone ever wondered what a mascot does all day? Well, Maxim shadowed Mr. Met for a day, (note: slightly NSFW) and it turns out life isn’t all wood carving in the dugout.

– We’re treated to a skim down the bench and the lineup on the blue line, and it appears some of the Sabres are definitely better at growing playoff beards than others. The wee baby Tylers appear to be fresh faced, but the fact that they both have blond hair might be counting against them. Miller is rocking a pretty good beard, and Gaustad has a good start to one already. On a random note, does Timmy stop shaving his head for the playoffs, leading to curly headed Timmy, or is the beard it.

– Miller has had some fantastic stops early in the game.

– So looks like that internet rumor regarding the Sabres wearing the old home whites was fake after all.

– WHOO! Mike Grier! Mike Effing Grier scores over Tuuka’s shoulder. 1-0, Sabres.

– Well, eff. Sekera gets caught in a pinch gone wrong and Wideman scores a dandy of a goal on the ensuing odd-man rush. We’re tied at one.

– After hearing for the past week and a half that tonight’s game was going to be on Versus, I tune like a good little NHL fan to Versus, only to find out that the game is blacked out locally and we’re stuck watching the game on MSG. In this case, the good of RJ, Harry, Rob Ray & K-Syl are slightly outweighed by the bad of an SD broadcast. Is it really that difficult to “borrow” the Versus HD feed and lay RJ & Harry’s vocals over it?

– Ellis gets caught by Boychuk with his head down and is smushed pretty hard core. Why haven’t one of the pansy Sabres hit Boychuk with his purse yet? If they’re in need of a purse, I can lend them one. My Vera Bradley satchel has enough stuff in it that could cause some serious damage.

– Lindy’s expression on the bench is a combination of “I hate these guys” and ” I’m going to cut someone.” I fear for the locker room.

– I’m beginning to think Timmy fell down the well, what with how absent he’s been from games lately. Speaking of Timmykins, I really want to know why “Tim Connolly K-Mart” is one of Google’s suggestions when you type “Tim Connolly” into the search box.

– Ellis is back on the ice after that killer hit from Boychuk. Good, but that still doesn’t excuse his teammates for not doing anything after Boychuk took out his second player. Is it going to take Miller getting run…oh wait, that happened last year and nothing happened.  Maybe Sabretooth getting run over would snap them out of it.

– Random: why do so many people insist on placing an “s” on the end of the word “math?” As in, “I have to do my maths homework?” And while I’m on my grammar soapbox, there is a slight difference between the words “breath” and “breathe.” They are not interchangeable.

– Remember when the Sabres had offensive firepower? Remember when they didn’t make you want to bang your head against a wall? Remember when hockey was fun?

– Wait, The Hoff is going to be on The Young & Restless again? Crikey, I hope that CBS has some extra money saved up to replace all the scenery chewing that The Hoff and Eric Braeden are going to be doing. You can tell I’m not paying much attention to the game if I’m reading Entertainment Weekly, heh.

– Alrighty then, Bergeron scores to make it 2-1, Boston.

– Remember when Ryan Miller wasn’t trying to do it all and was a sturdy rock in the crease? Remember when the rest of the Sabres played with passion and fire? Remember the fun that was Game 1? Remember when I wasn’t writing “Remember Whens?” (That last one actually was a “Remember When…” in my high school yearbook.)

– Well, friends. If it turns out there’s only two more games left in the season, what can you say? I’ll come up with words when they come up WITH A FULL 60 MINUTE EFFORT! I’ll even bet that we’ll hear the same platitudes after the game from the same usual suspects. And really, these same platitudes have been delivered so often that I’d be willing to bet that most of us can deliver them verbatim. (Although we might lack Ryan Miller’s eloquence and bitch please, eyebrow.)

Sabres vs. Flyers – 3.5.10

Pregame

– Thanks to some goofiness at the office, I now know more about Tim Hortons “Roll Up the Rim to Win” contest than I ever wanted to know. It all started as a result of trying to figure out what kind of skills question that Canadians had to answer in order to receive their prizes, which then led into figuring out that all the Timmy Hos in the US have 13.8 million cups to split out of a total pool of 279 million cups. That means 4.8% of all available cups are here in the States.  Also, it appears that the good folks at Timmy Hos have something against the residents of Vermont, Florida, Alaska and Hawaii, as they are not eligible to win. Long story short, it appears that my odds of winning a blessed cup of coffee or a donut are about one in eleventy-seven million. (I’m currently O-for-5 in RUTR attempts, for the record.)

And thus ends your Timmy Hos lesson for the day.

– Per the pregame skate report, Butler is scratched tonight.

First Period

– Torres will be wearing #17 for the Sabres, as his previous number (14) is currently hanging in the rafters at HSBC.

– After Miller mentioned in his postgame rant on Wednesday that he would be working on some attitude adjustments in the locker room, why did I get this mental image of him going all El Kabong and whacking people over the head with his silver medal in order to get his point across? (By the way, a cartoon like El Kabong would never get made today. It would be labeled as “too violent” and “not politcally correct.” My god, it’s amazing that kids of my generation who grew up with Looney Tunes and Thundercats and He-Man and Jem survived to adulthood, what with being so corrupted by this kiddie programming It’s truly, truly outrageous.)

– Harry Neale-ism of the night: “The eyes are not responsible when the mind does the seeing.” Ooookay.

– Oh, Lent. Glad to see that you’ve brought the McDonald’s Filet of Fish ad back with you. Thank you sooooooo much for that one.

– Dear Sabres: See puck. See stick. See net. Put puck in net using stick. The end. (That’s my passive agressive way of saying “score some goals, damn it.”)

Second Period

– Guys, when I said SCORE SOME GOALS, I didn’t mean LET the other team score some goals. And don’t go throwing the rookie and the goalie under the bus, that was a collective team FAIL for not putting the puck into the Philly net before that point, considering you had several opportunities earlier in the game. 1-0, Flyers.

– Stafford is reported to have a lower body injury and will not return. I have a joke ready at the tips of my fingers, but it’s too crude for a family(ish) blog like this one. So I’ll just say that I hope all is well and he returns quickly.

– Wowzers, Vanek just shot the puck from behind the net in the far corner and banked the puck of Leighton into the net. That was a pretty, pretty, but oh so fluky, goal. Game tied at 1.

– Really, Timmy? You get a beautiful breakaway coming out of the penalty box, shoot the puck and then when you miss, you stand there with your metaphorical thumb up your metaphorical butt and watch the play develop around you. That’s not good! That’s half-assed, and there’s no half-assing in hockey!

– By the way, I was incredibly amused that Eddie Harris from Major League was one of the patients of the week on last night’s Greys Anatomy. I love when “Hey! It’s That Guy!” actors appear, especially when they’re actors with two of the best lines in that entire movie. (“Are you trying to tell me that Jesus Christ can’t hit a curveball?” and “Up your butt, Jobu.”)

– From the “Captain Obvious” files: Harry Neale informs us that with Stafford out the Sabres are down to 11 forwards, so someone is double shifting. Really, Harry? Do you think that we the viewers can’t compute that 12 minus 1 is 11?

Third Period

– Hmm. The question during The Whip tonight is about whether it is the players or the coach’s responsibility to right a sinking ship during the season. Ray thought it was the coach’s responsibility, Neale thought it was the players. In my opinion – having never been inside a pro locker room or played organized sports outside of basketball in the eighth grade – it’s on the players. They’re ultimately the ones that are on the ice and making things happen (or not happen). While Lindy can scream and yell all he wants, unless it gets through the players thick heads, it’s not going to click and work. The players need to do the about face. For what it’s worth, I would love to see one of the Sabres give Timmy hell about checking up on that breakaway in the second period. It’s that kind of lackadaisical effort that gets everyone pissed off.

– Timmy, that’s it. You’ve moved several positions up on THE LIST*. You give away a pass to Mike Richards of all people and he gets in on a breakaway and scores to make it 2-1, Flyers.

* THE LIST is my ish list. You never really come off the list, you just move up and down as things progress. Timmy has rocketed up the standings tonight.

– On the replay of the goal, we see that Timmy apparently forgot to notice that Richards was skating directly into the path of where he wanted the puck to go.

– Why am I even getting hepped up about this? From what Rob Ray just said, the expression on the Sabres faces is bordering on WGAF.

– What the bluedilly eff was that? Adam Mair makes a nifty backhand shot off a Grier pass – that goes through two Flyers – ties this game at 2. Who knew Adam Mair had hands like that? He needs to pull those out more often. (That’s what she said.)

– Hmm. RJ made a comment during the play-by-play about how one of the Sabres couldn’t hit Vanek (with a pass). I wonder if that would make us feel better if we could hit the Sabres with some of those whack-a-mole soft mallets. Turn it into a fundraiser for charity, and it’s a win/win/win situation.

– Hey! What’s that sound I hear? It’s the crowd! The crowd pipes up for the first time tonight with an audible “Let’s Go Buff-a-lo” chant. I remember when you couldn’t hear yourself think at Sabres games because the crowd was so loud. Now, it’s library quiet.

Overtime

– I wonder what Lalime and Miller talk about during their pre-overtime gossip sessions? Plans to hide the body of whatever teammate has most recently irked Miller?

– Alrighty, Timmy scoops up a rebound while falling down to his knees and banks it in off the post past Leighton. Buffalo wins, 3-2.

– That was a badly, badly needed win. But there’s no time to drink from the keg of glory and eat the finest muffins and bagels in the land. The Rangers await on Sunday.

Couple of Thoughts

– When Mike Grier and his hands of stone score your only goal of the night, you know you’re having trouble scoring. While it’s not for a lack of opportunity, as the Sabres have had plenty of shots, the lack of finish is what’s bothersome. I wonder if putting cardboard cutouts of foxy ladies in the net during practice sessions would help with scoring, as we know the Sabres do not suffer from a lack of hitting that.

– Check out this quote from Ryan Miller after last night’s game.

“Mike Grier, you are my hero,” Sabres goalie Ryan Miller said. “Mike does a lot of things really well on the ice. He kept on telling us to trust the system and that we would get a breakthrough.”

The quote is noticeable because I think this might be the first time Miller has ever referenced The System (usually that’s everyone but the goalie’s fallback comment) in an interview. Also, with Grier stepping into that on-ice leader role,  could it allow the Pommers, Roys and Vaneks of the world to just chill out, stop trying to do too much and just play some good old-fashioned hockey within The System?

– Timmy looks incredibly relaxed during this interview with Kevin Sylvester. And mother of pearl, Timmy’s gracing a smile at a couple points during the interview. Timmy smiles are incredibly rare, which makes them all the more special when they do come out.

– Please tell me that you all saw Stafford goofing around behind Kevin Sylvester during K-Syl’s postgame report last night. While I did Zapruder the footage of the moment (why yes, I am a dork), and am fairly certain that Staffy was shaking and choking Paille, I hope fun and frolic like that is exhibited after wins. If I ever see / hear about things like that happening after a loss, I will not be a happy camper.

– Continuing with the Staffy theme, he was the first guest of Kevin Sylvester’s new interview series held in the penalty box. Stafford again expresses his admiration of Zach Parise (c’mon, we all know they’re BFF) and shares that Chris Neil is the player he would most like to see take a stick to the bits. (Personally, I’d go with Ovie, but I think Goose took care of that a couple of seasons ago.)

– There’s a couple of 10-12 year olds outside playing with a football and I think it’s incredibly sad that they have nicer cell phones than I do. Why a 10-year-old needs a cell phone is another story, I suppose.

– With The Buffalo News confirming that Andrej Sekera felt shooting pains in his side, can we classify his boo-boo as a middle body injury rather than an upper body injury? I know his injury is north of the Maxon-Dixon line, so it technically is an upper body injury, but middle body is at least a little more descriptive. Also, can we cut the upper/lower/outer/inner crap until the playoffs come? Just say what the injury is an move on.  And if Sekera is going to be out for some time, do the Sabres play Patches or call up Weber? (I’m ignoring for now what’s going to happen when Lydman and Mair are ready to play again. The speculation and fan theories are making my head hurt.)

– Tyler Myers has been pleasantly surprising. I know he’s due for a speed bump in his career trajectory at some point, but management is going to have a very tough decision in six games.

– Check out the images on Getty from the Blackhawks red carpet festivities. I give Dustin Byfuglien a lot of credit for being able to pull off a suit in that shade of red.

– Who lit a fire under Tim Kennedy’s ass last night? He was all over the place and not afraid to take the hit or punch in order to make the play or drive the net. He’s proving he belongs up here.

They’re Alive

It’s been a decidedly quiet time for the Sabres. However, the Sabres related news has perked up in the past couple of days.

– Darcy Regier has made an offer to Jaroslav Spacek. I hope it’s like a 2-year deal, since Spacek is 35-years-old. A longer length of time would be ridiculous.

– Paul Gaustad again proves that he is a stand up guy by pointing out that he knows that the team needs to work on shooting more and defending their goalies and each other. Well, praise the lord and pass the ammunition. Now if Goose can only get it through the thick heads of the rest of his teammates. When Miller spends more time getting run than playing goal, you know you have a problem. Also, if the boys will spend more time shooting the puck next season, they will drastically reduce the amount of times I want to throw something at my television set. That’s good on both sides. They can score goals, and I can keep my TV set in one piece.

Gaustad also mentions that he was invited to play for Team USA in the World Championships earlier this year, but had to decline the invitation due to an injury. He doesn’t specify the nature of the injury, and whether it was upper, lower inner or outer body. Speaking of injuries, was I hallucinating earlier this spring, or did Pominville have some sort of undisclosed injury at the end of the season? If so, did anything come of it?

– How did y’all celebrate the anniversary of the day that brought Tim Connolly into our lives? I, for one, went to work and am now spending the night with Edgar, Crosby, Ding, Dong and my favorite other crab fishing boyfriends on Deadliest Catch.

– Congratulations to Lindy on being named to the coaching staff of Team Canada for the 2010 Olympics. Lindy, you know I love you, but when push comes to shove next February, I’m going to be routing for my USA babies. I also am really amused at the photo editors of TSN/CTV. The TSN photo promoting the story features Lindy giving his best “bitch please” face, while the CTV Olympics site features a photo of a hollering Lindy. They’ve really managed to capture the essence of Lindy, haven’t they?

– I heard a commercial for the Sabres draft party at the Albright Knox on Friday. One of the things the commercial is promoting is a Q&A with Sabretooth. Now tell me, how is Sabretooth going to do a Q&A? Last time I checked, the poor thing is mute. Is he just going to gesticulate his answers or will someone interpret for him?