Ok - the regular season has wrapped up for the Sabres & the playoffs start this week. I’ve got my 1st & 2nd Round tickets in hand, I’ve got my Miller jersey washed & I’ve shaved for the last time.

I’m not a big fan of shaving anyway & I rarely use a razor. I just take the trimmer, put it at the lowest setting & have at it. So today as soon as the Sabres/Flyers game ended, I grabbed the trimmer. I will not shave again until the Sabres have won the Stanly Cup! (or loose, but let’s not talk about that)

I did this last year as well, but I’m not sure exactly when I shaved for the last time. It might have been the day of or the day after the last game, but I know it was not immediately following the conclusion of the last game - and maybe that’s why we didn’t go to the finals.

(I know that my shaving habits have ZERO effect on how the Sabres do, but just shut up & let me pretend)

I am really starting to hate NBC.

In the Jury out on Sabres, NBC deal column by Alan Pergament in Saturday’s edition of The Buffalo News, it was mentioned that once again, NBC Sports will only be airing 9 regular season games for the 2007-08 NHL season. 6-1/2 months of games & the one major network that broadcasts the NHL will be showing us less than 1% of the games.

They did say that they would be adopting a flex schedule (like they have with the NFL) and I agree that that is a step in the right direction. It also means that the Buffalo area will be seeing less of the Rangers & Islanders, because based on the 9 “regional” games I saw this year, NBC thinks that New York City is near Buffalo & that the NY teams are in our division.

NBC will be airing 2 games a week during the playoffs and they will be airing games 3 thru 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, which is kinda big for them seeing as I can’t remember the last time I saw an NHL game on NBC during the week. I also noticed on the NBC Sports website that they will be moving their 30 minute pre-game show from the internet to the television for their 1st playoff broadcast April 14th. I really hope that the local stations don’t loose too much money by airing the pre-game show instead of an Infomercial.

Now some of you will say that Versus is a national channel, and I agree. But it’s not NBC. It’s not even close to ESPN. And, as you know, I can’t find it in High Def. They have the main TV contract for the NHL, but they only air 2 games a week - and those are on Monday’s & Tuesday’s! Apparently, Bull Riding is a higher priority since it has the usual Saturday night prime time slot.

I’d like to thank my parents for raising me close enough to Canada so that I can watch the High Def broadcast of CBC’s Hockey Night In Canada. NBC & Versus should really watch how they cover the NHL (as well as the Olympics) because they both have a lot to learn.

I completely forgot to post these when I made the HDTV Introduction Post.

Here’s a list of handy links for those of you that like to watch NHL games in HD:

NBC’s NHL Broadcast Schedule (all 9 weeks of it)
HDNet NHL Schedule
Versus NHL Game Schedule (assuming you can get Versus in HD)
CBC Hockey Night In Canada Schedule (Canada)
TSN’s NHL Schedule (Canada)

If you know of any other channels that carry NHL games in HD (even if they’re your local channels) then please post them so I can update the list.

I think I’m going to name my next Fantasy Football Team “JoeBob & Fish” (that’s in the lead, over “The Head Of Fred Smerlas” & “Properly Douched Midgets” but those are stories for another time)

I was at the Sabres game tonight & saw 2 custom Sabres jerseys that had me very confused. The 1st was just strange. It was a Sabres 3rd jersey with the number 30. The name? “FISH” Now you have to admit, “FISH” is a strange name to have on a jersey.

But the 2nd one really had me scratching my head. It was the Sabres new home jersey with 00 as the number. The name on it was “JOEBOB” Now that itself is pretty lame. But what I think might be the best part of the jersey is that he had an “A” on the front. Those of you that are familiar with hockey will know that a “C” means the player is the Captain and an “A” means that the player is an Alternate Captain. JoeBob spent a lot of money on getting his custom jersey, but he doesn’t think enough of himself to get the “C” on the front. It’s like opening your own company & declaring that you the Vice President. And trust me when I say that JoeBob will love the new Bass Pro Shop that’s been promised to Buffalo for the last 5 years.

I do not get why people get their own names or nicknames put onto a jersey. I have a lot of football & hockey jerseys & every one of them has a player that I like from that team. Every Bills game, I see “Cowboy Ron” with his custom #11 Bills jersey. I really want to bite his face.

The ONLY custom jersey that I have ever seen that does not make the wearer look like a douchbag is a vintage Bills jersey with the #32 on it. The name? “GUILTY”

Since it’s a hot topic this week, I might as well throw my 2 cents in.

I do like fighting in hockey, but I like what I call “emotional” fighting, meaning that the fight breaks out in the middle of the play. 1 guy checks another a little too hard & they drop the gloves or a bigger guy comes in & they go at it. That’s fine by me.

What I really hate is what I call “fighting for the sake of fighting”. It’s when the 2 “goons” line up before a face off, decide that they’re going to fight & when the puck drops, they drop the gloves & go at it. To me, that seems to serve no purpose at all. In this growing scenario, the fighters are not playing the roll of “enforcer”, which is what their roll should be. More proof of this is when the other team does not have a fighter, so the other team sits theirs.

What happened to the guys that could actually play as well as fight? The 1st name that comes to mind is Probert. He could skate & play at a decent level & he could fight with the best of them.

I know Buffalo the best. Peters seems to be a great guy & he can fight, but he’s useless for the rest of the game. Hell, he’s often called of the ice mid-shift so that someone that can actually play is on the ice. Mair, on the other hand, is a decent player - he can skate, he can pass, he can shoot & he can fight. He’s an enforcer & that’s what every team needs.

Think about it: When was the last time you saw a “fighter” in the lineup during the playoffs? It does happen from time to time, but for the most part, they’re a healthy scratch. No team wins the Stanley Cup because their guys can fight. They win games because they can play hockey. If your fighter can score, that’s all the better. But you’re not gonna see any coach put their fighter in the lineup during the playoffs just so he can play 2 shifts in the 1st period & sit on the bench while other guys double shift for the rest of the game.

It’s a shame that most of the sports coverage in the news in regards to the NHL is when their’s a fight.

I can’t believe I’m about to type this up, but I’m really rooting for Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary & Vancouver to make the NHL Playoffs. Why? Because that means I’ll get to watch some of the NHL Playoffs in HD on CBC via my antenna. (since I’m convinced that Versus HD doesn’t actually exist)

I even have a best case scenario:
Toronto & Montreal each actually make the playoffs (right now, they are both 1 point out) Hopefully, the Sabres are 1st, Toronto is 8th, Ottawa gets 4th or 5th & Montreal gets 6th or 7th. Buffalo would play Toronto and I get to see all the away games in HD since the CBC channel I pick up is out of Toronto. We beat Toronto and Ottawa & Montreal each win their series. With any luck, we’d play Montreal, beat them, have Ottawa win & then face Ottawa for the conference finals. Calgary or Vancouver (I could care less) make it to the finals. BINGO! All of the Buffalo games are in HD & we’d have beaten 4 Canadian teams

Even if that scenario didn’t play out (and odds are against me) it’d be nice to watch any of the playoffs games in HD on CBC, so GO CANADA!

Apparently, Versus has a High Def channel. How one goes about watching it is beyond me.

I have Time Warner Cable & they don’t carry it (but I have requested it)

I looked at DirectTV & Dish Network and neither of them have it.

So I decided to go to the source & ask. I’ve emailed Versus as well as called them (203-406-2500) but I’ve got no reply to either.

The NHL Playoffs are approaching really fast & without the Versus HD channel, I’m gonna be stuck watching most of the games in SD and after watching all of the games on INHD last year (Versus simulcast their games on the now defunct INHD2 channel last season) that’s really gonna suck.

Hockey is the best sport on the planet - period.

I really wish I could invite all the non-hockey fans in the world over to my house to watch a couple games. I have a friend in Australia that’s visited here a couple of times. We took him to a game & he was hooked. Each time he comes over, I try to take him to as many games as possible (we even went up to Ottawa last time to see a game) He used to be able to catch a couple games each week on ESPN, but they dropped the NHL a couple years ago.

Versus does a decent job with their NHL coverage with 2 or 3 games each week & a ton of playoff games. NBC just sucks.

It really is a great game - if you’ve never paid much attention to it, try & catch a game or 2, as the playoffs are about 3 weeks away.

Part of my love for football stems from living in the Buffalo area as well as my love for Fantasy Football. But part of it is that I do really like to watch football. I realized this a couple of years ago while watching a game where I had one guy from my fantasy team playing & he got hurt early on. I just enjoy the game.

The Sabres are my true love. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve followed them. I’ll admit that I lost interest in hockey during the lockout, but about a month before the 2005 season started, days after watching some really old Stanley Cup games from the 70’s (people are still pissed that Philadelphia beat us) my wife gave me season tickets for Christmas (yes, I got my gift a couple months early) and those 2 events got me back on my hockey kick really quick.

As I type this, my Sabres are loosing to Pittsburgh 4-3 with 5:24 left in the third. I have hope.