Author: Chris Ostrander

Both PA and owners to blame as lockout looms

Chris Ostrander1 Comment

It seems like such a short time ago that fans were clamoring for details on the labor strife in the NHL. Seven short years it has been since the last lockout and the NHL seems set on yet another.

All it took was a lost season and fans for the owners and players to come to an agreement in 2004-05. Granted, the players were poorly represented and the league as a whole was in desperate need of an overhaul to the CBA. Yet the rapid growth the NHL has enjoyed since the last lockout has done little more to muddy the waters between the NHLPA and owners.

Point fingers if you must at the greedy millionaires and billionaires. Point fingers at Gary Bettman for trotting towards his third work stoppage. Point fingers at whoever you need to blame in this situation. Just understand that this is a two-way street but the owners are driving a much wider vehicle.

By no means am I a CBA expert, so I won’t try and talk number percentages or about any of the other specific details that will ultimately be hammered out over the next few days, weeks and months.

What is so perplexing in this entire scenario is the glaring ignorance portrayed by both sides. The league and owners, as a group, are far and away the greater perpetrators here but the NHLPA should not be fully absolved of blame. Fact is that both sides took their sweet time to talk despite staring at a situation that pointed towards a drawn out negotiating process. Continue reading →

Are actual authentic jerseys too much to ask for?

Chris Ostrander6 Comments

The executives with Reebok and Nike certainly know what they’re doing. The same can be said for those who control apparel pricing in the NFL and NHL.

Go into any team store, Dicks or anywhere else that team apparel is sold and you will likely need to extend your student loans just to purchase a jersey. That is if you’re a jersey kind of guy. Personally, I’ve never gotten down with wearing jerseys to a game. I feel awkward when I’m in it and there is also the impending threat of a trade or free agency sending your player out of town. Blank jerseys are obviously safer, but not nearly as meaningful as one that looks like the duds worn on the field or rink.

Not technically authentic.
An NHL fan is going to spend roughly $150 for a replica uniform and well north of $300 for an authentic sweater from the NHL. Football fans have a similar financial burden. There are three options that range in terms of quality and price from $100, $135 and $300 each.

Perhaps the biggest drawback for buying an NFL jersey is that fact that your cheapest option is little more than a $100 mesh t-shirt with screen printed numbers. The secondary product is closer in form to what is seen on the field and the authentic jerseys have all the bells and whistles as the on-field product (to a certain extent). Continue reading →

Extra Point: Bills drop opener in grand fashion

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

Sunday’s outcome for the Bills was ugly. To say the least. An invisible pass rush, ineffective secondary and poor quarterbacking set the Bills back early in a 48-28 defeat at the hands of the Jets.

An offseason of hope and promise became two quarters of anger and frustration. Ryan Fitzpatrick, at times, seemed more in-sync with the Jets defensive backs than his receivers in the first half and the Buffalo defense looked lost when trying to defend the pass. Even the special teams units were ineffective, allowing a punt return touchdown to widen the New York lead.

Fitzpatrick’s performance was easily the most visible and alarming result from the game, he was inaccurate and could even be described as overmatched throughout most of the game. Aside from garbage time, when the Jets starters were watching from the bench, did he manage to sync up with his wideouts.

Defensively, the pass rush stayed in Buffalo, the linebackers failed to support in coverage in any way, shape or form and the secondary looked lost for the entire game.

It wasn’t all bad, just mostly bad. Bryan Scott injected a little promise with an interception on the first series and it seemed like the defense might have started to build some momentum. Of course, Fitzpatrick was picked shortly after the Scott INT and things went downhill quickly. Buffalo’s run defense was quite stout and didn’t allow any gashing runs until the result was well within reason and near the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter.

C.J. Spiller continued to build on his second-half surge from 2011 and looks to have rounded into a sterling NFL running back. His game breaking ability will soften the blow that is the loss of Fred Jackson. As for the loss of David Nelson, the Bills could be up the creek on that one. For a team that was injury riddled late last year, two knee injuries wasn’t the way to roll into 2012.

The loss was quite bad and has brought about a lot of criticism for the entire organization. Most fans are already to throw in the towel after the first 60 minutes and most of them are already calling for the head of anyone who works or plays football at One Bills Drive. You really can’t blame some of these fans. It has been 12 years without a playoff berth, the team finally invested in talent and then laid an absolute egg in their first game. Positions of question were exploited and fans are left thinking that these are indeed the “same old Bills” yet again.

Truthfully, there needs to be a bit more patience exercised by everyone. The Bills probably aren’t as bad as they showed on Sunday. They also aren’t as good as they will show in their most impressive victory. If they can rise to the median here, win the games they’re expected to win and build some positive momentum, they will still flirt with the playoffs. There is plenty of work to be done and there are some obvious issues at hand that need to be addressed immediately. But put your air raid helmets away. The sky isn’t falling just yet.

Continue reading →

#JointheStampede for UB football

Chris Ostrander4 Comments

I recently decided that the level of interest and respect that UB football gets in Buffalo needs to change. While there is little potential to have a big-time college program here in Buffalo, having UB become a well-respected organization would be a great addition for all of Western New York.

Truthfully, Bulls football should fall in right behind the Sabres and Bills as Buffalo’s third most popular sports team. The Bandits certainly have more of a fanbase and deserve the level of fandom they get. So, maybe UB football should be fourth in terms of public opinion, but no worse.

Often at work, I sit alone with my principles (gold star if you get that movie reference) and I got to thinking that maybe some more love from social media could lay the groundwork to grow UB’s fanbase.

I was thinking something similar to the #BillsMafia, but different in many ways. Creating a grassroots effort to expose more potential fans to the team and simply raise awareness is pretty much what I’m talking about. This doesn’t need to be as incendiary as the Bills Mafia, nor does it need to have the same mission, so to speak.

While I’m totally open to any suggestions people can come up with, I’m thinking the #BuffaloStampede to start, unless someone has a much cooler idea. Using a hashtag like #BuffaloStampede and #JointheStampede would be a great way to start. Hopefully this isn’t a totally stupid idea and it gains a little steam.

Anyone who thinks this is interesting, the dumbest idea ever or who simply has some thoughts on this idea should let me know. Tweet me, email me or leave a comment.

UPDATE: It appears as if the UB SB Nation blog, Bull Run tags with #ThunderThrough, so perhaps that should be the hashtag moving forward.

Building on the Sabres’ Canadian exploration

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

The Sabres have officially begun their Canadian Bacon mission of an invasion of Ontario. The goal isn’t to litter, but to establish a greater footprint for the organization in the golden horseshoe.

Ted Black, Danny Gare, Jay McKee and Ville Leino all took a trip through Ft. Erie and St. Catharines  that included visits to schools, hockey clinics and, naturally, Tim Hortons. Good on the Sabres for seeing the comedy in having Leino serve up donuts much like he did last season (see what I did there). Social Media Sam deserves some credit for her Ricky Bobby “I’d love to sign your baby” Instagram caption as well.

All kidding aside, the Sabres have taken a wise approach here. Obviously there are a ton of fans in Ontario that are ticket holders. While most of them either sell their tickets to fans of other teams or simply root for the Leafs, the Sabres have a significant portion of their patrons in Ontario. The same goes for the Bills, the Galleria and Buffalo Niagara Airport and most of Western New York.

Pulling from Ontario would occur even if the Sabres (and Bills) didn’t bother marketing themselves. It is just how sports fans will operate. For fans in Fort Erie and St. Catharines who don’t have a pro team in their city, having the Bills and Sabres a hop and a skip down the Q is beyond convenient. While Toronto is the obvious first choice for many of these fans, Buffalo provides a natural fit for sports fans looking to affiliate with an NHL or NFL franchise.

From a business standpoint, cultivating this fanbase and maybe even building upon it is an easy approach for the Sabres. What has changed is the proactive approach the team has begun to show. This type of physical outreach shows that the Sabres don’t just respect the contingent of fans they have from Ontario, they want to grow that fanbase.

This relationship could potentially have a positive effect on the rest of the Western New York sports scene as well. Continue reading →

Amerks seeing red for 2012-13

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

While Jhonas Enroth’s mask tweet was rather unexpected, the Amerks third jersey unveiling was scheduled ahead of time. In addition to their white home and royal road jerseys, the Amerks will wear a screaming red alternate uniform this season.

Amerks.com

 

They did it right, however. The uniform remained unchanged aside from the base color. The triple stripes on the sleeves and waist stay blue and white and the Amerks crest also sticks around. Aside from incorporating an alternate color, the Amerks kept their jersey largely unchanged.

Perhaps it is that red, white and blue are a pleasing scheme that can be used in any combination. The Sabres use of gold doesn’t necessarily allow for too many subdued uses. While a red uniform isn’t conservative (hello, butter knives), it complements the color scheme the Amerks use quite well. Gold, on the other hand, contrasts the Sabres (or Preds) use of navy in a much louder fashion. Yet, I’m left wondering if the Sabres third jerseys (due for 2013-14) will use gold as a primary color. Continue reading →

Talkamania 16 via Buffalo Wins.com

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

You may or may not be aware that I have been contributing some content over on Buffalo Wins.com. If you weren’t aware then start reading that site more often, we need some hits.

Joe had me come aboard for an installation of Talkamania in which we discussed all things Bills. In case you haven’t noticed, I have rededicated myself to offering a bit more Bills coverage this season that I plan to sprinkle in with the already abundant Sabres and hockey content I produce.

Check out the podcast, it is worth a listen for nothing other than the dulcet tones of Joe and myself.

Jhonas Enroth’s stunning new mask

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

Jhonas Enroth, king of Instagram, has a new mask for the upcoming (hopefully) season. It happens to be totally awesome.

Enroth uses the world’s best helmet artist, Dave Gunnarsson (daveart), and has yet to disappoint with any of the artwork he has worn during his time in North America. His newest lid is a thing of beauty, perhaps the best helmet he will wear at this point in his career.

The brick wall art remains down the middle of the design with the Sabres primary logo prominent on the left side. On the right side is a combination of the jersey stripe form the white uniform, silhouettes of bison, Buffalo scripted on the chin and a badass longhorn skull.

Aside from providing the most vivid, sharp artwork on a mask, Gunnarsson’s specialty is working stripe patterns into his masks. This instance makes the blue, silver and gold stripes a focal point of the right side despite being the most basic portion of the artwork.

The buffalo from the primary logo adorns the gold stripe while silhouetted bison run above the upper blue stripe. Gunnarsson also worked a diamond plate pattern near the chin. However, the longhorn skull does it for me. Despite being relatively obscured towards the top of the helmet, it reminds me of a mask once worn by Grant Fuhr during his time here. That mask that Fuhr wore was my favorite Sabres mask of all time.

Combining this mask with the white bison helmet that Ryan Miller will wear ought to give the Sabres the best one-two punch of helmet artwork in the league.

 

Conjecture department: Could a lockout benefit the Sabres?

Chris Ostrander1 Comment

Might this lockout be a good thing? Not for the game or fans, mind you; but for the season.

When I look at the Sabres past few seasons, there has been a significant lull in performance at some point. Whether that came at the beginning of the year (2010-11) or in the middle of the year (2011-12), the team has suffered from a drop off that ultimately cost the team wins and position in the standings.

Obviously last year’s mid-winter slump was centered around injuries and horrible play, but fatigue and the grind of the season likely had something to do with it. Since it seems as if a lockout is inevitable at this point, could it be somewhat beneficial for the Sabres to play a shortened schedule?

Perhaps a shortened season would allow for Buffalo’s offensive players to stay fresh over the entire course of the season. The same would go for the goaltending and defense. In fact, shortening the schedule could be massively beneficial for Ryan Miller, whose workload would potentially go from 60+ games to 40+ games. That is, of course, if Lindy Ruff utilizes Jhonas Enroth properly.

There are a few permutations here that serve as counterpoints to this train of thought. First, a shorter schedule would also cause the league to condense games into a smaller package in hopes of keeping the 2012-13 season to an adequate length. This will cause more back-to-back matchups and could potentially create more wear and tear on the players.

Secondly, every team will be playing a shorter schedule. Because of that, every team will reap the same benefits from trimming the schedule down from 82 games. It’s not as if the Sabres are tailor-made to sprint as opposed to finishing a marathon or gaining any sort of added advantage compared to the rest of the league. Continue reading →

Three thoughts for the Bills schedule

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

In an attempt to offer some thoughts on where I see the Bills season going, I will offer three thoughts for each game of the year. Rather than giving a firm prediction for each game I will simply say what should be expected from the Bills.  Hopefully this offers a little different take as compared to your typical season preview. Continue reading →