On December 17th, I attended the Sabres road game against the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh. It was in all honesty an awful game. Not even 12,000 people showed up, though about a third were Buffalo fans. Buffalo gave up a fluky first period goal to the Canes, and that held until the Sabres tied it up with about 2 minutes left. After a scoreless OT, Buffalo was blanked in the shootout (of course they were) and lost 2-1 (SO). It was also my favorite Sabres’ game I have ever attended.
In late 2016, Joe wrote a great piece about why Sabres/Bills blogging is on life support (http://thesportsdaily.com/buffalo-wins/is-the-billssabres-blogosphere-on-life-support-by-joe/). One of the many reasons this piece rang true was because it’s hard to get people to care about lousy teams. The Sabres have been awful for basically a decade, and the Bills haven’t been good this century. As a fan, this completely wears on you. Part of what makes sports great is the hope that “this is our year.” However, as Buffalo fans, we know it’s not going to be our year anytime soon. Our “One Buffalo” teams are awful, and it just leaves a bad taste in your mouth that you spend your hard earned money, and limited time investing in these two Pegula embarrassments. So after all this, why was this my favorite game ever? It was my favorite game because it was the first game I ever took my kids to.
I grew up in outside Niagara Falls (NY of course), and like most kids grew up a fan of Buffalo sports teams. I currently have a 7 year old daughter, and a 5 year old son. I made sure from day 1 that the two of them were dressed in all my teams’ gear. It was important to me, but I’m not really sure I understood why. My kids were excited to go, as even though we live in NC, both are in their second season of hockey. Once at the game, I finally understood why sports was so meaningful to me (especially Buffalo sports). It was awesome to see my kids just impressed by all the sights and sounds. By the end of the game, my son even got it in the face of the very muscular Canes fan behind me and yelled “Let’s go Buffalo!” Even the Canes fan couldn’t help but to laugh at him.
The reason Buffalo Sports are so important to me, is because it honestly reminds me of my childhood. I think back to going to school after the Norwood miss, and everyone together was just out of it, but we dealt with it together. Most importantly, it reminded me of all my childhood friends, and my family. I think back to when I was younger, and didn’t have much to say to my Dad. No matter how little we had to say to each other, we could talk sports for hours. I think back to my now deceased grandparents, and how we would always watch games together. I think back to all those Christmases and birthdays where I got the latest gear (Zubaz included). It brings me back to a time when I would meet my friends at the fire hall every day after school to play street hockey. It reminded me of growing up in a place where everyone took so much pride in being a Buffalonian, that the sports teams were just a natural extension of that.
Like most people, I’ve lost sight of this over the years. As I’ve moved away and gotten older, Buffalo sports in some weird way means both less, and more at the same time. It means less because, well adulating can be hard. Like most of you, I have obligations and kids to take care of, so sports just doesn’t impact my life on a daily basis like it used to. It means more though, because in some weird way, as Buffalo teams continue to be awful, all the losses just kind of eat at you more and more. It was at the game that I finally got to see sports through a kid’s eyes again. I was finally able to remember why I first became a fan. The answer is simple, sports are fun. My kids weren’t mad the Sabres lost, they had a blast. They ate stadium food, saw lots of real hockey players, listened to whatever awful pop music they play at games these days, and were really just mesmerized by the experience.
It always amazes me how much parents actually learn from their kids, and not the way those without kids think it is. My kids taught me another valuable lesson a few weeks ago. They taught me that at their roots, sports are about having fun, and being with the people you care about. I know it sounds corny, but it’s the truth. I will look back on a 2-1 shoot-out loss with one penalty called as the most fun game I have ever watched. The best part about it now? Every morning if the Sabres have played, the first thing my son asks me is if the Sabres won!
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