Earth Sports Fortress of Pantheon
Mike Schopp and the Bulldog once again held an open forum for their 'Earth Sports Fortress of Pantheon' on Tuesday. The idea behind the creation was to gather the very best in sport for one Ultimate Hall of Fame. This way, Babe Ruth wouldn't be on the same level as Bruce Sutter. The ESF of P makes sure that Wayne Gretzky does not reside in the same building as Joe Mullen.
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| Schopp |
Long games someday could be cut short
The goal woke me up.
I did the best I could, better than I've done for most Stanley Cup Finals games in recent years. Put another way, I watched a lot of this game. Toward the end of the third period my eyes got heavy. By the time NBC's intermission panel got to work, knowing those guys would put me to sleep anyway, I was out.
I was alert enough to notice my clock turning 1 as
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| Schopp |
Walkom call reveals another NHL failure
It's almost never totally fair.
Lots of random things can conspire to do in a team. An injury to the wrong player. A bad bounce at the wrong time. A bad call.
Hardly in hockey, or in most sports, is the outcome perfectly fair. So we do the best we can.
A key player gets hurt? An unintentional deflection beats your goalie while your tip hits the post? That's the way it
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| Bulldog |
Thanks and Goodbye
Thomas Vanek and Ryan Miller have to go. Preferably this summer before the clock starts ticking on the final year of their contracts.
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| Schopp |
Mario saga raises hard questions
OK, here's the deal. Sign on the line, or don't.
** Instead of going to a job that pays far less money and requires real work, play a game. We need you to practice for a couple hours a day. Just like real jobs we need you to show up on time but unlike those jobs you'll get several months off. (Well unlike most of those jobs, right, teachers?)
** You'll be able to afford
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| Schopp |
Watching it was reward for time served
Long live the Stanley Cup playoffs, one of the only things left in grown-up sports that's really, really great.
It's all been said before. The drama, the tension, the way a player's fate -- or a team's, or an organization's -- can hinge on the slightest things. Long, grueling seasons coming down to one goal, either labeling you a winner or a choker. It's just the
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| Schopp |
Sabres' hire doesn't change much
Somewhere along the way I got a tip never to ask listeners if they care about something. Instead, just talk about it. If they care, they'll be there. If they don't, they won't. What they won't do is tell you whether they care. It's not a question people call radio shows to answer.
I like this rule, but last week we purposely broke it to ask Sabres fans if they care who
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| Schopp |
Nix likes Bills' draft, I think
In this case, Buddy Nix speaks for me.
Plucking from the transcript the Bills sent out after the draft was over, Buddy Nix apparently was asked by a reporter how he felt about his draft. Buckle up.
"We felt like we stayed with the board," Nix begins by saying. But ... "Everybody says that. Everybody says they do not draft for need, but basically you do some. Everybody
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| Schopp |
The sound of Summerall
Tuesday, John Murphy and I chatted about Pat Summerall. Murphy called Summerall a "minimalist" broadcaster. That may be right, as I too remember Summerall well for how few words he did say.
Whereas another announcer might have said, "Cunningham gives to Keith Byars who runs into the line, and he is met by Harry Carson and stopped for a 2-yard gain," Summerall
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| Schopp |
Booing: Who's to blame?
Sometimes amidst the cacophony of shouting coming from all corners of sports talk there is the rare subject about which every argument is right.
This booing business Sabres fans and some players have been talking about the last few days I think is one of those subjects.
Here are the differing viewpoints. You tell me who's to blame:
** Sam is a Sabres fan from the franchise's
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| Schopp |
Dilemmas: Dallas, dumping and Drew
Let me say first that I just watched Arnold Palmer fight bad guys so anything is possible from me here today. Let's proceed.
They're not a team we much care about except for that No Goal business. If we're watching their home games we might feel, by the look of their arena, like we're the only ones doing so. Their players are mostly lesser-knowns except two players that have
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| Schopp |
For those who think young
In fantasy sports, hard-core rebuilding is pretty easy.
You're in a keeper league -- Bulldog, that means where you keep most of your players from year to year -- and your team doesn't look like a winner. No biggie, just find somebody who does think their team is ready and trade him your good older players for youth and draft picks. In the Strat-O-Matic leagues I play in, you either do
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| Schopp |
What does Buffalo mean?
Let's get the literal answer to today's headline out of the way. Buffalo is from the French "beau fleuve", which means city of old buildings, greasy food and light traffic.
I'm thinking instead about what Buffalo means in sports. I like it when teams have reliable, continual identities; I like it even more when multiple teams in a city share those identities.
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| Schopp |
What does Buffalo mean?
Let's get the literal answer to today's headline out of the way. Buffalo is from the French "beau fleuve", which means city of old buildings, greasy food and light traffic.
I'm thinking instead about what Buffalo means in sports. I like it when teams have reliable, continual identities; I like it even more when multiple teams in a city share those identities.
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| Schopp |
In sports, it's a time to learn
I shudder to think of how many hours I've spent watching and thinking about sports. It's better framed in terms of days -- or weeks, or months, or years. My earliest memories are sportsy: my dad parking way far away and taking me to The Aud; my grandparents pumping up the "Redlegs"; my mother dissing the Dolphins; poring over the backs of my baseball cards.
Now, at 41, thanks
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