Who do I still think I am??

This one's about signage.

30DBC PROMPT: "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" 

Good afternoon friends! Day Two of an unofficial 30DBC! Today's entry is brought to you by...*shuffles imaginary papers*...ummm, well, I haven't got a sponsor yet. Somebody get on that! Revenue! Spread the word!

I've often stated I won't sell out this spot on the internet's corner of depravity and malcontention (and yes, my spell-checker has confirmed that "malcontention" is in fact a made-up word), but how cool would it be if one of my favorite brands offered me a few bucks to write, as long as I interjected some promotional spots into my missives? "Here's your Mountain Dew Comment Of The Day..." or "The Daily Box Score, brought to you by Marlboro Smooth, because menthol tastes better when it's coughed up the second time around". I think we might be on to something here.

Anyway, a few entries back I bemoaned the lack of sports coverage on WDC. It's a niche that hasn't been fully scraped and scoured, and is in need of proper exploitation. I think a sub-theme for my entries this month should be the tackling of this issue...there are a ton of bloggers writing about every other damn topic here, so let's do this a solid and talk about sports.

What I'd love to see down the road is the creation of perhaps a group blog...WDC's "Sports Desk" if you will, updated at a steady pace with commentary on a wide range of topics relating to the life inside and outside the field of play. I know this may only interest a few of us for now, but I think if those interested pooled some resources together, it could be a reality. Who's with me?

Until then, I'm going to do my thing here like I always do.

Yesterday my hometown Buffalo Sabres announced their team captains for the upcoming season (which starts tonight against Detroit...and I hate the NHL's new realignment, but that's another topic for another steam-blowing session). Some were excited about the "co-captaincy" of Thomas Vanek and Steve Ott, and I think it's an interesting move. Both are good players and respected teammates, but I'm leery about this and I raised this point on Twitter yesterday:

Allow me to explain. I took a peek at the Sabres' Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Sabres) to see who has worn the "C" over the years. The names stick out because in my opinion, the Sabres over the years have not valued these members of their respective rosters. Going back as far as I can remember, actual captains' tenures have not ended well with this franchise. I may not have all the details, but going back as far as I can, this is how I remember them:

Gerry Meehan, 1971–74: Eventually became General Manager.
Jim Schoenfeld, 1974–77: Traded.
Danny Gare, 1977–81: Traded.
Gilbert Perreault, 1981–86: A messy retirement and brief estrangement.
Lindy Ruff, 1986–89: Traded, and eventually came back to coach.
Mike Foligno, 1989–90: Traded.
Mike Ramsey, 1991–92: Traded.
Pat LaFontaine, 1992–97: Traded following a concussion debacle.
Alexander Mogilny, 1993–94 (while LaFontaine was injured): Traded.
Michael Peca, 1997–2000: Traded after sitting out a year in a contract dispute.
Stu Barnes, 2001–03 Traded.

From 2003-2008, the Sabres then rotated their captaincy monthly. To me, that says "When you have 2 (or more) captains, you have none". Having a leadership role as a player shouldn't be taken lightly, and if a coach can't decide on a singular voice to lead his locker room, it's a sum of parts that feel bigger than the whole but in reality don't connect. Perhaps part of it is that no one player could assume the role or stand out enough to make a difference, and another part is the coach not being strong or decisive enough to stand up with someone. (I should point out that from 2005-2007, Daniel Briere and Chris Drury served as co-captains, and were allowed to walk away from the team in free agency.)

Going on...

Craig Rivet, 2008–11: Traded after being sent to the minors.
Jason Pominville, 2011–13: Traded.
Thomas Vanek & Steve Ott, 2013–present.

Notice any trends here? The tenure of nearly every Sabres' captaincy has ended in a trade, and most of them weren't pretty situations. And now for the kicker...both Vanek and Ott are playing for contracts next season, meaning there's a chance they could walk in free agency a la Drury/Briere. Or, if the Sabres fall out of contention in the revamped Eastern Conference, they could find themselves...you guessed it...traded, as rental players to Stanley Cup-committed franchises while the Sabres continue to get younger (seemingly another recurring theme in the history of the franchise that once proclaimed itself as "Hockey Heaven").

I'm not up to prognosticating the NHL season like I did for the NFL, but I can tell you I don't have high hopes for the Sabres this year. I don't see them making the playoffs, let alone being a major factor in the league. One or both of their captains will be traded as the purge continues to rid the locker room of "Lindy's guys". And let's not forget Ryan Miller...the team's de facto captain who would wear the "C" if there weren't an unwritten rule about goalies being captains. When your goalie is your loudest voice in the room, it doesn't always bode well, and Miller's proven that he's great but beatable...and sometimes combustible. Oh, and he's also in a contract year...not only is he playing for that, but he wants to be Team USA's starting goaltender in the Sochi Olympics. He's got a lot of work to do if he's going to carry a young squad and regain his Vezina-winning form. If this team doesn't start fast or fails to weather an early-season struggle, they have the potential to implode. As a fan, I hope for the best; as a realist, I just don't see a successful season for coach Ron Rolston in his first full year behind the bench.

See? This is the kind of sports blogging the WDC world needs!

BCF PROMPT: "What's your astrological sign?"

Ahhh, the days of the bad pick-up line. What's your sign, baby? I'm a Leo...(said with a purring "rawwwwrr" while imitating a cat scratching a sofa). I was born under the guise of the sun and summer and all the fun that goes along with it. That's what I'm built for. Probably explains my seasonal-affective disorder as well...don't let them fool you when people from Buffalo say they can handle snowstorms. We're resourceful, if not outright dangerous at times, but not all of us are made to handle the weather (and I'll save the rest of that rant for when it's truly necessary).

Too often, people forget that most horoscopes come with the disclaimer stating "For Entertainment Purposes Only". While they can occasionally bear an uncanny resemblance to some life situations, they're not actually fact-based (unless you get your "facts" from "sources" in the "stars"). Everything happens for a reason, sure, but not because the newspaper's "syndicated astrologist" suggested you should avoid real human contact or play a certain set of numbers to win the lottery.

What does it say about horoscopes when your local newspaper publishes them in the comics section? Or when that same newspaper relegates them to the classifieds? And then the classified section shrinks over time because the economy is so bad that nobody can afford to advertise their used cars or junk trinkets, and the only jobs in those ads are scams for stuffing envelopes, inserting cd's and selling vacuums? And even then, those pages are filled with quarter-page ads for "job fairs in the medical field" and the used-car "Flavor Of The Month" dealer, with cute slogans and catchphrases you can't get out of your skull for cars not worthy of risking your credit score on?

Whew...time to reel this back in before I start ranting.

The sign...yeah, I'm a Leo. I'm the lion March is when it comes in like a lamb; the growling presence on the calendar of petulance and mediocrity and angst and complacence. Just smart enough to get by but not ahead on the food chain of whatever the world rotates upon. Great on land but not sea nor air. Strong when I need to be, silent if necessary, and dominant over my domain no matter what, but still capable of being reduced to a purring kitty in the right circumstances. King of the jungle, fool for the universe. <Insert your guffaws here.>

MUSICAL BREAK!!

I had no clue what to put here. Sponsor!! I thought about using Chris Rock's video (again) where he lists short horoscopes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9yBPcn8IqU). Instead, I'm falling back on my hip hop roots and posting a love song under the shaded personal self-describing hymnal of what I think sometimes. Hey, it's who I am. When I'm down for something, I'm all-in.

THE DAILY BOX SCORE:

Totally saw a man fall flat on the pavement today. I made a rare public appearance and was able to witness a man coming out of a local eatery/"mall", as they call them around here (but they're not like the mega-malls normal people shop at). He was older, and he missed the step that is the difference between an elevated entrance versus the sidewalk. As I was walking by this occurred in front of me, and I spoke in slow-motion perhaps for the first time to a person who wasn't at a cash register or tending to my body at a doctor's office to ask if he was ok. He audibly hit the concrete with a smack/splat sound. Thankfully, he was alright. I've seen a lot of weird and questionable things in Cortland, but this was a first for me in all my years of being anywhere. He still had the decency and frame of mind to appreciate my concern. I would've helped him up, but he was able to do so on his own power, and that's great, because I don't like to touch people I don't know.

And still no damn hockey emoticon. Shame times x-amount of times the collective masses I know who would appreciate one on the world wide WDC empire.

Personal healthcare is not an easy thing to find oneself through, government shutdown or not. The closest doctors here require an insurance card with their name on it. Greedy, self-loathing bastards. Then they want to know everything about you before you can be considered for their precious time. Well, fuck, I just want to know why my joints don't work the way they used to. If jobs require me to be agile, and I can't do what I did in the past, then give me an answer, and don't front on me because I don't have the records from a doctor I last saw years ago in a village a couple hundred miles away. I see your point, but see mine...touché, healthcare. Mad love and thanks to those who took the time to encourage me toward looking into seeing a doctor, but shit's crazy when it comes down to doing it.

What's the point? No really, what is the point??

And that's where I'm leaving you good people for the time being. Lets just all get along for the common purpose of the written (on the internet) word. Respect...doth given, doth received. GOODNIGHT NOW!!