OH, HI THERE.

So I’m assuming that you’ve all been waiting with baited breath for my next update. At that point though, you’d be dead, seeing as you wouldn’t have breathed for a week now. So, short of death, I’m positive that each and every one of you have been worried sick that I got in a car accident, I possibly got clobbered over the head with a cane at the nursing home, maybe I got a look inside of Derek Roy’s closet and passed out, or maybe I encountered Tim Connolly on Chippewa (enough said).

Well, my friends, my life is not always that exciting, and as much as it saddens me to say this, none of that happened, and I know you all have lives, so you weren’t really worried. It doesn’t hurt that I talked to at least a few of you on Facebook or through texts or emails.

But really, I had probably the shittiest week known to man. Not only did school start, but I think I’m going to resort to rearranging my ethics professor’s teacher’s face with my fist. I cannot stand the woman. Not only that, but there was a death in my family, which was extremely shocking, and now I’m sick, and there was whole bunch of other crap, but I can’t even think of it right now because the Sudafed is going to my head, which feels like it weighs about 25 pounds right now.

Whatever.

I have to say, I’m in love with the photographers from this weekend. A while back, when the Sabres started taking those ultrasexy black and white pictures of the guys and throwing them up all over the arena, I was in love. But, at the same time, I was thinking, “Ummmm, no. These guys are not the most photogenic (coughTimConnnollycoughBrianCampbellcough), so why am I gushing over these pictures?”

But I’ve taken it all back, because they’re really cool. They’re artsy and they show the guys a little bit differently. I still like going by Connolly’s because you can see his terribly receeding hairline, and Kaleta’s because his face is mangled. Oh, and Mair’s and Lydman’s are pretty good, too, because the shadows allow you to see all of their scars. They’re actually pretty neat.

So you can imagine my glee when I saw all of the ridiculous pictures they were taking this weekend.

Like this one:

But then you get true winners like these ones:

But I’m sorry, because Vinny takes the cake for the best looking boy of the night:

Niiiiiice!!

So the SuperSkills Competition was pretty entertaining. I can’t stand Versus, so I watched on CBC. I figured some of the guys were mic’ed up when I saw the CIA-esque wires sticking out of their jerseys, but I didn’t equate them with the Versus broadcast, so I missed out on that fun. Oh well. I was pretty amused by Ovie’s antics with the sunglasses, and I just love his use of my ancestor’s flag in his hat. Adorable. And I totally called Vanek using the Around The World. I didn’t know he’d use it twice though. Cool deal.

I’m still undecided if I really will give the All*Star game my full attention this evening. I might. Really. As much as I am disgusted with the whole voting process and all, it could be entertaining. But if it starts to look anything like the YoungStars game was last night, I’ll leave it on, but I’m moving on to the endless hours of psychology reading I have. Not that that is any more fun or anything. I just want Vanek to do well.

What’s more, though, is my excitement that next week’s games actually will be televised after all. When it was made known to me that no one in WNY could watch it at all, I was almost tempted to get into my car and drive somewhere–anywhere–that didn’t have an ip address that I do, just so I could watch it. But I’m glad I don’t have to do that, because it saves me a bunch of money, and a whole lot of sleep.

Seriously, though, I hate west coast trips. The guys never seem to have their feet under them during the first couple games, so it’ll be interesting to see how they do. I think it would have been beneficial to get them out there a day or two early, but that can’t happen because of the break. They should be quite rested, although that doesn’t always seem to help, either. Vanek, in my opinion, is the only guy with an excuse to not play well.

Well, maybe he and Marc-Andre Gragnani. Yes, we called him up last night. Last time he put on the blue and gold, he skated with the forwards. This time, he’s filling in for Henrik Tallinder, who injured his shoulder and is out indefinitely. Cool. Should be interesting, to say the least.

Even though I was one of those ones, complaining that we had too many defensemen up here a couple weeks ago, I knew something like this would happen. I really think Regier needs to make some sort of move to get an established d-man here, because we can’t afford to throw our prospects in the lineup, especially with this roadtrip. Chris Butler has been exceptional thus far, and we’ve received much more than we could have imagined from him. But that’s not going to hold true to everyone, so I’m just praying that Gragnani can at least keep it simple and not screw things up. The Sabres can’t afford to do poorly on this trip because Carolina is only two points behind us; Pittsburgh and Florida only three behind.

These next four games will be vital to kicking off the playoff push. I just hope we can pull at least 5, but more ideally at least 6 points, out of this trip.

I Missed Derek, But He Made Up For It

Life is now about as normal as it can ever be for me…

To start off Saturday’s festivities, I was extremely disappointed because, while Kim and I, along with her beautiful mother Maureen, arrived at the Red Carpet Ceremony admittedly a few minutes late, WE STILL MISSED ALL OF THE GUYS WHO WERE TO PLAY.  That’s absolutely ridiculous, because that means I MISSED DEREK ROY.  IN HIS WHITE SUIT!!!!  I was completely devastated.

So, needless to say, if the Sabres say they’re going to start an event at 5:00 pm, start at 5:00 pm and not earlier.  You don’t tell people to show up for a party at 10 pm and start it at 8.  It just doesn’t make any sense.  And we only got there, like, 5 minutes late.  But whatever.

BUT I’M HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE:

TIM CONNOLLY IS ALIVE!!!!

My love has not left me yet!  Not completely, anyways.  He did look about as miserable as ever, though.  But look at my pictures and notice his terribly receeding hairline.  It’s actually quite comical because he most definitely had a full head of hair before he went to Switzerland and shaved off his curly locks.  And he didn’t even smile; he just had his signature smug, disdained look of boredom on his chipmunk-cheeked face.  Lame.

AND he has a LOOK-A-LIKE!!  Marc-Andre Gragnani has that Tim Connolly look on his face.  Too bad I couldn’t get a picture of it.  They must be roommates.  It’s the only explanation.  Poor kid.

And Tim Kennedy had another awkward interview!!  The first question Kevin asked him was something along the lines of, “Do you realize that you’re the object of envy of every young hockey player in Buffalo?”  Tim didn’t even laugh.  He just looked at Kevin all seriously and said, “Yes, I do.”  Retard.

Everyone let out a big collective “AWWWW” when newbie Patrick Lalime showed up with a date on each arm, two of his adorable little girls, Liliana and Rosemary, both wearing their dad’s jersey.  Seriously, two of the cutest little things I’ve ever seen.  What a sweetie.

And MJ will be happy to know that Adam Mair showed up, sans wedding ring, so there’s no competition with the wifey there.

Despite the set-back of missing half the team, I still saw so many beautiful Sabres, so it was worth it, AND THEN THEY WON!!!

When Vanek took that double minor, I looked at Kim and said, “Goodbye, game,” but of course Derek and Paul would pull it off in great fashion.  Honestly, though, I had no voice after the first period thanks to Craig Rivet’s fighting skills, which automatically trump those of Andrew Peters, and the countless hits by Mr. Patrick (Andrew?) Kaleta.  I say that because when they announced the Hit of the Game (formerly known as the Carubba Collision), the PA guy said Andrew Kaleta.  Hello!  Do you work for the Sabres?  Do you live in Buffalo?  Get it right.  And while I’m on the topic of people in position to talk about the Sabres messing up, when I got home I flipped on Channel 4 to watch their sports report, and Robyn Adams upset me.  She  mispronounced Rivet, and didn’t even mention that we came back from a 2-0 deficit to win the game in a matter of 5 minutes, and not even that Goose tied it up with 5.0 seconds left in regulation.  Idiot.

And I had to laugh because the prospects were all sitting up in the press box, and Kim and I kept looking over after we scored to see their reactions, and saw NOTHING.  No one clapped, even after we tied it up.  They didn’t even appear to be smiling.  Only a few clapped after the game ended, but they all peaced out so quickly afterwards…  Jerks.  Way to support the team.

Whatever though.  While I was upset with the Sabres about the whole ceremony thing, I left a very, very, VERY happy girl.  Now I’m just trying to find someone to go with me to the game on the 10th so I can go to the home opener for probably the 10th season in a row.  I just love hockey so much.  I kind of forgot what it was like over this ridiculously long summer.

Except, this broke my heart.  It’s the remnants of the Mike Ryan Fanclub.  =[

Let’s just hope they keep going like they did yesterday.  Just, stop giving me a heart attack.  Please.  I don’t know if I can take 82 games of that.  Actually, I’m not sure if I can take 96 games like yesterday’s, if you know what I mean.  And I did not just say that for those of you who are superstitious.  =]