Kelley: Anybody look dumber than the Sabres?

Jim Kelley isn’t just a good guy, he’s still one of the best at dissecting the NHL. In this week’s column at Sportsnet.ca, Kelley rips the Sabres at the bottom of his column — and this came before Daniel Briere scored Wednesday to lift Philly.

Is there an NHL team that looks dumber or cheaper than the Buffalo Sabres right now?
Former Sabre Danny Briere, who practically begged the Sabres to give him a reasonable contract offer last season, is leading the league in playoff scoring and is a big reason that the Flyers still have a chance to go from worst to first in a single season. The Sabres made it clear they had no interest in signing Briere (though for the record they did make a token effort hours before free agency opened, an effort that reminded many of their “attempt” to re-sign Ted Nolan as coach a decade earlier).

Checklist … run beside natural wonder, grab a Frappuccino, get engaged

According to Lisa Falzone, this photo taken prior to Saturday’s Envirun around Goat Island was shot a few hours before Neil Wieczkowski proposed! That would explain why he’s wildly overdressed for a 5K. As I left the race and drove up Third Street to stop at the Gazette building, I saw the two of them soaking up some rays and caffeine on the deck outside the Starbucks at the Crowne Plaza.

The e-mail didn’t say if Lisa said yes, but since she sent it, I’m assuming so. Also no word on if she had a chance to take a shower between the run and the proposal. Let’s hope so.

While Lisa and Neil didn’t know I was shooting this photo, it’s fairly obvious that the two ladies in the back are hamming it up pretty good for a cell phone shot. No word on their relationship status.

Tuesday’s column: Sabres must sign Gerbe

As I said in a column in Tuesday’s Gazette, the Sabres better make signing Nathan Gerbe a huge priority. This guy has set the hockey world on fire as few college players have in the past 25 years.

“The trials of Gerbe — and to a degree, Tim Kennedy — illustrate the best and worst the Sabres organization has to offer … Buffalo pulled Gerbe out of a fifth-round hat, the latest in a long line of draft-day heists. … But word has it the Sabres are tossing their typical low-ball offer, assuming fifth-round money will appease a fifth-round draft choice. It won’t.”

If he sneaks onto the U.S. team in the upcoming World Championships (he originally came in just for training camp), and does anything, the Sabres will have to give him a max deal.

Rome to UB’s Robinson: Switch fonts

Boy, poor Andy Robinson sure is getting hammered after the now-notorious Facebook incident. Robinson’s latest razzing came from none other than Jim Rome. Here’s an excerpt:

“My man, if you abuse opposing point guards the way you do the English language, why isn’t UB in the Final Four every year?”

It’s an important lesson for athletes. Wait, it’s an important lesson for everyone. Don’t put something online if don’t want the whole world to know about it.

Here’s Rome’s whole take, including a funny segment about bumping up font sizes to get the most out of your term papers.

P.S. What’s with this photo? Don’t go all GQ on us, Romey. It’s not your strength.

Lowell’s stay in Buffalo

After Mike Lowell treated his Pawtucket teammates to a $750 tab at Outback on Friday, he had a pair of hits in eight at bats during a two-game set against the Bisons. Nothing spectacular, but it was interesting to watch Lowell take swings in the cages beneath Dunn Tire Park. A certain zing comes off the bat of a guy who’s got World Series MVP in his credentials. He spoke with us Western New York scribes for a few minutes after the BP session on Saturday and explained the thumb guard he’s wearing.

“I think the original design came from the Bruins,” Lowell said. “There’s is a little more of a contact sport than ours.”

Lowell insists he’ll be ready and rarin’ come Tuesday as the BoSox return to action against the slumping Toronto Blue Jays.

BTW, the Bisons finally put a two-game series together, sweeping the PawSox.

Envirun — a great day

The 5K circuit started for me Saturday at the Envirun, which ran a beautiful loop around Goat Island. My time wasn’t great (just over 27 minutes), but not bad by my standards. Let’s just say we’ll take it. All in all a great day, and the weather held off just long enough.

P.S. Just realized some of the photos came out sideways. I’ll fix that soon.

Leading Off: Robinson kills UB’s momentum

From Saturday’s Niagara Gazette:

Just when you thought UB basketball was back, Andy Robinson, who led the men’s basketball team in scoring last year, made what can only be chalked up as a ridiculous mistake by posting on his Facebook site that he’d pay to have a paper written for a class he’s taking.
What makes the mistake so crucial is the timing. UB was finally riding a positive wave after signing two quality recruits in Titus Robinson and Mitchell Watt.
Robinson (Andy, not Titus) will probably get a simple slap on the wrist for the infraction, largely because he was blockheaded enough to post it where everyone could see. Coaches and administrators were given a chance to catch him before the gaffe became really costly. We’ve criticized good guy Reggie Witherspoon in the past for squashing momentum by rotating too many players in and out.
This time, one of his players did it for him.

What am I … crazy?

Wait, don’t answer that. In my quest to rebound from two weeks of Travel Tuesday, I’ve been running like mad. We’ll see exactly how that translates this weekend as I’m planning on running two different runs in Niagara County.

The first — the Envirun on Goat Island — has what race organizer Paul Kranz calls “the most scenic 5k course in Western New York.” Running around Goat Island isn’t a bad day’s work.

I’m planning on following that up with an appearance at the Stomp Out Stigma 5K at Niagara University (last year’s inaugural event pictured above). I’ve already told Bill Newton, one of the race organizers, that although the brain says it’s in the planner, the legs might not agree. We’ll see. Hopefully, I’ll have pictures and results from both.

Lowell in Buffalo

I’m not a Red Sox guy, but even I’m interested in catching Mike Lowell at Dunn Tire Park this week. He’s on a rehab assignment, and word is his ailing thumb is good enough to return to the bigs. He’s expected back in the BoSox lineup by Tuesday. And by the way, how do the Bisons stink so bad? There’s so much talent on this roster, and yet the Herd has hardly been Heard. In fact, those bats have been sigh-lent. The funny part, of course, is that locals are saying they don’t want to the Blue Jays to move their affiliation here because the organization whisks kids through the minors too quickly. Yet the Baby Jays, er, Skychiefs, errr, Chiefs, are well ahead of the Bisons.

Anchorman challenge, part 2

So, I’m the first to admit the first part of the Anchorman hockey challenge was an abomination. My only saving grace is that Matt Pearl was almost as bad as I was in picking the NHL’s first-round matchups. I mean, c’mon, I handed him a gimme in Ottawa and he still only has a three-point lead?

Here’s the standings, although I’ve cut and pasted these. I hope he’s not cheating.

MATT: 11 points
Montreal over Boston in 5 (2 pts)
Pittsburgh over Ottawa in 5 (2 pts)
Washington over Philly in 5 (0 pts)
NJ Devils over NY Rangers in 7 (0 pts)

Detroit over Nashville in 5 (2 pts)
San Jose over Calgary in 4 (2 pts)
Colorado over Minnesota in 6 (3 pts)
Anaheim over Dallas in 7 (0 pts)

TIM: 8 points
Montreal over Boston in 5 (2 pts)
Ottawa over Pittsburgh in 6 (0 pts)
Washington over Philly in 5 (0 pts)
NJ Devils over NY Rangers in 6 (0 pts)

Detroit over Nashville in 5 (2 pts)
San Jose over Calgary in 5 (2 pts)
Minnesota over Colorado in 6 (0 pts)
Dallas over Anaheim in 7 (2 pts)

Anyway, here’s what I have for the second round, and I realize I’m in close to the wire on these. Play starts in an hour.

Montreal over Philly in 5: The Flyers played really well in round one. Really well. But the Canadiens have yet to show their depth and this is where it starts to surface. Carey Price wasn’t bad in Games 5 and 6, even though that’s the knock on him. Still, the wake-up call was a good one for Montreal, and I’m expecting the Habs to come out with a lot more focus.

Pittsburgh over N.Y. Rangers in 6: I realize this goes against everything I said in the first round, but I think Pittsburgh is better than the Rangers. Period. I’m still not sold on the whole Pens phenomenon. They’ve got a long way to go before they can say they’ve accomplished anything. But they’ll have too much for the Blueshirts.

Dallas over San Jose in 6: OK, while the Sens pick was a bad one (really Tim?), this has plenty more merit. I like the Sharks, but they’re not as solid as people assume because of that long win streak. And the Stars are having a Marty Turco party. He stones the Sharks in 6.

Detroit over Colorado in 6: Pearl’s on this one. The Red Wings are good, and deep. And while the Avs are having a great time at the old timer’s reunion, Detroit’s talent will rise to the surface here.

OK, Pearl, there you have ‘em. Sorry in advance for the dramatic turn of events in the second round.