Poor Mike Weber.
He is very upset with the Buffalo fans who dared to openly cheer against their team last night - cheering when the Coyotes scored, booing when Buffalo tied it and exploding in pure joy when Sam Gagner scored the winning goal and clinched the basement for the Sabres.
You know, I just don't get it. How can Weber be so ignorant? According to ESPN, even though Buffalo is the worst team in hockey, they average 18.5 thousand fans per game and fill their arena to 97% capacity. So, paying fans who cheer against you make you angry? I don't....maybe don't be the worst team in hockey then?
Of course as an athlete you want to win. No player cares who his team will draft because their careers are short and they just want to win. I get it. Most of them are short-term employees who'd play for anyone who'd have them, but that isn't the case with fans. Fans can afford to think big picture. The greatest irony of sports is that the people who pay - not the ones getting paid - care more about the jersey of the team than the one's who actually wear it.
Mike Weber might be a long-time Sabre, who knows, maybe they were his team growing up even. But when his contract expires, he isn't going to give a crap about Buffalo the city or Buffalo the franchise - he is going to go to whoever pays him the most money.
And good for him, he has an unusual and rare skill-set (i,e he's an NHL hockey player) and deserves to get paid.
But at the same time, he should take some advice from Joe Thornton and shut his mouth because getting mad at your fans is pathetic. You should be happy ten people came to that game, let alone the thousands that did. I don't know anything about Weber, but I have to assume that he is smart enough to realize that people who are paying to see the 2015 Buffalo Sabres feel like they kind of deserve Connor McDavid - especially because the team INTENTIONALLY tried to put themselves in this position.
Now, Weber might have a case, but last time I checked, the Sabres weren't giving away free tickets to all 41 of their home games this season.
Buffalo is a major hockey town and also not one of the richer ones. Its fans are blue collar and - for the most part - probably can't afford to go to all that many games. They love their team and they support their team and they known as some of the best fans in the game.
Also, their team has been pure and utter garbage for at least two years. They have watched for well over a decade as every major star ditches the team the second they get to free agency. And this year the team didn't even try to ice a winning hockey team.
And they still have some of the best attendance in the NHL.
So tell me this: how is it that fans are jerks, but management is A.O.K? Now don't get me wrong, because I think management made an intelligent and calculated risk - it's far easier to acquire elite players through the draft than any other way, and in Buffalo, where you aren't likely to attract top tier UFAs, this is even more true. But if Weber wants to criticize anyone, it should be his GM and not his fans.
It makes sense to exploit the rules to your benefit, especially when there are two players available who are basically disappointments if they don't end up in the Hall of Fame. Talk ethics all you want, but they exploit the rules as they are written because that is just good game theory. No one complains when rich people and companies use tax shelters to avoid paying taxes (well, no one listens, anyways) mostly because those are the rules they are exploiting them.
You could literally find 1000000 technically legal things that are way more unethical than tanking your sports franchise for the top pick. Like, I don't know, what about price gouging at the arena's? I was at the ACC the other night and they charged be $12 for a $2 can of beer. That is way way way way worse than tanking.
But anyways, Fans who cheer against their team are smart. They know that a win in March vs the Coyotes is meaningless, but that a loss isn't. So who can blame them?
Seriously? Mike Weber? The guy makes $1.66 million dollars this year and next, and he's gonna sit there like a fat-cat and tell some working stiff who paid for good money to come watch him play who to cheer for?
He actually has the gall to be upset because his (and his team's) failure is not applauded blindly?
To be honest for you, the Sabres (or Coyotes, or Leafs) are lucky ANYONE shows up at all. You're in last place dude, you don't deserve to be cheered for. You deserve the rage and scorn of people who paid to see you play, who follow your team and care about the franchise probably way more than you do.
Wake up. Tanking! Why don't people find a real problem? Someone's gotta lose, and this way it's fun. A competition to be the worst? Why not? It's better than just sucking for no reason.
I cheered for Buffalo last night even though I usually cheer for Arizona. I didn't feel bad about it at all. Hey - maybe if they took my advice and started this rebuild last year like I told them to, they wouldn't be in this position.
I do not apologize for embracing losing. In fact, maybe there is a lesson here. Maybe winning and losing aren't the biggest deal. Maybe you can just have fun with your hobby in anyway you choose to do so because you're a grown up and that's your right?
Nah, that's crazy.
-------------- With the win in Buffalo, the Coyotes pulled to six points ahead of the Sabres and practically - for all intents and purposes, if not mathematically - gave them their desired prize of last place, ensuring that they will - at the worst - get to draft Jack Eichel.
Not too bad, though. If the Coyotes can avoid passing the Oilers and Leafs, they are still guaranteed at least Noah Hanifin.
It's kind of like finding out that second prize is only five dollars less than the jackpot. Seriously, in any other year you'd be sick of the hype on Hanifin, but he's been under the radar - for obvious reasons.
You could argue that Strome should be the pick, and he might be. I, however, wouldn't be able to pass up the chance to skate OEL and Hanifin as a pairing for the next decade. Imagine Erik Karlsson's partner was Drew Doughty - that's what the Coyotes would be looking at.
That's our worst-case scenario here, so that's pretty amazing.
Lost in all the fun? The Coyotes have won two in a row.
Bring on the Penguins.
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