Two Coaches, One Buffalo Wall
Well… like I teased last week, I already had this piece sitting in the drafts and was going to post it if the Sabres lost to Montreal in Game 6. Instead, you get it a week later after a heartbreaking Game 7 loss. We’ve seen this story before. Like it or not, the Sabres and Bills are connected when it comes to scar tissue. You see the similarities because neither franchise has been able to get over the playoff hump and bring home a title. One of the more fitting comparisons happens to involve the two coaches with the best winning percentages in the histories of both franchises.
There’s a part of me that thinks Lindy Ruff and Sean McDermott are basically coaching cousins separated by a sport, a coaching outfit, and a headset. Both are bald. Both were considered tough before softening their approach as they got older or had to because of possible mutinies. Both probably won’t be getting Christmas cards from players. Both are winners, but both didn’t win enough.
Both guys walked into broken situations and made things respectable. They brought structure. Accountability. Professionalism. They stopped the clown show. Players buy in. Fans buy in. The teams become harder to play against. And before you know it, everyone is talking themselves into, “Maybe this is finally the year!”
And honestly? For a while, it usually looks like it is.
Lindy turned the Sabres into a machine for years before returning in 2024 and ending an embarrassing drought. McDermott dragged the Bills out of the football equivalent of a nuclear wasteland. Both coaches deserve real credit because Buffalo sports history is littered with fired coaches who never returned to lead the charge or beat the drum again, let alone make the playoffs consistently.
But then comes the hump. The reason why the “Just One Before I Die” T-shirt is always a hot seller. It’s one of the reasons why Sean McDermott got canned.
Buffalo fans know the hump better than Joe Camel.
With Lindy, it always felt like the Sabres would have one series where they looked unstoppable before something bizarre happened. A rookie goalie standing on his head. A controversial call — or 10 of them. Star players disappearing. Alex Tuch and Tage Thompson becoming Stefon Diggs and the entire Bills defensive line.
You talk yourself into the idea that the Sabres are playing with house money heading into the playoffs, but then they start losing and suddenly you’re acting like Clark Griswold throwing away the college fund in Vegas Vacation while playing rock, paper, scissors.
Then you look at McDermott and it’s the same movie, just with shoulder pads.
Ending a drought? Check.
Great regular seasons? Check.
Division titles? Check.
Winning a playoff round or two so everyone talks themselves into believing? Check.
A funeral? Check.
The scar tissue you carry for the rest of your days? Also check.
That’s the thing that connects Ruff and McDermott the most. Their teams are never embarrassing. They’re rarely bad. They’re usually good enough to make you emotionally invest, which honestly might be more dangerous.
Because hope is what kills Buffalo fans.
Not incompetence. Not tanking. Hope. It’s the Harvey Dent/Joker storyline from The Dark Knight.
Both coaches mastered the art of keeping the window open just enough for you to convince yourself this year will finally be different. Then, by the end, you’re sitting there like Charlie Brown after Lucy yanks the football away again, wondering why you trusted happiness in the first place.
Both guys changed their public approach, at least somewhat. Lindy used to be a stone-cold killer during his first run here. He’d call out everyone on his team and make them do laps or whatever punishment he could think of after losses. He coached with fear. Now? He’s much gentler. He’s even talked about changing his communication methods because generations changed.
McDermott went from having zero personality and coming off somewhat awkward to being forced to evolve after the Tyler Dunne manifesto about his approach to players and people in the building. Next thing you know, he’s doing podcasts and making snow angels on the field.
And even with the softer approach, it’s still the same story of heartbreak.
And yet… if either guy walked into a room in Buffalo tomorrow, most fans would still shake their hand and thank them. That’s the weird Buffalo sports paradox. We simultaneously appreciate them and are haunted by them.
Lindy Ruff and Sean McDermott represent the exact same tier of Buffalo sports pain:
Good enough to matter.
Good enough to believe in.
Good enough to break your heart.
Is Buffalo a choke and trash talk city?
When I first heard the term “Choke City,” it was around 1994 after the Houston Rockets blew back-to-back 20+ point leads against the Phoenix Suns in the NBA playoffs. This came barely a year after the Oilers blew a 32-point lead against some team I definitely can’t remember the name of right now and also blew a 10-point playoff lead to the Chiefs. Funny enough, the Rockets came back, beat the Suns in that series, and won an NBA title anyway.
Last week on Twitter, some guy from Toronto sports radio decided to revive that phrase and declare that Buffalo sports are “Choke City,” while adding that Buffalo fans love talking junk despite not having a leg to stand on.
Now, the delivery was way too theatrical for my taste. It felt like someone watched too many 1990s sports radio montages and thought yelling every point automatically made it land harder. Still, it did trigger the perfect Alonzo Mourning angry reaction meme in my brain.
The word “choke” in sports has always been radioactive. Athletes hate hearing it. Absolutely hate it. Ask an athlete “Did you guys choke?” and 9 out of 10 times you can literally see their face tighten in real time. Next to accusing a team of quitting, it’s probably the worst possible sports accusation. It means the pressure got too heavy. The moment got too big. Panic set in.
And unfortunately, Buffalo has enough sports trauma to make the conversation unavoidable.
Buffalo is the only American city with two-plus major professional sports teams that has never won a championship. Las fucking Vegas got teams like eight minutes ago and already has a title. Besides Buffalo, Only Minnesota and Cincinnati have not won titles this century. So, it isn’t even a lifetime issue. The Buffalo Sabres are 1-7 all-time in Game 7s and is the 2nd worst percentage of current NHL teams that have played game 7 (Ottawa has never won a game 7) which is somehow both statistically horrifying and emotionally exhausting. Then there’s the Buffalo Bills, where the list of nightmares reads like a cursed documentary series:
:13 seconds.
Wide Right Part 1.
Wide Right Part 2.
The Dalton Kincaid drop.
Brandon Cooks maybe catching that ball.
Not figuring out how to defend a kickoff.
The Super Bowl blowouts.
Ronnie Harmon dropping the football.
Doug Flutie somehow not seeing Trace Armstrong.
Whatever happened there with the Diggs/Allen situation before the Bengals playoff game.
These are moments that feel impossible even while you’re watching them happen. The type of “because it’s Buffalo” sequence where the entire sports world just stares at the screen trying to process what they watched.
And honestly? That’s why Buffalo fans are defensive. They’ve lived through too much weirdness not to be.
As for Sid’s commentary about Buffalo fans talking trash… I mean, duh. Of course they do. Especially online. Some of that is definitely egged on by local media too. Buffalo sports media has always known how to tug at the emotional insecurity of the fanbase anytime somebody says anything remotely dismissive about the city.
Hell, the Buffalo Sabres social media team literally kept receipts from fans and media members for criticizing the team when the team absolutely deserved to be criticized for being complete ass.
Tom Brady made one random throwaway comment about hotels and the city reacted like he insulted everyone’s grandmother. Local outlets were interviewing hotel owners like they were insulting the RoseBud motel on Schitt’s Creek. One time Charles Barkley joked there was nothing to do in Buffalo while talking about Terrell Owens and Channel 2 practically rolled out an emergency response team complete with “email Turner PR your concerns” online story.
At this point, I’m convinced whenever a national outlet does a “Best/Worst Sports Cities or players” ranking, editors intentionally include Buffalo because they know the engagement is guaranteed. You either get completely ball-washed by Bills Mafia or digitally stoned on X for the next 48 hours. There is no middle ground.
Maybe Buffalo is Choke City. Honestly, after everything that’s happened, you can at least make the argument without sounding insane. The history is there. The scars are there. The clips replay themselves every January and every spring like a sports version of PTSD. That’s why Buffalo sports are different. The city doesn’t just lose — it loses historically.
As for the trash talking…Buffalo fans are loud, defensive, emotional, irrational, loyal, insecure, proud, and permanently scarred all at once and are definitely baited on by the local media who want engagement and a following. It is the one place in the country where fans voices not only matter, but gets plastered on local news.
It’s a city that simultaneously expects disaster while also convincing itself every September and every April that this time will finally be different.
Which, if we’re being fair, is probably the most Buffalo thing imaginable.
Stathead of the week: 26
26 is the amount of times a QB who started at least 9 games in the regular season and won a Super Bowl who were 30+ or older.
The only QBs on this list that did NOT win a title in their 20s are Jim Plunkett, Brad Johnson, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Joe Theismann, Matt Stafford, Phil Simms, and John Elway.
Dad shots
—Well, the Sabres season has come and gone. It was obviously a successful season where I can say I reconnected with the franchise after years of just watching Twitter and zoning out during any game I could catch. It was a fun group to watch and the fans really took to them. Hockey is back. But for how long it stays that way is up to the Sabres brass.
This is Jarmo’s first offseason as Sabres GM, and all we’ve heard is that he loves making trades. He’s aggressive. It’s an interesting place for the team to be because their success had zero to do with him—unless you believe his hiring magically motivated everyone, which feels more like a reflection of how much people hated Kevyn Adams.
On the surface, I think this team needs another top-six forward, a remodeling of the third defensive pair, and a power-play specialist.
As for the question marks—or where I’m not exactly sure where they should go—it gets dicey:
—Alex Tuch had a great season and is one of my favorite Sabres players. But he’s 30 years old and coming off a lousy playoff effort against Montreal where it looked like he couldn’t keep up with the much faster Habs team. He’s also been playing in the NHL since he was 20 years old, so he’s an old 30. If the Sabres let him go because they need money to sign Byram and Benson, I can live with that, but there better be a plan to replace that production.
—The Sabres are in a paradox when it comes to Lyon and UPL. If it wasn’t for the solid goaltending they got this season, they probably don’t win the division. If their goaltending was even decent against the Habs, they probably win that series. Looking back, I’m still incredulous at how well the duo played because it just didn’t make sense based on their resumes.
Do you want a bellcow goalie or do you want the 1A/1B situation? Lindy sounded fine with the combination in his year-end presser, but we’re talking about a coach whose last three playoff series losses dating back to Dallas, New Jersey, and now Buffalo all ended with shaky goaltending being the story. He also had the luxury of having Hasek and Miller for most of his playoff runs.
I’d rather the Sabres put the money into their forwards and just score more goals, but I also wouldn’t be against adding a true bellcow goalie. The problem is those guys feel insanely rare and insanely expensive now.
—Ban assault rifles and Doug Allen from KeyBank Center.
—I was waiting for someone to film Landon Jackson like it was a Great Khali low-angle WWE entrance just to elevate how gigantic he’s become. With that said, we are now entering “everyone is in the best shape of their life” season between OTAs and training camp. It’s a tale as old as time. Besides Jackson going full Goldberg with his arms, now we’re getting reruns. Dalton Kincaid has “gotten bigger,” even though we heard the exact same thing last year. Keon Coleman is “maturing” or all business even though we heard that last year too.
—Seeing all those videos of them destroying the old Highmark Stadium doesn’t make me sad, but makes we wonder why aren’t they selling more seats if this is the end result?
— My Knicks vs Spurs Final prediction is still alive! Brunson has been unreal and the role players for the Knicks like Bridges, Hart, and KAT have played exceptionally well. Yes, they owe a lot to the Sixers and Cavs for beating matchup nightmares for the Knicks in Boston and Detroit. I do think the Knicks will probably get ousted in 6 games if they faceoff against the Thunder, but can definitely beat the Spurs.
—I don’t know if it was a fan account or Stefon Diggs’ burner, but somebody posted a picture of him in a No. 14 Bills jersey. At this point, I’d bet my rent he was basically crowdsourcing whether he should go back to No. 14 because he’s only worn that number in two places: Buffalo and Minnesota. Meanwhile, he wore No. 4 and No. 8 at his last two stops. Do I want a reunion? Meh. I’m not campaigning for it.
—Our family went to the Hudson Valley for Memorial Day weekend. The weather sucked royal ass, so basically everything had to be indoors. We hit up the Mid-Hudson Discovery Museum, which was actually awesome for kids and surprisingly cheap.
But let’s be honest, nobody cares about the wholesome family content. The main event was the beer scene. Your boy bought SEVEN four-packs of beer.
Sloop Brewing Co. is probably the best cheap craft brewery I’ve been to because you can still get four-packs for like $12–14 and have a great taste and having a high ABV. Then there’s Industrial Arts Brewing Company, whose IPAs are incredible and are known for having The Wrench, but there’s so much more and beyond.. I’m pretty sure both are at Wegmans locations too. Whenever I go to breweries, I always ask the same question: “What can’t I get in NYC?” In this case, apparently two of the four-packs I grabbed are pretty tough to find downstate.
But the white whale is Hudson Valley Brewery. Their stuff is basically what happens if ciders and IPAs had a weird artsy Brooklyn baby. Everything tastes incredible.
— cheap plug: listen to me on Pat Moran’s chicken finger countdown while I drink all this stuff and try to stay awake through scintillating topics like Landon Jackson’s giant python arms and Keon Coleman’s route running against air. I’ll be on Tuesday this week.
—Went to AEW Double or Nothing on Sunday night. The matches were great if you enjoy watching people kick out after being powerbombed through three tables, a flaming shopping cart, and possibly the moon. Honestly, it’s still fun. I respect the athleticism and the shows are a blast live, but some of these matches absolutely blend together after a while. Still, it was cool seeing MJF in person for the second time, and somehow both times he ended up winning the big strap.
—As always, please sure to buy some Homage gear from this link. If you purchase some shirts following this link, your boy gets a kick back. Sign me up for this Darth Vader meets MLB team shirt. And if you keep forgetting the NFL schedule, buy one of these shirts. Also, sign me up for #34 shirt here
—If you have made it this far…Thank you again! Please share or like or post on a FB page that will yell at you for spamming. Have a great week and tip your waitress.