While some tell me I am pessimistic when it comes to Buffalo sports, I stand firm when I say I am a realist.
Too many times I have watched the Bills and Sabres get their fans excited and hopeful it will be the year for a championship just before ripping out their hearts and stomping on them.
In 2007, Western New York was overcome with Sabre fever as we continually heard the song "Better Days" by the Goo Goo Dolls and it became the anthem for the team that won the President's Cup (the team with the best regular season record).
That year I went and stood outside the HSBC Arena and watched Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Sabres and the Ottawa Senators on a big screen with thousand of other fans. That game alone may summarize what it's like to be Buffalo sports fan.
Daniel Briere scored with six seconds left in the game to send the contest into overtime. When that goal was scored, I don't think I have ever been a part of a more ruckus crowd.
The Sabres had the fans excited.
However, in the second overtime, Ottawa scored right off the faceoff. The silence that went over the crowd was almost eerie.
Our hearts were ripped out - again.
Now, with the Sabres sitting in 10th place, I am watching the team make a little run towards the eighth and final playoff spot. Buffalo recently went 3-7-1 and looked all but certain to give up on the season. Now with goaltender Ryan Miller back in net and playing much better as a team, I can't help but think they could make a run in their final seven games. If they could make the playoffs, that would surely get the hopes up of all their fans - once again.
If they make the playoffs - and that's a big if - I wonder how they will disappoint the fans this time.
Maybe they will be up 3-0 in the best of seven series before losing the final four games. Maybe the refs will screw the Sabres over again like they did against the Flyers in 2000 when John LeClair's goal went through the side of the net. Or even worse - the original no goal in 1999 when Brett Hull's "goal" gave the Dallas Stars the Stanley Cup.
While I enjoy watching the Sabres make a run to the playoffs, I remind all fans don't get too excited and call them a Stanley Cup team yet. This is Buffalo and I am starting to believe we are cursed just as much as Cleveland and the Chicago Cubs.
