(NOTE: I’m preaching to the choir around these parts)
The ubiquitous “hometown discount” was thrown around in the local radio talk about how the Sabres shoulda coulda woulda signed Brooks Orpik. Bucky even claims he “practically begged” to be drafted by the Sabres. Buck says a lot of things. The comments from his younger bro Andrew carries more weight with me. From John Vogl at Sabres Edge:
“I think Buffalo is a place he’d definitely want to come. He grew up here and he’s got a special bond with the place, but like I said, it’s a business, too, and it’s his way of living so we’ll see what happens.”
What happened was he still gets to play with Crosby, Malkin, and Fleury. Not a bad business decision.
It’s not too surprising that the Sabres didn’t make a hard push for Orpik. Honestly I was more surprised that Ryan Malone, the first Pittsburgh native to play for the Penguins and fresh off an emotional Cup run , just signed with Tampa Bay.
If ever there was a perfect time for the hometown discount, it was that guy. But Tampa threw money at him and he banked it. Who knows though, maybe Pittsburgh isn’t the heart tug that Buffalo is? Maybe their natives aren’t talkin’ proud like we are?
What I’m sure of, my fair Buffalo neighbors, is that there’s no hometown discount. I’m guilty of wishing for it too but I think the best we can hope for in that respect is Patrick Kane coming home in 20 years in a sort of Ray Bourque swan song to win the Cup.
I’ll leave you to speculate how likely any of that scenario is. In the meantime we do have The Kaleta!.
Tags: Buffalo Sabres, Hometown Discount, Myths Damn Myths & Statistics, The Kaleta!
July 7, 2008 at 11:46 am |
[...] Did you know that Brooks Orpik (Orca?) is from East Amherst. I wish that the Sabres would have known that when free agency started. Maybe he would have played here for like 40 cents a year. [...]