Sabres Dating: 41 dates in a season!
Just when you think she’s yours, she’s flown to other shores…
Buffalo, NY So risking it all to move back to Canada blew up in my face, and now I’m torn between the struggle to find a reason to stay and the struggle to find the energy to leave again. To help me through these uncertain times, I like to imagine what my life would be like if I stayed and what it would be like if I was to leave again. Obviously part of what I imagine the perfect life to be like here in NHL Land involves NHL season tickets. But it might surprise you to learn that Leafs season seats are not what my little heart desires.
Yes, I’m from the Big Smoke as they say, and I’ve been cheering on the Leafs my whole life. But the reality is the hockey atmosphere at the Air Canada Centre is one of the worst in the league. That coupled with ticket prices that are also one of the highest in the league, being a full-time Leafs supporter doesn’t give you much bang for your buck. And I’m all about the bang, as you know…
If I had my way – the perfect job/life in Toronto – the Buffalo Sabres would be the team I’d invest in. Sure, they kind of suck, and the First Niagara Center is pretty average (with the exception of the cheap beer prices), but the Sabres have one of the best season ticket packages in the league, and season seat holders in Buffalo often use their hockey tickets as an additional source of revenue.
There’s only one problem. Most (if not all) NHL clubs don’t allow singles to buy a season ticket. They want to sell out the barns two-by-twos, and I am.. well… FOREVER ALONE! This gave me an idea inspired by an incident at a Sabres/Coyotes game some years back – Sabres Dating!
Several years ago, I used to advertise on this site when I had an extra ticket to whatever game I was going to next. Back then (before I had a conscience), I would be willing to pay whatever the price to sit exactly where I wanted at the rink. I justified this by telling myself that out-of-town games were special occasions. Little did I know that I would still be travelling the league 6 years later. But anyway… sometimes I was crazy enough to be willing to buy not only one, but two tickets just so I could sit where I wanted. And so, I would try to sell the extra ticket online because I knew that if I tried to pawn it off to a local scalper, all I’d get for it was a shitty $20!
At the Sabres/Coyotes game in question, a guy actually bought my ticket BECAUSE it was mine. I didn’t know this at first. The guy, who was pretty damn cute by the way, just seemed very friendly and chatty to me during the game. But by the time the second intermission rolled around, a few of his buddies had come down to see how things were going. Eventually the truth came out. His friends, who were readers of the original (and much cleaner) Psycho Lady Hockey, encouraged him to buy my ticket to try to set us up. It was like being on a date and not even knowing it! I remember the younger me thinking it was a bit odd, but the older me (the version that thinks a trip to the Bahamas is an excellent first date idea) really respects the balls that the average guy would need to pull off something like that. I mean, you gotta make the effort to go for the things (or people) you want, right? Anyway, it didn’t really work out for this guy, but we all went out for drinks and a good laugh after the game.
Sabres Dating: 41 home games, 41 spare tickets, 41 dates. It could be like a reality show. If the guy is a total dud, then he wouldn’t get asked back to another game. But, on the other hand, if he was a great date, who opened car doors and kept me in beer all night, well then I might upgrade him to gold game status – you know, when the Leafs or another Sabres rival is in town! The more I think about it, the more this seems like a good idea. Anyway, I don’t know what the future holds, but if I do decide that the pros of staying in Canada outweigh the benefits of me taking off again, then look out for me spending most of my Hockey Nights in Buffalo next season. Go Sabres!