Schopp Asks For Help

[PUCKER]

Received this from a friend in an email,so take it for what you will :


To Sabres fans interested in their team's future:

Without dispute, the controversy, scandal and ensuing uncertainty regarding ownership is a primary cause for this year's demise of the Buffalo Sabres. It is my contention, however, that any decision made by the National Hockey League to contract or relocate the franchise - an increasingly possible result - will be made with several factors in mind, among the most notable being the sharp decline in ticket sales this season and the logical inference that fans are no longer able or interested in supporting the Sabres.

Therefore, considering that fans can still play a vital role in determining the future of the franchise, I advocate the following demonstration, one intended to show the league you exist and you care about the Sabres' future:

Attend Saturday's game against the New York Rangers and spend the entire secondperiod and only the second period in the concourses and hallways of the arena.

I believe a massive cooperation would accomplish the following:

» The NHL and national hockey media would notice that Sabres fans can still be counted on to support their team. The New York media's presence in Buffalo will assist this. Our support must be on our terms however, including nothing short of a salary cap that allows for a market the size of Buffalo to have a chance of being competitive.

» The NHL would feel further urgency to reconfigure its economic structure, thereby providing the Sabres and small-market teams like them hope for future seasons.

» Send a message to prospective Sabres owners that fans are still passionate and loyal to the Sabres, assuming fans believe the team has a chance of being competitive, which presently is not the case.

Cooperating in this manner for a game against the Rangers - whose economic superiority was magnified to an alarming degree in their acquisition of Alexei Kovalev earlier this week - would further enlighten the league to our awareness of the little hope we have in competing with New York.

Some fans have expressed concern over asking fans that have bought tickets to skip out on one-third of their purchase. However, sacrificing the entertainment value - a term used very loosely in a last-place season within a low-scoring, no-hitting, watered-down league - of one period's play is, I believe, a small
price to pay to make a statement of this magnitude. Further, the game can be watched in the halls on one of the many monitors around the arena.

Please contribute further suggestions or support by spreading the word among ticket-holders, posting comments on our online message board, or calling radio shows - on WGR and all stations - throughout each day this week. Time is short
to rally thousands of people together, and only an implicit understanding of the cause and the confidence that many people are united in it can give this plan a chance of success.

Thank you for considering this effort.

Mike Schopp
Weekdays 3pm-6pm

[Jim Bob]

Personally, I think it's a stupid idea. The owners and players couldn't give a rat's tail what the fans think right now. And I doubt that's changing anytime soon.

[fweber73]

This May be the worst idea I've ever heard in my life. Let's support our team by not watching them??? Somebody needs to lay off the NyQuil!

[The REAL Sabres]

How's it supporting your team when you don't watch the game? Besides, the first time the Rangers came here this season, all the action was in the 2nd.

[thegame]

^Yeah, I remember. And I was sitting at the opposite end!

In the spirit of the walkout, I have chosen to walk out of my work Saturday night during the second period and go home to watch the rest of the game!:D

[PUCKER]

It is stup id. Could you imagine if this game was nationally televised on ESPN and then theres all those empty seats? Hopefully nobody will listen to this @sshole!

[thegame]

On a serious note...

I really used to respect Mike Scoppe, not anymore. This walkout idea is cheap, classless, and serves no useful purpose other than to give the national media more fuel to add to the fire surrounding the Sabres situation and who "we don't deserve a team." I will critiscize this team and call them what they are, but I won't turn my back on them.

[Sabres#1chick4life]

Id laugh if everyone walked out and the media was there to take a picture only to put it in Sundays morning paper showing the picture with a lil' short and sweet note that read:


"""Sabres loose game as sabres fans walk out on them in discust.
DOES THE TEAM REALLY DESERVE STAYING in BUFFALO???"""


Sounds like a Sabres TRAP to me. Don't do it guys!!! :shakeshead:

[The REAL Sabres]

Mike Schopp was "confident" Sabres fans would do this.

Pfffft!!!!! Yeah, it really worked well, didn't it?!?! And it was the most exciting game of the season. 84 shots?!?!?!

[thegame]

Take that Schoop!

[Thumper]

Why be so pissed at Schopp? He meant well. He wanted the fans of Buffalo to do something big that would make the league take notice. It wasn't the best idea.....To have them sit 1/3 of the game out in the hallways of the arena, but his reasoning was good. Show the league we're sick of teams like the Rangers, Wings, Blues, Stars, and Flyers try to buy themselves into the playoffs. The league allows them to buy any high profile player that they can......For SchoPP (notice spelling), the Kovalev trade was the last straw. If something doesn't change at the CBA, what are fans like us supposed to be hopeful for? Another player like Hasek to just pop into our system and lead us to the Cup Finals? Yeah right. What are fans in Edmonton, Minnesota, Calgary, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, and the list goes on; supposed to do? The chance of Buffalo, or more than half of the other teams in the league have of winning the Stanley Cup is far less than the fans of one of these sickening high payroll teams. Sometimes small market teams do excellent in the draft, like Ottawa. And can put a product on the ice that can compete with those teams. But should all of the smaller market NHL teams do what Ottawa did? Be the laughing stock of the league for a decade and sandbag every year? Just so they could put a respectable product on the ice a few years ago for the first time? That isn't the way it should be.

That's what Schopp was protesting. The league is partley responsible for what is happening with Ottawa and Buffalo. He wanted to send that message and make the media know that that was the protest was all about.

The idea was good. The way he went about protesting was what was wrong.

[fweber73]

I don't think anyone who truly backed this team would ever do such a thing. I agree with Buffarama... This was strictly a PR stunt of sorts.

[LALAFONTAINE]

Originally posted by Buffarama
Schopp had one intention, to get publicity for himself, and he chose to so do following in the footsteps of his mentor, the coach.
The plan had no merit, no margin of success, no leverage over the NHL, profited the Sabres nill. It had one benefactor, WGR and Mike Schope, however you spell it.

Agreed. How does this show anything?

[Roby]

It was a great idea, Just don't trust it .

[thegame]

^No, it was a terrible idea that served no real purpose other than to get Schopp some publicity.