I'll do the tl;dnr portion of this first since this is an idea I've had outlined for nearly a year and is quite lengthy.
I'm writing a book called Taro Says: The Lives and Times of Sabres Fans that is to be a collection of fan stories that will eventually be available electronically for free at smashwords in epub, LRF, .mobi, PDB, PDF, RTF, and Plain Text formats as well as through some other distributors depending on the options.
I'm looking for stories about anything and everything regarding the Sabres to put in the book. First games, best games, plaza shenanigans, whatever. I'm open to receiving things in writing, conversing with people online, reading forum posts, or talking in person, whatever it takes. You can write as much or as little on as many or as few topics as you want. My intended format is to be "(First Name) writes on (Topic):" I would also like to have a list of contributors (I am perfectly fine using aliases) and an appendix of those that have Sabres related blogs (as they will no doubt make up a substantial portion of the book).
Get a hold of me here or on AIM (CriminallyVu1gar) if you want to contribute. Hell, if you want to just post something here, that works too.
Now to elaborate...
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My goal is to make this a collection of individual voices, thus in putting things together I plan on changing as little as possible in the submissions. I want to maintain the tone, voice, and attitude of the individual storyteller as much as possible. Though I will of course fix spelling and grammar mistakes, mixed tenses, word choice errors, and awkward sentences.
A lot of people have asked specifically what I'm looking for, and I don't have an answer for them. The most explicit I can get is "anything about your relationship with the Sabres and Sabres fans that is either meaningful to you, an interesting story, or both." I'll post the outline I've constructed below, though I think the submissions and the topics they trend towards will dictate some of the organization.
Part I: Great Moments in Sabres History as Seen by the Fans Chapter 1: Before There Were Sabres Growing up with Hockey Rooting for the Buffalo Bisons Chapter 2: Getting a Team Where Were You When You Heard the News? Did Things Change in Buffalo? Chapter 3: Humble Beginnings Getting Gilbert Perreault The French Connection A Swift Rise to the Top and the 74-75 Cup Finals Chapter 4: Settling In Through the 70s and 80s The Departure of The French Connection Lindy Ruff as a Player The Playoff Wins Drought Chapter 5: The Glorious 90s Celebrating May Day Alexander Mogilny, Pat Lafontaine and Dominik Hasek Farewell to The Buffalo Memorial Auditorium Lindy Ruff as a Coach The 97-98 Conference Finals The 98-99 Cup Finals and No Goal Chapter 6: Tense Times The Ownership Issues The Lockout Year Prevailing Through Chapter 7: 2005-2006, Rick Jeanneret's Favorite Season Low Expectations and Remarkable Results Campbell's Hit, Briere's Game Winner, and Whooping the Flyers Pominville's Shorthanded Clincher and the Senators Shocker Defensemen Dropping Like Flies, Briere Sends it to Seven, but the Fans See Disappointment Chapter 8: 2006-2007, Being the Class of the NHL High Expectations and the President's Trophy Steamrolling the Isles Difficulties with the Rangers and Chris Drury and Max Afinogenov Play Heroes The Senators get Retribution Chapter 9: Looking for Better Days Losing Briere and Drury Missing the Playoffs New Ownership and a Look into the Future Part II: Great Moments in the Lives of Sabres Fans Chapter 10: And So it Begins Your First Sabres Game Starting Young and Being Raised a Sabres Fan Starting Old and Finally Seeing the Light Early Memories Shepherding Young Fans into the Fold Chapter 11: Through the Years Togetherness and Sabres with the Family Growing with the Team Favorite Players Through the Years Friends You Made at Sabres Games Chapter 12: Add a Lot of Blue, a Little Gold, and Cook With Passion The Best Stories from Inside Buffalo Memorial Auditorium The Best Stories from Inside HSBC Arena The Best Stories from the Plaza The Best Stories from the Bar The Best Stories from Home Chapter 13: Thanks for the Memories Bidding Farewell to the Aud The Greatest Game You Ever Saw Remembering Ted Darling Remembering Rick Jeanneret Chapter 14: The Hopeful Future Where Will You Be When the Sabres Win the Stanley Cup?
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As it stands right now, I have 80 people that I know personally as Sabres fans that I'd like to try and coax contributions out of, but would like to see many more voices, particularly those that have memories of some of the team's early years. I have (more or less) written all that I want to personally contribute on my own experiences and have gotten about 8,000 words out of them. My goal is to wind up north of 100,000 words, which I think is easily doable.
I haven't put much thought into a cover at this point, but I know a few people who wouldn't mind putting something together. I think a contest for best cover design voted on by users here and over at HF would probably be the fairest way of doing things, but it's not something that needs to be decided now one way or the other.
Lastly, I'll post an excerpt that my mother wrote about one of her mother's more memorable games. (This has not been fully edited.)
Jodi Tells Dorothy's Story of the Blizzard of '77 My mother and her friend Charlie were big Sabres fans in the 70s and followed the team to some of the different cities in the northeast that the Sabres played in (Boston, Philadelphia, New York City, Toronto and Montreal). The weather report said a storm was coming on January 28, 1977 in Buffalo, New York. Being hardy New Yorkers, that meant nothing to my mother and Charlie; they went on their way to Montreal, Canada to follow the Sabres. They left early that Friday, never knowing they were going to be on an adventure that would last longer than they expected. Anyone who has lived in western New York is used to snow storms but this was a snow storm that would cause people to ask “where were you during the Blizzard of 1977?” My mother and Charlie went on the bus to root their guys on to a win before the storm made itself known. But the Sabres players did not have such good luck; only 14 members of the team made it to the airport to fly to Montreal. Ted Darling the voice of the Sabres, who never missed a game, missed this one. He called the game from his living room at home. Charlie had a friend that knew the Sabres and he was able to help Charlie get not only get rooms in the same hotel but on the same floor. They were in seventh heaven, though not all the Sabres could make the flight out. The game was played on Saturday, January 29, 1977; the Sabres didn’t win, but they didn’t lose either, ending in a 3-3 tie. (At that time there wasn’t any overtime play or any shootouts to decide who won.) By the time the game started, everyone knew that a blizzard had hit the Buffalo area, but the only thing of great importance to Charlie and my mother was the game. They didn't realize that they wouldn't be able to get home for several more days because the city of Buffalo was closed down. The city was not letting in any traffic, likely because of the traffic signal-high snowdrifts and the abandoned cars on many of the roads. On one hand they were upset they couldn't get home, but on the other they got to hang out with some of the Sabres. The team was due to go home to play the Los Angeles Kings at The Aud but couldn't fly into Buffalo, so the game was postponed and they ended up flying to New York City to play the Islanders. At the hotel, my mother and Charlie met Danny Gare, Rene Robert, Rick Martin, Gil Perreault, among others. Since they were on the same floor, they often rode the elevator together going to and from their room. They'd talk to them and have a drink with them in the bar in the hotel, but the ultimate experience for my mother was when she had coffee with her favorite player, Gilbert Perreault. She had been sitting in the café in the hotel drinking her coffee when Perreault came over to her table and asked if he could sit with her.. My mother being a smart woman said yes and talked with him while they enjoyed their coffees. The Sabres left Montreal to play the Islanders, but my mother and Charlie were stranded in Montreal until the following Thursday. They were a little upset at the delay and that they had to spend extra money for the hotel. Charlie lost 4 days of work, though even if he had been home he probably wouldn't have been able to anyway since the city was closed. Luckily I was able to be there for my mother to be able to watch my baby brother while she was out of town. We were safe at her house while the storm was blowing 70 miles per hour and the wind-chill was -60 outside. But this game was certainly the most memorable for her, not because of the blizzard but because she was able to meet Gilbert Perreault.
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