i do not live in NY any longer and have not been to a home game in over 10 years. that being said, i watch just about every game via center ice package and to me it seems that when the arena is full the crowd is much more quiet than other teams home fans when they have full or close to full arenas. is it me? is it an audio/acoustic feed issue? or is the crowd just not as lively? just curious.

no, they've been quiet for about 3 years now. it's a little weird.

it's kinda like how quiet gilette stadium is with the patriots.

I said last year that the arena was "broken". I still feel that way. You hear a game in Winnipeg, and you see what a crowd can be. I see no reason why it isn't like that in Buffalo except that people have taken the team for granted.

yeah, last night was a little bit better, but I swear we had a more lively and boisterous crowd last week in Anaheim.
Quite often you can hear Sabres chants when Buffalo is the away team...awkward

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Hold my beer and watch this...

Definitely. Anaheim was a prime example of that. I could hear the few hundred or a thousand of you chanting "let's go Buffalo" and it seemed louder than 19,000 fans in the F'N Center.

there's a group on fb that's trying to come up with something for the fans to do, like stand and cheer until the first whistle or something

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I think elevated ticket prices have priced die hards out of the lower bowl.

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Wheelhouse

I went to one with Jay and Phil when I was home and it was a bit quiet. I can relate to the whole not cheering my ass off vibe though. I mean come on, the team hasn't been that good for a looooong time. We went through heart break with trades and non-signings, getting close then falling down and I just think fans in general have reservation about throwing in 100% psychologically.

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I see your point about waning enthusiasm, but not "throwing in 100% psychologically"? Come on, it's just a game. If they lose, it's not like everyone is going to post on your facebook wall and say "Ah ha, the Sabres lost and you were rooting hard for them! You're such a loser!!".

DF, I can relate to not wanting to stick out in the crowd. I love to dance and love music in general, and I go to a lot (or at least used to) of concerts. When I'm feeling the music, it's hard for me not to dance. But people here in Portland are really lame and self-conscious about dancing so everyone stands around with their arms folded, maybe bobbing their heads to the beat. In that environment, it's tough to just bust out on the florr without a care in the world.

I will say though, that often when I can't keep myself from dancing and start, after a while I'll look around and there might be a few other people around me who've started dancing. They'll gravitate towards my energy if they have something similar going on inside, but maybe needed some encouragement to do it themselves. Likewise I think fans can infect each other with their enthusiasm, but maybe they need to be around other loud fans who aren't afraid of making fools of themselves.

That's my challenge to all you who will attend a game in Buffalo this year: Yell a little, dance to the stupid music, make a fool out of yourself. You might have fun and help others to have fun too.

i hate to bring up the whole not signing drury briere thing because it was so over done but it does seem, maybe just me having rosie glass memory, but the crowd was crazy on alot of those nights in the 3rd period when close games came to a close. def not trying to open that can of worms again, please dont take it that way. ha

it just doesn't seem like that any more to me, again i just watch on tv now but doesnt seem the same so i wanted to ask.

I just think the crowd would rather cheer if they were actually excited about something. Our team isn't exactly radiating potential to go very far.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

it's mostly because we're used to disappointment.

"if you don't get your hopes up, the world can't bring you down".

i appreciate the input from everyone, i have been pondering it for a while now and finally got around to asking.

Sadly, I have to agree.

I did think about this during last night's game too...prime example of a little thing that would be a big improvement.

I think it was during the 1st period...Buffalo was on the PP but sucking at it. The Canes iced the puck a couple times and Myers was falling over himself.

At that point you could hear the crowd start to turn and the boos and jeers became audible on TV.
I'd never tell paying fans they can't boo their team, but you know what, maybe, just maybe, when the team is on a PP and down by a goal would actually be time to show some support. Get some energy and turn that shitty PP around.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

it's one of those things. from the lockout until the middle of last year, we were fairly loud and supportive. the sabres killed a lot of that enthusiam by looking like shit...a lot. not to mention the hype we (as fans) lived up to after the offseason. we're like the eagles.

you can only demand so much before you break spirits. i mean, if you're usually out there looking like you're playing pickup brownies and fairies, you're not going to generate a lot of support.

we were bad for most of the pre lockout 2000s...and the stadium never sold a TON of tickets, but the fans still cheered because that was back when the sabres were known as the hardest working team in hockey, and we had a bunch of scrubs (and hasek) playing their balls to the wall, tough, defensive, aggressive hockey. THAT, whether anyone wants to believe it or not, won over buffalo and they could deal with the losing BECAUSE they were playing a type of hockey a city like buffalo appreciates. it's blue collar, hard working, rust belt hockey.

detroit hasn't played that since the 90's, and you can tell by their crowd. they are silent and rarely present and they have an excellent team.

I'd be a lot more concerned if fans weren't showing up. Fact is that we are selling out, despite a mediocre team the past few seasons.