| 14 September 2011
But for those who want to know all the details - and judging by how many of you tweeted something along the lines of "HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!?!?!?!" that's a lot of you - it actually started late last week. I opened my email like I do oh, at least 100 times a day and found an email "Buffalo Sabres Blog Opportunity." I opened it, ready to skim through it, thinking it was probably some "I'll link your blog if you link my blog" thing. But no, it was a legit email from a Sabres employee to me and my lovely friend Kate asking if we'd be interested in tagging along while players, coaches and front office personnel delivered season tickets. Kate and I then had an email exchange that went something like this:
Kate: WHAT THE?!
Heather: I KNOW!
Kate: ARE YOU DOING IT?
Heather: YES!
Kate: WHAT THE?!
Heather: I KNOOOOOOOW!
Translation: Dude, we're so in.
Yesterday we got another email. This one listed all the players going and how they were going to be paired. Five limos, two players in each limo. We had to pick a limo. Oh, man. As Kate put it, "This is like Sophie's Choice except hilarious. And with limos." I ended up torn between Thomas Vanek/Christian Ehrhoff and Ryan Miller/Robyn Regehr. Kate and I agonized over our choices, emailing each other back and forth and I talked it over with a few other trusted friends. I'm not going to lie, I was a tad intimidated by Miller but I'm super, super excited about Regehr. Let's face it, that's my kind of guy, right there. So ultimately that pushed me to choosing them Kate had already decided on Tyler Myers and Ville Leino.
Now, I know what you're thinking. "Heather. That picture appears to NOT be Ryan Miller OR Robyn Regehr." You, sir or madam are correct. That's because after all that agonizing, we basically got pushed in a limo. Heh. Kate ended up with Vanek and Ehrhoff and I ended up with obviously, Jason Pominville and Ville Leino.
The first stop we made was to a residence. I didn't plan things very well and ended up pretty far away from the guys on the first leg - limos are big, you guys - so I didn't ask a lot of questions at first. Also, I'll admit, I was pretty overwhelmed by the whole thing at that point. The process of actually figuring out which car I was supposed to be in and who was going where and whether TV cameras were going in the limos or following the limos was pretty chaotic. There was also the fact that I was IN A LIMO WITH JASON POMINVILLE AND VILLE LEINO. I didn't need to worry too much because Pominville kept a pretty running conversation. Actually, it was kind of interesting to listen to them just chat with each other. I was surprised by how freely they talked in front of someone they don't really know. I mean, I didn't learn any state secrets or anything but it was cool. I guess professional athletes kind of get used to someone always being around especially in work-related situatons.
Our first stop was the home of Susan Stevens. Here's a short video of the initial presentation. I apologize for the abrupt cut-off. Please remember that I am not a professional.
Pominville was very, very sweet and even when he stepped out of the picture and the TV crews took their turn asking her questions, he was fully engaged with what was going on and laughing and smiling at some of Susan's answers. On camera, when he was asked about the ticket delivery, he gave exactly the answer that you'd expect: It's always great to have a chance to really meet fans blah blah blah. But seeing him when the cameras were off or when they weren't on him, I feel pretty confident that he meant that, at the very least in this case. And Susan was so excited and adorable that I can't imagine how you couldn't help but be a little charmed by her. She's a long, long time seasonholder and she said next season she'd much rather have the Stanley Cup delivered to Buffalo. The guys seemed to get a big kick out of that.
Leino was a little quieter than Pominville. I don't know if he's shyer by nature or if he just isn't quite comfortable as a Buffalo Sabre representative yet. He did mention a couple of times that no one was going to know who he was, but he didn't seem embarrassed for himself as much as kind of sorry for the people getting their tickets. It was kind of endearing actually.
When we left Susan, I sat closer to the fellas and we chatted a little bit, nothing serious, just some relaxed conversation. I asked Ville if he'd had any time to kind of poke around Buffalo yet and he said not really. He bought a place in the downtown area, but it isn't quite ready yet. (He did seem pretty excited that his commute to work is now much, much shorter than it was in Philly.) He's only been in town for five days. I mentioned that I didn't grow up in the area but that Buffalo had really grown on me over the years and that one day I woke up and realized I loved it here, that it's a great place. Ville admitted that so far it was better than he'd expected. Jason jumped in and said exactly what we've always said when opposing players have said negative things about Buffalo. Those players fly into town, stay in a downtown hotel that isn't as nice as the hotel in a lot of other cities, go to the Buffalo Chophouse, and drive back to the hotel. All they see is the worst part of the city. Ville said that all the guys in Buffalo love Buffalo - at which point Jason turned to him and said, "And a lot of guys stay here!" - and that as a hockey town, it's great. "I think you always want to be where you have a chance to win and where hockey is important." He considered himself lucky to have only played in markets where the fans really embrace the team and said he'd imagine it must sometimes be hard to get motivated when playing in a city that doesn't really care that much about what you do.
I asked Jason what he likes about Buffalo and he said it's cheaper than a lot of NHL cities and there's a lot of stuff to do. When I asked him what he and his family like to do, he chuckled and said they're not doing much right now on account of his 8-week-old daughter, Kaylee. And yeah, I'd imagine between an infant, almost-two-year-old Jayden and the beginning of the season, things are pretty busy in the Pominville household. He sounded perfectly happy about that though.
As we were driving around, Jason kept pointing things out to Ville which I think was nice of him, kind of an impromptu tour. He pointed out a lot of restaurants, and when I asked Jason what his favorite was he said it was Hutch's, no hesitation. He also said, "Oh, you know another good spot? San Marco. It's Italian food." It sounded like he'd just recently gone and that it made a good impression. At one point, Ville said, "There's a lot." Jason said, "Of restaurants?" "Yeah." "Yeah!" While we were driving around, Ville noted that there's no traffic which I can tell you from a trip there this summer, is really different from Philly.
Delivery number two was to corporate sponsor BlueCross BlueShield, the official healthcare provider of the Buffalo Sabres. (In case you've ever wondered, that apparently means the front office uses it but the players don't necessarily. Or maybe I'm the only one who's ever wondered about things like that.) Ville and Jason presented the tickets to a couple of official-looking people and then were told there was an employee appreciation lunch of some kind going on and that they would make everyone's day if they stopped in and made an apperance. They happily obliged but looked a little surprised when they were marched up front in front of everyone. "I didn't know I was going to have to say anything," Jason said. There was a funny moment when the CEO, after saying a few words, turned to Ville and said, "So you've been in Buffalo the longest right, Jason?" To which Ville responded, "I've been here five days. He's Jason." Everyone got a good laugh out of that and everyone was really good-natured about it, but some of the employees looked a little chagrined and there were some light groans. But hey, who hasn't been slightly embarrassed by their boss at some point?
Here's a little video of their entrance to the employee appreciation luncheon. You can't really see or hear the actual talking, but for the first few seconds, walking behind all the TV crews and official people, felt kind of hilarious. Like, seriously, how did I get here?
To avoid spending hours taking individual pictures and signing a ton of autographs, they broke the employees up and took a couple of group pictures. Jason and Ville sat down and waited for everyone to get set up and any time someone made eye contact they'd put out their hand and say, "Hi, I'm Jason" or "Hi, I'm Ville" which I thought was very sweet. Because no one there knew who they were or anything. Such polite boys.
For some reason, this photo of little Pommers surrounded by females makes me giggle. Those three to his right look preeeetty interested in the whole thing. (Cute.)
With some final handshakes and thank yous, we headed back out for the limo. The second we were out the door, both guys stripped off their jerseys. (After getting back in the limo after Susan's delivery, Jason immediately took off his jersey. Ville started to and then said, "We're going to have to put this back on?" and decided it wasn't worth the trouble when the answer was yes. Jason mentioned that it was really warm, but I guess it would also feel kind of silly walking around in your own jersey too. Jason handed his jersey to one of the Sabres employees with us and asked something I'd actually be wondering: "Where did these come from?" Turns out they came off the rack at the Sabres Store. I don't know why but that completely cracked me up. It's not like I expected them to like, bring a jersey from home, but I figured the Sabres had a special wadrobe for things like this. When Kate and I powwowed for a late lunch after, we got a good kick out of the idea that the Sabres decided who was delivering tickets based on jersey availability. Kate suggested that's why Paul Gaustad wasn't involved. "Whoops, we only have Goose in a youth XL."
And with that, we headed back to the arena. After some thank yous and handshakes, Jason and Ville went back to their world, and I went back to mine. Now, I'll be honest. If these guys were TOTAL jerks and this was a TERRIBLE experience, I probably wouldn't be nasty about it. But I'd be politely neutral. So when I say this was a really awesome experience and that Jason and Ville were both really nice guys - really, Pommers is exactly what we think he is, Buffalo (TWUGS!) - well, you can take me at my word. I know some people will complain that season ticket holders are getting special treatment, but the truth is, they should. They should be held in really high esteem by the franchise and I know from talking to friends who are season ticket holders that that hasn't always been the case the last few years. There's been kind of an attitude that season ticket holders are nothing special because they can easily be replaced by the thousands of people waiting on the waiting list. I'm not a season ticket holder and probably won't be for a veeeery looooong time, but I like that the Sabres are thinking about ways they can reach out to fans and get some more face-time between players and us. Today it certainly seemed like those few minutes can make a lot of people on both sides happy. I don't feel cheated at all because I know this is the beginning. This is where things are headed, and in the long run, it's going to be really cool for everyone.
Thank you so much to the Sabres and Sabres.com for inviting me. I think it's neat that the Sabres are suddenly taking notice of the online community. Actually, I get the feeling they've been taking notice for a long time so I guess what I mean is, I'm glad they're finally really reaching out. I don't really have much interest in sitting in the press box or hanging out in the dressing room after games, but just for the record, I'll be glad to ride in limos with Sabres any day of the week.
