Bandits Win Championship
Congratulations to the Bandits and their fans for winning the National Lacrosse League Championship. As I watched the live feed of the game, I couldn't help but admire the enthusiasm of the sellout crowd. Watching any Buffalo team celebrate a title is fun, and I enjoyed the raucous celebration after the game
I know Bandits fans haven't been happy with me this week, and I have learned to appreciate how fanatical they really are. Their responses to my original blog entry have far exceeded anything I could have imagined.
I still stand by the comments I made in the blog entry found five postings down from this one. That's what great about sports. We all have our own opinions, and not everyone agrees with them. I don't have any desire to change anyone's mind, nor should anyone be influenced or offfended by my thoughts.
For those who like to criticize the local media for a "lack" of Bandits coverage, I can tell you that the Bandits championship highlights were featured in the news segment at 10pm and 11pm....along with being the lead story in both sportscasts. We also have extended highlights and player reaction here on wivb.com in our Game of the Night.
Enjoy your championship Bandits fans. You deserve it.
posted by Paul Peck at
11:45 PM
14 Comments:
While it's true that the Bandits have gotten coverage the last few weeks, our issue, as Bandits fans, is the fact that it took that long to get the coverage. And, considering the lack of coverage we got 2 years ago, it's hard to think we'd get anything more than a passing mention had the Sabres still been playing. It seems the local media, not just WIVB but all the tv stations, newspapers, and radio stations forget sometimes just how much Buffalo loves its sports teams. Yeah, the Sabres and Bills get their coverage but what other sports teams like the Bandits may lack in numbers (which shouldn't be an issue at all after last night), they exceed the others in passion. I love the Bills most of all and love the Sabres as well but the Bandits are the best value of all our sports teams...both financially, in return for the dollar, and the passion of the fans.
The NFL is the only other major sport that has a single championship game and it's more of a corporate event than for the fans. The NLL values its true fans a lot more than the NFL does based simply on the fact that it allows the fans to attend championship games without having to sell their first born. They realize that if not for the fans, they wouldn't have a league, a truth that I think escapes the NFL's notice at times with all the price-gouging around the league with PSLs in other cities and the exorbitant prices in Toronto.
No matter how you look at what took place lastnight, we the FANS of the Buffalo Bandits WON the National Lacrosse League Championship... seeing John Tavares comments after the game about "NOT A MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIP" but " A CHAMPIONSHIP " to the area with a smile says to me he was making a jab at Mr.Peck.
Anyway, lastnight was AWESOME! and 2008 will be known to BANDITLAND as the year the BUFFALO BANDITS are CHAMPIONS!
WIN or LOSE, BANDITLAND FOREVER!
Paul, I refrained from starting a "Paul Peck Sucks" chant near the end of the Bandits win last night. Numerous people that I spoke too felt like doing that and I am glad that we didn't do it.
Still, while I'm not expecting you to change your tune about the Bandits championship "not being a 'real' championship", I'm actually more concerned about your verbiage saying "the Bandits and their fans". Are you not a Bandits fan - a fan of a Buffalo team? In some people, I can understand that. As a journalist, I guess I can accept that. But, as a TV sports broadcaster, I would think that is almost unacceptable because your passion about your local teams needs to come across in the broadcast. Without that passion, folks might switch to another channel to catch their sports news. Please remember that, while opinions are liek belly-buttons, we, the fans AND viewers vote on your performance with our TV remotes.
Meanwhile, I still stand by the comments I made in the blog entry five postings down from this one as well. In those comments, I didn't rip you a new one, but I asked you to adequately define what constitutes a "real championship". Unfortunately, I was able to illustrate that each of the "Big 4" league championships weren't championships from your loose definition. Therefore, I again ask you to more clearly define what you mean by "real championship".
As far as I can tell, your definition is solely based on a "popularity contest". I have a few things to say about that:
1) That which is popular is constantly changing - this is why the NFL, NHL, and NBA eventually became "real championships". However, those leagues and sports weren't originally popular so, using that reasoning, I would guess that any championships when those leagues weren't popular were not "real".
2) Granted, the NLL does not currently have the widespread popularity of the other leagues. However, it does have the popularity of that those leagues in their early pasts. At what point did those leagues' championships become "real"? Under the more objective assumption that the quality of a championship is derived from the quality of the sport and players and not a popularity contest, all of the "real championships" of those leagues would have been real championships during the entire history of those leagues. In that case, an NLL championship is just as much of a real championship as those others.
In fact, going back to your apparent definition of "real" being associated with a popularity contest, when the NLL eventually does become more popular to a level near the Big 4, will NLL championships then become "real"? According to that definition, yes, but then what does that say about the "realness" of those earlier championships?
3) Again, I do not wish to sound like I am attacking you as a sports journalist because I am not. You do have good street cred having gone to SU. Nonetheless, that popularity sword works both ways and if you start to become increasingly unpopular in this city and you end up doing the sports in Nome Alaska, does that make you any less of a sports journalist? I don't think so, but your pay scale will go down and you'll be just like an NLL player who does what he does because he loves it and not for the money.
Dont hold your breath for the bills to win the Super Bowl or the Sabers to take the Cup pal. Lacrosse players are the toughest guys around, it takes a real man to play a sport for little to nothing having to get by by other means of employment. I dare you to tell me that the teams in Buffalo that get more coverage by the media then the bandits, play as hard or care more about their respected game.
To say that lacrosse isn't a "traditional" game is for far from the truth. Maybe you should have used "main stream", because you wont find a sport that has deeper roots in the TRADITION of North America! Sometimes the media forgets actually how old the NFL is...!
So, after watching the feed of the game last night, I find it surprising that, by saying you stand by your original comments, you still don't see it as a "real" championship. There are at LEAST 18,690 people in Buffalo who think you are very very wrong, myself included. I understand as a sportscaster you feel obligated to be "impartial" but I think if that's how you think you should do your job, I would just hope that you are careful to be "impartial" all the time, not just with the Bandits. I am not saying that you haven't been, I'm just saying that many more people will be paying much more attention to you now so you may want to make sure you're always "impartial" or you may be opening up another 100+ comment blog entry! :)
I just want to say that a championship is a championship or they wouldn't call it such! That being said, I really couldn't care any less anymore about what was said before because I witnessed probably the ONLY sports Championship Buffalo will ever see in my lifetime last night... and I loved every heart-pounding, mind-racing, loud, crazy, voice-stealing moment of it. It felt VERY real to me and to every person I talked to who witnessed it and even to those I spoke with after the game who were unable to attend... Yes, there were actually more people that wanted to be at the game than there were tickets available... hard to believe, Paul? Not for me!
Finally, I just wanted to thank you, Mr. Peck. Although I may not agree with your opinions, everyone is entitled to their own and your opinion being so "explosive" to Banditland really brought more attention to the Bandits and their REAL CHAMPIONSHIP WIN than any expanded coverage on any local channel would have on it's own. I know some people (myself included) took some of the things you said personally and some of them may have taken things a little far, but if that doesn't show everyone just how passionate Buffalo sports fans are, I don't know what does. Bring on the opinions, Paul, us passionate Buffalo sports fans can not wait to comment on the next one! :)
Paul you said...
"Convince me I'm wrong. Tell me why there should be a parade and a rally in Niagara Square, and why kids all over town should be wearing Mark Steenhuis (above, left) and John Tavares jerseys."
You called us out.
And we did just that.
I've spent hours reading through every post that responded to your post. Yes, there were some crude posts... but there were a lot of posts that were exceptionally convincing as to why every kid should be wearing a Tavares jersey, why this is a traditional sport, and how "real" this sport is to every NATIONAL Lacrosse League fan.
Yet you still stand by your original comments, even though YOU asked US to convince yourself otherwise.
If you cant see the reasoning, I feel sorry for you.
Hi I'm Paul Peck and
I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay
I sleep all night and I work all day
He's a lumberjack and he's okay
He sleeps all night and he works all day
I cut down trees, I eat my lunch
I go to the lavat'ry
On Wednesdays I go shopping
And have buttered scones for tea
He cuts down trees...
He's a lumberjack...
I cut down trees, I skip and jump
I love to press wild flow'rs
I put on women's clothing
And hang around in bars
He cuts down trees...
He's a lumberjack...
I cut down trees, I wear high heels
Suspendies and a bra
I wish I'd been a girlie
Just like my dear papa
He cuts down trees...
He's a lumberjack...
WAHH!?!? And I thought you were so RUGGED Paul Peck!?!? Just my personal opinion....
(complimentary from Monty Python)
The Bandits have been in existence for almost 20 years, and nothing has changed in terms of the coverage they get in this town. The media outlets treat them as a B level sport today...they did 10 years ago...and they will 10 years ago. The WGR morons who have 4 hour shifts to talk about whatever will talk about Superbowl 25 or No Goal or some sophmoric topic before they'll make any reference to the Bandits. It will never change, and I can't do anything about it.
And I could care less.
The Bandits and indoor lacrosse are a real sport to me. Every time I go to a game, I have a great time. I was at last night's game, and I was at the home championship game 15 years ago at the Aud when the Bandits won their second championship. The atmosphere at those 2 games was incredibly electric (omg how about those last few minutes last night!)...it was on a par with any of the home playoff sabres and bills games I've been to (and I've been to a lot of them). If you like sporting events and you weren't there last night, you missed out. The lack of coverage by media may make you think otherwise, but trust me, you missed out.
The Bandits are a first class organization. They are great athletes. They don't paid even 6 digit salaries, and most/all of them have other jobs. They salute their fans after every game. I don't recall one 'bad' story about a Bandits player, unlike esp the Bills players, and I'm sure the negative media would be all over that if it happened. They are very, very easy to root for.
And oh yeah, they even win a championship every now and then, unlike the 'A' sports around here.
To the 18,690 folks who showed up, thank you. You packing the arena with your orange and enthusiasm made the event more fun for me. I'll never forget the atmosphere in that building last night.
To you media folks who will forget the Bandits exist starting Monday, and lasting until they make their next championship game, I truly feel sorry for you that your sports repetoire is so narrow. Perhaps it's you guys, and not the Bandits, who are 'B' caliber.
Paul:
I have never blogged before and after reading your original post, I wanted to, But the response from others, said it all. I watched the coverage all week long, I waited to see your story as promised on the Weekend Warrior aspect on Friday, waited at 5, 6, and 11. Was it just a ploy to get people to watch channel? I will be watching another station for sports now. D.K.
It was real.....and it was spectacular!!
I have never.....NEVER....heard HSBC so loud in all my years of Bandits and Sabres games. A truly memorable night that ALL of Buffalo should be proud of.
Just one quick response to the post regarding my Weekend Warrior story. Due to a scheduling conflict with the Bandits player, I was not able to do that story. Instead, I did a story on the team-bonding mohawk haircuts. That story ran Thursday. I apologive for the misinformation. There was no ploy. We ran Bandits stories at six and eleven on Friday, and extensively throughout Saturday and Sunday.
It was refreshing to see the Sunday Papers coverage of the Bandits Championship and even more suprising the coverage in today's (Monday) paper with more on the Bandits, Thank You Buffalo News for having some more write-ups on the GREATEST team in Buffalo Sports history!
The HSBC Arena was the loudest I've ever heard it in my 20 years of visiting the arena, all I can say the game and the noise was NUMBING, great stuff from a GREAT Team and Game...
Talking to co-workers and others at work was exiting to talk about the team and the win, some were there and it made the day even better... in the end I'll be a BANDIT FAN forever!
WIN OR LOSE BANDITLAND FOREVER!
I quote mechaphil from the NLL Forums at NLLInsider.com:
"My head is pounding, my eyes ache, I'm worn-out, and my face paint is a little runny ... but I wouldn't trade this for anything. Not a Stanley Cup. Not a Super Bowl. Nothing. We're louder and prouder than Sabres fan. Louder and prouder than Bills fan. And the team knows it and loves it and makes us the happiest maniacs in the world."
now mister PECK
you went aginst what u said u said that if the bandits won it wouldent be a real championship now your saying it was nice to watch them win the championship. still. we have 3 soon to be 4 very real championship banners hanging up in the hsbc rafters the sabers have zip and the bills? must i bring up the 1990-1993 super bowls ACF champions 4 years running? i dont mean to offend just pursuade anyway belive what u want.
GO BANDITS
1992,1993,1996 and 2008 champs
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