For those of you unfamiliar with the Festivus holiday, here is a quick primer –
Festivus is both a parody and a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 as an alternative to the perceived pressures and commercialism of the Christmas season. Originally a family tradition of scriptwriter Dan O’Keefe, who worked on the American sitcom Seinfeld, Festivus entered popular culture after it was made the focus of the 1997 episode “The Strike”.
The non-commercial holiday’s celebration, as depicted on Seinfeld, occurs on December 23 and includes a Festivus dinner, an unadorned aluminum Festivus pole, practices such as the “Airing of Grievances” and “Feats of Strength”, and the labeling of easily explainable events as “Festivus miracles”
This Seinfeld episode should help you as well –
The Buffalo Sabres also played around with this a few years ago, especially Drew Stafford who was at the heart of many comedic ventures – who can forget his ‘Fu Man Drew workout’?!
So, forgive the lateness as it’s now Boxing Day and we were all busy stuffing our faces on the 23rd, here are our grievances.
Tim H –
- McCabe and Ristolainen showed glimmers of being a first line pairing that can eat up 28:00 every night for the foreseeable future. Breaking them up, especially at this point in the season, is inexcusable.
- When you exercise patience and allow a line to develop chemistry together (see Gionta-Larsson-Foligno) good things can happen. Why can’t Bylsma exercise similar patience with the rest of the team?
- The Sabres could have Travis Konecny, Brock Boeser, or Colin White in their system right now if they had held on to their second 1st round pick in the 2015 Draft. Instead, Tim Murray dealt that pick away to Ottawa for Robin Lehner. Goalies that can get you into the playoffs can be found almost anywhere. Why did we need to deal a first round pick for an undisciplined, overweight back-up goaltender?
- Marcus Foligno gets upset when the crowd at Key Bank Center boos after watching the Sabres give up a weak goal early in a game. If you want me to cheer you, stop primping your hair and score a damn goal, Marcus.
- If hockey analytics tracked such a thing, Josh Gorges would lead the league in the number of outlet passes a defenseman serves up tape-to-tape to an opposing forward.
- In return for $5,142,857.00 a year, Zach Bogosian will: 1) DJ team parties 2) try to sell you green juice for his foundation 3) suffer a lower body injury shortly after arriving to training camp 4) regularly get twisted up like a pretzel by nondescript forwards. Thanks but no thanks, Zach. Good luck in making the Las Vegas fanbase miserable for the next 2-3 years. /
Calvin –
- Too much fiddling with the lines and pairs by Bylsma, really.
- Is there any leadership in the locker-room and on the ice? The lack of spine tells me otherwise.
- How is the coaching staff not more concerned about the poor penalty killing and shootout records? /
Please chip in with your biggest Sabres-related grievances in the comments below.