BUFFALO'S BRUTAL SWEATER: SOON THIS WILL ALL BLOW OVER

No offence to the new NHL, but yours truly preferred its half-assed indifference to the fans pre-lockout to its half-assed attempt to cater to the fans post-lockout.

To which Gary Bettman, et al., would probably moan, "Oh, but we're using our whole ass."

Case in point: If there was anyone in command at the NHL who had an ounce of appreciation for hockey's history and for what the fans want, there's no way in hell the proposed new Buffalo Sabres sweater James Mirtle has posted would have ever seen the light of the day.

Sabres supporters, who are some of the most loyal (and idiosyncratic, it must be said) in all of sports, have already christened the proposed new crest the "Buffaslug." there's a petition that already has thousands of signatures demanding that the Sabres come up with something better. If a picture of the new sweater is worth 1,000 words, about 600 of them would be synonyms for eyesore, aesthetic nightmare, and fugly. Some might say it's the putrid thing to hit western New York state since they were still burying toxic waste in the Love Canal.

The Sabres organization tried to right a wrong by dumping the much-loathed black and red and reverting to the blue and gold it wore from 1970 until 1996.

However, it stopped halfway and offered up this putrid sweater and crest. Then it tried to soft-sell it by deciding the team would wear a third sweater with the traditional design for 15 games next year. Or as Fix The Logo puts it:

"15 games. That is all that those in the Buffalo Sabres front office believe our team's history, tradition, and namesake are worth."

However, let's not get hasty. As my friend Neil Acharya and I noted when we talking today, there's a good chance this will all come out in the wash. Our reasoning was the traditional Buffalo unis are going to be worn for 15 games in '06-07, then there's a chance they will be such a hit that the Sabres might see the light -- wear the more traditional uniform all the time.

Until then, Sabres fans may have to bide their time and wait it out until the people in charge clue in and do what's right.

Hopefully it only takes a year. This is the NHL. It only took what, 60 years, to take out the red line?

By the way, artist John Slabyk has a much better idea for what Buffalo should hit the ice in next season.

(Major thanks to James Mirtle and all the Sabres fans who were first to this.)

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.