Up next in 10
After beating the Boston Bruins, the Buffalo Sabres returned home in the middle of the night.
1:38 AM.
And still — fans lined the streets and packed the airport to welcome them back.
D.A. says you can’t say enough about Buffalo as a hockey town. The passion, the loyalty, the connection — it’s all real.
But it’s more than just great fans.
In an era filled with money, greed, and frustration around sports, this is the reminder of why we care in the first place.
Moments like this…
This is why sports can still be beautiful.
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Welcome to the official channel of Damon Amendolara (D.A.), host on SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio 🔥
Here you’ll find:
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0:00
Can we please talk about the Sabres?
0:03
After notching their first first round
0:07
playoff win since 2007.
0:12
The team returned home at 1:38
0:16
a.m.
0:18
on Friday night.
0:21
And what did they give their fans?
0:25
Of course a reason to celebrate. But
0:27
their fans gave them a love on the way
0:30
back from the airport.
0:35
Hordes of Sabres fans went out to the
0:37
airport at 1:30 in the morning to salute
0:42
a team that won a first round series.
0:47
And this was not some crazy upset.
0:50
I mean, the Sabres won their division.
0:53
If you were doing the old school
0:54
seeding, they're basically the two seed.
0:58
They were one of the best teams in the
1:00
East this year.
1:02
And they were the best team in hockey
1:03
since December.
1:06
And the crowd and the fans and the city
1:08
showed up at 1:30 in the morning
1:10
for first round series.
1:15
I'm telling you, sports can just be
1:19
beautiful.
1:21
There's a lot of stuff about sports that
1:23
I get wildly annoyed by.
1:26
There's a lot of things about sports
1:27
that I I wish we didn't lose along the
1:30
way.
1:31
There is a greed component in sports
1:34
with the owners
1:36
that I have a hard time swallowing.
1:41
But man, there are things like that that
1:44
make me all in again. There are things
1:47
that like that that
1:49
just when I thought I was out, they suck
1:51
me right back in. I'll never be out on
1:53
sports. It's who I am. It's what I've
1:54
always loved. But there's a cynicism
1:56
that always sets in when you see so much
1:58
stuff that is so wrong over over over
2:01
over and over again. The expansion of
2:03
the NCAA tournament is a pretty good
2:05
example this past week of when sports
2:07
goes wrong and you can't control it. And
2:09
then
2:10
that thing happens where Sabres fans
2:13
show up at 1:30 in the morning and line
2:15
the streets
2:17
to welcome back their their gang after a
2:20
first round win.
2:23
That's not going to the conference
2:25
finals. That's not going to the Stanley
2:28
Cup final. That's not winning or hanging
2:31
a banner. That's not bringing home a
2:33
cup. That's a first round series. And
2:35
those people said, "I'm leaving my house
2:38
and driving to the airport and standing
2:41
alongside that road and waving to my
2:45
guys." God, that is awesome.
2:48
God, that is just so awesome.
2:51
That loyalty, that passion. You know,
2:53
it's funny.
2:55
I had Brent Axe join me earlier this
2:58
week. He's a big Sabres fan. I know him.
3:01
He's been a Syracuse mainstay in the
3:03
sports media world for a long long time.
3:05
He's so good at what he does. He's
3:06
hosted radio shows. He's hosted
3:08
podcasts. He's written columns for
3:10
syracuse.com. He's just He's really
3:12
good. But he's he's he's from Central
3:15
New York, but he's a big Bills and
3:16
Sabres fan.
3:17
Which is not rare. I'm just saying he's
3:19
not from Buffalo.
3:21
And I talked to him this week on on the
3:22
channel. If you if you're a Sabres fan,
3:25
you're Buffalo fan, you want to check
3:26
that out. That's on the channel right
3:27
now.
3:29
That was a preview going into game six.
3:32
And he said, "DA,
3:34
people don't realize the Sabres are as
3:37
big as the Bills. In some ways they're
3:40
bigger.
3:42
You know,
3:43
we don't think of things like that
3:45
because football's football and hockey's
3:46
hockey.
3:47
But Buffalo is a hockey town.
3:51
And they haven't had a hockey team to
3:53
root for in a good long time.
3:56
And it is so great and you guys know
3:59
this is my narrative.
4:01
I root for the teams and the fan bases
4:04
that are longest suffering.
4:06
You just
4:07
wipe the slate clean and ask
4:10
"Who do I think DA is rooting for in
4:12
this playoff series or this season or
4:13
whatever?" It's always going to be the
4:16
longest suffering fan base. That's just
4:18
my default. I love
4:21
watching Cubs fans,
4:24
Cavs fans, Nuggets fans, Capitals fans,
4:29
Nats fans. I love seeing these fan
4:34
bases, Lightning fans and Panthers fans,
4:38
Chiefs fans. I love that first taste.
4:42
Royals fans. I love that thing in
4:45
sports. I think everybody should taste
4:47
it. Maybe I say this because I came from
4:49
a family Brooklyn Dodgers fans. Maybe I
4:51
say this because I'm a New York Mets fan
4:53
and a Syracuse fan. Maybe I just know
4:56
what it's like to just taste that one
4:58
thing, that one taste. And that's it.
5:00
That's all you get from the goblet.
5:02
But I love that.
5:03
And
5:05
in Buffalo they got two teams that if
5:07
they just ever got a taste, just imagine
5:10
what it would be like.
5:11
Salute, stick tap to Sabres fans and
5:15
that part of the country, that part of
5:17
the state, that part of hockey fandom
5:20
cuz you guys know if you're a hockey fan
5:22
you get overlooked a lot.
5:25
You get ignored a lot.
5:27
And that passion just does never leave.
5:31
It's like you don't care if it's not the
5:33
lead on SportsCenter or they don't talk
5:35
about it on First Take. Your sports
5:37
radio station doesn't talk about it or
5:38
what have you. It's not the the front
5:40
story on your your CBS Sports app or
5:42
what have you. It doesn't matter. If
5:43
you're a hockey fan, boy is it deep. And
5:46
those hockey fans, they deserve
5:47
something good. The city deserves
5:49
something good and they're getting it.
5:51
Really, really, really cool.
5:54
And with that being said,
5:56
they await the game seven winner
5:58
of the Lightning and Habs.
6:01
And if it's Canadians and Sabres,
6:04
that's a good old-fashioned rivalry. Not
6:06
separated by much except a border.
6:09
Oh boy, Montreal-Buffalo, that would be
6:11
good eating. But again, the Lightning is
6:12
good eating as well because the
6:13
Lightning have won a couple
6:14
championships. They have a lot of
6:15
championship DNA still in that locker
6:17
room.
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