Slug Appreciation Night Aftermath

Tomorrow night the Buffalo Sabres will start the preseason against the Carolina Hurricanes.  The game is meaningless for the standings and the fans, and the entertainment value is low, as the rosters are diluted with younger talented guys that won’t necessarily find their way onto an NHL roster.

What is exciting about Monday nights exhibition game is the “memorial” that the team has planned to honor the third logo the team had used, the logo appropriately called the “slug” and not very popular with many fans throughout Sabres Nation.

The team has asked that fans wear their “slug” gear to the arena to honor the fallen logo.  Those fans that do will receive 41 % off a similar piece of apparel from the new line of Buffalo Sabres gear.  There will also be contests throughout the arena during the game as a tribute to the old logo, fans wearing slug gear will be eligible contestants.  This is not a trade in, but rather a tribute sale – fans will be able to wear their old gear home as well as take the new stuff for the next time they visit the First Niagara Center.

I think I have only two pieces of Slug gear in my wardrobe, one a Division championship hat, and the other a Game Time watch.   Neither one has seen the light of day since the team stopped wearing the logo.  So I thought, the team is paying homage to the logo, but not accepting a trade in (signs the team never really like that logo anyways, as far as I see it) keeps all of that gear in circulation.  For the die hard collector it represents a period of moderate success in Buffalo Sabres history, a Presidents Trophy was won wearing that logo – so we shouldn’t just all together forget about it right?

So here are a list of things that I recommend doing with your old Sabres gear:

1.  Have a neighborhood bonfire.  If your in a fire friendly zip code, break out the burn barrel and fuel it with anything slug related.  As Americans we dispose of tattered and worn American Flags by fire, so this could be construed as a fitting end to the logo’s use.

2.  Find a local church or donation center that is accepting donations for African missions.  That’s what happens to all the Super Bowl/Stanley Cup losers paraphernalia goes, so why not spread a little Sabres Nation love across the continents?

3.  Shelve it.  Seriously.  Break out the wallets, get some new threads, and keep the old stuff in a memories box or closet, to be broken out one day when the team lifts the Stanley Cup so that you can honestly say and prove that you have been a fan all along.

4.  Send the uniforms to Raleigh, North Carolina.  We all know how much that fan base loves the Buffalo Sabres.  How funny would it be if we could fill several hundred boxes of old Sabres gear and ship it to the RBC Center, care of Jeff Skinner. In fact, make it extra special and send all that blue and gold to the house of our Cardiac Cane writer, Ms. Kristina Kelly.  I am sure she would appreciate it.

5.  Sell.  Get your 41% discount at the Sabres store and then make up the difference on Ebay.  There are probably plenty of buyers out there, especially if you use the term vintage and retired.

6.  Donate locally.  Most elementary schools in the area still require their students to take art classes.  I remember raiding my dad’s closet for an old button down dress shirt that maybe was a little thread-worn to wear as my art-smock.  You don’t think your organization would look like heroes if you sent up a couple of collection bins and made a donation to an inner city school where funds might be at a premium?  Think locally while de-slugging.  Who would be upset if some really happy kid slops paint all over that logo?  Actually just writing that gives me an idea that involves a Philadelphia Flyers Jersey and a gallon of blue paint.  All joking aside, this would be a great way for any local company to get involved with some local corporate social responsibility.  Another option would be the Buffalo City Mission, or St. Lukes Mission.  All three options would give you a warm and fuzzy feeling, while getting rid of that fuzzy logo in your closet.

7.  Continue to wear the gear.  Personally, I think its a foul to wear the gear after its been retired.  We didn’t win anything of note in it (read – Stanley Cup) and there really isn’t any history involved with it either.  While this list was designed specifically for the Slug logo, add the red, white, and black era jerseys as well, they are definitely not doing anything for you anymore.

Lets just hope that the team doesn’t feel the need to tribute two eras of hockey in Buffalo at once, with a third jersey mixing the slug and the red, black, and white days.