But We Wanna' Lose!

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The Buffalo Sabres are playing great.

And people are starting to get really peeved about it here in Buffalo.

Seriously.

Why would fans of the team be rooting for them to lose?

Well, because the first and second picks of next year's draft are supposed to be really great players.

To be honest with you, I don't know much about the budding superstars. I know the one kid is named McDavid and he is tearing it up in Erie, PA., but I have never seen him play.

Evidently he's like Crosby from Pittsburgh, or even better, Wayne Gretzky.

The team that gets him will be an instant contender, or so say the experts. The guy who's supposed to go second in the draft is also a game-changer.

So tank it, right?

Well, evidently the Sabres coach didn't get the memo. Ted Nolan is whipping the current group into shape and after a horrific start to the season the kids are working hard and not only competing, but, gulp...

...winning.

I've pretty much lost interest in the sport. I was once a real hockey fan, but the game seems slow to me...there are too many goalies and the real goalies are wearing mattress pads.

Offense is down and the game moves at glacier speed.

To me.

Yet I have suddenly grown interested in this group of players because they're doing something that no one wants them to actually do:

"They should be losing! They can't even do this right! Fire the coach!! Trade the goalie!!! We need to finish last!!!!"

That was a real comment from a local Sabres feed.

Should the team try to lose short-term in order to be great in the future?

I don't know why, but I find it fascinating.

The thing about people is that, for the most part, people want to do their jobs well.

Who actually goes to their job and thinks:

"I suck at this and I don't care."

I'm sure there are some.

But most people truly don't want to be bad at what they do.

And how do you actually try to be horrible?

Do you pass the puck to the other team?

Do you actually let the puck go into your net?

Do you just go out there for a leisurely skate?

Can you imagine the post-game interview if you were actually trying to go the other way with it?

"I was coming down on the breakaway and I saw the wide open net, but thankfully I shot it wide. Damn! If I would've scored there we might've won and that's just NOT what we're trying to do here. If I would've scored, Nolan would've benched me. I can't be scoring out there when we are trying to draft McDavid. I better slow down out there or they'll send me to the minors. I just gotta' be worse."

Yet I can't be any more clear on people who are actually rooting for their own team to lose.

"Leave it to the Sabres to bungle this by trying to win. What a bunch of a@#$@#les!"

Hey, think about it, folks:

We could be the Philadelphia 76ers fans.

They might finish their basketball season zero for 82.

Now that's tanking it!

I'm sure their fans are proud.

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