Campbell All Star Travel Follow Up

I don't know if the Sabres will win tonight, but they should. They are a much better team than Tampa. Especially if they have the attitude of Ryan Miller. While recording this weeks segment of the Brian Campbell Show (which will air Wednesday morning at 8:15 and Thursday at 6:40), I told him of Ryan's "Shut Up, Make Plays" comment. Brian's response was a very strong "Good for him, I have that attitude too," making it clear that you'll be able to tell who comes to play each night from here on out.

I won't give away too much of the interview, except that you'll hear how Brian may have been ONE SHOT away from being ALL STAR game MVP, getting a clothing care package from his brother, and having his sister-in-law fawn over David Boreanez.

Brian sounded incredibly happy and relaxed despite being only halfway through a long roadie. He's handled the contract situation perfectly. It's all on the Sabres now.

Brian Campbell's Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

The next Brian Campbell Show should be a funny one. I don't have the full story yet, but it was a mess for the Sabres getting out of Dallas Thursday Night/ Friday morning. Apparently the charter plane had a mechanical problem. Guys were scrambling to get on flights back home for the All Star break. All except for Brian Campbell, who as he told us on-air last week was due to come home, sleep for about 5 hours, do some laundry, then head to Atlanta for All Star Weekend. In between he was going to try to call the morning show. Instead he had to:
1) Go back to the team hotel at 1am
2) Get back up at 6am
3) Fly direct to Atlanta WITHOUT any new clothes (remember he was going to come home, and pick clothes for the weekend AND the next leg of the road trip). With the Sabres in Tampa on Tuesday, then Florida and Atlanta later in the week, he will now spend about 15 days on the road and have to BUY clothes to get through it. The funny part is what Brian text on Friday. Here is the account straight from my cell:

9:33am This stinks. (He actually said something else but I cleaned it up). Stuck in Dallas with no clothes for the next weekend.

I text back asking about plans. Brian replies:

10:04am heading to ATL direct at 11. Never been so tired in my life. Plane broke down.

2:12pm Finally made it. So Tired. I will have some stories from Atlanta for u.

Hopefully we'll get Brian on sometime next week to get the real story. Listen on Monday and I should have even more of an update by then.

The Perfect Casual Snow Boot

Only in a very few areas could a person blog about "The Perfect Casual Snow Boot" and have readers be interested. Buffalo is one such area, which prompts me to tell you about The Gore-Tex XCR Mid Adrenaline boot from The North Face.

I was looking for boots that were good for wearing to work on a snowy morning. The kind that looked good, went well with casual dress work clothes, protected you from getting wet feet, but weren't super heavy snow boots like you would use snow blowing or shoveling. These are the BEST!

Thanks to the very informative woman at DICK's who helped me out I learned a lot. She explained the difference between these and other name boots I was looking at. The biggest was these having Gore-Tex. Gore-Tex is a phrase you hear all the time, but it does mean so much! It is an inner shield of Teflon that they stretch inside the boot to completely seal your foot away from moisture. This is much different than footwear that claim to be "Waterproof." As explained to me by the DICK'S customer rep, just because something says it is "waterproof" doesn't at all mean that it will keep you dry. It just means that the shoe or jacket won't break down or fall part when hit with water. Gore-Tex keeps you dry inside the jacket or shoe. HUGE difference.

The North Face Adrenaline mid-boots are incredible. They can also be used for heavy snows, but I think are best for those days when we get 2--6 inches overnight and you just wanna get to work and clear the driveway when you get home. They run about about $100, but when taken care of these boots should last a long time. You may have to get them on-line though, as many stores are now stocking spring footwear. They run exact size. I wear a 10 1/2 sneaker, and a 10 1/2 in this boot. Available in Men's and Women's. Here's where to order:

http://www.thenorthface.com/opencms/opencms/tnf/gear.jsp?site=NA&model=ABF8&dc=58J,57X

What a freebie commercial for NORTH FACE and DICKS! Maybe I'll get a free pair for the endorsement!

We know the Ice Bowl was a huge success locally, but what did others think about it? Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News has provided some nice links to see what ESPN, The Boston Globe and Edmonton Sun have written about it.

Check it out at http://buffalonews.typepad.com/sabres/2008/01/its-the-day-aft.html

I know this borderlines on plagiarism, but I think many of our STAR blog readers may not necessarily read the Buffalo News Sports blogs, and would be entertained by Mike's writing. So it's more promotion, than plagiarism.

And it does make this blog an easy one for me!