For most Sabres fans and Western New Yorkers, the name John Rigas and Adelphia still get met with anger and sadness, a reminder of the man who swooped in to "save" the Sabres in 1998 and then, just five years later, leave the team in bankruptcy and on the verge of extinction.
Jerry Sullivan's (The Buffalo News) column from April 2002:
"I feel a profound sadness for the people of Buffalo, who have absorbed so many economic hits in recent years and desperately wanted - no, needed - to believe that Rigas and Adelphia were the real thing. Rigas filled that most basic human need. He gave them hope. But once again, they've discovered that their capacity for belief is exceeded only by the ability of their appointed to disappoint them. Under Rigas, the Sabres went to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in 24 years. Adelphia's stock price soared to an all-time high during that playoff run. When it was over, Rigas promised to deliver the tools to finish the job. Before long, there was the promise of a high-rise corporate headquarters on the waterfront.
I bought into it, too. Four years ago, I spent a week talking to Rigas and his friends and family. The result was a First Sunday Magazine piece entitled "The Most Popular Person In Buffalo." The subhead was "John Rigas Reminds Us How to Dream." The story chronicled Rigas' rise from a son of Greek immigrants to founder of one of the largest cable TV companies in America. He was a product of the Depression, a self-made billionaire with small-town roots. I called him a fitting symbol for Buffalo's revival, "the new hope, not only of the city's sports fans, but of those people dreaming of a new, more vibrant downtown." Tim Rigas, the son and Sabres' chief executive, said the family wanted to "stretch our imagination" to explore the possibilities of downtown Buffalo. Meanwhile, as we know, they were stretching themselves financially to a perilous degree. Today, they find themselves banished from the board of directors of their own company, disgraced and facing possible criminal charges. In Buffalo, they've become yet another false hope, another example of money and influence gone awry.
...
Once, he had a magic touch in his fingers. Now there is the residue of oversized dreams, crumbling into dust."
Thankfully, the Sabres were rescued by new owner Tom Golisano. But Adelphia's revitalization of the riverfront never happened -- the jobs and massive devlopment never came. The team lost Michael Peca and Dominik Hasek and missed the playoffs three straight seasons. And WNY sports fans lost both EMPIRE -- the regional sports network -- and WNSA -- sports talk radio. So while WNY didn't lose hockey, it lost a lot of its soul. And the sports coverage in WNY is still up in the air, according to Alan Pergament of The Buffalo News:
"The only things certain about the Buffalo Sabres broadcast plans this coming season are that Rick Jeanneret will return as play-by-play man and Jim Lorentz as analyst and the games will be carried on MSG and WGR-AM.
"I haven't really had a chance to finalize anything beyond Rick and Jim," said Larry Quinn, the Buffalo Sabres' managing partner. That means the futures of reporter Danny Gare and post-game analyst Mike Robitaille are up in the air.
"I don't want to say anything about anybody," said Quinn. "Everything is up for grabs right now. It doesn't mean we're going to change anything." '
After losing EMPIRE and WNSA -- my only lifeline as an out-of-town Buffalo sports fan -- I can't even imagine what the coverage will be like in the fall. Is it really Sabres hockey without Mike Robitaille cracking jokes on Hockey Hotline after every game? That hour post-game show was better than the game itself on many occasions. Robitaille's banter with Brian Blessing and then Josh Mora was absolutely priceless. Robitaille has that old, rough-and-tough hockey feel that can't be replicated by one of MSG's cookie-cutter sports hosts.
Even if Larry Quinn (don't you just have loads of confidence in him?) manages to secure a decent pre- and post-game show for the Sabres, it can never be the same. I doubt there will ever be a return to an exclusive WNY sports network. And forget about afternoons listening to Sharpshooters with Robitaille and Jim Kelley, a pregame show with Mora, fantastic game coverage by EMPIRE, interviews by Danny Gare, and then the best postgame in the North America (I can verify this, buying Center Ice the past four years).
Looking back, the link between Adelphia and its stations -- EMPIRE and WNSA -- seem almost like a blessing. Now fans are left with WGR -- far from the quality seen in the heydays of EMPIRE and WNSA. Even with Howard Simon and Mike Schopp, who both worked at WNSA/EMPIRE, WGR is and always will be a distant second in honest, intelligent sports talk.
Another WNY sports disappointment. But what is truly great is that I can actually post about this now -- because there will be a return of Sabres hockey in the fall. And this will be a Sabres franchise able to compete on a more level playing field, with a solid owner, and a dedicated city of sports fans.
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