Rank 'The Tank'

[YardRat]

The main object of team athletic competition, regardless of level, is to achieve something. An organization defines a clear-cut goal, builds a roster that they believe is best suited to work for that goal, and competes against their peers over the course of a league year to achieve it. Considering the Sabres goal was to be the worst team in the NHL in an effort to acquire the best opportunity to be able to select a player that is considered by conventional wisdom to be the best, or at the very least guarantee them the chance to get one of the top 2, and they have achieved that goal, along with...

The Super Bowl teams were great, but were never able to reach their ultimate goal of bringing home a Lombardi Trophy. They fell short.
The Sabres NHL Finals series of '74-'75 and '98-'99 never attained their ultimate goal either, acquiring Lord Stanley's Cup. They fell short.
Back to back AFL Championships in '64 and '65? Does pre-merge NFL really count for the average fan of today?
Bandits lacrosse championships? Really?

...should 'The Tank' be considered the city of Buffalo's greatest professional sports accomplishment ever?

[SpikedLemonade]

LOL!!!!!

[coastal]

well considering Buffalo Sports hasn't accomplished a damn thing, the tank is viewed by many as an essential part of the process in order to obtain a franchise player.

In doing so, the belief is that this will help them finally accomplish that.

plenty of historical evidence that shows it's an effective strategy.

[YardRat]

well considering Buffalo Sports hasn't accomplished a damn thing, the tank is viewed by many as an essential part of the process in order to obtain a franchise player.

In doing so, the belief is that this will help them finally accomplish that.

plenty of historical evidence that shows it's an effective strategy.

So it's a great accomplishment in your opinion. The best ever?

[coastal]

Read what i wrote.

[Skooby]

I'll take what you're smoking.

[Dr. Who]

The AFL championships are the greatest Buffalo sports' accomplishments to this point.
The tank is a rational means to acquire an extraordinarily gifted player who, along with a plethora of rising young talent, will give the Sabres multiple chances to win the Cup over the next ten years.
If you can't figure that out, you're pretty hopeless.

[BuffaloRedleg]

I know you're not really being serious but going to 4 straight superbowls is incredibly impressive, and not managing to win one of them might be equally impressive.

[WagonCircler]

The AFL championships are the greatest Buffalo sports' accomplishments to this point..

I disagree. I think it was a greater accomplishment to win 4 AFC Championships in a row. At best, the AFL titles are equivalent to AFC Championships. They are greater in semantics only.

Winning 4 in a row, (especially in a 32 team league/16 team conference) is unequaled. By any other football team in the modern era.

[JATMtheJATM]

well considering Buffalo Sports hasn't accomplished a damn thing, the tank is viewed by many as an essential part of the process in order to obtain a franchise player.

In doing so, the belief is that this will help them finally accomplish that.

plenty of historical evidence that shows it's an effective strategy.

This. They will finally get a player to truly build around.

[WagonCircler]

Here's the second greatest tank:

17353

The Buffalo Bills barely lost a game in 1968 by missing on a bad pass for a touchdown and a failed FG attempt (the game ended Oakland Raiders 13 -10 Buffalo Bills). In the closing minutes of play, the Bills were within a yard of victory and a couple of feet of tying the defending champion Oakland Raiders. QB Ed Rutkowski fumbled as he reached the Raiders' one-yard line to stem the possible victory. Then, with the final seconds ticking away, Bruce Alford was straight - but short - with a field goal attempt that would have killed Oakland's Western Division chances, instead of keeping their 13-10 margin safe.
Thanks to this loss, their season ended at 1-12-1, one of only two teams in AFL history (the other being the 1962 Oakland Raiders) to finish the season with only one victory.

That loss allowed them to get the first pick in the combined NFL-AFL draft (a win for the Bills would have given the 2-12-0 Philadelphia Eagles first choice), and they chose O.J. Simpson.

Years later, Rutkowski actually admitted to intentionally fumbling.

[YardRat]

Interesting...never heard that story before.

[Skooby]

The moral of the story, sometimes it takes the worse to get better. See Luck and Indy, one year tank and next year playoffs for the past several years in a row since. Getting deeper into it, RGIII was # 2 & looked pretty good there for bit. Reality was he wasn't and he's been shaky since, so who knows.

After looking at both players, McDavid is choice.

[WagonCircler]

Interesting...never heard that story before.

To me, that's sort of the moral of the story.

Someday, when we are retiring the uniform number of McEichel, or watching McEichel in a slow white Bronco police chase, no one will remember that some Sabres fans cheered at a home game in 2015 when Arizona scored a game winning goal.

[YardRat]

I think it's interesting that the only references to that text I can find are relative to a Kim Kardashian/OJ Simpson Seven Degrees exercise. Did you include the intentional fumble comment completely on your own, or has that actually been out there somewhere?

[Dr. Who]

I disagree. I think it was a greater accomplishment to win 4 AFC Championships in a row. At best, the AFL titles are equivalent to AFC Championships. They are greater in semantics only.

Winning 4 in a row, (especially in a 32 team league/16 team conference) is unequaled. By any other football team in the modern era.

Yes, that's a cogent argument. I'm equivocal on this. Some days, I'm inclined to agree with you. They are both significant accomplishments.

[trapezeus]

the tank isn't an accomplishment.

the sabres weren't throwing games to get here. they were understaffed and undertalented and the losses happened.
but i think what has been good to see is that the d unit looks like it can grow into something quite strong. and the team doesn't quit which i think goes into it's change in culture. it's a crappy situation to be in as players, and they keep showing up and looking better now than they did in January when it looked really hopeless.

That being said, if we get a guy who makes line 1 very good and line 2 is essentially 1A, we will look back at this season as being worth the pain.

if it doesn't work out, i don't think i'll regret it. it was a calculated risk and it was worth taking based on the information we have on eichel and mcdavid.

[Skooby]

the tank isn't an accomplishment.

the sabres weren't throwing games to get here. they were understaffed and undertalented and the losses happened.
but i think what has been good to see is that the d unit looks like it can grow into something quite strong. and the team doesn't quit which i think goes into it's change in culture. it's a crappy situation to be in as players, and they keep showing up and looking better now than they did in January when it looked really hopeless.

That being said, if we get a guy who makes line 1 very good and line 2 is essentially 1A, we will look back at this season as being worth the pain.

if it doesn't work out, i don't think i'll regret it. it was a calculated risk and it was worth taking based on the information we have on eichel and mcdavid.

You'd figure this to be the case, we also had no chance or any real success with Nolan here and the team is by far the worse statistically.

[WagonCircler]

I think it's interesting that the only references to that text I can find are relative to a Kim Kardashian/OJ Simpson Seven Degrees exercise. Did you include the intentional fumble comment completely on your own, or has that actually been out there somewhere?

I've known about that story for decades, mostly from stories repeated to me by older Uncles and relatives who were rabid Bills fans at the time (I was only a baby). Then, several years ago, I actually heard it from Rutkowski himself (pretty good source).

I went searching for something post-able, and could only come up with the Kardashian link, but ask an older Bills fan. It's absolutely part of Bills lore (and also true).

[WagonCircler]

Here's an article that alludes to the fumble:

http://wewantmarangi.blogspot.com/2012/10/wwm-flashback-rutkowski-helps-bills.html

[YardRat]

lol...I am an older Bills fan...

[IlluminatusUIUC]

Someday, when we are retiring the uniform number of McEichel, or watching McEichel in a slow white Bronco police chase, no one will remember that some Sabres fans cheered at a home game in 2015 when Arizona scored a game winning goal.

http://cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/61040946.jpg