Mike Machnik wrote:
 
>During the SportsBeat roundtable discussion on WSBK after, I think,
>the 1993 Beanpot final, Gerry Callahan offered the opinion that the
>only people who care about the Beanpot are people who went to one of
>the four schools, and that it doesn't deserve the attention it gets.
>I hate to say it, but I do think that for the most part, he is right.
>The only outside people who are as interested in it are the diehard
>college hockey fans.  You won't find people at UNH, Providence, or
>Dartmouth gathered around a tv watching the Beanpot.
 
I would say that is true of all college hockey tournaments.  How many
non-Wisconsin fans go to the Badger Showdown?  Or non-RPI fans to the RPI
Invitational?  Or non-Maine fans to the Dexter Hockey Classic?  Or
non-Minnesota fans to the Mariucci Classic?  I doubt "outside people" are
very interested in any college hockey tournament.  The difference with the
Beanpot and DivI hockey in Boston is that there are 9 schools within 90
miles of Boston.  That means that those who are college hockey fan in
eastern Massachusetts are not all for one school.
 
By the way I have always enjoyed reading about the Beanpot even before I
went to my first BU hockey game.  And I did *not* go to BU, although my wife
did.  As for the attention the Beanpot gets, it is not very much compared
to, say, BC football, or BC basketball, or even college football in general.
 In my opinion Gerry Callahan is either anti-BU or anti-college hockey or
maybe both.
 
Sean Pickett
Go BU Terriers, 1994 Hockey East Champions!
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