Erik writes:
>Please don't accept the ravings of newspaper columnists as representative of
>the Gopher hockey program or its fans.  We, as fans, are not responsible for
>what they write.  I doubt that the Twin Cities media has a monopoly on
>moronic sports columnists.  In fact, given some of the stuff I've seen
>quoted from other newspapers this season, I KNOW it hasn't. :-)
 
As I mentioned to Erik, everyone gets an equal opportunity to be a
moron with me.  I went after three Boston writers this season alone -
Will McDonough, Joe Fitzgerald and Joe Giuliotti.
 
I certainly don't think those columns represented the opinions of the
Minnesota program - nor did I say they did.  They do, however, seem to
represent the opinion of a good number of Minnesota fans (I wouldn't
say a majority).  All it takes is a look at the HOCKEY-L archives from
back when the criticisms of Minnesota began, when some overzealous
Gopher fans responded by denigrating other programs that don't have
the same recruiting policy.  I also saw a letter to the editor in one
of the Twin Cities papers that echoed the same sentiments (the Sunday
after the championship game).  I wonder if some of those people
realize that not everyone has the same advantages that Minnesota
enjoys.
 
It's the same kind of feelings that BC fans had back when BC was able
to have its pick of Massachusetts players and was exclusively a Mass
team.  Other teams, especially BU, were made to feel inferior because
they were not all local kids.  Now that the shoe is on the other foot,
you don't hear this from BC fans anymore - nor do I hear BU people
criticizing other teams.  They obviously understand what it is like.
---                                                                 ---
Mike Machnik                                          [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                  *HMM* 11/13/93