Okay, first I want to thank those of you that didn't set the flames on me for
 my last posting. (GOPHER NEWS :-( ) I have calmed down to a reasonable level
 now and if you can stand ONE MORE commentary on this subject, read on!
 
 I want to thank Erik and Gary for their comments and will try not to repeat
 them here too much. Now normally I wouldn't get SO UPSET about something like
 this, but there were alot of things I didn't like about this announcement.
 
 First was there was absolutely NO WARNING given to any season ticket holders.
 This irks me the most. Not one word was leaked ANYWHERE!! It would have been
 really considerate for the Dept to at least acknowledge the possibility of
 this happening. (Who am I kidding...buracracies are never considerate! :-))
 
 Second, it is common knowledge that the Badgers are our biggest rivals. Every
 year, my hockey friends and I have an Annual W.C.H.A. barbeque before the
 second game against the Badgers. (This is the Infamous acronym for the
 anti-Badger group I pal around with.) Now the barbeque is in jeopardy, as the
 facilities out at the Met are very different from those we had near Mariucci.
 The person that initiated this particular group, has said on more than one
 occasion: "I don't care what the Gophers do during the rest of the season, as
 long as we sweep the Badgers every year." Now that's a tiny bit extreme, but
 you can see how much we value those games especially those IN OUR ARENA.
 
 As Erik mentioned this very well could be our last year in Mariucci. As much
 as we do need a new arena, I want the chance to enjoy Mariucci as it is now
 for all the games that are HOME games. THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME. The noise
 isn't the same anywhere else, the food as good, the camraderie as much fun,
 etc. I wonder if all the fans/season ticket holders in the Dane County
 Colusium would have reacted in the same way I did if they found out that one
 of their games against the Gophers was being moved to an arena 20 miles away,
 just cause it was larger and they could sell more tickets?? Put yourself in
 our skates, and then decide what you think.
 
 For those people who really wanted to get tickets, they were available. It has
 been a policy for quite a while that three series are hard to get tickets for:
 Wisconsin, Duluth, and North Dakota. Those who wanted to go, ordered early.
 Yes, most of the sightlines are bad, but I'll bet there are very few
 college arenas that have really great sightlines for a lot of people.
 
 It was printed in the paper this morning that the Met Center has "guaranteed"
 that the Gophers will receive THREE TIMES the revenue for this game at the Met
  than they would have received at Mariucci. Now I think the Met is going to
  lose their shirt on this one.  They have absolutely no idea how many more
 people will attend this game, than the season tickets already sold.  I wish
 them luck. I do hope that a lot of Gopher fans show up.  I hope that all the
 car-less students are bussed to the Met. I expressed all these concerns to
 the ticket office when I called.
 
 Well, I don't mean to go on forever about this.  But anyway, perhaps we are
 all a little more enlightened by this occurence.  Hopefully this experience
 WON'T be coming to an arena near your favorite team any time soon.
 
 Carol
 U of M
 GO Gophers!!!
 GO TWINS!!!
 Twins magic number is still 3.
 p.s. TO LOUIE: They are uncertain if beer will be sold at the game. The
      answer I got was: "We haven't even thought about that yet!"