Brad Jones writes:
>Ralph Baer comments:
>>as a freshman.  I better not mention the other end of the spectrum
>>except to say that it was standard fair while I was an undergraduate
>>(1964-68) for half the team to go on academic probation after the first
>>semester.  This seems to have improved, somehow, over the intervening
>>years.
>
>This has definitely improved as of this past year.  Powers suspended two of
>his freshmen, one of them being Brian Richardson (I don't remember the other
>off hand), for one game because they had fallen behind in one of
>their classes.
>He seems _very_ dedicated to making sure his players graduate.
 
The only problem I have with Brad's comments is that there's an
implication (probably not intended) that maybe things weren't like
this before Buddy, and that's not true...Mike Addesa has his
supporters and detractors, but I know of situations where players were
suspended for academic reasons under the Addesa regime, some involving
well-known star players.
 
(quick note...I don't want to see this get into a cascade of "yeah,
player A was suspended at my school too," etc. because I don't think
we need to re-hash that stuff.  We all make mistakes, and players are
students too and struggle like many students do.  It's just that
during those times *I* struggled, there wasn't a MIKEM-L for folks
across the country to find out. :-)  It's news to simply report it
as a reason why a player is missing a game, but it should be left then
and there IMO.)
 
Since I brought up Mike Addesa...one of his sons (Chris, I think) was
drafted by a Canadian junior team during the OHL draft (see the new
issue of THN).  Talk about knowing you're getting old...I remember
having to pick up his kids from hockey practice a few times when I was
a lowly freshman :-) at RPI.  And now they're ready for juniors or
college.  Yikes.
 
PS to Richard Hungerford: if you think Bright is cold, make a trip to
Merrimack...makes Bright feel like a sauna. :-)  The only rink colder
than Merrimack is probably UConn!  (On a cold winter day, of course.)
You know a rink is cold when it is FREEZING outside, but you actually
feel warmer after leaving it...
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Mike Machnik           [log in to unmask]    [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                  *HMN* 11/13/93