We're in the middle of a good one here, and people in various positions
of authority (read positions of $$$) are giving all sorts of absurd
reasons for the blackout...
 
1) Consider the mindless comments of the ticket manager at Providence.
(AND WILL SOMEONE PLEASE BRING THIS TO HIS ATTENTION!)
 
(from the Bangor Daily News, 3/26/92)
"We knew our biggest market was from Maine and we have to
sell as many tickets as we can," said DeSa.  "We've sold 1700
tickets to Maine people so far, AND IF IT HAD BEEN TELEVISED IN
MAINE, WE MIGHT HAVE SOLD ONLY 800".
 
I added the capital letters, emphasizing the absurdity of this
quote.
 
Hey buddy, those tickets were sold for the most part BEFORE YOUR LOUSY
BLACKOUT.  The first 500 tickets for Saturday's game were grabbed up
in 4 hours!  Instead of doing a brainless stunt like this,
how about doing a bit of creative marketing, like actively
pushing the tickets on participating campuses.
 
It's been my experience (having to deal with our ticket office's
short-sightedness for 5 years), that college ticket managers
have NO IDEA HOW TO PROMOTE SPORTING EVENTS, so it's not just DeSa
I'm screaming at.  Unfortunately, he put his size 15 shoe in it this
time.
 
 
2) Desa goes on to say, "I don't think we would have sold the building
out even if the Friars had made it.  We might have sold 1000 more
advance tickets and the walk-up would have been better".  Hey
Providence fans, is Desa right?  I know if this was UNH you would have
packed the place, just as in the HE finals.
 
3) Desa continues to whine (WHINE!!!!) about the NCAA jumping the
gun with the regional format... Hey, you had an entire year to
plan for this!  YOU are partly responsible for this mess.
Don't make us suffer for it!
 
4) LAST, BUT PROBABLY MOST IMPORTANT:
The NC$$ is supposed to be HELPING to promote hockey, not
hindering it.  Maine is not Minnesota!  We're desperately trying
to build the sport in an area that has not traditionally been a
hockey hotbed.  They're sticking in the knife, AND THEN TWISTING IT.
 
 
Larry Latour
A Hockey Fan who has half a mind to return his tickets but who
still has half left to tell these NC$$ guys to go to h--l, he's
going down to support his team anyway...
UMaine