On Mon, 21 Mar 2005 20:19:57 -0600, Eric Burton wrote:
> I guess next season college hockey fans are going to be complaining because
> the west regional is in the Ralph Englestad Arena. I guess UND will get an
> unfair advantage.
>

Once I neutralize the sarcasm, I'm left thinking that you don't think
there's an advantage to be in one's home metro??

Anyway, for those of you who do, this is my unoffical count of sets of
NCAA tourney games hosted in the last 10 {20} years. I bring it up
because I was interested to see what I'd find, and thought the result
was interesting.  This is also my best hope of bringing something new
to an old, old discussion:
Minneapolis/St. Paul 4 {11}
E.Lansing/AnnArbor/Detroit 5 {15}  (I left out Grand Rapids)
Boston/Cambridge/ChestnutHill/Worcester: 7 {20}
Grand Forks 0 {1}

(This was not as easy to dig up as I first thought)

I'm not one to gripe endlessly about the advantage the regular hosts
have, because I understand that there are logi$tic$ involved; life
isn't fair because "fair" isn't alway the most important factor.  On
the other hand, the regular hosts must admit there is an advantage in
having piles of home fans available on call every other year.  (You
likely feel the same about the FF in close proximity to the East every
2-3 years.)  Unbalanced?, yeah it is; what can we do about it?, only a
little these day$.

At least the hosts aren't guaranteed the last line change.

Kirk Eisenbeis