After a few days away from the net, I have a few observations, ramblings
and other stuff that I thought I'd share.  Don't you feel lucky? ;->
 
NESN and Hockey East caught a break when BU beat UMaine this weekend,
not just because of court cases, but because of advertising.  Did anyone
else notice that NESN started running promotional spots for the HE Final
Four saying fans should "come watch Hockey East crown a new champion" ?
I guess the guys in Advertising hadn't been notified Maine was still
in the running...
 
"sending a message"  Isn't it a little odd that of the three conferences
in which Maine had ineligible athletes competeing only one decided to
"send a message" to Maine?  The North Atlantic and Yankee Conferences
have taken no action against UM's teams which had ineligible athletes.
Either the Hockey East ADs just know better than everyone else, or
everyone south of Kittery (thats 7 of the 8 HE teams) got sick of seeing
the Bears in the Final every year?
 
Did anyone who attended the BU-Maine game notice that there was about
triple the normal security for a BU home game?  In fact,attendance was
so low, I think the security outnumbered the fans.  Was the number I
read in the paper really correct?  2200?  The last time attendance was
that low in Orono were the days when the team was playing on the river
and Alfond Arena was only a dream in an architect's mind...
 
I read about the Maine fan who had the flag over in the BU student section
and must say thats one gutsy guy.  I found it a little odd that while
security gave the Maine fan the option of being escorted back to his seat
or being escorted out of the building, BU fans were allowed to stand
close to the players' entrance/exit to the ice surface and unfurl a
banner procliaming that BU was "ashamed" of Maine.  Ashamed, perhaps,
because BU completely outclassed Maine by amassing 36 penalty minutes?
 
Sorry if the above remarks offend anyone, most of them are meant to be
sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek comments, although there is an ounce of
seriousness in there somewhere.  In the past two months I have tried
to be unbiased and objective, and judging from my mail, I think I have
done a pretty good job.  But I had to get some of this off my chest.
And now that I have, I fell oh so much better.  :->
 
One additional comment.  All of those people who have posted remarks
against UMaine in this mess, save your posts and remember what
you wrote.  It may be just a matter of time before its YOUR program under
fire, and we'll see how you feel then.I for one, want to see college
athletics cleaned up, and if that means embarrassing a few people in the
process, so be it.  UMaine is not the first school to come under scrutiny,
and it won't be the last.  I'm glad that the posts made will be in the
archives, so that in two, three, four years when X Univ. comes under fire,
we can all go back and see what the folks at UX had to say about UM.
 
John Forsyth
to paraphrase Mark Twain: Anyone attempting to find seriousness in this
post will be shot.  Anyone who sends flames will be hanged.
Since Maine is out:  Go UML