Jeff Benensohn writes...
>I guess we just saw some of Mike's true anti-Cornell colors...
 
Wow!  I'm amazed that you can see Mike's colors at all
while looking through those thick Big Red glasses.  Don't
you hate it when Machnik stirs this kind of trouble up?!  He's
also part of that "best twelve teams should make the NCAA
tournament" school of thought.  We don't need that kind of
dangerous logic here!
 
Btw...is Cornell the only team in the tournament to have their
own brand of chewing gum?
 
(Fwiw...I do like Cornell.  I'd almost certainly be pulling for
them next weekend if they weren't facing the Lakers.)
 
Mr Adam C Wodon writes...
>I met Jim Rich and he seemed like a nice enough guy, but he had just
>been telling me that his "College Hockey USA" program does NOT have a
>bias against the ECAC, and then he called Cornell the "Red Raiders" ...
>I had to laugh.  Those high and mighty Westerners <G>.
 
I don't know about high...the elevation here isn't much...but I
hope the mighty comes to pass.  As for the TV guys, is there
anyone in college hockey worth their weight in vulcanized
rubber?  Jim Rich comes across as an idiot every year when
he's the roving mike guy on ESPN's NCAA broadcasts.  Frank
Mazzocco is no better.  He had Vermont winning Hockey East
on the selection show.  I rip on the CCHA commentators too,
maybe not enough.  Color man Chris McClure has gotten better,
IMO.  I'll give him that.  It was actually kind of funny to see him
stroke his WMU Broncos on PASS all season.  His interviews
are still weak.  Either he doesn't know how to ask a good question
or the CCHA coaches (the interviewees) have told him that they
won't appear if he asks anything that they can't BS around.
Probably a little of both.  The funniest comment of the season,
which I can't pin on McClure but PASS sure gave it enough air
time, came while McClure was interviewing WMU senior forward
Chris Brooks.  On the topic of WMU never getting any respect,
Brooks commented to the effect that "it seems like we're picked
to finish fourth or fifth every year."  Wow!  I wonder why, Brooksy.
Could it be that WMU had finished fourth, fifth or sixth for NINE
consecutive seasons coming into 1995-96?  They broke that
remarkable run this year by tying for third (fourth seed in the
playoffs).  Picking the Broncos to finish in the middle of the pack
is as easy as predicting the sun will rise tomorrow.
 
Back to the TV guys.  PASS play-by-play man Larry Oosterman
(sp?) is clueless.  How much DOES he drink before/during each
telecast?  He mispronounces about one out of every four names.
The best part is, he generally offers two or three different
mispronunciations for each player.  And he knows the CCHA so
well.  During Michigan's CCHA championship celebration, he
noted that John Arnold was holding the trophy and that Arnold
was a young player, part of Michigan's future.  I'm sure John
will be happy to hear that, because the registrar's office considers
him a senior.  Maybe Larry meant that he was part of Michigan's
future THIS MONTH. :-)
 
For what it's worth, the only guy that I actually laugh with more
often than laugh at is NESN's Bob Norton.  He is the John Madden
of college hockey broadcasters.  But Norton struggles with
CCHA and WCHA teams, because most of the players DIDN'T
go to Catholic Memorial. :-)
 
Don't get me started on Tom Mees...
 
 
John H ([log in to unmask])
Kudos to Robin Lock for suggesting the RPI count as 1.5 points
in the pairwise selection criteria.  A spade is a spade.
 
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