<stuff deleted>
 
> The point of my response is that all this talk about a super conference for
> college hockey seems ridiculous.  How many big schools are there?  I count six
> (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Boston College,
> UMass--OK I'm not a math major.)  That leaves how many schools--20, 25 small
> schools?  And these small schools will then support this super conference of the
> TV elite?  And the big schools will provide all the fans to fill the stands
> for the phinal phour (tell that to Maine, Vermont, RPI, adn the rest who have
> strong fan contingents).
 
There's a really good point being made here.  It seems to me that this idea
of a "super" conference is incredibly arrogant at the very least.  It
certainly is a slap in the face to all of the smaller schools.  "Super" implies
better - something I would argue is not the case as is evidenced by the
championships at Maine, LSSU, and the good teams that are put forth by
Clarkson, CC, RPI, Vermont etc.  Look at this year's phinal phour for example:
two teams that are small schools (Vermont, CC), one school that is bigger - not
big time (BU), and one team that is big time (Michigan).
 
One thing that I haven't seen discussed (although I may have missed it) is
the NC$$'s attitude.  I almost get the feeling that THEY would rather that
college hockey didn't exist.  Why do we suddenly get inundated by women's
college hoop - was there a sudden spike in fan interest?  Why do I turn
on network television in the late spring and find the NC$$ swimming
championships, or wrestling championships?  Do they have a greater fan
base than college hockey?
 
I watched the final game between Michigan and CC with my father-in-law.  He's
a die-hard Rangers fan and had never seen a college hockey game in his life.
At the end of the game his reaction was just like mine - "That was a great
game."  The next day we were watching the Rangers play the Islanders and HE
was commenting about how much more exciting the previous game was.  Isn't
that a market the NC$$ should want to tap into?  He certainly wouldn't sit
down and watch the swimming championships...
-Mike
--
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Mike Kahn                  "I swear by my life and my love of it, that I
Xyplex Inc.                 will never live for the sake of another man,
Littleton, MA               nor ask another man to live for mine."
e-mail: [log in to unmask]    -John Galt et al
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