At 8:11 PM -0400 1/27/97, D B Doucette wrote:
> I didn't say that Jackie Parker had influence on a continuing basis on all
> NC$$ hockey operations.  What I will say is that it is very easy under the
> chaotic rules to "drop a dime" on another program.  One anonymous call (or
> perhaps even calling and identifying himself) to the compliance committee
> based upon knowledge of an alleged infraction of a close competitor is not
> out of the realm of strong possibility.
 
Well, earlier I wrote:
 
+ Did Parker or anyone else furnish the NCAA with any
+ information that may have led to an investigation?  I have no way of
+ knowing, but even if he did, he didn't force Maine to commit the violations
+ and he didn't conduct the investigation.  Maine and the NCAA did.
 
'Nuff said.  Hey, when you commit a crime and get busted, you don't blame
the cop who arrested you or the guy who turned you in.
 
> I think the likely scenario is that Parker found out Dunham had been
> offered a stipend by USA Hockey, perhaps by someone else involved in the
> team, and there was the opportunity to drop the dime.  The worst defense,
> Mike, is to explain too much in your denial.
 
OK, you got me.  I'll admit it.  Not only did I make the call, but it was
Jack Parker's dime. :-)
 
Likely scenario or not, it doesn't matter whether Parker or anyone else
"dropped the dime."  Violations were committed, a number of which the NCAA
determined to have given Maine "significant recruiting and competitive
advantages...in several sports, particularly in men's ice hockey." [NCAA
Register, Sept. 2, 1996, Page 6]
 
Now lest anyone think I am unfairly attacking Maine, which I have never
done, I will note that the NCAA also determined that the violations
resulted from "misinterpretation, misapplication, and ignorance of NCAA
legislation," not an intent to break the rules.  Mistakes happen, and Maine
has done much to correct the situation.  But this is not at issue here.
 
If someone else - maybe Parker - knew that violations occurred at Maine,
and they were violations that gave Maine an unfair advantage, then it is in
the best interests of college hockey for that person to come forth with
what he knew.
 
What I can't figure out is why Parker is the object of all this, when if I
remember correctly, coaches from two Western schools "blew the whistle" on
Maine for the Jeff Tory situation.  Unless Parker put them up to it. :-)
 
Assuming for a moment that Parker did have something to do with the
beginning of the investigation, it still makes no sense to me that Shawn
Walsh would be angry at Parker because of that.  I have a higher opinion of
him than to believe that he would react that way.
 
> Jackie must have audited a political science class at BU taught by former
> Boston mayor Kevin Hagan White, who most assuredly would have told the old
> story about what Mayor Curley (convicted felon and Congressman) advided his
> fellow public officials:
>
> "Don't write down what you can say to someone, don't say something when a
> nod will do".   A philosophy which beter assures deniability or avoidance
> of culpability.  In other words, I think Parker nodded.
 
If I read this wrong, I apologize, but the inference I draw is that you're
suggesting that Parker is guilty of violations but that there just is no
evidence, that he knows how to hide it whereas some people don't.
 
Anyone have Oliver Stone's phone number?  This has the potential to be a
pretty good script. :-)
 
But seriously, folks, I enjoy reading what you have to say on ME-HOCKEY and
discussing things with you.  There's no need to delve into things like
this, especially a real stretch of the imagination which is what this is.
I have a lot of respect for Maine hockey and its fans, and the way those
fans have supported their program over the years; I was quite happy for you
when Maine finally won in 1993.  But seeing people blame someone else for
Maine's recent troubles, well, it disappoints and troubles me a little
because it smacks of the worst kind of fanatical bias that one can have
towards one's favorite team.  It really doesn't cast Maine fans in a very
good light.
 
Still, I know many Maine fans do not feel that way, and I don't take
anything too seriously.  Thus my quips above (denoted by :-)'s) which I am
sure people will take as they were intended, which was just to give you a
little smile.  As I said, don't take it too seriously.
 
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                [log in to unmask]               *HMM* 11/13/93
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