To All:
 
Here are some of my memories/views on the tourney FWIW.
 
1) FOLKS - great to meet a lot of you finally! To me, that is a real fun
part. Of course if RPI had been there ... :-)  Altho JT's left a bit to be
desired, still, enough friendly folks came up to make us Left Coasters
feel at home. Unfortunately, this may be the last time for us to see the
college game out here and perhaps the last time to see you folks :-(
Thanks to Karen, Stan, John Mac, John H., Margie, Charlie, Bill Corrigan,
Jim Love, Jayson, and all the others we met for making it memorable!
 
2) ANAHEIM - I call it Disneyheim, and IMHO represents all that was done
wrong in Southern California. However, I think the Pond is a great
physical plant and even our nosebleed seats had decent views.  The best of
all worlds would have been the Pond in some other location, but  ....
 
3) NEXT? - I hope the NCAA continues to perhaps involve the west coast
once every five to ten years, or even more often. A s I said previously, I
think there are at least three other choices that would work very well. I
know, the REAL fans have to cross country, but if you want the support to
come from the nation and perhaps eventually get a college national game of
the week, etc. you gotta grow the base a bit.  A family sitting next to
us, parents and two teeners, came from Fresno.  Had never seen a college
game, barely knew of it, but really loved it. The son plays in leagues in
Fresno and had a broken wrist. Now, that does not seem to me to be lack of
interest .
 
4) WEATHER - to put it mildly, it sucked. My wife and I, with blood
thinned from living in San LUis Obispo for 30 yrs, froze.  We had our
bathing suits with us, but spent most of Friday shopping (indoors) nad
eating (also indoors) at the South Coast Plaza.   Take my word for it, it
was unusual and weird weather. As you all know, it never rains, the wind
cant blow more than 20 mph and the temperatures are not allowed below 60 F
along the coast.  :-)
 
5) THE GAMES - oh, yes, those. To me, having not seen one live for 35 yrs
(yes, I am that old :-), it was wonderful. Of course, if RPI had been
there :-)  Even my non-hockey loving wife, loved the games, esp the
UNH-MSU game. The goal-trading made it very exciting.  Even the
inconsistent reffing to me did not appear that bad.  I know, I've been
away. If it had been RPI, I would have been screaming bloody murder :-)  I
think Maine had a very good team, but UNH was about equal.  Actually I
thought any of the games could have gone the other way.   One thing that
bothers me immensely at all the televised games is the long artificial
stoppages. They just destroy the flow of the game, a game that is supposed
to be continuous action.
 
6) OVERALL - I hope you folks who visited don't hold too many grudges
against Californians who dont appreciate the game. Yes there are a lot of
them, but there are also a lot who love it and want to see more out here.
 Pehaps a nice compromise spot would be Salt Lake City? At any rate, if
you have not visited before, please don't think the rest of the state
looks like Anaheim.  Try traveling North a bit. If you like rural, try Big
Sur, or above San Francisco.
 
Well, enough of my ramblings.  It was certainly with mixed emotions that
my wife and I left Anaheim for the drive north to San Luis Obispo! I hope
it works out that we can attend another time and renew some of the
friendships we made.
 
Tony Buffa
RPI '64
 
PS: did anyone else here the Bob Page syndicated radio segment, "Speaking
of Sports" yesterday? Briefly he mentioned the Anaheim games, and said
that what was once an obscure sport10 to 15 yrs ago  (little does he
know), is now growing in leaps and bounds, and ready to burst on the
national scene. He pointed to the success of the Anaheim games.
 
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