Tony Hejna sent this to me to forward to the list. It's pretty funny how things get started from something so simple. > > Dave, I am sending you this letter personally because I am not sure > how to send it to hockey-l directly. If possible, forward this letter to > hockey-l for me, thanks. > In regards to the Times Union column on the TCHCR: Yes, I did post it > outside the RPI locker room, and everyone read it, including the man of the > day .....Bob Croce. As you have probably surmised by now, he doesn't > completely agree with it. I posted the rankings because I think they are > interesting, and I thought the RPI players would think the same. I believe > they do. Bob Croce, master of the cliche, said '...Keith Instone > is about as popular with RPI's players as George Bush is to someone > who just got laid off.' WHAT???? Is this the same reporter who said > that Colgate's goalie was frozen on a breakaway by RPI's Wayne Clarke > and that the goalie looked like 'would be road kill starring into an > oncoming car's headlights'. Yes, It's the same guy. Perhaps a > master of the overstatment, and possible raconteur himself. He > certainly did create some contoversy, but afterall, that's part of > his job description. I'm not saying that I agree with > his article, but I will say that I got a few laughs from it and many > of the hockey-l responses to it. If the fury that this article has > created makes one person a more educated fan of college hockey > (Bob Croce included) then the article was at least a success in some > way. > For all you people who want to write Bob, feel free. I will > be sure to share some of your initial reactions with him as > well. Perhaps I should just post them like the TCHCR (HA.HA.) > Seriously though, no one at RPI was hurt by the Rankings. In > fact I spoke with Buddy Powers after Keith called him and Buddy > said the same thing to me that he said to Keith. "I don't care > about rankings, I care about wins and losses" Hip-hip-hooray!! > My personal feelings about this whole hoop-la are as follows: > I think the computer rankings are great. I was an undergraduate > Mathematics of Computation major here at RPI, so anything that > takes a scientific look at hockey is all right by me. I also > love the way it creates controversy. Sure, I posted the rankings > to 'Stir the pot' a bit, and it obviously it ruffled Croce's feathers, > but hey, what would life be like if we had nothing to debate. > Also, I do understand the way the rankings work, and I would also > add that the more the NC#& cuts down on the number of games, there > will be fewer and fewer interleague games, making TCHCR harder to > compare teams. Keep posting the rankings Keith, and I'll keep > posting them here. It doesn't matter to me if RPI is ranked 1st > or 41st. I won't complain. > > Anyways, best wishes to all! I'll be happy to respond to any further > comments/questions but not until after the weekend, as I will be in > Buffalo for the AFC championship game. Let's Go Bills!!! > > ----------Tony Hejna RPI '90 > p.s. Keith, do you have any ratings for a Bills/Redskins Superbowl??? > -- Dave [log in to unmask] Cornell '91 OSU Med '95 Let's Go Red!