I am back in Maine after a well-deserved (in my opinion :)) break for a week in Michigan. And, I did have to wade through tons of articles. 1. I managed to go to a UMich game at the Yost (against Kent State) amidst a tight schedule and I had a real good time. It was great to watch a game without a personal stake in who wins it. I want to thank John Haeussler for meeting with us during the game and everyone in Hockey-L for keeping up such a great group and making this possible. This makes it all worth it. 2. I promised to myself that I'll not respond to some of the articles I saw blaming Shawn Walsh (I even got an email from someone to that effect). Thanks to Wayne Smith, I don't have to do that now. I just want to mention that, in the last 4 years that I have been here, Coach Walsh has not been associated with any wrong-doing (except for the mis-belief in the Tory case), and I wish that people would stop making stupid and baseless accusations. Oh well, I guess I didn't keep my promise after all. 3. And some news from the bear country: President Hutchinson has formed a 5-point plan to take care of all the problems that the UMaine Athletic Dept. has had: a. Reinstate AD Mike Ploszek (starting tomorrow). b. Appoint a full-time Compliance Officer (for one year). c. Have a NCAA person visit UMaine in April to check on them. d. ... (I forgot what this one was!!) e. Dismiss Woody Carville (without any relocation within UMaine). Cheers Venky