Kap also told me about the add'l college hockey pieces in the McDonough column, and I agreed that it was a nice gesture for Will to plug the McKersie benefit. I did recall seeing the news about NU expanding its rink on HOCKEY-L a little while ago from Richard Hungerford. DaveH writes: >With regard to McDonough's comments about the Black Bears, I'll agree with >Mike. Every month or so, McDonough has a blurb saying essentially "things >are rotten in Orono" without any facts behind it. Question is, why is he doing this? He never adds anything new. I remember at first when Maine folks emailed me or told me that they felt the Boston media was out to get Maine and Walsh, thinking that there was some kind of paranoia on Maine's part...but I can think of at least 4-5 separate pieces over the last 6 months in Boston papers that have nearly libeled Walsh and the Maine hockey program, without a shred of evidence behind the accusations. I certainly do not blame Maine folks for feeling the way they do. As a fan of the game of college hockey, we do not need these rumormongers stirring up dissension between schools. I think McDonough is doing the game a disservice, which is why what he writes makes me so angry. Anyone who does the game a disservice draws my ire. I was asked why, if McDonough's rantings are not true, don't Walsh and/or Maine file suit...well, first of all, they could be true. I cannot know for sure. But since I have seen no evidence supporting their truth, I choose to believe that they are not true. Several times now, McDonough has taken it upon himself to tell us what a dirty program Walsh has been running. And each time, McDonough has had a notable lack of even the tiniest bit of evidence to back up his comments. There seems to be a pattern here. Second, not defending yourself against an accusation does not imply that you are guilty of that accusation. And third, it strikes me that Walsh's attitude towards all of these writings (McDonough, Fitzgerald, etc.) has been to refuse to give them any credibility by even commenting on them, and so he publicly ignores them. >Unlike Mike, I do have a high regard for McDonough's scooping ability at pro >football, so I'm willing to put up with his arrogance in that area, but he's >clearly a fish out of water when it comes to college hockey. I have a high regard for his writings on pro football too - but isn't it interesting that he never seems to write about football the same way as his Maine blurbs? Because my interest is so much more in hockey than in football, if I hear or see him talking about football, I think of the trash he has written about college hockey, and that is enough to get my blood boiling. You won't see any letter to the editor from me in the Globe on this, btw. If I decide to write anything, it will go to McDonough himself. Too many of the letters I see in newspapers seem written by people who are more interested in getting their names in the paper, so they sensationalize to draw the attention of the person who chooses what to print. I wouldn't want McDonough to get the idea that that was the true intent behind my letter. He should know the truth: that he is hurting my (our) game and I don't appreciate it. --- --- Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] Cabletron Systems, Inc. *HMM* 11/13/93 <<<<< Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors (station TBA for 94-95) >>>>>