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
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