Conference hbahba::cam_sports

    Let's see if I have this right...
    
    in 11.1098 it's "Hockey is a real sport."...
    
    in 225.4 it's "Hockey is not a real sport."...
    
    That's what I call being firm in your convictions.
    
    
    
    billl

    eeeeerrrrrr...notes collision!

    I was wondering if groaner was going to do his shark bandwagon thing
    after the two wins or wait till after the weekend.  I see they got
    shellacked at home, maybe you should have waited.

and the bandwagon careens driverless into the sunset.

Steve

    
    
    Bite me.

    
    
    Bite Me�
    
    Jerry 

>    
>    Celtics choke, Bruins get trounced... a fitting end to the dump they
>    call the Garden.
>    

I don't see where the Sharks have done any better than the Bruins.  They're not
out of the first round, and unless they figure out some way of stopping
Theo Fleury, the probably won't.....


'Saw

RE: .-1

Am curious as to what this has to do with the San Jose Sharks...

RE: last night's 0-5 loss

What happened to the Sharks last night, or more specifically, Irbe?  One
second, I see highlights of the guy and he looks tremendous.  Then he lets
up some easy ones - the guy even had Darren Pang making light of his
puck handling on ESPN the other night.

I really like rooting for the "expansion" teams since they're still young
enough to be the underdogs most of the time, but the Sharks perplex me.

Roland

    Hard to dump on a team that HOLDS the ALLTIME LONGEST PLAYOFF STREAK
    OR ANY PROFESSINAL SPORTS TEAM...  Theyve been going to the playoffs
    every year since before I was born, whats this the sharks first visit.
    
    The garden was/is a piece of SPORTS history, for both Basketball/Hockey
    it will always be remembered, the Great Voice Of Johnny Most still
    rings through my head when I think about the Great Boston Garden.
    
    								MaB

My reference to .-1 should have been to .-2.

A lesson to be learned, boys and girls - always use
absolute references when possible... :-)

>
>A lesson to be learned, boys and girls - always use
>absolute references when possible... :-)
>

And don't try this at home.  This is for professionals only 8^)

Hockey playoffs have been the way they've been mainly due to money.

The sport doesn't pull in the TV revenue that baseball, hoops, and football
do, and historically they've had more teams in the playoffs because that
meant more money coming in.

I have less of a problem now with the new format than I did before, when
a fourth place team in a division might get in over a 5th place team in
another with a much poorer record.

San Jose won't make it out of the first round, becaues they haven't figured
out how to stop Fleury....

I don't see the Flames (my second favorite team) getting by whoever they'd
play next though (probably the St-Louis Vancouver winner I think, although
it could be the Chic-Tarawna winner).


'Saw

    
    	If Hockey playoffs are a joke. Then NBA basketball playoffs are
    also a joke. Whats the difference between the NBA and NHL? They both
    send 16 teams to the playoffs. The top 8 from either side. At least
    the NHL has a 7 game series in the 1st round. Which makes it even
    tougher for the lower seed teams to upset a top seed.
    
    Ron

    Plus if its a joke why is it that BOSTON has the record and NOT
    montreal, because Montreal the team with the MOST CUPS didnt even
    make the Playoffs THIS YEAR.  This is consistency and joke or not
    they are the only team that has had the consistency in ANY SPORT
    to make the playoffs year after year after year after year...
    
    And How many Stanley Cups do they have, I dont know Im not a BIG
    Hockey Fan but Id bet my LIFE they have more then the FIshes.
    
    You can talk about the Past Decade or the past 30 years but if you look
    at the BIG 4 Sports from NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB Boston has sent 2 or 3 teams
    into the playoffs every year (Yes the Pats are from Boston :-)...).  I
    can remember years when all 4 were in there and did GREAT maybe not
    winning it all but ya have to get there to win it....
    
    I can remember the Boston Bruins, Celtics, Redsox and Pats all playing
    in the big dance in the last decade but dont recall anyone from san
    hosery or Cleveland in any sport making the Big dance...
    
    Boston is da Ba!!$ nuf sed
    							mab

  I agree that they allow too many teams into the playoffs. Even doubling to 8
teams there will still be plenty of contenders in baseball that don't make the
post season. Football right now with 12 teams is about at that point where
every decent team makes the playoffs but the slugs don't quite make it. 

  But it's money. Playoffs draw big crowds and big TV contracts so my guess
is that we will see more before we see less.

  George

    Chess = Tiddlewinds = Swimming = Track&Field = Indoor Soccer
    
    What do they have in COMMON... THERE NOT REAL SPORTS there GAMES
    nothing more nothing less.... Leave it to a Cleveland Fan to reach
    for a NONSPORT and try to compare it to the BIG 4, now would be a
    great time to bring up the fact that the Browns won the all county
    championship from 1809-1901 when there were 3 teams in the league
    an all girls team, the Catholic Priest team and the Browns.
    
    
    								mab

Re                 <<< Note 225.28 by MR1PST::THEKGB::MBROOKS >>>

>    Chess = Tiddlewinds = Swimming = Track&Field = Indoor Soccer
>    
>    What do they have in COMMON... THERE NOT REAL SPORTS there GAMES
>    nothing more nothing less.... Leave it to a Cleveland Fan to reach
>    for a NONSPORT and try to compare it to the BIG 4, 

  No this is wrong. See "The Great Figure Skating Debate".

  Find me a dictionary that has a definition of the word "sport" that includes
the "big 4" but does not include those things mentioned above.

  George

    	
        Since when did Groaner become a hockey fan much less a
       San Jose Sharks fan? Is San Jose the Cleveland of Cali-
       fornia or something? I'm sure sports fans in either city 
       can't remember the last time the home team won a champion-
       ship in a *real* sport but what else do the two cities have 
       in common? Does San Jose inspire that same glad-I-don't-live-
       here feeling amongst its visitors? Is the favorite past time
       in San Jose hanging out at the KMart, listening to Slim Whitman
       on the boombox and waiting for polyester to make a comeback like
       it is in Cleveland? Just what *is* this San Jose-Cleveland
       connection?
    
       BTW- George, M_Air is entitled to his opinion of whta is or isn't
            a sport and the voicing of that opinion is not your cue to
            drag up that wretched and moronic debate yet again. Spare
            us, please. 
    

RE        <<< Note 225.31 by MSBCS::BRYDIE "I need somebody to shove!" >>>

>       BTW- George, M_Air is entitled to his opinion of whta is or isn't
>            a sport and the voicing of that opinion is not your cue to
>            drag up that wretched and moronic debate yet again. Spare
>            us, please. 
    
  Right but notice how your comment above is a clever attempt at taking that
side of the debate while pretending to hold the high ground of stopping a
rathole.

  Were you truly neutral, you would have jumped on him for dredging up the
debate. But you are not neutral. You welcome anyone who talks about basketball
and perhaps the other "big 4" events as the only true sport then jump on anyone
who disagrees.

  Your bias is excusable. Your shallow attempt to pretend you are neutral and
not just taking your usual side in this debate is hypocritical.

  George

George,

I really have no opinion either way on the "is a sport/isn't"
debate, but I more or less agree with T. Brydie.  One, it was
MAir's opinion, two, it was pretty obvious that he was just 
doing some chain yanking.

Roland

P.S.  Here's a novel thought, everyone!  Let's put stuff about
      the San Jose Sharks in the San Jose Shark note!  I know
      it was probably created half in jest, but maybe some of
      us would be *interested* in some Shark info!

>    Question, what do the Sharks and Bruins have in common?
>    
>    
>    Answer - nothing!  Bruins are at home watching the Sharks play in the
>    playoffs.


Call me when the Sharks make it past the Flames and get out of the first round.
At this point they're no better or worse than the Bruins.....

They still haven't figured out a way to stop Theo Fleury.  (Question: who is
the leading scorer in the playoffs)

Oh yeah, and Irbe should get a real mask......


'Saw

    Last year the Sharks were entertaining and showed a surprising talent
    level in beating the RewWings and wearing out the Leafs.  I thought
    they'd continue to improve and be a serious contender this year.  Aside
    of the strike as a factor I think the heavy hitting done by the Flames
    has taken its toll on the European flavored Sharks.
    
    I haven't noticed San Jose on Espn so I can only read about that
    playoff; they've lost three in a row but could still bounce back. 
    That's one thing they have in common with the Bruins, inability to
    withstand hitting by the other team.

>                   -< No deuce, no san jose viewing so far >-
>    of the strike as a factor I think the heavy hitting done by the Flames
>    has taken its toll on the European flavored Sharks.

I agree.  

A couple of years ago I wrote a letter to Brian Burke, then Whalers GM,
questioning their keeping John Cullen on the team in light of his serious
inability to keep his feet.  I mentioned that it couldn't be because he
was little, because he was bigger than Theo Fleury, a bona fide star of the
game.

Burke responded that little Theo is surrounded by giants.

    
>    That's one thing they have in common with the Bruins, inability to
>    withstand hitting by the other team.

The Bruins will have to get smart and start drafting some big boys.  Some 
big fast, cornfed beef.....


'Saw

    One last comment, how hard or how difficult making the playoffs 35
    years or 50 or 100 years in a row are is not the question.
    
    If it were easy then EVERY NHL TEAM WOULD BE DOING IT and MAYBE
    EVERY NBA TEAM... But BOTTOM LINE is only 1 team is/has and its
    the BOSTON BRUINS not even the Cleveland Chess team can compare.
    
    							mab

    
    re; Bruins.
    
    27 years straight in the playoffs.  2 Stanley Cups during that time,
    and I think maybe 8 times in the finals.
    
    RTG

    
    One more note of interest......of the 27 consecutive years in the
    playoffs, the Bruin's been over .500 every one of them.  THAT, in my
    mind is an accomplishment!!
    
    RTG

    Ironically a similar record was held by the RedSox from 1967 to 1991 or
    92, being over .500 - Only mlb team to do it.  Virtually the reverse of
    the Indians 196? - 1993 skein.

>    
>    Anyone know how the Sharks did last night?  (are they really
>    still alive while the Bruins are at home cleaning house)?
>    

The Sharks are gasping for air, whether they won last night or not.

The still have not figured out a way to stop Fleury, and until they do
they won't get past Calgary.

Of course, any discussion of that would actually be talking hockey, and
not the same old meaningless questions that keep popping up.....


'Saw

    Sharks kicked Flame butt lasted night 5-3, behind two goals by Craig
    Janney.
    
    NAZZ

>    Sharks kicked Flame butt lasted night 5-3, behind two goals by Craig
>    Janney.

Must have been a no-checking game for Janney to be that effective...

Did Nieuwendyk play or was his back acting up again?

'Saw

only better.  His name is Adam Oates.

I figure that was the best trade the Bruins made since they acquired
Phil Esposito et. al. from the Blackhawks.

Steve

    Actually, the best trade since Espo, was Neely and what turned out to 
    be Glen Wesley (who turned out to be three #1's) for restricted free 
    agent Barry Pederson.  It's no wonder Vancouver won't do business with
    the B's anymore.
    
    					Steve

    
    
    Front Runner!!!

    >I'm in a bind here, my two favorite teams are locked in a NHL
    >playoffs battle. 
    
    I guess that's one way to make sure you don't pull your disappearing
    act once the Sharks finish getting spanked in this series.
    
    
    billl

    
    
    
      Detroit is a machine.  After watching them the last few days
    I'm convinced that NOBODY can beat them but themselves.
    
    Jerry

    re.58  How could you possibly be in a bind? An original 6 team or
           a team from California? Detroit will end with the sweep
           and the Lord Stanley Cup. Once the Bruins were thrashed by
           the debils I started rooting for the Wings.  
    
                                         Go Detroit!
    
                                                 LIL ED 

    
    
    nope just linda

    
    	Steve Yzerman is out for who knows how long. He sprained his
    right knee during game 4 of the San Jose series.
    
    Ron

    re .69:
    
    Has anyone ever seen groaner and dr 00:00 at the same time?
    
    This guy switches "favorite" teams like the wind.
    
    
    billl

    
    >>Has anyone ever seen groaner and dr 00:00 at the same time?
    
    >>This guy switches "favorite" teams like the wind.
    
    billl,
    
    ignore this ignoramus.  He's just bandwagon jumping cause the Clevescum
    area doesn't have ANYTHING resembling a NHL team, cause the NHL
    outlawed skatinn on brown lumpy ice.
    
    He'll jump and jump and jump until his "favorite" team wins the cup,
    cause in his lifetime, he ain't seen sh_t.
    
    JaKe
    

    
    SUNS CHOKE FILM AT 11.
    

    QUIT YOUR COMPLAINING KIDY'S. THE FLYERS ARE GOING TO WIN THE CUP!!!
    
    
    
         ROCKY

    so when are the flyers going to win the cup????
    
    

         Nice to see the flyers finally get a win. It's
    too bad the winner of that series has to go play and
    lose the cup to the almighty Wings. I mean it's too
    bad it's going to be a real boring finals. No worthy
    opponets for the Wings 'cept the blackhawks and they're
    looking at getting swept.
    
                                     Bruins in '97
    
                                                  Lil Ed

       So the nj devils have finally made to the finals.
    I hope they aren't depressed after it's all over and
    they only have 1 victory to 4 losses to show for all
    their hard work. Way to go Detroit on an impressive
    Stanley Cup playoff run. All hail the '95 Champs--
    The Detroit Redwings!
    
                      
                                      Lil Ed
    
    				

>    Tough decision now, do I root for my favorite team the Red Wings or do
>    I root for my second favorite team the NJ Devils.  

I would think that by definition, that question has already been answered
for you.

Wings in 6.

    	I like fried calamari better than I do toxic waste, so I'm rooting
    for the Red Wings.
    
    				   /Don

    
        Yes, it wasn't all that long ago that Groaner was 
       denigrating hockey as a second class sport, largely
       because Cleveland doesn't have an NHL team. Now, he's
       flitting from team to team trying to pick a winner to
       call his lifelong favorite. 

    RE> 11.1098  I'll root for the sharks...
         225.57  Redwings are my second favorite team....
         225.81  Redwings are my favorite and nj is my second favorite...
    
           Your dream is always the same.......A PIPE-DREAM!!!
    Mr. Groanski, Why don't you put a rubberband around your head and
                  SNAP OUT OF IT?!?!?!?!
    
    Please just make up your mind and stick with it.
    
    btw I've been to cleveland...it's not so bad.
    
                                
                                                      Lil Ed                     
      
    

    
    >>btw I've been to cleveland...it's not so bad.
    
    Where's the best place to view Clevescum?????
    
    
    IN YOUR REAR VIEW MIRROR!!!
    
    JaKe
    

    Re -1
    
     Well I was actually in cleveland for only about 4 hours. I spent
    the rest of the time during the weekend 45 minutes outside of the
    "big" city. Have you ever actually been there? To have such a strong
    opinion about "clevescum" I must assume yes. But enough about that
    hole different story, DETRIOT DETRIOT DETROIT nj DETRIOT.
    4 games to 1 game, in that order. End of story. 
    
                                                     Lil Ed
    
    
                                                   

Paul,

>I've been a Red Wings fan longer than I've been a fan of
>any other hockey team.  GO RED WINGS!

Is that 5 minutes, or 10?

Roland

    re.92
    
    Yep, been there, all too many times.  The company I used to work for
    had numerous accounts up there and I had to go there on many an
    occasion,
    
    JaKe
    

    Nah, been thru there a few times in the lasted few years, too.  Same
    stench.  Problem with clevescum is, they're trying to polish a turd,
    and ya just cain't polish a turd.
    
    
    >> Another added bonus
    >>is the people... sorry, there's no comparison to the East coast
    >>attitude and the midwest attitude.             
    
    All that and the people of Clevescum are dumber than a box of rocks.
    
    JaKe
    
    
    

It's RARE that I agree with Paul 8^) 8^) 8^) but I have to agree.

I've been to a lot of cities and I think Cleveland's pretty nice.  The downtown
area was clean, the people were polite and nice when we stopped to ask for
directions and on the whole the experience was enjoyable.

I can't say the same for Bridgeport CT.


'Saw

    
>    I don't know if Pittsburgh is that way or not.
    
    The view of downtown Pittsburgh as one emerges from the Fort Pitt
    Tunnel to finally enter the city is one of the most beautiful you'll
    see, in the US at least...
    
    glenn
    

So Paul one has to ask what happened to your attitude? Been in NE too long?

 ;^)

    	I wonder if it's too late to call and cancel my "Call To Arms"
    tee shirt?
    
    				   /Don

      I hate those damn nj devils! Beat the Bruins, and now they're
    going to beat the Red Wings for the Stanley Cup, Yes I really
    do hate them. They're beating the team I picked right after they
    beat the B's and on the Wings home ice to boot. Maybe the Wings
    in 7 games but I really doubt it.
    
    
                                        C'mon Wings, snap out of it!
    
                                                         Lil Ed
    

    
    
    
     This is the absolute worse case for B's fans.  I can hear that rummie
    Sinden now.  "We don't have to do much to the team at all.  A tweak here 
    and there, we lost to the SC champs."  So he'll renew the contracts of
    stiffs like Hughes, Hienze, Donato, Kasatonov, Shaw and the biggest stiff
    of all Murrary they'll make the playoffs and play .500 exit in the first
    round and start again next year.
    
    Jerry

Jerry,

You and I always seem to agree except for Murray.

I think there is talent there, but it just needs the right kind of coaching
to bring it out.  He was monstrous in the playoffs a couple o' years back
(maybe it was just two, I think I'm getting senile)


But you're right.  The stupid Devils, with there "about as much fun as watching
paint dry" brand of hockey will probably beat the Wings, and the Bruins will
suck big time nexted year.....


sigh,
'Saw

    Devils are doing for the NHL what the Knicks did for the NBA Finals
    lasted season.
    
    NAZZ

 yeah but you got to admit that Stevens can hit. Personally I enjoyed what
 I watched of the game myself especially the deafing silence at the 1:23
 mark of the 3rd...........

 mike

    
    
      Brodeaur is not human.  Therfore he is no incredible. :*)  As for
    Murray, Saw I quess what he did in the playoffs a couple years ago
    is why I think he's a stiff.  He stepped up his play to be on par
    with Smolinski to turn around this year and look like Nevin Dorkwad.
    The B's need some wholesale changes and I have a bad feeling ole
    Harry the Horrible will keep the status quo.
    
    Jerry

>            -< Its already started he hired a yes man for a coach >-

Yep.  /Don calls him Kasper the Friendly Coach.

Why can't we get Don Cherry back?????? 8^) 8^) 8^)

    
>    Murray, Saw I quess what he did in the playoffs a couple years ago
>    is why I think he's a stiff.  He stepped up his play to be on par
>    with Smolinski to turn around this year and look like Nevin Dorkwad.

Yeah, but I think he might be one of those talents that good coaching is needed
before its brought out.  

Lord knows he's got the size.


Any word on Al Iafrate's knees?  We could use even an old cigarette smoker like
him because he still hits like a freight train....


We ought to have ML coach the Bruins too -- for all the coaching experience
we're getting with KtFC  8^(

      Sorry groaner but I have not done any bandwagon jumping. I
    just stated that I think the Wings might not be able to pull
    it off. The only bandwagon jumping that goes on in here is 
    you. All the replies I've read are just stating fact. That 
    those bastard debils are playing really great boring hockey 
    and doing what it takes to win. I still have my Detroit hopes
    going.
    
                                        C'MON DETROIT!!!!
    
                                                        Lil Ed 

just a reminder:                

================================================================================
Note 149.5                        SPORTS THEORY                          5 of 13
ANGLIN::SHAUGHNESSY "Plato,Homer,Voltaire,BobKnight" 36 lines   7-MAY-1991 12:30
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    Hockey, as a defensive orientATed continuous state game, engenders
    fan stress in a "roller coaster" manner, with the fans mental state
    alternating between elation and fear as play centers around either
    the vistors' and homies' goal respectively.  Hockey fans are drawn
    into a continuous mental state that acts as a real-time analog to 
    what is happening on the ice.  This results in a form of manic
    obsessiveness, one that is heightened with the added dimension of 
    hot goalie play - ("no, I will not be penetrated by your advances 
    and I reject you" or "yes, penetration is complete and it was good")
    - and also the added dimension of the power play ("you are outnumbered,
    so just lay back and enjoy it").  The game of hockey is emblematic of
    mankind's territorial imperative, and succeeds in delivering in its
    fans the cathartic experience of agressive behavior at the direct 
    expense of approach-avoidance behaviors.  When the red light blinks
    after a goal, it symbolizes to the fan either a brief moment of blind
    euphoria or gloom.  Then the fan gets back on the "roller coaster" for
    another spin, his/her adrenaline gland all the while flapping open and
    closed as the object of frustrated desire, the puck, attempts to make
    good its threats of penetration yet again.
    
    Where football stands as an analog to our race memory of military conquest
    and organizational forms; hockey appeals to something much deeper, more
    primordial in nature: the pack instinct.  That the players are donned in
    uniforms not dissimilar to those of pre-medieval warriors presents to the
    fan a "cultural signature" only reinforced by the fact that the players
    carry clubs in their hands and wear knives on their feet.  That the puck
    as the object of desire and the center of attention resembles an offal
    that has been flattened underfoot signifies the intensely anal retentive
    nature of organized warfare and the pack's assertive desire to slap such
    group-based repression away.
    
    This psychological milieu naturally intensifies by a_order of magnitude
    as the territory becomes more valuable, the symbolic hymen more pure.
    
    DrT
    

Thanks Mikey.....


It's nice to remember MrT from time to time....


Oh yeah, I haven't jumped on any bandwagon.....

    	The Toxic Avengers are one win away from the Cup.  Waddle tells me
    he's got tickets for the fourth game.
    
    				   /Don

    	Hey Groaner, I predict that the parade will be held on the Joisey
    Turnpike and halfway through the state, the entourage will bag a right and
    head off to Nashville with the Cup in tow.
    
    				   /Don

    	So Paul, are you and Waddle going to the parade?  I think I saw him
    before last night's game greeting patrons at the Swamplands Arena.  It
    would be ironic if the team left after winning the Cup and then lost
    it's star goaltender to boot.
    
    				   /Don

      I still think the debils suck. Too bad they won a tainted
    Stanley Cup, not being a full season and all. Maybe if they
    can win the Cup after a full regular season I'll give them 
    credit but until then, they suck. As for the Redwings, I hope
    they choke every year just as they did this one. I'm back to
    being a Bruins only fan and just an onlooker if they're eliminated.
    
    
                                Can't wait for Wilmington to open,
    
                                                                 Lil Ed
                                       
                                       
    

Wonderful.  The NHL finally gets itself onto national TV in the US and has
an opportunity to display the skills of the likes of Sergei Fedorov and Paul
Coffey, and what happens?  The New Jersey Clutch and Grab Society walks off
with the marbles.

The only hope is that a lesson will be learned in the league office, and that
it will instruct the referees that the rule book is to remain in effect for
the duration of the playoffs, particularly the clauses about holding and
interference.

Regarding Martin Brodeur, doubtless the best young goaltender in the game:
it is not correct that he played this season for $140,000.  In fact, he doesn't
know what he played the season for.  His 1994-95 salary is subject to
arbitration, which has been delayed because of the labor dispute that also
shortened the season.  When the case is heard, the arbitrators will not be
permitted to hear any arguments based on this season's play, nor take it into
account in their decision (uh-huh).  A settlement is also possible, but not
likely (according to Brodeur's agent), so arbitration will determine the
1995 salary, and the player then becomes a Group II free agent (Devils have
the right to match).

How's this:  the average salary for a starting goaler in 1995 was $1.3M.  Last
summer, Brodeur turned down a 3-year deal at $1.2M/yr and asked for $1.5M,
$1.7M, and $1.7M, which the Devils refused.  Figure what he's worth now and
what it will cost the Devils to keep him with other teams bidding, and then
tell me if it isn't a godawful shame that such stupid management has won
the Stanley Cup.

Steve

Even though I'm a Bruin fan I kind of liked the Broad Street Bullies.

Those were MANLY hockey days, when you could fight and have brawls and stuff
like that.

Not this sissy stuff they have now where you might get an instigator penalty.
Oooooh, I'm so scared.


But I agree.  I mean, Noo Jersey?  C'mon.  Gimme a break.

Just a tainted ending to a tainted season, that'll see the Champs appearing
at DollyWorld and Opryland as a prelude to opening their new home in 
Nashville.

How funny would THAT be......

    
    While I'll admit I didn't watch whole lot of hockey this year I did
    watch some of the playoffs and you guys should be ashamed of yourselves
    for getting on the debils. Everybody clutches and grabs from what I've
    seen. NJ played the better defense than the rest. The control the
    discpline they showed should be admired. Heck I believe that I heard
    Detroit was averaging 36 shots a game till they ran into the debils.
    What did average this series 17? That's domination! 4-0 that's
    domination. How can the results be tainted? Everyone started out the
    same. They could have played 140 games to get to the finals and the
    results would have been the same. Face it like Scotty said the Red
    Wings were wimps who thought they'd just have the cup handed to them.
    
    mike

    Re-1>>   Ashamed of myself? NO WAY. I'm a digruntled Bruins fan.
             If anybody clutches and grabs more than the debils it
             would have to be the boys in the wwf, that's right,
             the world wrestling federation. As for keeping Detroit's 
             shot total down, how does one shoot the puck with an
             opposing player holding you? The debils are the cheesiest
             Stanley Cup winner I've ever seen. Detroit plays in a
             conference where everybody plays hockey, not clutch and
             grab. They don't play anybody remotely like nj all year,
             and then have to play thier bush leauge boring hockey
             for the Cup. Tainted season, the debils suck. And don't
             tell me the wings could have studied tapes more because
             nothing prepares you like actually play. debils still suck.
    
    
    
                                          How much longer till preseason?
    
                                                                     Lil Ed

	Joisey worked hard and earned the Stanley Cup.  You want to watch a 
boring team, try the Miami Panthers.  The state can now be noted for 
something other than Tromaville and the Toxic Avenger.  Congrats DEBILS.

				   /Don

    Who could be more boring than the bruins.  I definitely agree that the 
    west has more skating and interesting hockey.  Hitting in hockey is
    entertaining and the more legal the checking the more interesting.
    
    The NHL is long overdue in cleaning up its act.  True "six team"
    hockey, not really seen since the early 60s is very entertaining.  The
    problem would be a very difficult adjustment period similar to nba and
    big east getting away from the hand checking.

    Re.128>>> Miami Panthers???? You must not be a hockey fan.
              The Florida Panthers play in the N.H.L. and yes
              they're boring too.
    
                                              nj debils still suck,
    
                                                                Lil Ed