Monday Mailbag

While the NAHL chats on a conference call to discuss life, the universe, Montana, and everything, I thought I’d check the mailbag. Some have constructive comments or pose thoughtful questions, some folks forward me the latest rumors, and some are just plain stupid. In no particular order, here’s a sampling, with an appropriate response: Hey Marc, it’s a done deal… (choose from) Bozeman - Helena - Santa Fe - Cleveland - Billings - Fort Worth - Springfield is moving to (choose from) Topeka - San Angelo - Enid - Fort Worth - Timbuktu - North Richland Hills - Cody - Lake Charles - Phoenix - Taylor - Tucson… why aren’t you talking about it? I get a lot of these Chinese menus (one from Column A and one from Column B), and based on logic (two different sources telling me two teams are going to the same market, or one team going to different markets) I know someone has got to be wrong. Some of these I do know about and am sitting on because they aren’t a done deal and I don’t want to influence the process (reference my post from last week). But just speaking from experience, nothing is ever a done deal until the puck is dropped on opening night. But if anyone wants a suspense date, the Junior Council meetings start June 9th. We should know a lot more about a lot of things by then (if not by the end of this conference call). Hey Marc, what are you doing putting Marquette with the Minn-kota teams?!??? What about building a rivalry with Traverse City and Alpena? When I suggested my divisional layout for the NAHL, I never suggested that Marquette never venture below the bridge. In fact, I referred to the Rangers as a swing team – one that crosses over and plays a lot of games against teams from another division. The Springfield Blues were a swing team last year, playing officially in the South, but playing 16 non-Blaine games against the North (and 12 games against North Iowa and Southern Minnesota). I say kick Marquette west, but have them play 8-10 games each against Traverse City and Alpena. While we’re at it, let’s give them all something to play for: The Mackinac Cup has a nice ring to it. I’m sure each team could go to one of their major sponsors and raise a little extra cash to pay for a trip to the local trophy shop. Hey Marc, what’s with all this trashing of (pick Marc’s whipping boy of the week) ? It’s one thing to complain, it’s another to offer solutions. I’ve been trying to do less of the former and more of the later. For one thing, it’s the only way The Powers That Be will pay any attention. I know I’m being read, I’m just not sure how much real listening is going on. Most folks know I’m in Fort Worth, which means I get a heavy dose of Mark Cuban. A lot of folks outside of Dallas-Fort Worth have a very narrow view (thanks to his mouth and on-court antics) of what Cuban has accomplished - not just with the Mavericks, but the NBA in general. He has made the NBA ask itself why it operates the way it does at all levels (not just officiating). In many cases, the response has been “because that’s how we’ve always done it,” but that’s no way to defend your procedures and processes. He’s exposed the NBA for what it is, a league that’s traditionally been marginally operated, but has gotten lazy riding on the backs of Bird/Magic/Jordan. Most do not realize over half of NBA franchises averaged under 10,000 fans a game well into the 1980’s, and that it wasn’t until well into the Jordan era that it began to outdraw the NHL. Anyway, back to the point – Mark Cuban is good for the NBA. I’d like to think I’m good for junior hockey. Hey Marc, what’s with the math? What are all those symbols? I don’t think anyone has a problem with the four basic functions, but that ^2 might have thrown folks, it’s the squaring of the figure in front of it. Since I don’t want to mess with super/subscripts, I reverted back to some old programming code (^) to display powers. Multiplication is commonly denoted with an asterisk (*). The exponent (2) is not the only power to which a term may be raised, so… nevermind. I just put you all to sleep again… Hey Marc, do you have a life? Yes. I’m no Moe Berg or Herbert Philbrick, but I just like to keep busy.