to All:
Having confronted Dr. Grant, Howard Brazee, International Man Of Mystery, 
exclaimed:
 
 HB> For years, hockey was a terrible TV sport.  And even now, the
 HB> difference  between being close to the action and on TV is pretty
 HB> great. 
 
     It's still better to be at a game than to watch it on TV.  I think 
this is true of most sports.  
     I think one of the problems of with the NHL is that it's become too 
defensive minded.  I saw a exhibition game here in Hamilton two years ago 
between Colorado and Toronto (Toronto won BTW 1-0) and thought it was so 
incredibly boring.  This past year I started going to the games of our 
minor team here, the Hamilton Bulldogs, and found it once again fast 
paced and entertaining.  Now the AHL basically has the next tier of 
players, but because the players are less talented then those in the NHL 
it opens up the game more making it more exciting.
      It may also explain why the ECHL, the next level down in 
professional hockey, has such a strong fan base.  Then again it may be 
because the teams are in areas that have fans that don't understand 
hockey .
 
 HB> During the decade and a half that Denver didn't have a NHL team, the
 HB> news  didn't carry much info about the hockey (this in an area which
 HB> has perineal  college hockey powers).
 HB> I believe this is the case all over.
     If you mean all over the US, I think you're right.  There are also 
a lot of American sports writers and editors out there that have some 
sort of axe to grind against hockey for no particular reason and bad 
mouth it at every opportunity.  Those two reason alone will mean that 
when the current NHL boom period is over (which I calculate will be 
after the next expansion is completed), franchises all over the United 
States will start folding up like tents in a hurricane.
                                           Sincerely Yours
                                           
                                           David G. Riess
                                           EchoHockeyGhod
... Then you die, and your relatives sell everything...
--- Blue Wave/DOS v2.20 [NR]
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