Conference hbahba::cam_sports

    Boston,NY,Detroit,Chicago,Philly,LA,Dallas
    
    Denver and Phoenix
    
    Miami?   Do you count San Fran using San Jose in hockey?

RE                       <<< Note 263.1 by AKOCOA::BREEN >>>

>    Boston,NY,Detroit,Chicago,Philly,LA,Dallas
    
  Oops, better drop L.A, no football team.

  And of course Boston doesn't have a football team. For that matter New York
City doesn't have any football teams either although there are teams that claim
to be in New York.

  George

    So NewYork if you expand the geography really has 8, so does it count
    twice?  Otherwise 9 is tough to come up with and you're right about LA.

	Well, if you don't expand the geography, Detroit's football team
	doesn't really play in Detroit, Arizona's plays in Tempe (not Phoenix),
	the Bears are moving out of Chicago (in all probability), etc., etc.
	ad nauseum.

    re: 263.3 
    Hockey is not a real sport... Soccer is.
    
    
    A statement like that would make you very popular here in Ottawa. (Now
    to become popular myself,) As far as I'm concerned Hockey is the only
    sport, and all other sport leagues could fold and I would'nt care. 
    Probably mean more hockey on t.v. which beats football.
    

    Paul, Candlepin bowling on Saturday morning used to outpoint just about
    everything except for Patriots football and Larry Bird Celtic playoff
    games.  By Neilson standards Candlepins massacres even the ncaa tourney
    around Boston.

    I know Karen.  Having Candlepins in that Saturday spot put the station
    between the lucrative kids tv like ReeBoot (see Roland for a colorful
    review) and various sports like college baskets and college football.
    
    Station managers love to use the ratings for various excuse making but
    the advertisers themselves are much more sophisticated.

What do candlepins, advertising revenue, and my knowledge of (and ability to
properly spell) "ReBoot" have to do with the soon-to-be Phoenix Jets?

Even a faux moderator should know better than that.

Was the deal finalized before they traded Selanne?  If so, and I were Phoenix,
I'd feel gypped...

    
    
    Okay I'll bite. Who or what are the Phoenix Coyotes?
    

I don't care about the logo *or* the name.  I don't think hockey should
be played anywhere that you can't keep a good ice surface outside in the
winter...  :-)

    TO:263.16
    
    The Phoenix Coyotes will be the newest frachise in Jerry Colangelo's
    stable of sports teams. He is the CEO of the Arizona Diamondbacks and
    Phoenix Suns. The Coyotes are a NHL hockey team bought from a Canadian
    city (The Winnipeg Jets) which could not survive in it's small market,
    so they say and moved south of the border. I hope that helps you I was
    wondering myself what all the garble before your ? had to do with
    The Coyotes.

What was garbled about .16?  The guy asked a question.  Relax...

    Read .18 again and it says all the garble before his ?. And re-read all
    the notes before .15 MOST are about how many franchises in what city,
    soccer is the bestest na na na na na. I was wondering myself if the
    note was about The Coyotes or not. On the topic of the Coyotes, as
    the Jets, do you think they can squeeze into the playoffs ? If the
    Jets lose tonight and the Ducks win then getting into the playoffs
    will come down to the last game against each other Sunday night.
    Could be one hell of a battle pending tonight's results.
    

Was just looking at the standings.  Not trying to get anyone's goat - this is
an honest question - do you think that either the Jets or the Ducks *deserve*
to be in the playoffs?

I look at the Eastern Conference, and see all of the qualifiers well above
.500, with one over-.500 team missing out, then look at the Western Conference
and see five qualifiers that will finish below .500.

It's not the Jets/Coyotes' or Ducks' fault, but doesn't that strike you as
being way out of balance?

RE: .20 - I took you too literally, I thought you meant the content of the
sentence in .16...

    Good ? about the balance between the Eastern and Western conferences
    and the teams above or below .500 mark. If it were not for the large
    financial stress most teams seem to be enduring, I think we would see,
    another re-alignment of the Divisions and Conferences to even things
    up. The league apparently overall is making some serious coin, maybe,
    Gary Buttmen should start earning his and consider mixing things up
    and helping the weaker teams pay for travel, hotels etc etc. I know
    he's said he'd help teams who meet this goal and that goal but I
    think he has to go even further than that somehow ? for the good of
    this sport. It's getting pretty bad when Canadian cities can't or won't
    support an NHL hockey team anymore and the Jets/Coyotes are the most
    recent ie.

    
    	Usually there isn't such a discrepancy between conferences. Will
    have to wait to see if this year is the norm or just a fluke. Reason
    I say you have to wait, is because this is the 1st year that Colorado
    is in the West, moving over from the East. Did putting a quality team
    like Colorado in the West, cause the mediocre teams in the West to
    fall a little pts wise. Since they end up playing less games against
    mediocre teams and play Colorado instead. Or is is just because Detroit
    is having a phenominal year. I say its the Detroit factor, they are
    going to break the record for number of wins in a season with 61 wins.
    Thats over .700 winning percentage for wins alone, never mind ties.
    
    Ron

  I don't think I've ever seen a re-alignment for the purpose of balancing out
leagues, conferences or divisions. It would really set a bad precedent if they
did that since they'd have to keep doing it over and over every 5 years as the
talent levels changed. 

  You may end up with more competitive divisions if you keep switching teams to
balance the divisions but it division rivalries and division identification
would really take a beating.

  Most leagues take the New England weather approach. If the divisions are
not balanced, wait a minute (few years).

  Remember football how the AFL couldn't buy a win when the Super Bowl started?
Then the AFC owned it during the 70's and the NFC owned it during the 80's.
Imagine if they had kept juggling things to keep that balanced.

  George

    Xcellent point. But what happens when they award the next two
    franchises, they apparrently have been considering, because it's my
    understanding they are in the Western Conf. It's also my understanding
    that because of the potential $$$ from new franchises was why the Jets
    had to settle on Phoenix, not their first choice.

    Syracuse would be the equal to UMass, except that UMass destroyed them
    in the finals of the Rainbow Classic over Christmas. The score was
    65-47, and the game wasn't that close.
     
    As for UMass playing a lot of the same teams, part of that is due to
    signing contracts that feature home-and-home clauses.  A few years ago,
    Calipari would get teams to play him at home in exchange for two away
    dates, which is what they did with Oklahoma.  Also consider that the
    same teams may be playing in the Great 8 tourney because of where they
    finished last year.  Scheduling North Carolina to replace Memphis on
    the schedule is not playing the same team, but a similar caliber team.
    
    NAZZ 

A great discussion for the Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix Coyotes note...

    Duprez
    
    I guess .26 punched into the wrong note..., anyways the Jets meet the
    Red Wings in round one. I'm going to predict a upset in this series,
    at the very least, the Jets are going to go 7 games against the
    Dechoke Red Wings. 

...Detroit rolls.  This is their year.

    Let's HOPE they knock off the Wings in round 1 to give themselves
    credibility before moving next season. A 15,000 seat facility sounds
    small compared to all the new buildings going up these days ? do they
    plan on a new complex in the future.           

Great!  There's been a great void in hockey without him.  They've been
short of American-born guys whose names begin with two consonants.

(In Steve Yzerman's case, the "Y" is a vowel...)

    Re -1
    
    Bite your tongue....Yzerman's a Canadian.
    
    pete ;-)

>Joke around town is that they may
>    win a title before the Suns.

It would only be a joke if there was little chance of it happening...

    Doug McCleod (sp?) the 2nd play by play announcer for the Pens left
    to be the main announcer for Phoenix.
    
    Not to bad of an announcer. Gets a little to *excited* in calling
    the game though.

    Right, Roland; I'd say the two are even and I'd bet on Buck.