Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site ucla-cs.ARPA Path: utzoo!decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!trwrb!trwrba!cepu!ucla-cs!rick From: rick@ucla-cs.UUCP Newsgroups: net.sport.hockey Subject: Re: Anti-Islander bias Message-ID: <5108@ucla-cs.ARPA> Date: Mon, 29-Apr-85 19:27:27 EDT Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.5108 Posted: Mon Apr 29 19:27:27 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 1-May-85 17:23:03 EDT References: <1533@dciem.UUCP> Reply-To: rick@ucla-cs.UUCP (Richard Gillespie) Distribution: na Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department Lines: 37 Summary: In article <1533@dciem.UUCP> jeff@dciem.UUCP ( Richardson) writes: >I haven't noticed any anti-Islander bias myself (I haven't really seen them >play enough though), but other than the fact that a lot of people hate Billy >Smith, I can think of a good reason for the league to be against the Islanders: >They've won the Stanley Cup four of the last five years, and it's time for >some other teams to get a crack at it. Only 9 of the 21 NHL teams have ever >won the cup, and in the 18 years since expansion, only 5 different teams have >won it (Montreal 8 times, Islanders 4, Boston & Philadelphia 2 each and >Edmonton 1). That means that in 16 of the 21 NHL cities (counting the New Yorks >at separate), there are a large number of grown-up hockey fans that have >never seen their team win the cup, and most of these don't even have a >significant regular season or playoff success to show for their years of >devotion. I know the best team deserves to win and biased officiating is no >way to equalise teams, but it's easy to lose interest watching the same team win >year after year while you can't see any hope of your team challenging them >in the forseeable future. One of the biggest problems with the NHL, in my >opinion, is that with very few exceptions the good teams stay good while the >bad teams stay bad. There was an interesting article in the Sports Illustrated last year about the phenomena of hockey teams staying at particular levels for long periods of time. I will try to dig it up at home. But I sure hope that the league isn't out to get the Islanders because they have been successful! That isn't much of a way for a professional league to act. I really doubt that there is a conscious effort on anyone's part to nail the Isles, but maybe the officials watch them too closely. It could be Smith's reputation precedes them. But the Islanders lost 2 important (crucial?) playoff games this year on "questionable" goals when the goalie (Hrudey - who doesn't keep the net clear with his stick) was taken out of the play. -- Rick Gillespie rick@ucla-cs ...!{cepu|ihnp4|sdcrdcf|ucbvax}!ucla-cs!rick "She turned me into a newt! . . . I got better."