From: bimson@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (GREG)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.hockey
Subject: Re: ESPN Followup
Date: 4 Sep 92 19:38:00 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

Some info edited to cut length:

In article <Bu19tt.Bwp@rice.edu>, patrick@is.rice.edu (Patrick L. Humphrey) writes...
>In article <3SEP199211415616@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov>, bimson@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (GREG) writes:
>>In article <1992Sep3.122302.27548@cs.rochester.edu>, hoebel@cs.rochester.edu (Lou Hoebel) writes...
>>>In article <Sep03.040044.58615@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU> mmb@lamar.ColoState.EDU (Michael Burger) writes:
>>>>Some details:

[details of ESPN and NHL contract deleted]
> 
>[part of the exchange between Greg and Lou deleted]
> 
>>>I could care less if X million homes in Houston, Miami or Atlanta
>>>now have access to hockey......the sport ain't gonna make it done south!
>>>How many Super Speedways are there in CanadaLand...right. Its a religion
>>>down south...Petty is a diety, the names are Foyt, Earnhardt and Waltrip.
>>>Not Igor, Ivan and Mario. Visit Alabama or Texas and tell me if hockey'
>>>is going to make it there...or Arkansas or Tennessee or Georgia or
>>>South Carolina or Arizona...hey gary!..got any ice there?
>>> 
>>I do disagree with this, however.  The NHL could have ad some serious 
>>rivalries if they had accepted Cincinnati and Birmingham from the WHA. 
>>Considering that the Flames didn't move to Calgary until the following 
>>year, Birmingham, Atlanta, and Cincinnati could have been a great 
>>rivalry.  Also, Birmingham and Cincinnati were starting to make money, 
>>so they weren't deadwood teams.
> 
[good info on the Indy Racers deleted]

[my misinformation on the demise of the Houston Aeros deleted]
> 
>That's not quite what happened to the Aeros.  The original franchise was 
>granted to Paul Deneau, and destined for Dayton -- but arena problems (as
>in lack of) made him move the franchise to Houston in April 1972 before
>the team had so much as signed a player.  Deneau sold his holdings to 
>George Bolin at the end of the regular season in 1973-74, and Bolin held
>the team until their second season at The Summit (1976-77) -- at 
>which time, it was sold to a group headed by Kenneth Schnitzer.  Unfortunately,
>Bolin managed to drive the Howes out of Houston and to New England, so the
>fallout from that caught up with Schnitzer -- and when the NHL's tease of a
>merger fell through after the 1977-78 season, he sold the players' contracts
>en masse to Winnipeg, and the Aeros were history.  Had he held out one more
>year, it's my opinion the Aeros would still be with us today in the NHL...
> 
>-- 
>Patrick L. Humphrey  (patrick@is.rice.edu)  Rice Networking & Computing Systems
>     +1 713 528-3626 at Rice. 776-1541 at home. 667-6554 at Palace Lanes. 
> 
>                    I've fallen -- and I can't reach my beer!

Thank you for clearing this up for me.  It is nice to see someone 
agree with my opinion.

I reread an article on the Birmingham Bulls that was in SI years ago, 
and checked some old box scores for attendance of Bulls games, and 
found that they were over 10,000 in attendance most games.  Reading 
further, the article said how John Bassett had turned Birmingham into 
a hockey city.  Too bad he didn't fight to keep his team into the 
NHL.

On another note, how is it that Louis can say that the South couldn't 
do anything for hockey?  Let's see, the NBA had 22 teams in it in 
1980, and they were all faltering because the pro game just wasn't 
interesting.  Teams that were in the south include Houston, San 
Antonio, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Kansas City.  With expansion, the 
NBA put teams in Dallas, and more recent, Orlando, Miami, and 
Charlotte.  It isn't that the South is all for racing, but their 
population grows, and the NBA had a good enough game to expand there.  
Granted, not many (if any) players come from the South, as opposed to 
basketball, but I think the NHL could be a very viable product in 
Southern cities, but there needs to be coverage to do so.

I guess Louis wants to keep his game, and not let anyone see it.

Greg