

I am not at all clear about what you are trying to say here.   If  you
asked  somone,  who  had never heard of hockey before, if LA played in
the Smythe division what do you think  that  the  response  would  be?
What  if you asked this person if LA played in the West division?  The
naming of  divisions  after  long-dead  entrepreneurs  is  unnecessary
obfuscation.



Hardly.  The "established" situation existed prior to Smythe,  et  al.
The  Stanley  Cup was a challenge trophy up for grabs to whatever team
could successfully mount the challenge.  What our  dear  founders  did
was formalize the challenge.  They created a closed league, an oligop-
olistic professional system, in the interests of making money.  Wheth-
er  or  not  that system has contributed to better hockey is certainly
debatable.  We are, however, stuck with their invention and  that  de-
bate  is  academic.   The  point  to  be made, however, is that people
played hockey and people enjoyed watching hockey  long  before  Smythe
and his pals showed up.


What's wrong with best defenceman, period?  Was there  ever  a  better
defenceman?   Was  there  ever a better player?  And if you think that
Bruce Norris' contribution was somehow  more  significant  than  Bobby
Orr's  then,  in the interests of education, why don't you take a poll
and find out how many people know who Norris was?  But you don't  have
to, do you?


So you don't feel that you should have to make the effort to  remember
that  Vancouver  plays in the West division?  (Or Pacific, or whatever
other intuitively understandable moniker is chosen.)



And of course you neatly deleted Jason's  jingoistic  rant  about  the
game  losing  its  "Canadianization".   Quoting me out of context does
more to erode your credibility than it  does  mine.   My  position  is
clearly  progressive  and  is anything but "biased, closed minded, ig-
norant".  Arrogant, I will grant you.


Nice try John.  But for a flame to be truly effective you have to
display  at  least  enough  intelligence  to  earn  your target's
respect.

cordially, as always,

rm 
