Conference school::sports_memorabilia

    Just a quick comment.......Gord Kluzak is a CLASS guy!! I took my two
    sons to see him recently, and Gord was more than willing to take a few
    minutes to talk with the kids and pose for pictures (maybe the Bruins
    jerseys they were wearing had something to do with it?) Anyway, for Roy
    and Jeff and the rest of you who colect autos, I can see that it might
    be fun if the people have a similar attitude to Gord's.
    BTW...Ray Bourque was okay, but he seemed far less interested in being
    there...
    

    Its maybe because Gord is now out of Hockey, and never achieved the 
    greatness that still beholds Raymond.  Gordy could have been a great
    one if not for his knees.

    re.2 Greatness and physical attributes have no relationship.
    re.0 I have lots of Gords cards that I would be willing
          to donate for him to sign and give away to help raise
          miney.  Call me at DTN 276-8156
    Mike 

    Re:.3  Bad knees in my book spells doom.  Gordy is probably a Great 
    guy, but as far as popularity and achievements on the ice go, Gordy
    just didnt make it.  You first have to excell in your chosen sport and 
    earn the respect of your colleagues as a top performer on and off the
    ice.  Gordy might have achieved one, but he was never a top performer
    which is the difference between Ray and Gordy.  Twenty years from now,
    we will remember the greatness of one Ray B., but very few will know
    who Gordy K. was, or even care.  This is just the way it is.  Ray B.
    is in demand for appearences and Gordy K. is trying to adjust to life
    after hockey.  I wish him well.  He seems like a nice young man.  But 
    lets not confuse the greatness of these two young men, one is a star,
    the other is an X-hockey player.  Oh, by the way, why aren't you giving
    away and donating Ray Bourque rookie cards?

    Your wacked out.  Greatness isn't measured by sports accomplishments.
    It's measured by human progress.  Here's a list of Massachusetts great
    sons...( Do you have there rookie cards )
               Mikchale Stanley Dukakis
               John Kerry
               The Kennedy's
               Barney Frank
               Gerry Studs
               Billy Bucks
               Marvin Barnes
               Any Patriots Wide Receiver
               Any patriots running Back

    
    
    Sorry I agree with .4  completely. I've met both Gordy and Ray 
    (Ray dated my cousin -once 8^( )  
    
    Gordy has to be wonderful and especially nice - as his popularity 
    will quickly fade without ice time and he will no longer be 
    earning a salary from personal appearences. 
    
    Ray's popularity will equal the likes of Orr and Bucyk... get paid 
    $$$$ for appearences 10 years past his skating days. 
    
    Not to say that warrants being snooty towards kids etc... but Ray 
    most likely does 10 times the appearences that Gord does as well 
    as paying attention to training, playing (figuring home life being
    equal).   Put all this together, combined with Ray NEVER being a 
    vocal out going type A personality and you have your reasoning.
    
    A friend of mine owns a card shop Merrimac Valley Sports (now in Salem 
    N.H.)  Anyway, He's had Ray there several times and once he came about 
    a 1/2 hour early before the place open we sat inside the shop with him.
    Trying to carry on a conversation was HARD. The guy isn't a talker 
    somewhat withdrawn... He probably said 10 words neve mind showing any
    emotion.
    
    
    Ron  

    You should have tried dropping your gloves.   Whats a hockey player
    doing in a sports store anyway?  Isn't it wrestling on ice?
    Mike

    
    
    ha ha ha Mike you slay me....  Hockey is the finest sport we've got pal
    you can stick to panzy ass baseball YAWN!!!!! Hockey combines speed, 
    abilty, agility and strength... Somethings many other sports can't
    expect from there players even w/paying 5Mill salaries.
    
    After waiting 5 minutes for a fat goober standing on the mound to 
    adjust himself, nod, twitch & spit then throw a ball. MAYBE you'll 
    see a hit and you enjoy watching another slumping guy making well 
    above what any human is worth try to run to first.... this is like 
    watching grass grow.  National Past TIME ??? HA.. 
    
    We've gotten off the original topic of this note but spare me cracks 
    about hockey not being a real sport.  there are several reasons why 
    hockey isn't considered in the upper relm of sport circles and to 
    just name 3 : 
    1. It is a Canadian routed sport that can't be played year round by 
       most due to climate etc...
    
    2. No money backing it, promoting it for the last 80 years.  
     
    3. Most wimpy sports writers who tell you about sports were too small 
       and wussy to play in high school.  After all no body could get hurt 
       standing in a field waiting around to touch the ball a couple times 
       in a 3 hour game. 8^)  
         
    
    Ron
    

    
    Actually Ron, there's even more reasons you failed to mention ...
    
    1) Hockey requires a rink.  Most high schools cannot afford a rink
       or cannot afford the fees for ice times at local rinks.
    
       Football, baseball -- all you need is a big patch of grass, some
       lime lines, and it's a go.
    
       Basketball?  A peachbasket on the side of the barn will do fine.
    
    2) Unlike football, which has been established for a very long time
       (thus most schools consider part of the curriculum/budget to pay
       for football equipment), and is except for cleats, jocks, and
       mouthpieces, payed for by the school or towns, hockey requires
       that a player invest great amounts of money in equipment, not
       to mention ice time.
    
    3) When teams do get ice time, many times it is late in the evening,
       or more likely, early in the morning.  Most youths discovering
       girls, cars, life, usually don't have the desire and/or dedication
       to continue to pursue hockey during those insane hours.
    
    4) As you point out, it is not a year-round sport.  Baseball isn't
       either, but it can pretty much be played from March until October.
       Football CAN be played year-round, but isn't.  And basketball is
       the perfect combo of being able to play outdoors OR indoors.
    
    I disagree with a couple of your points.
    
    o While it is true that most PLAYERS are canadien, most teams are
      based in the US and require US dollars to support them.
    
    o You don't know have to have any great amount of size or speed to
      succeed in hockey.  Some of these guys look absolutely TINY when
      out of their hockey gear.  Gretzky is very slight of build, very
      weak strength-wise, not the fastest or niftiest skater on the
      ice, but he is "the great one".  A lot like Bird, but I digress.
      If you practice the basics and fundamentals, you can succeed
      without great size, speed, or strength.
    
    o Hockey suffers from "soccer-disease".  It's very hard to convince
      someone that a 2-1 game is exciting (of course, you don't see
      many 2-1 games anymore).  On the opposite side, if the game is
      9-8, it's more like a shootout, and appears that no skill is
      involved (ala the All-Star game, the only opportunity that the
      entire country has to see the game) -- since the goaltenders seem
      to wave at the puck, and everyone's taking potshots.
    
    o The NHL made a huge blunder when it awarded it's TV contract to
      SportsChannel (SC), instead of ESPN.  Most everyone in the country
      who has cable, has access to ESPN -- FREE, while you have to pay
      for SC, and it's only available in perhaps 10% of the homes that
      ESPN is in.  No TV exposure, means no growing fan base, means no
      TV revenue, and very little merchandising money.
    
      They need a free-TV TV contract, but they're not going to jump
      from SC to a big-3 (ABC, CBS, NBC) contract.  They need to get
      back to ESPN, drop the thuggery, hype the hell out of itself,
      and hope for a big-3 contract.
    
    
    Personally, while I do follow the Bruins and Kings (and this year
    the Sharks), I'd rather watch a WLAF game than most hockey games.
    Whereas with football, it doesn't matter WHICH teams are playing
    -- I'll watch it.
    
    								-rjk

    ya ya ya I know all that.... and I agree with alot of what you said 
    BUT basically I was not looking to get long winded on why hockey isn't 
    considered one of the top three  (in my book it's #1 ) I was just 
    replying to a reply that compared hockey to wwf wrestling.  
    
    besides I'm always irratable first thing monday morning... That's
    what's so good about having a notes file ! 
    
    Let's stop this in this topic (maybe another). 
    original topic 
    Bourque's a cool guy with MORE talent in his sport than 90% of all 
    players in there respective sports. 
    Kluzak (again although a nice guy) IMO never was a good pick up for the 
    B's. Would have been medicore if didn't have knee trouble and THUS 
    is a good press boy trying to make some cash before people say Gord
    who? wich will happen within another 2 years.
    
    
    Ron
     

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