Letter to the Editor: NHL's warm-weather expansion not a failure

As a reader with multi-faceted interests in your April 23, 2009 article "Out of Bounds," I felt compelled to write a counterpoint to your views.

Let me preface this retort by stating that I am a Dansville, N.Y. native who grew up playing hockey at the SUNY Geneseo rink. I have many friends and colleagues who are GSU graduates, and have the utmost respect for the college, staff, students and community of Geneseo. I state this simply to dissuade the thought process that some clown from Phoenix is writing in to comment on a place and an opinion for which he has no knowledge.

I will start off by saying that while the economy is indeed hitting all professional sports leagues hard, the National Hockey League remains a $2 billion per year industry. It is a 30-team company, and like any company, there are strong and weak links to the business. To put it in perspective, at the end of each season, there is only one team that has achieved its goal of winning the Stanley Cup. The other 29 of us are forced to reflect on our failures and figure a better way of doing business.

However, we all know that the tentacles of our business extend beyond wins and losses, and profit and loss. There is the entertainment aspect, the community service element and charitable endeavors aspect. Are there teams losing money? Yes. Is that the only measuring stick of success? No.

The fact of the matter is that societal tendencies run toward a "winner" and "loser" mentality. As previously stated, the league continues to generate revenues in excess of $2 billion per year. And while a losing team, whether in a "traditional" or "non-traditional" market, goes against that revenue growth, as a league you would have to put the NHL in the "winners" bracket. With these hard numbers, it isn't fair to judge expansion into warm-weather markets a failure.

Being a SUNY Geneseo graduate is an achievement unto itself. If you don't get the job you want in the first year, does that make you a failure? I don't think so.

It all comes down to wins and losses. Everyone forgets that less than 10 years ago the NHL had to rescue "traditional" hockey markets like Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Edmonton and Ottawa from bankruptcy. Then they started winning and - voila - business is good and the people running the teams are geniuses. You win, and people come - it really is as simple as that.

Jeff Holbrook, a 1988 graduate of St. John Fisher, is the chief comminications officer and executive vice president of the Phoenix Coyotes.

Letter to the Editor: Fond memories '81

In the fall of 1978 I met my future wife amongst a group of friends in the lobby of Niagara residence hall. The first night of getting to know each other occurred at the Vital Spot - yup the drinking age was 18 then, and pitchers of Genesee were only $2. Our first official date was the next night, when we saw "Jesus Christ Superstar" at Wadsworth Auditorium for $1. Movies were every Sunday night and the ad-libs by the audience were free - what a deal! The first snow that year we took a walk along an old railroad bed toward some woods as the flakes swirled down over the valley. She is a person I felt completely comfortable with and completely excited about. It's funny how in college you can get to know someone so quickly. For Halloween that year she was a call girl and I was a flasher... can't go wrong there. Good things happen at Geneseo. Move forward 30 years and my wife is a children's librarian (a very stylish and dedicated one at that), our oldest daughter is a freshman at SUNY Fredonia and our son is a very curious 4th-grader. A good year to you all.

Andy Smith is an alumnus whose happily-ever-after began with $2 Genny pitchers. God bless you, sir.

Letter to the Editor: Student explains Naked for Peace

To the editor:

I feel that the Lamron published a pretty decent article covering our event last year. I was happy that the article properly noted that our demonstration was not targeting any specific conflict in the world, rather as a collective call for peace.

I was slightly uncomfortable with the two opinion pieces, as they both directly referred to it as an anti-Iraq War protest, which it was not. Certainly members of the peace sign hold concern for the conflict in Iraq, and I think its safe to say that we all wish for peace there, but our creation of the human peace sign was not in protest of the war.

Our event is open to the interpretation of all who view it and hear about it. I recognize that last year, and this year, some people were under the understanding that we were just a bunch of naked people. That being said, I would like people to have a better understanding of our actions, and why it is that we are partaking in this event.

So why did I take interest in planning Naked for Peace? Why naked, and why for peace? I think that the answer of "why for peace" is quite evident. Wake up. Read the news headlines. We need peace in the world.

So, why naked then? I feel that peace is one of the most natural and beautiful things. The human body, too, is very natural and beautiful. Using our naked bodes as political tools to create a living peace sign connects these two points. Yes, it's provocative. And yes, it is against social norms. That is why it makes such a strong statement.

Focus should not be on the fact that we are naked; our naked bodies are nothing more than a tool. As the artist uses the paintbrush to paint his masterpiece, I am using my naked body as a building block to create a peace sign. Peace should be the focus.

-John Whelehan

Senior