Holiday Snaps

A grab-bag of college sports stocking-stuffers, just in time for the holiday season:

. So we hear that Shawn Walsh, the University of Maine's men's hockey coach, has been suspended without pay until January 1 for allowing an academically ineligible player to participate in the Black Bears' first three games of the season.

Not exactly the right time to fall afoul of the NCAA--again. With freshman Jeff Tory now sitting out the season under the guidelines of Proposition 48, Maine's academic casualty depth chart stands two-deep (with senior forward Cal Ingraham still serving a 14-game, transcript-related suspension).

And we still remember the steroid scandal of the football team's recent past. Maine's entire athletic program stands at a crossroads, as whispered questions of integrity mount into agonized groans of recognition--quite a come-down from last year's veneer of impenetrability surrounding college hockey's national champions.

But kudos to the men upstairs, school president Frederick Hutchinson and athletic director Mike Ploszeck, for making the right call in suspending Walsh and electing to forfeit the three games in which Tory played (dropping the record of what had been the fourth-ranked team in the country to 5-6).

When it would be easy to circle the wagons and wait for the NCAA posse's judgement, the hard way out proves to be the only admirable one, and it's nice to see university officials rein in a big-time sports program that looks to be getting away.

. Yeah, so the men's basketball team led defending Patriot League champions Holy Cross by 21 points in the second half on Tuesday.

A quick reminder: the Crusaders have exactly one returning starter from last year's NCAA tournament team. To get a fairer idea of the Crimson's national talent level, just wait until Billy McCaffrey and Vanderbilt hosts Harvard on December 28 in the Music City Invitational.

Harvard leads that one by 21 in the second half? I'll drive up to Nashville from my home in Atlanta to watch the Crimson play the Bucknell-Illinois State winner the next day.

. Speaking of the men's basketball team, here's a memo to Harvard Athletic Director Bill Cleary '56: Schedule George Mason as soon as possible for a season in the near future.

Two words: Paul Westhead (or, Loyola-Marymount). 'Nuff said.

. As for all of this New Year's Day bowl-speak, throw my name into the pro-playoff hopper. For the life of me I can't understand why Notre Dame gets only one of 62 first-place votes in the AP Poll even as Florida State (identical 10-1 record, head-to-head loss) gets over two-thirds of them.

It wouldn't really make a difference to me, except that the only excitement college football yearly generates throughout December concerns arguments about the merits of polls, pollees, and how big of a blowout the supposed "national championship" game is going to be.

C'mon, big guys. The I-AA teams have it right, and every other major college sport has it right--let the kids decide on the field who should walk away with one of American sports' most prestigious honors.

Not the writers. NCAA Hockey Poll 1. Michigan(27)  12-1-1  270 2. Boston U.  8-3-0  204 3. Lk. Sup. St.  10-4-0  190 4. Maine*  5-6-0  186 5. Colorado Coll.  10-2-2  145 6. Wisconsin  8-5-1  109 7. RPI  6-4-0  79 8. Michigan St.  9-3-3  71 9. UNH  10-3-0  69 10. HARVARD  5-2-1  55

Compiled by the Troy (N.Y.) Record, with first-place votes in parentheses, records and total points. (*Maine forfeited three games this week.)

Compiled by the Troy (N.Y.) Record, with first-place votes in parentheses, records and total points. (*Maine forfeited three games this week.)