[UAalum72]

We'll see if Vermont fans can separate the Times-Union from the university.
Letters to T-U sports have UVM fans complaining about Ettkin's $iena-UVM column calling Coppenrath a 'backwoods freak of nature'.

An embarassment. He's been here what, six months? After the Series, he wrote the 'what are Sox fans gonna do now?' column. I told him the real question is, what are hack sportswriters gonna do without prewritten before- and after-season stories about the Curse?

[statefan]

He's been here over a year. Remember he wrote in November 2003 that our series with Siena wasn't really a rivalry.

[UAalum72]

Right, I guess it's just so much of what he writes is so forgettable.

Live hoops or the J-E-T-S this afternoon?

[statefan]

A very difficult decision; especially knowing that if I opt for hoops, I can't watch much on TV to allow for sitting in the parking lot line for 15 minutes. My current thinking is hoops with a headphone radio, and hoping Charlie Voelker has a TV hidden somewhere as I understand that he too is a very devoted J-E-T-S fan.

[Dane96]

J-E-T-S JETS, JETS, JETS

[DaneFan2k3]

Quote

The unwarranted and unjustified characterizations of Taylor Coppenrath couldn't be further from the truth, but if you'd like some characterizations to print, I'll give you a few. Brian Ettkin is as "bush league" a writer as I've read in a long time. His pathetic whining about Siena's coach, his demeaning portrayal of Siena's players and his feeble attempt to make his point by launching a totally unwarranted and unjustified attack on one of the country's most talented and admirable young athletes is a despicable way to try and further his attack on Siena's coach. Unfortunately, the only conclusion a new reader of the TU, like myself, can draw, is that Brian Ettkin would only be tolerated writing this kind of drivel by a publication that obviously puts very little importance on either accuracy or meaningful reporting.

GEORGE SCHWEND

Emory, Texas

Slam!
Double Slam!

This is the kind of crap you get when you live in a one-paper town!

Too bad the Gazette (by all rights) is a Schenectady-driven paper. They do great coverage of the UAlbany teams, without the hack writers. But more people won't buy their paper just for the sports. Shame.

[UAalum72]

The Gazette's not perfect - in today's $iena notebook, Amedio lists the top 10 stories of 2004, but the loss to Albany must have been a non-event, even though #3 was the "Bad beginning". The only mention of Albany was for recruiting Coppenrath, under #6 "Big-time opponents at the Pepsi".

He says that vs. $iena, TC exhibited the benefits of hard work and "BACKWOODS PERSEVERANCE". Since the Gazette is a pay-for-online-access site, Mr. C probably won't see that one.

Weiner's Albany column features Megan Buchanan as director of event management and operations.