UAalum72

Wagner's not in the MAAC. In their first NCAA appearance (College Division) in March, 1969, Albany lost to Wagner and defeated LeMoyne in the consolation. But there were NAIA appearances before that. I'd guess Marist, which was probably still a seminary in the 50's.

From the AEast site: "The 2004 America East Volleyball Championship will be decided either Saturday, November 20 or Sunday, November 21. The semifinals are set for Friday, November 19 or Saturday, November 20. The four-team tournament will be held at home site of the highest No. 1 seed. The winner of the America East Championship receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Volleyball Championship."

'Might' is a better word than 'should'. It sounded like they'd be happy if the field hockey is in place next fall, maybe all the planets have to be aligned for that to happen. The money, both private and public, will have to be arranged before ground is broken for the football field. My opinion only, since the baseball diamond is least affected by the rest of the construction, it will probably be in one of the later phases. And since it's an entirely new facility, maybe 150 yards west of the current one, I wouldn't count on many more improvements to the existing field. All they had was a wall map of the area affected so you could see where everything's going. I'm sure they know when they'd LIKE everything done, but events are also controlled by the new University president, the Board of Regents, and the governor's office, so you can't KNOW the future.

There was a presentation after the game in the Hall of Fame room yesterday. Apparently not many people heard about it - it was on the Homecoming Schedule that was mailed out about a month ago. It will be at least 10-12 years before all of the plan is implemented.

Field hockey pitch will be built first, hoping to have it finished by next August. Detail design needs to be done before putting it out to bid, hoped for by the end of the year. An A-frame grandstand between the FH and Lax fields, which run north-south, will have 2,500 seats for each, with concessions and turf equipment underneath. $7 million for this phase has been approved. There will be about 400 parking spots next to the football stadium, 100 west and 300 east, about the capacity of the current lot. It may open with about 10,000 seats, before the second deck is completed. Part of the $40M cost include a 4-story building connecting the FB stadium to the RACC, including the mentioned weight room, coaches' offices moved out of the PE bldg, medical/therapy facility, and an enhanced entrance to the RACC. Dutch quad tennis courts are out, the track east-west from Dutch parking lot to the gym, with the throwing areas behind it nearer Dutch Quad. Softball field remains. A student recreation building SE of Dutch, including the only banked indoor running track in NY State outside NYC. The FB 'bowl' won't be paved, but 'tailgating' there will be tent/party variety; nobody will be parking RVs there. All-new tennis courts will be in a double column almost from the podium to the gym, near Indian quad. The soccer field will be slightly east of where it is now. The 2,500 seat baseball field will be built west of the current location, to try to cure the drainage problems of a field downhill from the pond. I didn't think to ask if anyone thought of artificial turf for at least the infield, for the same reasons lacrosse needs it - games played in early March. As part of the cross-country course, a footbridge will be built over the western half of the pond, finally replacing a wooden one that rotted and was torn down about 1970. This should make it easier to use the picnic area on the north side of the pond. The Giants should be happy because now they'll have practice areas with all kinds of surfaces - FH and Lax will have two different types of plastic grass. When Adm. Ryan came here he asked how they could recruit any D-I athletes with the facilities we had. Interviews with presidential candidates begin soon and they hope to have a final choice by mid-winter.

Two more aces for E-Rod tonight as Albany sweeps Hartford

Today's Schenectady Gazette had a front-page story on E-Rod. Sheffield likens her serve to Abdul-Jabbar's Sky Hook. She's moved to the libero/defender spot because this year's team is taller and deeper up front.

I don't think there's much wrong with our web site design - which is where money and technical effort have to be spent. It's simply a matter of updating the content, and after a little training that's basically secretarial work. All you need is somebody typing rosters and press releases, taking and uploading photos, and listing future schedules, and most of the complaints about the site are taken care of. The bigger question is the athletic admin recognizing they have to put the effort into what is the 'front porch' for athletics contacts, just as the Administration Office must recognize how much athletics is the front porch of the entire University - the part the public sees first and most often.

Wyatt, Q, and Lucious Jordan have been announced as baskteball captains for the coming season. The seniors, OK, but I'm a little surprised the new guy was chosen (although he's not a freshman rookie). It's probably actually a good sign that he gets this respect so quickly, without having played with them yet. Practice starts October 16.

The website now has a link to homecoming events, but when I was mailed the announcement there was mentioned a 4:30 Saturday presentation of the Athletic Facility Master Plan by Dr. McElroy in the Hall of Fame room. The online schedule doesn't mention it. I emailed Lee and he replied that the event is still on. You'd think there would be major press coverage, except that since it's a Saturday pm there probably won't be any blockbuster news, but I think I'll wander over after the football game anyway. As for the rest of the website, isn't it about time there were pictures of the new uniforms instead of last year's photos?

Hockey's pretty expensive, especially without an on-campus rink, and you have to add a women's team as well, but you've got to start somewhere. UAlbany Ice Hockey Club

Wins last week over Syracuse and Iona...and Albany's ranking drops to 109.

Yes, I'm sure many stories get written, but the letter may have influenced the editor to actually print a couple of them that day.

In today's T-U These Danes are aces, plus Ettkin's column on Geir with large pictures of both.

Lehigh Blog previews Saturday's game. Includes expected sneers about 'demanding schoolwork' at LU vs. the #1 Party School (is there really a lot of streaking on Fountain Day?)

That IS nice, compared to comments on the Marist forum

Albany beats Syracuse 3-2, Orange's first home loss and first loss to a NYS team. 1 ace for E-Rod.

Our ranking may continue to drop, even if we keep winning, since all of our remaining opponents are lower than we are.

Right. When Amedio's so-called "College Basketball Notes" column has anything about any local college BESIDES the MAAC, then maybe we'll show some interest in him.

E-Rod gets 4 vs. Brown, 24 to go. Danes beat Brown 30-20, 30-25, 30-28 after a 5-set win vs. BC this morning. Soccer (preseason #9) defeated UMBC (preseason #2) 1-0 today.

I know it's early in the season, but in the 'Pablo' ranking from the Kern VB site above, Albany volleyball is ranked 96, tops in America East. Arizona is #42. A quick look has AEast 21st of 32 Conferences .

Actually the notes say he 'returned to the field last Saturday after missing the Fordham contest' with a sprained ankle, although he may still be too hobbled to start this week. I suppose we're lucky there weren't more injuries from the slop last week.

Another oldster in my office tells me #55 may be Paul Mason of Colonie HS.

Archives say 207 in 2002, 141 in 2003, and 24 so far this year, totals 372. But the program at tonight's match agrees with you that she needed 43 to get 416, so there's an error somewhere.

Also a story in today's Gazette. Ford talks about being forced to schedule over our heads, having contracts with Canisius & $iena, and St. Peter's, who backed out, and Iona & Marist don't want to play us, and we don't want to play D-II and D-III, leaving only A-10, Pat, & Ivy. A-10 has 7 full-time coaches, we've got 4 assts. under 25, Brown's assistants average 35 years old. There's a reason you pay a guy $50,000 instead of $22,000.. the older guys are probably better teachers. Albany is now giving aid to 19 players, we don't have enough money to help more. He mentions a Division I weight room and lockers, but a D-III stadium. Ford says we have plenty of problems offensively, but that doesn't mean we won't contend. 'I thank God we've got a conference'. Need more consistency from Bazan and better production from the tailbacks. 'Don't think all the tough games are over. Part of the reason for our losses...is our own ineptitude.'