UAalum72

ESPN's Outside The Lines this morning had a segment on profane and vicious fans, including chanting 'un-em-ploy-ment' at the coach, or ragging a player whose parents both died of AIDS, as well as the common vulgarisms. Albany wasn't mentioned, so I guess we're not big time yet. I didn't like the Hawk in the home stands, but then all mascots annoy me. Troy Records says Harrison kept UH in the locker room for 90 min. after the game, it must still be a disgrace to lose to Albany.

I apologize if 'mediocre' didn't sound good. John was asst. principal at Cohoes Middle School when my daughter went there.

Today's T-U says Ryan is still pres. of SUNY-Maritime, expects the interim job to last 5-6 months, and doesn't want the job permanently. Santiago is still the Provost.

I don't see it as an unreasonable demand that if it's really a UAlbany home game (who cares what color we wear) that Siena season ticket holders get to sit in the upper deck or above the Zamboni entrance instead of in THEIR home seats.

Media guide says Sawchuk lettered in 1983 and 1984, two of the team's more mediocre years when I think Ford was doubling as AD.

I agree that the game draws too many fans to play at the RACC, but if we're designated the home team we should be treated like it at the COUNTY-OWNED Pepsi Arena. 'Purple Haze' is just a start - how about better seating, maybe cover some of the $iena/MAAC logos and banners for the game. Before that happens, we may have to start averaging 3K at the RACC and then schedule 4 or 5 of the bigger games a year at the PA to stop being treated as a 2nd-class intruder

Actually, the BPG announced attendance was 240 less than last year, but I agree it seemed louder. Maybe just a more honest count. On another, more positive note, the athletics website has been revised slightly in the last couple of days, looks a lot less cluttered and more organized. There are still a few things I think it should add (photo links, a 'Facilities' page) but one step at a time.

There's also a four-page story on the Jones brothers in this week's Sports Illustrated

Attendance was 1,642. Iati had 180 fans behind the Albany bench. Love Zito's season stats - 46% shooter from the floor, 37% for free throws (27% in conference, 2-9 today with a couple airballs). Got an invite today to the UA pre-tournament reception in Boston, but it's on Friday night - are they jinxing us by giving up on avoiding the first-round games already? All right, we're 3 games in the loss column behind Hartford for sixth place with seven to go, and I don't know who would have to lose to who, but there's still a month left in the season. If any team could use the extra day's rest, it would be us.

I've seen some discussion of cutting scholarships from 63 to 50 or 45, but nothing concrete, wouldn't happen for 4 or 5 years (the excess would probably have to be phased out). The top teams may not want to increase the separation from I-A. But yes, that would make it easier for us to move to the top level of I-AA.

They (or another set) were hanging in the lobby of University Gym Saturday. Doc Sauers' banner wasn't up Sat. Was it a one-day honor, or is it somewhere else in the athletics complex?

Don't worry much about this GPI, it's a combination of 10 rankings and polls (the polls put all unranked teams at 26). Look at the complete ranks - the PFL teams mentioned are ranked from 75 thru 89 in all the rankings except 'ASHBURN' which has them at 51-63 and has Duquesne at 71 (Albany at 79). Without this one poll the PFL teams would be much closer to us. We're ahead of all but four 'mid-majors' and also ahead of about 19 Ivy or full-scholarship teams. We're about the 2/3 mark of all Div. I-AA, and the weakness of the conference hurts our ranking, not helps it.

I agree it SHOULDN'T be hard to set up the scheduling, just like it shouldn't have been hard to play them in football the last 17 years. They even stopped playing RPI too. $iena's football budget was around $200K, and if only about 15 of their players would NOT have gone there without FB, their tuition would have made up the dollars, so it's hard to see that money was the entire reason. But without facilities of their own, maybe it just wasn't worth the effort to keep it going. Football was never treated much better than a club sport there. Any money saved won't be enough to really help their entire program, but might if they concentrate it in one or two sports. Men's lax does open against Manhattan this year, so Siena there isn't totally out of the question.

New Haven may have been the only scholarship D-II program left in the northeast. Southern Conn is now non-scholly and wouldn't play them. This is probably a money-saving move, as they are also now able to cut four women's sports and stay in title IX compliance.

A woman in my office takes her 5-year-old for lessons on Saturday pm to Maple Ski Ridge in Schenectady County. West Mountain is less than an hour straight up the Northway (Corinth, exit 18). The Catskills and southern Vermont are also in easy reach, if over less-direct roads.

2k3, the three plans above all involve teams in the same conference, so we'd need to schedule as many head-to-head OOC games as possible - although UA does play 14 games against 7 MAAC baseball teams this year, but none against the 'aints (surprise!), and that's not enough to project our place in the MAAC standings. I think organizing a Mayor's Cup would require more cooperation than these two athletic departments have been willing to show.

No, my ears are old, or there's dirt on the videotape, or Rodger was wrong - yeah, that's it. Only one new player.

Article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04028/266484.stm on Duquesne's future. Possibly because MAAC, without enough teams to be a recognized league, cannot be part of post-season play. Love how Siena (0-11) is to be replaced by 'traditional Patriot League power Holy Cross' without mentioning HC was 1-11 last year and 9-27 over the last three.

Mystery Man is Ted (or Tim?) McCall, 6'1" soph. who was a women's practice player - mentioned on the telecast.

Going by this year's final Sagarin ratings, Albany should be underdog in its non-conference games by anywhere from 13 (Hofstra) to 26 points (Lehigh), and none of them seem to be very hard-hit by graduations for next year.

2004 Schedule SEPTEMBER 2 Thu. at Hofstra 7:00 11 Sat. Fordham 6:00 18 Sat. at Brown 1:00 25 Sat. at Sacred Heart* 1:00 OCTOBER 2 Sat. at Lehigh 1:00 9 Sat. St. Francis, Pa.* (HC) 1:00 16 Sat. Monmouth* (HOF) 1:00 23 Sat. at Stony Brook* 6:00 30 Sat. Wagner* 1:00 NOVEMBER 6 Sat. at Robert Morris* 1:30 13 Sat. Central Connecticut State* 1:00

Liked when the announcers said Albany players had to be like the Black Knight in Monte Python and the Holy Grail. "Your arm's cut off" "Nahh, it's only a flesh wound"

Hard to see how we took a 17-pt. lead against a team that beat Virginia, Pitt, and Hawaii, and will play UConn next year. Rizzotti, of course, says they overlooked Albany. http://www.ctnow.com/sports/college/hc-uha...-sports-college I would have liked to have seen the cartwheel Trina promised her players if they won. Today's Courant also has a story about chaos and infighting in the athletic dept. at CCSU, which still has no football coach for next year.

One thing you've missed is that the rec center will be a permanent building replacing the bubble. If it's three or four floors on the same footprint it should have plenty of room, but baseball and lax will have to practice popups and long passes outside on the artificial turf. If the parking garage is limited to faculty,staff, and off-campus students, there shouldn't be too much conflict with athletic events at night and weekends. Central Conn. has garages in the middle of the campus that it also uses for football and hoops.

The only other thing I've heard for athletics was an indoor track facility. You've hit most of the other things mentioned last April. I've still got the booklet, I'll try to scan it and have DP put it up on the board. The $100M was stated on another forum to include much more than athletics, and I know there are plans next for a new 'Welcome Center' on Collins Circle, as well as talk of a parking garage, which could be placed where it might also be useful for sports spectator parking besides daily use. Just those two might take up half the 100M. What I heard was that the consultations and recommendations would be finished by the end of April, and we also don't know how much the search for the new president will delay things.