DaneFan2k3

That's how the courts are lit at every major arena in America. It's just not something the fans are used to yet. Basically, what they need to do is leave them on until just before gametime, when they shut off the bleacher lights (or dim them, if that is possible, but I doubt it). That way, people would understand that it's intentional. I think most people felt it was a mistake, when in fact it WAS intentional. But I agree with the move. It focuses attention on the court. That is how the big boys do it. If you want to play with the big boys, act like them too.

Dane Pound, did you buy tickets through Pepsi Arena or through the UAlbany Ticket office? you should have been on the Albany side if you bought through the school.

Not to be devil's advocate, but we also have a radio commercial, heard on Fly92 last night, that advertises our season ticket package and the very last line is: "Great Danes Season Ticket Packages available for only 75 bucks ... if your team is charging you anymore ... well then they're just doggin' you" It was a long commercial though, I want to say a 45 second or minute spot, advertising all the "perrennial NCAA teams we play" (stretched the truth a little), including "Wagner, coached by Mike Deane ... who, uh, oh yeah, used to coach that OTHER team" So if they heard that commercial, I'm sure they would respond with their own. That's pretty ballsy on our part.

UB is one of the schools that is going to be forced to drop down to IAA after the new rules go into effect in 2005 (I believe they go into effect in 2005, not 2006, but double check that). They will be nowhere near the actual attendance mark required to sustain I-A football. It's not going to be close.

I'm not throwing water on your comments, but just to clarify ... Iati might be game-rusty, but he's certainly been practicing for some time now. I'd say he's been in the gym shooting hundreds of jumpers daily for at least three, possibly four weeks. Granted, I'm only there a couple times a week to workout upstairs, but he's there every day I've been in the last month. I don't know how extensively he has practiced, as far as getting his wind and feeling out a game situation. So maybe he will grow by leaps and bounds at the season goes. But I just feel like some of the comments SEEM to have a tinge of "if this is just the tip of what he can do we're going to be great." If anything, I think he'll get marginally better than what we saw in the scrimmage. I'm not expecting some epiphany though, where he finally gets it all going and it all-conference material with the snap of my fingers. Just trying to temper some of the optimism with a dose of fact/opinion.

Hey don't worry about me, I know how a message board works. But I don't think people have that much time to stand around the water cooler in the real world. My point was that I think it's stupid to sit there and look at possible realignments for (literally) years down the road. So I guess I'm the middle manager who walks past the cooler and tells the IT geeks to get back to work and stop daydreaming about Trinity from the Matrix and the girls from Sailor Moon. I don't think if someone told you that you had a stupid idea around the water cooler you'd tell him to go and #### himself either. But then again, those IT geeks get pretty revved up about their fantasies too ... If nothing else, I have a new board rival, bigman dane96 who can't take any criticism of his all-in-theory post. Got a new avatar out of the deal as well. In fact, to take Tony's point to a whole new level, yes there are forums for what I suggested the people talk about. However, why doesn't the forum administrator make a "UAlbany Dream Sequence" forum, so that when I see "Possible New Conferences?!" I know to skip it entirely because it's based on little to no fact. "General Danes Stuff" should be for ... well ... general Danes stuff ... not a post that mentions Albany twice or three times in the course of a rant on conference realignment in 2010.

I'm really not counting on Wyatt to stay healthy the whole season. Let's face it, it's just not going to happen, so we should plan for that eventuality now.

I'm pathetic? These dudes are posting about conference affiliations that probably will never happen, and at best would happen five to ten years down the road. Take a step back and get a grip man. Post about something worthwhile, like the status of our basketball team or where Gary Jones will be playing next year. And PS - I hope you can take criticism in the real world. Cause if you take it anything like my criticism on this board, you're in for a world of hurt out there.

I think it's more likely that they are putting in a new fence, the old one had sections that were falling apart and I think that one player even cut his hand (possibly an opponent?) last season on a section that had one of the postheads removed. I could be wrong about that last part, but I vaguely remember hearing about it at one of the maybe two games I got around to going to.

1.) All you strict readers of my post have it all wrong. Nowhere in the post does it say there is a RULE on having a stadium at the I-AA level. What it says is that no school would go I-AA scholarship without one. In fact, to quote myself: "No league would take UAlbany with its current stadium situation, which is not going to be cleared up anytime soon." So let's read the posts before we hit reply. The post says, and you can't even claim that it doesn't, that no league would take us with that stadium. And this is the god's honest truth. It's horrible. In fact, I think even if UAlbany decided to petition the NYSPHSAA for entry with that stadium they might get laughed out of the room. (For those abbreviation-challenged posters, that would be the New York State Public High School Athletic Association). 2.) Secondly, I'm not going to get into a virtual pissing match with anyone who claims to have information on this site. But I can tell you for a fact that no contactors are being talked to about a stadium plan for football. Go ahead, hit reply, start writing about what you were told by McElroy's mother's sister's maid's daughter. Aside from the people that I have talked to that confirmed for me that this is indeed not the case ... The pure and simple fact is that UAlbany is a state school, and any facility plans have to be filed with the state, as well as the local municipality. Not to mention bids must be solicited for a certain period of time, specifications put out to the bidders, as well as environmental and traffic impact studies conducted for the construction of a stadium (football or otherwise). Call up the UAlbany Facilities department on campus and request the football stadium feasibility study for 2003-04. Then call me back when they laugh at you. It simply doesn't exist. So all this talk about contractors - put it to bed. You're getting the public persona run around kids. 3.) "I understood McElroy to say that he's interviewing companies that would define our facilities needs and present options and possible compromises (how many artificial turf fields among football, soccer & lacrosse, field hockey, and practice fields, etc). I heard this should be done by next April. After that would come funding and getting construction bids." That is an intelligent post. However, you need to specify the "after that". If you mean literally next April (2004), that's not going to happen. There is no way a facility plan will be in place by then. If you mean April, 2005 (a year and a few months from now), we can talk. So then we have some sort of plan of what we want. But where do you see this mythical funding coming from? You realize that no one donates money, right? Literally the donations at UAlbany are smaller than virtually all other schools our size. Our endowment is tiny. Faculty are being cut; all of the Campaign money is going to Sematech ($8 million put aside for Athletics, and that is still years away from completion). $8 million! Out of $500 million! What a joke. 4.) Who ever said I didn't like the football team? I love the football team. Never missed a game. But we have to be realistic. I know you all get your jollies on dreaming about going big time at UAlbany. But we have to think about where we are now and how to make that the best product possible. And it's not by having a scrimmage with all these new men's basketball players and having about 50 people (to be generous) show up. Good god, if the 40 people on this board (ok, let's say 10 are from Siena so 30 people) each brought a friend to the games, we'd double tonight's attendance. Show UAlbany some love now - stop saving it for years to come when these mythical plans may or may not be in place. I hope they are, but I know they won't be in the next 2-3 years. And until then, bring 3 friends to the game. Get more people signed up on this board. Get more people interested.

I was somewhat encouraged by the scrimmage performance, although once the Apples started trapping in the fourth "quarter" the team started to commit too many turnovers and pressed a little too much themselves. I definitely was impressed with Courtney Johnson, handles himself like he belongs at that level and did hit some nice shots. Martin knocked down a nice J in transition and make a couple of nice passes for a big man. Iati can shoot, and he can create off the dribble nicely. The Great Danes worked the inside-outside very well with Iati to get him open on the wing a few times. Very questionable beyond Iati at point guard though, and if he has trouble with the shoulder later it's going to hurt us badly. Also, with Levi playing so much at the 2, where does Iati fit with Jamar and Levi? That would knock Levine back to playing the 3, which isn't a bad thing, but he looked comfortable outside taking the jumpers and driving the lane. Very bad handle in traffic. Overall I was impressed by the team. And don't look now, but I was the guy who pointed out that Tim Winn was a baller and played on this team.

Why is there so much misinformation attributed to high-level sources on this board? First off, clearly Ruler doesn't have his ducks in a row or understand the process. "Probably by 2005" we will be I-AA Scholarship? Even if the decision was made 1 minute after I post this message, who is to say that the IAA Scholarship level is available to UAlbany? You can't just jump levels, there are approval processes within the NCAA. Also, if you went by 2005, there would be no league to play in. No league would take UAlbany with its current stadium situation, which is not going to be cleared up anytime soon. Stony Brook's stadium ended up costing them $8 to $10 million more than originally planned, according to the reports I read in the papers down there when it first opened. Also, there were quotes from their AD at the time talking about the fact that when he got there, the plan for the stadium had already been in place and was about a 10-year process. Literally, even if they approved stadium financing today, the earliest you would be looking at opening a new stadium would be in 2008, and that would be in a "whip-it-up" four-and-a-half year plan. Concentrate on the now people, concentrate on the now. Speculation will get you nowhere, especially when its grounded in misinformation like many of the posts on this board.

Tim Winn played for St. Bonaventure? The name is familiar, I could be wrong though.

So much for the ACL tear - this could have been much worse. I just heard Rodger report it on the 11 o'clock on Monday. Fractured patella (kneecap), out 2-4 weeks. Chances of beating Siena zero. Chances of season being decent, better than I thought they were going to be.

Did someone really just suggest Conference USA? Obviously you have no concept of geography and/or budget. One of the leagues that was originally looked into, according to an article way back in the Times Union, was the MAC (one A, Mid-American). Those schools, were all too far away to make sense, with the exception of UBuffalo. Conference USA makes even less geographic sense than the MAC. Get real people. Concentrate on things you can control, like getting two or three friends to come out to each game with you this year. That's the way to help build the school, one fan at a time.

"You cannot even remotely say the knee is ruptured or season ending by doing this test." False. You can definitively say (probably with about 90% certainty) that a person has an ACL tear without performing a MRI. However, the extent of the tear, full partial etc., cannot be known without the MRI. This is not to say that the report by "soup" is factually correct. I have no idea. But even if he hadn't gone for an MRI, they could tell him that he had some sort of tear and be fairly certain.

How is speculating on something seven years ahead of time fun? Will this board even be around to see if you're right? Who knows.

http://www.coppin.edu/athletics/coach.asp?...ewart&sID=sp002 Looks like (to answer a question in another thread) he just graduated last year. Perhaps, then, the year was left off on the Meet the Team page due to the fact that you wouldn't want people thinking he was 22 years old (or that he didn't graduate the first time around).

Looking at this objectively, if you have three teams tie for first place, with one loss apiece, you have to think that the first tiebreaker, head-to-head, obviously doesn't apply, because Sacred Heart beats (in theory) Monmouth, Monmouth beats Albany, Albany beats Sacred Heart. I would have ASSUMED (couldn't find it on NEC website) that the next tiebreaker would be conference record. However, that doesn't make sense, since in order to have tie, obviously this aspect is tied as well (unless for some reason the teams didn't play the same number of conference games). So, then possible other tiebreakers COULD be: overall record, record vs. common opponents (both conference and non-conference), strength of schedule, point differential (scored vs. allowed), point differential in conference games only, point differential in games vs. other tied opponents only (Monmouth and Sacred Heart). Or, if you reference this page: <A HREF="http://www.northeastconference.org/mfootball.html"> 1998 NEC Standings</A>, you will see they went with a co-champion that year. However, that would not help determine who would rep. the conference in the ECAC game.

"Jones, who tied Greg Garrett's career scoring standard with 204 points, established the program's all-time records for rushing touchdowns (33) and touchdowns scored (34). The senior tailback also moved to fourth in career rushing yards (2,487) and third in all-purpose yards (3,007) on the school's all-time charts." Dude did this in a little under two years here. He's probably too small to play at the next level, but I wish he were at least getting looks. He's amazing.

"but everyone knows Jamar Wilson and Levi Levine" Who is everyone, the 31 fans (not counting possible Siena wanderers or duplicates) who are signed up for this board? PS, get a grip - no one knows any of our players, male or female.

Yo, those uni's are hot. They should really get GreatDanesGear.com to sell those. They could pick a non-descript number if they are worried about singling our a player. For example, 04 or something (the year). Or the ever-popular double zero. Then, people could show their UAlbany pride while also not supporting one player over another. I feel the gold around the neck is a little too thick for me. I like that they are a quasi-Cincinnati Bearcats style, not the straight tank top but not the sleeveless shirts. My one qualm would be that the uniforms of all the teams are not ... uniform. If you look at a school like Binghamton or Stony Brook, when they put their logo together the wordmark (scripting) of the logo was just as strong as the logo itself. Thus, the names on the jerseys and the words BINGHAMTON or STONY BROOK are done in that script and bring continuity. That is sorely lacking at UAlbany, as all the teams have their own look. Although black is hot in this instance, I like men's lacrosse for going with the gold tops and purple shorts. That's a good look too.

First off, in my absence I see the site has gotten marginally purpler, so that is a start. But as for Hitchcock resigning, I will reserve judgment - for now. First, the timing is bad - it will take up to a year to find someone, and you know that no major decisions will be made in the interim. So just project 2004-05 as a "dead" year with regard to any plans moving forward. Secondly, we dont know who is going to come in. It could be someone from a University where athletics is dominant, a lower-tiered person from one of those schools, who will uphold that tradition and bring it to UAlbany. It could be someone from a big school with some resentment toward athletics in general (based on experiences at said big school in terms of funding and space allocation), and could come in and quash it even further. Or it could be someone who knows nothing about athletics at all, which could be very, very bad indeed.

I signed myself up (ok I lie, my wife signed me up, but whatever) for the athletics e-mail newsletter thing the other day. They sent out a notice about the luncheon, but I had a meeting that day and I couldn't go. Has anyone else signed up for this? I've only gotten one issue (this week), but maybe they give out notice about these things in there? She said you can sign up on the front page of the UAlbany sports website.

DaneMan, if we've never met, how do you know I wasn't at the luncheon?