olddog71

Dane96, Thanks for your report on your contacts with our current president. Your comments are notable for their uniqueness and perception. It appears to me that YOU GET IT. You have a real love for the university and what it has done for you and for its potential. It's great to see someone have a real vision for the whole university, in which athletics can play a major role. I appreciate your comments.

One of the major problems with this tournament is a point that several people here have already posed. The planning for it is a little bit late. We have contracts with several schools that were signed years ago. UAlbany may already have commitments for those dates. We may also not want to get into the trap of scheduling too many OOC games. We've already heard from Coach Brown that we are facing a brutal OOC schedule, and I can't imagine it being much more difficult than last year's Florida and UCLA. One point that nobody, as far as I'm concerned, mentioned in all the discussion on the Siena loss was UAlbany's emotional loss to UCLA with a cross-country flight tacked on a few days before we played our rival at the Pepsi. Our team came out flat in both halves. Do we want a repetition of that scenario again this year? I'd really like to see the schedule all laid out before I'm willing to grant this last-minute proposal my approval. In future years, it might be a better idea.

I have not received my brochure yet, as a long-time season ticket holder, but I would be very surprised if the Siena game were included in the price of the package. The Siena game has been handled differently in past years. In some years, the buyer could purchase Siena tickets listed on the brochure separately. In other years, buyers had to make separate transactions to buy tickets. If your statement about the Siena game's inclusion in the regular season ticket price is correct, does this mean that UAlbany is considered the host team this year, or does it have more to do that UAlbany and Siena would be considered co-hosts for the proposed tournament? Too many unanswered questions. The fact that the brochure is coming out now is significant for at least a couple reasons: (1) I cannot remember a date earlier in the season when season tickets were made available for purchase. (2) The fact that ticket prices purchased between now and July at last year's price indicates to me that the athletic office is more interested in expanding the season ticket holder base than making a killing on ticket prices. This strategy may be a clever way to capture more local interest for a season that is not too distant in fans' minds.

No, I'm not aware of any strife between the coaches. I think that Brown simply felt two or three years ago that we would simply have been overwhelmed. Sometimes playing a much higher-rated program helps your own program. Sometimes it doesn't. I may be putting words in our coach's mouth, but I don't think he thought we were ready to play Syracuse at the time. I've wondered how he would have thought the 2005-06 team would have fared against the Orangemen, considering our good games vs UCLA, Florida, and UConn.

The men's Syracuse contract is over, as far as I know. I think it ended two years ago, and, if I correctly recall, I believe Will Brown was glad the series was over. I don't know whether his sentiments on the Orange has changed, especially after our just completed successful season. As far as playing Syracuse at the RACC, I don't think that possibility is very realistic. The only "home" game we played in the 4-for-1 series occurred at the Pepsi, where we were, for once, the home team. The attendance for that event was about 9,000, and UAlbany fans seemed outnumbered by the Orange fans. I think any game between the two teams played in the Capital District area would attract many more fans than the RACC could accommodate. It would be one of the games I personally would sanction again for the Pepsi, and since UAlbany has become more competitive, I think it would draw more fans on a weekend than the first game did. In summary, this post on the Syracuse series is a bunch of vague ideas in my memory and a few opinions. Take it for what it's worth.

The Great Danes came from behind to defeat Binghamton tonight by a score of 20-9. The Danes allowed Binghamton to score 3 goals within the first 4 minutes of the opening period; however, UAlbany scored three times to end the period with a tie score. Albany then continued the streak by scoring the next six goals to lead 9-3 at halftime. UAlbany thus gains the third seed in the upcoming AE tournament and will play Stony Brook in the first round. Coach Marr considers tonight's victory a continuation of the improving Danes' offense and thinks the team is peaking at the right time.

Is this new tournament a ploy by the chief organizer Siena to schedule games for next season? Iorizzo states that the Saints' schedule is not complete. It should be more filled out by this time than it currently is. Is Iorizzo hinting that Siena is having difficulties to schedule games? What's the problem? It's also eye-opening that Will Brown is not too enthusiastic about the new format. Does anyone have a concrete reason why he is not so thrilled?

Every time I want to get frustrated over the women's team, I just remember how highly ranked the AE women's league is. Then I become a little more patient.

Doesn't that mean that Siena now has tenis envy?

It is your court only FOR THAT DAY. (You might have rights to exclude another area basketball team from playing at the arena before and after your event, but it still gives options to other teams which you are not allowing.) Siena does not OWN the court for the whole year or the whole season. Other events take place at the arena between your games all the time from mid-November through February. I don't understand your statement that your AD would have political problems if UAlbany were to schedule a game or two at the arena every season. And I doubt whether he would put himself in the position you describe. I think you all should read the current contract that Siena has with the Pepsi before you make definitve comments on UAlbany's rights. Since I haven't seen any statements from you enclosed in quotations about this matter, I won't take your word for it.

SienaGlen, Your analogy of the Pepsi and the Dome, quite frankly, is ridiculous. Thanks for the rest of your post; it shows us respect. The Dome, though partially built with State money, is on Syracuse's campus. It is their home venue. The Pepsi plays host to a lot more events in the course of a year than Siena basketball games. When Syracuse and Cornell play each other, Cornell gets to be the home team once in a while. In the last five years, Siena has always been the host team. This situation is UNREASONABLE. I don't know if this situation is seen anywhere else in the USA.

I would take Siena Tony's predictions with a grain of salt. Here are just a couple predictions from the end of the season just concluded. (1) He predicted that VCU would "wipe the floor" with UAlbany. That didn't happen. (2) He made a similar opinion about the UConn game. Same result. We'll see what happens with his assertion that Siena will "never" cede its claim to be the home team at the Pepsi. "Never" is a very long time. His insistence that UAlbany gets such a great deal at the Pepsi is simply laughable. He continues to show a basic lack of understanding for the contract Siena has with the Pepsi and how college teams across the country relate to each other. Therefore he reveals a lack of respect and fairness to his crosstown rival. He still doesn't understand why his arrogance makes UAlbany fans dislike his team.

I agree that the UAlbany-Siena games should be played at the RACC because there are simply too many fans who want to see the game who cannot fit in another facility in the Capital District area. There are two unreasonable aspects of the current setup for me: (1) Every time the two teams play, it is a home game for Siena. This situation needs to be rectified. UAlbany has matured enough for the game to be a more even deal. Arguments aboout who the better team is and which team draws more fans are irrelevant. Each team currently plays in a conference where each team plays the opponent in home-and-away matchups during the season, regardless of current or past record or attendance. Even OOC teams in a multi-year contract play a much more even home-and-away schedule. The lone exception to multi-year matchups where one teams gets far more home games is when a team is being initiated into Division I ranks and needs to schedule some games. Our situation no longer fits that mold. (2) I had to pay $17 for a cramped seat at the Pepsi where I was relegated to a corner. Most other UAlbany fans were also seated in the same fashion. Analogous to a football stadium, my seat wasn't even located between the yard markers. It was outside the zone. I pay $7 for a prime seat at the RACC. Dane Pound, you are very correct on this point. I had a relatively decent seat when Syracuse came to town in the one game we played at the Pepsi. The two schools should alternate seating arrangements through the years. I believe the upcoming year is the final year in the current contract. It needs to be modified.

The provision in the contract that no other college can use the arena two days before or after a Siena event is not all that exclusionary. What we're missing in this scenario, I think, is the idea that every game Siena plays is a home game. That's not true. They should play only about half their total number of games during the regular season as home games. If Siena were to play one game per week at the Pepsi, which is correct on average during the course of a season, then that means there would be two days per week when UAlbany could play there. My original point in this discussion is that it is not only extremely unusual for one team in a multi-year rivalry to be the home team all the time, but that it is therefore extremely unreasonable to the opponent to be the away team all the time. I don't understand why some people find that situation easy to swallow. Personally, I think the two schools' AD's are far beyond the discussion going on here. I believe it may be one of the major factors why Siena and UAlbany are probing a multi-team tournament in the future, and maybe as early as this coming season. According to ideas floating around the Capital District, UAlbany would host a couple games in this new tournament format. Perhaps one of them would be the Siena game.

Tony, Your responses simply show your lack of respect and fairness. First of all, contracts are made to be renegotiated. Second, never say "never." Conditions change. Let me give you one example. If someone had told me three years ago that UAlbany would play 3 teams in the top ten teams in the country and played them competitively WHILE Siena's best game was a team that placed out of the top 30, then I would have invited the men in white coats to come and take him/her away. Third, during the old-time Albany-Siena series the regular-season games alternated between your site and our site. Yes, UAlbany's current facility would not handle the crowd that the game now generates, but there are other alternatives. In the other games between us, the Capital District Tournament, those matches alternated among the four local colleges generally participating. This scenario was a fair matchup - even though Albany and Siena usually won the game, the hosting was shared among all four teams. Four, I don't think Siena should have problems getting an extra game to play at the Pepsi. My comments are not to take away any home games that Siena may want to schedule, but fair is fair, and this situation certainly is not. Even when we played great and mighty Syracuse, UAlbany got to be the host team once in those five years, and there was very little danger that UAlbany would have won one of those games back then. Your argument holds little water here on being the unrestricted host.

And that is what I want: more equity. There is less equity between UAlbany and Syracuse as far as game results is concerned than between UAlbany and Siena. On the basis of equity alone, we should be allowed to host a game. I don't care what current contracts are today. In the future, I want more equity. I cannot think of a more inequitable long-term contract in the country than this current one. UAlbany provides enough fans for the game's attendance to merit, say, a 2-1 contract. Just my opinion, and I'll bet it's been discussed several times between the two AD's.

One of the ways we could boost our attendance total is to get home status for the Siena game. Why should we continually be the away team? UAlbany has hosted games before at the Pepsi (or whatever it will be called), so there's no lack of precedence there. I mean in the Syracuse series, we were the host team once for the five-games played, and that was the second worse multi-year contract we have signed. Why should we be the away team six times out of six? Siena certainly is no Syracuse. Having 12,000 fans at that game would certainly raise the attendance average in one fell swoop. (And maybe if we charged less than $17 per seat, it might be a sellout.) Besides, I'm tired of going to those games and being stuck in one of the corners. The point about scheduling more games when students are present at the campus is another legitimate point.

Very nice letter, and one which truly puts all Capital District collegiate achievements in perspective. I notice it's all quiet on the Western Front. Not one single reaction over there to this published letter. I guess it means that the people over there are simply argumentative when it comes to UAlbany athletics and are unwilling to give respect where it is due.

You didn't beat anyone in the top 50, and you barely beat one opponent in the top 100. You didn't beat anybody real out in the great basketball world. At least we tried to upgrade our program, while your program has been in a funk as far as scheduling for five or so years. We went from the doormat of our conference to the very top, and, contrary to someone on your board who said Vermont just abdicated its title, we snatched it away from them in quite a convincing win. Although your program made progress last year, it's no better than it was 6 or 7 years ago. UAlbany has made tremendous progress. UAlbany, having signed a contract with our conference years ago, is stuck scheduling games against our conference opponents. Those games were set up years ago, just as your games against MAAC opponents. If Siena really wants to brag about its superior schedule, then it should schedule games against top national opponents. That's the only freedom that our mutual schedules allow - OOC games.

Two more points if UConn had made in the last game it played, and it would have been in the Final Four. That's how bad UConn was. And UAlbany would have played three of the four teams in the Final Four, and quite competitively, thank you very much. You didn't play anyone in the Top Ten, nobody in the Top 20, and nobody in the Top 30, and your best opponent was Syracuse who whipped you on your court by 19. That's your game against your best opponent. You're just angry and jealous that somebody else won the attention and acclaim of the Capital District. Get over it!

Hmm, I'm not so sure about that. How you can come to your conclusion in the face of our performances agains far better teams than Iona is something that totally escapes me. See my opinion about this year's Siena-UAlbany game on your board. Congratulations on your victory over us this year. Your team played harder than mine. However, I'll take a 21-point victory over you the previous year any time over a controversy-laden overtime victory this year.

Got it! Thanks a lot.

I'm just not seeing anything about any Siena-UAlbany controversy over on the sMAAC board. Can you paste a link? Maybe I've got something wrong. I see other MAAC discussions, but nothing pertaining to the local rivalry. Thanks.

I think it's something you said, and your name here might possibly be of Slavic origin. It's not at all by your behavior. (If you had been exhibiting "bolshevik" behavior over on the other board, you would have executed all of them during the civil war going on.)

Очень хорошо. Я так и думал. My maternal grandparents came from the Ukraine. I took some Russian in college, but I didn't learn any Ukrainian from my family. You do pretty well with your third language.