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Thanks! I hope you can continue to update us on the team's progress.

Thanks Dane Pound for the report on the scrimmage. Great job! Did any of the running backs do well? What about Marcus Allen?

I just spent the day constructing a new lawn for my daughter, so I got your message late. Thanks ayway, Johnboy. Hopefully, they will be scrimmaging again next Saturday. I'll set time aside to make that.

Other than WCDB's unsupported optimism, I don't see that this team will even approach a .500 record. The UConn game could and most likely will be a blowout of embarassing proportion. As I look at the stats of returning players, there is only one scorer, no serious rebounders, and one guard capable of dishing out assists. Seems like any modicum of success that this team has will be due to the quick development of incoming players. That's a lot of pressure to put on untested players, and frankly, I am not much impressed by this group of recruits. Someone please prove me wrong.

Does anyone know if the football team is scrimmaging again this weekend? When?

Minus 4 seniors and 3 starters from 04-05! Could this be a long season for the Dane women? Other than Schumacher, who are the scorers?

That's good news. What has happened to Kelsey Jenks? He looked like a great recruit two years ago and now I don't even see his name on the roster.

Thanks C72/74. I will try to make the scrimmage.

Does anyone know the daily practice schedule for the football team? Only yesterday's practice time was mentioned on the athletic web site.

In reference to the comment by the 2 Siena boosters about UA Athletic adminstration and Will Brown, it seems to me that this is more wishful thinking on their part than factual information. The only evidence that they gave is the one year extension of Brown's contract. That's pretty slim. If anything, it says to me that this administration which was burned before is being cautious. Clearly, Will Brown is a great recruiter and has brought in some outstanding athletes but he is only now on the brink of proving that his coaching abilities will yield the results that we all have anticipated. I believe that this is the year that it will all come together for him. Keep in mind that he had a lot to overcome with the mess that Beeton left. Also, Will is still one of the youngest D1 coaches in the country and is still learning and will make mistakes along the way. I believe that Dr. McElroy knows that.

Apparently not. However, it is not unusual for independent league players to make it back into major league systems and Kroft is still young enough to have a shot if he can develop fast enough. His ERA is not bad even for an independent league level player.

To add a little more info., he is 2-2 with an era of 2.68 in 17 appearances. From newspaper accounts I've seen, it seems he is being used primarily as a reliever. Also, the Frontier League is an independent league based in the mid-west.

Adam Kroft is playing for the Rockford (Ill.) Riverhawks of the Frontier League, which I believe is an independent league.

If there is any doubt about UAlbany's rapid rise within the D1 ranks, consider that Condoul is the 4th Albany athlete signed to a pro contract in the past 12 months. Kraft, Campbell, Gudmundsen, and Condoul.

I didn't know that Frank Barone and Dane 96 were one and the same. Nevetheless, he is absolutely correct. The UAlbany transition to being an outstanding D1 program has occurred faster than I could have imagined. This is a credit to the great coaches that have been hired and to the ability to attract superb athletes to this corner of teh world. Congratulations to all. Also, as the 04-05 athletic season approaches its climax, I want to thank Dane Pound for the great job in running this board. It has been most informative and the discussions have been at times profound, witty, thoughtful, and almost always respectful of people's opinions (unlike another board in the vacinity). I hope the discussions and the information continues to flow through the summer. Best to all!

Great job, GODANESGO!!! Are you willing to be cloned?

Can the Pope play center?

To keep this brief, since this is a sports forum and not a political one, King's background was in budget management. In my opinion, the primary role of an administrator, including the one who is the chief administrator of the State University, is to facilitate the needs of the universities in the system and to develop the resources they need to meet the educational goals of those institutions. Judging from the daily stories in the press on the fiscal crises our state schools find themselves in, King simply didn't get the job done dspite his credentials.

Once again, incompetence and politcal butt-kissing gets rewarded, in the case of King. On the other hand, I think the appointment of Ryan as interim chancellor is a good move. I've spent a lot of time in Annapolis and have a nephew who graduated from the Naval Academy and have never heard anything but positive comments about Ryan.

Been to an Arsenal/Tottenham fixture (match). Great experience but also a little frightening as we were caught between two hostile groups of fans. Had to tell my son to duck down between rows of seats in case things got out of hand.. Fans were threatening each other and jumping over rows of seats to get at one another but never came to blows (The bobbies had been over earlier to warn them). We were in a row between them. The dislike they had for each other was visceral. You could see the veins in their necks bulging as they shouted obscenities and making threatening gestures. As we were leaving the stadium, we saw bobbies collaring some of these very same fans - literally dragging from beneath cars and throwing them into paddy wagons. The fans had apparently taken up the fight in the street after the game. Earlier in the week we had attended a Chelsea/Sheffield United game. Sheffield fans (visitors) were actually fenced in at one end of the stadium behind chain link fence with barbed wire at the top. Bobbies were lined up on all sides of the fenced in area. The Chelsea fans began shouting and pointing at the Sheffield fans at one point. They shouted "Unemployed" to the fans from the impoverished black country of England. In that game, Vinnie Jones (Chelsea), was yellow carded after just 4 seconds into the match. That must be some sort of record. Makes our AE and Siena rivalries seem pretty inocuous.

For more information about the Tewaaraton Foundation and Trophy go to: http://tewaaraton.com/index_home.shtml

It sure looks like we have arrived at the hinterland, caught in between the big guys and the ne'er do wells, and we can't get a break from either end of the spectrum. While we may not get the lower tier teams to place us any longer, I don't think we should sell the farm to the big boys. I agree with DP on the significance of having a winning record going into conference play. As a case in point, look what happened to the football team last fall. By time conference play came along they were already behind the eight ball in terms of having a winning sesaon and according to some comments I heard, their confidence took a hit from all those OOC losses. Let's not set back the progress made by the BB team this year. We are still neophytes in D-1. It's one step at a time.

State Fan, I have to agree with much of what you had to say. However, I'm not going to second guess on the timeout situation. I felt that we played two different types of ballgames in the first half and second half. We challenged UVM with every move in the first half and played them hard physically. The officials were letting both teams play and a lot of rough stuff was overlooked. It definitely worked to our advantage, and was particularly helpful to Zo who made some very agressive moves to the hoop, pushing through the defender(s). To be trite for a moment, we took the game to them. I could see from the effort that Sorenstine was putting out and the expression on his face that he was getting frustrated and was expending a lot of energy - he did throw up some bricks in that half. Right from the getgo in the second half, I sensed a different demeanor on our part, we seemed to be letting Vermont bring the game to us. We didn't attack them on defense with the same intensity nor push the ball into Zo on offense to the same extent. I was asking myself in the first few minutes of the second half if we thought we could coast the rest of the game and play them even and walk a way with a win, or did we just run of steam. As far as Sorenstine was concerned, after he put in the first two threes, pretty much uncontested, the expession on his faced changed completely. He looked confident and even pumped his fist after making some shots. At that point he took over the game. Perhaps we should have called timeouts. I don't know, but I feel that the difference in the game was the change in our demeanor after halftime. This gets back to the immaturity and level of mental toughness of this team that was discussed in earlier threads. Having said that, though I was disappointed that we couldn't pull off the win, I left the RACC feeling optimistic with the progress that this team has made. Next year everyone will be a year older and probably wiser (I think the two freshman have the court savvy to become much wiser.) There are some very good times ahead. We, the fans, maybe should be more patient and just enjoy the growth this program is experiencing. The officiating was not a factor in the outcome. I didn't like all the calls but thought it was balanced. How about that save made by Brent Wilson, tumbling over the bench seats and destroying the water cooler and still somehow flipping the ball backwards inbounds to one of our guys which led to a basket. Reminded me of Derek Jeter diving into the stands last summer. That had to be the outstanding play of the game. Re student attendance, as with you State Fan, I don't get it. Are UA students on apathy pills? Perhaps students - with the exception of official RACC Rowdie members - should be charged admission. (Yes, I know they probably pay an athletic fee of some sort but it is out of sight out of mind.) Perhaps the principle that you get what you pay for is at work here in the minds of students. If they had to pay to get in they may feel that there is really something of value here to see. It would be worth a try. What the hell, they're not coming now anyway. I can only conclude that the immediate future of support for UA athletics is going to rest on the general Albany community, alumni, and a small group of committed and rabid students such as the RACC Rowdies. However, as someone pointed out in another thread, take away the noise and enthusiasm of the Rowdies from the mid-point of the second half and all you would have heard was the cheering from the contingent of Vermont fans, including those pains in the ***** sitting behind me last night. It's great to have the community support but they don't get as enthusiastic as students typically do.

There is a t-shirt/sweathshirt store in Colonie Center that carries UAlbany stuff. Quality is not very good from what I could see.

I think "mental toughness" is more than getting up for a game. It means being consistent in effort regardless of whom you are playing; being poised when the opposition picks up their intensity i.e. remaining in control of your emotions and playing smart. It's playing with confidence and not shrinking when challenged - doubts never creep into the pysche. Yes, these are all cliches but you can tell teams that have that kind of mental toughness. You get the same kind of game from them each time out. Even in some of our victories. we've seemed to have let up and failed to stick the dagger in. When you play strictly on emotion, there comes a time when you run out of gas, physically and mentally.