No Rivalry???

[Albany Fan]

Brian Ettkin, sports writer, wrote recent Times Union article about Albany/Siena games. He said in order to be considered a rivalry, that equality & hate from players toward each other has to exist. I strongly disagree w/ him as games so far have been fairly competitive (even w/ all of Albany's hard luck w/ injuries, etc) & think players being friendly off the court (as play in other events together, etc) has no bearing re: efforts on the courts. Even against your best friend, you always want to win at whatever your playing at the time. Also I feel strong rivalries are created by the fans (students, community) as players change from year to year. He also commented on how games are nice but easily forgotten. I for one hear much talk before & after games which to me makes this a happening. 11K plus attendance seems to show pretty darn good rivalry in place & games remembered as looking forward to future matchups.

[Patch]

Etkin was way off base

 

You are absolutely correct ALBANY FAN!!!!!!

 

A rivalry exists when the community and the student body want it to. Why would 11K+ turn out to see a team which has been to the NCAA and NIT Tourneys in the last 2 years play a team that has never won 10 DI games in a year. Come tournament time it's hard to get 11,000 to a mid major event why would they turnout for an early season mismatch.

 

If you listened to the crowd before and at the start you could tell that this was not the average game, people were pumped.

 

It doesn't matter what the coaches or players say when the fans put the pressure on - the coaches and players understand the expectations.

 

You know Coach Brown wants to beat Siena BAD and you also know that Coach Lanier's WORST NIGHTMARE is losing to the Great Danes!!!!!

 

What will Etkin say next year when the PEPSI is sold out or close to sold out?

[AlbanyObserver]

Ettkin just moved to the area and only been working for the paper for a few months. Who is he to write commentary on this issue????? He probably doesn't even know who Doc Sauers is!!!!!

[statefan]

I was pretty angry when I read Ettkin's column on Saturday morning, but, I decided to keep my mouth shut for a couple of days to see if it was just being pissed off about losing to Siena, or something deeper. I am still angry. As is pointed out by AlbanyObserver above, Ettkin has only been in town a couple of months; has never seen a previous Albany - Siena game (either in the past two years or in the 60s and 70s) and due to a non-competative stretch of ten minutes or so, comes to the conlusion that there is no real rivalry. My fear is that he was attempting to justify a Siena desire to discontinue the series. Although if I can stray off course for a sentence, I liked on the Sunday night before the game when Wyland had the coaches in studio and Lanier said something to the effect that this is the last time Will will be able to use the we're undermanned agrument.

 

If Mr. Ettkin had bothered to visit a sample of the downtown bars and restaurants several hours before the game, he could have spoken to the thousands of fans, students, alumni, wearing their team's regalia and asked virtually any of them (from either side) if they viewed this as just another game. The answer would be a resounding "no". This game is special. It stirs the emotions of both sides. Let him cover each team's next home game and see if he finds the same level of emotion; but I'm gonna guess he won't do that; that's for the beat reporters. He goes to one game and decides to pronounce what is and isn't a rivalry. I certainly hope UAlbany does not have any journalism interns learning their trade from Mr. Ettkin.

 

His argument was based on a Siena player he spoke with saying that they know Jamar and Levi socially and are "cool" with them. What's so unusual with that? The Siena players and Albany players are the only D-1 basketball athletes in the Capital District. Most are a good distance away from home. Why is he surprised that they find they have something in common and don't hate each other? It doesn't mean that they can't compete on behaklf of their respective schools to the best of their ability. If he interviewed a player who spewed venom about the other team's players, I guarantee he'd write a negative column about that. He can't have it both ways.

 

Name another rivalry in the Capital District, or a 100 miles in any direction which generates a greater attendance than this.

[MIKEDANES04]

THere is defintely a rivalry. I really go into this game because of the sienna punks that I work with. They all seemed very snotty about the game. I dont understand they are not Duke so they should come down about how great their program is. I cant wait till next year. The booooooooooo's heard when Sienna was introduced were much louder then when Albany was introduced.