Binghamton vs. Siena

[UA_MA_2000]

Thoughts?

[statefan]

To me, this is a no brainer because I root against Siena at every opportunity and without exception.

 

However, a year and a half ago, a group of us were sitting with a UAlbany Athletic Administrator (who shall remain nameless) in the Varsity Club tent prior to an early season football game. The discussion began with complaints about the seating arrangements for the UAlbany - Siena basketball game and morphed into a conversation about athletic rivalries. The Administrator asked each of us who we felt the University's biggest athletic rival was and everyone in the group said either Siena or Binghamton. The Administrator then told us that if he/she were to poll all UAlbany athletic coaches, both mens and womens, the result of the coaches poll would be that about 90% considered Stony Brook to be their team's biggest rival.

 

My opinion didn't change, but I found the perspective interesting.

[uofalbany]

The sight most $iena fans make me want to upchuck.

The only $iena player that makes me want to upchuck is Hasbroke.

They both have big mouths and spew ridiculous garbage.

 

When UAlbany plays $iena, I always want to squash them into the ground.

 

But, I have to agree, the same feeling is generated when I think about Stone Broke.

With all of the free handouts they get from their state senator, I again want to upchuck.

When we play them, I want to pound them into the ground, and show them who's the real

University of New York school.... regardless of all the table scraps they are thrown.

 

Binghamton means nothing to me.

[Clickclack]

I really don't have a huge problem with Siena as a school or athletic dept....it seems though to me that they have a disproportionate number of COMPLETE A-HOLES as fans though. There are a couple in particular that are truly dirt bags! Waiting for us to fail to post something like...."how do you like your team now" in the TU blogs. I've also had a number of very positive interactions with some Siena fans in fact probably the majority are good people who love their teams. It's just the most vocal ones happen to be complete *-holes!

 

I very strongly dislike Bing....wouldn't min if they lost at EVERYTHING! Loved our win against them earlier in the season. SB is insignificant to me as a fan, they've been GARBAGE for years, at least on the basketball court.

[sarge965]

There is not one thing I like about BINGO

 

have hated them since I was an undergrad - only a couple decades

 

Still would not be impressed with this game at ALL

[Dane Pound]

I'm more or less with Sarge on this one.

 

I think the series with Bing is going to get better over the next couple of years. If both of us are near the top of the conference standings the games (in basketball) will be more meaningful and more intense. Add to the fact that the coaches aren't great friends and you have something.

[bob87]

Easy one.

I would not go to a Bingo- Siena game at the Knick. The last Siena game of any sport I went to when they were not playing Albany was the Siena basketball game against winless Iona a couple of seasons ago. It was a game between 2 equally inept teams that neither team deserved to win and it was extremely ugly, possiblely the worst played game I have ever saw. At this point the chances of a siena basketball game topping that in ugliness is slim, so there is no reason to go.

I root against Siena in everything against any team. To me I would like to see them follow the lead of the football team in everything. That is be so bad that they lose all their games and then give up the sport.

 

However, I agree with the coaches point that Stony Brook and/or Binghamton are bigger rivals than Siena as those teams can keep Albany from reaching the goal of conference championships. For most of our coaches, Siena is the cupcake of their schedule. Stony Brook teams have won championships on our fields twice and neither was fun. Our baseball team won its conference championship on Stony Brooks home away from home against Binghamton and that ranks right up there as the most enjoyable baseball game I have attended with Met playoff and World Series games.

[UA_MA_2000]

I voted for attending the UAlbany post-season game, which was partly a jab at Bingo and Siena as they do not have, of course, football teams.

 

But assuming there was no UA football game that weekend, I: (1) would attend the game; (2) would hope that they both lose in 10 overtimes; and (3) would hope that the excessively long game resulted in the players missing out on crucial studying time (do students study at Siena?) leading to failing grades for members of both teams (if they had studied throughout the semester, the long game would not have impacted their grades in the first instance), such that there would be academically ineligible players for both teams.

 

If I was forced to pick one team to cheer for, the factors I would consider would be: (1) my animus towards Siena and $80,000-for-an-education private liberal-arts colleges that aren't e.g., Colgate, Skidmore, or a member of the IVY league; (2) my animus towards the City of Binghamton and its residents, including Long Island-based, elitist students at Bingo, save maybe Vestal and its full-time residents; (3) the fact that Bingo is at least a sister school of SUNY that Gov. Patterson is also trying to "screw" (see related threads in this forum), along with UAlbany; and (4) the fact that we constantly hear how the MAAC is better than the America East (it's not; our bottom three teams will wreck the MAAC's bottom three teams).

 

If RPI ranking is of no import, I would, in view of the foregoing factors---and if if forced to cheer for one of the schools---cheer for Binghamton because of the MAAC vs. AE issue and because I think Siena will always be (at least in the near future) more of a heated rival with us because of their close proximity to us and because Bingo vs. UA is no where close to drawing 14,000 fans. I agree that BU vs. UA will have more importance with Bingo's program maturing (?), but BU vs. UAlbany is a long ways away from drawing 14,000 fans and flooding downtown Albany. Perhaps w/in the next 10 years though? Imagine an America East Championship game packing the TUC ... (probably won't ever happen, but it's a cool thought). If RPI ranking were taken into consideration, I again would cheer for Bingo because I would want the AE to have a stronger conference RPI and because we play Bingo twice and Siena only once (thereby improving ever so slightly, UAlbany's SOS).

 

EDIT: I will speculate, however, that if there ever was an America East Championship game between UAlbany and Binghamton at the Times Union Center, with an auto-bid to the NCAAs on the line, I bet we'd make a nice run at 13,000 fans, if not a sellout!

[UA_MA_2000]

To me, this is a no brainer because I root against Siena at every opportunity and without exception.

 

However, a year and a half ago, a group of us were sitting with a UAlbany Athletic Administrator (who shall remain nameless) in the Varsity Club tent prior to an early season football game. The discussion began with complaints about the seating arrangements for the UAlbany - Siena basketball game and morphed into a conversation about athletic rivalries. The Administrator asked each of us who we felt the University's biggest athletic rival was and everyone in the group said either Siena or Binghamton. The Administrator then told us that if he/she were to poll all UAlbany athletic coaches, both mens and womens, the result of the coaches poll would be that about 90% considered Stony Brook to be their team's biggest rival.

 

My opinion didn't change, but I found the perspective interesting.

 

That's very, very interesting. I wonder if one factor for that is competition in recruiting with certain sports (football, LAX, baseball). I think that's really cool that an official at UAlbany took the time to ask that question and listen to the responses. I'm impressed!