Well, I got back from UMass a few hours ago, and after digesting the
weekend and the Mullins Center atmosphere   student atmosphere   that
is, I have a few comments to make in the wake of Penny's column and the
issues about obnoxious and taste and where the line is.
 
First off, the students at UMass make the students at UMaine look like
the lollypop kids when it comes to obnoxious behavior. I don't know who
else on the list attended the games, but for those who did, I am sure
you would agree. We could hear the Maine fans from the press box
shouting, "Here we go U-Maine, here we go." Immediatly following the
chant, the UMass students would yell "F---- YOU!" pointing their
fingers at the Maine group. Not to mention the countless chants of
"Ass----" or "Bull----" directed at either the referee or the Maine
players. Now, I am by no means ripping on the UMass students because
let's face it, of all the varsity programs at UMass, men's hockey ranks
pretty low in the interest level. So, with that in mind, the students
who do show up are pretty die-hard college hockey fans or just looking
for a place to go nuts. Or a little of both. Whatever. The point is
though, is that it really puts things in perspective. One person in the
press box even said, "I would never take my kids to this place. Never."
Now, that seems interesting, doesn't it?  Just a perspective.
 
Secondly, the location of where the students are seated is also worthy
of note. At Maine, the first place the university sends them is the
balcony. At UMass, just about all the students are placed engulfing the
opposing team's bench   right where the players enter and exit the
rink. At UNH, the students are placed behind the goalie where the
oppsoing team's goaltender must play two out of the three periods. Now,
why is this? It isn't coincidence. Obviously it is planned to rattle
the opposing team. Why weren't the UMass students placed behind the
UMass bench where "here we go UMass" chants could motivate the team?
Why aren't the UMaine students placed first at the other end of the
arena? I am sure there are probably a plethora of answers for this, but
the one that jumps out at me is to shake up the opposing team. And
yelling for the home team won't do it quite as effectively then it
would to yell at the oppsoing team. I remember those weekday morning
conversations with Greg Cronin about this and I can't even begin to
tell you how many times he shared those exact sentiments. He once told
me something along the lines that obnoxious behavior is sort of
encouraged as long as it is done in good taste. Repeated: obnoxious
behavior is OK if it's in good tatse. If that isn't sending mixed
signals to the students, I really don't know what is.
 
Now granted, UMass doesn't get a lot of student support (I had a
lengthy conversation with Joe Mallen about this, which was pretty damn
interesting, but I'll save it for a rainy day) but the ones who did
show up could be heard pretty clear throughout the building. Anyway,
I'll stop here, but I am curious to know from those who travled to
UMass (We made it in record time   4 1/2 hours from Orono) what you
thought about their students and where UMaine's stack up with them.