Hopefully, this won't be regarded as a flame.  I don't mean it to be one.
 
John Wright wrote in response to a message of Brian Morris:
 
>>1. Not the best way to beef up your RPI, Rensselaer, (sorry).  With the tr
>>traditional dearth of decent NC games, I hate to see the Engineers waste one
>on
>>Union.  Hopefully this one will replace Air Force or Army in the schedule.
>
>Comment: Union currently has a higher RPI index than RPI does, and if the
>trend
>in scheduling continues as it has in the past this will not change.
 
Neither RPI nor Union has a particularly high RPI index at this time.  Yes,
Union's is a bit higher, and I suspect that it will remain so after the next
two weekends.  This does NOT mean that it will necessarily be higher in a
couple of years.
 
>>2. This game would never have been made before Union broke through last year
>to
>>beat RPI in the first game of the playoffs at Houston Fieldhouse.  The
>second
>>time may just be Saturday.
>
>Comment:This game has been on the table for at least four years, I remember
>Buddy mentioning it at least that long ago.  Union was the reluctant party,
>it
>was RPI's assumption that the "Littler" school would give up its home game.
>(By
>the way...typical of the parochial attitude of RPI fans and local
>media...lets
>not forget in DIII where we both compete Union's programs consistently
>compete
>on a much higher(national) level than RPI's...except their Baseball program)
 
Yes, Union has traditionally been far superior to RPI in most other sports.
So what?  This isn't relevant to ice hockey.  From what I can gather from
afar, the primary collegiate sport interest in the NY Capital District is
Siena basketball with RPI hockey second.  The point is that until a few
years ago, Union was Div-III in all sports, while RPI was Div-I in hockey
and Div-III in everything else.  The students at RPI didn't really care
about anything except hockey.  Typically (and this is being written by
someone who has been away from RPI for over 20 years), there were more
Union fans at RPI-Union football games held in Troy than RPI fans.  There
is a natural tendency for people to be more interested in major sports
than minor sports -- thus the interest in Siena basketball.  With the
presence of a Div-I sport at RPI, spectator interest in other sports is
much less.  It would not surprise me if this will also happen at Union
in the long term.
 
I am interested in hearing how other sports are viewed at the rest of the
17 Div-I hockey schools that are either Div-II or Div-III.
 
Ralph Baer
RPI '68, '70, '74
 
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