Mike wrote:
> Re: UML/UMA, the correct way to refer to these schools in an official
> capacity is Mass Lowell and Mass Amherst, or UMass-Lowell and
> UMass-Amherst.  You will see/hear that some of us who have been
> following the schools for a while tend to use Lowell and UMass
> respectively, since Mass Lowell used to be simply the University of
> Lowell, and UMass has been known as UMass for many years dating back
> to when they were the only state school in Mass to be called the
> University of Massachusetts - before Boston State became UMass-Boston,
> and then recently several other schools including Lowell were
> reorganized to come under the U of Mass system (thus the name change).
>
> HE has stipulated that the two UMasses in HE should be referred to as
> UML & UMA in order to prevent confusion and also to prevent the
> slighting of either school.  I believe SteveW reported a little while
> ago that UMA requested that HE refer to them as UMass, but that HE
> refused for the reasons I just mentioned.
>
 
Mass-Lowell fans are especially sensitive about giving UMA the designation of
UMass without the "Amherst" appendage.  The season opener between the two teams
saw many visiting UMass-Amherst fans yelling that they were "the real UMass".
Add that UMA got a new state-of-the-art facility while politicians (read:
Paul Bleeping Tsongas) have made it so that when UML gets a new facility it
will not be on campus and will not be owned by the school, but will instead be
in downtown Lowell and will be run by the *city* which won't be putting a dime
into the whole thing.  Add that UMA is allowed to have looser interpretations
of academic standing, so that a player who would become academically ineligible
at Mass-Lowell could still play if he were at Mass-Amherst (and yes, this did
happen last year).  Add the stuff that happened with the proposed Governor's
Cup last year.  Add all that plus a perception among UML administration
that UMA is terribly arrogant based on anecdotal experience, and you have a
situation where Mass-Lowell is not going to concede anything.  And I don't
blame them.
 
Personally, I expect UMA to eventually become a real power in HE eventually.
They have significant recruiting advantages over schools like UML.  As long
as Crowder is at UML I expect that Lowell will continue to overcome those
disadvantages.  But if he leaves and the replacement is a mediocre one, then I
would fully expect Lowell to become a perenial also-ran.  It is a tremendous
tribute to Crowder what he has accomplished against significant odds.
 
> Although the two Bobs on NESN started calling the schools Lowell and
> Amherst to distinguish between them, I would advise against this since
> there is also an Amherst College, and they have a DivIII team playing
> in the ECAC East.
>
 
I would agree that this isn't advisable in a general context.  However, if
Mass-Lowell is playing against Mass-Amherst then I think "Lowell" and "Amherst"
is perfectly acceptable.  The "UMass" prefix is understood just like in a
sentence where the subject isn't there but is understood (e.g. "Do it!" has an
understood subject of "You".).
 
DaveH