On Wed, 27 Mar 1996, William Sangrey wrote:
 
> Two quick comments on this thread.
>
> 1.  UMass-Amherst is D-1 in all sports.  And interest in the pucks might
> be a bit behind the hoopsters right now, but give them a winner, and
> watch out, that nice building could rock for pucks like it does for
> b-ball (above comments paraphrase my alumna mother who is headed for the
> Meadowlands and is a Minuteman hoop junkie.)
>
> 2.  At Cornell, Lynah usually is near a sellout, but few people seem to
> find there way to the roundballers home in Alberding (which is connected to
> Lynah).  Then again, the icers usually win more often then the cagers.
>
> Having used most of my quota of synonyms for the winter sports,
 
Well, almost...you missed pucksters :-)
 
And, you're certainly right as to whether the folks out here in the
Pioneer Valley will be focused on the Final Four in Cincinnati on
Saturday or "that other Final Four" going on in the Meadowlands. As for
me, I have a pair of reservations at Rafters Sports Bar and Restaurant
for 2 and 8 tomorrow. The local cable company doesn't offer the deuce :-(
For fear of being chasticed off from this list I will not divulge my plans
for Saturday.
 
To continue the thread of ticket distribution policies, at UMass tickets
are only issued for football, men's and women's basketball, hockey and
the bigger lacrosse games. All are free to the student body though.
 
For hockey and basketball, Mullins is basically split in half lengthwise,
with one side being sold as season tickets, and the other open to
students as general admission. It is not unusual to see students camping
out to get a front row seat for a big hoops game. This is great because
it ensures that the rowdiest and most diehard fans are in the front few
rows to be seen and heard by the cameras.
 
Each student is given one free ticket. To get the ticket they have to
present a punch card with their ID and the game is checked off on there
so no one can get two. Season ticket booklets are only available for
football, all hockey and basketball are on a game-by-game basis. For the
really big basketball games (BC at the FleetCenter, Saturday vs.
Kentucky) a lottery system is used to prevent days of camping out.
 
For home games, "STUDENT" is VERY visible across the front to deter
scalping, as anyone with a student ticket has to show student ID at the
gate. As for scalping the non-student Final 4 tickets, There was hordes
of people outside the Cage when they were distributed paying up to $4,000
cash on the spot. One student was quoted on the news saying that he'll
still catch the game, though "on my new 33-inch big-screen TV with an aweful
lot of beer!" They don't call it ZooMass for nothing!
 
Although the hockey team is still new and, let's face it, not at the same
level as the basketball team just yet, attendance has been alright. It dipped
towards the end of the year, but still averaged out to about 3,500 or so.
The peak was the 7,089 that came for BU, HE's second largest regular
season crowd.
 
The tickets are reasonably priced I believe, although I never buy them
being a student. I think the basketball games are either $15 or $20, I
forget, while hockey runs $11 for regular seats, $8 for general admission
(grown-ups in the student sections) and $3 for kids. No gen. adm. for
hoops, and I assume this policy will be dropped when the students fill in
the student sections consistently at hockey games, which with 22,000
students and a growing program hopefully might not be too long.
 
A great road crowd turned out both for last year's HE play-in game at BC
and this year's series at BU. These are encouraging signs. That and the
fans learned some new "sieve" chants this year which is a big plus. When
the playoff game at BU got out of hand BU fans starting taunting the
UMass contingent with chants of "Let's go Temple" after an A-10 basketball
tourney score was announced. UMass fans taunted the Terriers back in
their own building with "Let's go Drexel" (the team that beat BU in the
NAC final).  This road taunting is a sure sign that the town is warming up to
COLLEGE hockey. The sport is big here, but few are familiar with the college
game.
 
As for the student paper here (which placed third in the nation for daily
broadsheets at a national conference in February in San Fran.), there's
seperate full-color preview sections for the pre and post season for
hoops, and a special Final Four edition is under way right now. Hockey is
very prominently featured though, which is important because the paper
reaches beyond campus and is available at many spots in town.
 
One thing I chip in to increase awareness of college hockey is a weekly
column looking at the national scene every Wednesday. Today everything
above the fold on page 11 is college hockey, a column titled "Michigan
goes to Final Four on Legg-endary goal." It's mostly about the goal, and
a big tip of the cap to PC coach Paul Pooley from the HE tourney (we were
on break then). It also features photos of Pooley, Marty Turco and Mark
Sakala, just along side one of some Rick Pitino fellow. Not bad coverage
for the game considering that UMass' season ended nearly three weeks ago
and in less than brilliant fashion. There'll be a final one next week,
where Tom Lucia will likely be eating his words if UVM wins.
 
As for Saturday night, for those in the valley or looking to join in the
festivites, the Mullins Center will be opened for free to the public to
watch the game on two 20' by 20' projection screens that they're setting up.
Degree deodorant (which Cal pitches) is sponsoring the whole shin-dig and
plenty of free stuff will be given out. The streets outside the bars
uptown Amherst will be closed to traffic during the game, just in case
things get out of hand, but I don't anticipate that happening.
 
Leigh
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Sorry if part of this is senseless rambling...I'm putting off an
assignment that I have just no desire what-so-ever to do.
 
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