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