On Tue, 23 Apr 1996, Leigh M Torbin wrote:
 
> On Tue, 23 Apr 1996, Dave Hendrickson wrote:
>
> > JohnH wrote:
> > > I'm making an effort to drop the Amherst from UMass
> > > because that's what the good folks at UMass seem to prefer.
> >
> > Hey, John, stop making the effort.  Folks at UMass-Lowell *want* UMass-Amhe
> > to stay exactly that.  Calling them "UMass" gives a token of legitimacy to
> > their chants of "We're the *real* UMass" at UML-UMA games.  Hockey East has
> > deferred to Lowell in this regard, calling the two schools "Mass-Lowell" and
> > "Mass-Amherst" despite requests out of Amherst to be called "UMass".
>
>         Funny, I don't think I ever heard people on CBS call us
> "UMass-Amherst" during the Final Four. Ditto for ESPN, ABC, etc. Even in
> hockey, I'll point out that the Globe uses just "UMass" in its game
> sumaries, abbreviating the two schools as "UM" and "UML" in the scoring
> summary when they face each other. Every organization in the world has it
> right except for some nit-wits in Lowell.
>         The fact of the matter is that the Amherst campus is the "main"
> branch of the university system, with over 22,000 students as opposed to
> a handful of thousands at the others.
 
and
 
> In all
> other states that have such a branch of the system, that branch is
> identified athletically by just the state name, even when they compete in
> the same league. I've yet to hear a Duluth person bitch about it not
> being Minnesota-Twin Cities. Funny, I don't hear much on this list about the
> "UMTC Gophers."
 
You make a point here, but there is also a point that you are missing, I
think. The University of Minnesota had a hockey program and was known as
Minnesota when a "satellite campus" (Duluth) added a hockey program. No
change in name was required.
 
Mass Lowell had an established hockey program, the only one at DI level
from the UMass system. Then the "main campus" (Amherst) adds a program,
and expects Lowell to change their moniker.
 
If Lowell added a basketball program and expected Amherst to change their
name, I could see the Amherst complaint.
 
I think the system to look at is in Alaska. For clarity, they go by
University of Alaska-Anchorage and University of Alaska-Fairbanks,
despite (because of?) the fact that they are not on the friendliest of
terms. It seems Anchorage should be the "main campus" and Fairbanks
(being smaller and further away) would be the satellite campus, although
a friend of mine studying at Fairbanks tells me it is slightly better
academically (at least in his field). I do not know which school played
hockey first.
 
But I *do* know I have never heard any Anchorage person declare they are
the one true "University of Alaska" school and that they shouldn't be
shackled by the awful "Anchorage" name, or vice versa.
 
As has been pointed out, for clarity in Hockey East, we have
University of Maine (UM), UMass-Lowell (UML), and UMass-Amherst (UMA).
Hockey East says it is that way, and that is good enough for me. Even if
I do have to explain to non-hockey fans that UMA is "UMass" in basketball.
 
                                -Lee-nerd
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"It is not written in the stars that I will always understand what is
going on - a truism that I often find damnably annoying."
                                -Robert Heinlein
 
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