I live about four blocks from the UAlbany arena. I could hear the celebration within seconds of that buzzer-beater! The Great Danes are now my rooting interest Cinderella in the Big Dance.
I attended both UM and Union College. I actually was in the very first class after hockey was added as a program (Class of 1979) and it was thrilling, even though it wasn't Division I. The great coach Ned Harkness (won national championships at both Cornell and RPI) was the program's first coach and although the hockey team won immediately, the entire program was highly controversial on this tiny, and extremely traditional, liberal arts college (women had only been enrolled about 5 years). The campus divided into pro-hockey and anti-hockey factions; many old timers around campus argued that you couldn't have a winning Division I program without corrupting academic values.
As the child of a Michigan alum raised on the Wolverines, I always thought that argument was nonsense; after all, Michigan could perform at a championship level and was one of the best educations in the entire world. I thought the whole controversy was a false dichotomy and loved the hockey team, all of whom were members of my class. There was some ugly anti-Canadian sentiment around campus too, directed at the hockey players. Eventually Harkness was forced out, the entire 20-player team quit with him, and the excitement that was Union hockey went into a dark age.
I continued my educaiton at Michigan and didn't give much thought to Union hockey until about a decade ago, when they started making noise at the Division I level and began to win a lot of games against traditional hockey powers. I live in Albany, close to Schenectady, and therefore had a front-row seat to the hockey renaissance taking place on the Union campus. It was obvious that the Union team was very good, perhaps a legitimate national power, yet never in a million years would I have dreamed that Union could make the leap into the Frozen Four and national title aspirations as quickly as it did. Tonight I am very proud to be a Union alumnus, because I can attest that like the University of Michigan, this school and this program have done it the right way....a great education coupled now with a national Division I championship. It is unbelievable that they have accomplished this without offering scholarships and in Schenectady, a rust belt town that since GE pulled up stakes, has almost no industry and very little wealth, and doesn't have an atmosphere like Ann Arbor that would attract top talent. Bennett would be a worthy successor to Red.
Hail to the Dutchmen!
I didn't catch it the first time through, but am I reading tnat sign illustrated in the article correctly -if you wanted to bring your minor children with you to watch the Bowl, you couldn't because for some reason the entire restaurant was off-limits to anyone under 21? Or, let's just say you're a U-M student home on break, and you wanted to get together with your buddies to watch the Bowl, if any of you are under 21, you couldn't? Wow.
I don't know anything about UFC, so forgive me my ignorance, but what would be so special about this fight that would require closing the whole restaurant to minors? Was this a local policy or was it national? Way to be family-friendly and establish your business as the place to be because "the game is on!" Good job all around, BWW!
Hubby and I actually went to our one and only local BWW to try to watch the game. We hadn't been there in over a year as we have a host of other options for sandwiches, pizza and wings that are much closer and less expensive. I was wearing a Michigan hat/sweatshirt because we actually EXPECTED that they would be offering some sort of discount or other promotion to fans affiliated with the teams playing in the company's Own Damn Bowl Game, but the hosts/servers were totally clueless. We were told the wait for a table would be over an hour and the game would not be featured, but they might be able to seat us near the one television that was running the BWW Bowl. We left and found another place to spend our money.
We don't live in Michigan; we're in the Northeast, but there are more than enough UM fans around here. The local alumni club gathers for every football and most basketball and hockey games at a different and much better sports bar that is closer to where we live. Our sole reason for driving to BWW was that we thought we would be at a place that would feature the game we wanted to see and that because we were there specifically to see their game, we wouldn't be shunted to the side in favor of a fight we had no interest in. If I were the head of marketing at BWW, I look at this as a counter-marketing opportunity; everyone's looking at the fight, so how do we distinguish our watering hole from every other? Oh, wait, we
have a built-in hook that we can exploit to maybe grab some new customers who have a vested interest in watching the game we're sponsoring? That makes too much sense; instead let's treat those people like non-entities.
Ideally, BWW should have promoted their own game nationally with announced discounts, etc., for
alumni/fans of the teams playing. God knows there wasn't much other reason for anyone else to watch
this bowl; why not cater to the fan bases of the teams playing? But at the very least, a memo should have gone out from corporate to every franchise that if potential customers walk in wearing Michigan (or for that
matter Kansas State) regalia, treat those people like they matter. Move heaven and earth to get them a
Table, get the damn football game on a prominent screen, turn up the sound so they can hear, and offer them some kind of discount or other promotion, e.g., free appetizer/dessert; free beer/soft drink when their team scores a TD, 10% discount off total bill).
What a lost opportunity. BWW should remember that the restaurant/food service industry is notoriously
fickle - they may be riding high right now, but there will almost certainly come a tme when another
business will threaten or supplant theirs, and customer loyalty or lack thereof may make the difference in their chances for survival.
Oh, and also...my husband's from Buffalo, and let's just say....you're coming close to false advertising in calling those things "Buffalo" wings.
LOL. Helle, I'll do my best! You can stop posting now ;) ....I'll try to talk my husband into it. He was actually very enthused about it (and he's not a Michigan alum) but when he heard the time he immediately said, "Forget it!" Going to get in touch with the local alumni association and see if they have a bus or van going or there are any carpool options.
Hubby and I were going to drive over from Albany (less than two hours door-to-door) but late start makes it almost impossible. Even if game is over by 11 ( and given all the stoppages in play/tv ads/halftime reports,etc., that's not at all a guarantee), after getting to the car, fighting traffic, and getting back on road, we won't be home until around 2 AM, at the earliest. A noon start would have been ideal for us. In our college days, that wouldn't have slowed us down at all, but then again, in our college days we would have lived on campus :).
I know this is the way things work now, and money/tv rule everything, but unless it's something truly special like UTL (or the equivalent) playing games at night makes life considerably more difficult for anyone who lives any distance from the venue. And waiting until a week or less to announce the time just compounds the problem. We've run into this with other sports, too....we have often talked about driving to NYC or Boston to see a Mets or Red Sox game (an easy day trip for a day game) but have been reluctant to buy tix because even though the game has been scheduled for months for the afternoon, there's always a chance that Fox will pick up the game for a late afternoon start, or even worse, ESPN will pick it up for an 8:00 start on Sunday. No ticket refund, and if we still want to attend, we either have to add a hotel
room, if we can find one, arrive home at 3-4 AM on a work night, or eat the cost of the tickets if we can't sell them/give them away. I assume we're the leisure market the leagues/NCAA/ is targeting (two career,
no children at home, lots of leisure time, money to spend) but we don't like to waste/needlessly spend
money, and we don't live closer than 2-3 hours to a major pro/college sports venue. Also, our lives are
complicated enough that we need to know the game time more than a week in advance; unfortunately, we
don't have the luxury of sleeping in until noon the next day.
All of this fooling around/switching the schedule for TV is madness. If TV must be involved, let the
networks/leagues/teams/schools pick the games/matchups they want prior to the schedules being announced and stick to it. I'm not a fool, I know it will never happen, but I do think one of the reasons UTLs I and II were so successful is that the Michigan AD had time to plan to make them, to borrow a phrase, "wow" events. The time/TV coverage wasn't just put together 5-6 days ahead.
As I mentioned in one of yesterday's threads, I am relatively newly married to a Syracuse alum and big basketball fan. I have been Blue for life, although I have spent most of my life (except for Ann Arbor and a brief stint in DC) in upstate New York like my husband. We were long-distance for four years before we were married and frequently used Syracuse as a place to meet, and even went to a Syracuse game together (against Louisville, of all things) and I grew to admire Syracuse as a city,school and basketball program. He and I have watched together just about every Michigan and Syracuse game this season, rooting for both, never once dreaming that they would play each other in the Final Four. We realized right away after the brackets came out that it was a possibility, but so many things had to go a certain way that we just kept watching and watched the Blue and Orange get closer and closer to a national semifinal matchup.
My husband, while a former college athlete and coach himself (he coached the Club hockey team at SU while attending their law school, and played both high school and college hockey in the Buffalo area), is mystified by all the Michigan "rituals" my family and I go through on important game days - the gathering of the family, the singing of The Victors, the maize and blue everything we wear, etc. I'm pretty sure he would never spend the money we spent in 1997 for all of us to go to the Rose Bowl to see Charles Woodson make that interception right in front of us and to experience that thrill in person.
I keep telling myself this is a no-lose proposition, that one of us will have an alma mater playing for the national championship a week from now. I know in my heart of hearts, though, that on Saturday I won't be able to sit and watch that game without being all in for Michigan. That is my inheritance, my youth, and an essential part of who I am. I am just as sure that he will be rooting just as hard for SU. But I know we'll watch together, and be cheering together next Monday night together. I am just hoping that this game doesn't come down to some flukey play or even worse, a bad call.
You guys have it easy...my HUSBAND went to Syracuse. We've been rooting for both teams the whole season. What are the odds at the beginning of the season that they would face each other in the Final Four?
Today is my birthday, though, so I''m just enjoying the great gift this team has bestowed. Go Blue!
My Dad went to UM and settled in Albany (he came here for law school). He loved Michigan and everything associated with it, and when I was growing up here we were the only Blue family I knew. Yearly trips to Ann Arbor for homecoming were a highlight, and my two brothers and I all went west to Michigan. I went to UAlbany's campus high school, The Milne School, and learned to drive on the UAlbany campus. My husband and I now live in the shadow of that campus, and, short of Michigan getting to the Final Four or further, nothing would make me happier than a Great Dane upset of the Great Blue Devil.
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LOL. Helle, I'll do my best! You can stop posting now ;) ....I'll try to talk my husband into it. He was actually very enthused about it (and he's not a Michigan alum) but when he heard the time he immediately said, "Forget it!" Going to get in touch with the local alumni association and see if they have a bus or van going or there are any carpool options.
My husband, while a former college athlete and coach himself (he coached the Club hockey team at SU while attending their law school, and played both high school and college hockey in the Buffalo area), is mystified by all the Michigan "rituals" my family and I go through on important game days - the gathering of the family, the singing of The Victors, the maize and blue everything we wear, etc. I'm pretty sure he would never spend the money we spent in 1997 for all of us to go to the Rose Bowl to see Charles Woodson make that interception right in front of us and to experience that thrill in person.
I keep telling myself this is a no-lose proposition, that one of us will have an alma mater playing for the national championship a week from now. I know in my heart of hearts, though, that on Saturday I won't be able to sit and watch that game without being all in for Michigan. That is my inheritance, my youth, and an essential part of who I am. I am just as sure that he will be rooting just as hard for SU. But I know we'll watch together, and be cheering together next Monday night together. I am just hoping that this game doesn't come down to some flukey play or even worse, a bad call.
Today is my birthday, though, so I''m just enjoying the great gift this team has bestowed. Go Blue!