Letter to Harvard Coach

The following is an e-mail i wrote to Harvard head coach Mark Mazzoleni, after Friday's game. I also c.c.-ed it to the Daily Sun, not like they'd print it. I thought everyone might be amused to read it.

Friday February 1, 2002, 10:21PM

Coach Mark Mazzoleni,

I would first like to commend you for cementing Cornell University's mens hockey program as the predominant power in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference, and in the nation. Such a feat does not occur without convincing victories over the nation's most respected hockey programs-- a category to which Harvard University clearly belongs. One would expect that, when facing such an opponent, while a healthy rivalry does indeed exist between our two schools, the level of professionalism would not sink below a certain threshold. While ultimately, one may not hold the players, or the fans, to the highest standards, one would hope that the adults involved in the programs would be able to do so. Unfortunately, your vivid display of bold emotional release at Friday's hockey game runs to the contrary of such an optimistic statement. Surely, Cornell's sad display of heaving fish on the ice, while facing your team, can be considered neither hospitable, professional, nor respectful. In addition, while our fans may jeer your players, your staff, and your program, it is generally expected that the coaches of opponents can refrain from acting in a manner characteristic of 19 year olds. Sadly, this trend whereas adults are inable to deal maturely with criticism by opponents has manifested itself not just in cases of players' parents (i.e. "Hockey Dad", but at the highest levels of intercollegiate academic sports. In case you are not aware, last week, the Columbia men's basketball coach, in response to jeers by Cornell pep band members, called one such member, pardon the profanity, "a fucking faggot." It is hard to believe that the members of the pep band, and the Cornell fans in general, are so adept at angering the opposing team that we inspire hate in every opponent we face, though we may like to think so. And, while we may expect such responses from Columbia, surely I would not expect such base responses from the head coach of your strongest sports program, at the eldest and most prestigious college of the country. Perhaps you have forgotten that your behavior on Friday is a reflection upon your university, and yourself. And surely, your display, which included beating the goalie stick against the boards, with the ever-eloquent, "@!#$!" reflects both your obvious frustration with your team's performance, your limited vocabulary, and your inability to deal maturely with inconvenient situations. Moreover, the fact that your explatives succeeded a Cornell fan cheer of "Overrated" shows both your short fuse, and lends credence to the cheer itself. That is, the belief that the nation's finest university is indeed overrated is easily confirmed when a senior member of its staff curses back at a group of teens he is unable to deal with. If you have indeed read this far in this letter, I hope that I have succeeded in conveying many fans' opinions of your unprofessional coaching techniques. And to say that Cornell students cursed at you, derrided your team and players, and indeed your own coaching decisions would merely be to admit that you cannot deal with the insults of 18-21 year olds. Oftentimes, Harvard students make the comment that Cornell is the "disgraceful Ivy," or comments of such sort. However, the fact that our coach does not have to bang a stick and curse in front of fans, and children, speaks volumes. Thank you very much for your time, and for the victory. We'll be sure to see you at Lake Placid, that is, if your team makes it. And I will indeed be looking for more brilliant remarks from your side of the bench in the near future.

I guess this would make nice bulletin board material for them should we see them down the road....

Things happen...coaches flip out ever now and then. It's not as if Schafer can never be seen/caught using profanity "in front of fans and children".

Their team and coaching staff was overwhelmed physically and mentally in an unbelievably emotional atmosphere. Something had to give, and if that meant their coach cursing and beating the stick against the boards, I'd rather see that then have one of their players release emotion by hurting our guys.

They were thrashed by our team and couldn't quite handle it. I don't see too many moral issues here. If anything, those outbursts made the night all the more enjoyable.

Also, the Columbia coach never used profanity as you claim in your quote.

Hmmm....are you proud of yourself for that holier than thou dissertation? A

I suspect that Mr. Mazzoloeni already regrets his behavior, and your scolding him for it over and over accomplishes little if anything. Maybe he'll actually be "talked to" by the league!

Is it your intention to humiliate him by hoping the newspaper would print it? To what end?

I dunno, I think apart from his losing it, our fans throwing bottles was extremely crass. ESPECIALLY since we did it at Brown too.. this is not a tradition I am into.

Wow. When I saw the title to the thread, I thought, "Good - someone is going to write a letter to Harvard apologizing for the Cornell fans' behavior during and after the game." Boy, was I in for a shock. Your letter disgusts me. Cornell fans ought to be ashamed of each and every fish, bottle, and cup thrown after the national anthems. Even Schafer was able to recognize the vileness of the Cornell fans' actions. I seems to remember his screaming at the crowd, too - why don't you publicly berate him for not being able to handle the actions of the juvenile delinquents in the crowd? Such actions SHOULD NOT be tolerated. We will be fortunate indeed if Mazzolini can calm down enough to appreciate the *good* emotion and energy that is part of the Cornell/Harvard rivalry and chooses not to complain to the ECAC and the NCAA about our fans' behavior.

Having said that, I love it when the energy of the Lynah Faithful boosts our team on to victory. It's also great when our cheering flusters, infuriates, or even merely distracts the opponents. Those are the two goals of cheering. Perhaps Mazzolini was upset over the poor play of his team. Perhaps he was mad because he thought the ref had made a bad call. Maybe he was frustrated that he hadn't been able to hear himself think for the last two hours. Or just maybe he was mad that his players had to put up with the bush league Cornell fans who thought it was acceptable to throw objects on the ice. We'll never know his motivations, so as long as there is the possibility that his anger was just, I'm not going to judge his actions. Besides, even if Cornell fans had behaved appropriately throughout the contest and he had still "lost it," wouldn't it be satisfaction enough to know that the Faithful had done their jobs well? Our purpose in cheering is to upset the other team; why blame them when we succeed? Your smug letter is so much like a 4-year-old laughing at his own joke - grow up.

Robb '94

Let's not be too hard on the guy... I can understand that since all the lynah faithful as well as the facetimers got so charged up managing a big win over harvard and with such class... But well, I'm sure mike knows better now than to do it again....

What sickens me are the facetimers who threw those damn fish in before the second period... You will never be able to educate facetimers AT ALL...

Like you said Robb... what's impt is that our cheering (and sore throats) work against our opponents at home or away... Cheering's true objective's not to prove a point (ie.. that harvard hockey really sux) or anything... It's about us doing our part as our team fights the real battle out on the ice...

LGR!!!

i thought (hoped) the letter would be an apologetic one as well...honestly, it accomplishes nothing but beating somebody when he is on his knees. In sports, it is normal to lose your temper once in a while (and I find your comparison to the Junta incident very misguided). Although a certain expectation of restraint and discipline is acceptable (especially from a coach), we are all humans, and we all lose our tempers occasionally thus doing things we soon come to regret. By writing such idiotic letter, you have done Cornell University and its members a disservice by furnishing ammunition to the various accusations that we "have no class." Please, the best reply to any of Harvard's antics is the fact that we trounced them fair and square where it counted, the ice. An arrogant letter of that kind does nothing but portray us as classless winners. LGR!!!!

Final note to Mike: If you are going to write a sanctimonious letter to a man who has accomplished so much, and impugn his intelligence to boot, I have a bit of advice.

1. Choose passive voice selectively. It is a worthwhile device, and derided unfairly, but please please please grab a copy of Strunk & White and at least learn the form before you depart from it.

2. Hackneyed pseudo-literary flourishes like

runs to the contrary

are just sad.

3. Spell-check, my friend, spell-check.

Your letter, if it is printed, will embarrass Cornell far more than Coach Mazzoleni's actions embarrassed Harvard.

Separating thoughts into paragraphs might help, too.

Mike,


Maybe it's time to show some real class and apologize to him. And don't forget to send copies to all parties who received the original note. Your original note was so arrogant that I doubt he'll read anything further with your name in the "from" field. But, it's worth a try. Please.

Defiantly not cool.

Maybe he's the guy who walked up to the ticket takers holding a fish with two more hanging out of his pockets...

Schafer was extremely irate after the game at the antics of the fans, and you certainly can't blame him. Seems like the consistent downward trend in volume and creativity of the Faithful has crossed into the realm of classlessness. Very unfortunate.

Dear Mike,

How about a sincere apology for all the @!#$ that the "fans" threw on the ice? The faithful shouldn't become the feckless. A boatload of fish before the first period is more than enough to make the point that 10 years after Harvard threw a chicken on the ice (back when many of the faithful were watching Mr. Rogers?) we still can't get over that insult.

I think its time for this tradition to die even though I do think it was both fun and funny up until this year.

And if you really want to do something creative with fish, donate to the local food pantry.

I too was hoping for an apologetic letter but can't really condemn Mike. A smart idea for everyone in the future might be to vent frustrations and run ideas by other members of the Lynah Faithful before acting. This has prevented me from doing some silly things in the past ... just ask Judy. Aside from the throwing of crap on the ice what really embarassed me as a Cornell Fan was the hitting Nowak in the face with a fish. Totally not classy!!!!

Granted, I am still relatively new to the faithful (four years), but I can already see a demise in the class of the Lynah fans. Creativity has been replaced with "SUCKS" and anything that rhymes with that word. This has more or less become our only response to an opponent and it is in itself embarassing.

Dear everyone,

What I wrote in that letter was intended solely as a clever joke. Anyone who views it as some sort of condemnation of immoral behavior is reading way too far into it, and obviously didn't catch much of the satire. The same goes to those criticiquing my grammar and "pseudo-intellectual floruishes."

Anyway, I am not going to apologize for Cornell's fish tradition. No, I did not bring fish to the game, and yes, I am a season ticket holder in A, which personally I hold to be the best section in Lynah due to the proximity to the goalie. While I did not bring any fish (though I did bring Colgate boxes to the Colgate game, and an Ithaca police officer actually threatened to throw me out if I threw the empty box...ridiculous), I am not about to criticize those who throw them prior to period one. As to those who threw the fish later in the game, I wouldn't use the word "immoral" or "dishonorable" so much as "stupid," due to the possibly costly penalties resulting. If the point of the fish is to taunt the opposing team and establish a home ice advantage, surely encurring penalties for one's own team cannot be seen as such.

Lastly, I would like to leave one comment regarding the posts some of you have left about the cleverness of Lynah cheers, etc. I don't know how many of you actually go to these hockey games, or attend them all season, though you surely call yourselves the "Lynah faithful." In my experience, the real Lynah Faithful are the ones who actually sleep outside in order to get their tickets, and the ones who actually cheer at the games. If many of you were as concerned with taunting the opposing team as you were of replying to a satirical letter I wrote, then maybe you wouldn't have to complain so much about the Cornell cheer originality. I don't see how many of you can make that criticism, because at present point, I consistently notice that only the pep band, myself, and a handful of students in A and B actually lead Cornell cheers. And no, I am not that guy screaming random obscenities at the ice. So the next time that any of you Lynah "faithful" want to degrade the originality of the cheers, actualy decide to say something instead of blending into the background of a Let's Go Red cheer once or twice a game.

WOW, I don't think anymore replies would be useful, so although I can think of a hundred things to say, I won't say anything other than maybe we have all said enough.

Mike,

It's halftime, and rather than watch U2, I thought I'd respond to your latest post...

First off, no offense, but screw you man... Most of the people on this board who aren't at every game are alums who live hours away, and still manage to find time to listen in on the weekends, and when possible, drive (or fly) for hours to get to Ithaca to catch a couple of games... To accuse us on not being "faithful" is complete crap and you know it... Trust me, that almost everyone on this forum either camped out, or drove hours through snow to get up to Clarkson and SLU(t), or didn't miss home games, or whatever else you feel you may do... That's why we still post, because we're "Faithful"...

Second, upon re-reading your letter, I see nothing in there that I would constue as "toungue-in-cheek" or "satirical"... Let's face it, you thought that the majority of people here would agree with you, and say things like "Good Letter", or "Gee, I wish I thought of writing that"... Instead, we disagree with your point of view, and then you change you opinion and try to cover your ass by telling us "Oh, I didn't really mean that", and "If YOU ALL had read it correctly, you'd realize that's not what I meant".

Lastly, if your only problem with throwing fish is that Cornell might get penalized, then I got issues there... Throwing fish before the 1st period is one thing... Throwing bottles and other objects late in the game (or after the game) is immature, stupid, and should not be condoned in any instance...

I've got more to say, but 2nd half is about to start... GO PATS!!!!

. . .it is no longer useful. For everyones sake just leave it alone.

Since I grew up in Canada and never watched football I can reply during the game ....

First off Mike, I was on your side. I didn't agree with what you wrote but initially I thought that we could just chalk it up to an emotional win and exceptional pride in a hard fought victory. I was feeling kinda bad for all the crap you were getting ( tho to be honest I though it was more or less deserved - no disrespect to anyone who responded negatively to Mike's initial post) but after your last reply I don't know what to think.

In response to starting more creative cheers - it easier said than done. Most males are blessed with a deeper voice than females. We (Judy and I) have tried many times to get something other than ...... SUCKS going but have never been taken seriously - less i think because we are females then because we lack projection. I am probably the loudest person in Lynah come goal time because of my abaility to shriek at a very high pitch but this is of no use in starting cheers. Furthermore, it is damn impossible to get a cheer started without someone interrupting it with ..... SUCKS. WE have creativity. We just need to get the louder people to utilize it.

As to the whole idea of what is "faithful" ... well get back to us in a few years when you try juggling being an adult with enjoying life. The time, money and effort that the people on this board put into the team goes beyond that which any member of the team could expect or imagine. It goes well beyond what most students can imagine also. Trust me. I know. Last year i was a student and a member of the traveling faithful. This year i work and still manage to attend over 80% of the games (home and away). Getting to games now is much harder and time management has become a vital component of regular attendance. Instead of just showing up at the game you have to have tickets, travel arrangements and lodging (tho for the record i should state that i actually waited in line overnight for tix this year too - don't assume that alumni haven't). Vacation days are used, paychecks are oblitereated and sleep is sacrificed. Not to mention the various times when cars and lives have been put at risk (may sound llike an over exaggeration but if you all think about it, it's quite true) to travel during a storm. Maybe in a few years you can talk about what it takes to be a member of the faithful (frankly, after 4 years, I don't even know if I yet qualify, though i feel like i should) but in the meantime I suggest you stop questioning the ettiquette of a group that has been around since before you (and I) were born....

sorry Ben. didn't see the plea to end this until after I blew off some steam. you are probably right.

All I would like to add to this is to consider what happened at Hahvahd(sucks) in 1983 (or thereabouts) when a Cornell goalie (Darren Eliot maybe ) was actually struck by a bottle thrown by a Hahvahd(sucks) student. This was back in the days when Hahvahd(sucks) never made a mistake and graduated almost 100% of their students.

The student was actually suspended for the remainder of the year, and then quietly returned the next year. Cleary actually apologized for the behavior of the fan.

If bottle throwing is becoming a habit of the Cornell students, I think that needs to be addressed here, and certainly in the rink. If it is allowed to become a tradition...or even an acceptable release as a response to someone else's stupidity, then we are in real trouble.

Melissa wrote:

Maybe in a few years you can talk about what it takes to be a member of the faithful (frankly, after 4 years, I don't even know if I yet qualify, though i feel like i should) but in the meantime I suggest you stop questioning the ettiquette of a group that has been around since before you (and I) were born....

As one of those who uncomfortably qualifies (at least with respect to anyone born after Nov. 82, when I attended my first game), if I may add a few things.

Most important in all this, I hope Melissa and other current students and recents grads feel they are not barred from 100% qualification merely by age and experience. The only suggested requirements that I see are: (1) having waited on the ticket line as a student, (2) having wondered why your throat hurts so much on Sunday morning, and (3) having your weekend utterly ruined by a loss to Harvard, or utterly made by a win over Harvard. Even these might be waived due to extenuating circumstances of nontraditional Faithfulness.

Like many of you, I view Mike's letter as sophomoric and his response to your criticisms as wide of the mark. Nobody on this forum derides Lynah's traditions. We have, after all, passed them to the current students. We've all thrown fish or wildly applauded those who did. We've all blown off sleep, classes, labs, work, weddings, births... to drive for hours through whited out rural roads with the single-minded lemming-like intent to Get To The Game. We've all screamed at Grady not to get so excited that you can't figure out whether we just scored. There are many bullworks of Cornell's hockey tradition, and this forum is one of them.

And yes, it is irksome to be implicitly lectured on the many glories of a tradition that we know very well, and have the scars to prove it. (And anyone who doubts it should be sentenced to repeated viewings of the 87 and 93 seasons.)

But I do remember being an undergraduate myself, and I am forever grateful to all the various deities that there was no internet to broadcast my own sophomorisms. Everybody has past words which, recalled, cause an involuntary wince of embarrassment.

So, in my humble and aged-as-Solomon opinion. Mike: I grasp the intent, but the letter is just Not Funny, even as a satirical piece. Everybody puts out a clunker now and then (Emerson's poetry? Ghastly.) Write a one line apology to the coach and let it go. Everybody else: Let him off the hook, in the spirit of not casting the first stone and all that. Personally, I'm calling out his *letter* and his *response* as silly. The student himself is just a fellow member of the Carnelian legion. And he'll be paying for my social security. Sucker.

Be magnanimous. STANDINGS!

Now I will drag my withered bones away, with the hope that pretty coeds will find me pleasant in a fatherly way, and treat me well in my dotage, at Placid in the Spring.

1) having waited on the ticket line as a student

wait a minute, I never waited on one line and I am definitely a "Faithful." I was just in the pep band. We just didn't have to be bothered with all that.

But then you willingly went to Harvard, instantly negating any Faithfullness you might have acquired...

and now to spread a little love on this board, I think we all need it after this thread...

You people are wonderful! This message board is always more informative than any press release the athletic department puts out, though sometimes disagreements occur...but then, the Lynah Faithful is like one big, sometimes dysfunctional family. Okay, that's it with all this happy, love crap...I think the mood has left me

I'm going back to playing hooky from work and running errands..stuff I should've done over the weekend, but then, I'm never here on the weekend.

Greg, somehow, I don't think you're the old fogey you make yourself out to be... You were in school after my dad graduated and I still can't think of my dad as old (though for some reason, I can think of myself as being old).

Wow, these smilies are dangerous...one day I may have a post that's just filled with smilies and you'll all probably hate me for it

Hey, as I said, there are no fixed requirements. I had a non-Cornell girlfriend who shared the 11 hour drive with me from North Carolina to Ithaca three times. I'd say she's in, too.

Greg, HOW!!!???? did you do the drives from North Carolina? I go up to Ithaca from Maryland and while I love the team, the drive and the lack of weekends to run errands just drives me crazy!!!!!

Na ah, I work at MGH, which is a Harvard Medical School hospital. I don't go there, nor do I technically work for them. I will not even put Harvard anywhere on my resume. I don't have to...

heh. That's ok. I wasn't serious.

Greg, HOW!!!????

Two words: Mike Schafer. It was '95-'96. After Mike was hired and lit a fire under everybody from the captains to the Zamboni driver, I would have driven from anywhere to see that team play.

And boy did they not disappoint!

I'm not crazy. I don't drive to see them from Oregon. I fly.

I assume that twice driving 1000+ miles each way to see Cornell play in holiday tournaments, and listening to nearly every game for two seasons when I was in Switzerland and they started at 1am local time exempts me from the ticket line requirement and qualifies me as an honorary Faithful despite my not having caught on to the joys of Cornell hockey until I was a couple of years out of college. (Note to aspiring writers: avoid run-on sentences like the last one. My excuse is that I'm a scientist.)

While I agree that even those of us not disgracing Lynah with assorted projectiles Friday (or Saturday) night are in no position to be sanctimonious, I think people are being a little hard on Mike. While I was disgusted at the late-game fish, especially the ones thrown during play, and the completely pointless bottles, it was competing with other strong emotions, namely anger at Mazzoleni for acting like a loud-mouthed jerk and his players for taking out their frustration on the team that had just dominated them, and most of all joy at the Red's having crushed a bitter rival at a time when both teams were nationally ranked. So I didn't focus on the behavior of some Cornell "fans" (which had become so ridiculous that I had by then dissociated it to some extent) until Mom mentioned it in an email the next day.

In the end, Mike's letter is ill-conceived for the following reason: Mazzoleni should be left to worry about his (and his team's) actions himself--he was penalized for his Gaudetesque stick-banging, and having to kill that 5-on-3 finished any chances the Crimson had of pulling off any heroics in the final minutes of the game--we Faithful have enough to concern ourselves with on our end. Also, Maz didn't bang the stick in response to the fans; the only things thrown on the ice between the beginning of the second period and just before Harvard's last goal were the hats for Sam's non-hat-trick.

First thought...God, I sure hate these little icons )

Second thought...my guess is that a clear majority want a Lynah that's free of profanity. And certainly throwing things without gills onto the ice after the game starts is just sheer idiocy. The best remedy is for the Faithful in the stands to let those miscreants know that they have gone too far. Police ourselves. Have the courage to tell the bottle thrower that what they did is just totally unacceptable.

Why try to change the behavior of the Harvard coach? Let's concentrate on things we have some control over, like our own fan excesses.

I'm not sure who the "clear majority" is, Tom. We did that poll several months ago and it was the most one-sided result I've ever had. Around 100 said keep profanity, around 10 said ban it. I don't think many, if any students, want to get rid of it, and though the cross-section here is hardly indicative, it's also not just students, so I daresay the majority doesn't want to abolish profanity. But I agree about self-policing. And as for the icons, if you hate em, don't use em. Informally, you seem to be in the clear minority there.

(Note: I tend to stand on the A-B aisle ten rows up)

At the beginning of the 2nd period, as people in B started throwing fish, a very few fans, myself among them, yelled for people to stop. Whether or not this helped I don't know, but the fish did stop after the 3rd fish. Meanwhile, fish just kept flying onto the ice from D. At this point, I started screaming at them to stop.

What happened next was the interesting part: the guy in front of me turned around and started taking me to task, telling me to shut up. Admittedly, the chance that the morons in D would hear me was slim to none, but still I hoped that enough people around me would join in and D would get the message. I then asked him if he thought we should get a penalty at which point he responded with something to the respect of "Like we are gonna lose?" as if beating Harvard at home was a preordained event. When I pointed out that well actually had lost to Harvard on a fish PP in the past, he seemed unimpressed. He then turned around and went back to pawing at his jailbait girlfriend.

I think this is a case where having a divided student section is a big problem. Given that the self appointed hockey mavens that frequent this forum consider B to be the "true" student section and thus make great pains to watch games from B, section D ends up losing any potential leadership that would help to educate fans.

Given that by posting to the eLF, we are only preaching to the converted, I suggest that we take out a fullpage ad in the Sun laying down exactly what is kosher and sign it "The friends of eLynah." I'd also like to take this chance to put some of the blame on Uncle Ezra. Rather than stating that, while not condoned by the university, fish before the game are acceptable whereas anything else, at any other point, is strictly verboten, Ezra suggested that a zero tolerance policy exists. Given the impunity with which fish are thrown before intros, this logically leads people to believe they can also ignore future warnings.

Dude,

What kind of poll you running where you get 100% saying keep profanity and 10% saying to ban it???

I don't think he said it was 100 percent, more like 100 people. Mike Craine wrote:

I thought maybe I'd round off to simple numbers for you since you can't seem to read, Mike. Yes, I was referring to votes, not percentage. See if you can wrap your brain around that one.

Plenty of our cheers have low level profanity in them. "Screw B.U." is profanity, unless you think it's some arcane reference to carpentry. Anybody care to ban that?

I think we'd all agree that Carlin's 7 words you can't say on television (Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker and Tits, and evidently you *can* say them on eLF) shouldn't be encouraged. Overuse of any term should be discouraged -- it overwhelms more creative cheers.

But "I'm for/against profanity" is a meaningless generalization.

Ouch... Now my brain hurts...

Maybe now I'll learn to read...

If anyone can find a way to use "piss" in a cheer, I think that'd be great.

From Merriam-Webster (note 4a(2):

4 a (1) : to mistreat or exploit through extortion, trickery, or unfair
actions; especially : to deprive of or cheat out of something due or
expected <screwed out of a job> (2) : to treat so as to bring about
injury or loss (as to a person's reputation) <use the available Federal
machinery to screw our political enemies -- J. W. Dean III> -- often
used as a generalized curse <screw you!> b : to extract by pressure or
threat
5 usually vulgar : to copulate with

The relevant definition of "profanity" is "profane language". The relevant definition of "profane" is "serving to debase or defile what is holy". "screw", "@!#$", "sucks", "@!#$" and "@!#$" are not profane words, merely vulgar. Examples of profanity are "God damn you" and "go to hell". The only profane Cornell cheer I can think of is at the end of "Don't send my boy to Harvard".

Look, when I say profanity, I'm not referring to "you just suck" or "Screw BU." But let's be creative enough to avoid cheers involving synonyms of "to copulate." Let me go back to the tired old bromide to evaluate whether an action is offensive. If the 2005 Hobey Baker winner is in section K with his parents, will what you say or what you do cause them to not want to come to Cornell? If the answer is yes, please refrain, for the good of Cornell hockey.

Look, I am a libertarian at heart. I don't want jackbooted ushers determining our fates. We've got to police ourselves or the CU police WILL step in. Throwing crap on the ice (outside of the pre-game fish and caps for the hat trick) is just wrong. Grow up. Take responsibility for yourself and educate your fellow fans who degrade the Faithful tradition.

If the 2005 Hobey Baker winner is in section K with his parents, will what you say or what you do cause them to not want to come to Cornell? If the answer is yes, please refrain, for the good of Cornell hockey.

(I get to use that one right away!) That is a bit over the top. There are a lot of reasons crowded arenas should not scream out "@!#$" in unison. Mostly, it is just evidence of a pathetic and deprived means of expression. (Not exactly the same if it springs forth in a burst of emotion.) If you require a self-interested motivation, let it be that you hope to bring your own kids to Lynah one day to watch the game. (Which also deserves at least some sort of eye-rolling emoticon.)

Note - the emoticons aren't linked up right. That was supposed to be the puking guy. And I know that I didn't type "@!#$".

Sorry. Got em straight now. And sorry about the profanity filter, missed that. You should be able to edit it properly now. hehe

OK Age, I gotta know, where do you get these icons? The coffee one, in particular, I'd use all the time.

Not as easy to find as you'd expect. Took a lot of digging and have gathered them up from a bunch of different sites. Try searching on google for 'posticons'. There are a bunch that I haven't included in the message posting section because they're pretty large and don't want them loading every time, but I especially like



I'll make a popup window with a listing of all of them at some point.

That's hilarious!

if only they made one with a ref and a sheep

Precisely how many times do I have to tell you you can't put tags in here, Hayes?

Gee, I'm so glad I fixed that. I'm censoring that graphic in the name of better taste.

> That is a bit over the top.

Even as a "Defender of the Right to Talk Dirty," I don't think it's so over-the-top. Plenty of people are offended by profanities that the rest of us use without even thinking about it. Say "darn" in my aunt's house and... well, my aunt's 80 and can't hear, but you get the point.

Age Manocchia '98 wrote:

Precisely how many times do I have to tell you you can't put tags in here, Hayes?

Gee, I'm so glad I fixed that. I'm censoring that graphic in the name of better taste.

you said I couldn't use a href tags, you never said img tags wouldn't work

I didn't want to start a new post just for this, so I figured I would find one where it was appropriate. Even if it was a 3 1/2 year old thread to retell a story I read about Mazz. It came out of a discussion regarding tilting and expressing frustration in poker:

We had a tough hockey loss on the road once and our coach (Mark Mazzoleni...currently the coach at Harvard...good-guy actually) was all flustered in our interview.
"I'm not going to name names...but our experienced guys have to get out there and be LEADERS. As I said...I'm not going to pont the finger because I don't want to name names....but it's the experienced guys....the seniors... Jeremy Bautch, Alex Kim, CJ Buzzell...man they stunk tonight. but I'm not going to name names" (I seriously don't think he realized that he just DID name names).

The whole time he's doing this he just grabs some random wire and is twisting it around his finger. Just fiddling basically. His finger's turning purple because he's wrapping it so tight...and he doesn't realize that it's the freaking PHONE wire and I swear he's about to yank me off the air.
I don't dare try to grab it from him though because I think he'll freaking pound me if I even move (much less risky to my life to just let him yank the connection if that was what he was going to do).

After a few seconds with his finger turning a REALLY weird purple-blue he lets go of the wire and says live, "I'm sorry...I can't talk about this anymore...I'm just sick right now"....gets up...slams the chair knocking a couple non-essential bits of equipment around. etc etc.
Good stuff. Kind of scary at the time though.

wow i was an ass in 2002

[Q]A-19 Wrote:

wow i was an ass in 2002[/q]

Welcome to the internet, which keeps your dirty laundry around forever.

FWIW, do a Google News search for "Kyle Rose" and laugh your ass off.

Cheers,
Kyle

[Q]John T. Whelan '91 Wrote:

I assume that twice driving 1000+ miles each way to see Cornell play in holiday tournaments, and listening to nearly every game for two seasons when I was in Switzerland and they started at 1am local time exempts me from the ticket line requirement and qualifies me as an honorary Faithful despite my not having caught on to the joys of Cornell hockey until I was a couple of years out of college.[/q]

You missed some great hockey if you graduated in '91!! It's a little ironic that you're such a big fan now, better late than never.

Hey, I didn't go to a single hockey game until my senior year (92-93) and didn't have season tickets until the following year. Yet somehow I still got completely sucked in to the extent that i check this web site about two dozen times a day in June. Never underestimate the power of Lynah!

...not to mention running your own Cornell hockey website for a while.

[Q]krose Wrote:
FWIW, do a Google News search for "Kyle Rose" and laugh your ass off. [/q]
I got nothing. Just some stuff about a Kyle Rose that I'm pretty sure isn't you.

[Q]ugarte Wrote:

krose Wrote:
FWIW, do a Google News search for "Kyle Rose" and laugh your ass off. [/Q]
I got nothing. Just some stuff about a Kyle Rose that I'm pretty sure isn't you.[/q]

Sorry, by "News" I mean "Groups", which used to be DejaNews, which came from Usenet (a term I haven't heard anyone use in years).

Kyle