Cornell-Ferris State In Progress

[jtn27]

There seems to be a sense here that Union fans haven't "earned" a championship because they haven't come close before and their fans would feel entitled. But before becoming good a few years ago, wasn't Union basically the doormat of the ECAC for a long time? If any fan base has suffered and earned a championship wouldn't it be Union's? Or is the concern that Union never had any fans until a few years ago anyway so there is no long suffering fan base?

[Jim Hyla]

Don't know that I can support them winning a championship, however, because I'm not sure they've "paid their dues."

I don't get this. Every year the slate is wiped clean: there's a reason the PWR doesn't incorporate historical data, for instance. If Union wins the national championship, I will congratulate them and ask why that wasn't Cornell instead.

There's also the lack of perspective on the part of their fans, which some noted last weekend.  That said, any ECAC team going as far as possible in the NCAAs can only be good for our conference as a whole, so Go Union!  (And if they get too full of themselves, they can jump to Hockey Least and we can grab RIT.)

As one who said that last weekend, I have to say that is one of my problems with them. Too many of their fans are jerks, and it's not that they have a lack of perspective, they have no perspective (I guess that's saying the same thing, it just seems stronger to me to say no.:-})

SLU fans have no band, are passive, but you put up with them because they aren't jerks and they seem to have a better appreciation of hockey. (That's not based upon any facts.)

Clarkson fans, especially students, can be jerks, but they have a good band, have been around a long time, really do seem to appreciate the game. So they are fun to play against.

Harvard has an OK band, when it shows up, fans that go from no one, to jerks, to as passive as SLU. But you enjoy them because of who they are, and that some of us may have been rejected, their team has had good years, and it's great to beat them. As an aside did you see that the first rivalry on the list shown during the game was CU-Harvard.

But put together all of the above bad attributes, no band, passive or jerk fans, no real appreciation of the game and its history, and you have Union fans. Tough to root for them. However, I'll try next week.::smashfreak::

[Jim Hyla]

But Lowell, why not root for Clarkson?  Small school, mostly engineers, passionate fans, good band, somewhat snakebit in the national tournament.  (Some of that due to us.)

I can't speak for Lowell, but personally I think it's too funny that they've never won the tournament to want that fact to change.

I've said it before: if Tech ever manages to win a title, they'd better ring that damn bell for 24 hours straight to celebrate.  (And I'll be happy to take a shift.)

Are you trying to break it?

[jtwcornell91]

But Lowell, why not root for Clarkson?  Small school, mostly engineers, passionate fans, good band, somewhat snakebit in the national tournament.  (Some of that due to us.)

I can't speak for Lowell, but personally I think it's too funny that they've never won the tournament to want that fact to change.

I've said it before: if Tech ever manages to win a title, they'd better ring that damn bell for 24 hours straight to celebrate.  (And I'll be happy to take a shift.)

Are you trying to break it?

Honestly, that would be awesome too: "And then Clarkson finally won the national championship, and the bell broke."

[Lauren '06]

But Lowell, why not root for Clarkson?  Small school, mostly engineers, passionate fans, good band, somewhat snakebit in the national tournament.  (Some of that due to us.)

I can't speak for Lowell, but personally I think it's too funny that they've never won the tournament to want that fact to change.

I've said it before: if Tech ever manages to win a title, they'd better ring that damn bell for 24 hours straight to celebrate.  (And I'll be happy to take a shift.)

Are you trying to break it?

Honestly, that would be awesome too: "And then Clarkson finally won the national championship, and the bell broke."

Can't we just skip to the last part? (That would include bypassing the 24 hours, too.)

[Johnny 5]

A Union win may be great for EZ-AC hockey, but Union will always be just Ivy League wannabees!

::flipc::

[Aaron M. Griffin]

A Union win may be great for EZ-AC hockey, but Union will always be just Ivy League wannabees!

::flipc::

I don't think Union is a unique subset of the ECAC in that respect.

[Scersk '97]

Ferris had a brief moment in '03--their first--but it faded.  Now they're back.  Good for them.  Hence, why I was able to cheer along with Wisco in '06 and BU in '09, even though both had already won it all.  Hell, I might've been able to cheer along with BC in '98 or '99, if I didn't already know that their fans were such douches.  But by the time they won in '01, I was tired of them, and I'm even more tired of them now.

I know that they haven't been major rivals for decades, but doesn't rooting for BU make you a heretic among the Faithful?

BU, to me, falls into the category of respected rival (like Clarkson) rather than hated rival (like Harvard), and I have little problem cheering along with (rather different than "rooting for" ) a respected rival.

[Trotsky]

It's all about what's best for Cornell, and that's why I'll be rooting hard for Union.  When the neighborhood improves, your property value goes up.

Union is afflicted with many jerky bandwagon fans, but the core fan base (all 300 of them) has been suffering for decades and is now getting a great payoff.  If that isn't paying dues, I'm not sure what is.  

Also, we should probably be careful when we use terms like "entitlement."  

[css228]

Ferris had a brief moment in '03--their first--but it faded.  Now they're back.  Good for them.  Hence, why I was able to cheer along with Wisco in '06 and BU in '09, even though both had already won it all.  Hell, I might've been able to cheer along with BC in '98 or '99, if I didn't already know that their fans were such douches.  But by the time they won in '01, I was tired of them, and I'm even more tired of them now.

I know that they haven't been major rivals for decades, but doesn't rooting for BU make you a heretic among the Faithful?

BU, to me, falls into the category of respected rival (like Clarkson) rather than hated rival (like Harvard), and I have little problem cheering along with (rather different than "rooting for") a respected rival.

We respect Clarkson?

[Scersk '97]

We respect Clarkson?

Back when they were constantly in the league's top four, it was hard not to.

[KeithK]

It's all about what's best for Cornell, and that's why I'll be rooting hard for Union.  When the neighborhood improves, your property value goes up.

Exactly.

[French Rage]

We respect Clarkson?

Back when they were constantly in the league's top four, it was hard not to.

Wow, it's really feast or famine for SLU.  I guess it comes down to whether the refs are holding them back from being the greatest team of all time that year.

[RichH]

We respect Clarkson?

Back when they were constantly in the league's top four, it was hard not to.

I sure as hell respect their current coach, that's for sure.

And for years, they held the highest all-time winning % in college hockey.  That title is probably gone, as it looks like BC has passed them, with Minnesota and BU very close.  There used to be fairly easy way to sort all-time program records on USCHO, but now all I can find on CHN, USCHO, and INCH are all-time coaching records.  Having to jump between program histories (on the USCHO site, since CHN doesn't compile the team totals), I have:

BC:                   0.640
Clarkson              0.628
Minnesota:            0.628
BU:                   0.626
Michigan:             0.607
Cornell:              0.604
A team that sucks:    0.602
Maine:                0.600

[Scersk '97]

We respect Clarkson?

Back when they were constantly in the league's top four, it was hard not to.

Wow, it's really feast or famine for SLU.  I guess it comes down to whether the refs are holding them back from being the greatest team of all time that year.

Nah, it was (bothers me to type that) the Joe Marsh plan.  He seemed to build for national championship runs once every four years or so rather than for year-in/year-out consistency.