Honestly, it was an abortion of a basketball game, and because we’re trying to avoid getting too far into the politics dealie here at Fight Mass, I don’t want to discuss abortions. So we’re just going to leave this game behind and hope it was an aberration in terms of the improved recent play of the Minutemen. Now let’s hope Rick Majerus’s team doesn’t eat up the now Ferrell-and-Gibbs-less Minutemen on Sunday. Oh, by the way, fatass, please vacate the Atlantic 10 immediately and stop complaining about it. You coach at fucking Saint Louis University. Your mascot is…uhh… this thing. Christ, even we have more prestige than you, and our current fan favorite is a 350-pound man with no discernible basketball talent. Also, when Majerus is jumping around on the court complaining about calls several feet away from City, will City finally look skinny by comparison? All sorts of fun subplots coming up this weekend.

Anyway, UMass also apparently still has a hockey team, and one which is still somehow predicted by USCHO to make the NCAA tournament, if only barely. UMass’s offense showed signs of life in the whistle-tacular Matthews debacle, so it’ll be interesting to see if Toot stays with the Casey/Jimmy split-up again, especially since Lecomte, fresh off of injury, will miss Friday’s game after getting tossed. Then again, Lawler Arena is a horrible place that deserves to be burned to the ground, and I’ve never even been there (and sadly, this year’s only trip, which I’d otherwise jump all over, is lining up with my friend’s 21st birthday). UMass’s struggles there are well-documented, and North Andover Community College is coming off an impressive 3-point weekend against Vermont — although, now that Milo is gone, I’m not entirely sure UVM will even make the Hockey East playoffs, ridiculous as it may sound since they’re still tied for 9th in the PWR right now. Of course, the mind-numbing scenario of Vermont making the NCAA’s but missing their own conference tourney would also require Merrimack to surge past them (something which would involve winning this weekend’s series against UMass) and would also likely involve Vermont losing games to Lowell, a team we obviously hate far more than the Catamounts. The Ugly Sister is just 2 points back of UMass, too, so there’s that.

Do or die time for the Minutemen this weekend. This 5-of-6 stretch has been horrendous, but the Minutemen played much better against the red-hot Huskies than they had in previous games, and there were signs of life from the offense. However, as long as Kubbie stays out (and since my Facebook stalker scouts are reporting that “mono is kickiing [his] ass” as of a week ago, I’m not overly optimistic on his timely return), the defense is still lacking something. Last year, the D stepped up in a big way at Matthews, but it was just a little too late. In these last five games, it’s all on Marty and Bronco to establish their legacy here at UMass. It’s up to Mikey and Irwin and Donnellan and Rowe to get it figured out. It starts with these two games against a small liberal arts college from North Andover, whose best player is a Frenchman and whose scoreboard makes even Lowell’s look NHL-caliber.

It starts with all of these, or, sad to say, it ends this weekend, because if you can’t beat Merrimack, you can’t beat Maine or BC.

(Now watch them get swept by Mack and then win their last 3.)

-Max

Quercus News – Free RFP Template, T-Shirts and $10 to Lakewinds!

Have a great day!

Brad

Last night, UMass’s offensive performance was about as potent as the “snowstorm:” it looked poised to strike on paper, it certainly threatened, and there were flurries of offensive chances, but the goal tally matched the total snow accumulation in inches. (Rounded to the nearest whole number. You know what, shut up, it’s my metaphor and I’ll stretch it if I so please.)

Derek said it, and I’m starting to agree: this was almost worse in a lot of ways than losing 7-1, because at least then you know it’s over after one period and you don’t have your heart ripped out at the end. This one was 1-0 until the last five minutes, and UMass was > < this close to knotting it up and breaking the offense funk seemingly a million times. Like the other shutout game, against Madore and Vermont, the boys played well enough to win in basically every aspect of the game – the luck just wasn’t on their side. The defense was miles ahead of where it was against BC and BU the last few games, the offense got plenty of opportunities, but it comes down to finishing, and right now the Minutemen can’t do it. It didn’t help that the hottest goalie in Hockey East played out of his mind, but when your backup goalie holds the other team to one goal for the majority of the game, that’s a game you just have to win. (By the way, even though both of the goals Meyers have up were sort of weak, particularly the second one, you really can’t blame the goalie when you get shut out. Still, unless Dainton’s hurt, I would’ve preferred to see him in net and let Meyers start against Merrimack on senior night if you want to give him a start at all. Just my opinion.)

So, where do we go from here? Six games left, five on the road, and it starts tonight at Matthews. “Must-win” is sort of cliche, and we do play in a league where a team that is completely and totally dead in the water can dominate a team on an absolute roll. But realistically, if UMass gets swept by the Huskies tonight, they can say goodbye to home ice – if they haven’t already. Either way, this whole “Cahoon swoon” thing is getting more and more legitimate as the season continues.

…by the way, hockey aside, it was a pretty good start to the weekend for UMass sports. Softball won, lax opened their season with a win, and basketball actually pulled off one of their recent second-half comeback attempts to beat Duquesne in OT. (Big City’s stat line? 6 minutes. I think DK finally gets it.) The boys are back at home tomorrow afternoon at 4, hopefully they can see what a conference winning streak looks like. (Or any type of UMass winning streak. Sigh.)

-Max

What can be said about the recent performance of our beloved Minutemen? It’s been bad. All-around poor performance. The Minutemen are 1-3-0 in their last four games and the only win came at Hockey East basement-dwelling Providence. The Minutemen have scored seven goals in this time and given up seventeen. This translates to 1.75 goals per game for and 4.25 goals per game against. These are both terrible numbers. How many games can you win with an offense scoring one or two goals? Not many. Even fewer when your defense is gives up four. Something really needs to improve for the Minutemen this weekend because they are going up against a goalie in Chris Rawlings who hasn’t allowed more than two goals in his last five games and has only allowed more than two goals twice since 2010 began.

Northeastern’s offense has been anemic this season. The Huskies have averaged only 2.65 goals per game. That’s second worst in the league, behind Providence. If you take away Northeastern’s last two games against Merrimack and Harvard, where they scored five and four goals, respectively, the Huskies haven’t put more than three on the board since a 6-5 overtime loss to UML on January 9th. It has been tough for NEU to find secondary scoring in conference play to back up Tyler McNeely (6-10-16), Wade MacLeod (8-7-15), and Kyle Kraemer (8-7-15). And those three haven’t exactly been setting the world on fire this season, either.

The Huskies aren’t fantastic on defense, either. The team lead in plus/minus is split by three players (Defensemen David Strathman and Jim Driscoll and Forward Robbie Vrolyk) at only +5. They are averaging 29.3 shots per game against in Hockey East play, while only getting 25.4 shots. While this defense isn’t great, its certainly good enough when combined with Chris Rawlings. The numbers don’t look fantastic for Rawlings (.901 save%, 3.03 GAA in Hockey East play), but he has played extremely well in the second half and the numbers are skewed by a loss to Vermont in which he gave up seven goals on only nineteen shots.

We all know the problem with UMass. Ineffective offense and incredibly horrendous defense. When this is combined with a lack of heart, a lack of discipline, and a lack of knowledge of where to be on the ice, the results can be deadly to a season. The Minutemen have the talent to play with anyone in this league, but they tend to give up on games when they get behind and the result has been a record of 0-7-0 when trailing after one period in Hockey East play. They need to keep their heads in all situations and not give up dumb goals. In last week’s game against BC, at least four goals were the fault of the defense. If you give Paul Dainton a chance, he can win games for you. This game is shaping up to be a low scoring one so the Minutemen better play a smart, disciplined game or they will probably lose.

UMass won the previous meeting of these two teams 4-1, but that was against backup goaltender Bryan Mountain and both these teams are too schizophrenic right now for me to even venture a prediction.

Scores UMass Fans Should Keep an Eye On
(For the remainder of the season, this will replace the usual “Interesting Hockey East Games” segment.)

Friday
No. 12 Maine (#3 in Hockey East, 24 Points) vs. Boston University (#5 in Hockey East, 18 Points)

Saturday
No. 12 Maine (#3 in Hockey East, 24 Points) vs. Boston University (#5 in Hockey East, 18 Points)

Other Hockey East Action

Friday
No. 20 UMass Lowell vs. No. 10 Boston College
Providence vs. No. 15 New Hampshire
Merrimack vs. No. 17 Vermont

Saturday
No. 10 Boston College vs. No. 20 UMass Lowell
Merrimack vs. No. 17 Vermont

Also, big ups to the UMass basketball team for a big 84-80 win in OT at Duquesne.

So… is it Friday yet?

-Derek

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We hope you enjoy!

Brad

Honestly, there were no silver linings other than the fact that it only counts as one game, and that aggregate goals are meaningless in the NCAA. The troubling thing is that, after going through the entire first half without getting blown out – staying close in literally every game – the Minutemen have now suffered losses of 7-3 (BU), 7-2 (UNH), 6-2 (BU…again) and now this mess. They’re a mind-numbing six goals under .500 in Hockey East and down to even overall. What does it mean? Well, this percentage of the way through an NHL season, you’d have to start worrying; in a 27-game season, it just means UMass has gotten thrashed, absolutely thrashed, four times (this the first one at home). Their overall record, which is still solid in spite of everything, tells you that when things are bad for this team, they’re REALLY bad. For some reason, games spiral out of hand for these guys, which tells me there’s a tendency to give up (whether it’s late in the game, as it was in the two BU debacles, or early in the game, like up at Lake Whitt and now this shitshow).

So that means there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that this team, I still believe, has the talent to make a run in Hockey East. The bad news is that there are still effort and character issues. You simply cannot give up early in a sport; anything can happen in a game that’s 2-0 in the first (which is the point where it felt like the wheels really came off), hell, a comeback is still possible even after it’s 4-0 after one period, but a 7-0 deficit is insurmountable. (By the way, this applies to the fans, too, but Ben covered that already in his post.)

I will say this: BC, as Derek pointed out in his preview, is a damn good hockey team, and you must give coach York and crew credit for making them into serious contenders earlier than anyone outside Chestnut Hill could have predicted. They’re scary-deep, they don’t make stupid mistakes, and yeah, it’s safe to say that their January slump is behind them. Meanwhile, I have to take back anything I said before the game about BC’s fanbase being apathetic; their little cheering section was easily the most impressive of its kind in the Mullins Center all year, and they were certainly rewarded for their efforts and creativity. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I hate most people from BC with a fiery passion, but you can’t say they don’t care when they send over 100 kids to a place they supposedly wouldn’t touch with a 50-foot pole. (Then again, we’ll see how many of them come out in their own arena in a couple weeks.)

Coupled with tonight’s results, I think you have to look at Hockey East like this: three home-ice locks (UNH, Maine, and BC), and one spot open for the taking, with UMass, BU, and Vermont as the front-runners in a jumble, along with Lowell, although they’re on their way out as their offensive struggles (and now the loss of Dehner) have them on a rather Cahoon Swoon-esque slide. Northeastern, meanwhile, could jump into the conversation, but it would require a sweep of next weekend’s home-and-home with the Minutemen. Once again, we have to hope that playing the Huskies gives UMass a spark, and that this time, they sustain it. More on that later in the week.

Meanwhile, Matt and I made the annual (third time for me, first for him) bus trip down to URI to watch our men’s basketball team against our favorite A-10 rival. We’ll point out that we were among maybe five or six students on our bus and the group was heavily alumni-centric, so it wasn’t quite as fun as the last two trips. The outcome was also pretty depressing: once again, UMass started alright, then the wheel came off and before you knew it they were down 17 at half. I don’t even feel like talking about Big Shitty anymore, because honestly, there was nothing nice to say; I cringed every moment he stepped out on the floor, and this time he never managed to prove me wrong. The Gurley Show was also teetering on the brink of cancellation for me; his inconsistency is simply maddening at times.

Now, you have to give URI credit; they couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn to start the game (0 for their first 8 or 9 threes I think), and yet they were able to keep UMass from getting any sort of sustained run thanks to a devastatingly effective press that forced UMass turnovers seemingly at will. You gotta love their fan base, too — granted, there’s really nothing else to root for in Kingston, but just the same, they’ve packed that place all three times I’ve been there, their student section(s) put(s) ours to shame, and it’s freaking LOUD in there (not to mention a fantastic place to watch a game, even from the balcony corner that they always stick us in). I honestly love the Ryan Center, although I must admit that I’d love it a lot less if it weren’t for the last two trips. This one…eh.

UMass did put something together to start the second half again, and we had visions of another 17-point rally followed by actually holding the narrow lead, but then the Rams and their fans woke up again and put a quick stop to it with a bevy of dunks, not to mention their shooters finally heated up. Our guys made it respectable in the closing minutes, as Gurley suddenly realize there was a basketball game going on and started knocking down shot after shot, but it was in vain. This was a superior team with a lot more experience, especially in the coaching department, and it showed. Still, I liked what I saw out of the freshmen, and Sean Carter continues to be solid if not spectacular. And hey, at least they didn’t embarrass themselves on NESN. *sigh*

-Max

Well it is upon us again. Everyone’s favorite game of the year. I just love having to get to The Bill an hour earlier than the early time I already get there just to get the same seats I usually do. Okay bandwagon fans, I suppose I’ll grudginly allow you to come to this game (only because I can’t stop you) ability to see this game, but please don’t embarrass the rest of us who are there screaming just as loud when this team plays Merrimack and Niagara. That means you don’t chant “Fuck BC” every ten seconds (Yes, we know it’s fun, but after a while you sound retarded). That means you stay in sync during the chants and follow the clever ones that the regulars know and love (HINT: pay attention to that kid with the goggles). That means please, for the love of that crazy guy up in the sky with the beard that people who go to BC believe in, no swesties painting “zoomass” across their stomachs. Painting the name of our college is fantastic, painting a term that makes all other New England colleges look down on us is not. Thank you.

It has been said by many that only two types of people go to Boston College, rich Catholic snobs and great hockey players. This year’s edition of the BC Eagles once again proves the latter true. The Minutemen will face tonight the most statistically dominating team in Hockey East. The Eagles are the top-scoring team in Hockey East (3.67 GPG), have allowed the second fewest goals per game (2.62), and have the second best special teams scoring differential (+13). UMass ranks fifth (3.19), fifth (2.96), and fourth (+7) in these categories, respectively.

The Eagles have spread the scoring around this year, and they have eight double-digit point scorers in Hockey East games (Brian Gibbons (6-17-23), Cam Atkinson (13-8-21), Joe Whitney (6-10-16), Ben Smith (9-5-14), Carl Sneep {Sneep’s a pussy… you know the rest} (5-9-14), Jimmy Hayes (4-10-14), Pat Mullane (4-7-11), and Paul Carey (3-7-10)). UMass can counter such prolific double-digit Hockey East scorers as James Marcou (6-20-26), Casey Wellman (12-10-22), Will Ortiz (9-8-17), Justin Braun (2-15-17), Matt Irwin (4-9-13), and T.J. Syner (4-6-10). I might add that this is the first time since writing this blog that the Minutemen have actually had less double-digit scorers than their opponent. The Boston College offense averages over 32 shots on goal per game in conference and features a solid power play that scores on 20.4% of its Hockey East opportunities.

Boston College does a good job denying the opposition opportunities to score, as well. With shutdown defensemen like Brian Dumoulin, who has a +14 plus/minus (really, fucking +14! He’s +13 in conference too; what the fuck?) and good all around team defense (their top two scorers are both +8 in Hockey East play), it’s easy to see why BC has only been letting up goals at a rate of just over two and a half a game. What’s more, the Eagles have made their goalies face fewer than 26 shots a game in conference. With these numbers, its easy to see why the less than outstanding John Muse (.911 save % in conference) and that scrub Parker Milner (.887) are only allowing 2.37 and 2.60 goals a game, respectively.

Numbers, however, can be deceiving. BC has had a veritable cakewalk of a schedule so far this year. The Eagles have only had to play the other four teams in the top five of Hockey East (UNH, UMass, Maine, UML) in six of its eighteen Hockey East tilts this season. Since the start of the new year, BC has struggled. They are 4-5-0 in games played in 2010, although they are 4-2-0 in their last five. The key variable during this stretch has been shots on goal. In the four wins since the Jan 1, BC has put up 45, 39, 36, and 43 shots on goal. In the five losses, they have only topped 31 shots on goal once, and that was in an overtime game. So the key to this game would seem to be to limit BC’s shots on goal…

…Which brings us to the part of the Minutemen that makes me shudder, the defense. Our beloved team’s defense is, eh, not great. Giving up an average of 30.4 shots against in conference play not great. Having only five players on the team with positive plus/minus ratings not great. Having a plus/minus leader (Brett Watson) whose rating is only +4 not great. And missing an oft-overlooked but key defenseman in Doug Kublin for the last four games not great. (I’m holding out hope that Kubbie will play tonight, he has endeared himself to me BY KNOWING HOW TO FOLLOW HIS MAN TO THE GODDAMN POST ON A 2-ON-2 , knowledge that seems to elude our other defensemen.)

Still, I hold out hope. Paul Dainton will obviously be back in net tonight (Defense: Please, please, please give him a chance to win, just 31 shots or less, I’m begging.), and hopefully the breather given him by Dan Meyers (who performed very well in the 4-1 victory over Providence) will mean the end to the troubles he had in the two previous losses. The Minutemen are 3-2-0 in their last five and both Jimmy and Casey are due. Neither have scored a goal and they have only combined for three points in the last three games. SIDE NOTE: James Marcou has 32 assists on the year, one more will break the UMass record he set last year. I’m sure he would love to get that in a big way against a big rival.

This game is also on NESN, by the way. (They advertise it as Boston College versus UMass Amherst. Amherst, what the fuck man? This is UMass, that other college is UMass Lowell, get your shit straight NESN.) Usually a televised game would be enough to get me nervous, but there’s something else this year. There hasn’t been that January slide I’ve suffered through every year I’ve been here (please don’t come in February. Or March. Or Ever.), we don’t play down to our opposition, and I find myself really believing in this team.

The Rundown:

Offense: BC (sucks.)
Defense: BC (sucks.)
Goaltending: UMass
Special Teams: BC (sucks.)
Other Factors: UMass

Prediction:

Boston College 2 – 4 Massachusetts
(Against everything my brain tells me, my heart says we can and will win this.)

Other Interesting Hockey East Games This Weekend:

No. 13 New Hampshire Wildcats vs. No.16 Maine Black Bears
Friday 7PM, Saturday 7PM
New Hampshire is the top team in Hockey East and it will be interesting to see if Maine can hold on to that last home ice spot as UMass Lowell is playing two very beatable teams this weekend and would love to steal that fourth spot.

No. 18 UMass Lowell vs. Merrimack
Saturday 7PM
Even without Jeremy Dehner, Merrimack should be a cakewalk for UML. Should, except that Merrimack is 9-1-0 when playing at home this season. Let’s see if Lowell can put some pressure on Maine for that final home ice spot.

Other Hockey East Action:

Friday
No. 17 Vermont vs. Providence
Northeastern vs. Merrimack
Boston University vs. No. 18 UMass Lowell

Saturday
No. 17 Vermont vs. Providence

Monday
It appears some Hockey East teams are inexplicably engaging in some silly exhibition tournament-type dealie in the middle of the season. How strange.

-Derek

UMass hockey bounced back nicely last night with a 4-1 win at Providence. They proved a few things in that game; first, they showed they can, in fact, beat good goaltending, as in one of Hockey East’s elite keepers in Alex Beaudry (who single-handedly stole a game from the Minutemen on Halloween). They also showed that they can, in fact, win with Dan Meyers in net; after a couple putrid performances in front of the backup goalie, the Minutemen won with him for the first time since the thriller at Yale. And, lastly, they showed that Providence College is an absolutely atrocious team this season, but we all knew that.

So, thanks to BC’s sleepwalk through the last month or so, UMass is still in position where 2nd place is within reach, especially with two key games against the Eagles coming up in February. This includes next Friday’s monster of a showdown, in front of the NESN cameras and what will almost surely be one of, if not the largest crowd in Mullins Center history. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go camp out in line for a week to get primo seating.

Oh, and ‘grats to Eddie-O for his first career goal. It was nice to see the box score and find names like Olcyzk, Carzo, and Mikey among the goal-scorers, proving that UMass can get scoring from guys other than Casey, Jimmy and Ortiz. (Still, it would be nice to see some more offense; after scoring 5 goals in 3 of their first 4 games, the Minutemen haven’t put up more than 4 since the Wellman hat trick game at Vermont before Thanksgiving!)

More about BC later this week. Now, let’s turn our attention to UMass’s other big sport on campus.

…

Ugh. Do we have to?

The Minutemen had their chance to turn around a fickle student population with a rare Saturday night home tilt, in front of a national TV audience on ESPNU, hosting Charlotte with the chance to avenge the Valentine’s Day Massacre….and they completely and utterly blew it. I overheard one of the students (yes, we had a legitimate student section, and it only took TV cameras and a big-screen TV giveaway to get them to come!) refer to this as the “make or break game” for UMass’s students. And, for brief flashes, they played like it, especially in a fantastically entertaining stretch to start the second half, where UMass closed a 10-point deficit to one off a couple nice plays by Ricky Harris.

That was the 16:10 remaining mark in the 2nd half. UMass went on to score five points in the next eleven minutes. Raise your hand if any part of that sentence surprises you. Okay, you with the hands up – I’m guessing you only saw the Memphis game? (Did that even happen, by the way? I’m getting less and less sure with each day that the Memphis game wasn’t a pizza-and-beer-induced dream sequence. I could have sworn I saw Hashim Bailey actually playing some semblance of defense…)

Matt and I are at rope’s end with this team. Yeah, it seems uncanny that everyone we play seems to have a guy (in this case, Derrio Green) who can hit contested three-pointers seemingly all day long. But instead of continuing to contest that guy, our defense just gives up (in this case, letting Green take those shots uncontested). Our offense seems content with letting non-shooters (Matt Hill?!) jack up threes, failing to generate anything resembling offensive penetration or ball movement, going on little spurts with runners, floaters, and right-place-at-the-right-time layups. In other words, even when things are going well, it’s still sloppy as hell, and you almost feel embarrassed to cheer. The defense is atrocious, nobody can hit free throws, the guys commit stupid fouls…it just goes on and on.

Yes, I know they’re mostly freshmen or transfers who took a year off (and the guys who we have back are either playing through pain a la Pretty Ricky, not that good to begin with a la Gary Correia, or the frustrating enigma that is David Gibbs). Yeah, Charlotte’s actually a pretty good team. But these guys are starting to make me wonder if they’ll even make the A-10′s this year. That’s setting the bar awfully low, I’m aware, but really – I had no idea that the Memphis game was going to be a turning point in the wrong direction for UMass. If this keeps up, the question for me is not going to be when these guys realize their enormous potential, but if that’ll even happen at all with these guys.

And after all that…I’m still probably going to be there Wednesday for the Xavier game, if I’ve got nothing better to do. Hey, it’s hard to turn down the chance at a free 42″ TV, what can I say? I want these guys to prove me wrong.

-Max

Pig Long Island J Deep Teal (join I <3 the Starlust and check notices)

[BUTT-ERR] Jean Short Shorts – 1 L

[BUTT-ERR] 0L Sing it Loud tee

[BUTT-ERR] 0L BLack Shorts

Plastic Flowers Shattered w/tears and without $25L  (tan and pale shown)

Cheers,

Suri Alex xxx

Y’see, the Minutemen inexplicably failed to show up for that game, letting Fordham hang around for the first half and falling apart down the stretch to let the A-10′s typically less-dangerous Rams embarrass us on national television. I call it the Valentine’s Day Massacre, even though we only lost by a few points. It felt like a blowout loss to a real team (and remember, these were the glorious times of just a few short years ago when the Minutemen actually beat inferior teams at home). Instead of rolling into the A-10 tourney, the Minutemen had the pressure of needing to win one to keep hopes of an at-large bid alive, and, well, we all know how that worked out in the Travi$ Fraud era.

Now, normally, when your favorite team suffers a soul-crushing defeat, you’ll want to erase all memory of that game and move on. I don’t think I’ve seen a single Red Sox 2003 ALCS shirt, or a Patriots 2007 AFC Champions hat. Yet, for whatever reason, clueless UMass fans continue to wear these shirts recalling the Valentine’s Day Massacre, as if they have no idea what actually happened on the court, and just came to the game for the t-shirts. Oh, wait. That’s because they did. This is something that has pissed off many a true Minutefan for the last several years: the people who come for the free t-shirts and leave before halftime (or, in a few cases, before the game even starts). Now, granted, when it comes to college sports, it’s better to have a mix of fairweather and hardcore fans than no fans at all (see: the Mullins Center this year for basketball), but if you can’t be bothered to stick around to see your team play for at least the first half – and even that’s pretty lame – it’d probably be better for you to just not come at all. The point of the shirts is so that you’re seen on TV wearing them, not walking around campus next week, or two years later. One of my buddies – let’s just say he’s one of the more prominent student fans at basketball games – came up with the idea of proving a point by making Facebook events promoting free t-shirts for games where that isn’t the case. Ethical? No. But he’s got a point; a midweek t-shirt game against an A-10 dreg would probably draw a bigger crowd than a weekend game against an upper-tier team like Richmond or Dayton with no free swag.

A little disclosure here: I was held up by something, I don’t recall whether it was class or work obligations but I was definitely late to the game, juuust late enough to miss out on getting a t-shirt. (As in, literally the person in front of me walking in got the last one.) But I’m preeetty sure part of drowning our sorrows after the game would have included some sort of shirt-burning ceremony. I wanted nothing to do with that game; I wanted to get that memory purged, Eternal Sunshine-style. (And for that matter, sophomore year, I wanted the memory of Leemire Goldwire purged, too. And hockey’s entire second half. And the Super Bowl. And, uhh, maybe a couple of hookups. Man, sometimes I wish that movie was real.)

Anyway, rant aside, the Rams are paying their first visit to the Bill since that awful, awful night two years ago. No national coverage, and probably a lot lower stakes, as the Minutemen are coming off two consecutive disappointing losses and Fordham is beyond awful this year. They’ve lost last year’s breakout star Jio Fontan to USC, they’ve won just twice all year, they already fired their coach, they have two guys averaging double figure scoring. If UMass wants to do anything in conference play this year, they cannot lose this game, because really, everyone UMass has played this year (including Dowling and Arkansas-Ft. Smith) should be able to rout the Rams at home. I have a lot of  loyalty for the hockey team. A LOT. They could lose every game down the stretch, change their fight song to a Keith Urban song, have the UMass Republican Club sing the national anthem, replace Matty G with Glenn Beck, and replace the pucks in the Chuck-a-Puck contest with kittens, and I’d still follow every game. Basketball? Yeeeah, they don’t exactly have that from me yet, and besides, losing to Fordham would be far more egregious than all of that combined.

I’ll be back on hand to call the game on WMUA (the stream is right here or just tune your old-fashioned radio-mabobber to 91.1 FM at about 7:15 or so) and Matt’s gonna be there too, so you can probably expect a blog post from him at some point.

And there better not be any UMass <3 ESPN t-shirts, or so help me Cosby, there will be consequences.

-Max

FREE FUNNY T-SHIRTS – ONE DAY ONLY!

Click Here to choose your FREE T-SHIRT now ]]> http://iraberkowitz.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/crossword-puzzle-contest-4/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:12:08 +0000 iraberkowitz http://iraberkowitz.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/crossword-puzzle-contest-4/ I will now be starting a new contest, read on to learn the rules and PRIZES!!

The Crossword puzzle contest will be going on now until March 1, 2010.  All you have to do is complete the puzzle and email me the answers to contact@iraberkowitz.com. Make sure in the email you write Crossword Puzzle Contest in the subject line. Also, number your answers with the corresponding crossword puzzle clue, so I know what name goes to what clue. The prizes will be awarded based on ”first correct answers sent, first received” procedure. Now about the prizes:

•  One First Prize winner will receive a named character in my next book
• Five Second Prize winners will receive an autographed copy of Sinners’ Ball
• Ten Third Prize winners will receive a Sinners’ Ball  T-shirt

Puzzle Below:

All About Steeg

Think you know everything about Jackson Steeg? Test your knowledge and don’t forget to check out my wikipedia page for help (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Berkowitz)!

The original video (better quality) can be found here:
]]> http://reachmagazinetv.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/who-inspires-you/ Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:28:40 +0000 reachmagazinetv http://reachmagazinetv.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/who-inspires-you/ http://reachmagazinetv.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/giveaway/ Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:59:13 +0000 reachmagazinetv http://reachmagazinetv.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/giveaway/ http://aplink.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/special-guest-mtv-vj-joko-winterscheidt-in-virtual-berlin/ Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:11:30 +0000 aplink http://aplink.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/special-guest-mtv-vj-joko-winterscheidt-in-virtual-berlin/

Special Guest – MTV VJ Joko Winterscheidt in virtual Berlin

Premiere: German Garment launch party at virtual Weekend Club – Live DJ set meets fashion show.

Berlin, 1 September 2009 – Twinity, the world’s first mirror world made of real people and real places, is hosting a music meets fashion event on Friday, 4 September in collaboration with German newcomer fashion label German Garment. German Garment is celebrating the launch of its first collection in virtual Berlin in Twinity. And what better place for a party than Berlin’s legendary Weekend Club.

German Garment is a Berlin-based fashion label founded by actor Matthias Schweighöfer, MTV VJ Joko Winterscheidt, Berlin designer Kilian Kerner, and Sebastian Radlmeier, better known as DJ Sebrok and founder of the music label PASO Music, who teamed up to produce fresh, urban design that is completely ‘Made in Germany’. The result is German Garment, which recently premiered at the Berlin Fashion Week. The musical accompaniment to the show will be provided by DJ Sebrok, who will be manning the decks and spinning his trademark dark techno sounds across Weekend Club. During the whole show, DJ Sebrok and VJ Joko will be hanging out in person to chat and answer all your questions.

The first German Garment t-shirts will hit the shops in February; the online-shop on www.germangarment.com will be online from 3 October. Twinity members have the chance to be ahead of the crowd: Three t-shirts from the new collection, exclusively signed by Matthias Schweighöfer, are up for grabs in Twinity! And all Twinizens who come along on the night can get their hands on a free virtual German Garment t-shirt for their avatar.

What? German Garment launch party

Where? Weekend Club in virtual Berlin

When? Friday, 4 September from 18:00 CET

The virtual world Twinity is currently in public Beta. Register for free membership at www.twinity.com and start exploring the world today. Information about Metaversum and Twinity:

Metaversum develops and operates the 3D mirror world Twinity. The vision behind Twinity is to bring the real and the virtual world closer together by building realistic replicas of the world’s most vibrant cities in 3D. Berlin and Singapore have already launched in Twinity, with London set to follow soon. Twinity members can create a personal avatar, explore real cities virtually, move into a 3D home, chat with friends, work, get creative, or just have fun together.

Twinity offers businesses new ways of engaging with real people in real virtual cities. Through virtual shops and branded presences, inworld ad campaigns, product placements, and real and virtual sponsored events, Twinity lets you enter into a genuine, emotive dialog with your target group. Twinity is currently in public Beta and open for business. Founded in July 2006 and financed by leading venture capital firms, Metaversum has offices in Berlin, Singapore, Kiev, and Potsdam. More information can be found at www.metaversum.com and www.twinity.com. ]]> http://aplink.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/can-i-get-that-t-shirt/ Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:17:49 +0000 aplink http://aplink.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/can-i-get-that-t-shirt/ Everytime i wear this t-shirt i am asked “can i get that T-shirt” – well now is your chance – all you have to do for it is :

Be a member of twinity.com and within the twinity website invite your friends to join twinity. If 50 join, a Twinity T-shirt is yours and the craving will be over…

If you are already a member – start inviting, if you are a newbie..

SignUp here: www.twinity.com/en/singapore

Here is my latest music video:

Please comment and rate and subscribe. If you do, you will receive a gift from me!

To find the Free Music Jam 08 T-Shirt, go to the Plaza.

Available at the Plaza

To find the Maracas (return of an old/free item!), go to the Cove

Available at the Cove

To get the Backstage Pass to the VIP Room, go to the Snow Forts and then click on the Rock Catalog. YOU MUST BE A MEMBER TO GET THE BACKSTAGE PASS The pass costs 50 coins

Available at the Snow Forts

VIP Room is located at the Dock.

Entrance to Backstage

Backstage Catalog

Click on the dot on the I for a secret item! It is the Red Electric Guitar.

Red Electric Guitar Revealed!

DJ3k is released at the Nightclub. The way to get the most coins out of DJ3K is to keep on DJing for a long time! The longer you play, the more coins you get!

Play it now at the Nightclub!

Lastly, there is an applause button on the bottom right hand corner of the game. Click on it to hear APPLAUSE!

What is your favorite part of this party?!

When I started this spelling mistake contest, I didn’t know there was two mistakes! The first one was the word Advantages in my Featured penguin post and the 2nd one was the word calendar in my party clue answer. So without further ado, the winner of the Member Penguin is…Popeye! The actual number was 125 and the spelling error he found was right! I have emailed you the penguin

We also met another couple like us (trans guy and bio female). They were really cool and we had a blast with them too. After the festivle was over we all went to a  small bar/club and played “dance like that person”, It was a blast. I took some pictures once my girlfriends sister showed up with the camera.

My girlfriend (Dara) and I are planing on going to San Fransisco for pride in June. I really want to participate in the trans march which is June 27th a day before gay pride starts in San Fransisco. So I will let you know if we do that, and I will be writing the experience in Cali if we do go.

I’m still trying to get my youtube up and running. I’m still learning about editing programs, I keep not hearing audio after I save the file in finial cut pro. If anyone can help me with this please let me know.

Beyond the 5 free t-shirts I added to my wardrobe (I’ve pictured the Ts here so that the companies can feel more justified in their $5 marketing expense), my big takeaway as a marketer and budding entrepreneur is that Web 2.0 is both scary and exciting for its immense potential. The scary part: Web 2.0 puts a ton of power in the hands of each and every customer you have. A patron has a bad dining experience at your restaurant and his/her negative review on Yelp can be immediately read by thousands of people. A customer has a bad experience at Wal-Mart, and they can create a blog dedicated to blasting the retail empire that is linked to hundreds of other anti Wal-Mart sites and blogs. A business must both monitor and proactively engage their consumers to ensure that a Web 2.0 PR nightmare is not looming. The exciting part: By properly integrating the Web 2.0 tactics in their overall marketing strategy, an entrepreneur or business has the ability to engage, accelerate, and monetize in ways that did not exist even 5 years ago. An author can research and write his manuscript through the clever use of Wikis, publish his book on a personal blog, market the text through Google ad words, and sell thousands of copies with credit card transactions through PayPal. Take that Simon and Schuster.

The Majick Of Creativity ~~~ List Of The Best T-Shirt and Gift Shops On The Internet
Because I say so, I say that a lot to my kids. Basically because I have absolutely idea on how to go about the day to day process of being the ideal parent. Sure, being heavily medicated can be a hinderance, but what the heck, ya know?

I can ge up in the morning and fake it with the best of them !

Anyways, this is what I’ve been working on lately. We make WWII T-shirts, Korean War T-Shirts, Vietnam War T-Shirts, Veterans tshirts and gifts, military gifts,boys clothing,birthday gifts,gifts,holiday gifts,anniversary gifts,posters,prints,buttons,magnets,notecards,postcards,custom tees,custom t-shirts,t shirt,t shirts,humorous t-shirts and gifts,funny t-shirts and gifts,crazy t-shirts,bowling t-shirts,party t-shirts,army t-shirts and gifts,navy t-shirts and gifts,coast guard t-shirts and gifts,air force tees,usaf tshirts and gifts, USMC, Semper Fi Gifts, Christmas Gifts, Gifts for boys, gifts for girls,gifts for teens, youth t-shirts and gifts,teen gifts, Marine T-Shirts, U.S. Marines clothing,shirts,stickers,keepsake boxes,womens keepsake boxes,mens keepsake boxes,funny posters,political posters,political t-shirts and gifts, 2008,2008 election,2008 election t-shirts and gifts,war photos,war t-shirts,peace t-shirts,no war tshirts and gifts,Anti-Bush t-shirts,anti-Cheney tees,anti conservative t-shirts and gifts ,anti-democrat party t-shirts,womens tops,womens accessories,womens apparel,custom mousepads,personalized t-shirts and gifts,babe t-shirts,biker t-shirts,special forces t-shirt and gifts,airborne t-shirts,aviation t-shirts,jet fighter t-shirts,pilot t-shirts,Iraq War t-shirts and gifts,Conspiracy t-shirts,UFO tees,Alien t-shirts and gifts, WWII Veteran T-Shirts and Gifts,back to school t-shirts,posters for girls, animal posters,humorous gifts,hilarious t-shirts,Barack Obama t-shirts,Hillary Clinton t-shirts and Gifts, anti-Hillary Clinton t-shirts and gifts,John McCain for President t-shirts and gifts, custom hoodies,custom long sleeve t-shirts,sleeveless t-shirts,personalized military gifts,military t-shirts and gifts,vacation t-shirts,funny sayings t-shirts,bumper stickers,sweaters,womens jogging outfits,plus size t-shirts,plus size black shirts,womens plus size apparel, Womens custom plus size clothing and gifts,sports t-shirts,activewear t-shirts,sports apparel, mens clothing,womens clothing,boys clothing,girls clothing,teen fashion apparel,womens fashion apparel,framed posters and gifts,MADE IN USA t-shirts,white t-shirts,blue t-shirts,green t-shirts,yellow t-shirts,maroon t-shirts,purple t-shirts,aqua t-shirts,olive t-shirts,black t-shirts, and much, much more !

( Was that a run-on sentence ? – really? it was ? How can ya tell? Does a buzzer go off in your head or something or does someone knock on your door…. BRB )

http://unifiedveterans.mysite.com/index.html

http://www.cafepress.com/happy_planet

http://happyplanettees-rainbowrising.blogspot.com/

http://www.zazzle.com/rainbowrising

http://www.cafepress.com/unifiedveterans

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http://www.bravisa.com/nStoreHome.jsp?bStoreID=447

http://www.cafepress.com/08barack2008

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http://www.cafepress.com/go_hillary

http://www.cafepress.com/__hillaryfor2008

http://www.cafepress.com/clinton_elect

http://www.cafepress.com/hillaryprez

http://www.cafepress.com/a1___hillary_08

http://www.cafepress.com/usafusausaf

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http://www.cafepress.com/psychoshirts

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http://www.cafepress.com/bluesub

http://www.cafepress.com/bikinibomb

http://www.cafepress.com/08hillary2008

http://www.cafepress.com/freedom_ribbon

http://www.cafepress.com/funny__tees

http://www.cafepress.com/hillary___2008

http://www.cafepress.com/_back2skool

http://www.cafepress.com/marines_gifts

http://www.cafepress.com/air_force_gifts

http://www.cafepress.com/humorous_gifts

http://www.cafepress.com/funny_gifts

http://www.cafepress.com/gulf_war

http://www.cafepress.com/world_war_2

http://www.cafepress.com/x_planes

http://www.cafepress.com/usaf_veterans

http://www.cafepress.com/aviation_photos

http://www.cafepress.com/aviation_tees

http://www.cafepress.com/blue_angels_

http://www.cafepress.com/_blue_angels

http://www.cafepress.com/kegandquarters

http://www.cafepress.com/luketheduke

http://www.cafepress.com/hillary_prez

http://www.cafepress.com/_election2008__

http://www.cafepress.com/clinton_elect

http://www.cafepress.com/_hillaryfor2008

http://www.cafepress.com/go_hillary

http://www.cafepress.com/manonmars

http://www.cafepress.com/manfrommars

http://www.cafepress.com/vote4crap2008

http://www.cafepress.com/__wwii_tees

http://www.cafepress.com/queenhillary

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http://www.cafepress.com/vphillary2008

http://www.cafepress.com/marssighting

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http://www.cafepress.com/welovehillary1

http://www.cafepress.com/gopresident2008

http://www.cafepress.com/winbarackwin