I dragged myself out of the house yesterday to attend a couple of Homecoming functions for UMass Lowell. I went to Hawkey Way at Tsongas right at 2pm, as it opened, and right to the Athletic Tent. I had a glass of wine and an apple turnover, said Hi! to my former boss and chatted with a former employee, a grad student and the tent staff (Aramark?) for a few minutes. No one else was there. So I walked back to my car, drove to Top Donut for MY French Vanilla Iced Coffee, cream & sugar (best in the universe) and drove to Cushing Field to the Mens Soccer game. There was a small gathering in the parking lot of Ted Priestly and his soccer alums from the early 2000s. THen up to the game. We won. (So far this year we have won every Field Hockey and Soccer game I have been to...) Sat for part of the game with some wonderful fellow alums from the 60s (Jim & Gary Hunt, Wally McHendry) and came home. Our soccer team played a beautiful, intelligent, talented game and I was proud to be a RiverHawk. I love their tradition of lining up in front of their bench and parading across the field to greet fans at the end of the game. More impressive were the fans who were polite, and did not harass either opponents or officials, verbally or otherwise. I even heard the strongly partisan crowd appreciate a couple of good plays and defensive moves by the Binghamton players. That is what makes going to these games fun. People are there to see good athletics, not vent frustrations or bully anyone. I had the same experience at Field Hockey in recent weeks. Congrats Lowell fans. You do the school and players an honor by conducting yourselves so well! I wish it were the same for the toddlers and beginners in sport, but press lately has been focused on BAD behavior of some parents. Well, UML does not appear to have ANY of that. I havent been to a hockey game yet, but I pray the same spirit is present in Tsongas, as well. The epic performance there by a student-loaded attendance at the opener against B.C., when the microphone failed the featured singer during the National Anthem, is going viral, so I believe this new spirit is real and pervasive. Go Riverhawks!!! https://youtube/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vpOOa74n_EY
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 16:46:07 +0000
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