A moment of pause for photography that causes you to

What evokes more unfiltered human emotion than death, love and sacrifice?  One of Boston.com’s recent “The Big Picture” photo galleries featured all three, in highlighting something that often gets lost in the big picture of a war: the people.

The photo gallery, titled Armstice Day Remembrances and posted on Nov 13, includes images you might expect to make the front page, and might not expect to leave your memory anytime soon:

…A shriveled hand dropping a red poppy on The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

…A triple amputee Afghanistan war veteran gazing upward  during a memorial ceremony, in a wheelchair and still in full uniform.

…The President of the United States walking stoically through section 60 of Arlington National Cemetary.

These are photos you inspect closely because you want to stay those extra few seconds…it’s that interesting, that artful. Most importantly, this gallery was one that makes you pause, and think. 

One of it’s predecessing galleries, however, makes you gaze.

“Launch of the Ares I-X” , another boston.com Big Picture gallery of late, was admittedly the most NASA gear I’ve seen since I watched Tom Hanks & crew sweat it out in the 1995 Ron Howard film Apollo 13.

But the most memorable picture had nothing to do with landing gear, thrust or simulator crew modules.

In a photograph sure to make you pause, photographer Bruce Weaver captures a perfect example of earth’s distant, curious relationship to whatever’s up there in the stars-a beautiful and wordless example that either my autistic 10 year old little brother or the NASA astronauts themselves could appreciate-could crack a smile at.

What is it, you ask?

I’ll phrase it how my 10 year old brother would: “An alligator swimming next to a rocket ship.”

What do all of these photos have in common? They make you pause. They make you think. I imagine the cliche “a picture’s worth a thousand words” may be mentioned-either explicitly or, more than likely, implicitly-in our class discussion tonight. The cliche is too true to die, and the best pictures are the ones that don’t make you say anything at all.

For a moment, just a moment before you go about your day, you are immersed. Then it’s time to blink, and you’re changed, a tiny bit.

Those are the best photos.

Taking a breather to look back the UM hockey beat this year

As a scraggly-legged 7th grader playing junior high basketball, each year after  tryouts the coaches gave us that expected, tired speech:

“You know, cuts aren’t always what they seem. When Michael Jordan was about your age, he was once cut from his basketball team.”

Even as pre-teens, we all heard that old spin machine on Little Susie getting cut loud and clear.  Cuts are tough, and initial impressions don’t always turn out to be correct. Tryout again next year.

False initial impressions, however, have substantially manifested in unexpected fashion after my early choice of UM men’s hockey as my Masslive.com blog beat.

Initially, I thought I would love it, but initially, Hitler was named “Man of the Year” by Time Magazine, in 1939.

Some choices you wish you could edit, right?

4 reflections on my beat thus far:

Reflection #1: Press Box decorum

When you’re on press row, sportswriters pretend to have no soul, and they’re really good at it. After spending a few games up there, I’ve learned to mimic their stoic decorum, but then again, I wasn’t on Press Row for Friday night’s Casey Wellman game-tying goal with 11 seconds remaining in regulation.  I probably would’ve discreetly cracked a smile.

Reflection #2: BUMP. Watch your head on the subject matter ceiling

Maybe I have an originality complex, but sometimes sportswriting feels a little robotic-a little like biking 5 miles at the gym on an easy level of a fitness machine: you can do it and feel feint accomplishment afterwards, but it wasn’t all that interesting or stimulating.

As much as I jokingly tool on the Daily Collegian, they really do an excellent job of covering the Western Mass niche of UMass sports.  The problem is, is AP style sportswriting really that interesting or relevant anymore?  In this internet age of twitter updates from the athletic department, and mobile internet applications that give diehard fans score updates and box score info, who wants to sit down and read a 600 word stat summary or team notebook? Maybe someone, if it has an awesome lede or they’re the right wing’s girlfriend.

But how long will the average American read on for? Does the average American do anything other than scan the headlines?

My opinion is a straight up no. Which is why I set out this semester with the intent to cover hockey in an offbeat way.  However, my usually fluid writing arsenal hit an unusual block with this subject matter.

It was a little humbling, and I, after finding I’m no Bill Simmons, am glad. As much as I would’ve liked to believe it, the UMass hockey team isn’t the Boston Red Sox, either. My offbeat, student/fan perspective crossed awkwardly with a subject matter of less overall fan interest, less media access and assumed increased restrictions on what you can/can’t report on the players’ personal lives, as they are students and not celebrities.

3.) If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and why repeat it?

Having sincere trouble flexing my writing muscles with offbeat UM hockey content, I turned to the pillars of sportswriting: game summaries and stat analysis.

The issue here was something Jeff Jarvis touched upon- the issue of repetitive content- last semester in his blog, Buzz Machine.

After participating in this hockey beat, I have to agree with Jarvis on the issue of repetitive content.

Is Dick Baker’s Springfield Republican hockey game summary really all that different from my summary on Masslive? Is Matt Vautour of the Gazette’s game summary really that different from the hockey beat writers down at the Collegian? To me, UM goaltender Paul Dainton’s 42 saves are Paul Dainton’s 42 saves are Paul Dainton’s 42 saves.

After attending post-game press conferences in the Mullins Center, I wonder if these beat writers go home and cross their fingers hoping the others won’t use the same dynamite player or coach quote they themself  just submitted to their editor in their game wrap.

Maybe I have an originality complex, but game wraps make me yawn, including ones I write. Bring on the features.

Reflection #4: “Where we gonna go from here?” …Plans for potential future hockey entries

* Behind the scenes photo blog tour of th Mullins Center?

Got this idea after organizing a volunteer Registered Student Organization postgame clean-up of the arena for a mock trial team fundraiser, and watching the operations crew change the hockey ice to the basketball court.  I’d have to do some legwork to get permission from the appropriate athletic dept./Mullins Center personell, obviously, but this could be a fresh content idea.

* Player Q&A – Definitely want to squeeze in one of these before the semester is done.  They sometimes sit behind me in geology class and I awkwardly bump into them in the dining hall, but I’ll opt for the more formal/professional UMass athletics Media Relations interview request.

More TBA…

The student we’d asked was leaning up against a tree I wasn’t rich enough to lean up against, reading a book I wasn’t smart enough to read.  He was helpful, but the stoic frown on his face indicated this sort of thing happened all the time.  We were, after all, right outside of Harvard Yard on an afternoon so nice it looks photoshopped in the pictures we took.

My UMass mock trial co-captain and I started walking in the direction the helpful Harvard student had pointed.  We were visiting his campus as competitiors at one of the most reknown academic competitions on the east coast, and he was probably studying for an exam Monday.  He was a student, we were tourists.

Tourists, in fact, were all around. 

“This would be obnoxious,” a freshman teammate had joked during our impromptu lunch in Harvard Yard, “Can you imagine tour groups of 50 people with video cameras coming through to make sure they captured the moment they first saw the W.E.B. DuBois library? While you’re laying out studying?”

I thought back to the dozens of university tours I’d given here at UMass over the summer while working as a freshman orientation counselor.  I could not imagine this.

Depending on your level of extreme pride and/or denial, you might say we were underdogs that weekend.  The full roster of teams included Brown, Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Cornell, Boston College, Boston University, Villanova, Princeton, Wellesley and various other schools attended by Presidents, First Ladies and various cast members of Harry Potter.  This is why one our other freshmen quipped, “When you saw Brown in the captains’ meeting, was Emma Watson there?”

This is also why, as eye-roll worthy as it’s going to sound, we were glad the tournament directors listed us in the event program as “The University of Massachusetts at Amherst” instead of “UMass.”

Good thing we weren ‘t the only underdog in town-there was a team there from Illinois’ Elgin Community College as well.  You’ve never heard of it, but you have now.  I bet it was no coincidence they were listed in the tournament program as, simply, “Elgin,” and I bet they were glad, too. 

What I didn’t bet, before the weekend, was that by the time Elgin Community College left Cambridge that weekend, they’d have defeated teams from both Yale and Princeton. I found this little nugget out here, where I also discovered that Elgin Community College President David Sam flew to Boston to attend the tournament.

Well, well, well.  We here at UMass (understandably) didn’t get quite that big of a response, but we were grateful enough for an article in the Daily Collegian  and financial support from a university grant we’d waited 3 weeks to hear about-to see if we’d get the chance to stand toe-to-toe with the Ivies. 

3 weeks where we practiced every weeknight for 3+ hours after classes, known affectionally by the team as “Hell Weeks.”

3 weeks of strategizing, balancing practice with academics and telling friends, parents and professors, “Sorry I smell, I haven’t had time to do laundry. Yeah, the Harvard tournament.”

In the past 3 weeks, I think UMass football kicker Armando Cuko and I had more in common than we probably ever will again, because mock trial fully morphed into the academic equivalent of an NCAA division 1 sport.

 As team co-captain and a founding member of UMass mock trial, I was usually an attorney, which in mock trial is like being the the closer,  the point guard, the quarterback, the goalkeeper.  But this weekend, the team needed a witness…A witness in mock trial is like the kicker in football.  You only get noticed if you screw up or break a statistical record. A veteran college mock trial attorney being a witness is like Tim Wakefield coming in to pitch the 8th inning of a playoff game where the bullpen is spent. 

 So I did. We went 4-4, beating Villanova and BC.  People are saying “Congratulations,” but as far as I’m concerned, we only went 4-4.  The work has just begun.

But all mediocre things must come to a screeching halt, and nothing sours a morning’s bowl of Cocoa Puffs more than waking up to discover some random staffer has lazily made the lede under your byline look like it was written by a 6th grader.

Seven ruined bowls of Cocoa Puffs later, I decided to stop writing for the Daily Collegian.

Why?

I spent way too many moments laughing hysterically at how seriously some of my Collegian colleagues were taking themselves…Acting as if they’re God’s gift to journalism because of their 24 followers on Twitter and death-defying internship at their hometown Weekly Sunrise-Westchesterfield Gazette.

Unwarrented Pretentiousness Exhibit A: The former Collegian sports editor, trying to claim last semester that I, as a (then) Daily Collegian sports staffer, “should not [have been] wear[ing] a UMass Amherst sweatshirt on campus.”

I kid you not.

Whatever that former editor is smoking, let’s get RPI’s hockey team some too, before they roll in here Thursday night to play the Mass Attack. This guy’s best hockey writer last year sat next to me in the student section 5 times, so what is his Don’t Ask Don’t Tell UMass apparel policy trying to prove?

Dan Marino doesn’t usually trot to the announcer’s booth with a #13 Dolphins jersey, but everyone knows what franchise he’s rooting for.  Peter Gammons isn’t wearing a Red Sox cap on ESPN, but he might as well be.

Furthermore, the fact is, sweatshirt on torso or sweatshirt “in the closet” (horrible pun intended), we are fundamentally biased anyways as UMass undergrads.  Why pretend otherwise?

To clarify, this guy wasn’t talking about wearing a UM sweatshirt in the press box. He was talking about not wearing a UM sweatshirt to class.

Ridiculous. How can any UMass student claim to be objectively detached from the university’s affairs, and why did this editor think the not wearing a UMass sweatshirt was a valid way of claiming as much?

Basic logic holds that if the UMass athletic teams succeed, it benefits the university, and if the university benefits, the students benefit. How then, can any student claim to be impartial, by definition, to the university’s athletic teams-particularly its major athletic programs?

But regardless, let’s talk objectivity…

Like I said, on Thursday night, the UMass hockey team will open its home schedule vs. RPI  at the Mullins Center.  A few hours earlier, at least 4 of its players probably an exam scheduled.  How do I know that?

Sitting in that class one day, about 3 weeks prior to Thursday’s exam, I saw a certain Minutemen hockey player doodling an exquisite little cartoon in class, surrounded by a few other easily identifiable players.

Because I’m not TMZ or the Boston Herald Inside Track, there’s no need to tell you who this player was.  But the anecdote hammers my most basic point here: if you’re expecting 100% objectivity in college journalism, allow me to laugh in your face.

We are inextricably tied to the subject matter:

1. How many times have you seen an article you or someone you know has written in a high school or college newspaper that quotes one of that person’s friends or acquaintances?

Hypothetical: How convenient! You wrote a non ed/op news article about Event X. It was due in an hour, so you quoted Person X who lives 2 doors down from you in Puffton for their opinion on that new SGA by-law. Nobody will notice, right?

2. Many students work part-time jobs as employees of the university. We depend on the school for our future. Also- WE LIVE HERE:

Hypothetical: Oh! You found out it was actually Person X who pulled the fire alarm in Dorm X after their microwave exploded… Person X is your RA, you’re the only person who saw it, and it’s September 21st. You’re going to have to live next door to them for a year if you snitch. Or not, if you get them, your friend, fired.

3. We, as students, have a stake. Almost always.

Hypothetical: Your TA is implicated in a scandal. I should give Reporter X information on this controversial note I saw on the TA’s cubicle wall, but the TA knows I was only one of two students from Ethics 120 there for office hours that day, and I need to pull at least an 85 on the last exam, which the TA is grading.

Objectivity? Halloween is coming up…you can pretend. Or we can just wear our maroon sleeve on our sleeve instead of trying to conceal, abstain, conceal.

Honesty > false pretense. That’s what you’ll get from me covering UMass hockey this semester, meaning, I’m not going to sit here and pretend I wasn’t jumping up and down in the student section when UMass scored against BC in overtime last season, because I was.

Why should I claim objectivity? Why would I?

Why would you? Because you’re pretentious.

Very glad I checked Brad Durkin’s most recent class blog entry before posting this.

Had I not, you might’ve tabbed me for plagiarism, because I was just thinking  the exact same thing as Brad regarding Masslive. An excerpt from his recent post:

Thought # 1

Alright so I think I have blog posts on masslive, but I cannot find them. And if I am looking for them and can’t find them then how is someone else supposed to find them?

Seriously, if I’m stuck rummaging through my backpack to find that random sheet of paper from class with the web address for our blog, instead of finding it easily on the site’s own search feature, what makes Masslive think anyone else will accidentally pluck the blog out of obscurity?

Not trying to bite the hand that’s feeding us a cool opportunity to write for the company. Just sayin’

Saturday, on a whim after seeing Scott’s post on the class blog, that’s just what I did when I paid $5.99 to read a magazine feature article not on my laptop screen. Yes, I may be extremely stupid. Yes, I am aware of the ‘internet.’

How to fix journalism: don't try to fix journalism

And yes, I enjoyed Mark Bowden’s take on hyperpartisan media battles of late and perhaps, so will you. Here’s why.

A 2007 Atlantic cover story boasted “How To Fix The World.” I didn’t know that 5 minutes ago, but thanks to Google image search, I do now, and thanks to this random blog, so do you. Such is the viral, exhilarating and somewhat creepy complexion of the internet.

It was the internet, claims Bowden in the originally mentioned piece, that cryptically provided all the major news networks with their allegedly identical  initial selected soundbites of Supreme Court nominee Sonja Sotomayor.  Bowden writes:

Who, after all, is willing to work for free?  Morgen Richmond, for one—the man who actually found the snippets used to attack Sotomayor. He is a partner in a computer-consulting business in Orange County, California, a father of two, and a native of Canada, who defines himself, in part, as a political conservative. He spends some of his time most nights in a second-floor bedroom/office in his home, after his children and wife have gone to bed, cruising the Internet looking for ideas and information for his blogging. “It’s more of a hobby than anything else,” he says. His primary outlet is a Web site called VerumSerum.com, which was co-founded by his friend John Sexton.

Bowden goes on to analyze why he thinks sites like VerumSerum are reflective of what he expertly terms a climate of “political hit men:”

In this post-journalistic world, the model for all national debate becomes the trial, where adversaries face off, representing opposing points of view. We accept the harshness of this process because the consequences in a courtroom are so stark; trials are about assigning guilt or responsibility for harm.

As a co-captain of the university’s mock trial team, I especially enjoyed and was able to relate to this analogy of Bowden’s.  More importantly, it perfectly hammers in the point I was trying to make during our in-class discussions last week: in true viral nature, journalism has become inseperably infected with the partisan nature of the general public.

Bowden’s analysis of VerumSerum’s writers was far from viper-like in criticism. Still, at least one of the VerumSerum writers, in responding to the article on their site, had characterized Bowden as someone who “practices what he preaches” to some extent. A long entry was posted wishing to clear up misconceptions, however. It’s worth a read  if you want another take on Bowden’s views. One interesting bit from VerumSerum’s response post #2:

In his article, Bowden describes me and my co-blogger John as “as part-time, or aspiring, journalists”. I can’t answer for John, but I believe my own response to Bowden’s question on this was to laugh, and say something to the effect that I am probably the definition of an amateur, couch journalist. The truth is that I’m a co-owner of a pretty successful business, and I really don’t aspire to a career in journalism. In fact, I only started blogging within the past 6 months and I’m not even sure I aspire to a career as a non-professional blogger.

As I told Bowden, the reason I got into blogging was to make a difference in the national debate over issues I care deeply about.

Bingo. “Issues I care deeply about.” Game, set , match.

At the same time, Bowden is just as removed from objectivity as his subjects, in my opinion.

Sure, VerumSerum’s writers post their blog entries under a header showing graphics of biblical characters, but let’s keep it real, Bowden writes for The Atlantic, a magazine whose cover story is still bitching randomly about George Bush and will probably bitch about george Bush until the end of time.

Verdict: Journalism’s hyperpartisan atmophere-if you’re even on the boat in calling it “journalism’s”-can’t be fixed by some noble intervention, some brilliant tweet or some random minute blog.  Like a child who eats way too much Halloween candy, journalism will eventually right itself once it realizes it ate too much crap and pukes. Or dies.

An ice resurfacer at the Mullins Center during a fall 2008 hockey intermission. Were you about to call it a Zamboni® ? 'Cause it might not be.

What’d you guys do on Saturday afternoon? Order Wings? Make love to your significant other?

I emailed the CEO of Zamboni® , begging the company to let me reference its legendary hockey invention in my Masslive blog title without getting sued.

Hey, Scott told us to brainstorm blog names, and what’s more appropriate for an offbeat student/fan hockey blog than the original intermission legend itself?

So I did what any lazy child of our generation would do and Wikipedia searched Zamboni®, to find an un-cited claim that the company was a little Prince-like in its copyright sensibilities. Rightfully so.  A quick search of the official Zamboni ® website turns up this explanation…

The ZAMBONI brand name is a valuable trademark which we must diligently protect. Like Coke®, Kleenex® and Jeep®, it has close identity in the public mind with a particular type of commodity – but the public doesn’t always remember that it is a particular brand. Some notable ex-trademarks which are now in the public domain are aspirin, cellophane, thermos bottle, and zipper. Please remember:

A trademark is always an adjective. Never a noun. So when referring to ZAMBONI, please use it in the correct context. ZAMBONI is the brand, and ice resurfacing machine is the generic product name.

• Zamboni® ice resurfacer
• Zamboni® ice resurfacing machine
• Zamboni® brand of apparel and accessories

Sir, yes sir.  After reading the above trademark policy above in full, I became scared shitless that the Zeus of hockey would sue me, I immediately fired off the following email:

Dear Merchandising dept of Frank J. Zamboni & Co. Inc.:

It is with great respect that I wish to inquire, as a lifelong hockey fan and
university journalism student assigned to blog about Hockey East/University of
Massachusetts college hockey this semester, about using the name “Zamboni” in my
blog title, whether this would be allowed/legal/etc.

In naming my blog after your original invention, I would respect your company’s
wishes as outlined on http://www.zamboni.com/copyright.html#trademark (Accessed
29 Sept 2009) and request that my blog editors allow me to always treat the name
“Zamboni” as a trademarked adjective.

As you’d probably guess, student hockey fans at our university commonly usually
refer to the ice resurfacer at games as the Zamboni, however, I am looking into
whether or not your brand is actually used by the athletic department, if that
would also pose an issue.

That being said, I would like to inquire about what else I would have to do to
attain Mr. Zamboni’s permission to name my college hockey news site, “Zamboni®
Honor Roll.”

The logo would hopefully incorporate classic style varsity sports lettering
spelling out “Zamboni®  Honor Roll.” (ex:
“http://www.3dembroideryletters.com/ProdImages/VarsityFlier.jpg“).

I would either use or exclude the ® symbol at your company’s request.

Thank you for your time in responding to my request.

Respectfully,

Holly Galvin
hgalvin@student.umass.edu

As my dear friend @UMassicPark might say, “You’re sober enough to know better[, Holly].”

(“You’® e sobe® enough to know bette® ?“)

The view from the Mullins Center student section as the Minutemen trounce last season's eventual national champs, fall semester 2008.

Backed by a primal student section straight out of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, occasional free t-shirts and the simple fact that hockey games often turn into a Friday night “who’s who on campus” destination for undergrads, the Mullins Center has something for everyone .

So with less than two weeks until the first home hockey game, it’s time to dish out some fan tips for new UMass students. Class of 2013, read on…

1.) This isn’t your meme’s student section.

If your parents are visiting for the weekend & bringing younger siblings to a game, sitting with them in the student section will be, depending on your outlook, some degree of awwwwwkwaaard. Encourage the family to instead opt for the non-general admission seats (yellow and red shaded areas on this official UM athletics seating chart. ).  There, familieswill enjoy shorter lines, encounter less potty mouths and still get visits from the mascot.

The Mullins Center student section decked out in Halloween costumes during UMass hockey's 9-4 thrasing of Providence last fall semester. Photo property of UMassathletics.com...but see if you can locate me, Where's Waldo style. The new freshman class of 4,000+ will get its first look at the Mass Attack when the team's home schedule kicks off in less than two weeks.

Basically, it boils down to this: While the athletic department has done it’s part to help foster a wholesome environment with last spring semester’s ”Be Respectful, Keep It Clean” campaign, when it comes to college athletics, oftentimes a student section is a student section is a student section.

Who shouldn’t you bring to the student section? The same types of people you probably shouldn’t bring on a thrill ride at Six Flags: the elderly, people under 4 feet tall, your boss, the kid you babysit who repeats things like a parrot, etc.

2.) Friends don’t let friends sit in the second-to-last row of section ‘QQ.’ If you’re stuck in class late on game day, text friends arriving at the Mullins ahead of time to save decent seats in the student section. For games televised on NESN (usually listed here) & free t-shirt giveaways, some especially dedicated students start lining up outside before doors open 1 hr prior to gametime. Games against rival Boston University are always popular, and with the Terriers returning to Amherst as national champs on Oct 16, a sell-out is certainly possible.

3.) ‘I’m a Mouse…Duh. ‘ Wear a costume to the Halloween game.

Oct 31, 2008 was a fun night for undergrads: We got to eat lobster dinner at Dining Services’ annual Halloween feast and watch the Minutemen light up Providence for 9 goals. All while sitting between a guy dressed as Disney’s Aladdin, a guy wearing an orange prison jumpsuit with a stuffed dog under his arm (purportedly a Michael Vick costume) and a startlingly realistic Chewbacca.

The point is…don’t be too cool for school when Providence returns to face the Mass Attack this October 31st-Tons of students dress up for the game, and many do group themes. Replicate Kanye West’s crop circles haircut from this year’s VMA’s, and your friend can go as Taylor Swift.

4.) If you can avoid driving………………avoid driving.

Traffic and parking-wise: Only drive if you live off campus and off the bus route. If you live on campus, walk. If you live on campus and you’re lazy, take the bus. However, if you live in the dorms, taking the on-campus shuttle home after the game is not a good look…you’ll get stuck in the jammed postgame parking lot/one roadway out and would’ve saved 20-30 minutes by just walking.

5.) Stay for OT- Leaving early from a game for traffic reasons is also not a good look, especially since the Mass Attack had some thrilling sudden death overtime wins last year, like this one versus UMaine and a thrilling 4-3 victory over Boston College, after a multi-player scrum had broken out earlier in the game. Even between periods, memorable moments abound-

6.) Encourage (force, for their own good) that socially awkward floormate to attend the hockey game. For those who are into sports, UMass hockey is generally your best bet to catch some of the highest quality Division 1 action in the region. However, the social appeal of games extends beyond the game itself.  For those of us who are a bit more socially timid/awkward, the structured chants and traditions of the student section-and the fact that in Amherst, there’s always going to be someone weirder than you nearby-make for a low stress social environment for the shy types.

7.) Free T-shirts: There Will Be Blood If spilling beer is a party foul in life, taking a give-away t-shirt and leaving before the game starts is obviously a hockey party foul. Don’t be that guy.

8.) Bring your UCard If you have it and you’re an undergrad, admission to hockey games is free (general admission on a first come first serve basis). If you don’t have your Ucard on you at the door, you have to pay regular adult ticket price, or……..not go to the game. So lock that puppy up.

9.) Use your UCard to acquire delicious yum yums Most if not all meal plans have something called “YCMP swipes,” also commonly referred to by upperclassmen as “flex swipes,” which are basically special meal swipes that allow you a certain dollar amount (usually 8 bucks or so) at retail dining areas on campus (The Blue Wall Cafe, Pitas Pit, the snack bar in the library, etc.). You can also use these “flex swipes” to get food at the Mullins Center concessions stands @ games. Go in peace and retrieve your Sour Patch Kids.

10.) Follow upperclassmen lead on chants. Ever been elbow to elbow/cankle to cankle with someone’s somewhat obnoxious and somewhat ugly blabbering (ex)girlfriend in Fenway Park? This one’s for you. Mullins Center seating is significantly less cramped than Fenway’s luxurious 1912 grandstands, but some of its patrons are no less distracting. Don’t be that classic constant whine: “So like, why is the goalie out of the netttt?” or, the classic, “Are we ever going to sit dowwwwwn?” If you don’t know what’s going on, watch n’ learn.

11.) Be smart. Be leary of trying to sneak alcohol and/or other shenanigan material into the arena.  There’s significant police presence, often with police canines, and they check bags upon entry. Hey, just sayin’  Be aware of the risks at hand and make the best decisions to keep you & your friends both safe and out of trouble.

12.) If you want to win the ‘Dance For the Diner’ gift certificate, sit by an aisle to stand out. Don’t get discouraged if you lose all of your dignity…you just entertained thousands of people by inadvertently twirling your muffin top all over the jumbotron.

-Learn the opposing goalie’s last name. You’ll be heckling him all night, espcially if he’s unfortunate enough to have an easy-to-chant two-syllable last name, like Maine’s Dave Wilson, a favorite target of UMass fans last season.

That’s it from me on the UMass hockey beat for now.  If you think I missed something, or you think something I said is ridiculously off base, let’s hear it! The comment section is all yours.  –H

1.) Goalie round-up: Look, chicks dig goalies. We’ve all heard of the rabid nature of college hockey fans in general, and sometimes, we’ve all heard about their occasional quests to “poke” opposing goaltenders via Facebook. But for this potential blog entry, I was thinking of going more basic: a statistical and categorical preview of Hockey East goalies (and potential Hockey East goalies, if any positional battles are currently ongoing) this year. It would be a pertinent game analysis that would potentially draw in more (for lack of better word) “serious” readers to the blog than just those looking for a more funky/offbeat student/fan perspective.

2.) Do’s and Don’ts for freshmen of attending your first UMass hockey game If it’s a party foul to spill a beer, it’s a UMass hockey foul to show up at a free t-shirt game, grab a free t-shirt and immediately leave.  Great way to get booed voraciously upon your freshman arrival at the Mullins.  This story would include other tidbits freshmen may or may not be privy to off the bat (ex: ability to use flex meal plan swipes at Mullins Center concession stands)

3.) Team notebook Styled similarly to sports notebooks in major newspapers.  Something you kind of wish The Collegian would do more of (for the hockey team specifically), with random/interesting mini storylines and stats rather than forced/elongated sidebars.

4.) Rookie round-up Previewing all of those lovely freshmen hockey recruits from the US and abroad, that I got the pleasure of meeting this summer while working for New Students Orientation. Pretty basic story idea…familiarize fans with the newbies.

5.) Spotlight on UMass hockey players in the NHL Could be an ongoing feature dependent, of course, on availability. The LA Times had a great feature on former goalie Jon Quick recently (can you tell I love goalies yet?)

When one YouTube commenter opined that the studio set of The Young Turks’ daily webcast “looks like it was built in [host Cenk Uyger’s] garage,” it’s easy to imagine a hypothetical response from TYT, a particularly sarcastic, left-leaning production catering to the college crowd…

With his trademark smirk and swagger, Uyger would probably reply that the
commenter posted from their parents’ basement, coupled with something wittier for extra punch.

But after a few years of growing from the web’s first live, daily webcast, the quality of The Young Turks’ set doesn’t seem to matter much anyway-Uyger could be finding himself in a new broadcast booth soon enough.

After developing a cult following and igniting the youth demographic, Uyger’s
fans have launched a grassroots campaign to land the young lawyer, Huffington Post columnist and former UPenn graduate a new gig at MSNBC.
At the time of this posting, in fact, the Facebook group, “Cenk Uyger For the 10pm MSNBC timeslot” has 5,594
members.
Here’s why I’m one of them: Whether you’re a Republican, Democrat or are
disenfranchised with all of the above, TYT is able to perfectly balance
entertainment with seriousness. Melding pop culture, sports, entertainment andpolitical news to the tune of the YouTube generation, Uyger skillfully leads TYT through the censor-free frontier of today’s internet-with a refreshing
level of honesty, profanity and everything in between.
In fact, in contemplating Uyger’s bid for the MSNBC spot, some TYT fans must
wonder whether we are witnessing Cenk Uyger’s prime glory days before he
potentially moves up to a major network.

Speaking of Uyger’s impressive (and often hilarious) potty mouth, one fellow
UMass undergrad had this to say during a recent conversation: “Cenk is going to have to clean up if he moves to MSNBC. You wonder how his persona on YouTube and the internet/blogging in general would translate.”

While rooting for big Cenk’s MSNBC bid all the way, I sometimes have to wonder whether TYT is a dish better served raw.