Joe Sullivan: No class at UMass

ONE WAY or the other, I expected to be pulling for a New England college football team this Saturday. The University of New Hampshire was my overwhelming preference but the University of Massachusetts would have been OK.

Joe Sullivan's "Column As I See 'Em" appears every other Tuesday.

I believe that, like me, most New Hampshire sports fans are New England sports fans.

If the New England Patriots had moved and become the Hartford Patriots, they would still have been my team. I've always loved the Boston Bruins, but the Hartford Whalers (with that great logo) were number two -- and I like the team's offspring, the Carolina Hurricanes.

In big-time college hoop, Boston College is first, UConn second. And who in New England didn't root for Vermont when the Catamounts of Taylor Coppenrath qualified for the NCAA tournament?

The decorum among University of Massachusetts fans on Saturday during the UNH-UMass football game left a lot to be desired, says columnist Joe Sullivan.

In college hockey, UNH is No. 1, but if the Wildcats can't win the big one, good for Maine, Boston College or Boston University if one of them can.

I have always enjoyed the successes all of our New England teams have enjoyed.

However, Saturday, when I watch Montana play UMass-Amherst in the semifinals of the NCAA Division I football championship, I'll be rooting hard for the Grizzlies.

I hope they dismantle UMass. And it has nothing to do with the university's football coach or his football players.

It's all about the UMass fans. It's difficult to cheer for a team backed by a large number of cretins and boors.

Last Saturday at Amherst, Mass., at the UNH-UMass football game, I didn't sit in the press box, shielded from these cretins and boors. No, I sat among them and moved among them.

It was not a pleasant experience.

Most members of the UMass student body that I encountered repulsed me. And we're not talking one or two undergrads; we're talking much bigger numbers.

I'm old enough and experienced enough to know that, unfortunately, dealing with the occasional cretin and boor is part of attending too many sporting events. Saturday in Amherst, the place belonged to these people.

Walking into the venue, I heard, "UNH sucks" from at least 10 different college-aged students sporting UMass garb. On my way up to my seat, a young man traveling with a group of young women (they all wore UMass clothing) showcased his anti-UNH venom by screaming, over and over, "(Expletive) UNH! (Expletive) UNH!"

It made no difference to the man that there were women and children walking in the same area. It did make a difference to me. I was halfway up the stairs, and as I continued walking, I looked down and caught his eye. I told him that he had no class.

"(Expletive) you," he screamed.

"You're walking with a group of ladies and you use language like that? That's awful," I answered.

"Ladies? Ladies? Their language is a lot (expletive) worse than mine, sweetheart. You just concentrate on getting up the stairs, you (expletive) cripple."

My words had failed to deter him.

The day continued. I watched the game and listened to the language coming from UMass fans sitting around me. That language was reprehensible. Maybe it's just me, I thought. Maybe I'm just having a bad day, I thought. Maybe I'm the only one encountering these goons, I thought.

I thought wrong.

Several of my friends sat in different sections of the stands. Different seats, same experience, identical sentiments. All eight of us concurred: The behavior of too many UMass students was both crude and boorish throughout the game.

Eventually, a group of police officers moved into position behind the UNH bench. They faced the stands where a large number of young UMass fans congregated. It appeared that they wanted trouble more than they wanted a victory.

Near game's end, an army of police officers and security personnel, many in full riot gear, patrolled both inside and outside the stadium. The radio announcers doing the game on WMUA said their presence was needed so that the goalposts would not be torn down after a UMass win.

I couldn't help but wonder what their job would have been after a UMass loss.

My experience at McGuirk Alumni Stadium ended the way it began. As I left, a UMass supporter (college-aged and wearing a UMass sweatshirt) told anyone wearing anything connected to UNH to stick the loss up a certain part of their anatomy.

No one said a word to him.

And that might be the saddest part of the entire day.

Go, you Grizzlies.

Joe Sullivan's "Column As I See 'Em" appears every other Tuesday in the New Hampshire Union Leader. His e-mail address is jsullivan@unionleader.com.

►UMass alumnus criticizes "fans"