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US college hockey teams to compete for the Belpot this fall
By adamg on Fri, 04/10/2015 - 11:19am
No, not a typo: Mayor Walsh and the Lord Mayor of Belfast today announced hockey teams from Northeastern, UMass Lowell, Brown and Colgate will fly to Belfast this November for the first "Friendship Four" hockey tournament, the winner of which will get a pot in which to cook their bels.
Walsh cooked up the idea with Belfast officials during a trip to Ireland last year.
Walsh and Lord Mayor Arder Carson announced the tournament in a press conference at the Bobby Orr statue outside the Garden.
The City of Boston is working with Secretary of State John Kerry’s Office of Global Partnerships and the Belfast Giants to incorporate educational components to the tournament weekend, including having student-athletes visit classrooms in Belfast.
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Comments
College hockey to spare
BU and Providence tomorrow night at the Garden for the national championship!
Marty palling around with Orangemen?
Shame on you Marty. Póg mo thóin
But the Orange are green
And hockey is Belfast's non-sectarian sport!
Yes and no
Orange isn't the new green, but the Belfast Giants are trying their best to be "non-partisan"
From Wikipedia
Arder Carson is a member of Sein Fein, not an Orangeman
He has the unfortunate title of "Royal", but he is anything but Orange.
Not Orange
The brand new mayor of Belfast as of April 1 is Arden Carsen of Sinn Fein. The previous mayor was a member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party. Neither are Orangemen.
Arder Carson's a member of
Arder Carson's a member of Sinn Fein, so, no, not really.
http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/council/lordmayor/aboutlordmayor.aspx
The Orange and Green can agree on ice
for the Jameson. Throwing Hockey into the mix is no big deal.
Yawn.
One mention of Belfast and the plastic paddy anons come out spewing bumper sticker Irish thinking it's still 1982.
Your post "Neal",
is both ignorant and hateful. Unfortunately the civil war in Ireland is still going on, albeit at a far lesser intensity, and the Orangemen still march to celebrate their hate. The walls, physical and economic, still exist in Belfast, despite the sometimes growing economy, trendy bars and restaurants, and a hockey team.
And your racist "plastic paddy" reference is just another form of hate. I am sure if you respond you will have some lame justification or excuse why its ok. It's not.
As other posters have pointed out, the mayor of Belfast, and many others in Northern Ireland, are in favor of unification. Sinn Fein is a legal party, but the UK government hasn't stopped their war against the party members. The unification issue is not going away just because your ignorant American sensibility finds it boring.
And what's your issue with anonymous posters expressing their opinion? Registering as "Neal" still means your totally anonymous. If you don't like anonymous opinions, feel free to give us your full name, address, and phone number, you coward.
Been there recently, Anon?
When was the last time that you spent any time there?
Double yawn.
Why don't you register and establish yourself as a regular commenter? Then maybe, maybe your argument might carry some weight around here. Judging from all of the red herrings thrown in your response (if you are actually the original poster -there's no way to truly know), however, it's more likely that getting to that point will take quite a bit of time.
Registering makes some people special...
...according to "Neal". But "Neal" is just as anonymous as "anon", and there is definitely nothing special about "Neal". Whether or not an argument "carries any weight" is 100% based on the value of the argument, and zero % based on whether you registered or not, you clown.
OK, Bozo, settle down
While it is true that "Neal" is, in fact, as anonymous as you, the difference is that, over time, Neal builds up a body of comments and people who are regulars on the site begin to know what he says and maybe, possibly, even trust him a bit more (or not, if you find his comments objectionable). Given that most of the page views on the site are from repeat users (at least, that's what Google Analytics tells me), that's a good thing.
Speaking in my role as a comment moderator (something I've been doing for a long time now), I've found that there's just something about registering that also tends to mean the person is far less likely to spew the kind of spiteful, hateful and disgusting crap you're likely to get from the sort of people who like to post completely anonymously - I spend far more time moderating anonymous comments than dealing with comments from logged-in users.
Trying to understand what you
Trying to understand what you are saying. Are you saying most page views come from repeat users, or repeat registered users? I am a repeat user, and I know others, but none of us is registered.
Just repeat users, regardless of login status
Although there is a way to use Google Analytics to compile stats on registered users, I'm not doing that.
What I do see when I log into GA is a pie chart that graphs the number of "new" visitors (i.e., people who have not visited the site in the past month) vs. the number of "repeat" visitors (i.e., people who have, at least once). The latter is usually way higher than the former, except on those rare occasions when I get Reddited (by the national Reddit, not the Boston subreddit) or it's the day after a major blizzard.
Incorrect
All those registered posters whose arguments are routinely pilloried and demolished would disagree strongly with you Neal.
Why do you hate
Bobby Sands?
I can't decide whether they
I can't decide whether they missed an opportunity or avoided problems by not inviting, say, Holy Cross or Boston College to play in Belfast.
Does Syracuse play varsity hockey? Could we get Gordon College to reclassify as D1 in time? Oh, the possibilities...
Gordon College
Has a D1 Quidditch team!
BC Not Invited
BC Probably wasn't invited because they recently ratted out dozens of former IRA members including Gerry Adams, leading to arrests. To be honest if BC went the Protestants would probably be rooting for them.
gross & ugly & stupid oversimplification
The BC archivists and librarians first refused to fulfill the PSNI subpoena. However, the oral histories were then subpoenaed by the Department of Justice. The BC archives fought it, but were forced. It was a difficult and strange case, one that every archive in the US watched because most sizable archives have collected oral histories, many involving non-US sources. DoJ concluded that the histories fell under a 1990s treaty. BC didn't rat out anyone; they were ordered by the Department of Justice to turn over the oral histories. It sucked all the way around.
And it's still an ongoing fight, as the BC archivists still refuse to comply with the PSNI requests, even though they were forced to honor the US subpoena.
Reading is hard, but try:
https://bostoncollegesubpoena.wordpress.com/
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/05/06/boston-college-says-intervie...
http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2015/03/litigation/boston-college-oral-hist...
Syracuse
Changed its nickname from Orangemen over a decade ago.
Though they do have a D1 women's team.
6 counties
Are still "a province "
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iickNtK5Ivw
Syracuse v Notre Dame
would be more appropriate.
That would not be fair to
That would not be fair to Syracuse, who could conceivably lose 100-1 in that match up.
True enough but
Syracuse would call a great broadcast.
Because
"Flying internationally for an exhibition game" is more important than "going to class." Shame on you Mayor Walsh, for pulling them out of the classroom for a political stunt.
(And yes I know a lot of D1 athletes don't really study but still, it's the principle of it.)
Athletes never travel during the semester?
How is this different from a trip to, say, California?
Five time zones
Instead of three.
The flight is about the same length.
Also the way of traveling
I don't think there's a transatlantic that flies out in the morning, so you are talking dealing with going to sleep during an Irish morning or dealing with jetlag while flying.
The two University of Alaska schools that field teams have Alabama-Hunstville and Ferris State as league rivals. Those are not fun trips, I would imagine.
Still, it's Thanksgiving week. Fly out Tuesday night, off day Wednesday, practice and family meal on Thursday, and you are ready for Black Friday (which, for some odd reason, is celebrated in the UK.)
Somewhat off topic
On March 21, a carefully built, intricate wooden structure was burned as planned. The structure, its construction, and burning have an interesting history and were intended to address the unending rifts in the community.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/28/world/europe/using-flames-to-soothe-a-...
It seems like people in Northern Ireland are actively seeking ways to get their community back. This hockey thing is part of that.
Lord Mayor
Lord Mayor has a nice ring to it!
Lowell season ticket holder here
pretty disappointed that this dumb event means I don't get the chance to indulge in a quick trip to Providence that also involves catching a road game at an arena I haven't been to yet.
Also Lowell season ticket holder...
Perhaps us Lowell fans should adopt a surrogate team for that weekend. Like, we all show up for a game at Bentley or American International College and cheer them on for the evening.
You could still go
I've been to Meehan. I've been to the Odyssey. The Odyssey is nicer. Much nicer.
If you're dying to visit Meehan, I assure you that Brown will play other games at home next season.
Of course, you can get between Lowell and Providence via the T. Belfast will involve more work and money, but still, it's Belfast. If BU were playing in Belfast, I'd be arranging the time off right now.
26+6 = 1
n/t
Bring that message over there
Irish folks *love* it when irrelevant Americans who don't know what they're talking about and have never seen first-hand the violence and strife the causes they claim to support and hold some bullshit fake stake in come to bear. Please, I'd love for you as a Bostonian to say that to any of my friends from Omagh or Derry. See how long before they set about you.
I'm part Irish descent
and let me tell you and those authentic Irish: I could absolutely not give a rat's ass. I'm one American of Irish descent (2nd generation) who truly doesn't give a phuk. And I wouldn't dream of going anywhere on vacation where I would be laughed at or mocked. Life is hard enough as it is without that shit. Which is why I have zero desire to visit the old sod. And I would suggest those authentic Irish who scorn Americans of Irish descent; they should refrain from using the huge power base of Irish Americans, who are the second largest ethnic group in the U.S. (after Germans).
I've never understood why people by choice vacation and visit places where they are scorned, unless they are masochistic. And it's not just Americans of Irish descent; many authentic Italians (for example) also look down their nose at Americans of Italian descent.
I've been to Ireland plenty of times......
And I've never felt scorned. I'm not an asshole either though. That usually determines how you get treated.
I dunno
Derry may as well be in the Republic, while Tyrone is to rural to care either way. But go to Crossmaglen and South Armagh and those South Shore bumper stickers would be welcome.
I guess I was wrong then
I just ought to sincerely apologize to "Neal" and everyone else here. I guess I went a bit overboard here. I mean, how did I even think the term "plastic paddy" was racist! I guess it's because I've heard of racism, but am not too familiar with the concept :-/. Too much Jameson last night, I guess!
(see how easy it is to be an anon here?)