trying the rams +3 today; good article below.
Rams can finally feel at home in long-time rivalry with Friars
03:09 AM EST on Saturday, December 6, 2003
BY PAUL KENYON
Journal Sports Writer
SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- Kent Rudasill has been going to University of Rhode Island basketball games for nearly 20 years. When he was an undergraduate at the school in the 1980s, he enjoyed basketball so much that he helped keep statistics during games.
To this day, he not only has season tickets to the Ryan Center games, he often goes to away contests. Just last weekend, he drove to Syracuse to see the Rams challenge the defending national champion Orangemen.
But Rudasill has never gotten to see the one game he has wanted most. At least, until today.
This afternoon, for the first time in his life, Rudasill will get to see the Rams take on archrival Providence College at URI's campus, in URI's own building, the Ryan Center, in a 4 o'clock contest.
"People don't know how important this is. They don't understand how much this means to me," Rudasill said.
"Do you know what it's like to have to play a home game in your rival's building with more than half the fans rooting against you? Do you know what it's like to go to your home game, and see signs on the court that say Providence College?
"I remember," he continued, "the last time we played them at the Dunkin' Donuts Center. That's what it said. They kept Providence College on the court. And it was our home game."
For two generations now, Providence College has been the dominant team in Rhode Island. URI fans still speak about the time both the Rams and Friars qualified for postseason tournaments, and the General Assembly passed a resolution wishing the Friars good luck -- but forgot about URI. Rhody fans have understandably felt like the little brother in the basketball rivalry, not the state university. For the past 31 seasons, 40 games in all, when the teams have played, it has been in the archrival's territory, in the archrival's building.
That changes today.
"This is not an anti-PC thing. That's not why it's so big," said Rick Jendzejec, a 1969 URI grad and a longtime Rams' season-ticket holder. "This is big because it is about us. We have a building now where this game deserves to be played. It says something about us, about where we are."
The game figures to be a good one, with the 3-0 Friars going against the 4-2 Rams, who upset PC in that other building last season. It is an important game for the teams, both of which have postseason aspirations.
In this case, though, it is more important for the fans than the players, at least those who root for Rhody.
Only one player on either team, URI senior Steve Mello, is from Rhode Island, and he is injured (knee surgery) and cannot play. Many of the players know each other and compete against each other in the summer. They have learned it is an important game, a rivalry game.
Still, they do not -- they cannot -- understand the depth of the rivalry, the depth of the feelings the fans have. Today, the site of the game is as important as the contest itself.
For URI fans, it is the chance to show off the $54-million Ryan Center, the rare state project that has drawn praise from just about all quarters since it opened just over a year ago.
Understandably, many want to be part of it. The game was a sellout even before tickets were made available to the general public. URI administrators used it as a reward to those who have supported the school through the years and gave them first crack at the tickets.
The game has become the hottest ticket in town. One Web site earlier this week was offering $15 tickets for $70. URI officials have fielded so many requests for tickets that they have lost count how many had to be turned away. At least one URI booster is using the game to open other doors.
Joe Formicola, a major URI supporter who was on the committee that oversaw fundraising and construction for the Ryan Center, is holding a pregame party at a restaurant he owns. Formicola, who also is a season-ticket holder for PC games, has invited state officials as well as benefactors of both the Ram and Friar programs.
"It's just something to get everyone together at Casey's in a friendly atmosphere to enjoy the day," Formicola said.
"This is a great day for the state," said URI coach Jim Baron who, in his third year. "It's incredible that we're having this game in our building."
"It's a big game for the fans, but it's a big game for the teams, too, because we both hope to play in the postseason, maybe at a different level than last year," said PC coach Tim Welsh. "We're playing the best team we've faced yet on the road."
Welsh and Baron, both native New Yorkers, are members of the Coaches for Cancer fundraising program. Baron is using the day to help raise money for charity. Fans will be asked to make donations for cancer research as they enter the building.
While the coaches hope to take advantage of the atmosphere to raise money for charity, fans like Formicola, Rudasill and Jendzejec see it as a day to celebrate their school and showcase their new facility. Jendzejec jokes that PC fans who will visit the building for the first time will see one difference immediately.
"When you come to our games," he said with a smile, "you don't have to pay to park."
Rams can finally feel at home in long-time rivalry with Friars
03:09 AM EST on Saturday, December 6, 2003
BY PAUL KENYON
Journal Sports Writer
SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- Kent Rudasill has been going to University of Rhode Island basketball games for nearly 20 years. When he was an undergraduate at the school in the 1980s, he enjoyed basketball so much that he helped keep statistics during games.
To this day, he not only has season tickets to the Ryan Center games, he often goes to away contests. Just last weekend, he drove to Syracuse to see the Rams challenge the defending national champion Orangemen.
But Rudasill has never gotten to see the one game he has wanted most. At least, until today.
This afternoon, for the first time in his life, Rudasill will get to see the Rams take on archrival Providence College at URI's campus, in URI's own building, the Ryan Center, in a 4 o'clock contest.
"People don't know how important this is. They don't understand how much this means to me," Rudasill said.
"Do you know what it's like to have to play a home game in your rival's building with more than half the fans rooting against you? Do you know what it's like to go to your home game, and see signs on the court that say Providence College?
"I remember," he continued, "the last time we played them at the Dunkin' Donuts Center. That's what it said. They kept Providence College on the court. And it was our home game."
For two generations now, Providence College has been the dominant team in Rhode Island. URI fans still speak about the time both the Rams and Friars qualified for postseason tournaments, and the General Assembly passed a resolution wishing the Friars good luck -- but forgot about URI. Rhody fans have understandably felt like the little brother in the basketball rivalry, not the state university. For the past 31 seasons, 40 games in all, when the teams have played, it has been in the archrival's territory, in the archrival's building.
That changes today.
"This is not an anti-PC thing. That's not why it's so big," said Rick Jendzejec, a 1969 URI grad and a longtime Rams' season-ticket holder. "This is big because it is about us. We have a building now where this game deserves to be played. It says something about us, about where we are."
The game figures to be a good one, with the 3-0 Friars going against the 4-2 Rams, who upset PC in that other building last season. It is an important game for the teams, both of which have postseason aspirations.
In this case, though, it is more important for the fans than the players, at least those who root for Rhody.
Only one player on either team, URI senior Steve Mello, is from Rhode Island, and he is injured (knee surgery) and cannot play. Many of the players know each other and compete against each other in the summer. They have learned it is an important game, a rivalry game.
Still, they do not -- they cannot -- understand the depth of the rivalry, the depth of the feelings the fans have. Today, the site of the game is as important as the contest itself.
For URI fans, it is the chance to show off the $54-million Ryan Center, the rare state project that has drawn praise from just about all quarters since it opened just over a year ago.
Understandably, many want to be part of it. The game was a sellout even before tickets were made available to the general public. URI administrators used it as a reward to those who have supported the school through the years and gave them first crack at the tickets.
The game has become the hottest ticket in town. One Web site earlier this week was offering $15 tickets for $70. URI officials have fielded so many requests for tickets that they have lost count how many had to be turned away. At least one URI booster is using the game to open other doors.
Joe Formicola, a major URI supporter who was on the committee that oversaw fundraising and construction for the Ryan Center, is holding a pregame party at a restaurant he owns. Formicola, who also is a season-ticket holder for PC games, has invited state officials as well as benefactors of both the Ram and Friar programs.
"It's just something to get everyone together at Casey's in a friendly atmosphere to enjoy the day," Formicola said.
"This is a great day for the state," said URI coach Jim Baron who, in his third year. "It's incredible that we're having this game in our building."
"It's a big game for the fans, but it's a big game for the teams, too, because we both hope to play in the postseason, maybe at a different level than last year," said PC coach Tim Welsh. "We're playing the best team we've faced yet on the road."
Welsh and Baron, both native New Yorkers, are members of the Coaches for Cancer fundraising program. Baron is using the day to help raise money for charity. Fans will be asked to make donations for cancer research as they enter the building.
While the coaches hope to take advantage of the atmosphere to raise money for charity, fans like Formicola, Rudasill and Jendzejec see it as a day to celebrate their school and showcase their new facility. Jendzejec jokes that PC fans who will visit the building for the first time will see one difference immediately.
"When you come to our games," he said with a smile, "you don't have to pay to park."
