Connecticut/Providence Rivalry Heats Up

Providence College has been a proud member of the Big East since it was established back in 1979, with Providence having a key role in the birth of what would come to be one of the finest collegiate conferences in the nation. Since then the school has watched other contenders leave and enter the conference and has still remained near the top half amidst the changes. Providence has always demanded that student-athletes remember that the word student comes before athlete, and understands the level of integrity its players and coaches are held to, regardless of what state their program may be in. So when a team like the Friars, no matter the sport, gets a win over one of the better teams in the conference, or nation, one would expect words of praise and pleasure. Well, only if your name is not the University of Connecticut. What would cause me to show animosity towards the school I watched growing up? Very simple, one of their student-writers took a shot at Providence College. The shot was more of a miss than a hit, though it was enough to get the attention of some Friar Fans on campus. The article was published three days following the Big East Championship Quarterfinal between Connecticut and Providence, in which the Friars stunned the eighth- ranked Huskies, 1-0. In the article, written for the university's daily newspaper, the author stated that the Friars "stormed the field as if they had just won a national championship." He used words like "lucky," and claimed that the Huskies were not out-played. The author then claims that the Friars are classless winners, in all sports, because they celebrate when they win big games. Due to these unspeakable outbursts of happiness and pride, the Friars are apparently enemy number one for the University of Connecticut. I do not have a query over the fact that this writer felt it necessary to establish that his Huskies were the better team. If they weren't, then it wouldn't be called an upset. My problem lies in the following paragraphs in which he references a certain basketball player by the name of A.J. Price. He was a part of the 2007-08 UConn team that lost twice in one season to the Friars. After an embarrassing loss at the XL Center in Hartford, Price made the following comments to The Hartford Courant. "They don't know how to win, and it showed. We want to blow them out when we go down there [to Providence], that's what we're playing for." I cannot imagine what is going through this writer's mind by if he thinks that A.J. Price is the shining light on the Connecticut campus. This young man, this beacon of nobility, was brought up on three felony charges for stealing fellow students' laptops! Yes, those words of wisdom and these actions of chivalry clearly make A.J. Price a respectful source for those of us looking for an up standing citizen to admire. By the way, the Friars beat A.J.'s Huskies when they paid us a visit that March. It used to be that Providence would win when the Huskies had a down-year. Now, things have changed. The occasional basketball upset has turned into repeated trouncings and has spread to other sports. The Friars are gaining momentum, and have even gotten the Huskies' Women's Ice Hockey Coach, and former Friar Hockey star, Heather Linstad to vent her frustrations regarding her alma mater. "When they beat you they don't let you forget it. They don't know how to win the right way." The venting is just that of frustration for not giving the proper respect to the school not more than 60 miles away. The student-athletes at Providence understand they are at a small school that needs to pull off the big wins to get recognized. They realize the reality and put their heads together to win in both the classroom and on the athletic surface, making the victories over any big-name school a thrill. But I guess the joy of hard work, determination, and believing that anything is possible is just beneath the beliefs for the people up in Storrs. The article written to bring together the Connecticut campus with the common hatred of the Friars has done one thing: it proves that the Friars have the Huskies' number. The little school from Rhode Island has gotten under the skin of the big bad dog. However, it's no longer just once in one sport, but several times in multiple sports. Maybe someone should go ask Jim Calhoun why he can't beat Providence more often, but the Hall-of-Famer's answer will probably be, "Can I give you some advice? Shut up." Whether or not that is the outburst one would get from the man who almost had the Providence job back in the '80s is beside the point. The fact is, the Huskies are just poor losers. Perhaps next time Connecticut can have a little more respect for the school that does nothing but try and compete every day and works twice as hard just to get a recruit that the Huskies may yawn over. Maybe next time their writers will remember that 20 years ago their school was not a national collegiate powerhouse. More importantly, the next time someone wants to take a shot at Providence College for a lack of class, they should, as Calhoun once said, "get some facts and then come back!"