Primary Staff

Max Bitter ’10 (bittym87) – founder, head writer, destroyer of pizza boxes

Matt Civello ’11 (blindspots) – primary Tweet-er, Walsh with hat, once argued on live radio with Fred Toucher about the merits of Nyjer Morgan

Derek Walsh ’11 (heavydrexler) – guy who actually writes the hockey stuff, craft beer expert, arugula enthusiast

Contributors

Ben Oven ’12 (surferben182) - flag guy, occasional non-flag guy

Jarod Hendrickson ’13 (itsjarod) – fellow Motion City fan, resident Mainer, is the Damon Amendolara of Fight Mass until we get a younger contributor

ABOUT FIGHT MASS

Written by bittym87

Fight Mass began as fightmass.wordpress.com in late 2009 in my dorm room in the North Apartments during my senior year. (Jesse Eisenberg is slated to play me in the Fight Mass movie, fyi.) Until that point, I was an avid fan, but merely an onlooker, not to mention a big fan of fellow UMass blog Fear the Triangle. Frustrated that – with all due respect for Mark – nobody had really stepped up to the plate with a student perspective, I hopped on WordPress and got it rolling. I named it after the UMass fight song because, let’s face it, the fight song is the heart and soul of any athletics program, and the title personifies the fighting spirit of the University, perennial underdogs on and off the field thanks to the broken, private school-dominated academic climate in our great state. In no other state in America is the public school system so ruthlessly underfunded by political leaders in favor of the private schools mommy and daddy sent them to, nor so unfairly depicted by a biased media. But that’s about as political as we plan to get here, so I digress.

Later in that same year, I invited my two dear friends and fellow hockey goons Matt and then Derek to join the writing staff, realizing I couldn’t do this alone. Together, our mission is to inform and entertain our fellow fans and to engage the current student body by sharing our passion for hockey. (Matt and I also reserve the right to talk about basketball and football, but this is first and foremost a hockey school.)

If this is your first time here at Fight Mass, be warned – we can be brash, crass, harsh, lots of unpleasant-sounding words really. We love UMass with a fiery passion but our love is not blind – we’ll speak our minds when something is bothering us, whether it’s the performance of a player, the coaching staff, the school itself, or even you, the fans. Take our criticism for what it is – an expression of free speech and a desire for UMass to be better than it is. (Unless we’re aiming that criticism at something that isn’t UMass. In which case, take it at face value, because you suck.)

Last but not least, the most important thing about this blog is you, our readers. We enjoy using the blog as a vent for our excitement or frustration, but as with any written work, it is the reader who is most important. I did not start this blog to make money – I started it because I wanted it to be read, to be shared, and for more voices to eventually join the fold when we start to get too old to consider ourselves “in touch” with the student voice. If you enjoy what you read, please spread the word. Follow the Twitter. Like our Facebook page. Casually surf us on your iPad before/during/after class. If you have a voice to contribute, let me know and I’ll see what we can do. I have finally decided to start actively advertising our existence, but you can help far more through word-of-mouth. We can’t do it without you guys.

ABOUT THE TRUE* MINUTEFANS**

I wrote this last year and I feel it still rings true.

We love the Mass Attack. We despise BC, loathe Lowell, and, well, we don’t much care for the rest of Hockey East, either. And yeah, we’re assholes. We scream obscenities when we score goals, torment visiting goalies’ mothers, harass those brave souls who make their way to the Pioneer Valley to support their teams against the Minutemen. Others call it “classless.” We apologize for nothing. This is a college campus, not an NHL venue. This isn’t the NHL, where fans of all ages generally discover the beauty of the world’s finest sport. No sir, this is a warzone. These aren’t overpayed athletes, these are our classmates, our dorm mates, our teaching assistants. These are the men who, more than anyone else, can’t walk across campus without being recognized. We love them, and if you are their opponent, we’re not going to politely clap as you are introduced. The sportsmanship is the players’ job, not ours. That’s not to say we don’t respect other players or other schools – but not showing that respect is a lot more fun.

*Anyone can pay the 20 bucks or whatever to get a Minutefans t-shirt. But that doesn’t mean everyone deserves one.

** We miss “Maroon Platoon.”