News, Notes from Festa Italiana

[goldenboy]

This week-end is the St. John's Festa Italiana in Olean. What a party it is!!!! Plan on seeing someone you know at the Festa, including many regualars of the Bonnies Bandwagon. Just a few notes of interest. I saw Wickie there with some of his family. When I first saw him I wanted to walk up to this piece of crap and congradulate him for ruining the gloried rich tradition of Bona basketball. I wanted to tell him how much I hated him and how could he even hold his head up in the community. Then it dawned on me that I am a Catholic. I need to forgive and forget. Afterall this is a church picnic. Now that the NCAA sanctions have been lifted maybe it is time for all of us to "March Forward!" Be positive, etc..........Moving on to another topic about the basketball team. From what I heard the basketball team are regulars at Younger's Outer Limits in Olean. Some are drinking, some are drunk, some aren't drinking and some are acting appropriately. The comments I keep on hearing is that the team is making a bad statement by some of its members. The drunk players are being jerks and thinking they are greater than God. I heard one disgruntled patron of the bar plans on contacting Coach Solomon about the behavior of some of his players. Coach, maybe it is time you take a firm stand with your players. This is no country club. Run a clean program!!!

[BonniesFan]

Drinking? In college???

Shocking.

[brownglory]

Solomon does need to try harder to bring in upstanding pillars of the community. Perhaps players more like those at Duke, or the kind who play lacrosse, or the kind who play lacrosse at Duke. Well, maybe hanging out at Younger's isn't the worst that could happen.
Seriously, I can never tell if the locals are pissed off because none of the current players are Bob Lanier or because none of the current players have a desire to go down to the Pulaski Club and bs about Bona teams that played 15 years before they were even born. Can we come to terms with the fact that they are college kids (who are somewhat likely to enjoy a drink) and Bona basketball players (who are not likely to be All-Americans)?

[LumsdnA10Academc98]

goldenboy said:

Run a clean program!!!

So let me get this right. You're not going to cuss out Wickenheiser, in part, due to the ending of Bona's probation period. But then you end your post by demanding coach Solomon "run a clean program?" Any irony there?

Like BonniesFan said above, college students drink. Period. Athletes, bookworms and everyone in between. That's how it's been, and that's how it will be.

Running a clean program is a lot different from some of its players drinking, or even getting drunk, believe it or not. Had Solomon not run a clean program since the day he got here, we'd still be on probation, or worse.

[goldenboy]

Thanks guys for all your feedback. Obviously we all aren't saints. Comparing Wickie to the kids drinking, especially underage drinking, is like comparing apples to oranges. Sol claims he wants to have players of good character on his team but in a small community like Olean where players and other local celebrities live in a fish he should have more control of his players. Maybe what they call this team building. From a PR point of view if Sol wants the community to be on board, especially since our losing seasons, he needs to build positive publicity not negative publicity. When I was in college the drinking age was 18, not 21.

If any Bona sports team did what the Duke lacrosse team alledgely did then those players ought to be held accountable.

[remus]

Talk about apples to oranges...comparing an alleged rape to fighting and drinking (nobody has stated the players were underage). School isn't even in session and you expect the coach to be able to monitor the activities of his players? Since when did SBU become a police state?

One of the major college experiences is bridging the gap between a controlled environment of being and high school and living with your parents to having some freedom and joining the real world. Certainly people will make mistakes, and they should be held accountable. However, if you honestly believe the coach should be a babysitter 24/7/365 you are mistaken. It's impossible and even if it were possible no recruit would come here under those circumstances. Give the kids the same amount of freedom as their peers, just make sure they understand the consequences of their actions. Being a scholarship athlete has its price, but you can't put a price on real world experiences. Give these young men some freedom but be prepared to rule with an iron fist when they get out of line. You cannot curb underage drinking (or legal age drinking), but you can punish them for breaking the rules of society.

[B02]

When I opened this post I thought I was going to get some valuable Bona b-ball information. Instead, I got the normal junk that has been on here lately. You really need to get a life when you are ____ and you are reporting what bars the basketball team is going to. I can't wait until we actually get some good information like how the new guys look in pick up games or who the coaching staff is targeting this summer. Its a lot better than Coach Sol better control 21-23 year olds from going to a bar and socializing with eachother, stop the presses with that great info.

[FriendsofAN44]

Gotta add my 2 cents here, I was at Festa Italiana and got a chance to meet the players that were there, and I have to say that each and everyone of them came across as perfect gentlemen.

I have no idea where this "they're all drunks and thugs" thing started, but it couldn't be further off base.

David Fox was the first I talked too (at 6'10" he definitely stands out in a crowd) and was surprised at how big he is in person. I felt like a midget !

Also there were Tyler B, AJ, Jermaine, Ivan, Zarryon, Terron, Jourdan, and Louceny. Each and every one took the time and spoke for a moment, Ivan said his knee is great, and Zarryon turned a little red when I asked him about out-jumping Michael Lee for the highest vertical on the team. You wouldn't think it to look at him, but if he can shoot a lick combined with his leaping ability, we have a real diamond here.

Two other new guys, Louceny and Jourdan were surprised so many people recognized them, well, welcome to Olean, it's a small town and everyone knows the Bonnies. Both had huge smiles and seemed to thoroughly enjoy the recognition. BTW, both are very good size and have some meat on them, should be able to hold their own on the boards.

Jermaine has to be the best though, reminds me of Greg Lewis, an infectious smile, outgoing personality, and smooth talker, has some pretty good dance moves too as he and Terron hit the dance floor for a few minutes. Hope that transfers to the back court !

Finally, at no time did I see any of them with a beer in their hand, even though most of the group is 21 or over. Just a great bunch of guys who are very upbeat about the coming season. One of them even said "Watch us ! We'll be playing in the Garden after we knock off Texas ! You better be there" !

Go Bonnies !!

[B02]

Thanks for the info. Fox. Its nice to see the team is out in the public promoting the program in a positive way. Its a good way to rebuild the program by going out to these type of events and drawing public support for the program. I think Solomon is a better recruiter than people give him credit for. I am very excited to see how the new guys mesh with solid foundation the team has coming back with Williams and Lee being the best front court Bona has had since probably PVP and Cyrus.

[magnusbu]

The confidence coming from the players is great, hopefully they do suprise a few teams this season. That would make a nice road trip in Nov. if they do knock off Texas. Its a good thing to see all these guys out together. Somebody in the program must be doing something right.

[sbu83]

The Italian Fest was overcrowded and understaffed. It was a big disappointment this year.

If I had seen Wick there he would have heard from me. I still think we should do a class action lawsuit against the University for a refund on our season tickets for that year - when only ONE home game counted (the night before they came out with the scandal, they sat Jamil - Marques went off the last five minutes of the game and overtime).

Anyone in for the lawsuit? I want my money back! It was a phony product! We'll name Wicky and Janny in it as well.

(PS...not only did the University NOT offer season ticket holders an apology, they RAISED the price of the tickets the next year!) That Grys was a CLOWN!

[FriendsofAN44]

91 kegs, I'm told, at the Italian Fest. Average year, they do about 60. Lots of complaints, and they are already working on them for next year.

The tap system on one beer truck fizzled out, and had to be jury-rigged; the other truck was fine. But they need 3 trucks pouring beer to keep up with the Saturday night crowd. Also, the tents take up way too much space was another complaint I heard a lot. Need more room for standing around the beer trucks mingling. Plenty of seating under the entertainment tent for those that want/need it.

And Fleetwood Mac sucked ! Came on 50 minutes late, then took their regular break. Normally on Saturday night you cannot get a seat anywhere in the entertainment tent for the main attraction, this year everyone left after their first set because they waited around so long for them to start. Bring back Jimmy Buffett next year !!

Finally, the figures for the St. Mary's church picnic are in and they are the talk of the town - they cleared over $80,000 for the 3-day event !! And St. John's (Italian Fest) will be right behind them after they tally everything up. Especially since the winner of the big money raffle ($5,000) donated the whole thing back to the church !!

We DO support our churches here in Olean !!

[Phantom]

Well...We certainly do support church festivals anyway!

Bye the way, how is Stevie Nix looking?!