Another reason why Andre Jackson chose UConn

[upstater]

Every small city in NY State is an absolute dump from what I've seen. Not familiar with Amsterdam but Poughkeepsie, Troy, Utica, Newburgh, Monticello, Niagara Falls, Utica, Schenectady etc. are bad. NY State has a lot of natural beauty but if you didn't know any better you would think you're in Mississippi.

Some of these are great little towns. Troy and Niagara Falls. As for NF, the area near the Falls is rough, but the homes in the neighborhoods in the city itself are really nice. I lived in Troy for 4 years, it's a teeny city, but I really liked living there. I lived around Washington Park, which is the Park around which "Night Before Christmas" was written. Great buildings all around town. I wonder what you saw that made you think it was dumpy. Utica I found can be dumpy, Amsterdam was weird and very rough. But Troy and NF are not bad at all. People get the wrong impression because of the area near the Falls.

 

[444JR]

..woah

 

[upstater]

That describes almost every population center in upstate NY.

You'd be surprised about some towns. Buffalo is one.

 

[mauconnfan]

Every small city in NY State is an absolute dump from what I've seen. Not familiar with Amsterdam but Poughkeepsie, Troy, Utica, Newburgh, Monticello, Niagara Falls, Utica, Schenectady etc. are bad. NY State has a lot of natural beauty but if you didn't know any better you would think you're in Mississippi.

I think we may want to refrain from hammering the town he grew up in on a thread about him Samson Johnson. Delete maybe? Not killing you for your thoughts just sayin' .

 

[QDOG5]

I'm wondering which Utica is worse?

 

[superjohn]

I think we may want to refrain from hammering the town he grew up in on a thread about him Samson Johnson. Delete maybe? Not killing you for your thoughts just sayin' .

I didn't, I said I'm not familiar with Amsterdam, NY. Upstater called it a really rough town. I named a bunch of other towns in NY state which are a mess.

 

[superjohn]

Some of these are great little towns. Troy and Niagara Falls. As for NF, the area near the Falls is rough, but the homes in the neighborhoods in the city itself are really nice. I lived in Troy for 4 years, it's a teeny city, but I really liked living there. I lived around Washington Park, which is the Park around which "Night Before Christmas" was written. Great buildings all around town. I wonder what you saw that made you think it was dumpy. Utica I found can be dumpy, Amsterdam was weird and very rough. But Troy and NF are not bad at all. People get the wrong impression because of the area near the Falls.

A lot of these places have great old buildings (it's some of the most history rich areas in the country) and some nice old victorian homes but the cities are in disrepair. They suffer the same fate a lot of Midwestern industrial cities face, the jobs left and they are now poor and rundown.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I didn't, I said I'm not familiar with Amsterdam, NY. Upstater called it a really rough town. I named a bunch of other towns in NY state which are a mess.

My mom grew up in Amsterdam. It's not a nice spot. A lot of upstate has been left behind. Great people though.

 

[McLovin]

“I play three guards, and I want them to all have interchangeable skills: be able to play in ball screens, on and off the ball, create and playmake, but also be able to score. So, when my system’s at its best, I have three guys that have the ability to do a multitude of things. In order for that to work, to play the elite teams, you’ve got to have high-level size. So, getting a guard that would have the ability to match up with a three, or the third perimeter guy for a high-level opponent, it usually has to be a 6-6, 6-7, 6-8 guy. So, that big guard’s critical. We play an athletic style, so I put a lot of value in athleticism.”

Sounds an awful lot like Andre Jackson.

I can't wait for us to have the personnel to be playing Hurley ball. It is going be great basketball to watch.

Sounds like Richmond would be an ideal 3rd addition to the years class (with a big, of course). Dre at 6'6" and Richmond at 6'5" plus bouk at 6'4" would be a nice 1-3

 

[Dove]

My mom grew up in Amsterdam. It's not a nice spot. A lot of upstate has been left behind. Great people though.

My moms grew up in a mining area north of Ticonderoga. Its a wasteland now.

 

[UConnRock]

Amsterdam, Ilion, Frankfort, Little Falls and many others.......they are one in the same. Old mill towns that try so hard to hold onto their past and hope for the magic of an Amazon distribution center of other corporate injection that would take advantage of their low salary requirements. The highest paying jobs are teachers and town/county administrators. And also the snowplow drivers that get lots of OT.

 

[UConnRock]

My moms grew up in a mining area north of Ticonderoga. Its a wasteland now.

Family from Mineville and Lyon Mountain.

 

[Dove]

Family from Mineville and Lyon Mountain.

Witherbee, Moriah.

 

[Dooooooomed]

Orange is the ugliest color. Andre basically confirmed such.

 

[upstater]

A lot of these places have great old buildings (it's some of the most history rich areas in the country) and some nice old victorian homes but the cities are in disrepair. They suffer the same fate a lot of Midwestern industrial cities face, the jobs left and they are now poor and rundown.

I know this is true of many places. A few others though still have jobs and culture and are not doing badly. People might be heavily surprised by Buffalo, Troy and a few others. Home prices have skyrocketed. People are pouring into town.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I know this is true of many places. A few others though still have jobs and culture and are not doing badly. People might be heavily surprised by Buffalo, Troy and a few others. Home prices have skyrocketed. People are pouring into town.

I grew up around Troy. Like John said, the central downtown area has a lot of history, some beautiful streets and old buildings (there are certain blocks that you'd confuse with historical areas of any major metropolitan city), and the hipster invasion from NY has led to some pockets with cool bars and restaurants, etc., but it's still a pretty poor city of only around 50k people and if you drive for literally 10 seconds from one of the nice blocks you're in an area that looks either like Appalachia or one of the west baltimore streets where the Wire was filmed.

 

[upstater]

I grew up around Troy. Like John said, the central downtown area has a lot of history, some beautiful streets and old buildings (there are certain blocks that you'd confuse with historical areas of any major metropolitan city), and the hipster invasion from NY has led to some pockets with cool bars and restaurants, etc., but it's still a pretty poor city of only around 50k people and if you drive for literally 10 seconds from one of the nice blocks you're in an area that looks either like Appalachia or one of the west baltimore streets where the Wire was filmed.

I know it well. I lived there. Someone recently said that the Ruck, which opened when I got there, is still there 25 years later. I did say it's a teeny city (basically I meant the central downtown area was nice) and yes, as you drive up toward Cohoes, things get sketchy quick. I lived around Washington Park back then.

 

[jimva]

A lot of these places have great old buildings (it's some of the most history rich areas in the country) and some nice old victorian homes but the cities are in disrepair. They suffer the same fate a lot of Midwestern industrial cities face, the jobs left and they are now poor and rundown.

Kind of sounds like a lot of CT towns outside of Fairfield county

 

[superjohn]

I know this is true of many places. A few others though still have jobs and culture and are not doing badly. People might be heavily surprised by Buffalo, Troy and a few others. Home prices have skyrocketed. People are pouring into town.

Never been to Buffalo and I hope what you're saying is true about a turnaround. I know it has some beautiful old buildings but it's one of the poorest cities in America.

 

[superjohn]

Kind of sounds like a lot of CT towns outside of Fairfield county

A lot of CT. outside of Fairfield County is really nice. Some of the cities are pretty rough but the state is nothing like upstate NY to me. It feels much poorer and more desperate in NY State.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I know it well. I lived there. Someone recently said that the Ruck, which opened when I got there, is still there 25 years later. I did say it's a teeny city (basically I meant the central downtown area was nice) and yes, as you drive up toward Cohoes, things get sketchy quick. I lived around Washington Park back then.

Yeah the Ruck is pretty centrally located. You hit a driver facing west from the front door and it lands in Watervliet, which is no one's idea of a good time.

 

[upstater]

Never been to Buffalo and I hope what you're saying is true about a turnaround. I know it has some beautiful old buildings but it's one of the poorest cities in America.

Homes that cost $150k here in 2005 now go for $750k. $300k are at a million. It's crazy. By "poor" city, you mean % of residents in poverty. It's very high in poor people. But, there are other ways to measure whether it's a poor city. It's a city of very poor people and very well off people.

 

[superjohn]

Homes that cost $150k here in 2005 now go for $750k. $300k are at a million. It's crazy. By "poor" city, you mean % of residents in poverty. It's very high in poor people. But, there are other ways to measure whether it's a poor city. It's a city of very poor people and very well off people.

It has one of the highest poverty rates in the country, that's what I mean by it being a poor city.

 

[Sonofabeach]

Amsterdam is a very rough town.

It has always made quite an impression on me as you have to drive through it if you're going north toward Lake George or Vermont.

I am heading to Lake George on Sunday for a week of some Kayak fishing and foliage seeking then heading down to Binghamton, NY. to see my son and new grandson

 

[Chuck]

I grew up around Troy. Like John said, the central downtown area has a lot of history, some beautiful streets and old buildings (there are certain blocks that you'd confuse with historical areas of any major metropolitan city), and the hipster invasion from NY has led to some pockets with cool bars and restaurants, etc., but it's still a pretty poor city of only around 50k people and if you drive for literally 10 seconds from one of the nice blocks you're in an area that looks either like Appalachia or one of the west baltimore streets where the Wire was filmed.

This is my impression of Troy. I usually only drive through on my way to Vermont. You quickly go through "The Wire" to perfectly fine suburb, to Appalachia (not sure if that's still Troy or if you are closer to Hoosick). A few years ago, however, we decided to get off the usual route and stop at Dinosaur BBQ. The "downtown" (I'm not sure if it's downtown) is pretty nice. We were pleasantly surprised.

Being from NJ, I'm sensitive to blanket statements about an entire state, region or even town. Everyone can love where they live/grew up, especially if the (or their) people are great.