Finally, a question I can answer…
I was born and raised in Springfield, moved to Boston for college, and went to Umass for grad school, so I pretty much know the area.
Noho is pretty far away from Springfield if you want to commute. Even though there aren’t a lot of people commuting, the main highway, I-91 is horribly designed, and traffic is horrible. Legend has it that it was altered in the design process so that a selectman wouldn’t have it near his house.
You might look into South Hadley, Ludlow, and some parts of Chicopee and West Springfield for housing needs. Those will put you comfortably in between work and play (play is definitely Noho. Don’t bother in Springfield.) and they will be much, much cheaper than Noho, due to less competition from college kids.
Gaming and comic stuff can be had at the Dragon’s Lair in West Springfield. The Space-Crime continuum noted above has no/few comics, but the owner is really cool.
I have a good friend who got a masters in statistics at Umass, and he swears that the math program is very easy and very boring. He’s a bitter guy though, so YMMV. Western New England College is a decent engineering school in Springfield, but I don’t know what they have for math graduate study.
The best secret about Springfield is Tony’s pizza. It’s on State Street, which you’ll get to know well. I would come home some weekends from school in Boston just for some pie. Mmm.
If you’re interested in plays, music, etc., the Noho/Amherst area can be great when school is in session. Smith College and Umass have a lot going on, as does Amherst College. Umass is really into basketball, so those games can be a good time.
Remember that Boston is less than 2 hours away. It’s not far, and can be a great day or weekend trip.
It ain’t that big of a state, we could get everyone involved ya know 