By Greg Palmer
The good news for the Maine Black Bears, they outscored #7 ranked Syracuse 43-41 in the second half on Saturday.
The bad news… the first half score was 60-12 Syracuse. It took the help of a Syracuse goal tending foul late in the half to get them to 12, just missing the Dome record (11) for lowest points scored in a half. Maine could have completely folded after that complete demolition, but they didn’t. As reflected in the 2nd half score, they came out, played hard and fought for 20 minutes after half-time.
There’s something relaxing about early season Syracuse basketball home games, especially after the frustration of the football season. Each game has been more of an exhibition of Wes Johnson’s next 1-and-done highlight reel dunk than an actual contest. It’s fitting that the term alley-oop has its origins in acrobatics, because Johnson, the transfer from Corsicana, Texas, is an absolute high-flyer.
This team is simply fun to watch. They share the ball, they play aggressive defense, and they look like they are genuinely enjoying themselves. Personally, I was very unsure how this team would recover from losing three dynamic players with all their gaudy points-per-game statistics. Surprisingly, the beat goes on and the best keep getting better.
I brought my 6-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter. We sat in section 108. I thought they’d be blown away by being so close to the court. I was wrong. There are some drawbacks to sitting in the 100’s. Apparently, shorties, like my two kids, can’t see over full-grown adults. They stood on the benches during the national anthem and introductions and my 6-year old sat on my lap for most of the first half.
So for the 2nd half we moved to my father’s season tickets in the first row of section 313. You can’t beat the first row in the third deck, as far as convenience goes. Getting to your seats in the 100s is like a tight-rope walk where you anxiously try to avoid stomping anyone’s feet. And when it’s someone else’s turn to get past you, you have to contort your body into some Circ-du-Soleil position in order to give the person room. Section 313 is long-distance viewing, but sometimes, the extra leg-room and an unobstructed view are worth it.
It was crunchy taco-time with nearly 15 minutes left in the game. The only suspense left at that point was when we’d break 100. The kids loved every dunk and three pointer, but I knew they’d lost interest when I heard…
“I spy with my little eye… something…. Orange.”
“Is it Daddy’s shirt?” No. “Is it that guy’s shirt?” No. “Is it that seat cushion?” No…
Next up… Florida. And I suspect there won’t be time for any games of I-spy.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Monday, November 30, 2009
A Season Ends and a Foundation is Laid
By Greg Palmer
Two and a half months ago I sent in my first fan blog for the home opener against Minnesota. Time flies when you’re having fun. I didn’t know what to expect. I wanted to write things that people wanted to read, but that’s easier said than done. I can only hope that those of you who have taken the time to read the blog have enjoyed them half as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them. I do want to thank the university and especially Tina Bowman for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts every week.
I’m moving on to SU basketball and will be posting something on hoops at least every week going forward and come National Letter of Intent Signing Day, I’ll probably touch on Football one more time. Stay tuned and don’t forget to post comments. It’ll let me know I’m not talking to myself.
Football season is now officially over. From most fans’ perspective, the season was anything but “rejuvenating”, to borrow a word from Coach Marrone. SU finished last again, with only a single win against a conference foe (but what a win it was!). Unfortunately for fans, the benefits of the sometimes drastic and sometimes incremental changes that have affected the football program simply cannot provide instant gratification.
Clearly, improvements have been made, with more to follow in the upcoming years. The goal is a program that consistently competes for conference championships, and this year we laid the brick and mortar upon which we will build. It still doesn’t look like anything special, but skipping this step would have risked an eventual collapse in the future.
What does our foundation look like?
We won more games than we did last year. We beat a Big 10 program and lost to another in overtime. We beat a conference team that we directly compete against for NE recruits. We played hard and never quit.
Special teams… special teams… well, my mother always told me that if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. Lichtenstein showed he deserved his scholarship. Other than that, mums the word on special teams. We can only go up from here, right?
The offense started to find its rhythm again late in the season. The play-calling was anything but predictable in SU’s final two games. The OLine, one of the weakest links on offense the past few years, made steady improvement all season. We return all of our talented RBs. Our pass-catching TEs will return from injury. We have a QB with game experience.
The defense took a giant leap forward, and next year that trend should continue with a further bound towards greatness. This defense is hard-hitting and swarming, and they love to stuff the run. Those are the characteristics of championship defenses. Losing Art Jones hurts, but the Dline proved they could fill his substantial shoes on the interior. LBs went from being a suspect unit to being the heart and soul of the defense.
The 2010 Syracuse Football team, due mostly to its depleted depth, has the incongruous characteristic of being young, yet experienced. Think Brandon Sharpe, Shamarko Thomas, Alec Lemon, and all the other freshman and sophomores that not only got valuable playing time, but made the most of it. And next year’s recruiting class is already taking shaping with nearly 20 recruits verbally committed to our program, some of whom may join the team for spring training. These are the players that will build the next level of the program, all according to Coach Marrone’s “Plan”.
And last but not least, the fans. We get a lot of grief in these parts, and some of it is rightly deserved. But for a program that has had one winning season this decade, we are still drawing 30K people or more to our games. And those 30K have sounded like 60K during many critical downs in the Dome. Just as the players and coaches will improve upon their successes next year, I hope we, the fans, come back louder, stronger and dressed in Orange. See you next year. Go Orange!
Two and a half months ago I sent in my first fan blog for the home opener against Minnesota. Time flies when you’re having fun. I didn’t know what to expect. I wanted to write things that people wanted to read, but that’s easier said than done. I can only hope that those of you who have taken the time to read the blog have enjoyed them half as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them. I do want to thank the university and especially Tina Bowman for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts every week.
I’m moving on to SU basketball and will be posting something on hoops at least every week going forward and come National Letter of Intent Signing Day, I’ll probably touch on Football one more time. Stay tuned and don’t forget to post comments. It’ll let me know I’m not talking to myself.
Football season is now officially over. From most fans’ perspective, the season was anything but “rejuvenating”, to borrow a word from Coach Marrone. SU finished last again, with only a single win against a conference foe (but what a win it was!). Unfortunately for fans, the benefits of the sometimes drastic and sometimes incremental changes that have affected the football program simply cannot provide instant gratification.
Clearly, improvements have been made, with more to follow in the upcoming years. The goal is a program that consistently competes for conference championships, and this year we laid the brick and mortar upon which we will build. It still doesn’t look like anything special, but skipping this step would have risked an eventual collapse in the future.
What does our foundation look like?
We won more games than we did last year. We beat a Big 10 program and lost to another in overtime. We beat a conference team that we directly compete against for NE recruits. We played hard and never quit.
Special teams… special teams… well, my mother always told me that if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. Lichtenstein showed he deserved his scholarship. Other than that, mums the word on special teams. We can only go up from here, right?
The offense started to find its rhythm again late in the season. The play-calling was anything but predictable in SU’s final two games. The OLine, one of the weakest links on offense the past few years, made steady improvement all season. We return all of our talented RBs. Our pass-catching TEs will return from injury. We have a QB with game experience.
The defense took a giant leap forward, and next year that trend should continue with a further bound towards greatness. This defense is hard-hitting and swarming, and they love to stuff the run. Those are the characteristics of championship defenses. Losing Art Jones hurts, but the Dline proved they could fill his substantial shoes on the interior. LBs went from being a suspect unit to being the heart and soul of the defense.
The 2010 Syracuse Football team, due mostly to its depleted depth, has the incongruous characteristic of being young, yet experienced. Think Brandon Sharpe, Shamarko Thomas, Alec Lemon, and all the other freshman and sophomores that not only got valuable playing time, but made the most of it. And next year’s recruiting class is already taking shaping with nearly 20 recruits verbally committed to our program, some of whom may join the team for spring training. These are the players that will build the next level of the program, all according to Coach Marrone’s “Plan”.
And last but not least, the fans. We get a lot of grief in these parts, and some of it is rightly deserved. But for a program that has had one winning season this decade, we are still drawing 30K people or more to our games. And those 30K have sounded like 60K during many critical downs in the Dome. Just as the players and coaches will improve upon their successes next year, I hope we, the fans, come back louder, stronger and dressed in Orange. See you next year. Go Orange!
Monday, November 23, 2009
Now that’s Tremendous
By Greg Palmer
My first blog, way back in September, started with a short list of disclaimers, one of which was that I am just an everyday fan. Which is still true. I don’t have press credentials or special access to the program. This Saturday, however, because of my role as the fan blogger, I actually did get to experience the game in a way that the majority of fans never get to. I watched the game from the field. It’s tough to actually sum up the entire experience in words.
I was given two passes. I invited one of my best friends who I’ve been friends with since we were ten years old. He recently finished his commitment to the US Army and moved back to Syracuse. I thought the game would be a great way to welcome him home. Of course, when my father heard I was taking my friend instead of him, I am fairly certain he contacted his lawyer about his will. I’m thinking if I want to stay in the will, my only hope is to try and get courtside seats for a basketball game this year and bring him (anyone have a pair of courtsides I could get my hands on? A father-son relationship hangs in the balance).
As soon as you walk down the short set of stairs to the field, your entire perspective as a fan changes. My friend turned to me and said, “Okay, stay calm, act like we’ve been here before.” But it was impossible. Not a minute later we were fist bumping, high-fiving fans in the stands and accidently knocking over a camera man.
On the field, the excitement of the game is overwhelming. The crowd is over you, surrounding you. The Dome roof seems like forever away. The field is expansive yet walled in by fans. The speed and strength and size of these athletes are simply impressive. Sitting in the front row of the third deck where my season tickets are, the players aren’t much bigger than the plastic players on an old-school electric football board. Maybe that’s an exaggeration, but you get my point. The collisions on the field, up close, are violent. Just ask Tom Savage, Rutgers’ starting QB who was sacked 9 times.
The noise of the crowd washes over the field like a rogue wave, a cacophony of voices screaming and cheering and whistling and whooping and hollering. It’s hard to hear. And it feels great. The Dome can be a special place to play. One could certainly lament the fact that only about 30,000 people came to the game, even though it wasn’t on TV. One could stomp their feet about the fact that the student section was only a third full. But it would be a waste of time, because it’s something we can’t control. The fans that were at the game, that wanted to be there, gave it their all. And that’s something that the diehards can control. And when Coach Marrone has returned the program to its winning ways and more and more fans return, the diehards that never left can set an example for those that join the party.
That game on Saturday is why people become fans. Despite all the players we have lost to injury, despite our depleted depth, this team has never stopped believing and playing hard. And Saturday was no different. The pure joy of the win was only experienced by the coaches, the players, and those fans who love this program. Of course, the price of that love is that losses like the Louisville game can actually make us physically ill, but it’s wins like Saturday that make it all worth it.
Back in September, I proclaimed that I believe. I believe in the new coaching staff. I believe in the players and how hard they’ve worked. I believe in the university and the effort they are putting into reviving this program. I was even so bold as to speak for the collective fan base and say that “We believe”. The dismantling of Rutgers justifies and rewards our faith we have in this process of rejuvenation. There’s still a lot of work to do. There’s still much that can be improved. There is still respect that has not been earned. There are still goals that have not been met. But today I believe that we are on the right path, that the future is bright, that the state of this program is strong and growing stronger.
Fans can be superstitious. I haven’t kept a log of the bad luck that has followed the Syracuse football program like a shadow for the last five years, but if I had it would be a lengthy list of bad breaks, unfortunate bounces, untimely injuries, and inexplicably bad decisions. Someone, right here in River City…err, Syracuse, has angered the football gods. Who knows what the transgression was, but the price has certainly been paid in pain and losses and punch lines.
Perhaps on Saturday the football gods finally relented. And I think they left us a couple of signs that they have lifted their curse upon us. Consider…
Syracuse’s last touchdown was scored with four minutes and 44 seconds left in the game.
Rutgers’ last possession in the game ended after three straight sacks that led to a fourth down with 44 yards to go.
And the final score 31-13 adds up to, you guessed it, 44.
Signs from the gods? I thought so. So at the end of the game, I laid down in the endzone in the center of the O in ORANGE and screamed a wordless scream of joy, exorcizing all of our demons. I felt like I could blow the roof off the Dome. My friend tried to snap a picture of my act of jubilation with his phone but was too slow… instead catching me awkwardly getting up from the field turf. In the picture it looks like I was break dancing in the endzone. If I could breakdance, I would have. Like Breakin 2 Electric Boogaloo.
The game ended and the band played the Alma Mater followed by the fight-song and players danced as if it were an Irish jig. But the celebration wasn’t done. Players high-fived fans leaning over the railing all the way around the dome. Being on the field, I slapped each kid’s shoulder pads and congratulated them all on the big win. Art Jones even made the lap with his trademark beaming smile.
Winning feels good. Walking to Faegan’s for an after-game libation, you could hear the marching band playing in the Varsity as the Rutgers’ banner was turned on its head. There was an electricity in the air, a giddiness, a collective “did you just see that” look on everyone’s faces.
Coach Marrone likes to use the word “tremendous”. He uses it a lot to describe a whole spectrum of things. And the word count in his press conferences is probably already higher than Coach P’s 14 years worth of press conferences (at least if you subtract coachspeak). He’s a talkative, forthcoming guy. And after Saturday’s game he stated, “We did a nice job today," without even a hint of a smile. And the award for poker-faced understatement of the year goes to…
Something tells me that on the inside he was thinking “that game was TREMENDOUS!” But he doesn’t have time to bask in the glory of one game. He has a plan and we all saw a brief glimpse of what the end results of that plan just might be.
Go Orange!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Numerology
By Greg Palmer
800. Eight Hundred. 1100100000. DCCC.
It’s just a number. Or is it?
In numerology, 800 represents a higher degree of understanding or appreciation of our experiences from which we learn. Granted, I don’t believe one iota in this mumbo-jumbo, but how better to describe a man who has coached young men for over 34 years and molded those athletes into teams that have ALWAYS won more than they lost. In fact, all those different teams with all those different players have won a combined 74% of their games. Only someone who truly learns from their mistakes and improves upon their strengths could ever achieve what James Arthur Boeheim has with the Syracuse University Basketball program.
Not to sound like a palm reader, but 800 has numerous energetic vibrations, including prosperity, abundance, authority, leadership, self-motivation, and infinity.
PROSPERITY
We are 5th in total wins and 7th in win percentage. And that’s out of 347 Div I basketball programs in the country.
Amazingly, there have only been seven coaches in 110 years of SU basketball history. Those first six coaches combined for 952 wins over 75 years. And the next coach got 800 wins in 34 years and is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Is that prosperous enough for you?
ABUNDANCE
Three Big East Coach of the Year awards. Seven regular season Big East Championships. Five Big East Tournament Championships. Ten Sweet Sixteen appearances. Three National Championship games. One National Championship.
AUTHORITY
Chairman of the USA Basketball 2009-12 Men's Junior National Committee.
Former president and current board member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
Coach of the United States Men’s Basketball team in 1990 and 2006 FIBA World Championships games as well as the 2008 Olympics, in which we won the Gold.
LEADERSHIP
It’s fitting that Jim Boeheim got his 800th win in a Coaches vs. Cancer game. He is a leader in that organization and routinely raises hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for the American Cancer Society.
SELF-MOTIVATION
In 1976, when Roy Danforth left Syracuse University, the athletic department was ready to conduct a national search for a new coach. Jim Boeheim paid a visit to the Vice Chancellor and told him in no uncertain terms that HE, the lowly assistant with no head coaching experience, was THE man for the job. More than that, he told them he’d leave immediately for his next job if a coaching search was started. Nevermind that he didn’t have a next job at the time.
Out of all the words that can be used to describe Jim Boeheim, competitive is one that most would agree on.
INFINITY
Well, nothing in this world is infinite. But certainly there are things that stand the test of time. As talk inevitably turns to the NEXT milestone for Jim Boeheim, and discussions of a succession plan seem to percolate every year, it’s nice to know that a man who played for this university, learned to coach here, and then spent his entire head coaching career here will someday be replaced by a similar man, with a similar competitive fire.
Mike Hopkins has a tough act to follow. If he takes over in the next five years, and wins 22 games a year, he’ll need to coach until he’s nearly 80 years old to win 800 games.
Of course, Boeheim could hit 900 wins before Mike gets promoted, maybe even passing Bobby Knight. While that is certainly an amazing accomplishment, knowing Boeheim, it wouldn’t lessen the pain of that loss in 1987 one bit.
800. Eight Hundred. 1100100000. DCCC.
It’s just a number. Or is it?
In numerology, 800 represents a higher degree of understanding or appreciation of our experiences from which we learn. Granted, I don’t believe one iota in this mumbo-jumbo, but how better to describe a man who has coached young men for over 34 years and molded those athletes into teams that have ALWAYS won more than they lost. In fact, all those different teams with all those different players have won a combined 74% of their games. Only someone who truly learns from their mistakes and improves upon their strengths could ever achieve what James Arthur Boeheim has with the Syracuse University Basketball program.
Not to sound like a palm reader, but 800 has numerous energetic vibrations, including prosperity, abundance, authority, leadership, self-motivation, and infinity.
PROSPERITY
We are 5th in total wins and 7th in win percentage. And that’s out of 347 Div I basketball programs in the country.
Amazingly, there have only been seven coaches in 110 years of SU basketball history. Those first six coaches combined for 952 wins over 75 years. And the next coach got 800 wins in 34 years and is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Is that prosperous enough for you?
ABUNDANCE
Three Big East Coach of the Year awards. Seven regular season Big East Championships. Five Big East Tournament Championships. Ten Sweet Sixteen appearances. Three National Championship games. One National Championship.
AUTHORITY
Chairman of the USA Basketball 2009-12 Men's Junior National Committee.
Former president and current board member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
Coach of the United States Men’s Basketball team in 1990 and 2006 FIBA World Championships games as well as the 2008 Olympics, in which we won the Gold.
LEADERSHIP
It’s fitting that Jim Boeheim got his 800th win in a Coaches vs. Cancer game. He is a leader in that organization and routinely raises hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for the American Cancer Society.
SELF-MOTIVATION
In 1976, when Roy Danforth left Syracuse University, the athletic department was ready to conduct a national search for a new coach. Jim Boeheim paid a visit to the Vice Chancellor and told him in no uncertain terms that HE, the lowly assistant with no head coaching experience, was THE man for the job. More than that, he told them he’d leave immediately for his next job if a coaching search was started. Nevermind that he didn’t have a next job at the time.
Out of all the words that can be used to describe Jim Boeheim, competitive is one that most would agree on.
INFINITY
Well, nothing in this world is infinite. But certainly there are things that stand the test of time. As talk inevitably turns to the NEXT milestone for Jim Boeheim, and discussions of a succession plan seem to percolate every year, it’s nice to know that a man who played for this university, learned to coach here, and then spent his entire head coaching career here will someday be replaced by a similar man, with a similar competitive fire.
Mike Hopkins has a tough act to follow. If he takes over in the next five years, and wins 22 games a year, he’ll need to coach until he’s nearly 80 years old to win 800 games.
Of course, Boeheim could hit 900 wins before Mike gets promoted, maybe even passing Bobby Knight. While that is certainly an amazing accomplishment, knowing Boeheim, it wouldn’t lessen the pain of that loss in 1987 one bit.
Friday, November 6, 2009
The Best Keep Getting Better… God, I Hope So
By Greg Palmer
Every 10,000 years or so the planets align. Even Pluto. The next time it happens in 2012, the Mayan’s believed the world would end. Let’s hope the almost equally rare phenomenon of Syracuse University losing an exhibition game doesn’t portend a similar cataclysm.
The Div-II Lemoyne Dolphins beat the Syracuse Orange, a top five D1 program in wins. Le Moyne, that OTHER college here in Syracuse, the one you could hit with a basketball from the Dome (if you used a howitzer), was, shall we say, a slight underdog. What’s next, OCC beating us in Lacrosse? There’s a good chance this is some end-of-days omen.
It was like getting beat in a game of HORSE by your much younger, much shorter brother. Beneath the overwhelming embarrassment is just a hint of pride that you’re brother just beat a giant.
Didn’t anyone send Le Moyne the memo? Exhibition games don’t count.
ex⋅hi⋅bi⋅tion [ek-suh-bish-uh n]
a public display, as of the skills of performers
Scoop Jardine was supposed to be the performer. Wesley Johnson or Andy Rautins. Those are performers. Who knew Le Moyne has some performers of their own?
The Dolphins played hard and played to win. The game was close through-out and unexpectedly exciting in the closing minutes. The sparse crowd didn’t even realize they could cheer at exhibition games until we were down by five with only a few minutes left. Hey wait, we can lose exhibition games? If you’re going to lose a game, you might as well lose one that doesn’t count.
If there’s a silver-lining here at all it’s that this young team just learned a valuable lesson. Come to win or be ready to lose.
In all seriousness, I am fairly certain that the woman in the courtside seats wearing an SU Snuggie brought the basketball gods’ wrath down upon us. Please don’t take offense Ms. Snuggie-fan, but there has to be SOME explanation for the calamity I witnessed last night. I have talked to my contacts in the Athletic Department and am doing my best to get Snuggies or any other blankets with sleeves that are being marketed on TV banned from the Dome.
Every 10,000 years or so the planets align. Even Pluto. The next time it happens in 2012, the Mayan’s believed the world would end. Let’s hope the almost equally rare phenomenon of Syracuse University losing an exhibition game doesn’t portend a similar cataclysm.
The Div-II Lemoyne Dolphins beat the Syracuse Orange, a top five D1 program in wins. Le Moyne, that OTHER college here in Syracuse, the one you could hit with a basketball from the Dome (if you used a howitzer), was, shall we say, a slight underdog. What’s next, OCC beating us in Lacrosse? There’s a good chance this is some end-of-days omen.
It was like getting beat in a game of HORSE by your much younger, much shorter brother. Beneath the overwhelming embarrassment is just a hint of pride that you’re brother just beat a giant.
Didn’t anyone send Le Moyne the memo? Exhibition games don’t count.
ex⋅hi⋅bi⋅tion [ek-suh-bish-uh n]
a public display, as of the skills of performers
Scoop Jardine was supposed to be the performer. Wesley Johnson or Andy Rautins. Those are performers. Who knew Le Moyne has some performers of their own?
The Dolphins played hard and played to win. The game was close through-out and unexpectedly exciting in the closing minutes. The sparse crowd didn’t even realize they could cheer at exhibition games until we were down by five with only a few minutes left. Hey wait, we can lose exhibition games? If you’re going to lose a game, you might as well lose one that doesn’t count.
If there’s a silver-lining here at all it’s that this young team just learned a valuable lesson. Come to win or be ready to lose.
In all seriousness, I am fairly certain that the woman in the courtside seats wearing an SU Snuggie brought the basketball gods’ wrath down upon us. Please don’t take offense Ms. Snuggie-fan, but there has to be SOME explanation for the calamity I witnessed last night. I have talked to my contacts in the Athletic Department and am doing my best to get Snuggies or any other blankets with sleeves that are being marketed on TV banned from the Dome.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Halloween BOOOOOOOO-fest
By Greg Palmer
The team is driving the field against the #5 team in the country, against a defense that gives up very few touchdowns. The second string quarterback trots on to the field for his pre-designed offensive package. The crowd cheers. The play ends. The first string quarterback replaces him. The crowd boos… loudly. And so the “fans” alternate between booing and cheering their quarterbacks.
I’ve had this debate many times, with friends, with family members, with season ticket holders. Leaving the quarterback controversy out of it, is it ever okay to boo an amateur athlete? My answer has always been “no”. In my mind, there is no gray area. The people I’ve debated are smart, level-headed fans and they always have the same basic points…
- Booing is ubiquitous. It happens everywhere.
- Fans pay their hard earned money to sit on those silver benches. As long as they are not being abusive or vulgar, let them cheer, scream, or boo to their hearts’ content.
- Fans aren’t really booing the player(s), they are booing the coaches’ decisions to play those specific players or call those specific plays.
- Syracuse’s fan-base is comprised mostly of locals who have no real tie to the university, and as such the athletics program is for all intents and purposes considered a “pro” team.
Each point has merit and some inherit truth to it. But to me, they are simply justifications and excuses for juvenile, mean-spirited behavior. What else could you call booing a twenty-something year old kid doing his absolute best to represent his university?
Whether people anywhere else in the country are willing to boo their players and coaches doesn’t make it right, does it? Stupid is as stupid does, I guess.
The economy is tough. Entertainment dollars are few and far between. Deciding to spend money to watch a football game isn’t an easy decision for many people. But buying tickets doesn’t give you the right to be a poor sport or a poor role model for the kids that are watching the game beside you.
I don’t get the argument that fans aren’t really booing the players. Maybe it helps explain why adult fans and fellow students aren’t ashamed to boo their own team, though. Stand on the field and listen to thousands of fans boo and explain to me how you are supposed to interpret the intent of that booing. Do you take a poll?
The “pro” mentality seems to best explain why fans feel it’s okay to boo. College football is big time business. It involves millions of dollars. These kids are getting lots of scholarship money, so doesn’t that mean they are getting paid? But think about it this way… scholarships or no, would you boo the band? How about a college-production of Grease or students at an art exhibit? Is it simply because they are athletes that booing is considered acceptable?
Although the wins still haven’t come yet, we have ourselves a blue-collar, hard-nosed football team. A team that reflects the city it plays in. These kids are representatives of our community. No one is more frustrated with losing than these kids and coaches. I know the fans want this team to succeed. But no one deserves a successful football program. It has to be earned. If we want a first-class, winning program, perhaps we have to start trying to be a first-class, supportive fan base.
Anyone who calls themselves a fan of Syracuse football or even just college football would have a hard time arguing that the team is not giving their all, not trying their best, not playing with heart, not hustling, not using all of their god-given talent to try and win every game they play. What more could you ask? And why would you boo that kind of effort?
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Who You Calling Ugly?
By Greg Palmer
U... G… L… Y…
You ain’t got no alibi.
You ugly.
You ugly.
The Akron win, that is. At least that was my first reaction on Saturday. But after the worst four-year stretch in SU football history, a win is a win. Honestly, who are we to judge? Now that we understand how ephemeral success on the field can be, we need to learn to appreciate wins and look for the good amongst the bad and the ugly.
And there was good. Even great.
Consider the SU Marching Band getting a Family Weekend (aka Parents Weekend) ovation at half-time for their Michael Jackson tribute performance of “Thriller” complete with zombiefied-choreography and all. All they were missing was the single diamond studded glove. Some might consider it a stretch mentioning the band in a discussion about the good things about Saturday’s game, but those people didn’t see the tuba guys put down their instruments and strut their moves. Classic.
Consider Delone Carter’s career high performance of 170 yards and 3 touchdowns on 30 carries. All on a titanium hip. His 53 yard run was a thing of rare beauty in these parts and it wasn’t an untouched sweep around the end, it was a workhorse like effort that saw Delone break free in the secondary and get to the sideline, finally getting pushed out of bounds at the 8 yard line. But that run doesn’t define Mr. Carter. After that long break-away you’d expect a guy to get a breather. Not Delone. He stayed in the game and got the next two handoffs, until he rammed an Akron defender on the two yard line and crashed into the end zone for SU’s last touchdown.
Consider the defense holding Akron to zero yards rushing. Zero. As in, every time they carried the ball they averaged no gain. Zip. Nada. They only managed to get back to the line of scrimmage, which can basically be accomplished by tripping and falling forward. It was an impressive performance.
Sure it wasn’t pretty. But you don’t get style points in football. Only one win goes in the history books. The temptation to focus on the attractiveness of the win stems from an instinctive, though probably misguided belief that Arkon is a team we should beat and beat easily. And that’s not to disrespect Akron or their program. Some of you will ask how can a fan of a team that has lost so much in recent history believe they should beat anyone, let alone a team that beat us by two touchdowns only a year ago? It’s not based on logic, that’s for sure. It’s based on having experienced what this program can accomplish, on having witnessed some of the greatest moments in the program’s history, and on a firm hope that with hard work, we will get back to those glory days— a time when we had the luxury of calling a win anything less than what it is… a win.
And On a Personal Note
One of the loudest cheers of the day came when a young man proposed on the big screens during the Kiss Cam. She said yes while covering her face and nodding. Not only did he pull off the surprise but he did it at a game we won, which can only bode well for their future.
Saturday was my own anniversary-eve, as my wife Jodi and I were married twelve years ago on October 25th. If you look up the schedule from 1997, you’ll notice that it was a bye-week and you’ll probably realize that my wife let me pick the date. On our honeymoon, we went to a bar in Salem Massachusetts and watched SU demolish West Virginia in the Dome. And those are just two of the countless reasons I love her. SU sports don’t mean much to my wife, but she knows they are a part of me and what they mean to me and she doesn’t make me feel guilty for it. She enjoys the games at my side and I feel lucky to have her.
She wasn’t with me this Saturday like she usually is and I missed her. She was at home recovering from the flu and taking care of our four sick children. How the whole household got stricken and I escaped illness is a mystery.
The winter following our wedding we decided that we were going to travel with the Orange Pack (now known as the Orange Club) to the SU-Michigan game that was scheduled for September 1998. Shortly after paying for the trip and making accommodation plans, we find out Jodi was pregnant. She was due in August. Not knowing anything about having babies, we stuck to our plans. Twenty-eight days after giving birth to our first son, my wife joined me on a trip to Michigan. Our son stayed with his grandparents. It was a HARD weekend, being away from him. We just didn’t know it would be like that. You probably think we were crazy but we weren’t. We were just young and inexperienced and okay, slightly stupid.
Most of you probably remember the game. Donovan McNabb beat down Tom Brady and the Wolverines in the Big House. What you might not remember is that it was about 98 degrees that day. The pit-like structure that Michigan plays in offers absolutely no shade, at least not to the visitors’ side of the field. My wife, who was nursing, couldn’t stand the heat and neither could I. I looked like a Bedouin with a towel tucked into my baseball hat, but I couldn’t leave the field. I was witnessing one of the greatest games in SU history. My wife, on the other hand, needed shade. I sat with her in the grass under a tree outside the stadium concourse at halftime drinking the warm water that was being passed out to avoid mass-heatstrokes amongst the crowd.
When the 2nd half started up, I went back to our seats. My wife stayed outside where it was cooler. I found her later in the stadium emergency ward with two bags of ice, one for each breast. Apparently, heat and nursing and your baby being a couple states away are NOT a good combination. When I walked in, she smiled and then hit me as soon as I was close enough, informing me that she would NEVER let me forget this. I haven’t and never will. I owe my wife everything. She is my strength. She is my joy. I love her. Forever. And always. (Hey Jo, how’s that for a blog mention?)
U... G… L… Y…
You ain’t got no alibi.
You ugly.
You ugly.
The Akron win, that is. At least that was my first reaction on Saturday. But after the worst four-year stretch in SU football history, a win is a win. Honestly, who are we to judge? Now that we understand how ephemeral success on the field can be, we need to learn to appreciate wins and look for the good amongst the bad and the ugly.
And there was good. Even great.
Consider the SU Marching Band getting a Family Weekend (aka Parents Weekend) ovation at half-time for their Michael Jackson tribute performance of “Thriller” complete with zombiefied-choreography and all. All they were missing was the single diamond studded glove. Some might consider it a stretch mentioning the band in a discussion about the good things about Saturday’s game, but those people didn’t see the tuba guys put down their instruments and strut their moves. Classic.
Consider Delone Carter’s career high performance of 170 yards and 3 touchdowns on 30 carries. All on a titanium hip. His 53 yard run was a thing of rare beauty in these parts and it wasn’t an untouched sweep around the end, it was a workhorse like effort that saw Delone break free in the secondary and get to the sideline, finally getting pushed out of bounds at the 8 yard line. But that run doesn’t define Mr. Carter. After that long break-away you’d expect a guy to get a breather. Not Delone. He stayed in the game and got the next two handoffs, until he rammed an Akron defender on the two yard line and crashed into the end zone for SU’s last touchdown.
Consider the defense holding Akron to zero yards rushing. Zero. As in, every time they carried the ball they averaged no gain. Zip. Nada. They only managed to get back to the line of scrimmage, which can basically be accomplished by tripping and falling forward. It was an impressive performance.
Sure it wasn’t pretty. But you don’t get style points in football. Only one win goes in the history books. The temptation to focus on the attractiveness of the win stems from an instinctive, though probably misguided belief that Arkon is a team we should beat and beat easily. And that’s not to disrespect Akron or their program. Some of you will ask how can a fan of a team that has lost so much in recent history believe they should beat anyone, let alone a team that beat us by two touchdowns only a year ago? It’s not based on logic, that’s for sure. It’s based on having experienced what this program can accomplish, on having witnessed some of the greatest moments in the program’s history, and on a firm hope that with hard work, we will get back to those glory days— a time when we had the luxury of calling a win anything less than what it is… a win.
And On a Personal Note
One of the loudest cheers of the day came when a young man proposed on the big screens during the Kiss Cam. She said yes while covering her face and nodding. Not only did he pull off the surprise but he did it at a game we won, which can only bode well for their future.
Saturday was my own anniversary-eve, as my wife Jodi and I were married twelve years ago on October 25th. If you look up the schedule from 1997, you’ll notice that it was a bye-week and you’ll probably realize that my wife let me pick the date. On our honeymoon, we went to a bar in Salem Massachusetts and watched SU demolish West Virginia in the Dome. And those are just two of the countless reasons I love her. SU sports don’t mean much to my wife, but she knows they are a part of me and what they mean to me and she doesn’t make me feel guilty for it. She enjoys the games at my side and I feel lucky to have her.
She wasn’t with me this Saturday like she usually is and I missed her. She was at home recovering from the flu and taking care of our four sick children. How the whole household got stricken and I escaped illness is a mystery.
The winter following our wedding we decided that we were going to travel with the Orange Pack (now known as the Orange Club) to the SU-Michigan game that was scheduled for September 1998. Shortly after paying for the trip and making accommodation plans, we find out Jodi was pregnant. She was due in August. Not knowing anything about having babies, we stuck to our plans. Twenty-eight days after giving birth to our first son, my wife joined me on a trip to Michigan. Our son stayed with his grandparents. It was a HARD weekend, being away from him. We just didn’t know it would be like that. You probably think we were crazy but we weren’t. We were just young and inexperienced and okay, slightly stupid.
Most of you probably remember the game. Donovan McNabb beat down Tom Brady and the Wolverines in the Big House. What you might not remember is that it was about 98 degrees that day. The pit-like structure that Michigan plays in offers absolutely no shade, at least not to the visitors’ side of the field. My wife, who was nursing, couldn’t stand the heat and neither could I. I looked like a Bedouin with a towel tucked into my baseball hat, but I couldn’t leave the field. I was witnessing one of the greatest games in SU history. My wife, on the other hand, needed shade. I sat with her in the grass under a tree outside the stadium concourse at halftime drinking the warm water that was being passed out to avoid mass-heatstrokes amongst the crowd.
When the 2nd half started up, I went back to our seats. My wife stayed outside where it was cooler. I found her later in the stadium emergency ward with two bags of ice, one for each breast. Apparently, heat and nursing and your baby being a couple states away are NOT a good combination. When I walked in, she smiled and then hit me as soon as I was close enough, informing me that she would NEVER let me forget this. I haven’t and never will. I owe my wife everything. She is my strength. She is my joy. I love her. Forever. And always. (Hey Jo, how’s that for a blog mention?)
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