If you went on SUathletics.com late Sunday afternoon, you'd see the top stories of the day concerning Syracuse University athletics listed, as usual. The big story at that point was the fact that the field hockey team had reached the Final Four by beating Princeton in overtime. OK, congratulations to them.
The second story was: "Director of Athletics Dr. Daryl Gross Announces Change in Football Program." If this blog had many readers, I'd have a contest for the funniest suggestion about what that could mean. Has the starting time of the Notre Dame game been changed? Will the training table meals start having more fish and less meat? Is the price of the actual program that is sold at home games going to stay the same next year as a bow to the recession? When you are 2-8, the possibilities for comedy are limitless.
The actual story wasn't so funny, at least to Greg Robinson. He lost his job as head coach, effective at the end of the season. It's a tough profession, and Robinson saw the program hit bottom in his four years there, but at least he'll get $1.1 million or so next year not to coach.
Even so, Syracuse has the finest journalism school in the country, according to its graduates. Anyone ever teach the athletic department the phrase "burying the lead"?
Showing posts with label Syracuse football. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Syracuse football. Show all posts
Monday, November 17, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Rhymes with orange
It's a slightly old joke, but an obvious one.
A Syracuse graduate was talking on Tuesday about Saturday's football game between the Orange (and for the record I hate singular sports nicknames) and Penn State. "I think Penn State just scored again," he said.
He wasn't right, but it sure seemed like it. Ye Olde Alma Mater is 0-3 on the current season. It has lost to Northwestern (not exactly a Big Ten power), Akron (not exactly anyone's idea of a power), and Penn State (a top 25 team that scored more than half a hundred points on Syracuse). So Syracuse has a game with Northeastern coming up, followed by the Big East portion of the schedule. And 1-11 looms as a good possibility.
The question is, how should I react to all of this?
I'm used to losing football teams at Syracuse. When I arrived as a freshman in the fall of 1973, I was all excited to see big-time major college football. Week one saw Bowling Green defeat Syracuse, 41-14. Bowling Green? Where is that? What conference? I believe Syracuse went 2-9/2-9/6-5/3-8 during my four years there, and I covered some of those games for the school newspaper. As one co-worker said, "The stories are much funnier when the football team gets clobbered."
Syracuse football had some dramatic ups during the 1980's and 1990's, but the last four years have been dreary. Attendance has dropped way off, which probably will lead to the obligatory coaching change.
Part of me looks at rabid college football fans with a small degree of disdain. It's easy to wonder about the priorities of people who gas up the RV and drive hundreds of miles to see their favorite team, and then when the team loses they start Web sites that are something like firemycoachnow.com. It's not like a bad football team is going to decrease the value of my diploma. And plenty of schools have a good reputation without a good football team -- MIT and Duke come to mind. I never could figure out why some people think they have the right to throw money at players with a $50 handshake (note: I kind of doubt this is happening at Syracuse now). I'd prefer the team to win, but it's not going to ruin my day.
Still, the football team represents a connection to my college years. When the score comes up in the newspaper or on television, it's easy to think back to when I sat in the stands of Archbold Stadium with friends, hoping that the team would figure out to win a game or two. The thought of those friends still makes me smile. The math department doesn't make the pages of the newspaper very often, at least when you are 150 miles away.
I guess I don't expect dominance, year after year, but a trip to the Weed Eater Bowl every once in a while would be nice. Until that happens, I'll be wearing Syracuse shirts as a reminder of my years there and my friends from there, and not as a reminder of 0-3 and counting.
A Syracuse graduate was talking on Tuesday about Saturday's football game between the Orange (and for the record I hate singular sports nicknames) and Penn State. "I think Penn State just scored again," he said.
He wasn't right, but it sure seemed like it. Ye Olde Alma Mater is 0-3 on the current season. It has lost to Northwestern (not exactly a Big Ten power), Akron (not exactly anyone's idea of a power), and Penn State (a top 25 team that scored more than half a hundred points on Syracuse). So Syracuse has a game with Northeastern coming up, followed by the Big East portion of the schedule. And 1-11 looms as a good possibility.
The question is, how should I react to all of this?
I'm used to losing football teams at Syracuse. When I arrived as a freshman in the fall of 1973, I was all excited to see big-time major college football. Week one saw Bowling Green defeat Syracuse, 41-14. Bowling Green? Where is that? What conference? I believe Syracuse went 2-9/2-9/6-5/3-8 during my four years there, and I covered some of those games for the school newspaper. As one co-worker said, "The stories are much funnier when the football team gets clobbered."
Syracuse football had some dramatic ups during the 1980's and 1990's, but the last four years have been dreary. Attendance has dropped way off, which probably will lead to the obligatory coaching change.
Part of me looks at rabid college football fans with a small degree of disdain. It's easy to wonder about the priorities of people who gas up the RV and drive hundreds of miles to see their favorite team, and then when the team loses they start Web sites that are something like firemycoachnow.com. It's not like a bad football team is going to decrease the value of my diploma. And plenty of schools have a good reputation without a good football team -- MIT and Duke come to mind. I never could figure out why some people think they have the right to throw money at players with a $50 handshake (note: I kind of doubt this is happening at Syracuse now). I'd prefer the team to win, but it's not going to ruin my day.
Still, the football team represents a connection to my college years. When the score comes up in the newspaper or on television, it's easy to think back to when I sat in the stands of Archbold Stadium with friends, hoping that the team would figure out to win a game or two. The thought of those friends still makes me smile. The math department doesn't make the pages of the newspaper very often, at least when you are 150 miles away.
I guess I don't expect dominance, year after year, but a trip to the Weed Eater Bowl every once in a while would be nice. Until that happens, I'll be wearing Syracuse shirts as a reminder of my years there and my friends from there, and not as a reminder of 0-3 and counting.
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