sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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The 17th annual Basket Ball was held Saturday night. I attended. Here is my report.
The event was held at the Turning Stone Casino. I think the first two were at the Convention Center downtown, maybe only the first. Since then, they have been at TSC. TSC does a great job and we are fortunate there is a world class facility for hosting this so close to Syracuse. As an aside, just to show how long ago that first was was held, the special guest was Coach K, GMac had recently verbaled to Syracuse and cto and I asked him about Gerry. Coach K denied knowing who he was. LOL. Al Skinner was another guest. At the time, he was the HC at BC. Craig Forth had also recently verbaled to Syracuse, BC had recruited he hard, and we asked him about Craig. He said he would have loved to have had him at BC, that he would not put up big numbers at SU but would be a key player for the Orange, smart and reliable. Nailed it.
On to 2016. The ball begins with a reception in the Great Hall. TSC actually calls it the Event Center Atrium but I like Great Hall better. They have maybe 4 bars set up. They know what makes Cuse fans happy. They have open bars for all portions of the ball featuring beer, mixed drinks and soda, including ginger ale. There are a like number of food trays set up with several kinds of crackers, cheese, various vegetables, cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries, and a number of italian meats. Prosciutto, salami, sometihng that looked like luncheon meat but didn't taste like it, etc. There was also ranch dressing and the spiciest mustard this man has ever tasted. I believe it had a generous amount of horseradish in it. The official description in the program says 'assorted cheeses, baked brie, vegetable crudites and fresh fruit.' Crudite definition: a traditional French appetizer consisting of sliced or whole raw vegetables which are sometimes dipped in a vinaigrette or other dipping sauce.
In addition, many waiters and waitresses carried trays with hors d'oeuvres still hot from a nearby oven. "Would you like an hors d'oeuvre sir?". Absolutely! They had vegetable spring rolls with a tangy sauce, bacon wrapped scallops (yay bacon!), coconut shrimp with a chutney sauce, chicken and beef satay with a peanut sauce and caprese skewers (featuring grape tomatoes and fresh mozzarella cheese balls). I had all of them except the caprese skewers. Someone else ate all of them. B#stards!
This went on for an hour. During this time, you can walk around the hall and look at/bid on the many items up for silent auction bidding and buy a raffle ticket to win a $161K diamond necklace (the ticket were $100 each, I bought one and no, my wife is not wearing it today), or stand in a seemingless endless line to get a photo taken with the whole team. I didn't do that, never have. They take the photos, put them in frames and put them on tables so you can grab yours as you leave the ball. I met a guy who was steaming because there were hundreds of photos there but not his. Someone apparently liked his more than theirs and took it. Quite unfortunate.
Anyway, after an hour or so, they start trying to herd people into the event center for the awards, live auction and entertainment. That takes at least 15 minutes. Others have already mentioned that many came to the Ball almost immediately after attending Pearl's funeral. His death was acknowledged by the Boeheims...Juli said they did it the way Pearl would have wanted; as a a celebration of his live. A touching video was played and JB made an emotional speech, explaining that his players are family to him and losing family is hard, especially when they are so young. It was well done and great to see some footage of Pearl going all the way back to HS. JB said after watching him for 2 minutes as a sophomore in HS, he knew he was a once in a lifetime talent and he was right. JB also said that they would be doing something to honor Pearl with the SU uniforms next season and something else that will happen forever to honor Pearl and ensure that his legacy and significance to the program is never forgotten.
JB talked about the team for a while. How proud he was of them, how they overcome so much, never stopped battling, etc. Pointed out how remarkable UVa had been for the past three years and how big of an achievement it was to beat them. Credited the seniors for doing a great job leading the team. Said 'we had about 400 people coming here when we were 13-9 and after we got to the Final Four, we more than doubled that'. The seniors were introduced and spoke briefly. Both complimented the SU fans, said it was a privilege to play in front of us. Silent G said he can't wait to see what the team does next season.
As a side note, JB took care to also mention Kaleb Joseph at this point, noting he was leaving the program but that he was a terrific teammate during his time at Syracuse who was a great kid and who will do very well at his next college destination. And in a spur of the moment thing, he decided that he was going to start giving a special award when the team has a special player whose attitude and hustle and leadership are extraordinary. BMK got it a couple of years ago. JB decided to give a similar award this year to Doyin Akintobi-Adeyeye, who he felt was a huge part of the team and its success this season.
JB also talked about recruiting briefly, noting that 'we have 3 top 40 players here this weekend', plus another player visiting, with another coming for a visit tomorrow. He said the timing was difficult with everything else going on but when great players tell you that want to come and visit, you let them come and visit.
He introduced Erin Engle, founder and CEO of Griffin's Guardians and her huband Adam. Erin gave a great speech talking about their son Griffin, the shocking turn their lives took when he was diagnosed with cancer and what it was like to lose him. And how she and Adam decided to do something about it, which led to the founding of Griffin's Guardians. When she was done, she was given a standing ovation by the touched audience. JB immediately asked for people who would be willing to give 5K for the cause, 2.5K, etc. and immediately raised a large amount of money. Good stuff.
The 2016 MVP Award went to the Gold family. Neil, Helene and Amanda were very appreciative and Neil made a less than kind remark about the NCAA, to much laughter. Well deserved, the Golds are amazing supporters of the program.
Juli mentioned around this point that a celebration was being planned for JB's 1000th win. It is going to be a grass roots thing, it is going to be sponsored by Nike and it is going to be special. So look forward to that next season and stick it in your craw NCAA (my words, not Juli's).
Dan Patrick was eventually announced as the emcee. JB told a funny story about how reluctant Dan was to serve as the emcee and how he was able to rope him in only as a result of Dan's connection to Dayton and his great confidence in Michigan State. He started his speech with "Me and my big f#cking mouth...".
Dan admitted he was openly lying to Jim and Juli for years to get out of hosting. JB said he could have gotten Tirico or Costas or McDonough and Dan cut him off and said "you are just going to have to get used to having an emcee taller than 5'4". Patrick was self effacing and funny, at one point bringing a gift to the Boeheims...a tshirt with a big color photo of his face on it. Said JB is always making this sad face with the side of his head stuck in one of his hands and said that someone needs to make an Boeheim emoti based on it. Good stuff.
The auction followed. It was very similar to previous years. Lots of big ticket type prizes were auctioned away...season tickets at half court with a primo parking pass, an all expenses paid trip to the Final Four, a road trip with the team where you fly with the team, stay at the hotel with the team, can even eat with the team (though JB recommended eating with the coaches instead: "we eat a lot better than the players do". Lots of money was raised. JB remains a master at doing this and several times sold the same prize twice to double the amount of money raised.
The entertainment this year was a guy my wife said was on 'America's Got Talent'. He painted pictures with glue on a black canvas and then threw gold stuff on the canvas to create a cool image. He did one of JB, one of the whole team and then another of Pearl. All were sold for big dollars. JB bought the one of Pearl for 10K. It was interesting but I miss the days when they had Motown groups performing.
At this point, it was finally time for dinner. The extra stuff inserted into the last segment meant that instead of ending at 8:15 as scheduled, I sat down at my table for dinner at 9:06. So mental note: if you ever go to one of these things, eat a lot of stuff at the reception, extra a lot beforehand or be prepared to wait a long time before you eat dinner.
Dinner consisted of an interesting tomato and mozzarella salad (there were grape tomatoes in there too) along with a basil coulis with olive oil and a thinly sliced piece of baguette. That was followed by a filet mignon with a cabernet demi sauce, with shrimp, asparagus wrapped with prosciutto and fennell roasted fingerling potatoes.
For dessert, there was a super rich single origin milk chocolate terrine, with toasted chocolate micro sponge cake with chocolate powder and chocolate anglaise. It was, what can I say, very chocolately.
After dinner, there is live music and dancing, or you can just sit and talk, or visit with friends at other tables. Joyce introduced me to two of her new friends, Dan Patrick and Dino Babers.
Dan was very friendly and insisted on posing with my wife and I for a picture. It was at least 45 minutes since dinner had been served and I noticed he hadn't 't touched his food yet. Good guy.
Joyce told Dino I was a Syracuse guy and a big fan. He immediately wanted to know where I grew up, where I went to HS, where I went to college, what I majored in, how long I was a season ticket holder and where my tickets were. When I told him next to the opposing coaches box, he told me he wanted reports on what the opposing coaches thought of his offensive scheme. 'Give me a call every Monday morning and let me know'. Funny guy. I really like his football acumen and his people skills. Not many have that blend...
This event is always a great time and I strongly recommend going if you ever have the opportunity. It was a ball. As always.
Hope to see you there next year.
The event was held at the Turning Stone Casino. I think the first two were at the Convention Center downtown, maybe only the first. Since then, they have been at TSC. TSC does a great job and we are fortunate there is a world class facility for hosting this so close to Syracuse. As an aside, just to show how long ago that first was was held, the special guest was Coach K, GMac had recently verbaled to Syracuse and cto and I asked him about Gerry. Coach K denied knowing who he was. LOL. Al Skinner was another guest. At the time, he was the HC at BC. Craig Forth had also recently verbaled to Syracuse, BC had recruited he hard, and we asked him about Craig. He said he would have loved to have had him at BC, that he would not put up big numbers at SU but would be a key player for the Orange, smart and reliable. Nailed it.
On to 2016. The ball begins with a reception in the Great Hall. TSC actually calls it the Event Center Atrium but I like Great Hall better. They have maybe 4 bars set up. They know what makes Cuse fans happy. They have open bars for all portions of the ball featuring beer, mixed drinks and soda, including ginger ale. There are a like number of food trays set up with several kinds of crackers, cheese, various vegetables, cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries, and a number of italian meats. Prosciutto, salami, sometihng that looked like luncheon meat but didn't taste like it, etc. There was also ranch dressing and the spiciest mustard this man has ever tasted. I believe it had a generous amount of horseradish in it. The official description in the program says 'assorted cheeses, baked brie, vegetable crudites and fresh fruit.' Crudite definition: a traditional French appetizer consisting of sliced or whole raw vegetables which are sometimes dipped in a vinaigrette or other dipping sauce.
In addition, many waiters and waitresses carried trays with hors d'oeuvres still hot from a nearby oven. "Would you like an hors d'oeuvre sir?". Absolutely! They had vegetable spring rolls with a tangy sauce, bacon wrapped scallops (yay bacon!), coconut shrimp with a chutney sauce, chicken and beef satay with a peanut sauce and caprese skewers (featuring grape tomatoes and fresh mozzarella cheese balls). I had all of them except the caprese skewers. Someone else ate all of them. B#stards!
This went on for an hour. During this time, you can walk around the hall and look at/bid on the many items up for silent auction bidding and buy a raffle ticket to win a $161K diamond necklace (the ticket were $100 each, I bought one and no, my wife is not wearing it today), or stand in a seemingless endless line to get a photo taken with the whole team. I didn't do that, never have. They take the photos, put them in frames and put them on tables so you can grab yours as you leave the ball. I met a guy who was steaming because there were hundreds of photos there but not his. Someone apparently liked his more than theirs and took it. Quite unfortunate.
Anyway, after an hour or so, they start trying to herd people into the event center for the awards, live auction and entertainment. That takes at least 15 minutes. Others have already mentioned that many came to the Ball almost immediately after attending Pearl's funeral. His death was acknowledged by the Boeheims...Juli said they did it the way Pearl would have wanted; as a a celebration of his live. A touching video was played and JB made an emotional speech, explaining that his players are family to him and losing family is hard, especially when they are so young. It was well done and great to see some footage of Pearl going all the way back to HS. JB said after watching him for 2 minutes as a sophomore in HS, he knew he was a once in a lifetime talent and he was right. JB also said that they would be doing something to honor Pearl with the SU uniforms next season and something else that will happen forever to honor Pearl and ensure that his legacy and significance to the program is never forgotten.
JB talked about the team for a while. How proud he was of them, how they overcome so much, never stopped battling, etc. Pointed out how remarkable UVa had been for the past three years and how big of an achievement it was to beat them. Credited the seniors for doing a great job leading the team. Said 'we had about 400 people coming here when we were 13-9 and after we got to the Final Four, we more than doubled that'. The seniors were introduced and spoke briefly. Both complimented the SU fans, said it was a privilege to play in front of us. Silent G said he can't wait to see what the team does next season.
As a side note, JB took care to also mention Kaleb Joseph at this point, noting he was leaving the program but that he was a terrific teammate during his time at Syracuse who was a great kid and who will do very well at his next college destination. And in a spur of the moment thing, he decided that he was going to start giving a special award when the team has a special player whose attitude and hustle and leadership are extraordinary. BMK got it a couple of years ago. JB decided to give a similar award this year to Doyin Akintobi-Adeyeye, who he felt was a huge part of the team and its success this season.
JB also talked about recruiting briefly, noting that 'we have 3 top 40 players here this weekend', plus another player visiting, with another coming for a visit tomorrow. He said the timing was difficult with everything else going on but when great players tell you that want to come and visit, you let them come and visit.
He introduced Erin Engle, founder and CEO of Griffin's Guardians and her huband Adam. Erin gave a great speech talking about their son Griffin, the shocking turn their lives took when he was diagnosed with cancer and what it was like to lose him. And how she and Adam decided to do something about it, which led to the founding of Griffin's Guardians. When she was done, she was given a standing ovation by the touched audience. JB immediately asked for people who would be willing to give 5K for the cause, 2.5K, etc. and immediately raised a large amount of money. Good stuff.
The 2016 MVP Award went to the Gold family. Neil, Helene and Amanda were very appreciative and Neil made a less than kind remark about the NCAA, to much laughter. Well deserved, the Golds are amazing supporters of the program.
Juli mentioned around this point that a celebration was being planned for JB's 1000th win. It is going to be a grass roots thing, it is going to be sponsored by Nike and it is going to be special. So look forward to that next season and stick it in your craw NCAA (my words, not Juli's).
Dan Patrick was eventually announced as the emcee. JB told a funny story about how reluctant Dan was to serve as the emcee and how he was able to rope him in only as a result of Dan's connection to Dayton and his great confidence in Michigan State. He started his speech with "Me and my big f#cking mouth...".
Dan admitted he was openly lying to Jim and Juli for years to get out of hosting. JB said he could have gotten Tirico or Costas or McDonough and Dan cut him off and said "you are just going to have to get used to having an emcee taller than 5'4". Patrick was self effacing and funny, at one point bringing a gift to the Boeheims...a tshirt with a big color photo of his face on it. Said JB is always making this sad face with the side of his head stuck in one of his hands and said that someone needs to make an Boeheim emoti based on it. Good stuff.
The auction followed. It was very similar to previous years. Lots of big ticket type prizes were auctioned away...season tickets at half court with a primo parking pass, an all expenses paid trip to the Final Four, a road trip with the team where you fly with the team, stay at the hotel with the team, can even eat with the team (though JB recommended eating with the coaches instead: "we eat a lot better than the players do". Lots of money was raised. JB remains a master at doing this and several times sold the same prize twice to double the amount of money raised.
The entertainment this year was a guy my wife said was on 'America's Got Talent'. He painted pictures with glue on a black canvas and then threw gold stuff on the canvas to create a cool image. He did one of JB, one of the whole team and then another of Pearl. All were sold for big dollars. JB bought the one of Pearl for 10K. It was interesting but I miss the days when they had Motown groups performing.
At this point, it was finally time for dinner. The extra stuff inserted into the last segment meant that instead of ending at 8:15 as scheduled, I sat down at my table for dinner at 9:06. So mental note: if you ever go to one of these things, eat a lot of stuff at the reception, extra a lot beforehand or be prepared to wait a long time before you eat dinner.
Dinner consisted of an interesting tomato and mozzarella salad (there were grape tomatoes in there too) along with a basil coulis with olive oil and a thinly sliced piece of baguette. That was followed by a filet mignon with a cabernet demi sauce, with shrimp, asparagus wrapped with prosciutto and fennell roasted fingerling potatoes.
For dessert, there was a super rich single origin milk chocolate terrine, with toasted chocolate micro sponge cake with chocolate powder and chocolate anglaise. It was, what can I say, very chocolately.
After dinner, there is live music and dancing, or you can just sit and talk, or visit with friends at other tables. Joyce introduced me to two of her new friends, Dan Patrick and Dino Babers.
Dan was very friendly and insisted on posing with my wife and I for a picture. It was at least 45 minutes since dinner had been served and I noticed he hadn't 't touched his food yet. Good guy.
Joyce told Dino I was a Syracuse guy and a big fan. He immediately wanted to know where I grew up, where I went to HS, where I went to college, what I majored in, how long I was a season ticket holder and where my tickets were. When I told him next to the opposing coaches box, he told me he wanted reports on what the opposing coaches thought of his offensive scheme. 'Give me a call every Monday morning and let me know'. Funny guy. I really like his football acumen and his people skills. Not many have that blend...
This event is always a great time and I strongly recommend going if you ever have the opportunity. It was a ball. As always.
Hope to see you there next year.
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