sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to Card Reading Day!
On Card Reading Day, celebrants read and enjoy greeting cards they have been sent over the years, which they have kept for sentimental reasons. Sometimes they give greeting cards on the day as well and thus may receive some cards from others that they can read. Some online holiday sites speculate this holiday may be about tarot cards, but the overwhelming majority of sites relate this holiday to greeting cards.
Greeting cards are usually sent by mail. They may either be seasonal, being given for holidays such as Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, or Father's Day, or they may be everyday cards, such as those given for birthdays, weddings, and anniversaries. Other everyday cards express feelings such as well wishes, thank you, sympathy, affection, or congratulations. They are mass-produced by large and small companies, or can be homemade.
SU News
Dec 4, 2023; Syracuse, NY, USA; Syracuse Orange head coach Fran Brown (left) and director of athletics John Wildhack (right) pose for a photo during a press conference at the John A. Lally Athletics Complex. © Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
https://collegefootballnews.com/new...et-the-2024-new-college-football-head-coaches (CFN; Fiutak)
2024 New College Football Head Coaches
Fran Brown, Syracuse
Previous Life: Played two years in the NFL for Cincinnati … A high-energy defensive backs coach, he worked his way up through years at Temple and two at Baylor before doing a great job at Rutgers for two seasons. … Was a big part of the Georgia success over the last two years as the defensive backs coach.Top Line of the Resumé: Defensive backs coach at Georgia. The Bulldogs were ninth in the nation in pass defense last season.
Realistic Year One Expectations: At least six wins. There’s just enough in place - along with Ohio State transfer QB Kyle McCord - to get to a bowl game with a not-that-bad schedule.
Realistic Expectations Over The Next Five Years: One monster season among a slew of decent ones. It’ll take a year or so for the parts to come together, but as long as there’s a solid defensive identity, Orange football will be more consistent because …
What Will Happen? A powerhouse recruiter, he’ll start to get the guys at Syracuse. He obviously won’t have the talent he worked with at Georgia, but SU will start to become a destination for key transfers. He’ll have that one great season and parlay it into a step-up job.
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The Juice Online - Xavier Miles says Fran Brown was top reason for Syracuse commitment (r1vals.com; Kang)
2024 ATH
Xavier Miles
is so committed to Syracuse, he's willing to break some of the rules at St. Peter's Prep.
"I'm wearing all orange and blue tomorrow to school," Miles said to The Juice Online. "I might get detention for being out of dress code."
All joking aside, perhaps the administrators at his school can make an exception.
After all, Miles just made one of the biggest decisions of his life on Monday evening, announcing that he committed to Syracuse over offers from West Virginia, Michigan State, Maryland, Boston College, and Rutgers, among others.
The offensive and defensive lineman is one of the top prospects in New Jersey, which has become a priority for the Orange under new head coach Fran Brown.
The Rivals three-star prospect is the 23rd commitment in the 2024 class for Syracuse, and the 11th prospect to commit from the Garden State.
He cited Syracuse head coach Fran Brown as the top reason why he committed to Syracuse, using 'FRAN' as an acronym to explain why: F for 'Fearless,' R for 'reliable,' A for 'all for one,' and N for 'not fake.'
Fearless: "Not afraid to face anything head-on, no matter how tough."
Reliable: "There, no matter what, showing that you can bounce back from anything."
All for one: "Like being in a team where everyone has each other’s backs, showing real brotherhood."
Not fake: "Keeping it real with everyone, but knowing when to keep it to yourself to protect your bros."
Miles previously visited Syracuse for its spring practice in April under then-head coach Dino Babers and came away impressed with the program.
"Syracuse is a great program that keeps getting better and better, year-by-year," Miles said in a previous interview with The Juice Online. "It has a great education going along with it."
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Syracuse football adds New Jerseyan big man to class of 2024 (PS; $; Leiker)
Syracuse football picked up a late addition to its 2024 on Monday night.
Xavier Miles, a 6-foot-3, 300 pound, two-way lineman from New Jersey, announced his commitment via social media. He’s a three-star per the 247Sports Composite and the No. 54 player from the Garden State in the class.
SU has now added 11 players from New Jersey in its 22-person class of 2024.
Syracuse has four defensive linemen in its 2024 class and two offensive linemen. Miles was labeled simply as a “Big Man” and not by position on his commitment graphic.
He played for St. Peters Prep where he had 36 tackles and two quarterback hurries this season according to stats on the Mauraders’ MaxPreps page. Miles was named to the Super Football Conference (NJ) All-Division second team as a defensive lineman.
He had offers from Boston College, Georgia Tech, Rutgers, Temple and a few others.
The Orange is believed to be over the scholarship limit (85) though an official roster for the spring has not yet been released. There is another transfer portal window April 16-30.
Syracuse football: what are we learning about Fran Brown’s program (TNIAAM; Wall)
Syracuse Orange fans have seen what Fran Brown can do on the recruiting trail, but now that the semester has begun we’re getting glimpses of how he’ll handle running a program for the first time.
We’ve got assistant coaches doing long-form media interviews.
Pre-dawn workouts.
Players and coaches are out in the Syracuse community as Brown promised they would.
We’ve got some boot camp training on a Saturday morning...
followed by a team scavenger hunt on campus.
Fran is joining pick-up games on Walnut Park...
And when was the last time you saw a coach engaging in this banter with a player online.
What does it all mean? We’re seeing a coach who is putting action to his words. He said he and his players would be involved in the community and that includes campus and beyond.
The fact that we’re hearing from other coaches is great for followers of the program. We’re hoping there will be more opportunities to talk with them and players beginning this spring.
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Syracuse Football: 3-star defensive back from Baltimore to visit ‘Cuse in April (itlh; Adler)
Byron Baldwin, a three-star defensive back in the 2025 class who hails from the Baltimore area, plans to visit Syracuse football later this year.
Per a post on X from TheKnightReport.Net on the network, the 6-foot, 180-pound Baldwin will visit the ‘Cuse on April 19. The Orange’s annual spring game, by the way, is set for April 20.
Baldwin, a standout junior at the Calvert Hall College High School in Towson, Md., holds nearly 20 scholarship offers from a range of high-major programs.
Baldwin picked up an offer from the ‘Cuse on December 13 of last year, he said via his X page.
Syracuse football will get a visit from 2025 three-star DB Byron Baldwin.
Between late March and late May, according to TheKnightReport.Net, Baldwin also plans to visit Vanderbilt, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota and Rutgers.According to social media posts and recruiting services, Baldwin’s full offer sheet also includes teams such as Minnesota, Kentucky, Pittsburgh, Marshall, Akron, Indiana, Rutgers, West Virginia, East Carolina, Wisconsin, Boston College, Towson, James Madison, Vanderbilt, Kent State and UNC Charlotte.
In the 2023 season, as a junior at Calvert Hall, Baldwin was named to the All-State second team on defense, per a post on X in late December from his head coach, Josh Ward.
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Newhouse after Noon 2-20-24 (ESPN; radio; Newhouse after Noon)
Jacob Kaye, Michael Ostrowski, and Jackson Holzer lead off today’s podcast discussing what realistic expectations are for Syracuse football this season under new head coach Fran Brown. Then, Dylan Beyer, Connor McGahan, and James Wildhack discuss the challenges ahead for Syracuse women’s basketball and what the team has to do to host an NCAA Tournament game.
ACC News
12-Team Playoffs, Realigned: 2014-15 (RX; HM)
12-Team Playoffs, Realigned: 2014-15
Which teams would have made it into the 12-team CFP playoffs had the conferences been configured as they will be in 2024? Of course, we have to make some assumptions:
That's a whole lot of changes all happening at the same time. So, while it's going to take more work than I realized to do this, I still plan to project the 12-team playoffs for every year, from 2014-23, using 2024 alignments and following the assumptions shown above. Let's get started with 2014...
2014-15 Season
Original CFP4:
- Alabama
- Oregon
- Florida State
- Ohio State
- ACC: Florida State
- B1G: Ohio State
- Big XII: Baylor, TCU (co-champs)
- Pac-12: Oregon
- SEC: Alabama
- American: Memphis
- C-USA: Marshall
- MAC: NIU
- MWC: Boise St
- SBC: Georgia Southern
Could Florida State Join New Conference Before 2025 Season? ACC S (outkick.com; Wallace)
We all knew that another round of conference realignment would hinge upon what happens between the ACC and Florida State in their current litigation. But this new round of conference shakeup could come sooner rather than later, thanks to verbiage in a court filing.
The ACC has long mentioned that because of the current ‘Grant of Rights’ signed by all conference schools in 2016 would hold their television rights in a vault that would be nearly impossible to breach under the current agreement.
But as we've seen in recent months, schools in the ACC, most importantly Florida State, have argued that there is a way out of the agreement. Whether they truly believed there is an argument for another day. Lawyers have sat in the Greensboro, North Carolina office of the ACC for years, looking for some type of loophole in the agreement.
When Florida State agreed to allow the ACC to negotiate its broadcast rights with potential suitors, the conference agreed to a deal with ESPN that would allow the network to have first rights to any broadcast of Seminoles athletics.
By now, you've all heard of the ‘Grant of Rights’ agreement that has seemingly held ACC captive for the foreseeable future. But, this was before both Florida State and the ACC decided to sue each other over whether anti-trust laws were potentially being broken.
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https://athlonsports.com/college-fo...ngry-over-new-college-football-playoff-format (athlonsports; Vitale)
On Tuesday, the College Football Playoff officially announced the implementation of the new "5+7" format that will begin during the 2024 college football season.
Under the new format, the five highest ranked conference champions will receive an automatic bid into the CFP, reserving the remaining seven spots for the highest ranked teams as determined by the CFP selection committee.
For the most part, college football fans are ok with this new format and are simply looking forward to an expanded field and tournament. However, there is one fanbase that does not have many nice things to say about the new format.
That would be Florida State fans, who were left out of last season's College Football Playoff despite winning the ACC with a perfect 13-0 record. FSU fans are frustrated over the CFP's emphasis on the value of winning a conference championship, a criterion that did not benefit them just months ago when they were snubbed from the playoff.
This change has sparked frustration amongst FSU fans:
"…anyone else remember that time eSECpn’s CFP 'committee' suddenly decided that winning conference championships didn’t matter anymore, but only for one week," one FSU fan said about the new format.
"So the CFP has put an emphasis on wing your conference huh? Weird," added another angry fan.
"IDK man. Doing a story on college football playoff expansion and NOT including Florida State's story from this year seems like I miss," another said.
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https://www.si.com/college/stanford...ealignment-is-coming-after-florida-state-news (SI; Borba)
The whole offseason leading up to the 2023 college football season, the biggest topic was which conferences will be adding which programs.
Texas, Oklahoma, USC, and UCLA all got the ball rolling and chose their own fates, while the rest of the Pac-12 and Big 12 were sent into a panic. It then turned into which conference was more prepared, aggressive, and strategic about its next move in realignment and media rights negotiations. That ended up being the Big 12, who poached four Pac-12 programs, while the rest of the conference outside of Oregon State and Washington State, went to the Big Ten or ACC, effectively killing the Pac-12 as we knew it.
Over the past few days specifically, it has become more obvious that there will be more conference realignment on the way thanks to Florida State's unhappiness with the ACC. Florida State is suing the conference due to its media rights mismanagement, and for 'draconian' exit fees that make it nearly impossible to leave.
According to an ESPN report back in December when the news initially broke that they were suing, it was revealed that it would cost around $570 million to leave the conference without a legal victory or settlement. As revealed in this past week, ACC programs can buy back their rights.
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https://www.si.com/college/stanford...nference-could-target-if-florida-state-leaves (SI; Borba)
For college football fans who assumed that conference realignment was all wrapped up, there now appears to be an encore waiting in the wings.
Florida State hasn't been thrilled with the ACC for quite some time, and according to On3's Andy Staples, we could be seeing realignment start quite soon because of it.
"If the ACC is willing to negotiate with Florida State — as its most recent court filing suggests — then we could be looking at the next round of realignment sooner rather than later," Staples wrote on X.
For context, Florida State is currently suing the ACC for mismanaging the conference's media rights and imposing what they called 'draconian' exit fees that essentially prevent programs from leaving. There are obviously still things that need to be settled in the courthouse, but one result has already been made abundantly clear, which is that Florida State wants out and will do anything it can to get out. There hasn't been public confirmation that the Big Ten or SEC would take them, but that's a bridge that will be crossed when needed.
If the ACC was smart, it would do anything in its power to keep Florida State, or make sure they have a plan in place for if/when they do leave. Unlike the Pac-12 who was somehow blindsided by the two programs in the second biggest market in the country leaving for the Big Ten, the ACC is quite aware what could be happening. Florida State has made its choice clear, which means the ACC needs to start heading to the drawing board and determining which programs are viable targets.
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ON 2nd Thought: CFP 5+7 (RX; HM)
ON 2nd Thought: CFP 5+7
RE: CFP approves 5+7*
Q: "Wouldn't it be wild if somehow the ACC champ was ranked below the highest G5 champ?"
A: More likely the Big XII champ will be the lowest-ranked P4 champion. That said, the reason for autobids for conference champs has nothing to do with the playoffs itself - it's about maximizing the value of the regular season; tv benefits when 2 teams are playing for an autobid in a non-P2 conference. That's cheap TV ratings for ESPN and Fox!
Q: "There's no way this is your final format going forward... ACC and Big 12 champ on equal footing as the P2 champs? This is your temporary stop gap."
A: They aren't on equal footing. The reason why 1st-round games are at home fields but quarterfinals are at bowls is insurance against a small school winning the ACC or Big XII or top G5 - you don't want those teams hosting, so you let the SEC and B1G at-large teams host, along with Notre Dame, and you put the small schools in bowl sites.
Q: "There's no playoff beyond the 2025 edition... Could the CFP be looking beyond ESPN after ESPN dug in their heels at $1.3b?"
A: ESPN had leverage for the 2024 and 2025 playoffs -- right of first refusal, plus contracts for the final, semifinals, and NY6 Bowl games. They don't have that beyond 2025. So, before you assume it's the format that's at fault, consider the contract itself. There will be other bids for 2026 and beyond, IMO.
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Other
Nibsy's cook Kevin Harrington (left), server Colleen Borek and owner JP Carlyle deliver a Kicked Out of Nashville pizza at Nibsy's Pub in Syracuse. That's the latest stop on our CNY Pizza Tour. (Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com)(Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com)
CNY Pizza Tour, stop #7: A little bit of Southern cooking tops this Tipp Hill bar favorite (PS; $; Miller)
How dare Nibsy’s Pub owner JP Carlyle leave his staff behind so he and his wife could fly to Nashville for a week of warm weather, hot music and even hotter fried chicken.
On a dreary Syracuse afternoon, bartender Colleen Borek and cook Kevin Harrington wanted to prove the popular Tipperary Hill bar would survive without JP In a matter of minutes, they created a Pizza of the Day based on a Tennessee vacation. The Kicked Out of Nashville pizza is a creative meal that’ll set your taste buds on fire. It combines Central New York pizza with the fiery elements of Nashville hot chicken. Kevin has cooked in restaurants throughout Central New York, including Limp Lizard where Nashville hot chicken is a menu staple.
To this day, this pizza often appears on the whiteboard list of daily specials, printed in ink that matches Colleen’s outfit for the day.
“When I got back, I asked them what I missed. You know what they did? They brought me out one of those pizzas,” JP said. “I fell in love with it. All of the sudden, I felt like I was back in Nashville.”
Let’s go to the Opry ...
Address: Nibsy’s Pub, 201 Ulster St., Syracuse. (315) 476-8423
Do they deliver? Nope. You can order ahead and pick it up. But why? Stop in for a beer and eat the pizza here.
What I ate: The Kicked Out of Nashville special pizza. It’s a garlic pizza base with pickles, banana peppers, chunks of spicy fried chicken and stripes of kickin’ bourbon wing sauce and Nashville hot sauce.
Why this pizza? This shows up on the specials board often, but they’ll usually make it for you if you ask nicely. It’s cold outside, and this pizza will warm up your insides.
RATINGS (out of 5)
Crust: 4. Nibsy’s has been the oldest “continuous” bar in Syracuse since 1890, and it’s been making pizzas here for well over 50 years. The one consistency is the crust. When JP bought the bar two years ago, he inherited the dough recipe. “It’s all about the temperature,” he said. “It took us a while to perfect it.” He mixes it for 6 minutes and lets it proof for 90. The end result is a crust that doesn’t shrink during its time in the oven. During the football and SU basketball seasons, they make dough twice a day. The crust is more cracker-like than a traditional pizza crust. It’s a pleasant change, and it’s strong enough to hold all the oil and sauces without getting soft. Also, Nibsy’s cuts the pizzas here in strips, not triangular slices.
Toppings: 4. This is a specialty sandwich and traditional garlic pizza in one, so you’ll have to allow the kitchen a few more minutes to prepare. They drench, bread, spice and fry the chicken cutlets as the garlic, oil and cheese find their place on the crust. The banana peppers provide the spice, but the pickles give you that unexpected neck-turning experience. The sugar and acidity in the pickle brine cut through the peppers and cool you off while changing the entire flavor of the pizza. The mixture of a sweet wing sauce with a semi-spicy pepper sauce continues to carry the overall flavor theme.
Value: 3. A 16-inch pizza with this many toppings rings in at a fair price of $21.95. That’s just $6 more than a plain cheese pizza.
Charisma: 4. The creativity that went into inventing this pizza shows it was more than just a joke about J.P.’s trip to Nashville. It’s attractive, and it’s tasty. Personally, I would like a little more hot peppers and hot sauce, but I ordered more during my second visit. Yes, I’ve had this pizza twice in the past week. It’s that good. Both times, three hungry guys were unable to finish the pizza. Colleen was happy to finish it off.
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Why a Stewart’s Shops arrival in a Central NY village is fueling controversy (PS; $; Doran)
A local, long-time grocer’s plan to sell his store to Stewart’s Shops could soon be on ice.
Richard Nojaim, who has run Nojaim Brothers grocery store for more than four decades in the heart of the village, struck a deal late last year to sell the place to Stewart’s, the convenience store chain known for its ice cream.
Stewarts would replace the grocery store with a smaller shop and add gas pumps.
And it’s those gas pumps that are driving complaints about the proposal, Marcellus Village Mayor John “Jack” Murphy told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard.
Opponents say fuel pumps would ruin the character of the village. Even Murphy says they are not needed.
“They don’t want gas pumps in our village,” the mayor said of those opposing the change. “And why do we need them? We have a gas station on the north end of the town and another nearby on Lee Mulroy Road.”
Now the Marcellus village board, which consists of the mayor and two trustees, may pause Stewart’s application to the village. Instead, the village board may approve a six-month moratorium on any land use development in the center of the village of Marcellus. That moratorium could be renewed for up to another 12 months.
The moratorium would certainly delay the sale. And if the village ultimately decides to block the gas pumps, it could mean leaving an empty building smack in the middle of Marcellus.
There is so much interest in the controversial proposal that the village has moved its public hearing on the moratorium to the Marcellus high school auditorium. It’s set for 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Murphy said the moratorium will give the board time to look at the overall future and growth in the village of just under 1,800 people. The mayor said the village has been talking about a moratorium for some time and that isn’t aimed at Stewart’s or Nojaim’s owner.
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Renderings of future Syracuse neighborhoods from the Syracuse Community Grid Vision Plan 2024 by Dover, Kohl & Partners.Michelle Breidenbach
In new plan, City Hall imagines new Syracuse streets, neighborhoods after I-81 comes down (PS; $; Breidenbach)
Syracuse City Hall has committed to paper a dreamy future version of Syracuse that starts with the tearing down of Interstate 81.
Mayor Ben Walsh’s administration used $550,000 in federal stimulus money to hire Dover, Kohl & Partners, a Florida urban planning team to help design new city streets as the state and federal governments take down the aging elevated I-81.
When the viaduct is removed, expected in 2028, traffic will move to street level and disperse. People will remap their routines to home, work, restaurants and basketball games. That’s the community grid.
The city’s “vision plan,” to be released today, shows for the first time some of the directions the city could take in reimagining those traffic patterns. It has some specific nudges for the state Department of Transportation to keep streets narrow and use off-road bike paths and dedicated bus lanes. Some one-way streets could become two-way and others could be extended.
But it goes beyond downtown streets into city neighborhoods and housing. For people who live on the North Side, the East Side and some parts of the South Side, the document may be the first time they see how they fit into the new community grid.
The plan also shows possible uses for land that is now vacant, used for parking or covered by a highway. That amounts to at least 10 acres of valuable real estate – a mix of small, awkward parcels and whole blocks that could be turned into high-rise apartments or something else.
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Concerts coming to Central NY: Sam Hunt, Flaming Lips, Bruce Hornsby, Ryan Adams, more (PS; Herbert)
Mark your calendars: More concerts are coming to Central New York.
Country star Sam Hunt will headline an Aug. 15 concert at CMAC (Constellation Brands - Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center) in Canandaigua. Special guests Tyler Hubbard and Dalton Dover will open the show at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets go on sale Friday, Feb. 23, at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster.
Hunt is a Grammy-nominated country singer known for hits like “Body Like a Back Road,” “Wishful Drinking” (with Ingrid Andress), “Take Your Time,” “Leave the Night On,” “House Party,” and “Breaking Up Was Easy in the 90s.”
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The Flaming Lips will perform “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” live at Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards in LaFayette July 23. The show will begin at 7 p.m.
Tickets go on sale to the public Friday, Feb. 23, at 10 a.m. through tixr.com.
Other upcoming shows at Beak & Skiff, located about 10 miles south of Syracuse, include Gary Clark Jr. (June 4), Bleachers (June 8), Gregory Alan Isakov (June 20), Michael Franti & Spearhead (June 22), Brothers Osborne (June 27), Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit (June 29) and Lake Street Dive (July 7).
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Four new shows have been announced for Concerts at Point of the Bluff in Hammondsport: Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers on July 6, The Steeldrivers on July 20, Ryan Adams on Aug. 18, and Graham Nash on Aug. 24.
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