sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to National Christmas Tree Day!
With Christmas right around the corner, it’s time to celebrate one of the most iconic symbols of the holiday season. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, folks! Dec. 8 is National Christmas Tree Day in the U.S.A!
Picking out the perfect tree, stuffing it in the trunk or tying it to the roof of the car, dragging it inside the house and decorating it with tinsel, ornaments and lights, has been a beloved American tradition for years. But the question remains – real or artificial? According to a KARE 11 report published on Dec. 5, about 33 million real trees and 9.5 million faux trees are sold in the United States each year.
Live Christmas trees have been sold in America since the 1850s. While only two percent of Americans head to the local woods or forest to chop down a tree, most of today's Christmas trees are grown on farms. The best selling trees are Blue spruce, Scotch pine, White pine, Noble fir, Fraser fir, Douglas fir and Balsam fir.
SU News
Dino Babers Calls on Fans to be Faithful (cnycentral.com; Mulcahy)
The new head coach of Syracuse University football is asking his players, the fans and the university community to have faith. Faith that he can put a floundering program on a track to sustainable success. Dino Babers gave all of those stakeholders reason to believe when he talked with the Syracuse media for the first time this morning.
He had already toured the Dome. Surely, he heard details of plans being developed to renovate the stadium that was built before Babers's 31 year coaching career began. Babers saw the new indoor football practice facility and the training area that also was added just a few years ago. He walked past the brand new statues of the legendary 44's of Jim Brown, Ernie Davis and Floyd Little.
The fourth statue may be even more relevant if Syracuse is to build a lasting championship tradition around Coach Babers. That's the Coach Ben Schwartzwalder statue. He stuck around University Hill long enough to amass 153 wins. Babers would need to average ten wins a year for 15 years to get close to that mark. A winning program with that kind of record certainly would have us all looking back on this day as the one where the change began.
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Orange Watch: Faith is Mantra of New SU Football Coach Dino Babers (thejuice; Bierman)
Item: From a MAC championship late Friday evening in Detroit, to a weekend of Ohio goodbyes and Syracuse hellos, including Monday’s many hours of formal introductions on the SU campus with various meetings, media sessions and finally greeting his players. That’s the whirlwind last four days in the life of Dino Babers, and it’s ended with his “move of faith, belief without evidence” launch of a most contemporary era as Syracuse football’s 30th head football coach, and the excitement throughout Orange Nation has been palpable.
After two most anxious weeks of speculation amongst the Syracuse football program’s various stakeholders, what’s not to like when you see the four item checklist (below) that athletics director Mark Coyle proclaimed he used as his guide in making the most critical hire of his career to date, in a position he’s only been administering himself for some six months?
- Tremendous honesty and integrity
- Focused on the student-athletes welfare
- Innovative with an exciting brand of football
- Committed to winning
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First Impressions of New Orange Coach Dino Babers (TNIAAM; Keeley)
Dino Babers was introduced as the 30th head coach of the Syracuse Orangefootball program on Monday. SU Athletic Director Mark Coyle introduced the former Bowling Green Falcons coach and Babers spoke at length about what he thinks of the opportunity he's got here in New York.
Here's some initial thoughts...
The Reset Button
One press conference in and I think Babers brings a refreshing reset to the relationship between the Syracuse football staff, the media and the fans. Scott Shafer started out his tenure with a balance but by the time Year 3 came around, he was very clearly in "Us. vs. Them" mode when it came to the local media and anyone who voiced dissent about the state of the program. Babers brings a much more playful mentality to the proceedings. He asked everyone in the room to close their eyes and had fun waiting for those unwilling to do it. He wasn't afraid to crack jokes, point out his own gaffes and generally have fun with the situation. It was refreshing.
"Why Not Syracuse? You Tell Me Why Not."
It's not "hard-nosed" but it's probably the closest we got to a catchphrase out of the presser. Dino used this question to launch into the reasons he took the job and why he's so excited for the opportunity.
He Gets It, Fans
The fanbase split this season over whether or not they needed to support the program no matter what or if it was fair to stay home rather than go see another losing football season. When first discussing the fanbase, Babers had an interesting moment. He paused, as if he was trying to find the right way to say something. And when he did, he said, "The fan support...we need to give them what they deserve." It's such a smart way to go about it. Yes, the fans and the team form a symbiotic relationship but the fans need to feel like the football program is thinking about how to make their season ticket purchases and merchandise purchases worthwhile. That's the right mentality to bring with you as coach.
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Mark Coyle, Dino Babers Forged Trust, Partnership Over Phone During 2 Weeks (PS; Carlson)
Syracuse athletic director Mark Coyle didn't have to spend much time looking for phone numbers before he embarked on the two-week coaching search that would eventually settle on Dino Babers as the next leader of the Orange.
Coyle had been through this process two years earlier at Boise State, leaving a contact list full of agents and coaches.
Many of them, Coyle said, told him to put Babers high on his list. Most notable among that group was Baylor coach Art Briles, whose offense Babers has copied and who has transitioned Baylor, among many other programs, from conference laughingstock to powerhouse.
"I had a huge advantage at Boise State," Coyle said. "We didn't know Chris (Peterson) was going to leave. When Chris left, I just went through this process two years ago. I was able to meet so many different people from coaches to agents to search firms and that gave me a chance to talk to people about him. As I talked to people about him, they kept saying, 'Hey this one is unique.' "
Coyle fired Scott Shafer five days before SU's final game, 11 days before the MAC championship and 12 days before officially hiring Babers, allowing himself time to assess the field.
Before the Fall began, Coyle said he intended to allow Shafer to coach the whole year before deciding his fate. Instead, he sent Shafer into a lame-duck last game and left the team dealing with losing their coach before a meeting with Boston College.
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