2003 Albany Regional Memories

[sabach]

With the subregional games in Albany today and it being the 20th anniversary of the 2003 Natty, I thought I'd start a thread for us to tell any stories we have from that weekend in Albany in 2003 when SU won the Regional to go to the Final Four. Here's mine.

My tickets were in the front row of the upper deck directly in back of the basket. Pepsi Arena did not have LED wrap around scoreboards at that time. On Friday night after the Oklahoma/Butler game, a member of the arena staff came and took down the Oklahoma and Bulter signs from the side scoreboard of the arena, where an LED wrap around would be now, and put up Syracuse and Auburn signs in their place for the second game. Believe it or not, the team name signs were attached to the scoreboard by velcro. I asked the guy if I could have the Syracuse sign after the game. He said "not tonight, but if Syracuse plays on Sunday, it's your's but you can't take it till after the game." The guy probably was just a worker and had no authority to give me permission to take the sign, but what did I care.

Fast forward to Sunday afternoon. As soon as the clock hit zero and Melo dribbled out the final seconds, I reached over the ledge and pulled the "SYRACUSE" sign off of the scoreboard, leaving VISITOR under it which was the permanent part of the scoreboard. I walked out of the arena and no one even gave me a second look, got on the shuttle bus with my sign, got back to my car and drove home happier than I had ever been outside of my wedding day or the birth of my kids.

I still have the sign today. It's one of my prized SU possessions. I have intended to get JB's and GMac's autographs on it. Hard to believe it has been 20 years and I still haven't got that done.

What is your memory from that weekend or the games that were played?

 

[BigNastyJon]

I was in elementary school. I didn’t go, but my dad, uncle and grandpa went. My grandpa was in his late 80s and his health was really declining. Security caught him trying to sneak in beer (so the story goes the guy just shrugged his shoulders and let him in with beer).

He was a life long syracusan and fan, long time season ticket holder. I think those Albany games ended up being his last games attended - he died less than a year later. Happy he got to see SU get a championship.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

With the subregional games in Albany today and it being the 20th anniversary of the 2003 Natty, I thought I'd start a thread for us to tell any stories we have from that weekend in Albany in 2003 when SU won the Regional to go to the Final Four. Here's mine.

My tickets were in the front row of the upper deck directly in back of the basket. Pepsi Arena did not have LED wrap around scoreboards at that time. On Friday night after the Oklahoma/Butler game, a member of the arena staff came and took down the Oklahoma and Bulter signs from the side scoreboard of the arena, where an LED wrap around would be now, and put up Syracuse and Auburn signs in their place for the second game. Believe it or not, the team name signs were attached to the scoreboard by velcro. I asked the guy if I could have the Syracuse sign after the game. He said "not tonight, but if Syracuse plays on Sunday, it's your's but you can't take it till after the game." The guy probably was just a worker and had no authority to give me permission to take the sign, but what did I care.

Fast forward to Sunday afternoon. As soon as the clock hit zero and Melo dribbled out the final seconds, I reached over the ledge and pulled the "SYRACUSE" sign off of the scoreboard, leaving VISITOR under it which was the permanent part of the scoreboard. I walked out of the arena and no one even gave me a second look, got on the shuttle bus with my sign, got back to my car and drove home happier than I had ever been outside of my wedding day or the birth of my kids.

I still have the sign today. It's one of my prized SU possessions. I have intended to get JB's and GMac's autographs on it. Hard to believe it has been 20 years and I still haven't got that done.

What is your memory from that weekend?

No memories like that, but I was just happy the games were in my hometown. I've been in that building like 100 times, the Knickerbocker/Pepsi/now MVP Arena and we went the other night and it was the first time since 2003, being in that atmosphere again, with all the fans and the bands playing the NCAA theme song that we were able to rehash that entire weekend, the games, where we parked, where we ate, where we sat. It was like turning back the clock.

The nice thing about going to a random NCAA tournament games is that people represent their schools even if they aren't participating. So Friday night, we easily saw 15 or 20 schools represented, including at least a dozen people wearing Cuse garb with a couple people wearing Melo jerseys.

 

[SUFan44]

Was my Senior year at SU. Had student season tickets, so I stood in line for nearly 12 hours (minus the 1.5 I stepped out to take an exam) for tickets to Albany.

Seats were in the nosebleeds with some other overflow students for the Auburn game. Workmanlike performance that got a bit too close at the end.

Was staying in Albany with a friend from high school who was attending UAlbany, and picked up my brother from RIT who didn’t attend the first game. After we won, I was able to find two Butler fans who wanted to get rid of their tickets and buy them, so my brother could come to the Oklahoma game.

Those tix were much better so we used them for the massacre of the Sooners. Such a fun environment that day. Nothing could go wrong.

Fast forward to the next week, was guaranteed Final Four tickets without standing in line. Knew I was going to find a way to go, but a scalper was standing outside waiting to buy them off of people. They approached me and may have offered four figures for tickets that cost probably $200. No chance.

 

[tptcuse]

I lived in London at the time and taught at an American school there. I've mentioned this before here, but we took students to a music festival in Warsaw, Poland and visited the American school there during the semi-finals. You needed satellite to watch the games, and there were a couple of teachers who happened to be from Vestal and the principal's husband was from Lake Placid. The Lake Placid guy had satellite and invited us all to watch the Texas game (even though he didn't even know me), which started around 2 am. I think one of the Vestal guys might have driven me from my hotel. What a game! I always wonder if those guys are on this board. I had to listen to the Monday night game back in London on my computer with sketchy internet, but it was still amazing. LGO!

 

[sutomcat]

It was really cool only having to drive two hours to see us play in NCAA games.

Remember thinking the facility was pretty small and old and wondering how they were able to land such a prestigious event. The scoreboards and info provided were limited and it looked like they were not used to hosting basketball games there very often. Big queue to get in. They didn’t hire enough staff to handle the crowd.

Really liked the scene around the arena though. Lots of bars and restaurants. That worked well meeting up with fellow SU fans and friends before and after games.

This was, I think, one of the first events where a lot of people from the board attended and made a concerted effort to meet up. I met a lot of board members for the first time. That was really cool. Already knew most of the crew that went to the BET or NCAA tournament games but this event attracted fans with a little more casual interest.

There were lots of people with orange flags driving on the thruway, and many others in cars were all dressed in orange and clearly also going to the game. We all waved at each other and blew our horns and generally acted like rubes headed to the big city for the first time.

Radio East of Utica was really limited. Wanted to listen to a sports radio station. None were available. I think most in the Albany area are not into sports very much.

As others have noted, tue crowd was ridiculously pro Syracuse and it was very loud there. The visiting teams were not amused.

Hope someday to do it again there. Those were great times.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

On the way to Albany Sunday morning, I stopped to fill up the gas tank.

When the pump shut off, I had pumped exactly $19.87 worth of gas.

Squeezed the handle again, and the pump shut off again at $19.96

I kept going, and didn't stop until $20.03

I still have the receipt somewhere.

 

[crv1728]

My wife got great tix from a vendor for the Auburn game - middle of the lower level near one basket. Auburn was tough. I remember they had a guy that was hurting us from the foul line area. And even though they kept it close, I was confident we would win. My biggest regret was not trying to scoop up tix for Sunday’s game.
While many details of that night have faded, I can still see the sea of orange on South Pearl St in front of the arena. And the bars on the street were so crowded that I couldn’t even get a beer before the game.

 

[OburgCuse]

I was in grad school in Albany at the time and didn’t really have the funds to secure tickets on the secondary market after failing through Auburn, Oklahoma, and Butler athletic departments. A crew of about 10-15 of us walked downtown in the early afternoon to secure a big table at one of the big bars near the arena. Can’t remember if was Jillian’s or the Big House as it’s been so long but we started drinking early afternoon and celebrated late into the next day. Wild mixed crowd of some buddies, older coworkers and other randoms going crazy that Friday night. I remember Troy Nunes and Marcy sitting at the table next to us ha.

 

[Forza Azzurri]

With the subregional games in Albany today and it being the 20th anniversary of the 2003 Natty, I thought I'd start a thread for us to tell any stories we have from that weekend in Albany in 2003 when SU won the Regional to go to the Final Four. Here's mine.

My tickets were in the front row of the upper deck directly in back of the basket. Pepsi Arena did not have LED wrap around scoreboards at that time. On Friday night after the Oklahoma/Butler game, a member of the arena staff came and took down the Oklahoma and Bulter signs from the side scoreboard of the arena, where an LED wrap around would be now, and put up Syracuse and Auburn signs in their place for the second game. Believe it or not, the team name signs were attached to the scoreboard by velcro. I asked the guy if I could have the Syracuse sign after the game. He said "not tonight, but if Syracuse plays on Sunday, it's your's but you can't take it till after the game." The guy probably was just a worker and had no authority to give me permission to take the sign, but what did I care.

Fast forward to Sunday afternoon. As soon as the clock hit zero and Melo dribbled out the final seconds, I reached over the ledge and pulled the "SYRACUSE" sign off of the scoreboard, leaving VISITOR under it which was the permanent part of the scoreboard. I walked out of the arena and no one even gave me a second look, got on the shuttle bus with my sign, got back to my car and drove home happier than I had ever been outside of my wedding day or the birth of my kids.

I still have the sign today. It's one of my prized SU possessions. I have intended to get JB's and GMac's autographs on it. Hard to believe it has been 20 years and I still haven't got that done.

What is your memory from that weekend or the games that were played?

Seeing NYCFan at a random rest stop on the thruway on the way up on Friday.

The electricity of the Pepsi center all weekend. Orange everywhere.

Having my wife booking flights and a hotel on the ride home on Sunday.

 

[HOFCeluck]

Troy Nunes and Marcy

Ha! Good times

 

[Cusefan0307]

I was at the Oklahoma game and my main memories of the day was seeing the zone swallow Hollis Price whole while Kelvin Sampson helplessly continued to take timeouts

I just recall the entire day feeing like a party. Details are fuzzy to me. To date that game was the best single Syracuse sporting event I’ve been at live. I was not able to make it to New Orleans with no money and being 18.

 

[orangetom]

I had four tickets 20 rows up looking at the end line. Great seats. My fondest memory was driving 20 minutes, parking, and going to SU games of this magnitude. Not the 2-1/2 hour ride I'm accustomed to for an SU game. I also remember how loud the arena was for SU.

 

[HOFCeluck]

I didn’t have the ability to go to any games…so I just watched the last four games in my apartment. Sitting in the same chair, same beer out of the same glass, same people. Once the game started no one was allowed to go in or go out. Also I wore the same orange shirt for each game without washing it but I’m loathe to admit that part

 

[jec1521]

I was 14 years old and me, my best friend, and my father were going up to Vermont to ski for the weekend. Something we did very often.

From NJ, we drive right through Albany on a Friday night anyway. So it was a no Brainer to pick up some scalped tickets and go to auburn game. The guy we bought tickets from was hammered and we were pretty sure he gave us the wrong tickets. He told us they were upper level. We walked in and were on lower level. Score.

That guy marquis Daniels gave us some major trouble. I do remember the em up chant for the first (and last) time.

 

[rrlbees]

Sitting next to storange

 

[Forza Azzurri]

On the way to Albany Sunday morning, I stopped to fill up the gas tank.

When the pump shut off, I had pumped exactly $19.87 worth of gas.

Squeezed the handle again, and the pump shut off again at $19.96

I kept going, and didn't stop until $20.03

I still have the receipt somewhere.

My other memory is pulling into that rest stop where I saw NYCFan, seeing some idiot with gas streaming out of his tank and down the side of his car...

Mystery solved.

But we won so definitely worth it.

 

[storange]

Sitting next to storange

Yep , Dcuse joined us on Sunday. The Oklahoma game might as well have been in Syracuse . Chants of “Let’s Go Orange” were ringing through the clogged corridors and on the escalators, it was a great day !!

 

[85SUAlum]

My biggest memory was thinking what an idiot I was for not purchasing any of the ticket packages for Albany when they first announced that Albany would be hosting the East Regionals.
I would only be interested in attending the games if SU was playing and, at the time, I was thinking what are the odds that SU would even be in the East Region (after a number of years of seeing them get shipped out to the midwest or west region instead), let alone make it to the Sweet 16.
I wasn't thinking that if SU didn't make it to Albany, I could have always resold them on the secondary market

 

[Mstumpy50]

Amazing weekend. A buddy and I got some really good seats from some politician in the Capitol. Made the drive in Friday night from Rochester. My buddy was crushed when he found out they weren't selling beer. Don't remember much from the Friday night games other than the crowd being loud, Auburn kid hitting a 3 from the corner with little to no time left on the clock. Also remember thinking that the Butler fans came a long way to lose to Oklahoma. Returned to Rochester that night.

Sunday morning there was a pretty good storm once we hit the 315 area on the Thruway. Got there pretty early. Remember telling Melo's mom we would love one more year prior to the game. The crowd was amazing. Boomer Sooner fans had no idea what they were getting into. I remember the first time the Hey Song hit the arena. They were never in the game. An unbelievable weekend as a Cuse fan.

 

[cto]

I had seats next to Murray and Maggie Forth (Craig Forth's parents), but got greedy and decided to "upgrade" things so I moved to a vacant seat much closer to the floor. Much to my surprise, the seat was very close to Governor Pataki. It was not long before some state troopers gently (well, not so gently) told me to move.

 

[OttoMets]

...

There were lots of people with orange flags driving on the thruway, and many others in cars were all dressed in orange and clearly also going to the game. We all waved at each other and blew our horns and generally acted like rubes headed to the big city for the first time.

...

Ha, yes, there was a lot of this on the Thruway that weekend. Except when we did it to Bob Snyder, who gave a less than enthusiastic response.

 

[Day2]

I was in Vegas with my dad and my brother. We were all living in different parts of the country and planned the trip months before. It worked out great not only because of Cuse, but my brother’s alma mater made an Elite 8 run as well.

Over the course of the season, I watched almost every game with a group of SU buddies. The exceptions: the opener vs. Memphis, Edelin’s return game at Pitt, the buzzer beater at Rutgers, and both games against UConn. So I was genuinely worried about making the trip.

The Auburn game quickly put me at ease, even when they were hitting every shot at the end. I wasn’t even worried about Oklahoma. I had us losing to Kentucky in the title game in my bracket and my dad - who would watch the Big 12 all year because of Mizzou - didn’t think much of the Sooners. We got our seats early at the sports book and it was one of the easiest games to watch all season. My dad and brother were as excited as I was.

Kansas fans took over the sports book afterwards and they were as obnoxious as ever. While it would have been great to see them loose in that setting, fate had other plans.

That was the last time the three of us went on a trip together where it was just us. My dad passed away last year and my brother has been estranged for most of the last decade. Even Vegas isn’t what it used to be. Sometimes you don’t realize how much something means until decades later.

 

[Cuseregular]

Wow, great memories and thoughts in this great thread. Was the beginning of such an absolute fantastic ride with that party weekend.

In addition to all the thoughts here for some reason, my predominant memory was that big “foreign dude“ (as Melo called him later) on Oklahoma just trying to beat the crap out of mello, not being able to stop him and that’s the moment I realized this team could win the whole thing with him playing like that essentially unstoppable.

 

[CuseGrad94]

I was fortunate to go to both games. The difference in tickets was drastic. My auburn tickets were the last row at the top of the arena. I like to stand so that wasn’t horrible. My Oklahoma tickets were 10 rows up center court. Booked the trip to New Orleans the next day!