A Little Perspective

[alibrat66]

I watched the first half of the Clemson on the internet. Given the score and the fact that I live in the Middle East and have to work on Sunday (UAE workweek = Sunday thru Thursday), I shut down my computer at 1:30 a.m. and went to bed. Upon awakening, I checked the score; actually, it wasn't as bad as I figured it would be.

Disclosure: I grew up in Syracuse and have bled Orange football since the 40s. My dad took me to my first game at Cornell's stadium; I believe Bernie Custis was the quarterback then. He was a black guy and a hell of a quarterback (roomed with Al Davis at SU). A few years later, (1953) SU, behind Pat Stark, Jim Ringo, and others was selected to play in the Orange Bowl--our first major bowl--against Alabama (led by Bart Starr). SU fans and the entire community were delirious with pride. Alabama handed us our collective heads, 61-6. As I remember, no one was calling for Schwartzwalder's head; everyone understood that Syracuse was in rebuilding mode after a serious down slide from its more memorable days. In 1957, a Jim Brown led team went to the Cotton Bowl, and lost to TCU in a tight, hard-fought game. Two years later, we won the national championship.

These things go in cycles, and Syracuse is in a rebuilding mode. It doesn't help that we've had the number of head coaching changes that we have, or suffered through some poor selections as HC.

We will get back. We played a very good football team on Saturday. Some fans on this forum got their expectations for the game so high, including anointing a largely untested quarterback as a Heisman Candidate, that nothing short of an SU win would've satisfied them. Many even are now talking about withdrawing their fan support. That is obviously not my definition of a fan. Syracuse University is my school, from both a hometown and academic standpoint. They will always be my team: win or lose. Sure, I get disconsolate when they get hammered, but my enthusiasm and allegiance never flags. These young guys have my support. Always and forever.

 

[bballbeadle]

Hello, Alibrat! I remember you from the basketball side. You are True Orange. Yes, it was a hard game to watch because we had higher hopes than what materialized. But we'll come around. Clemson is a damn fine team. I was talking to Shenexon, who drove up from Virginia today, and he said he passed many Clemson cars that were all decked out and had tiger tails hanging out of their trunks! Gotta love it. Their football tradition is well established. The south is insane for football! (among other things)

 

[jvbj01]

We'll spoken, Ali!

 

[orangefog]

Great post. I look at this game as a barometer of where we are. There were some positives in that game for SU. Some young talent to build upon, and some weaknesses that were exposed terribly. I am hoping that each SU player looks at the film and recognizes what they have to work on to finish the season successfully. And the coaches obviously recognized the lack of play makers, particularly at the wide reciever position and have addressed it. This team will be better moving forward. I can't wait to see how they respond to getting punched in the mouth this week. Don't worry about this loss, or even how we lost, because at the end of the day, it was just a loss and how the guys respond will be the tell tale sign of the character of this team.

 

[OrangeTarheel]

I haven't been a fan as long as you but I do appreciate having conference foes who can blow us out of the water. Beating Miami used to be THE hope I had before seasons started in the '90s. When we did that was the sweetest revenge.

Having great opponents gives our team something tangible to strive for & our fans even more reason to cheer. Yesterday's loss was awful but, in the long view, maybe a great beginning for us.