sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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Each year, shortly after the basketball season ends, JB and Juli have their Basket Ball, which raises money for worthy charities, primarily Coaches vs Cancer and projects to help local young people.
The event for this year was held last night. It is a formal event, black tie for gentlemen and formal gowns for ladies. What follows is a brief report on the festivities last evening.
The event was a sellout. 850 people with a waiting list for more. This is a record. There was also a record set for sponsorship for the event; more money was put forward than ever before. Final numbers won't be available for some time but over $600K was raised. That puts the total amount of money raised in the 14 years the Boeheim's have been doing this to over $5.5 million dollars. That is by far the largest amount of money raised for charity by any basketball program. JB credits Juli. Juli credits the many that attend the event, the sponsors and the people that help them put on the event, people like Jane Klucsik and Jim and Peg Carrick.
One of the great things about attending the event is getting a chance to talk with the coaching staff and or players, get autographs or photo ops, etc. Everyone is very open and willing to discuss whatever you want to talk about (with some obvious restrictions due to things like NCAA regulations). If you are an SU hoops fanatic, you must at some point in your life find a way to attend this.
As usual, cto put together a table for syracusefan.com people. Among those attending this year were cto, CherieHoops, Mr CherieHoops (aka ThePurpleEagle), tol22, MrTol22 (aka MusicalMike), Jake, BillOrange, VaOrange, Maureen and making his debut, Stuckinbig11. Great hanging out with everyone at the event, but especially the syracusefan.com people, reflecting on all the great things that happened in the past season and anticipating what great things are going to happen in 2013-14. The knowledge, savvy, humor, enthusiasm and insights of this group make spending an evening with them a special experience.
The night started with a special VIP reception in The Showroom. Being a FOJ meant the syracusefan.com people were able to attend. There was an open bar (not sure about the more mundane beverages but the ginger ale was Canada Dry 2013 and was quite exquisite). Among the hors d'oeuvres served were...
Deep fried shrimp cooked in what I believe was a tempura based batter flavored with coconut. They were served with a very interesting sauce featuring pineapple and horseradish. Lots of interesting flavors to take the relatively bland shrimp on a long distance ride into Flavor Land. One of the better efforts ever served in the history of the BB.
Mini crab cakes. I believe these were also deep fried. Tasty. Taken up 1.5 levels by a lemon based aioli/fried caper sauce.
Italian sausage stuffed mushroom caps. I believe the stuffing also included bread crumbs and tomatoes. Maybe some parsley. Fine effort.
There was also a food station where you could help yourself to some items. I am sure cheese was involved, suspect that pepperoni slices and crackers were also part of the mix. Though I cannot confirm that at this time, as I did not venture over to that area.
A couple of words now about the attire of the syracusefan.com crowd. Diaphanous. Swank. Dashing. Ethereal.
Some things that came to light during the many discussions on SU basketball:
Rakim is definitely coming back. Looks like there is going to be a major traffic jam on Center Lane in Boeheimburg.
The dark clouds surrounding the program have gotten noticeably lighter in recent weeks. It appears there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it is not an incoming train.
The staff is really high on KJII, really wants him and it appears that interest is being reciprocated. Things looking really good here (not major news but always good to have this kind of thing confirmed).
After a period of time, the VIP reception ended and we were herded to a large hall for the peasant reception. They had shrimp with cocktail sauce garnished with slices of lemon here. Also scallops wrapped in bacon and spanikopita. And some mini quiches. Quichi?
There was a couple of tables overloaded with grapes, celery sticks, pepperoni slices, cheese squares, a variety of crackers, and a couple of other healthy looking vegetables cut into sticks. Carrots and red peppers maybe? Also some italian looking meat slices that me with my non Italian background would
call luncheon meats but I am pretty sure if someone Italian heard me call their meat that, they would bite their hand and feign hitting me upside of my head. But I could be mistaken on that; did not try any. Was full.
If you are willing to wait in line for a long time, you can also get a picture taken with the whole team and I believe you can get autographs signed too. I am not a photo op guy or an autograph asker so if you have questions on this, you will have to ask someone else.
You can also wander around and look at the items up for blind auction. They always have an interesting assortment of stuff and if you are a wise and careful shopper, you can land something pretty special for a very modest amount of money. cto for instance, landed a football autographed by the newest NYG QB last night.
More quality ginger ale (thanks Maureen). At this point, I had to cut myself off from anymore GA quaffing, as I was driving myself back home at the end of the event and the massive influx of ale I was ingesting was starting to affect me. But I digress.
At this point, I want to give props to the trophy wives for doing their arm exercises so diligently. Not sure who is working them out but they are doing yeoman like work (Brad Pike?). I hope this is not inappropriate but I feel compelled to note that Juli has developed some serious guns and I hope at some point, she can take BMK into the weight room and get him on the same upper body workout program she is following. That would be pretty awesome.
After the peasant reception, we were all herded into the Event Center for the Awards and Live Auction. This is my favorite part of the event. JB and Juli start things off by thanking people for coming and supporting the cause, they give some numbers on fund raising, they some a clip or two highlighting some of the things that have been done with the money raised in previous years (there was a nice clip on the basketball courts built in troubled neighborhoods to give the young people living there something constructive and safe to do and another showing plans for the new cancer center for youth being built at Upstate Health Center (it looks pretty awesome).
Pam and Ed Levines were honored as the 2013 MVP Award winners. Pam told some funny stories about how she became an SU hoops fans (while she and Ed went to SU, she was only dimly aware there was a basketball team while she was a student and it was until she and Ed went to an NCAA game in 1989 in Dallas (while they were living in Houston) they she realized she loved the program and that it was her program to love). As part of this, a bit of real news: Ed announced that Galaxy will continue to be the Voice of the Orange for another 5 years, as they just signed a 5 year extension on their agreement to do radio for SU sports with TGD.
The banter between Jim and Juli is very good. Jim throws some gentle insults Juli's way, Juli returns fire the gentle but firm Southern Belle method. At one point, JB told a story about how their marriage works: Juli handles all the minor decisions, JB handles the big ones. So far, in 15 years, whatever time it has been, all the decisions have been minor ones.
JB is also a master auctioneer. I can't imagine anyone getting more money out of a crowd with the live auction. He was aided by the MC of the event this year, Tim Brando. Tim told a few funny stories and was helpful during the auction, but he is not a Syracuse guy and as such, it really isn't the same as when someone like Sean McDonough does the event.
Anyway, the live auction was a huge success. Lots of interest in being part of an ACC road trip, flying on the team charter, riding on the team bus, sitting in great seats near the bench, etc. Great job by all the people who bid on items.
The main entertainment was provided by The Whispers. They are a tight band, played well, didn't show a lot of range in their musical offerings, and were, IMHO, inappropriately loud, which led to a mass exodus of people from the Event Center to anywhere else in the TS facility.
When The Whispers were finished, we were herded one last time to a large room where we found our tables, talked for a while and then had dinner. The dinner highlights including the following:
I believe most of the greenery in the salad was spinach leaves. But I could be wrong. The long, skinny purple leaves with the crazy ribbed edges looked like dandelion greens. There were 2 half tomatoes that had been roasted and had some smokiness infused in them. There was also a couple of asparagus spears that tasted grilled (hope no liquid smoke). A strange section of what was probably a vegetable was in there that I could not identify but it tasted unpleasant and I think it might have been artichoke based. A substance I believe was French dressing was available on the side.
The rolls were light and fluffy, with a pleasing crusty exterior and moist, delightful interior. They were, IMHO, a trapezoidal triumph.
The main course was surf and turf based. The surf was represented by a dollop of light colored crab meat salad (there surely was some mayonaisse in this) and a couple of shrimp. It was not unpleasant.
The turf (I don't like this lowly moniker for something as delicious and special as red meat and am formally protesting this to whoever the appropriate party is for this, someone in Connecticut would surely know) was represented by a beef tenderloin, that was tender and cooked perfectly and quite satisfying.
These items were augmented by a small portion of mashed potatoes, some carrots, and a piece or two of broccoli and cauliflower. The mashed potatoes had a lot of something bad for you in them, probably butter, and some garlic and other sundry spices. And there was a sauce surrounding the outer perimeter of the plate that I believe was red wine based. It was tasty, whatever it was. Combined with the potatoes, I was able to eat the carrots and even the cruciferous vegetables, which is compelling evidence of their high quality.
There was white and red wine available as well. I did not partake but a lot of people did and there was a lot of empty bottles by the end of the night. So they must have been pretty good.
The meal ended with dessert. There was some cheese cake in it, a lot of chocolate, maybe some ganache, and even some gold. I ate the piece on top of the hockey puck shaped cake (it tasted okay but the texture was weird. Might have patched up a somewhat damaged filling with it, so that was pretty cool. They had the Foundation logo in gold on the plate, could not remove it with my fork (half hearted effort, I could have done it if I really wanted to), someone has mad culinary caligraphy skills.
What else is there to add? Musical entertainment was provided during and after dinner by the talented group Prime Time Horns. They can cover a wide assortment of musical artists and were impressive. Hire them if you want. I think Paul Valentino, their band leader and lead singer, might have gone to Henninger. But that is only a theory at this time.
cto is tight with Tim Brando, who loves her, as do Sean McDonough, Jay Bilas, Mike Tirico and all the other media people in the Western Hemisphere. I think the award for best male dancer in the syracusefan.com contingent is a tie between BillOrange and stuckinbig11 but MrTol22 might have taken the title late with his version of the Frisky Kitten late in the evening.
I will end by saying that if you have a chance to attend this event, go for it. Explore possibly attending next year. It would be fun even if there was no connection to SU basketball. But with the SU connnection, it is really special. It is a great time on many levels. Even if you don't drink alcohol.
One last comment: this post was really hard to spell.
How many days until October 15th?
The event for this year was held last night. It is a formal event, black tie for gentlemen and formal gowns for ladies. What follows is a brief report on the festivities last evening.
The event was a sellout. 850 people with a waiting list for more. This is a record. There was also a record set for sponsorship for the event; more money was put forward than ever before. Final numbers won't be available for some time but over $600K was raised. That puts the total amount of money raised in the 14 years the Boeheim's have been doing this to over $5.5 million dollars. That is by far the largest amount of money raised for charity by any basketball program. JB credits Juli. Juli credits the many that attend the event, the sponsors and the people that help them put on the event, people like Jane Klucsik and Jim and Peg Carrick.
One of the great things about attending the event is getting a chance to talk with the coaching staff and or players, get autographs or photo ops, etc. Everyone is very open and willing to discuss whatever you want to talk about (with some obvious restrictions due to things like NCAA regulations). If you are an SU hoops fanatic, you must at some point in your life find a way to attend this.
As usual, cto put together a table for syracusefan.com people. Among those attending this year were cto, CherieHoops, Mr CherieHoops (aka ThePurpleEagle), tol22, MrTol22 (aka MusicalMike), Jake, BillOrange, VaOrange, Maureen and making his debut, Stuckinbig11. Great hanging out with everyone at the event, but especially the syracusefan.com people, reflecting on all the great things that happened in the past season and anticipating what great things are going to happen in 2013-14. The knowledge, savvy, humor, enthusiasm and insights of this group make spending an evening with them a special experience.
The night started with a special VIP reception in The Showroom. Being a FOJ meant the syracusefan.com people were able to attend. There was an open bar (not sure about the more mundane beverages but the ginger ale was Canada Dry 2013 and was quite exquisite). Among the hors d'oeuvres served were...
Deep fried shrimp cooked in what I believe was a tempura based batter flavored with coconut. They were served with a very interesting sauce featuring pineapple and horseradish. Lots of interesting flavors to take the relatively bland shrimp on a long distance ride into Flavor Land. One of the better efforts ever served in the history of the BB.
Mini crab cakes. I believe these were also deep fried. Tasty. Taken up 1.5 levels by a lemon based aioli/fried caper sauce.
Italian sausage stuffed mushroom caps. I believe the stuffing also included bread crumbs and tomatoes. Maybe some parsley. Fine effort.
There was also a food station where you could help yourself to some items. I am sure cheese was involved, suspect that pepperoni slices and crackers were also part of the mix. Though I cannot confirm that at this time, as I did not venture over to that area.
A couple of words now about the attire of the syracusefan.com crowd. Diaphanous. Swank. Dashing. Ethereal.
Some things that came to light during the many discussions on SU basketball:
Rakim is definitely coming back. Looks like there is going to be a major traffic jam on Center Lane in Boeheimburg.
The dark clouds surrounding the program have gotten noticeably lighter in recent weeks. It appears there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it is not an incoming train.
The staff is really high on KJII, really wants him and it appears that interest is being reciprocated. Things looking really good here (not major news but always good to have this kind of thing confirmed).
After a period of time, the VIP reception ended and we were herded to a large hall for the peasant reception. They had shrimp with cocktail sauce garnished with slices of lemon here. Also scallops wrapped in bacon and spanikopita. And some mini quiches. Quichi?
There was a couple of tables overloaded with grapes, celery sticks, pepperoni slices, cheese squares, a variety of crackers, and a couple of other healthy looking vegetables cut into sticks. Carrots and red peppers maybe? Also some italian looking meat slices that me with my non Italian background would
call luncheon meats but I am pretty sure if someone Italian heard me call their meat that, they would bite their hand and feign hitting me upside of my head. But I could be mistaken on that; did not try any. Was full.
If you are willing to wait in line for a long time, you can also get a picture taken with the whole team and I believe you can get autographs signed too. I am not a photo op guy or an autograph asker so if you have questions on this, you will have to ask someone else.
You can also wander around and look at the items up for blind auction. They always have an interesting assortment of stuff and if you are a wise and careful shopper, you can land something pretty special for a very modest amount of money. cto for instance, landed a football autographed by the newest NYG QB last night.
More quality ginger ale (thanks Maureen). At this point, I had to cut myself off from anymore GA quaffing, as I was driving myself back home at the end of the event and the massive influx of ale I was ingesting was starting to affect me. But I digress.
At this point, I want to give props to the trophy wives for doing their arm exercises so diligently. Not sure who is working them out but they are doing yeoman like work (Brad Pike?). I hope this is not inappropriate but I feel compelled to note that Juli has developed some serious guns and I hope at some point, she can take BMK into the weight room and get him on the same upper body workout program she is following. That would be pretty awesome.
After the peasant reception, we were all herded into the Event Center for the Awards and Live Auction. This is my favorite part of the event. JB and Juli start things off by thanking people for coming and supporting the cause, they give some numbers on fund raising, they some a clip or two highlighting some of the things that have been done with the money raised in previous years (there was a nice clip on the basketball courts built in troubled neighborhoods to give the young people living there something constructive and safe to do and another showing plans for the new cancer center for youth being built at Upstate Health Center (it looks pretty awesome).
Pam and Ed Levines were honored as the 2013 MVP Award winners. Pam told some funny stories about how she became an SU hoops fans (while she and Ed went to SU, she was only dimly aware there was a basketball team while she was a student and it was until she and Ed went to an NCAA game in 1989 in Dallas (while they were living in Houston) they she realized she loved the program and that it was her program to love). As part of this, a bit of real news: Ed announced that Galaxy will continue to be the Voice of the Orange for another 5 years, as they just signed a 5 year extension on their agreement to do radio for SU sports with TGD.
The banter between Jim and Juli is very good. Jim throws some gentle insults Juli's way, Juli returns fire the gentle but firm Southern Belle method. At one point, JB told a story about how their marriage works: Juli handles all the minor decisions, JB handles the big ones. So far, in 15 years, whatever time it has been, all the decisions have been minor ones.
JB is also a master auctioneer. I can't imagine anyone getting more money out of a crowd with the live auction. He was aided by the MC of the event this year, Tim Brando. Tim told a few funny stories and was helpful during the auction, but he is not a Syracuse guy and as such, it really isn't the same as when someone like Sean McDonough does the event.
Anyway, the live auction was a huge success. Lots of interest in being part of an ACC road trip, flying on the team charter, riding on the team bus, sitting in great seats near the bench, etc. Great job by all the people who bid on items.
The main entertainment was provided by The Whispers. They are a tight band, played well, didn't show a lot of range in their musical offerings, and were, IMHO, inappropriately loud, which led to a mass exodus of people from the Event Center to anywhere else in the TS facility.
When The Whispers were finished, we were herded one last time to a large room where we found our tables, talked for a while and then had dinner. The dinner highlights including the following:
I believe most of the greenery in the salad was spinach leaves. But I could be wrong. The long, skinny purple leaves with the crazy ribbed edges looked like dandelion greens. There were 2 half tomatoes that had been roasted and had some smokiness infused in them. There was also a couple of asparagus spears that tasted grilled (hope no liquid smoke). A strange section of what was probably a vegetable was in there that I could not identify but it tasted unpleasant and I think it might have been artichoke based. A substance I believe was French dressing was available on the side.
The rolls were light and fluffy, with a pleasing crusty exterior and moist, delightful interior. They were, IMHO, a trapezoidal triumph.
The main course was surf and turf based. The surf was represented by a dollop of light colored crab meat salad (there surely was some mayonaisse in this) and a couple of shrimp. It was not unpleasant.
The turf (I don't like this lowly moniker for something as delicious and special as red meat and am formally protesting this to whoever the appropriate party is for this, someone in Connecticut would surely know) was represented by a beef tenderloin, that was tender and cooked perfectly and quite satisfying.
These items were augmented by a small portion of mashed potatoes, some carrots, and a piece or two of broccoli and cauliflower. The mashed potatoes had a lot of something bad for you in them, probably butter, and some garlic and other sundry spices. And there was a sauce surrounding the outer perimeter of the plate that I believe was red wine based. It was tasty, whatever it was. Combined with the potatoes, I was able to eat the carrots and even the cruciferous vegetables, which is compelling evidence of their high quality.
There was white and red wine available as well. I did not partake but a lot of people did and there was a lot of empty bottles by the end of the night. So they must have been pretty good.
The meal ended with dessert. There was some cheese cake in it, a lot of chocolate, maybe some ganache, and even some gold. I ate the piece on top of the hockey puck shaped cake (it tasted okay but the texture was weird. Might have patched up a somewhat damaged filling with it, so that was pretty cool. They had the Foundation logo in gold on the plate, could not remove it with my fork (half hearted effort, I could have done it if I really wanted to), someone has mad culinary caligraphy skills.
What else is there to add? Musical entertainment was provided during and after dinner by the talented group Prime Time Horns. They can cover a wide assortment of musical artists and were impressive. Hire them if you want. I think Paul Valentino, their band leader and lead singer, might have gone to Henninger. But that is only a theory at this time.
cto is tight with Tim Brando, who loves her, as do Sean McDonough, Jay Bilas, Mike Tirico and all the other media people in the Western Hemisphere. I think the award for best male dancer in the syracusefan.com contingent is a tie between BillOrange and stuckinbig11 but MrTol22 might have taken the title late with his version of the Frisky Kitten late in the evening.
I will end by saying that if you have a chance to attend this event, go for it. Explore possibly attending next year. It would be fun even if there was no connection to SU basketball. But with the SU connnection, it is really special. It is a great time on many levels. Even if you don't drink alcohol.
One last comment: this post was really hard to spell.
How many days until October 15th?
