I mean, of course I largely agree. But we’re fans. You know, fanatics, which implies some level of irrationality. What Buddy did was wrong, no doubt, and he should have gotten a flagrant foul during the game. But back in the day, Syracuse fans would have rallied around Buddy, who’s a great kid and the polar opposite of his cranky dad, and said it was unfair for this suspension to happen in what could possibly be his last game—or at least pointed out that the refs screwed up for not tossing him out of the game when the altercation happened. Punishing him after the fact isn’t in the rule book, which is what Bilas has argued. This has been such a depressing season, I’d just like to see the fanbase rally around our player now and not be so rational about him deserving his punishment. (We see UConn fans defending psycho Hurley’s behavior all the time.) The rule, btw, is that the refs have to issue the flagrant foul during the game. The ACC shouldn’t have gotten involved after the fact, but they bowed to all the coverage it received. Anyhow, how amazing would it be to see us beat Duke, then Buddy returns and we win the ACC title? Sure it’s unlikely, but that would be the most Syracuse move ever and the sports media would lose its collective minds.
