sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
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Welcome to National Pledge of Allegiance Day!
The Pledge of Allegiance was written in August 1892 by the socialist minister Francis Bellamy (1855-1931). It was originally published in The Youth's Companion on September 8, 1892. Bellamy had hoped that the pledge would be used by citizens in any country.
In its original form it read:
"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
In 1923, the words, "the Flag of the United States of America" were added. At this time it read:
"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
In 1954, in response to the Communist threat of the times, President Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words "under God," creating the 31-word pledge we say today. Bellamy's daughter objected to this alteration. Today it reads:
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
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SU News
What Syracuse Fans Need Now is a Healthy Dose of Perspective (TNIAAM; Keeley)
Perspective (noun): the faculty of seeing all the relevant data in a meaningful relationship.
Boy is that something Syracuse Orange fans need right about now.
I talk a lot about expectations and once again in the wake of SU's 47-0 drubbing of Rhode Island, I can already feel the expectations of this program shifting for a lot of Orange fans. Now that we have tangible evidence to draw conclusions from, everything anyone said in July and August is irrelevant. And maybe that is in fact true.
I've seen a lot of people unwilling to ask for more than six wins before Friday suddenly foresee eight or nine based on the results of the game.
I've seen people talking about The Eric Dungey Era with the kind of vigor and hyperbole I haven't seen since The AJ Long Era (2014-2014), The Terrel Hunt Era (2013-2013) and The Drew Allen Era (2013-2013).
Now, I feel like there's been a little bit of divide within the Syracuse fandom recently, at least online. One side operates vaguely under the "Program First" mentality, which prefers to focus solely on positive aspects and in turn can often make out objective analysis and criticism as a sign of "negativity." Sometimes that's purposeful and sometimes it's just the natural reaction to that kind of fandom. You're with us or you're against us.
The other side traffics in analysis, discussion and conjecture. This side likes to fancy itself a bunch of rabbis studying scripture and arguing over the true meaning behind every word. They question, they provoke, they wonder aloud. In the end, this side remains hopeful but maintains a tenuous grasp on the situation as it truly exists. They don't always paint the rosiest picture but they're more than happy to be wrong when that's the case.
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Scott Shafer Talks About Dungey, Wake and Coach Mac (TNIAAM; Cassillo)
As he does every week, Syracuse Orange head coach Scott Shafer spent some time speaking with Matt Park about last week's results, the upcoming game and more. Video's embedded at the bottom of this post, but we've also transcribed Shafer's comments for you below.
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What were some of the things he liked about Syracuse's big victory over Rhode Island?
"Well, you know, just everything. I thought we ran the ball well. Our offensive line did a nice job up front, which opened up a lot of opportunities for all the kids to have a chance to run the football. Defensively, it was just a stellar performance. We gave up two first downs. We shut it down in every category you could imagine. And, y’know, I was happy to see the young freshman (Eric Dungey) get in there and play pretty good football. He’s got a lot to learn, but he will, and I’m excited to see his progress week-to-week."
Given the fact that Dungey's so young, how do you go about asking him to do more?
"Well you just look at it as an offense, and you look at your players and what they’re ready to do and what they’re not ready to do. The good thing about Eric is he’s learned the playbook extremely well. He’s an extremely bright young man, high academic caliber guy coming out of high school. So he can handle about anything we put out there. I think the biggest thing is trying to counter-balance what we ask him to do and when we ask him to do it. The biggest thing is, for a young quarterback, just learning how to take charge of the game, have great command, manage things well, and then the plays will come. He did some good things. He was just short of making a couple really good plays. And he’ll do a great job for us and we’re excited to bring him along."
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A Youth Movement for SU Football Starts One Game Into the Season (thejuice; Bierman)
Item: According to the official participation report, 15 true freshmen (13 scholarship players and two walk-ons) played against Rhode Island in SU’s opening season shutout win over an inferior FCS opponent, and with a mantra to win now and qualify for a post season bowl it’s simple; let the best players play regardless of program status, and provide that youthful talent as much game experience as possible.
At first glance following last year’s three win season, what a refreshing look to all three units for Syracuse as dictated by the lopsided game situations in the 47-0 rout of Rhode Island last Friday night. For all of the goodness that Terrel Hunt has brought to the program including a much prized bowl game victory in 2013 over another P5 autonomy conference foe, and his leadership to be elected a captain of this year’s squad, his unfortunate second straight season-ending injury has unexpectedly brought the even brighter immediate future of the Orange to the forefront after just one important tune-up opener, and before conference plays suddenly appears Saturday afternoon with Wake Forest (1-0) the Dome visitor (12:30 p.m. ET / ACC Network – and a post first quarter celebration of Coach Mac).
When freshman quarterback Eric Dungey makes his first collegiate start against the Demon Deacons, he’ll certainly be gunning for the coaching motto of the importance of judging how much players improve from game one to game two of a season after a week of film review and practice repetitions. Dungey’s passing arm and running under control when he needed to (134 yards of total offense) against URI stood out considering the fluidity of the sudden injury to Hunt on a non-contact play, along with the distinct, cutting moves and different running styles of the frosh trio of Jordan Fredericks (14 carries for a game high 102 yards and a 13 yard touchdown run), walk-on Jacob Hill (17 for 75) and Dontae Strickland (2 for 42, half coming on a 21 yard touchdown scamper).
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New SU Coach Steve Gregory Makes Immediate Impact on Special Teams (TNIAAM; Cassillo)
Last month, we dove into the Syracuse Orange's extended streakwithout a punt return for a touchdown. The idea was that we really haven't had a dynamic punt returner on the roster since at least 2005, and that special teams had been a disaster since Steve Gregory graduated.
Now Steve Gregory's back as the special teams quality control coach, and... well, things already (yes, I know, it was Rhode Island) look to have turned around. Within seconds of the first whistle in Friday night's game, kickerRyan Norton had already forced a fumble on the Rhode Island return, recovered by freshman Dontae Strickland. At the end of the first half, the dynamic Brisly Estime returned a punt for a touchdown -- Syracuse's first such score since 2003 (when Gregory was on the team). These are the type of things that DO NOT happen (or have not happened) for SU.
Now, it's still very early. And it WAS against Rhode Island, a pretty lackluster FCS team. But it's also hard to ignore just how different things looked for the Orange in terms of special teams, no? Some numbers:
- Syracuse returned four of nine Rhody punts for 96 yards and a score, which included a minus-1 yard return by Jacob Hill.
- Two kick returns for 46 yards doesn't sound all that impressive, but one of those was after a safety, so it was returned off a drop-kick. You're rarely going to see lengthy returns following safeties. Estime's other return went for 28 yards.
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