Greetings from Buffalo...

[cto]

All the employees at the team hotel are wearing "zebra" shirts. That is literally the only indication (subtle, for sure) I've seen suggesting there is a basketball tourney in town. There were none of the usual "welcome" signs at the hotel or the airport. When I asked my cab driver whether there was much excitement in town about the basketball tournament, he replied: "What basketball tournament? I don't know about any basketball tournament."

I've been attending NCAA games for more than 25 years.....in cities ranging from Worcester to NYC. Never have I seen such an apparent lack of interest.

 

[bpo57]

Reminds me of being in Buffalo back in the late 70s and turning on NBC to watch the Louie and Bouie Show in some big ECAC tilt. Problem was they weren't showing the game and had Curling on instead. Buffalo is not exactly a hotbed of college hoops.

 

[Lawrinson14]

If UCONN was coming to your city, would you celebrate it?

 

[Trueblue25]

All the employees at the team hotel are wearing "zebra" shirts. That is literally the only indication (subtle, for sure) I've seen suggesting there is a basketball tourney in town. There were none of the usual "welcome" signs at the hotel or the airport. When I asked my cab driver whether there was much excitement in town about the basketball tournament, he replied: "What basketball tournament? I don't know about any basketball tournament."

I've been attending NCAA games for more than 25 years...in cities ranging from Worcester to NYC. Never have I seen such an apparent lack of interest.

The city has really taken a hit from Canisius, Niagara and UB being left out of the tournament

 

[shandeezy7]

Reminds me of being in Buffalo back in the late 70s and turning on NBC to watch the Louie and Bouie Show in some big ECAC tilt. Problem was they weren't showing the game and had Curling on instead. Buffalo is not exactly a hotbed of college hoops.

I remember being out at Tully's in Buffalo several years back. I wanted to watch the Syracuse - Wichita State game (blech). All 120 tv's in the place were tuned to the Buffalo Sabres hockey game, sans one 20 inch tube television in the far back corner. Couldn't believe what I was witnessing.

 

[Zcuse]

Hit up Gabriel's Gate for Wings/lunch some time. Cozy place (feels like a lodge), big old fireplace, good food, good beer selection. Always a safe bet..

 

[orangecuse]

Reminds me of being in Buffalo back in the late 70s and turning on NBC to watch the Louie and Bouie Show in some big ECAC tilt. Problem was they weren't showing the game and had Curling on instead. Buffalo is not exactly a hotbed of college hoops.

No it isn't...certainly not when I was going to school there back in the 80's. I'll never forget how so many people in Buffalo bars, etc. were stoked from the 'Cuse's loss to that Tom Pender R.I. team. :bang:

 

[orangecuse]

The city has really taken a hit from Canisius, Niagara and UB being left out of the tournament

Ha...can a city even take a hit, when none of the above you mention ever really dance?

 

[Trueblue25]

Ha...can a city even take a hit, when none of the above you mention ever really dance?

They can when the only teams that matter, the Bills and Sabres, both had heartbreakingly, woefully disappointing seasons.

To Buffalo's credit though, the Sabres are the WORST team in the NHL, but they fill out every damn home game. It's quite amazing.

Buffalo is a sports city, just not a hoops city.

 

[CusefanATL]

Ha...can a city even take a hit, when none of the above you mention ever really dance?

 

[shandeezy7]

Shameless marketing plug: my girlfriend works at New Era downtown. She said the flagship store on the ground floor of their office just stocked their cuse display. Stop on over there if you're looking for some new headgear!

 

[Trueblue25]

I got the joke. I was just addressing the thread afterwards.

 

[Trueblue25]

Shameless marketing plug: my girlfriend works at New Era downtown. She said the flagship store on the ground floor of their office just stocked their cuse display. Stop on over there if you're looking for some new headgear!

Shameless job request.

Can your girlfriend get a poor college student a job at said New Era?

Jk, not really but yeah. :bang:

 

[Trueblue25]

No . It's why I placed the smiley afterwards. But thanks for your attempt in clarifying that...

 

[Janner]

There really isn't much interest from the local population. From my observations over the past decade of living here college basketball does not excite the population a fraction of what the Bill's, or as sad as it sounds, the Sabre's do. That said once the games start the Syracuse and OSU fans will start coming out of the woodwork. Most people I talk to here seem to be Syracuse basketball "fans" but very few are fanatics (oddly enough many of these "fans" do not like Syracuse Football, as in, root against them which always confused me). As far as destinations are concerned though I really do not know why they ever hold games here for the NCAA's at all. There are so many other locations that would appreciate what a treat and exciting time this is, and I for one will be at the games decked in Orange!

 

[Madbiker]

I've always found it odd that the Albany area seems to have many more SU fans and interest in SU sports than the Buffalo area which is about the same distance away.

 

[CusefanATL]

I got the joke. I was just addressing the thread afterwards.

I didn't quote you. I was under the impression that you got your own joke.

 

[orangecuse]

They can when the only teams that matter, the Bills and Sabres, both had heartbreakingly, woefully disappointing seasons.

To Buffalo's credit though, the Sabres are the WORST team in the NHL, but they fill out every damn home game. It's quite amazing.

Buffalo is a sports city, just not a hoops city.

Nope, not since the Randy Smith Buffalo Braves days...way before your time Very passionate for football and hockey...went to school there during the Kelly, Thomas, Reed...and Stuff Mushroom, Crawdaddy's days...

 

[Marsh01]

I dont care if they play these games in timbuktu. You are there to watch basketball. At least I am. I am also commuting back and forth so I wont be doing much of anything in Buffalo.

 

[orangecuse]

I didn't quote you. I was under the impression that you got your own joke.

Your attempt to be cute failed...it's why I precursored it with a ha & left a smiley face after my remark. I like the pic though...

 

[Trueblue25]

I dont care if they play these games in timbuktu. You are there to watch basketball. At least I am. I am also commuting back and forth so I wont be doing much of anything in Buffalo.

Amen

 

[BuffCuse]

All the employees at the team hotel are wearing "zebra" shirts. That is literally the only indication (subtle, for sure) I've seen suggesting there is a basketball tourney in town. There were none of the usual "welcome" signs at the hotel or the airport. When I asked my cab driver whether there was much excitement in town about the basketball tournament, he replied: "What basketball tournament? I don't know about any basketball tournament."

I've been attending NCAA games for more than 25 years...in cities ranging from Worcester to NYC. Never have I seen such an apparent lack of interest.

Try living here year round. There is really no interest in college sports at all outside of the "local" teams, but the Bonnies and UB can only get you so far. In the Buffalo News there will routinely be long stories about these teams while the major sports team located less than 3 hours to the east with a boat load more succes in college sports gets a little blurb. It's amazing how an hour drive west of Rochester can see interest in SU sports plummet so significantly. I will say though that there are a lot of people that I know who are not necessarily huge college basketball fans most of the season who are in fact quite excited about the tourney and the tourney games in Buffalo (and they have been trying to hype it on the local news quite a bit the past week or so). Apparently none of them was driving your taxi though.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Try living here year round. There is really no interest in college sports at all outside of the "local" teams, but the Bonnies and UB can only get you so far. In the Buffalo News there will routinely be long stories about these teams while the major sports team located less than 3 hours to the east with a boat load more succes in college sports gets a little blurb. It's amazing how an hour drive west of Rochester can see interest in SU sports plummet so significantly. I will say though that there are a lot of people that I know who are not necessarily huge college basketball fans most of the season who are in fact quite excited about the tourney and the tourney games in Buffalo (and they have been trying to hype it on the local news quite a bit the past week or so). Apparently none of them was driving your taxi though.

The Bonnies? That's like an hour and a half away if my memory serves correctly (drove my wife up there for an interview one time).

I can't remember much from my year and a half at UB, but there are no memories associated with major college sports. Great pro sports town at the time (Bills were in the middle of their big run), but the college stuff was miserable.

 

[Trueblue25]

I have a lot of friends from UB who purchased Buffalo tournament tickets around January.

Buffalo the city isn't jam-packed of Orange...

Canisius, UB, Buff St. etc. are.

There'd be a lot more excitement if the students weren't on break, our spring break fell a week or two later than most this year.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

I have a lot of friends from UB who purchased Buffalo tournament tickets around January.

Buffalo the city isn't jam-packed of Orange...

Canisius, UB, Buff St. etc. are.

There'd be a lot more excitement if the students weren't on break, our spring break fell a week or two later than most this year.

I remember a lot of students at UB into SU (two of my floor-mates were from Cazenovia) as you say. Lots of kids from Rochester and Syracuse end up that way.