Let's See ...What did the AD ACTUALLY Say?

[Orijinal]

He said "44 is back." He did not say "44 is officially unretired" or "44 will now be made available to certain future student athletes at Syracuse." Both of which could easily had been said. People and fan forums start planting this idea that 44 will be unretired at the groundbreaking ceremony before the ceremony actually happens, and then people automatically think that "44 is back" means "44 will be on the field next year!" This is ridiculous. It's the fan base's own assumptions that are at fault and not the athletic department's use of phrase.

"44 is back" could have meant a multitude of things. None of those things were EVER expounded on. It was just the simple statement. In context of the ceremony, the first thing we had a right to assume was that "44 has a prominent place again." But nope. Everybody thought "it's unretired!" because that's what everyone wanted to see. Should the AD have said a little more? Absolutely, yes. The phraseology was completely ambiguous. Did he say that 44 is back with the blessing of Floyd Little and Jim Brown. Yes. Does that make it SOUND like it's coming out of retirement? Yes. It absolutely does. And if that wasn't the AD's complete intention, he should have left that part out. But he never made any statement that 44 is unretired in that ceremony. None.

Again, my rant is over.

 

[Cusester]

Kevin Quinn, or whatever his name is, should be held accountable for his actions. This new statement could not have been approved by the interim AD, could it?

 

[FrancoPizza]

"44 is back" could have meant a multitude of things. .

It actually sounds pretty straightforward to me. It's either retired or players can wear it again.

 

[Moontan]

Why say "It's back", in a ceremony and with social media distribution, if there's "no change"?

It's either back or it isn't. The interim AD said that it is.

 

[RMH44]

Why say "It's back", in a ceremony and with social media distribution, if there's "no change"?

It's either back or it isn't. The interim AD said that it is.

Exactly. Why would all the naysayers like McNabb and Bud make such a fuss if 44 wasn't "back"? And, given all the attention that they've drawn to the topic (and themselves), I'm sure that SU would have released some sort of a corrective press release if Sala's statement was misinterpreted.

 

[RandygoCuse]

It actually sounds pretty straightforward to me. It's either retired or players can wear it again.

Agreed - you really have to over analyze to say there's ambiguity. I think it's pretty obvious what happened. A statement was made that the number could and would be used again. There were some high profile people that were angry about this. The athletic department tried to placate the angry people by saying all they really meant was that it's possible there might be some special circumstances when it will be used. Rather than admit that they were changing their position, they tried to insult our intelligence.

 

[TheCusian]

Why say "It's back", in a ceremony and with social media distribution, if there's "no change"? It's either back or it isn't. The interim AD said that it is.

Yeah and Sala's interview with Axe certainly left no ambiguity.