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Message: [QUOTE="sutomcat, post: 235491, member: 27"] Beautiful day in Pittsburgh. Found some Gonzaga fans milling around the hotel lobby when I went out for my morning constitutional walk that the Zags were also staying at the Sheraton at Station Square. There were also a wealth of people from surrounding areas checking into the hotel, all wearing gaudy and tasteless green outfits, obviously there for the St Patrick's Day Parade. Interesting. Some were already in the parking garage, doing liquid tailgating. The Pittsburgh St Paddy's Day Parade appears to be a lot more like Mardi Gras then the Syracuse parade. When I left to head to the arena for the game, I was surprised to find the entire Gonzaga team, including the coaches, had followed me down the road and over the bridge over the Monongehela River to downtown Pittsburgh. They headed toward the confluence for breakfast while I waited for LincolnCuse and his better half. We literally ran into the parade shortly after heading to the arena and had to walk a detoured route around it to get there. The three of us, dressed in SU garb, got a lot of derisive comments from the locals...the 'Syracuse sucks" kind of stuff that makes so much sense describing a 31-2 team from fans of a team that went maybe 15-14 in their season. From what I saw, the parade is not really exciting. Firetrucks, marching groups of policemen, etc. If it wasn't for the massive amounts of beer that fuel things, it would probably not be a big deal. We had not had breakfast yet, did not find much in the way of good breakfast prospects in the area of the arena (Pittsburgh has a lot going for it, but primo downtown diner destinations are not on that list), and settled for a bowl of corned beef and cabbage at a seedy looking bar across the street from the arena. The highlight of our visit there was attempting to navigate a badly bent and sloped stairway in the old and badly warped building housing this establishment of drinking and sometimes eating. The food was edible and I am happy to report that I have no signs of food poisoning at thje present time. Once we entered the arena, bid adieu to the Lincolns, and had time before the game to talk briefly to cto (and give her the all important good mojo game program present), OrangeVa, BillOrange, EMU Cali Lurker Girl, and a number of other folks. Ended up sitting next to LurkerVaRay, just in front of the Bees Bunch. We had a great time watching the game together. At this point, the game has probably been talked about to death but a quick recap: We started out poorly, didn't get much from our guards again. Thought KJ helped get the half court offense going with a couple good drives, got us attacking the paint and drawing fouls. That paid off as we got their big guys in foul trouble, which ultimately was the turning point in the game. Dion hit a couple of outside shots that were badly needed, played a solid game, JS again played really well off the bench, again showed a more fully rounded game, hitting some outside shots but also rebounded well, defended well and was alert collecting loose balls. Scoop again had a really bad first half and a really good second half, continuing his usual wildly inconsistent ways. He and the excellent frosh PG for KSU played to a standoff. That kid is tough and smart and was really impressive. He will be a really good player by the time he is a senior. BT tried to take his man down low and shoot over him with really limited success. Had a couple good rebounds but was generally a mess out there. His confidence is not where it needs to be. CJ continues to struggle as well. Maybe the FTs he made will help get him off the snide. Keita played okay on defense, continues to be a virtually non entity on offense, continues to struggle greatly to get rebounds. Uncanny how many times the ball is in his hands but doesn't stay there. Even though it was 79 and sunny outside, inside the arena, it was Christmas time, as Rakim played extensive minutes, rebounded well in the 2nd half, defended well all game long and looked solid out there. Had a couple of good chances stuffed due to a lack of strength but still finished well. He will be a force inside as he gets stronger. Loved JB's maniacal substitutions in the 1st half. At one point, I believe he brought Keita in for one possession lasting all of 10 seconds. Kept the troops fresh and out of foul trouble. As is his wont, this did not extend to the 2nd half, when the best combo of the day (RC, JS, KJ, DW and SJ) played for an extremely long time without a substitution. When JB has a combination he finds that works and is on a run, he will almost never break it up without the run ending first. Our offense, dormant for so long, kind of exploded in the 2nd half when we scored points in bunches and built a commanding lead in short order. To their credit, KSU came back and made a game of it but the veteran SU team did a pretty good job milking the clock and running time down. Okay, maybe not a pretty good job but a decent job, a win is a win, and I am a happy and grateful dude. You knew we were in good shape in the 2nd half when KSU, crippled by foul trouble, actually went to a 2-3 zone for a few possessions. It wasn't effective, but when SU is executing well on offense, I am not sure it matters what defense they are facing. OSU won the 2nd game with a workmanlike professional effort, repeating weathering strong challenges from a tough Gonzaga team. Kevin Pangos grew up dreaming about playing for SU, but the talented frosh PG ended up with the Zags and looks like he is going to have a fine career there, though he didn't play all that well against the Bucks today. We really don't match up well with OSU, especially Salinger, who is way too big and strong for us to cover well with no Fab on the court. It would have been great if Gonzaga had won but it was not to be. Was impressed overall with the athletic abilities and toughness of the Buckeyes. #4 in particular gets things done when they really need a play. Would be great to see them knocked out before they play us. One other thing: Brutus, the OSU Buckeye mascot is a fine dancer who apparently is a dance major (do we even offer a dance major at SU)? He does a funny matching dance with one of the OSU cheerleaders. Might be even better than Jonathan the Albino Husky Dog UConn has. Otto still cannot dance or move in any way except imitating a 3 year old who has to pee, but I will give him props for learning a new move. He pretends he is bouncing as a cheerleader pretends to dribble him. So we have that to be grateful for. What else? Got home in just under 5 hours. Easy ride once I got out of the downtown traffic and on I290 N. Gas in Pa is even more expensive than in NY (unless it rose in NY dramatically since last week). On Friday, Lincoln and I went to Jerome Bettis' bar across the street from Heinz Field and watch basketball for 11 straight hours. Nice place to watch games, they have a lot of TVs, good food and refresh your sodas on a regular basis. We hooked up with a group of alums from Ohio University and adopted them (along with SBU, Norfolk State and Lehigh) as our temporary teams and had a great time rooting for these underdogs to shock the world. Props to the Ohio alums...good folks with a sense of humor and an interesting perspective. 1) "Ohio State fans are the most evil people on the planet. They are not to be trusted under any circumstances." 2) "They say they invented that chant (some O....H.....I.....O repeated thing I have not mastered), but they are liars. They never invent anything, those shameless thieves!." We had a breakfast sandwich Friday at a Primanti Brothers downtown. Double egg with tomatoes, coleslaw, french fries on a couple of thick slices of good Italian bread. Good food but I have yet to get used to coleslaw and french fries in a sandwich. It seems like Pittsburghers put potatoes in everything. I ordered a steak salad at the Bettis sports bar that was dominated by tater tots, there were fries in my Philly steak sub, heck they were giving away french with green ketchup at BK over St Paddy's weekend there. Anyway, it was a good time in Pittsburgh. Despite the best efforts of the Pitt and WVU fan SU haters, I love the city, generally felt welcomed there, was impressed by the architecture, the wealth of restaurants and things to do, the general positive nature of the residents, the natural beauty of the area and the clear love of sports found there. It was and remains one of my favorite places to visit. Hail Pittsburgh (not Pitt) you scumbag Pitt fan haters! This team has been a joy to follow and root for. I don't understand all the hatred, negatively and animosity so many have. If you can't enjoy watching this team play this year, you probably should not be watching college basketball. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?