Nice article from Daily Orange on "An oral history of the six overtime game"

[cliftonparksufan]

What a terrific read.

I can't imagine what that completely unexpected compliment from one of the most famous coaches of all-time must have meant to a walk-on who had been very unexpectedly pressed into action.

Obviously it meant a lot to JT to remember it five years later and something he will carry with him the rest of his life. Kind of like my 7th grade homeroom teacher who took me aside and told me I needed to straighten up or I'd never amount to anything in life. It's funny I remember that 40 years later even though I didn't always follow his advice.

 

[JarHeadJim]

Wow, wow, wow Great freaken Article!

 

[MSOrange]

Obviously it meant a lot to JT to remember it five years later and something he will carry with him the rest of his life. Kind of like my 7th grade homeroom teacher who took me aside and told me I needed to straighten up or I'd never amount to anything in life. It's funny I remember that 40 years later even though I didn't always follow his advice.

So when are you planning on straightening up?

 

[cliftonparksufan]

So when are you planning on straightening up?

Never.

 

[BillJay]

The original plan was to let the players take the subway to Coney Island and bring back some Nathan's.

Saltine Warriors... Come out and plaaa-aaay

 

[Toga]

Dribble hand off to Rautins Cooney. Hello!!!!!!

 

[mike32768]

Just bought this game on DVD Me and the wife watched just the OT's last week.

Got it as a gift a few years ago...classic.

 

[Zippy1808]

This is as good a time as any to share my "hard luck" 6OT story with the board.
Since I've moved to the NYC area 10 years ago, I've mostly attended every Syracuse BET game (missed a few), but this one was definitely going to happen.

Was planning to go with my friend Eric. We both work in TV news.
I believe this was pre-StubHub last minute pickup days, so your options for getting tickets were basically craigslist or scalpers outside the garden.

We agreed we wanted to pay about $75/ticket, and a hot ticket it was. $75 for a quarterfinal game seemed like a reasonable (yet still expensive) number.

Eric's work hours were an overnight shift starting at 11:30pm.
I worked about 5am-2pm.
I spent much of gameday scouring craiglist for tickets. Found someone who would sell a pair for $200/total, but thought I could do better.
Found another listing late in the day - forget the exact price - but it was much cheaper. Went about 20 blocks from my office to pick them up. Jackpot I thought.
Guy pulls up in a car and hands me the tickets. I immediately knew they were fakes. Crushed.
Called Eric and said no tickets, but let's meet at MSG at 5:30pm and try to scalp.
It was 8 degrees in NYC that night.
We looked, with everyone else.
Was willing to pay.
There were really no tickets for sale.
None.
At about 8pm, freezing and bummed, we agreed to go our separate ways and watch the game from home (Eric had to be at work in a few hours anyway)

I went home. Watched the first half and then passed out on my couch.
Woke up in the second OT and couldn't believe it.

As a tourney veteran, this was a particularly tough game to not have been at of course - especially having come so close.

To this day, I rationalize our lack of attendance with the fact that while I could have stayed all night (despite my 3:30am work wakeup call), there's absolutely no way Eric could have. Probably could have pushed it to midnight... 12:30... but never 1:30 or whenever the game ended. He had a job to get to and a news deadline to meet.

I wouldn't have wanted to have that happen, leaving me in the arena by myself.

I love that 6OT happened, but unfortunately there's a little bit of bitterness/regret in me that I didn't see the entire game as it happened, either live or on TV.

Onward and upward!!