Ragman2000
Pee-Trough Advocate
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- Aug 17, 2011
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And let's just say that it may possibly be one of the worst and most painful things I've seen in some time. I posted it right before the start of the 2005 season. Yes, that 2005 season. I think I may have copied it for posterity sake so I could "pull it out" later to show how prophetic and awesome I was. I was neither prophetic nor awesome, and apparently it has survived the backup to all of my new computers in the last 16 years.
Please drink it in with your omniscient hindsight and bask in the glory of it's overeager excitement soon to be destroyed, mutilated, and buried at the bottom of a pee-trough.
Circa August 2005...
It’s official. I can’t get “down down the field” out of my head. The weather will be cooling off soon, and it will be time to break out the blue “’Cuse” hoodie. In my head, I can still remember the sound of the marching band practicing at Liverpool High School just a half mile from my house…the drums resonating throughout my old neighborhood. You could hear the beat for over a mile. It’s that sound of autumn when you know that the leaves are going to start falling, it gets a bit more pleasant to huddle close to the charcoal grill, and the air has the smell that just screams “football.” There is no better feeling on this earth than walking up to “Gate N” at the carrier dome on opening day. The sun always shines, the band is playing on the steps of Hendricks, and my stomach aches from some rushed pizza and beer at the Varsity (so that someone else will have the chance to take a seat). Honest to God, is there anything greater than seeing the full upright felt banners hanging with the promises of a new season (all to the tune of, “Tom, your wings are Read-EEEEEEEEE!”).
It just hit me yesterday how I excited I am for this season. I may have been one of the few to be sad to see Pasqualoni go. Even if the guy did not live up to many’s expectations in recent years, the guy WAS Syracuse football for the better part of the past 15 years. I appreciated the effort that he put into his work, and I respected the type of players that he brought in. One need not look any further than this morning’s articles on Kyle Johnson and Dee Brown to see the type of hard-nosed guys that P represented. The kind of guys that you want to cheer for, that kind that show the rest of the country that Syracuse is more than snow and ice. Despite his shortcomings (and who doesn’t have them?), P will be missed and I can only hope that the positive aspects of his legacy will live on in the current administration.
That being said, how can one not be excited for the prospects of Syracuse football? The change has most certainly breathed new life into current players. The remarkable possibilities of a new offense and swarming defense are the stuff that dreams are made of. New logo, new name, new turf, new players, new coaches, new attitude and new life await us. As it stands right now, we haven’t been eliminated from the National Championship. If God (or the ghosts of Schwartzwalder and Ernie Davis) came down to bless the pads of our Orangemen, we could be the National Champions. We have a tough schedule that would warrant the consideration. Likely? No…but that is the promise that August brings as summer turns into fall….as the “pizza fritte” from the State Fair slowly digests alongside a $0.25 milk from the dairy building. Everybody is 0-0, and despite what the Lee Corso’s/Kirk Herbtreets/insert talking head here’s will have you believe, nobody knows what is going to happen. Let’s strap on the helmet, pour ourselves a beer, and celebrate the endless possibilities that await. September 4, if only you were tomorrow.
War Damn Otto, and Go SU.
Please drink it in with your omniscient hindsight and bask in the glory of it's overeager excitement soon to be destroyed, mutilated, and buried at the bottom of a pee-trough.
Circa August 2005...
It’s official. I can’t get “down down the field” out of my head. The weather will be cooling off soon, and it will be time to break out the blue “’Cuse” hoodie. In my head, I can still remember the sound of the marching band practicing at Liverpool High School just a half mile from my house…the drums resonating throughout my old neighborhood. You could hear the beat for over a mile. It’s that sound of autumn when you know that the leaves are going to start falling, it gets a bit more pleasant to huddle close to the charcoal grill, and the air has the smell that just screams “football.” There is no better feeling on this earth than walking up to “Gate N” at the carrier dome on opening day. The sun always shines, the band is playing on the steps of Hendricks, and my stomach aches from some rushed pizza and beer at the Varsity (so that someone else will have the chance to take a seat). Honest to God, is there anything greater than seeing the full upright felt banners hanging with the promises of a new season (all to the tune of, “Tom, your wings are Read-EEEEEEEEE!”).
It just hit me yesterday how I excited I am for this season. I may have been one of the few to be sad to see Pasqualoni go. Even if the guy did not live up to many’s expectations in recent years, the guy WAS Syracuse football for the better part of the past 15 years. I appreciated the effort that he put into his work, and I respected the type of players that he brought in. One need not look any further than this morning’s articles on Kyle Johnson and Dee Brown to see the type of hard-nosed guys that P represented. The kind of guys that you want to cheer for, that kind that show the rest of the country that Syracuse is more than snow and ice. Despite his shortcomings (and who doesn’t have them?), P will be missed and I can only hope that the positive aspects of his legacy will live on in the current administration.
That being said, how can one not be excited for the prospects of Syracuse football? The change has most certainly breathed new life into current players. The remarkable possibilities of a new offense and swarming defense are the stuff that dreams are made of. New logo, new name, new turf, new players, new coaches, new attitude and new life await us. As it stands right now, we haven’t been eliminated from the National Championship. If God (or the ghosts of Schwartzwalder and Ernie Davis) came down to bless the pads of our Orangemen, we could be the National Champions. We have a tough schedule that would warrant the consideration. Likely? No…but that is the promise that August brings as summer turns into fall….as the “pizza fritte” from the State Fair slowly digests alongside a $0.25 milk from the dairy building. Everybody is 0-0, and despite what the Lee Corso’s/Kirk Herbtreets/insert talking head here’s will have you believe, nobody knows what is going to happen. Let’s strap on the helmet, pour ourselves a beer, and celebrate the endless possibilities that await. September 4, if only you were tomorrow.
War Damn Otto, and Go SU.
