Pete Thamel is a d***.

[Chip]

His second tweet is stupid. Even if you're a moron that thinks a 5 game losing streak is relevant, the ACC took Syracuse before that losing streak.

Yeah, I think that was my biggest issue. I wasn't really sure where he was coming from, why the sudden outburst, and then why the backwards looking useless comments?

Was he tweeting the same thing after the WVU game? ACC had made their choice by then too.

Just seemed a strange time and theme for him to go into bitter twitter mode. Not usually like him.

 

[Cadillac]

But he did come off a little bitter in those tweets. Especially for an SU alum.

I meet alums all the time across NYS in their 20s and 30s and if I bring up SU sports, they always always always say yeah I always go back for a basketball game but we sure suck at football, lol, amirite?

It's an in-group joke I'm beyond sick of hearing, and for a few months this year I could finally get all holier-than-thou, but have since put away the soapbox.

 

[kingottoiii]

I meet alums all the time across NYS in their 20s and 30s and if I bring up SU sports, they always always always say yeah I always go back for a basketball game but we sure suck at football, lol, amirite?

It's an in-group joke I'm beyond sick of hearing, and for a few months this year I could finally get all holier-than-thou, but have since put away the soapbox.

Agree. Thamel has this attitude as well. He has taken shots at FB in the past. It really doesn't make sense for him either since he was there when McNabb was at school and the BBall team was mediocre.

I think the issue is that a lot of students are from the NE and college FB isn't a big deal compared to BBall. Also many of the sports fans go to SU already being somewhat of an SU BBall fan. So they go into school with at least some kind of connection. But in FB they likely follow PSU, Mich, ND, etc. And casually follow CFB at that. So they have no FB connection and need to be sold as FB fans. Unless you are a real fan of FB, the chances of buying into the FB program are small.

 

[Orangello]

The truth hurts sometimes.

Agreed. The only way to stop comments like this is to turn the ship around and start winning consistently.

 

[billsin01]

Agree. Thamel has this attitude as well. He has taken shots at FB in the past. It really doesn't make sense for him either since he was there when McNabb was at school and the BBall team was mediocre.

I guess they were mediocre (20-10 in 94-95; 19-13 in 96-97; 21-1298-99) but they also reached the national title game in that span and put together a legit 26-6 season. It certainly doesn't compare to the golden era of the late 80s - early 90s or the run we're currently on, but it's still a pretty good program by most standards.

 

[billsin01]

His second tweet is stupid. Even if you're a moron that thinks a 5 game losing streak is relevant, the ACC took Syracuse before that losing streak.

I wonder if part of this is a Twitter issue -- which is context. I suppose he's taking an unnecessary jab at both SU and Pitt, but he may have intended to convey two separate thoughts:

1. The Big East must have taken some pleasure in some pretty ugly situations at the two schools that are leaving

2. These moves were made for several reasons but high-quality football was pretty low on the list. I mean, he is right -- adding SU and Pitt isn't going to have ACC fans pining away for next season (or 2013, or whatever) and it will almost certainly be a forgotten media story by the time these two take on NC State and Clemson (or whatever teams they'll play) in their ACC football openers.

I suppose it's not entirely fair to kick a wounded dog, but I still think his points are basically valid.

 

[Stern]

http://twitter.com/#!/PeteThamelNYT

"I'd imagine Pitt's complaints about Graham's exit have elicited a few belly laughs from Big East headquarters."

"Any notion the ACC took Pitt and Cuse for football is laughable. Cuse lost 5 straight to end year. Pitt on fourth coach in a year."

"Pitt and Syracuse football right now are valuable for inventory only. No identity. No stars. No buzz. Lots of empty seats."

So SU and Pitt have no identity, stars, or buzz. But @cking San Diego State, SMU, Houston, and UCF do?

Pete Thamel is speaking the truth

 

[billsin01]

You are wrong on that. There is a reason why the networks want to put SU FB on when we are decent. There is a reason why people question where has SU been? The SU FB program has a lot of respect nationally. If we keep this up it will go away, but for now other schools, fans, media types,etc still respect the program.

People outside of CNY think a lot more of SU FB than those in CNY.

I cant imagine either of us is going to convince the other on this and since neither of us have any sort of data to substantiate it, I guess this is a pointless argument. I guess my point isn't that Syracuse has no respect as a football program but simply that it's generally a non-factor. I honestly don't know a single person outside my circle of Upstate friends that knows a thing about SU football.

But, regardless, SU hoops to me is a national brand and we "travel" far better for hoops on a Tuesday night in G'town then we do on a SAturday afternoon in NJ for football. I just have a hard time believing that there is any comparison of the hoops brand vs. the football brand (though I concede that, for some reason, football is what drives advertising money).

Maybe the best example is recruiting. How would you explain the fact that every upstate kid they want for hoops they get (Josh Wright, Dayshawn Wright, John Wallace, Jonny Flynn, Paul Harris, DaJuan Coleman, Brandon Triche, etc) and they can swoop into Baltimore for whatever talent they want (Melo, Fair, etc) and routinely beat the big dogs for kids all over the country.Yet in football, we have trouble keeping 1 of every 10 big-name upstate recruits. The answer, IMO, is that we lose to the NDs and USCs of the world in football whereas we are the NDs or USCs of the hoops world.