So if Sean Tucker

[Nahson]

I just can't get over the manner in which it was retired (in case you couldn't tell). Just never felt real to me, even though Jim Brown and Floyd Little participated.

No kid should be pressured into it, but from that Elmore interview, sounds like it's been a bit of a topic of discussion.

I think if the team supports it, and the kid wants it (seems like we could see more of this in the NIL era), then I'm all for it.

If we want to go back to try to make it a recruiting tool, then I'm all for that too.

We have so few traditions. We had one really cool one that the whole fanbase knew, and we let some dude from California come in and retire it to try to sell some more tickets because his disastrous coaching hire was destroying everything.

(I'll stop now... maybe).

How would it be a recruiting tool?

 

[OrangeXtreme]

I can't believe Coach Mac wanted to give it to Terry Richardson. David Walker was a much more productive running back.

I can't believe Coach Maloney gave it to Mandel Robinson. Art Monk was a much more productive player.

 

[Finwad32]

How would it be a recruiting tool?

How is it not? I’m not trying to be inflammatory - but anything’s a recruiting tool if it garners interest from a recruit.

This argument’s straw man. Beauty’s in the eye of the beholder.

One thing is for sure, it’s definitely not a recruiting tool hanging in the rafters. And it’s not going to build relevant value with the younger demographic staying there.

 

[SUFan44]

Jim Brown isn't from Syracuse and did not grow up a fan. He doesn't want to see his number unretired.

Not even going to get into you telling me my opinion doesn't matter because I'm not "from here".

It shouldn’t have been retired in the first place, one.

Two, it is one of the few things that the football program has/had to tell its story. If you went to school at SU and started following after the fact, your opinion doesn’t really matter to me personally because it wasn’t part of the story you heard about growing up an SU fan.

I’ll also add it means a lot more to local fans who are going to be the ones at games 9 times out of 10 than the alum from Massachusetts who knows all.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

It’s a retired number. Not a constitutional amendment. And not for nothing if it wasn’t for Jim Brown it would have bee unretired in 2015. So sorry to burst your fantasy bubble.

Ironically, Constitutional Amendments are able to be changed

 

[MikeSU02]

“NoBoDy CaReS aBoUt 44” - 20 somethings who wear retro J’s and Champion.

You’d care if somebody told you that you should care.

Everyone should go back and give this post a like. Fantastic. Well done. I’m just angry I didn’t come up with it first.

 

[Chip]

How would it be a recruiting tool?

Pre-NIL, I would have said, that needs to be built back up. And might not even work.

Post-NIL, we might be able to go back to the way it was presented before to a top RB recruit.

I'm not saying it's the right answer, but I think we should be open to 44 being back on the field.

 

[MSOrange]

Pre-NIL, I would have said, that needs to be built back up. And might not even work.

Post-NIL, we might be able to go back to the way it was presented before to a top RB recruit.

I'm not saying it's the right answer, but I think we should be open to 44 being back on the field.

That's how I look at it. It's obviously not all, but it stll seems like there is a good portion of the fanbase that is interested in 44 if a player is considering the NIL opportunity.

 

[AAM62]

First of all, one presumes the coaches would be smarter about who gets the number than fans on a fan board.

I go back and forth on this topic, but let me get out of the way that I don’t think it’s a stupid thing for fans to discuss in the off-season. It’s what fans do, or at least should do.

I have come around to the idea that the number should be un-retired. Not saying for Tucker (see my first sentence), but it is a legacy at SU and should be treated as such. And legacies live or they die. It’s great to have statues at Manley, but like everything else, upcoming generations will come to care less and less about those statues if they don’t have some relevance to the current program. Otherwise they just become statues for someone to tear down at some point in the future.

I think the number should be used very selectively for players who want to wear the number. There is nothing wrong with a future great player wearing #22 or #39 or whatever. New traditions are valid too. But if you’re going to keep talking about #44, and it’s obvious the University talks about it a lot, you have to leave open the possibility, the glimmer of hope, that another worthy candidate is out there somewhere and that at some time he can add his name (and likeness) to that list. If that possibility is gone forever, eventually the legacy will be too.

Totally agree with this

 

[AAM62]

Wasn't he a 4 star running back who said he wanted to wear it?

I think you're playing a little bit of hindsight police on this one.

I can't believe Coach Mac wanted to give it to Terry Richardson. David Walker was a much more productive running back.

Yeah, fair point. I would think if it does get unretired then you have to earn it with production at Syracuse.

 

[SuFTW]

Some of you guys wanted to give Robert Washington 44. Let’s pump the breaks and see how this goes.

Wasn't he a 4 star running back who said he wanted to wear it?

I think you're playing a little bit of hindsight police on this one.

I can't believe Coach Mac wanted to give it to Terry Richardson. David Walker was a much more productive running back.

I think once word got out that Washington was interested in #44 people were clamoring to give it to him.

Should Syracuse Give Robert Washington 44?

The return of 44 is long overdue.

orangefizz.net

 

[Chip]

I think once word got out that Washington was interested in #44 people were clamoring to give it to him.

Should Syracuse Give Robert Washington 44?

The return of 44 is long overdue.

orangefizz.net

Which is natural. No way of anyone knowing he was the Bishop Sycamore of recruits.

 

[Shenexon]

I think it’s pretty silly to retire our only real tradition. It was a mistake. Correct it when appropriate. What’s done isn’t always done. 44 is part of our brand and unless we revive it, memories will fade and 44 will just be in the history books. Maybe Disney will retire Mickey Mouse?

 

[OrangeXtreme]

I think it’s pretty silly to retire our only real tradition. It was a mistake. Correct it when appropriate. What’s done isn’t always done. 44 is part of our brand and unless we revive it, memories will fade and 44 will just be in the history books. Maybe Disney will retire Mickey Mouse?

Well, NASA retired Pluto.

 

[GoSU96]

Well, NASA retired Pluto.

And that’s messed up, right?

 

[721Comstock]

Well, NASA retired Pluto.

moar rampant cancel cultur.

 

[Scooch]

44 was a tradition.

Then we retired it.

Now 44 is just history.

SU is pathetically lacking in traditions.

We should give 44 to someone.

 

[SUFan44]

44 was a tradition.

Then we retired it.

Now 44 is just history.

SU is pathetically lacking in traditions.

We should give 44 to someone.

Exactly. And anyone who lands outside of this clearly doesn't get it.

 

[orangezen]

Josh Hough may have something to say about it .. o the field at least but we will have to wait

 

[MSOrange]

44 was a tradition.

Then we retired it.

Now 44 is just history.

SU is pathetically lacking in traditions.

We should give 44 to someone.

Agree 100% about traditions. My dad can name several Iowa traditions off the top of his head and that's even before they started the wave and I've lived in various parts of the country and am familar with different schools. SU is definitely lacking in that department.

 

[tep624]

And for those not aware of the recent history (so we can put some myths to bed)

Syracuse football program restores famed 44 jersey

The Syracuse football program announced Tuesday that it would restore its famed 44 jersey.

www.syracuse.com

 

[MikeSU02]

If we are 6-0 going into Clemson (which we will be) and Tucker is killing it, he should run out in his normal jersey. Come out to midfield, rip off that jersey, and have 44 underneath.

Is that ridiculous and unrealistic? Yes. Would be it be one of the best things to ever happen at the Dome? Also yes.

 

[All4SU]

Agree 100% about traditions. My dad can name several Iowa traditions off the top of his head and that's even before they started the wave and I've lived in various parts of the country and am familar with different schools. SU is definitely lacking in that department.

Don’t get me started…. I’m still pissed they stopped the “Who’s He! So What…” cheer at basketball games. That was great!

 

[All4SU]

And for those not aware of the recent history (so we can put some myths to bed)

Syracuse football program restores famed 44 jersey

The Syracuse football program announced Tuesday that it would restore its famed 44 jersey.

www.syracuse.com

My only problem with that article is the suggestion that the #44 is somehow linked with past wearers overcoming racism. Of course they did. All black players of that era did. It was not uniquely linked to #44, and we should make sure it isn’t. Ernie Davis winning the Heisman, and juxtaposing his success in that area with Jim Brown is another matter. Fair game to teach people what these players experienced - things that most of us could never understand.

But let’s be sure to leave #44 and that tradition out of it. 44 is about greatness on the athletic field, not about racism.

 

[Jeremy L.]

Personally, I wish it was never retired in the first place. I sadly believe 44 ran its course for those outside of Syracuse.