If I may chime in, as I started this whole thing...
One day as I was here on the board my wife looked over my shoulder as I read a Thickburger post and she asked me "What is this "thickburger" thing all about? I paused momentarilly and after pondering how to best explain it I said,"Honey, actually I have no clue whatsoever". I guess I think from time to time where this Thickburger thing will all culminate. I visualize Gameday coverage at the dome with the frenzied fans all holding up posters which read "THICKBURGER!!" and Dick Vitale struggling to make sense of it all. Or perhaps it will be one delusional fan holding up a "Thickburger" poster as he is pelted with items purchased which were originally for human consumption. And now, finally as if to be exposed as in "The Emporors Clothes" we have some posters who have the audacity to challange the viability of the Thickburger meme. At this point the longevity of the whole thing has become the most entertaining element of it all. How long will it continue? Only time will tell.
Basically, I can't believe that we're days away from the season starting and this thing still has legs. I thoroughly enjoyed your take on all things Thickburger, Fla. My dream for it now is for the nickname to pick up steam on a broadcast, because the explanation for it is so out there (see below) I would love to see Rafferty or Bilas or Vitale lay it out for the audience. Also, one good thing that did come of that thread - I proposed that Cooney be called Snappy Griller in reference to the local CNY delicacy that has a controversial pronunciation akin to how Cooney's last name is pronounced, and is also white, which is in no way a racist observation. Another poster proposed the alternative nickname White Hot, another name for a snappy griller but that also references an element of Cooney's shooting prowess, and is also in no way a racist nickname.
Carl Jr's has a burger named Thickburger. CJ Fair's real name is Carl Fair Jr. Thought everyone knew that and that its almost natural that when you had a heavy set kid in the neighborhood you called him "slim". You could call him Slimburger, but I don't think Carl's makes a Slimburger.
That's actually not quite it, Clifton. Carl's Jr. has what is known as the Six Dollar Burger. Initially I had nicknamed Fair Six Dollar Burger to play on C.J.'s name and the top menu item at Carl's Jr. - at the time I didn't even know that the CJ stood for Carl Jr., which now gives me even greater personal satisfaction in the brilliance of my gift for nicknaming. And make no mistake, it is a gift, and I can understand why lesser men attempt to defame it. Anyway, I mentioned after giving the Six Dollar Burger nickname that most Syracuse fans, if they have never been to the west, might be very confused because they don't have Carl's Jr. in the east. They do however have Carl's Jr.'s mirror image Hardee's, and Hardee's offers the Thickburger on its menu. I then proposed the nickname Thickburger, as it sounded
even more ridiculous better and was even more tenuous.
Whats funny about this, is that you have people who are actually angry about this and who actually think the others see "Thickburger" as a real nickname for CJ. Those who get why it is funny know that what was funny was the post, nothing about CJ. Those who don't get it, they don't get it in such an extreme way that its even more funny.
Well said.
Aspects of the original post that haven't been mentioned:
It was almost completely incoherent - True, but that was extremely carefully, and masterfully I might add, orchestrated incoherence the board witnessed on that fateful day.
It attributed the nickname "Thickburger" to half the team (not sure if this was a clumsy accident or something else) - Just Waiters. And it was no accident. Others picked up on it and then bestowed the nickname on other players.
The author of the post was helpful enough to introduce his post by saying it was "MUST READ" material - Yes, that was good of me. I'm glad so many found that to be so helpful.
So all the references you see now are really having fun with that post more so than trying to really call CJ Thickburger.
Here's what I've learned -
1. Thickburger meme's entertainment value > entertainment value of Syracuse football's offense
2. Some people really don't get a joke.
3. Thickburger, whether people want to accept it or not, and probably in large part due to the vocal lack of acceptance by some, is forever etched into the annals of the board's history. It's first ballot HOF. I wrote that thing in July or something - how many posts still get talked about that long after?
4. I have gladly taken my place next to Raoul Duke as one of the board's elite innovators.
