Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="Louie&Bouie, post: 818166, member: 310"] I have followed SU sports for better than 35 years. Both sets of my grandparents, my parents, and I graduated from Syracuse. I grew up in rural Western Pennsylvania, just across the border from Jamestown, NY. We routinely travelled up here for football and basketball games. My father would pick me up from school on a weeknight, we would drive directly to the dome for a weeknight hoops game, arrive minutes before tip, and drive home immediately afterwards. The fan apathy in this town is atrocious. We played one of our longest-standing rivals this weekend (I don't know how many times we've played, but I'd guess it's North of 70), and we can't drag 23,000 people in to support this program with a chance to go to a third bowl-game in 4 years. I recognize that those bowl games aren't BCS games, but dammit, they are still bowl games. After tough losses, when my friends and family call me to talk/complain/rehash the game, my first question to them is always "Did you go to the game?" Invariably, 90% of them say no. They were too busy, the tickets cost too much, they had something more important going on, they would rather watch it from their couch, etc……I had two extra tickets this weekend (my 15 and 14 year old sons were sick). I called 7 people on Saturday morning asking them if they would like to go. All 7 declined for various reasons. My 8th call finally found a taker……. If I were a recruit in town for this type of performance by the fans WHO WEREN'T THERE, I'd be pretty hard-pressed to say that the atmosphere won me over. I'm sorry, but it"s put up or shut up time for a great majority of people in this town. These kids who have been working their butts off since August deserve better. To those who were there, you deserve major props. IMO, the University should do more to reward that core group. Again, it was one of our oldest rivals. With a bowl game on the line. What a shame. 10,000-12,000 more butts in the seats may or may not have been the difference, but you know what? It wouldn't have had a negative impact. The casual fans surrounding this program need to decide if they want to be at the level of Va Tech, or Wake Forest. And if it's Wake Forest, so be it. But they haven't earned the right to bitch by ignoring these kids. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?