Where Are We From/Fan History.

[HakAttack]

Slow day at the office...so I thought I'd throw this out here.

Where are we all from/what's our SU fan story?

For me, although I remember watching Orangemen teams with Preston Shumpert, Jason Hart and Etan Thomas back as a teenager living in NJ in the late 90's on ESPN, my fandom didn't really start until I took a trip to SU during the 2003 NCAA tournament run to see where I was going to be going to school that next fall. It was a cold and rainy day that Friday (I'm sure many of the students were in Albany watching the sweet 16), but once I saw the Orange spirit throughout that NCAA run, I was hooked.

I was unlucky enough to arrive on the hill one year after the NC Season in 03', but lucky enough to witness a TON of terrific Orange ball while I was there. Was a student season ticket holder for four years of undergrad, plus two more of graduate school right afterwards. Don't think I missed a home basketball game from 03-04' to 08-09'.

Many memorable moments. The Terrence Roberts three to beat Rutgers in 06' (and the fur coat he wore afterwards), Warrick throwing it down over everyone, winning back to back BE Tourney titles in 05' and 06', Gerry's last game, Multiple court stormings: (Senior Night in 07' against GT, GT again in 08'.) Flynn in 09'...the list goes on and on.

Favorite SU player has to be Hakim Warrick, dude was absurdly quick and had the longest arms ever. He had springs in his shoes.

Now that I've graduated and am still local, working in the upstate NY region, I've still been able to make it up to a bunch of games. Was at the GT game in 2010 when we blew them out of the building, and made it to about 4-5 games last year.

Nothing like gameday at the Dome during conference season, or the excitement of being an SU student during March Madness. Nothing like it.

I've forged some great friendships with SU fans due to our shared passion for hoops (Mason's architect younger brother happens to be a close friend) and I look forward to the next 50 years of my SU fandom.

 

[jdubs30]

* Born in 1989 in Connecticut
* Dad was a lifelong UConn fan
* Had season tickets to Gampel
* Can never remember NOT rooting for Cuse
* Dad said I started in 1998 (9 years old)
* Remember going to UConn/Cuse games as a young teenager wearing Cuse gear; got cussed out by the UConn student section at the Civic Center (now the XL Center) as a 12 year old.
* Been to every Syracuse game since 2000 in Connecticut
* Lived in CT till I graduated high school
* At the University of Cincinnati right now
* Still bleed orange and always will

It was tough growing up in CT because UConn was always more successful than Syracuse was for most of my teenage years (save 2003). But I always remember us pounding them in the Big East Tourney (which I always went to), so that was a great memory. Constant arguments with my friends and Dad about Cuse/UConn, slowly turned to mutual respect. Now holidays turn into arugments between me and my family members about who will have the better year.

People in Cincy don't care about the baskebtall team as much, and we've owned them lately so I don't get much here.

Favorite team: 2010 (this year is close though)
Favorite freshman: Mr. Anthony
Favorite player: Edelin (Fab is close though)
Favorite moment: Carmelo vs. Memphis; the game vs. GA Tech (Melo vs. Bosh); the national title game; 6OTs
Least favorite moment: Blowing that 2nd half to lead to MSU in 2000

 

[HakAttack]

* Born in 1989 in Connecticut
* Dad was a lifelong UConn fan
* Had season tickets to Gampel
* Can never remember NOT rooting for Cuse
* Dad said I started in 1998 (9 years old)
* Remember going to UConn/Cuse games as a young teenager wearing Cuse gear; got cussed out by the UConn student section at the Civic Center (now the XL Center) as a 12 year old.
* Been to every Syracuse game since 2000 in Connecticut
* Lived in CT till I graduated high school
* At the University of Cincinnati right now
* Still bleed orange and always will

It was tough growing up in CT because UConn was always more successful than Syracuse was for most of my teenage years (save 2003). But I always remember us pounding them in the Big East Tourney (which I always went to), so that was a great memory. Constant arguments with my friends and Dad about Cuse/UConn, slowly turned to mutual respect. Now holidays turn into arugments between me and my family members about who will have the better year.

People in Cincy don't care about the baskebtall team as much, and we've owned them lately so I don't get much here.

That's awesome! You grew up in enemy territory but still held your head high. That's what I'm talking about!

 

[jdubs30]

That's awesome! You grew up in enemy territory but still held your head high. That's what I'm talking about!

When people asked me how I became a Cuse I seriously can't answer them, I can never remember not rooting for the Orange. Although I have ALWAYS hated Calhoun.

 

[Cuseroc]

* Born in 1989 in Connecticut
* Dad was a lifelong UConn fan
* Had season tickets to Gampel
* Can never remember NOT rooting for Cuse
* Dad said I started in 1998 (9 years old)
* Remember going to UConn/Cuse games as a young teenager wearing Cuse gear; got cussed out by the UConn student section at the Civic Center (now the XL Center) as a 12 year old.
* Been to every Syracuse game since 2000 in Connecticut
* Lived in CT till I graduated high school
* At the University of Cincinnati right now
* Still bleed orange and always will

It was tough growing up in CT because UConn was always more successful than Syracuse was for most of my teenage years (save 2003). But I always remember us pounding them in the Big East Tourney (which I always went to), so that was a great memory. Constant arguments with my friends and Dad about Cuse/UConn, slowly turned to mutual respect. Now holidays turn into arugments between me and my family members about who will have the better year.

People in Cincy don't care about the baskebtall team as much, and we've owned them lately so I don't get much here.

Favorite team: 2010 (this year is close though)
Favorite freshman: Mr. Anthony
Favorite player: Edelin (Fab is close though)
Favorite moment: Carmelo vs. Memphis; the game vs. GA Tech (Melo vs. Bosh); the national title game; 6OTs
Least favorite moment: Blowing that 2nd half to lead to MSU in 2000

I know a couple of Uconn fans who post on the Ncaabbs boards who would love to hunt you down and punish you for treason, LOL.

Glad to have you as a Cuse fan young man.

 

[TinyManInside]

haha, funny to see my brother mentioned in the original post!

I've been a fan since I was about 11. Fellow syracusefan poster Steveholt was following Syracuse a little bit before me and I remember watching games at his house in 84-85. Both of us consider the Pearl to be vastly overrated, and I believe Jake will never forgive me for that. I was well into full-blown fandom by the 86-87 season, I remember thinking back then that SU would be in the Final Four like 5 times a decade. Ah, the follies of youth.

Went to Cornell Unversity for undergrad but remained an SU fan. I made the trek to the Dome for the Cornell/Cuse game all 4 years when I was at Cornell, and horrified my classmates by wearing 'Cuse gear and rooting against the Big Red. Eventually enrolled in SU in August '97 and spent 4.5 years on the hill getting my PhD in Organic Chemistry. Never missed a game while I was on the hill and probably went to about 75 practices or so during my time there. I started a website called OrangeNation back in 2000, about the time of the Julius Hodge recruitment. During my time running OrangeNation, I got to meet a ton of great people, including members of the coaching staff, players on the team, members of the athletic department and board of trustees, and a ton of people from this and previous iterations of this board. I moved to Washington DC in Sept 2002 and have met several of my current friends through shared passion for SU hoops.

My favorite part about running the OrangeNation website was covering recruiting. With the exception of Josh Pace, I saw every SU recruit from 2001 to 2007 play live as a high school player at some point in time. This took me everywhere from Columbus, Ohio (to see Billy Edelin, and LeBron James as a high school sophomore) to Waterbury, Conn to Albany, NY, to the ABCD camps, McDonald's All-American game, Jordan All-American game, Scranton, PA, Raleigh-Durham for Tournament of Champions, Loyola University for the Charm City Classic, Friends Central in Philly, five years worth of Primetime ShootOuts (including Carmelo vs. LeBron), Towson Central, Archbishop Carroll, Rumble in the Bronx, Reebok camp in Philly, and on and on (I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch of places but I don't want to turn this post into a novel). Awesome times - I remember quite a few misadventures, such as when OrangeRob (will he ever post here again? we miss him!) and I got lost going to see Mark Konecny play in CT, and fearing for our lives when we drove through some truly insane fog coming back from Columbus, OH after seeing Edelin. I also vividly remember the time that Fishy tried to poison OrangeRob with uncooked chicken wings!

Other fond memories include going to the Final Four in 2003... somehow getting invited to dinner at Morton's by CTO the night I arrived - BillOrange, who worked for Mortons at the time, managed to get a group of Kansas fans kicked out to free us up for a table - we all thought that was a good omen, and 3 nights later it turned out we were right. The Texas/Cuse game was amazing, the way the 'Cuse fans went crazy and shut up the Texas fans, just awesome to see... Then Monday night, I sat with Jake to watch us win it all, with Hakim's block coming directly in front of us, about 60 feet away. Un-freakin'-believable. I remember leaning over the railing and screaming at John Feinstein (noted Boeheim basher) as he walked by: "He did it! he did it! He won Feinstein, he won!" I think I might have thrown in some gratuitous expletives, I don't remember...

I could ramble on and on about so many memorable experiences - the 2001 triple overtime game in NYC and the following Big East tourney really stand out because that wasn't a particularly talented team but Boeheim managed to coax out everything that team had... and watching the '98 BET with Steveholt literally 10 feet from the court and seeing Blackwell's shot go in against St. John's... but I'll stop now before I bore everyone to death. Anyway, I gave up the website in 2007, and I don't post much anymore as my life has changed alot in the last 4 years with the birth of a daughter and the pressures of a career, but I still follow the team with the same passion as always. I love being an Orange fan and will remain this way forever.

Mason

 

[44cuse]

haha, funny to see my brother mentioned in the original post!

I've been a fan since I was about 11. Fellow syracusefan poster Steveholt was following Syracuse a little bit before me and I remember watching games at his house in 84-85. Both of us consider the Pearl to be vastly overrated, and I believe Jake will never forgive me for that. I was well into full-blown fandom by the 86-87 season, I remember thinking back then that SU would be in the Final Four like 5 times a decade. Ah, the follies of youth.

Went to Cornell Unversity for undergrad but remained an SU fan. I made the trek to the Dome for the Cornell/Cuse game all 4 years when I was at Cornell, and horrified my classmates by wearing 'Cuse gear and rooting against the Big Red. Eventually enrolled in SU in August '97 and spent 4.5 years on the hill getting my PhD in Organic Chemistry. Never missed a game while I was on the hill and probably went to about 75 practices or so during my time there. I started a website called OrangeNation back in 2000, about the time of the Julius Hodge recruitment. During my time running OrangeNation, I got to meet a ton of great people, including members of the coaching staff, players on the team, members of the athletic department and board of trustees, and a ton of people from this and previous iterations of this board. I moved to Washington DC in Sept 2002 and have met several of my current friends through shared passion for SU hoops.

My favorite part about running the OrangeNation website was covering recruiting. With the exception of Josh Pace, I saw every SU recruit from 2001 to 2007 play live as a high school player at some point in time. This took me everywhere from Columbus, Ohio (to see Billy Edelin, and LeBron James as a high school sophomore) to Waterbury, Conn to Albany, NY, to the ABCD camps, McDonald's All-American game, Jordan All-American game, Scranton, PA, Raleigh-Durham for Tournament of Champions, Loyola University for the Charm City Classic, Friends Central in Philly, five years worth of Primetime ShootOuts (including Carmelo vs. LeBron), Towson Central, Archbishop Carroll, Rumble in the Bronx, Reebok camp in Philly, and on and on (I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch of places but I don't want to turn this post into a novel). Awesome times - I remember quite a few misadventures, such as when OrangeRob (will he ever post here again? we miss him!) and I got lost going to see Mark Konecny play in CT, and fearing for our lives when we drove through some truly insane fog coming back from Columbus, OH after seeing Edelin. I also vividly remember the time that Fishy tried to poison OrangeRob with uncooked chicken wings!

Other fond memories include going to the Final Four in 2003... somehow getting invited to dinner at Morton's the night I arrived - BillOrange, who worked for Mortons at the time, managed to get a group of Kansas fans kicked out to free us up for a table - we all thought that was a good omen, and 3 nights later it turned out we were right. The Texas/Cuse game was amazing, the way the 'Cuse fans went crazy and shut up the Texas fans, just awesome to see... Then Monday night, I sat with Jake to watch us win it all, with Hakim's block coming directly in front of us, about 60 feet away. Un-freakin'-believable. I remember leaning over the railing and screaming at John Feinstein (noted Boeheim basher) as he walked by: "He did it! he did it! He won Feinstein, he won!" I think I might have thrown in some gratuitous expletives, I don't remember...

Anyway, I could ramble on and on about so many memorable experiences - the 2001 triple overtime game in NYC and the following Big East tourney really stand out because that wasn't a particularly talented team but Boeheim managed to coax out everything that team had... and watching the '98 BET with Steveholt literally 10 feet from the court and seeing Blackwell's shot go in against St. John's... but I'll stop now before I bore everyone to death. I don't post much anymore as my life has changed alot in the last 4 years with the birth of a daughter and the pressures of a career, but I still follow the team with the same passion as always. I love being an Orange fan and will remain this way forever.

Mason

STEVE HOLT!!! [I love that handle. Potentially my favorite on the board]

44cuse

 

[TinyManInside]

STEVE HOLT!!! [I love that handle. Potentially my favorite on the board]

44cuse

haha, yeah, that dude and I go way back... like little league baseball teammates and such.

 

[Marsh01]

Born in 1970...remember going to games at Manley with my father and was at the 52-50 Gtown game that ended our home court winning streak. I really dont remember much of the 1975 FF at all but do remember my father saying what a big deal it was. I just was too young to know what the heck he meant.

My dad ushered when the Dome opened so he would literally sneak me into every game and I would just stand with him in whatever section he was assigned too. He eventually moved to section 109 for both football and basketball and I was a fixture there with him from 1985-1988.

I will admit that I cried the night we lost to Indiana. I was a HS junior and I literally felt like someone died when the final horn sounded. I had a brand new pair of Syracuse sweatpants (the ones that have SYRACUSE going down the leg) that I was all set to wear the next day. I never wore them to school and I dont think I ever even wore them.

Spent 2 years at OCC and worked for SuperSports and interned at channel 3 and came to every game as "the media". Missed the 1990-1991 and 1992-1992 seasons while away at college. Post college I actually bought my first season tickets in 1994 and have had them ever since.

My earliest memories of the Dome were all the great Big East games. Just felt different back then. Georgetown, Villanova, St. Johns were the big teams that came in every year and I looked forward to those games the most. I was at the Pearl Washington half court shot game and he became my favorite player growing up and still is of that era. Lawrence Moten I also loved and feel he really should be recognized for what he accomplished while he was here.

I've since passed this gene onto my now 11 year old son who has probably been to over 100 dome sporting events in his life (probably 70% hoops-25% football and 5% lacrosse) and I hope that he can one day pass this onto his son. I still attend games with my father and cant thank him enough for making Syracuse Sports (as well as Giants football and Yankee baseball) a part of my life.

I would give up heating my home before I give up my season tickets. Thankfully I met a girl who feels the same way.

Life is good.

 

[rrlbees]

Other fond memories include going to the Final Four in 2003... Then Monday night, I sat with Jake to watch us win it all, with Hakim's block coming directly in front of us, about 60 feet away. Un-freakin'-believable. I remember leaning over the railing and screaming at John Feinstein (noted Boeheim basher) as he walked by: "He did it! he did it! He won Feinstein, he won!" I think I might have thrown in some gratuitous expletives, I don't remember..

Ha! The one thing I remember about you Mase and the 2003 F4 (besides the great post game celebration) was having to talk you into spending $185 on a ticket for the NATIONAL FLUCKIN CHAMPIONSHIP GAME. Ahhh, but post game you admitted it was the best $185 you ever spent.

 

[TinyManInside]

Ha! The one thing I remember about you Mase and the 2003 F4 (besides the great post game celebration) was having to talk you into spending $185 on a ticket for the NATIONAL FLUCKIN CHAMPIONSHIP GAME. Ahhh, but post game you admitted it was the best $185 you ever spent.

haha, you're right, I do remember both of those conversations. Thank god you were so persuasive!

 

[jekelish]

Born in 1980, grew up in Vermont, but my dad was born and raised in Marcellus and the majority of my family still lives in CNY (Marcellus and Baldwinsville, primarily). I grew up bleeding orange thanks to my dad and our somewhat frequent family trips to Syracuse. My uncle went to SU and wrote for the Post-Standard for years, and was roommates with Bob Gilbert (many of you know him as that middle aged guy with black hair who used to sit behind the bench and give players towels) as a freshman.

I went to SU and graduated in 2003. My brother, also a Syracuse fan, was in law school at SU at the time, so it was awesome that we were both there for the championship.

I used to do a little pregame/post game writing for Mason's old site, which was always a blast.

Now I live in Texas, so sadly I'm unable to get to the Dome much if at all, but I watch everything and anything I can on TV. I used to have a dedicated Syracuse room in my house, but gave it up when my wife and I had a baby last year. My son did, however, come home from the hospital in all Syracuse gear. He will be running the point at SU in about 18 years.

 

[TinyManInside]

Born in 1980, grew up in Vermont, but my dad was born and raised in Marcellus and the majority of my family still lives in CNY (Marcellus and Baldwinsville, primarily). I grew up bleeding orange thanks to my dad and our somewhat frequent family trips to Syracuse. My uncle went to SU and wrote for the Post-Standard for years, and was roommates with Bob Gilbert (many of you know him as that middle aged guy with black hair who used to sit behind the bench and give players towels) as a freshman.

I went to SU and graduated in 2003. My brother, also a Syracuse fan, was in law school at SU at the time, so it was awesome that we were both there for the championship.

I used to do a little pregame/post game writing for Mason's old site, which was always a blast.

Now I live in Texas, so sadly I'm unable to get to the Dome much if at all, but I watch everything and anything I can on TV. I used to have a dedicated Syracuse room in my house, but gave it up when my wife and I had a baby last year. My son did, however, come home from the hospital in all Syracuse gear. He will be running the point at SU in about 18 years.

My daughter also came home from the hospital in all SU gear!

 

[CusefanATL]

• Born in 85 in Syracuse
• 1st real memories include mike hopkins, dave johnson, and lawrence moten and always picking cuse to win the national title in my grandfathers office pool. of couse - i won the entire pool for my grandfather in 93 (at age 7), only b/c cuse wasnt in it. coincidentilly i also won it for him in 2003 b/c cuse was in it.
• distinctly remember the mizzou ot loss
• went to 96 final 4 and cried
• had season tix until i moved to atl in summer of 98
• went to 03 final 4 and cried
• went to SU fall 03-spring 07
• played 1 on 1 with d-nic he beat me 11-1. i hit a turnaround j. on my next posession i slowly took it the hole the right, slowly went through the legs as if i was going back the left around the ft line, and then immediately back through the legs to the right. d-nic bit went for the steal to the left. heard him say 'oh ' thought i had an easy right handed layup. never even saw him from behind. he swatted the ball so hard off the back wall at archibold. was a momentum killer.
• made 2 natl espn college gameday ('war room') commercials from random student section footage taken 3 years prior to the commercials
• live back in atl
• i work with sherman's daughter's mother. the daughter is prob going to cuse next year.
• try to make it to 2-5 games a year
• i am already convinced that MCW will be my favorite player to ever wear orange when all is said and done

 

[Ghost]

STEVE HOLT!!! [I love that handle. Potentially my favorite on the board]

44cuse

Have to admit it's my favorite as well. It's one of the only times a handle has popped up on this board and I felt a little sad that it wasnt' mine. lol

 

[TinyManInside]

Ha! The one thing I remember about you Mase and the 2003 F4 (besides the great post game celebration) was having to talk you into spending $185 on a ticket for the NATIONAL FLUCKIN CHAMPIONSHIP GAME. Ahhh, but post game you admitted it was the best $185 you ever spent.

Going out after the Texas game was awesome too. I think me, Jake, and JarheadJim were out until about 5:30 AM. I remember ducking into a blues bar for a few minutes and Jim disappearing. We looked for him for awhile, but then were like " it, let's go get some pizza." That night was crazy.

 

[pearl31]

Unlike the vast majority of SU fans, I have no actual connection to the school or the area.
In 1984, as a 12-year-old living in Fargo, ND I remember being glued to the TV, as it was the first time we ever had cable. My dad was (and is) a huge college hoops junkie and therefor, I was too. I had already developed a distaste for Georgetown, and when a guy named Pearl Washington, with more style and bravado than I had ever seen in a player, beat them I fell in love. Pearl was a god to me. And then there was the dome and the team's style of play and Boeheim and the Big East and Syracuse hoops became an obsession that has actually grown over the years. I try to explain it to people, and they rarely understand how someone in MN (I've lived in Minneapolis since I was about 15) with no connections to Syracuse could be so consumed by it. But I am and always will be.

 

[TinyManInside]

Unlike the vast majority of SU fans, I have no actual connection to the school or the area.
In 1984, as a 12-year-old living in Fargo, ND I remember being glued to the TV, as it was the first time we ever had cable. My dad was (and is) a huge college hoops junkie and therefor, I was too. I had already developed a distaste for Georgetown, and when a guy named Pearl Washington, with more style and bravado than I had ever seen in a player, beat them I fell in love. Pearl was a god to me. And then there was the dome and the team's style of play and Boeheim and the Big East and Syracuse hoops became an obsession that has actually grown over the years. I try to explain it to people, and they rarely understand how someone in MN (I've lived in Minneapolis since I was about 15) with no connections to Syracuse could be so consumed by it. But I am and always will be.

That's just awesome.

 

[jr4750]

Good idea... Always like these threads. Nice to know who's out there!

Grew up in the midwest, but moved to California and lived there for many years. Have always been a Cuse fan as my grandfather and grandmother attended the school and subsequently all of my uncles, aunts and cousins. Kinda of a family lineage at this point. Actually got pressured to choose against other schools that I had gotten into out of HS, by the prospect of missing a potential title run in hoops. At the time is was pure conjecture and comedy, but had I put money on it, I would have reaped some great rewards. Came back east to attend SU from 99-03, which allowed me the opportunity to partner up with Dwight Freeney in sociology class and play two on two against Hakim and Carmelo a few times at Manley. We didn't win...Great fun being around the team in 03, and at the school during those years. Still remember early on in my tenure standing at the top of the mount steps stunned at how cold it would be to actually walk down early in the morning.

At this point in my life I am a fanatic of all things SU. Got really into lax while I was there, as I befriended a number of the players, and realized that Mikey Powell didn't come around too often. Try to get back when I can, but my wife moved us to MD to be closer to her family last year, and I never miss Cuse at GT. I am of course excited by the prospect of our ACC move as I have season tickets to both MD hoops and Football.

 

[CuseTroop]

born in 86, grew up in Penn Yan. Been a Cuse fan my whole life but I didnt really follow college sports until about 04 (Had a hard enough time keeping up with the Giants, Yankees, and chasing girls) Joined the Army a few years out of highschool, and was lucky enough to spend a few years stationed at Fort Drum. I made that hour drive down 81 south every chance I could for games. Living in Alaska now, really bummed out that I'm not home for this years team. I've ran into a few SU fans up here, and a couple SU grads. Currently trying to talk the wife into the Maui trip in '13

 

[JOC44]

Born in Syracuse in 1966. Grew up in Fulton (suck it, Oswego). Went to the University of Rochester, got an MSSc from Syracuse and a law degree from Maryland. Started following SU hoops when I was about 10, so I remember all four years of Louie and Bouie. I remember being at the triple overtime BET final vs. Nova, and still inexplicably not getting an NCAA invite. I remember sitting all the way in the back of a study hall in 1982 with my friend who had his transistor radio soooo low we could barely hear it whiloe we secretly listenied to a BET game. I remember 1987 and thinking it was no big deal because we'll be back every year. I remember sitting in the Elmwood Inn in 1988 when we laid an egg in the NCAAs to Rhode Island, Tom Garrick, and Tom Garrick's blind father. I remember trying to find a sports bar in 1991 to show the SU-Richmond game and striking out, with just the last two minutes of the game shown on network TV in southern California.

We live outside Washington, D.C. now. I have SU season tickets in Section 124, row J. Stop by and say hello to my mother, who is the major beneficiary of that investment. My ten-year-old daughter is a HUGE Syracuse fan. Last year, she sent a year-end gift to the head of her school (a double Pitt grad) with a card that said, "See you at the Final Four, except Pitt never makes it." My seven-year-old daughter doesn't really like sports. But I'm pretty sure she won't emerge as a fan of some other school.

I remember the Prodigy board (orngman44), the aol board, the Syracuse.com board, the Rivals board, the Scout Board, and now this board.

I have an inexplicable love for Jason Hart and Paul Harris. I have an unhealthy lack of regard for Josh Wright.

 

[cspades99]

Born in 1982. From Groton, CT (submarine capital of the world, bitches!). My Dad went to Cuse, played football for a spell. Spent time with Csonka, so I am also a lifer Dolphins fan. The 90's were hard once the UConn Women started going nuts and every porch had a Huskies flag, pretending to be huge fans. I went to SU, my wife went to SU.

Moten was my first favorite. Otis Hill and Jason Hart are near the top of my list. As are the likes of Pace, Blackwell, and Janulis.

My best singular moment was being in the dome for the 2003 telecast of the championship game. Biggest regret was not going to NO, though if they make the FF this year, you better believe I'll be there.

If I had to give up all teams but one, Syracuse Basketball would be the one I keep.

 

[HakAttack]

haha, funny to see my brother mentioned in the original post!


Mason

I added that because I knew it would draw you out of hiding...and plus I wanted to hear your story, I never heard it from C.

 

[cspades99]

* Born in 1989 in Connecticut
* Dad was a lifelong UConn fan
* Had season tickets to Gampel
* Can never remember NOT rooting for Cuse
* Dad said I started in 1998 (9 years old)
* Remember going to UConn/Cuse games as a young teenager wearing Cuse gear; got cussed out by the UConn student section at the Civic Center (now the XL Center) as a 12 year old.
* Been to every Syracuse game since 2000 in Connecticut
* Lived in CT till I graduated high school
* At the University of Cincinnati right now
* Still bleed orange and always will

It was tough growing up in CT because UConn was always more successful than Syracuse was for most of my teenage years (save 2003). But I always remember us pounding them in the Big East Tourney (which I always went to), so that was a great memory. Constant arguments with my friends and Dad about Cuse/UConn, slowly turned to mutual respect. Now holidays turn into arugments between me and my family members about who will have the better year.

People in Cincy don't care about the baskebtall team as much, and we've owned them lately so I don't get much here.

Favorite team: 2010 (this year is close though)
Favorite freshman: Mr. Anthony
Favorite player: Edelin (Fab is close though)
Favorite moment: Carmelo vs. Memphis; the game vs. GA Tech (Melo vs. Bosh); the national title game; 6OTs
Least favorite moment: Blowing that 2nd half to lead to MSU in 2000

where in CT? Southeast CT was brutal.

 

[HakAttack]

Unlike the vast majority of SU fans, I have no actual connection to the school or the area.
In 1984, as a 12-year-old living in Fargo, ND I remember being glued to the TV, as it was the first time we ever had cable. My dad was (and is) a huge college hoops junkie and therefor, I was too. I had already developed a distaste for Georgetown, and when a guy named Pearl Washington, with more style and bravado than I had ever seen in a player, beat them I fell in love. Pearl was a god to me. And then there was the dome and the team's style of play and Boeheim and the Big East and Syracuse hoops became an obsession that has actually grown over the years. I try to explain it to people, and they rarely understand how someone in MN (I've lived in Minneapolis since I was about 15) with no connections to Syracuse could be so consumed by it. But I am and always will be.

I second Mason, that's an awesome story! No rule that says you have to be connected geographically, etc for the team you root for.

Great story.