Where Are We From/Fan History.

[4evaOrange]

Have lurked on here since I was a teenager back in the AOL days but didn't register until just recently. Grew up in Syracuse, favorite player as a child was none other than Mike Hopkins. Loved his hustle and loved that he bloodied himself and thought not much of it. Can remember staying up late with my father as a 12 year old to watch the 1996 championship game against UK. Neither of us said a word to each other the entire second half and for probably a good 20 minutes after the game ended, we were both completely devastated. Really became obsessed in high school watching the Hart/Blackwell/Etan teams with friends. We always said "watch when we go off to college SU will finally win a national championship" ... and that is exactly what happened. Friends went off to school, I chose to stay home and go to SU, freshman year was the 2003 season.

Had Matt Gorman in my freshman writing class. During the first week I was assigned a group project with him. I asked if he thought they'd be any good that year to which he responded "yeah I think we'll be alright." Oh the irony. He spent most classes asleep in the back of the room. I also once encountered a very puzzled looking Gmac and Matt Gorman walking through the parking lot at Manley South. Gerry came up to me and said "dude, have you seen my car." I responded "nope, sorry man" but in my head thought "dude you don't even know me, how do you expect me to know what the heck you drive?"

Moved to Houston for 2 years after graduation before coming back north to go to grad school in Connecticut (don't worry, not Uconn). Spent many a drunken night in Hartford bars shouting out "Uconn sucksssssss." Note that this was before was invented and was the best I could do. Landed in Boston after grad school, have been to most of the recent games in CT/Prov/MSG with the exception of this year due to a recent move to Los Angeles (move to the ACC and games @BC came a year too late for me, but glad Mike Hopkins is not out here in SoCal with me). Best game attended would have to be last year's BET against Georgetown. Friend and I were completely in the bag and were determined to remind Otto Porter Jr how ugly he is during every timeout. Close second would be the win @UConn where we shut down Kemba Walker and Baye came up HUGE on the glass/defensively as a freshman.

Also played baseball against Andy Rautins in "little league" (was actually the 14-15 age group I think). One time the umpires failed to show up for a game against Andy's team, so Leo Rautins volunteered to call balls and strikes. My father was the coach of our team (the opposition) and put me at catcher even though I had never played there in my entire life, just so I could have a chance to talk to Leo. Leo actually ended up getting booed pretty bad by my teams parents, to the point where he asked me if I thought he was calling a fair game, I assured him that he was and that our parents were just a bunch of jerks. He was a great guy, handled it really well.

What happened to Gerry's car????? Dammit I wanna know!!!

 

[SyracuseTD]

Hey all,

Born 1992.
From Ohio
Grandpa went to Syracuse, class of 1959

He's really big on traditions so every year as a kid starting when I was 7, he would pick me up and we would drive 9 hours to Syracuse. We would camp for a week on Lake Ontario and when we came back into the city, we would go to the Manley Field House and pick up all the new posters and schedules for the upcoming sports seasons and I would wander aimlessly around the building looking for athletes and coaches to get autographs from. In the 10 years I went on this annual trip, I never once ran into Boeheim. I did meet Mike Hopkins and he was kind enough to drive us around all the facilities for the basketball team/introduced me to Paul Harris, Terrence Roberts, and Eric Devendorf, and I got to meet coach John Desko of the Lacrosse team. Anyways, as the years passed, my love for the town of Syracuse grew. The love was based on tradition, and my grandpa's legacy. My whole family is die hard Syracuse, especially when it comes to Cuse Basketball.

My first Syracuse memory, or at least the oldest memory I have of actually watching the Orangemen play and knowing I was a fan. 2003, watching Gerry MacNamara play. Something about the way he played the game, it was very inspiring to me as a kid. I was only 11 at the time but he was the thing that solidified my identity as a fan of this team. Watching him fearlessly shoot three pointers with six hands in his face was just amazing to watch at a young age. It just stuck with me for all these years. So yeah, ever since then I've loved this team. I'm pretty sure I've convinced all 4 of my housemates to like them as well just because of how much Syracuse I have in my room.

New to the board and glad to be a part of it.

BEST TEAM IN THE LAND
PG - Tyler "SoulPatch" Ennis
SG - Trevor "Shaky Taters" Cooney
SF - Carlton Jervicious Fair
PF - Jerami "Slowly Getting That Mid-Range Jumper Down" Grant
C - Rakeem "It May Be January But Its Still" Christmas

 

[jvbj01]

Bump

 

[cuseattle]

Western New York born in Fairport, NY. There are two teams we root for in the Rochester burbs - The Bills and the Orangemen. Makes one grow up used to having great teams to cheer for, and it makes one get used to heartbreak.

I was a freshman at SUNY Oswego in 87 watching Sherm, DC, Rony, Triche, Monroe and company lead us on a wild ride to the championship game. Bonded with a bunch of my college buddies with that team and I very vividly remember a young, blonde, freshman, longish haired Matt Roe with a killer fast break dunk in garbage time of one stoned dorm watching game.

I remember a bunch of missed free throws and down to the last second games where I would be elated or demoralized at the finish. Always joke with my dad that one of us will meet our end at the end of a tight SU game.

In 2003, my girlfriend at the time had gone to Texas at Austin and I couldn't be around her for that whole week leading up to the final four. She was kind of cool about it, but it made her understand how nuts I am about this team. Hard to explain to people how or why I am so passionate about this group of 17 - 22 year old kids wearing orange tank tops.

 

[orangetrojan]

Would have thought I responded to this but didn't see it in my profile history, so here it goes:

Born and raised in northern NJ, Syracuse was not my first choice, I wanted to go to boston university at the time but they didn't give me enough scholarship/financial aid. I would learn later everything happens for a reason, wouldn't trade my 4 years at SU for anything. Graduated in '04.

I was in New Orleans in 2003 but couldn't drink because of stomach issues that I had the previous semester studying abroad in Hong Kong. That may well have been my best and worst year at SU simultaneously, just try being around your friends at parties while you're sober.

After SU I got my masters degree at USC, hence my name. It's awesome to me how there are so many SU grads in LA, if I wore any orange gear it was practically guaranteed to elicit positive feedback. From there I moved to Bermuda, then NYC, then Malibu, and now I live in the Cayman Islands with my Tar Heel of a fiancé working in corporate restructuring.

And yes, I made her wear her Otto the orange t-shirt after we beat unc this year

 

[orangefan13]

I once went awol from fort drum right out basic training. We were coming from missouri into a syracuse hotel, can't remember which one. Anyway we had a day off, and I heard Cuse was playing Notre Dame that night. So I took a taxi with what little money I had, and got to the university about 4 hours before the game. I bought a 100 dollar ticket for good lower seats, orange wig and shirt.
Cuse won the game, remember watching warrick, Gmac and Forth it was a record breaking crowd around 33,100 or something like that.

When I returned to the hotel my stuff was gone and I missed the buss to go up to base.
So then I took a taxi back to the airport and ended up Spending two nights at the Syracuse airport.

When all was said and done I got a week extra duty, and remember watching the orange on tv while cleaning floors. Needless to say they found it more funny then they did get angry.

 

[mark79]

Section 313-Y-25/26. Look me up if you get the chance.-VBOF

We are 315 row L 1-4. Will try to find you for sure. Maybe 15 minutes before the game.

 

[HakAttack]

Bump...

 

[Syracusian]

Paging Murry Patay

 

[NineOneSeven]

Plenty of recent additions to the board.

 

[HastingsCuse]

I've been following this board daily since Oct 2001, mostly lurking but occasionally posting. Can't start my day without my fix of Orangeyes articles.

New Hartford HS grad 1976
LeMoyne grad 1980
SU law 1986
Lived in Brooklyn 1986-1994 and since then in Westchester County. 3 kids: 22, 17 and 11. Since 1996 I have coached 48 of their soccer, basketball, baseball and softball teams. (and today signed up as an assistant coach for the 11 year old's lacrosse team. )

My first Cuse game was at Colgate in about 1973 or 74. All I remember is Dennis DeVal's hair.
I was at the Magic Johnson games in 1977 in Manley as a LeMoyne student and was happy that LeMoyne was only down 9 at half to Cuse. And Dale Shackleford, who I'd played against in HS, led Cuse in scoring. The television stories were all about JB throwing a chair when Magic, not Marty Byrnes, was named tournament MVP.

From 1980 to 1983 I was in the Peace Corps in Botswana and I followed Syracuse basketball and Yankee baseball by the Utica OD articles and box scores that my father mailed to me.

Became addicted to Syracuse basketball while in law school during the Pearl years. Never missed a home game. Learned a lesson at one of the games: If you bring a bottle a gin into the Dome, and your friend and his girl friend bring tonic, limes and ice, and you finish it before half time, don't stand up on the back of the seat to scream about a bad call. I could barely walk for a week.

My eldest, Danny, inherited my Cuse bball obsession, especially after attending his first game in the Dome - the Rutgers game in 2003. SU was the only school he visited and only school he applied to. In 2010 he won the student lottery and sat in student seat number 1 at the Gameday Villanova 34,616 game. He graduated from SU in 2013 and is now working in Auckland, New Zealand. And I still spend every game texting back and forth with him.

I have been in MSG all 4 times Cuse cut down the nets in the BET.

Favorite games attended in person:
Basketball - Pearl's shot 1984, Johnson's shot over Mourning to win BET 1992, Rutgers 2003 "One More Year", Villanova 2010
Football - Nebraska 1984, Pinstripe Bowl 2010
Lacrosse - National championship Cornell 2009


LGO!

 

[TheCusian]

Grew up in Syracuse. Eastwood, Henninger High. I remember first hearing about Syracuse a basketball when they handed out some basketball cards in Elementary school. I think they were my first collectible sports cards? Made a big impression. My Grandpa would come and visit before a big game (on his drive in from Greene, NY). Those two things steered me to Syracuse sports.

Later, Z (a Henninger kid) graduated before I got to high school - but the final four run in 96 set our school on fire. Some teachers made it so we could watch a mid day NCAA game.

Went to and flunked out of Oswego rather quickly - too much partying. Went to OCC and then to SU. Started going to football and basketball games. That's when I went die hard. Kueth was in one of my classes. Great guy.

2003 is special. Met my wife - our first date was Syracuse v Mizzou. Later that year we saw Gerry deliver the dagger 3 vs ND. Had the worst seats, but the dome shook. Watched Gerry hit 6 threes and Carmelo, Warrick do their thing v Kansas. (The good news is I will always remember the year we met .

 

[Halo]

Grew up in Oswego County and lived there for the better part of 20 years. Didn't grow up a college sports fan. In my awkward childhood logic, I thought of college sports as a generic version of pro sports. The Georgia Bulldog logo in particular made me think of it as a rip off to Green Bay's logo, not to mention all of the Eastern Middle Tennessee Technical blah, blah, blah's of the world. Hey, I was a kid. Brand name mindset is real and I definitely fell victim to it as a kid. My first introduction to sports was the Dallas Cowboys giving a beat down to the Bills in the Superbowl, so naturally I became a Cowboys fan. Became obsessed with them as all kids probably were to at least one team. Had to have everything Dallas Cowboys, from bed sheets, miniature helmets, to the trash can with a field goal post and backboard. I'm not proud of this, but I literally spent $50 trying to win a Cowboys football from a skill crane machine. Lets just say it became personal between me and the machine, and I won.

My Syracuse fandom started during my senior year in high school which was the National championship season for 'Cuse. I was at my high schools basketball game and overheard a conversation about Syracuse beating Pitt. I went to a couple games both football and basketball as a kid, but knew jack sh$t about Syracuse sports. They were saying how Pitt was going to be the #1 team in the country if they had won and that immediately got my attention. At the time, I had no clue that the program was that good to be competing on a national level. I watched the next game, then the game after that, and started getting hooked. I didn't know much about basketball back then but was thinking this Carmelo guy is pretty good. Along with Warrick and McNamara, the team was easy to become attached to for a newbie.

Before the tournament, I remember being ridiculed for picking 'Cuse to win it all. It really goes to show you how many people talk out of their ass. The final four was an interesting time. The ice storm that hit knocked out the power so we had to bust out the rabbit ears and buy a generator. It was surreal to see the team win the championship my first year watching the team. I'm spoiled. I can only imagine what it must have been like for the old timers here, having to wait 30 plus years to finally see it.

After that I became a nut like everyone else here. I've been following the board since the move from the Scout website. Would have followed it sooner if I knew it existed which is strange because I've been following recruiting on the Scout website since 2004. I'm an aspiring artist and musician. I'm an oil painter on the artistic side and a guitarist, singer-songwriter, and drummer on the musical side. I also love golf. I'M COMING FOR YOU POST STANDARD AMATEUR!!!!

This is an example of my art.

 

[AZOrange]

Grew up is Oswego County and lived there for the better part of 20 years. Didn't grow up a college sports fan. In my awkward childhood logic, I thought of college sports as a generic version of pro sports. The Georgia Bulldog logo in particular made me think of it as a rip off to Green Bay's logo, not to mention all of the Eastern Middle Tennessee Technical blah, blah, blah's of the world. Hey, I was a kid. Brand name mindset is real and I definitely fell victim to it as a kid. My first introduction to sports was the Dallas Cowboys giving a beat down to the Bills in the Superbowl, so naturally I became a Cowboys fan. Became obsessed with them as all kids probably were to at least one team. Had to have everything Dallas Cowboys, from bed sheets, miniature helmets, to the trash can with a field goal post and backboard. I'm not proud of this, but I literally spent $50 trying to win a Cowboys football from a skill crane machine. Lets just say it became personal between me and the machine, and I won. My Syracuse fandom started during my senior year in high school which was the National championship season for 'Cuse. I was at my high schools basketball game and overheard a conversation about Syracuse beating Pitt. I went to a couple games both football and basketball as a kid, but knew jack sh$t about Syracuse sports. They were saying how Pitt was going to be the #1 team in the country if they had won and that immediately got my attention. At the time, I had no clue that the program was that good to be competing on a national level. I watched the next game, then the game after that, and started getting hooked. I didn't know much about basketball back then but was thinking this Carmelo guy is pretty good. Along with Warrick and McNamara, the team was easy to become attached to for a newbie. Before the tournament, I remember being ridiculed for picking 'Cuse to win it all. It really goes to show you how many people talk out of their ass. The final four was an interesting time. The ice storm that hit knocked out the power so we had to bust out the rabbit ears and buy a generator. It was surreal to see the team win the championship my first year watching the team. I'm spoiled. I can only imagine what it must have been like for the old timers here, having to wait 30 plus years to finally see it. After that I became a nut like everyone else here. I've been following the board since the move from the Scout website. Would have followed it sooner if I knew it existed which is strange because I've been following recruiting on the Scout website since 2004. I'm an aspiring artist and musician. I'm an oil painter on the artistic side and a guitarist, singer-songwriter, and drummer on the musical side. I also love golf. I'M COMING FOR YOU POST STANDARD AMATEUR!!!! This is an example of my art.

Halo that is freakin awesome man. U got a gallery?

 

[Halo]

Halo that is freakin awesome man. U got a gallery?

I occasionally blog. I'm still a newbie in the grand scheme of things so I don't have a lot of pieces and I don't sell (that often).

http://jaka44.blogspot.com/

 

[anomander]

Born 1981 in Syracuse.
Only 2 sports teams I care for are Syracuse Basketball and Syracuse Football. Have too much emotionally invested in both where I don't think i'd have enough left for the rest of my life.
1987 was the year that hooked me for both programs. What a year that was. Witnessed Michael Owens run in the game winning 2 point conversion 20 feet in front of me to clinch an undefeated regular season for the football team. Then I cried myself to sleep when Keith Smart ripped our hearts out and stole our first National Title. Either way that was the year that clinched my love for Syracuse sports.
Best memories have to be our back to back BET titles runs. We weren't exactly expected to win so it was that much more exciting. My best friend in the world who also was a die hard Cuse fan recently passed away, and I will never forget the memories those 2 weeks have given me.

 

[cuseattle]

Calling Murry. Hello.
C'mon man.

 

[HakAttack]

Calling Murry. Hello.
C'mon man.

You mean MurryPatay?

 

[HakAttack]

Mods, can you merge the two-three other open threads we have about this same topic with this one??

 

[CuseTroop]

Mods, can you merge the two-three other threads we have about this same topic with this one??

I think they are different threads tho... this one is a great one, where ya from, fan history, fav games, all that.

The other is just simply, where does your mail get delivered.

 

[JoeSU]

I registered late, and got placed in these apartments out past Manley were transfer students were housed
I was with a bunch of people from Rutgers
They were old army barracks and had underground tunnels connecting them
I think they were called the Vincent Apts. ??????

I lived in Vincent in 77-78 (big winter storm that year). Walked over to Manley to watch every home game.

 

[OrOrange44]

I lived in Vincent in 77-78 (big winter storm that year). Walked over to Manley to watch every home game.

Me too, winter of 76/77 was harsh...the path through the school on the way to Manley was like a 6 ft deep tunnel

 

[tee1222]

Mods, can you merge the two-three other open threads we have about this same topic with this one??

 

[Delmar]

I grew up in South Jersey, outside of Philadelphia, went to college and graduate school in New England. I became, of all things, a Presbyterian minister. My first call was as Assistant Pastor at Park Central Presbyterian Church in Syracuse (on Fayette St. in the downtown.) I lived in Syracuse from 1981-86 and loved my time here. I didn't go to a lot of games, but was there for the Navy debacle.
At any rate, I started following Syracuse sports back then and have continued to follow the team since I left town. I was in North Jersey for 15 years. Now I am back in upstate NY living in Delmar, and I am the pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Albany which is a block from the state capitol. The church I serve feeds 150 breakfasts 3 days a week, offers support to a hotel where 40 homeless families (and about 90 children live) and a bunch of other stuff. I am the father of two boys, 13 and 11, although I am hitting 60 later this year.
On April 7, 2003, I had bad case of flu. I watched the first half, and as exhilarating as it was, I had to lie down, fell asleep, and awoke for the final 5 minutes. Along with the 1980 world series, the best sports viewing experience of my life.

 

[njcuse]

Anyone going to do a tally on the number of states represented?