Admins, can we sticky this thread? This topic is the common bond that we all share, and it would be awesome to have new folks add to this conversation as they join our board.
Many thanks!
Born in '69 in the CUSE area, graduate of ESM. I grew up following Syracuse from the time of their Final Four run in '75. As a young fan, I didn't really follow every facet of the team & game until the early 80's with Marty Headd & Roosevelt Bouie. My favorite game that really got me excited about the program was Pearl's shot against Ewing's Georgetown in the Dome with about 8 seconds on the clock. Then G'town throws the ball away... What an exciting win, & the beginning of the greatness that was to be.
I also remember when we got smoked by Louisville at Freedom Hall. We were down a ton of points in that game right from the start, but clawed back to a respectable deficit. Then, the next year we crushed them in the Dome on Valentines Day, & it is remembered as the Valentines day Massacre.
I am sure everyone who was alive then remembers the loss to David Robinson's Navy in the '86 NCAA Tourney, which turned out to be Pearl's last hurrah at the CUSE. It was ironic, we had beaten them earlier in the season also in the Dome during the Carrier Classic. I remember when Pearl announced he was leaving early for the pros. Sitting at my grandmother's kitchen table, I told her & my aunt that Syracuse was now finished as a great program. Little did I know, we were just getting STARTED !!! I am so glad I was completely wrong about my dark prophecy !!!
I expected Syracuse to win at least 1 title from '87 to '91, because they had so much talent. they would routinely beat the best programs in America at that time, until Tourney time, where they would promptly lay eggs against lower seeds. The reason why I am not so disappointed about losing in the elite 8, if you get there enough times, you have a much better chance of winning it all. What might have been if we somehow overcame Rhode Island & Richmond, not to mention Navy. I think this has been our greatest downfall, not making it past the Sweet 16 often enough. In some years, like 2009, you can't expect much more when you are playing teams that were clearly better, & had a superstar on their roster that would not be denied.
To make a long story short, my only wish for Syracuse going forward, is to push past the Sweet 16 for at least 5 consecutive years, & we will see another championship or 2 in that time.
it's doable...
If we'd made our foul shots in '87, you'd have gotten your wish. We should have two championships right now, not one. And I think the feeling would be very different. I think that for most of us, the ball has rolled almost down the hill since 2003. The feeling then was that we werew the winningest program not to have won a championships and now we are the winningest to have just one. 2010 and 2012 were golden opportunities but we lost our center each year and came up short. Would we have won a title with AO and Fab? I don't knwo but I would like to have found out. We are certainly due for another.
By 2003 I lived up by D.C. and watched the last four games of the tourney with some board folks at Park Bench Pub. On the night of the title game -- happiest day of my life till my wedding -- I'd set up the VCR back at my apartment to tape the game. I lived with two women at the time, one nice, one bitchy. The bitchy one tried to turn off the VCR's timer so she could watch "Boston Public." The nice roommate, a Spartans fan, warned her that it wasn't a good idea to do that. Lol. Good call.
"I think distance made the heart grow fonder, as my fandom sure grew during those years."
Good line - that's definitely been true of me since I left town. I try to get to a game when I come home around the holidays even though I rarely went to the dome growing up. I just love representing with a shirt or hat or whatever. Usually when I'm visiting home I'll forget where I am and give a "yah Cuse" when I see someone with gear on and they look at me like I'm an idiot, haha.
By 2003 I lived up by D.C. and watched the last four games of the tourney with some board folks at Park Bench Pub.
Hey, I was at the Park Bench Pub for the Auburn game too.
I'm 35, moved to Camillus in kindergarten, and got sucked into SU hoops in fifth grade during the 1987 tourney run. I'd only been a fan for a couple weeks that March, but I was singularly devastated by the loss. I somehow remember SU being up 52-44 midway through the second half (that could be totally inaccurate, but it's what I recall) and thinking the game was over. That taught my 10-year-old self never to assume anything. Coincidentally, the assistant coach for Bob Knight was the ex-hoops coach at the high school my dad had gone to in southeast Illinois, and as a result I was all but certain my dad was secretly rooting for IU, but he wouldn't admit it. "Too bad," was all he would say when it was over. "Too bad."
I went to college out of state and always loved coming back at Christmas break and going to an SU game, even if it was usually a last-game-before-conference-play cupcake-type game. I think distance made the heart grow fonder, as my fandom sure grew during those years. In 1998, on spring break, the female friends I was with were rather annoyed that I was glued to my Walkman (remember those??) for several days listening to NCAA games.
By 2003 I lived up by D.C. and watched the last four games of the tourney with some board folks at Park Bench Pub. On the night of the title game -- happiest day of my life till my wedding -- I'd set up the VCR back at my apartment to tape the game. I lived with two women at the time, one nice, one bitchy. The bitchy one tried to turn off the VCR's timer so she could watch "Boston Public." The nice roommate, a Spartans fan, warned her that it wasn't a good idea to do that. Lol. Good call.
Did you go to West Genny?
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.
So great to see you again. Many of us have been asking about you, and have been worried about you. Welcome back!Recently rejoined board after long absence. Inspired by this thread. My Dad taught at SU and moved to Utica College in the late 50's when it started. I was a freshman at SU in 1961 and got hooked on Dave Bing and company (including JB) in 1962 and thereafter, leading the team back to respectability and a bright future. Remember many raucus times in Manley Field House stomping to cheer the team, etc. Learned to hate G/Town, especially when John Thompson announced that Manley was officially closed.
Of many, many favorite games, one of the best at the Dome was when G/town's Thompson got tossed, waved his towel at the crowd, Billy Owens made two free throws with almost no time left and SU won in overtime. One of the loudest SU crowds ever. FWIW this happened to be the honeymoon location for my wife and I.
Recently rejoined board after long absence. Inspired by this thread. My Dad taught at SU and moved to Utica College in the late 50's when it started. I was a freshman at SU in 1961 and got hooked on Dave Bing and company (including JB) in 1962 and thereafter, leading the team back to respectability and a bright future. Remember many raucus times in Manley Field House stomping to cheer the team, etc. Learned to hate G/Town, especially when John Thompson announced that Manley was officially closed.
Of many, many favorite games, one of the best at the Dome was when G/town's Thompson got tossed, waved his towel at the crowd, Billy Owens made two free throws with almost no time left and SU won in overtime. One of the loudest SU crowds ever. FWIW this happened to be the honeymoon location for my wife and I.
First post… I have been a lurker for several years now. First off I want to thank all of the posters here who contribute to this board and make it such a great source of information. I always look forward to posts from orangeeyes, bees, jake, swc, cto and many others. I’m sure there are other non-posters out there who also appreciate the great deal of enjoyment and insight that these posters (as well as many others I neglected to mention) provide.