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Message: [QUOTE="Henny & Coke, post: 2777853, member: 323"] • Born in 1981 in Buffalo, NY; • Always likes SU sports, but my first love back then was Michigan’s Fab Five; • Always wrestled in High School, but never imagined was good enough to wrestle in college...but checked out some of the lower D3 programs anyway (while looking at schools); • My father sent tapes of me to wrestling coaches around the area, and Syracuse coaches (to my surprise) showed interest. At time, Title 9 mandated schools needed as many girls sports as guys sports...so some of the men’s teams were being de-funded. SU’s wrestling team was one of them. The coaches explained to me they could not offer any scholarship $, but they thought I could wrestle at highest level. (Debatable, haha!) • Time came to make a college decision, two choices were really SUNY Geneseo (was excited I got in) & SU. Geneseo did not have a wrestling program. And in end, the allure of playing a big-time college sport at highest level appealed to me. SU it was! • Reached the Hill in 1999 as a 133 pound Freshman. Quickly realized college sports (especially D1) was no joke! Intense. • That first year I lost ALOT of wrestling matches haha! Think I only won one TBH. (Beat a kid from LeHigh in a tournament.). At times was getting beat so bad I thought about quitting & transferring back to UB. But I stuck it out - one of best decisions of my life. • Only ended up wrestling that one year (as next year would be the program’s last), but the experience was unreal: - Doing pull-ups in weight room next to Etan Thomas. Strength coach walked by & complimented me, while he passed right by Etan (who was doing quite well, considering he had 45 pound weights hanging from him for extra stress haha) and didn’t say anything to him haha; - Gave me a quick base of friends on campus which was really neat; - Just proud to say I wrestled D1 at Cuse now (nobody needs to know my record was like 1-10 however haha!). • So many great memories from my time at SU (including story leading to my handle here). But best was watching the 2003 National Championship game at Harry’s Bar, going onto streets to celebrate with thousands of my peers, and calling my Grandma around midnight (she was up, having watched the game) to bs about it all. • SU basketball fan for life after my time there. Some other stories I could/do bring up from time to time, but want to keep this (relatively) short haha. Edit: Oh, and although Buffalo Bills football has been my first true sports love for as long as I can remember, the team’s utter incompetence in trying to find a Franchise QB has ensured that SU basketball has surpassed them as my favorite sports team. Hands down. [/QUOTE]

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