Anything's Possible

So, after Lemoyne are the good folks in athletic department playing it safe?

Let's Work Together to Avoid NCAA Infractions

First and foremost, I'd like to say I enjoy the coverage Mike Waters and Donna Ditota provide of the SU basketball team in the Syracuse Post Standard. Waters has been one of the best for quite a long time and Ditota does a fine job as well.

Likewise, the annual preview is chock full of good stuff. There's a breakdown of the team by position, insightful analysis, and stories from around the Big East.

However, in the"had to ask" story, there is one question that probably isn't a great idea, the question being - "What's the gadget you'd love to but can't afford?"

The players answered:

Jackson: One of those big cameras with the big light on it.
Jardine: Mercedes Benz S550
Johnson: A new Mac-book
Jones: A car. Probably like a Lamborghini
Joseph: Private jet.
Onuaku: I’ve got everything I want.
Rautins: I want one of those oxygen chambers. You suck on them and you’re in phenomenal shape.
Reese: A real nice car. Something fast.
Riley: Surround-sound stereo
Southerland: Dr. Dre headphones. Like $300.
Triche: Any kind of car.

So, I implore the people of Central NY, and especially those on campus - if you see SU players with ANY of the above items, LOOK THE OTHER WAY. Do not inquire as to where the items came from, and pretend you never saw a thing.

Except for the oxygen chamber thing, that's creepy and too Michael Jackson-like. Get Andy the hell out that as quick as you can.

It's Syracuse Basketball Preview Time

I somehow managed to miss the Syracuse Post Standard basketball preview this morning. Of course, after years of rummaging through that web site, it's clear navigability is not in the lexicon at Syracuse.com.

Never the less, the preview is up - so have at it.

Once you're done with that - keep an eye on Cuse Country. They are working on their own preview over there and now that college hoop season is upon us, that site is a must read.

Women Are Mean

Via The Big Lead - enjoy this SportsCenter highlight of women soccer players beating the living hell out of each other. You want to know why I don't make any decisions in my house? Because the 5'4" 110 pound person I live with is a woman, and that makes her capable of acts like these. And I'm a giant wuss.

Syracuse - Pitt Prediction Contest

Image courtesy of WV Mountaineer Sports

By now, you know the rules. Take a guess at the final score of the SU-Pitt game and the person who comes closest gets free space on this blog. If you don't want free space, no worries.

As always, I'll kick things off with how I see the game unfolding.

Rush's Prediction

The Pitt Panthers are 3 touchdown favorites. They are rested and coming off a bye. The have a kick-ass freshman running back named Dion Lewis. They are physical and talented along both lines. They have a coach who wears a mustache and still pulls it off - to the extent you can actually pull off wearing a stache. The Wannestache does have its own facebook fan page.

On the other hand, Syracuse is a mess. The team's best player flaked out and quit. If he hadn't quit, he would have been suspended. The second leading rusher and starting guard will miss the game due to suspension. Two defensive lineman who were in the rotation last week won't be playing this week. They are down to 60 scholarship players, including a starting quarterback the fans don't like and the head coach does. The Orange are 0-3 in conference and are only scoring a little more than 13 points a game in those losses.

In other words, on paper this is a blow out. A huge blow out. However, college football is rarely this easy. Pitt's strength is running the ball. Syracuse is 7th nationally stopping the run. Pitt QB Bill Stull is competent, but not a world beater. The Syracuse team has been battered this week - and that can sometimes pull a team together and allow them to play above their heads.

Pitt has to constantly remind everyone they are not looking past this game -- which means there's a good chance the players, whether they know it or not, are looking past this game. Pitt's coach has a history of blowing games he shouldn't, including losing this year to a bad NC State team. He's been doing this for years.

I think Syracuse comes out and plays with an emotion and intensity we haven't seen this year. Greg Paulus and Ryan Nassib rotate and both do a good job of executing the packages they are assigned. The Orange D does a nice job of bottling up the Pitt running game and Rob Long actually helps the Orange win the field position battle. At the half this game is tied.

However, emotion can only take a team so far, and Pitt is far too talented and much, much deeper than the Orange. They take advantage of a weak and battered SU secondary in the second half to pull away and win this one -- but it's closer than people think.*

Pitt - 27

SU - 17

* That being said, if SU gets down by a couple of scores early I could totally see them folding up the tents and getting beat by 40. However, I'm sticking with my prediction.

Guest Post from the Captain

A couple of weeks ago, we started a prediction contest for SU football games. The winner gets free space on this blog. The first winner, who made the closest prediction for the Akron game, was fantasy football columnist and friend of the idiots, the Captain.

We may be idiots, but we are idiots who stick to our word, the Captain's entry is below. Also, the winner of the Cincinnati contest (even though no one was close) is DannyMac. So Mr. Mac, if you are interested in writing something, e-mail me at AndrewJRush-at-gmail-dot-com. I'll also shoot you a text message. Without further delay - here's the Captain.

A Word from the Captain

So after much consternation about what I was going to write about for my guest blog post, I take great pleasure in giving you a very powerful picture, with thoughts after about the GREATEST SPORTS FRANCHISE IN THE UNIVERSE gets back the glory.

The back story on this photo is....

I did not encourage my then 3 yr old son to give dad the bird. When ever the kids got a boo boo, we always took a photo. Why, I really don't know. Possibly to show the kids when they are all grown up that their scars did not come from a series of alcohol induced rages after Syracuse University football losses, but from a series of events known as "being a kid and growing up."

But this evening, the photo takes a bit of a different meaning. We are #1 again. Once again, we are the best in the world. We were not to be denied of a title to break in the "House that Jeter built." We absolutely won one for the boss. And what it really comes down to is this, we as proud fans deserve nothing but this. We take the most crap for having the highest payroll (which in turn actually benefits the smaller market teams with additional revenue). We are the guys who "buy" the championship every year (although its been nine years since we won it last).

So I wrap up with this......If I worked for a famous greeting card company, and I had to come up with a card to express to the fans of Philadelphia, how exactly we feel as the Yankee Universe right now, the card would say this.

To the fans of the Phillies, Our deepest sympathy in your hour of grieving.

Yours Truly,
The Yankee Universe

Ebay Item of the Week: A Tip of the Hat

Congrats to the kids from the other school in Syracuse.

Syracuse v. Albany Game Slated for ESPNU

The Syracuse season opening basketball game v. U Albany on November 9th will be shown on ESPNU as Jim Boeheim attempts to notch career win 800. It's something that looks less certain now than it did a day ago, although we I expect the Orange to be heavily favored and beat the Great Danes.

The game is part of a triple header on ESPNU, that kicks off with Isiah Thomas' coaching debut at Florida International. To say I'm excited to see how Isiah screws this up would be an understatement - but let's just say I'm excited to see how Isiah screws this up.

The third game of the triple header tips at 11 PM and features Murray State v. Cal. Personally I think more teams should have nicknames like Murray State - who doesn't love the Racers?

According to the ESPN Press Release, the Syracuse game will be called by Dan McLaughlin, ex SU assistant and former Providence coach Tim Welsh & Quint Kessenich. For what it's worth, sideline reporters for basketball games are retarded - sorry Quint, I know you're just doing your job.

Wanted: Syracuse Football Players

Well, it looks like it's gotten to this point - Syracuse has lost so many football players it's time to pull an Akron and put an ad in the paper looking for players.

Since I'm sure the athletic department is busy, I've taken the liberty of drafting the ad for them - they can use it at no charge, call it the T3I gift to SU Athletics.

Wanted: Experienced Football Players

The Syracuse University football program is looking for ANY former high school football players to join the team for the duration of the season. Candidates should have:

- A love of curfews

- A hatred of casinos

- An aversion to injuries

- A deep, abiding commitment to not celebrate Halloween

- An allergic reaction to Bojangles

- A knowledge of team rules so thorough you make Stephen Hawking look dumb

- No qualms about being put on the field to cheap shot and injure players on opposing teams to level the playing field.

Interested candidates should apply at the SU football office.

Catching Up on Bad News

Tuesday night I finally watched the most recent Mad Men episode, and it was fitting. The enitre show dealt with the JFK assisination, and frankly, JFK had a better day on November 22, 1963 than Syracuse athletics did on November 3, 2009.

Between ever changing news about Mike Williams, car accidents, and suspensions, it was enough to make your head spin. Of course the basketball team was playing and exhibition, so that should have offered a nice little reprieve. Accept it didn't. Oops.

I don't have the mental energy to break down the game or think about which football players are still eligible, so let's turn it over to others. Here are a few things to check out if out if you can't get enough bad news.

SU v. Le Moyne

Here's Donna Ditota's story.

Chas Rich at Fanhouse weighs in here.

Le Monye wasted no time getting this picture up on their site.

SU Athletics plays up Wes Johnson's point total in their game story.

Brian Harrison at Orange44 is stunned. We are all my friend.

Football News

According to Facebook and the VOLT.com, Mike Williams is out of here.

Here is the latest update regarding the car accident on the Thruway that started the whole mess.

And for all your breaking SU news, just stay tuned to NunesMagician. Sean's the hardest working guy in the blog business.

If Syracuse athletics was a forklift driver in a Russian vodka warehouse, this is what November 3rd was like:

Halloween Officially Banned on Syracuse Campus

Syracuse, November 3, 2009 -(Idiot News Service) - After announcing the suspension of three Syracuse football players for "violation of team rules" the Idiot News Service has learned exclusively* that Syracuse University plans to ban Halloween from ever taking place again.

The decision, which has not yet been formally announced, comes on the heels of reports that the suspension of Antwon Bailey, Andrew Tiller, and Torrey Ball could be related to Mike Williams quitting the team. While the extent of the nefarious activities the players were involved in is not known at this time, what is clear is that things went down after the Cincinnati game - which was on Halloween.

The source, who refused to be named since he does not have authority to speak on behalf of the University, said the incident with the football players was the final straw - given that last year Eric Devendorf got involved in some shenanigans on Halloween that loomed over the basketball team for most of the season.

To enforce the new rule, the University plans to ban the word Halloween from appearing on campus. No Halloween themed parties or events will be sanctioned by the school, and as part of their punishment, the football players will be sent directly to the library to begin burning any books that mention Halloween.

All candy corn will be banned from campus and corn sniffing dogs will be sent into dorms to ensure students are not illegally consuming the vile candy. Anyone caught with candy corn is subject to stiff penalties, including applying thigh cream to Doug Marrone and massaging Dr. Gross' ego.

The source told T3I that while the latest incident was the final straw, many in the administration have openly detested Halloween for years and are using these incidents to push the anti-ween agenda. There is no known proof that these anti-halloweeners support the paint-ball war that went on this year - but many suspect there sympathizers on the hill.

In addition, many administration officials quietly talk about the danger of students wearing costumes that are clearly embarrassing and could paint the University in a less than flattering light.

Calls to the University were not returned.

* because this isn't true

The Mike Williams Saga - in Video Form

We have no idea why Mike Williams quit the Syracuse football team and likewise, we have no idea if the rumors now circulating on the internet that he may be returning are true.

What we do know is that when something like this happens, weird videos on the subject will surely pop up on YouTube. Creepy videos like the one below. The first one below is a hot mess that has it all - pictures of USC's Mike Williams, a background track more suited to a teen love story, and pictures of sweaty dudes that linger for far too long. Enjoy!



A slightly more conventional approach is taken by Citrus TV - as they break down the news.



And here's some grainy footage of Mike catching a TD pass against Cincinnati a few years ago. I like this one because SU is using "the pistol" formation and the guy throwing him the ball is now a back up tight end.

Syracuse Football Players: Doug Marrone Has Your Back

It's a crazy day for the Syracuse University football program. First Mike Williams quits, and then Doug Marrone has to defend Greg Paulus who was booed on Saturday. My thoughts on the booing and the quarterback situation are here.

Marrone's speech was powerful - and it sends a message to every player still with the program that this coach has your back. Will it be enough for the team to rally around as they try and upset Pitt without the services of its best player? Who knows.

What I do know is that at this point, nothing would surprise me, even someone getting a DWI dressed as a breathalyzer.

Mike Williams Has Left the Building

Today Mike Williams decided it was a good idea to quit the SU football program. We're not sure if there's any truth the rumor that he'll soon be working at Bojangles, but the move certainly doesn't bode well for his future as a football player. Sean will be all over this today, so stay tuned for more information.

While there is no information yet about how Williams broke the news to Marrone, I imagine it went something like this: