Three Idiots on Sports

T3I Jeopardy

2012-01-29T19:28:00.003-05:00

"Alex, I'll take Big East rivalries for $600."

"What are three names likely to start a riot if ever mentioned in a Morgantown sports bar?"

Photo: Dennis Nett/Post Standard

As for the above photo, I'm finding inspiration from former '80s WWF manager/announcer Bobby "The Brain" Heenan:

"I didn't see a thing Monsoon, my monitor went blank!"

BREAKING NEWS: Mike Brey Owns a Collared Shirt

2012-01-29T18:59:00.001-05:00

Photo: AP/Jessica Hill

T3I News has confirmed that long time "master of the mock-turtleneck" Mike Brey actually wore a shirt with a collar as evident by the above photo taken at today's Notre Dame-UConn game.

Those darn Mayans may be onto something, after all it is 2012. We can only speculate that an event so unexpected as this is an omen for things to come:

Ebay Item of the Week: A Shameless Excuse to Play The Greatest Sports Soundbite Ever

2012-01-25T21:44:00.000-05:00

Black and white 8x10 of Jerome Lane and Derrick Coleman...$19.99

Raft's epic call...priceless:

Did you hear about the new Syracuse uniforms?

2012-01-25T21:30:00.000-05:00

Image courtesy Nike, via Syracuse.com

Well everyone is all abuzz about the new hoops duds debuted by the ~~evil consortium plotting to ruin college athletics~~ fine folks at Nike.

Let's get a few things straight:

1. I think these things are heinous looking.

2. I wouldn't be caught dead in these things.

3. I'm pushing 40 and not exactly Nike's target demographic.

My point is, yes these things look like they were designed by my 5yo son. Major demerits for the '80s Sacramento Kings inspired names-under-the-numbers.

However, I'm not a high school recruit trying to decide where to attend college. If these things help with recruiting, then so be it. Last I checked Nike's involvement with the Oregon football program seems to be paying off. I can suck it up for one game. After all, our current uniforms aren't exactly pleasing to the eye in my book.

While I long for the days of the "script Syracuse" uniforms, I also long for the days of being 17 again and working the pre-game layup line with my high school teammate the Russianator. I'm inspired by the wisdom of ~~after hours restaurant aficionado~~ Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino-- Derrick Coleman (nor his jersey) is walking through that door. Times change Syracuse fans.

This post is really making me sound old....excuse me while I go yell at the neighborhood kids for walking on my lawn.

The 20 Game Syracuse Win Streak Comes to an Inglorious End

2012-01-22T23:51:00.001-05:00

Digger was happy Saturday night - but he's still an assclown

With about five minutes to go in the first half of the Syracuse - Notre Dame game Saturday my wife was changing our young son and as soon as the diaper came off, he proceeded to pee all over the brand new orange and blue outfit we had dressed him in for the game. That act, more than anything else, summed up Syracuse's first loss of the season, as the Orange fell to Notre Dame 67-58.

The fact of the matter is it isn't 1976 any more and college basketball teams lose games. Especially in conference, on the road. There's no sense in over reacting, even if that is the world we live in today. Obviously losing to a team like Notre Dame, that is an NIT team at best this year isn't ideal, but that's life.

Give credit to Fighting Irish coach Mike Brey credit for a great game plan. He knew Notre Dame couldn't run with the Orange so he slowed the game down, had his team work the shot clock and time and time again his players delivered. I lost count of the number of times an opposing player made a tough shot with only a few seconds left on the shot clock.

The game plan was bolstered by a phenomenal effort from Jack "I look like a cabbage kid kid on steroids" Cooley, who was simply wanted it more. SU's big men had no answer for the man child as Rakeem Christmas is inexperienced, Baye Keita continues to disappoint and CJ Fair was too small.

I don't care what anyone says, not having Fab Melo certainly hurt SU - both in containing Cooley and just breaking up the general rhythm of the team and the season. Here's hoping his absence is short-lived, because right now the other big men probably aren't good enough to get this team to a national title.

The good news is that the loss will stop the ridiculous flood of moronic t-shirts that are being made and SU will have a chance to prove Saturday night was a fluke when they take on Cincinnati Monday in the Queen City. SU better be focused and ready, as the Bearcats are having an excellent season - when they aren't getting into ugly-ass brawls.

Observations

* Mike Brey's commitment to the mock turtleneck borders on the absurd. Unless you started Apple, there's no reason any man should still be wearing these things. Put on a tie for the love of God. You just know Brey is the type of guy who wears a denim shirt and jean shorts for casual wear.

* After a week of drawing praise from us and virtually every one else on the planet, Scoop Jardine came out and promptly laid an egg. After five years in the program, SU simply can't have its point guard come out and put up 2 points when the team is struggling to score.

* Likewise there should be an APB put out for Kris Joseph. Look, Kris is a very good player and seems to be a fantastic person, but he's simply not a top banana from a scoring perspective. James Southerland has more of a scorers mentality than Kris does.

* I was having a conversation with a friend the other day and he correctly stated that he was concerned SU didn't have a "run stopper." Meaning someone that can get a couple of tough buckets when the other team is on a run. We certainly didn't find one Saturday.

* Like Joseph, Baye Keita seems to be a FANTASTIC person, but this hasn't been a good year for him. Like Melo, a lot of players make a big leap forward from year one to year two. Keita is a promising player, but we haven't seen any improvement from over last year. A big part of the reason is that he catches the ball like he's wearing oven mitts. Plus he played 25 minutes and had 2 rebounds. That's two more than Melo, who was 1,000 miles away.

* Prior to the start of the game, Voice of the Orange Matt Park tweeted this:

From now on I'll take the monotone Larry pregame speech instead.

* The block/charge call is ruining college basketball. The refs screw it up more times than they get it right and it takes the aggressiveness out of the game -- the flopping is worse than it is in a European soccer game. In my opinion, unless a guy is an absolute statue, the call has to be a block. If the game starts getting called that way, you'll see a lot fewer guys sliding over at the last second and taking guys out too.

* Syracuse didn't lose because of the refs, but it was a terribly officiated game. Cooley was shoving guys in the back all night and it wasn't getting called, SU was taking it to the rim hard with no calls, and the refs continually bailed ND out calling ticky tack fouls on the Orange late in the shot clock.

* The bottom line is that you're not going to win on the road shooting 30 percent from the three point line, 34 percent from the field and getting out rebounded by 13. That's what happened. Here's hoping SU puts it behind them quickly.

Go Orange

Wyoming is Orangemen Country

2012-01-22T21:27:00.004-05:00

ESPN's "Sports Nation" poll....we own Wyoming

Dave and Doris Get Lost in Jack Cooley's Eyes

2012-01-22T21:02:00.000-05:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah....the streak is over. I'm sure my boy The Russianator will be offering some of his game thoughts soon. What did I take away from this game? I learned that ESPN announcers Dave Pasch and Doris "Droppin' Deuces" Burke have two serious crushes on ND forward Jack Cooley. Jack's 17 and 10 night rivaled Wilt's 100 point effort based on their on-air gushing.

Doris and Dave, here's your long-distance dedication (insert Casey Kasem voice here):

Video courtesy ESPN Deportes

Fab-Free Beat ND Game Chat

2012-01-21T17:51:00.001-05:00

Fab-Free Beat ND Chat

Syracuse Fans Enjoy an Easily Attainable Free Taco Standard

2012-01-19T12:03:00.000-05:00

SU scores 75 points and it's Mexcellent party for everyone

Syracuse basketball fans who are also taco lovers should appreciate the fact that they have it much better than other fans bases. You see, during Syracuse home games, every time the Orange score more than 75 points, ticket holders can redeem their stub for a free taco. Sometime when games get out of hand, chanting for tacos breaks out.

And make no mistake, when that magical taco-standard is reached, the food service workers on campus are ready.

And they better be ready often, as the Orange have hit the free taco mark in 10 of the team's 14 home games so far this season. To put that in perspective, every time SU plays a home game, there's a 70% chance attendees are eligible for a free taco.

Contrast that with the fans in Western Carolina, who need to see their team score 100 to snag a free, delicious mexican treat. If that were the standard in Central New York, fans would have had to pay for every taco they've consumed so far this season.

Of course, when Western Carolina actually wins by more than 100, I think the fans deserve a free burrito - or at the very least a quesadilla, but that's just one man's opinion.

The bottom line is, if you're a Syracuse fan who goes to home games, you have access to a bounty of free tacos that others can only dream about, so if you want to know why SU plays so many home games, the answer is simple - the University is trying to feed the community......with free tacos.

Ebay Item of the Week: Cuse Kross

2012-01-18T22:24:00.000-05:00

Nothing relaxes me after a long day of work quite like putting on my Syracuse Starter jersey, turning my jeans around backwards and cranking up some early '90s rap, all while chugging down a Crystal Pepsi. Love you '90s.

Syracuse Scoops Pitt Out of the Dome

2012-01-16T23:58:00.001-05:00

The number one ranked Syracuse Orange improved to 20-0 with a solid victory over Jamie Dixon's Pitt Panthers Monday night, winning 71-63. The victory moved Jim Boeheim into a tie with Adolph Rupp on the all-time college basketball victory list. Syracuse is now 20-0 for the first time in school history and the win is the program's first victory over Pitt since the Big East tournament in 2006.

All in all, it was a good day.

Syracuse received typically balanced scoring, putting five guys into double figures, but for my money, the story of the game was the play of Scoop Jardine. The senior point guard handed in a double-double with 10 points, 10 ~~rebounds~~ assists (brain cramp on my part) and only one turnover (which could be really been credited to Baye). Lost in the hoopla of this season is the very steady, strong play the team has been receiving from Jardine.

Hopefully people take notice because if you want to go far in March, you need steady play from your point guard and that's what Scoop has been giving this team. It's also not really fair to the guy since this fan base loves to lose its mind after one dumb pass from Scoop, yet it seems to ignore him when he's playing well -- and right now he's playing outstanding. So #TeamJardine, take notice - we see you out there and we appreciate what you're doing.

Observations

* Feb Melo had an up and down game. The down, he flat out didn't catch the ball well tonight. The up - just about everything else. You know you've got an intimidating big man when your opponent is missing point blank shots at the rim because they are afraid of getting their shot sent back. That's what Fab is giving this team. Even when he's not blocking shots he's lowering the opponents shooting percentage.

* As I noted about, Scoop is playing very well and Jim Boeheim recognizes it, as Scoop played a season high 37 minutes tonight. They were 37 well-deserved minutes.

* The Orange started quickly because they were able to get out in the open floor and get transition buckets. This team is deadly in those situations, as Kris Joseph, Dion Waiters, Scoop, and CJ Fair are all fantastic finishers. There is not a team in the country that can run with SU. That's a fact.

* Dion Waiters had an amazing finger roll in the first half. For you youngsters out there, we're talking George 'the Icemam' Gervin style finger roll.

* As he did against Providence, JB employed an effective full-court press to change the tempo and get SU some easy buckets. I can't tell you how much I personally love it when this team presses. With big men that can run the floor and protect the rim, it is such an effective weapon and one they haven't been able to effectively employ in the past. I think SU would have pressed more but the half court offense bogged down and they couldn't get enough made baskets to set it up.

* As shown above, CJ Fair had the dunk of the year with his Hakim Warrick style throw down in the first half.

* Not to harp on this because I've mentioned it before, but Baye Keita is in a sophomore slump. He's not catching the ball and isn't a factor on defense. There was a good reason he only played 10 minutes tonight.

* In the second half the Orange went cold from the field and ironically didn't handle Pitt's 2-3 zone well. They fell into a trap usually held for SU opponents and took too many long threes, and didn't make many, finishing the night 5-18 from beyond the arc.

* The Orange continued its stellar defense, limiting Ashton Gibbs to only 10 points. Gibbs can really score and tonight the zone found him. It's something SU hasn't done in past years. Obviously this team is different.

* SU made 87% of its free throws tonight. Don't look now, but this team is shooting 70% from the charity stripe this year.

* Former SU quarterback Perry Patterson's younger brother Lamar plays for Pitt and fouled out, proving once and for all no Patterson ever plays well in the Carrier Dome.

* I would have have liked to have seen Brandon Triche some more, but with Scoop playing so well, he split minutes with Dion. What a fantastic problem to have.

The Go-To Guy

Let me wrap this up with a thought that might not be too popular with SU fans. At halftime on ESPN Hubert Davis said Syracuse didn't have a go-to guy. On twitter Orange fans immediately took umbrage and mocked Davis the rest of the night.

I'm no fan of Hubert and mocking him is always acceptable, but I don't think he's totally wrong. It's true SU has multiple guys that can take over a game and get a shot in crunch time, but at this point in the season if a game comes down to one possession we have no idea which player Boeheim will dial up a play for. Loosely translated, that means SU doesn't have a true "go-to" guy.

Right now I think that guy is Dion, but that's far from decided, especially given the fact that the Orange have blown out so many of their opponents, so it's not totally unfair assessment. The fact of the matter is we don't know who SU is going to turn to in a tight game down the stretch, because we haven't seen it. It's not a fatal flaw and it's not something that can keep this team from winning a title, but it is a fact. There are a lot of teams playing right now that don't have an established go to guy.

I have a feeling the bitching about "no go-to guy" comment is going to have legs and frankly it's exhausthing. I'm siding with our friend Brent Axe who correctly stated that lack of respect we SU fans perceive from the media is a myth. Bitching about every perceived slight from the media only adds to that myth.

On the one hand it's a good thing that the season is going so well we can focus on such trivial matters, but I'm tired and have better things to do -- like mock Dickey Simpkins. What I don't have the time or energy for is fighting with Doug Gottlieb on twitter, castigating Ron Morris for his ridiculous AP votes, or mocking Hubert Davis for some "analysis" he made for 10 seconds at halftime on a Monday night and reason is simple -- none of it matters.

This is college basketball. The winner is decided on the floor, not by polls and computers. Talking heads and ill-informed voters have no bearing on who wins or loses the national title because thankfully this isn't college football.

So while I certainly think there are some dumb things said about Syracuse in the media, the uproar, outrage and indignation we show as a fan base are at times equally as dumb. This team is good. Really good. As of tonight they are historically good. SU has been ranked number one for six weeks in a row, so when something derogatory is said, we have the ultimate comeback -- the scoreboard.

People are trying to poke holes in this team because this team is on top. That's how it works. There's no sense in getting worked up like a bunch of amateurs and fighting with every person that looks cross-eyed at us. We are all better than that - and so is this team.

Go Orange.

Beat Pitt Chat

2012-01-16T18:59:00.001-05:00

Beat Pitt Chat

Beat Providence Chat

2012-01-14T17:37:00.002-05:00

6pm stop by.BEAT PROVIDENCE CHAT

Ebay Item of the Week: Somewhere Matt Gorman is Pantsless

2012-01-12T19:06:00.002-05:00

Yeah, we know. Things have been a little slow around here due in part to our boy The Russianator becoming a daddy. As far as my lack of blog productivity, I'm just chalking it up to plain laziness. It's time to get back in the game. To quote the immortal Frank Costanza, we feel reborn, like a Phoenix rising from Arizona!

We've been down this road before with Matt Gorman. However, when you get a chance to own a pair of his game worn shorts from the 2003 title season, you just can't pass that up.

Syracuse Blows Out Villanova

2012-01-11T22:48:00.003-05:00

It's been over a week since we've posted anything here and readers with strong deductive reasoning skills can probably figure out why -- in the previous post I ranted about my inability to put together a pack-n-play. Two days after that post went live, my son was born and that pack-n-play is now being used. I'm proud to report he is awesome and the pack-n-play hasn't fallen apart..........yet.

However, much like the college basketball season, the show must go on here at T3I. It certainly did for the number one ranked Syracuse Orange Wednesday night as SU went to Philadelphia and handily beat the Villanova Wildcats 79-66 in a game that wasn't as close as the final score.

It's a down-year for Villanova and frankly that's disappointing. As a fan I want Villanova to be good. Syracuse-Nova games always have a certain intensity that makes the games fun. The rivalry has been a very good one that's been developed over the years and when you play a rival in an atmosphere that was as lame as the one at the Wells Fargo Center tonight, it takes out some of the fun. I guess that's how fans of other programs felt when they played SU in football during the Greg Robinson era.

The game had the feel of an DePaul or South Florida game. You knew Syracuse was going to pull away, it was only a matter of when. The Orange used a patented run to do it in the first half, and while the Wildcats did make a small run in the second half and nearly got the game to single digits, it was clear they didn't have the offensive firepower to seriously challenge SU.

For Nova fans the highlight was the shot of former guard Mike Nardi in the crowd. Nards apparently is trying to look just like Eminen and he appeared to be accompanied to the game by two strippers. Former star or not, two strippers is just ambitious.....and a little risky because later in the night it will double your risk of getting your wallet stolen.

For Syracuse, Dion Waiters put together another spectacular performance on the floor in front his hometown fans. Since I haven't slept more than a couple of hours a night in a week, I'm too tired to go over to twitter and see if he followed it up with another epic retweeting binge, but smart money says yes.

We were also treated to another great Jim Burr performance. Burr appears to be transitioning into an old lesbian before our eyes.

However, in what is a complete rarity for a blow out, the most spectacular play of the game came at the final buzzer with Fab Melo giving us a 360 dunk that Terrance Stansbury would have been proud of.....check it out.

Posting will be a little sporadic around here, but it's good to be back. Thanks for reading and checking out this space, we really appreciate it.

Syracuse Dunks the DePaul Blue Demons

2012-01-02T21:25:00.002-05:00

Dion Waiters and his SU teammates dunked all over DePaul
Photo: Orange Update

Happy 2012 everyone. We hope your New Year's celebration was festive. It certainly was for the Syracuse Orange as they started off 2012 by throwing a dunk party in Chicago and beating the DePaul Blue Demons 87-68 in the process.

DePaul coach Oliver Purnell likes to press for 40 minutes a game -- unfortunately for Oliver Purnell, Syracuse has experienced guards that don't turn the ball over, a ton of athletic wings and big men that can really run the floor. When you take those three things and add in a healthy dose of superior overall talent, the Blue Demons didn't stand much of a chance. I personally think the way you beat this SU team is to slow the tempo down, make the Orange run half court sets and turn the game into a rock fight. Running and pressing is asking for an ass-kicking and DePaul got one.

I'm not going to lie, I didn't watch the game intensely. I actually spent most of the first half putting together a Pack N play, which, when I was a kid, was known as a playpen. I have no idea why these things aren't still called playpens. Playpen worked just fine. It was an accurate description of the apparatus. If I had to guess I'd say a focus group told manufacturers mothers didn't want their kid in something called a "pen" and boom -- welcome to the world of pack N plays.

So you'd think putting something like this together would be rather simple. Basically all you'd have to do is take it out of the box. That's what I thought anyway -- but au contraire, how wrong I was. It turns out these things have changing tables, bassinets and different levels all built in -- and you need to assemble all these various items. Then you need hook them up to various battery packs that all require different sized batteries, once you unscrew the battery compartment. Since I'm a mechanical moron, all of this took three times as along as it should have. Not that you care, but here's the exact model.

There's more to playpens than their used to be

I was doing this because my wife is due with our first child in a few days and I've spent the last few weeks getting the house ready while we wait for our little bundle of joy. The fact that I struggle to put together a playpen does not portend well for the one million other things I'll have to put together over the next 20 years. To put it succinctly, I am screwed - and my kid better be very careful using anything daddy puts together since there's a 60 percent chance that thing is falling apart.

So while I was distracted by baby furniture and impending fatherhood in general, I did pay close attention enough to the game to know this:

Kris Joseph bounced back in a big way after being held scoreless last game
Fab Melo keeps rolling. He's got 16 blocks in two conference games.
Dion Waiters would average 25 ppg if he played Jonny Flynn minutes
James Southerland did more than just shoot threes
DePaul has a way to go before the are competitive in the Big East, but I can tell you this, in a few years the DePaul - SMU game will be bananas.

We were also audibly assaulted by Dickey Simpkins for the second game in a row, which should be illegal. He is easily the worst broadcaster working today -- and given the fact ESPN alone has about a million people calling games, this is actually something of an accomplishment.

In no particular order, here are people that are better basketball broadcasters than Mr. Simpkins:

Jay Bilas
Sean McDonough
Bill Raftery
Gus Johnson
Jimmy Dykes
Bob Valvano
Charlie Brown's Teacher
Racist Alf
Beaker from the Muppets

Syracuse's next game is Wednesday against Providence. The Friars played Georgetown tough this past weekend, but are still ranked dead last in the latest ESPN power rankings, so the Orange have a very good chance of still being undefeated when they take on Marquette on Saturday.

Ebay Items of the Week: Orange in the NBA

2011-12-29T22:02:00.000-05:00

Photo: Life.com

Alright kids...we're celebrating the end of the NBA lockout by looking at some fine game worn NBA jerseys of your beloved Syracuse alumni. Let's get to it:

Sherman Douglas' journeyman career included stops in New Jersey and Cleveland. Good god those old Cavs unis were heinous.

The General's teammate Rony Seikaly is represented with his Nets and Magic duds.

Len Elmore's favorite Orangeman, Hakim "Warwick" makes an appearance here with his Bulls jersey.

Check out the Magic and Timberwolves jerseys of Danny Schayes.

Jason Hart loves LA.

And finally, here's a really old school Louis Orr Indiana Pacers jersey.

Sherman Douglas mix? Ok!

Fab Melo Rejects Seton Hall as Syracuse Rolls in Big East Opener

2011-12-28T23:03:00.002-05:00

Fab Melo morphed into Dikembe Mutombo against Seton Hall

The Syracuse Orange assured themselves the number one ranking in the country heading into 2012 by dominating the Seton Hall Pirates 75-49 in the team's Big East conference opener.

The story of the game was the dominance of sophomore center Feb Melo who set a Syracuse record with 10 blocks in the game. Fab also added 12 points and 7 rebounds to the effort.

While we shouldn't confuse Seton Hall with Kentucky or North Carolina, the performance was a dominating one, especially considering the fact that the Orange didn't even play particularly well on the offensive end of the floor. Leading scorer Kris Joseph put up a goose egg and this game was STILL over 5 minutes into the second half. It was one of the most stifling defensive performances I've seen Syracuse put together in quite some time.

Unlike last year's team, this version has the defensive intensity, height and length to simply shut teams down -- even when the offense isn't there. It has the added bonus of being so deep and athletic that opponents WANT to slow down the tempo. The result is that even when shots aren't falling, teams are not going to run away from SU because they aren't playing at a quick pace and struggle to score points quickly against the zone.

This team will lose this year, but I don't think there's a team in the country that can run away from them. This was one hell of a start to Big East play.

Observations

* Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard wins the Rob Murphy award for the shiniest head on the sideline of the Carrier Dome this season -- and Murphy brought his team in there. Well done Willard.

* Dion Waiters gives this team an element they didn't have last year -- a guy that doesn't need any help at all to get his own shot, and get a decent one.

* People watching at home wear audibly assaulted by color commentator LuBara Dixon Simpkins. Commonly known as Dickey he is one of the worst announcers working today. He's the anti-Raftery. Consider these nuggets the Dickmeiser dropped on the audience:

"A dunk special with a side of facial" -- uttered after an uncontested Dion Waiters dunk.
He stated someone was "Handing out movie tickets" -- he must have recently seen the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie and had that on his mind.
He uttered the totally overused "block party" line -- which is not to be confused with Ronnie Mund Block Party.
And he capped it off with this gem, "It must still be Christmas because Melo is getting presents from the guards" -- not for Dickey, not for us.

* Scoop had a slow game, he forced the action a bit and after five years I've finally figured out Scoop Jardine's downfalll - unbridled enthusiasm. Scoop is the Billy Mumphrey of Syracuse -- and after this year its safe to say his career will be one filled with internation intrigue as well.

* To elaborate on that point just a bit - Scoop loves the game, loves to play and is always giving 100 percent effort -- however that enthusiasm sometimes gets him in trouble -- forcing shots and plays there aren't always there. This year when it happens, he'll sit and Dion and Brandon will play.

* In CJ Fair, James Southerland and Dion Waiters, this team has three guys who seem to actually enjoy taking mid-range jumpers. It's a lost art.

* While SU was much bigger than the Hall, I was impressed with the overall effort on the boards tonight. You can tell the coaches have been emphasizing it.

* The last 5 minutes of the first half and the first 5 minutes of the second half it was all Melo all the time. He was the Great Wall of Melo, and it was awesome.

* Let's turn to the Connecticut Post's Sean Patrick Bowley to describe the stretch accurately - via Twitter:

At Center: Fab Melo. Forward: Fab Melo. Swingman: Fab Melo: Guards: Fab Melo. Fab Melo. Head Coach: Fab Melo

* Can we get an official height for Michael Carter Williams? I've heard announcers state he stands anywhere from 6'5" to 6'7".

* I really like the fact that Kris Joseph wasn't forcing things on the offensive end even though he didn't have it going tonight. He hustled, played defense, passed the ball and was still a leader.

* Mookie Jones got some run and every time he touched the ball fans went nuts wanting him to shoot. He did not. I am convinced this isn't a coincidence. Mookie's a smart guy, he's not going to turn himself into a circus act. Good for him. I don't care that he doesn't play much - I love that guy.
One Big East game down - a whole bunch to go - here's hoping they are all like that.

Syracuse Looks to Send it in Against Seton Hall

2011-12-28T09:52:00.002-05:00

The number one ranked Syracuse Orange get their Big East season started against the Seton Hall Pirates tonight. For those who want intelligent analysis of the season so far and what we can expect heading into tonight's game, head over to 900 Irving and get geared up.

For those of you looking for dumb stuff, you're in the right place. Seton Hall is having a very nice start to its season, as the Pirates have raced to an 11-1 start. They are led by Herb Pope -- who is a walking double-double who also moolights as one of the most accomplished testicle assassins in all of college basketball:

And since perception is reality, I fully expect the Pirates to give the Orange all they can handle, since it seems like they always give SU fits. It wouldn't surprise me if somehow Darius Lane found a 12th year of eligibilty and came off the bench to knock down six 35 footers while Boeheim screams at Scoop to get his hands up.

So while we expect a tough game tonight, we should also pay our respects to Seton Hall's greatest contribution to game of college basketball -- launching Bill Raftery's broadcasting career.

We make no bones about the fact that we love Raft and always will. However, we wouldn't get to enjoy Bill Rafterty the broadcaster if Bill Raftery the coach hadn't washed out at Seton Hall after 11 seasons.

Raft was the head coach at Seton Hall from 1970 - 1981 and judging by his record, we was exceptionally mediocre -- never winning more than 18 games and never losing more 16 over the course of a decade. To be that consistently average makes us love the guy even more, because let's face it, on its best days this blog could charitably be described as OK.

However, after going 11-16 in 1981, Bill left Seton Hall and P.J. Carlesimo came in. P.J reached great heights, taking the Hall all the way to the 1989 National Championship game before he decided to move on to the pros serve as Latrell Sprewell's personal stress relief ball.

However, his coaching exit launched broadcasting career that quickly made Raftery one of the most entertaining guys working in college basketball. So thank you Seton Hall for bringing us Bill, a man who has brought us classics such as onions, a little lingerie on the deck, man to man, secret playbooks, and of course Jerome sending it in:

So while you're watching the game tonight and getting frustrated by the fact that Jordan Theodore has suddenly morphed into Stephen Curry, sit back, relax and thank the Hall for Raft.

Happy Festivus

2011-12-23T00:38:00.001-05:00

Make sure your Festivus pole is ready for use

Happy Festivus friends and readers. We hope by now you've retrieved the aluminum pole from your crawl space and started limbering up for the feats of strength, because today, December 23rd is our nation's greatest holiday. Even if you're not in one of the 10 best cities to celebrate Festivus, it doesn't mean you can't air your grievances.

So after you make a donation to the Human Fund , take your Festivus Quiz and make sure you greet everyone today with two simple words -- Happy Festivus.

Syracuse - Tulane Observations

2011-12-23T00:08:00.001-05:00

The non-conference portion of the Syracuse basketball schedule came to a merciful end tonight in the Carrier Dome with the Orange beating Tulane 80-61. I'm not going to lie, I half watched the game as my 4 and 2 year old nephews ran around my house like maniacs and used me as a human jungle gym. It was far more entertaining than the broadcast -- which wasn't in high-def here in Albany. I DVRed it and was planning to watch it in its entirety when they left, but I didn't have it me.

Observations

* Syracuse is a good team.

* Tulane isn't a good team.

* If the name of your team is the "Green Wave" wear green jerseys. Life isn't that complicated people. Don't make it harder than it needs to be.

Photo: Dennis Nett/Post Standard

* Matty T is the greatest three point shooter in the world.

* The foreign dude who wears number 14 for the Green Wave looks like a chick.

* Boeheim's ready for Christmas - via Jared E. Smith:

* I would imagine after the stress of the Bernie Fine scandal, the Hall of Fame Coach is ready for any kind of Christmas break -- even the hap, hap, happiest Christmas ever.

Seton Hall is next. That Pirates are 10-1. Thank God Big East play is finally upon us.

Ebay Item of the Week: More Politically Incorrect SU Memorabillia

2011-12-21T20:52:00.000-05:00

Yikes, this 1965 Cuse-Pitt game program is...well...let's just say not the most culturally sensitive.

Hey Jerry, look what I got!

Rakeem Has Bison for Christmas

2011-12-20T21:49:00.000-05:00

Jim Boeheim's Syracuse team won a snoozer against Bucknell

The Syracuse Orange and the Bucknell Bison sleep-walked through a pre-Christmas game in the Carrier Dome Tuesday night with the Orange ultimately prevailing 80-61. After a fun, emotional win over NC State this past Saturday, this game was the opposite. The students were gone and from the looks of it most of CNY was out Christmas shopping. Senior centers at nap time had more energy than this game.

However, the game was played and SU won and at the end of the year that's all anyone is going to remember about this snooze-fest. Rakeem Christmas received more playing time than he's had in a while and the freshman big man delivered with a 10 point, 5 rebound performance. He's a very talented player and on a team with less depth I he'd definitely be showing his potential more -- but this is a good problem to have.

Observations

- Bucknell coach coach Dave Paulsen looks like a slimmer version of guy who lives in a van down by the river:

- It was nice to see Rakeem Christmas emerge a little tonight. While I don't think he'll play much in the Big East, he gives SU what the team lacks when C.J. Fair or James Southerland is in -- a true 4 that can operate down low, rebound and block some shots. I would have liked to have seen JB put him back in later in the first half, but he got a lot of PT in the second half and acquitted himself well.

- Dion Waiters had his left thumb taped up and didn't play much/at all in the second half. I'm not sure if there was an issue with the hand or not, but its something to keep an eye on. In the first half he did have a runner that positively Sherman Douglas-esque...and since I can't find a video of Sherm hitting a runner (the all time master of that shot) we'll have to settle for G-Mac instead:

- Kris Joseph was 2-3 from behind the arc and is shooting 40% from three point range this year. He's having a quietly outstanding year.

- I think the cavernous dome caused a problem for Bucknell in the first half, they adjusted in the second and made a ton of threes.

- Boeheim played some man to man and pressed earlier in the year but he seems settled back into the standard 40 minutes of zone as we get close to Big East play. As Bucknell bombed threes in the second half I wouldn't have minded a little man, but it's pointless to complain.

- Fab Melo and Scoop executed a beautiful give and go in the second half. The big fella is a pretty slick passer.

- I wasn't impressed with Baye again tonight - I'm hoping the light goes on soon. SU is going to need more out of him - especially as it pertains to rebounding shot blocking. If he's not doing that, he's just taking up space -- most of it vertical.

Michael Carter Williams played a ton in the second half, taking almost all of Brandon Triche's minutes. I don't think he played particularly well, but it made sense to get him some run now. It might not happen much in conference play.

- Team Jardine had his second straight really good game. When he's on he's very, very good. Don't take it from me, take it from his official fan page twitter feed:

- The game took an hour and forty three minutes......that seemed more like five hours.

One more non-conference game left - against Tulane after Christmas and then we get Big East play. It can't get here soon enough.

Scoop Jardine is the Hardest Working Man in Social Media

2011-12-20T00:57:00.000-05:00

Scoop Jardine with yet another social media venture

Scoop Jardine is a lot of fun. He's highly entertaining doing the Scoop and Kris Show with Donna Ditota. On the floor we all know he can be both brilliant and/or maddening -- sometimes all at once. Scoop aslo has a strong social media presence, with his own twitter feed with over 11,000 followers, a facebook page with almost 5,000 friends, a Scoop Jardine Show facebook site that I'm assuming serves as some sort of public fan page and this facebook group with a really, reallly, really old pic of Mr. Jardine called SCOOOOOOP.

But you can't slow Scoop down. Tonight while I was on Twitter I noticed yet another social media outlet for the starting point guard for the nation's number one team - welcome to Team Jardine, the twitter feed for the official fan page of Scoop Jardine. So apparently a fan page is now tweeting. I know I'm an old dude, but when a fan page starts tweeting, I begin to feel like Kramer standing at the corner of first and first.

So there you have it folks -- make sure you follow Team Jardine so you're not left behind, because if you don't, you'll end up at the nexus of the universe before you know it.

Syracuse Defeats N.C. State in its First TRUE Road Game

2011-12-19T00:22:00.003-05:00

This headline says it all - via JohnCuse1

The nation's top ranked men's basketball team the Syracuse Orange went on the road Saturday to took care of business, defeating Mark Gottfried's N.C. State team 88-72. Luckily for Gottfried, it may be a few years before SU gets in the ACC and makes this an annual affair.

Syracuse started slow and then used a devastating 23-0 run in the first half to assume control. NC State made a nice run in the second half, but ultimately did not have enough firepower to overtake the Orange. As Kris Joseph said, the Orange are number one in the country for a reason.

I've been slightly healthier than Kim Jong Il all weekend, so here are some scattered thoughts on the game, I can't promise they make any sense.

Observations
- Kris Joseph is healthier than last year, that is obvious, but the confidence he has in his game, and his jumper in particular, is what is making a real difference. NC State came out with a quick early burst and had the crowd into the game, but the key to getting that under control was a contested three from Joseph. I don't think he makes that shot last year.

- The athletic ability of all four of SU's guards is what makes this such a dangerous defensive team. Scoop is in great shape, Brandon Triche is a tank, Michael Carter Williams has arms like plastic man and Dion Waiters has jaw-dropping athleticism. So when these guys are active, they create turnovers at the top of the zone and more importantly they convert them into points. I don't remember a Syracuse team with guards that are as good as these guys are at finishing at the rim. This team makes opponents pay in the open court -- which increases the team's overall offensive efficiency.

- Speaking of Dion - he doesn't even start, but it's time to start figuring out where he ranks on the list of the best guards in the country. If he was on one of those Jonny Flynn teams where every available body played 38 minutes a game, he'd probably be averaging about 25 ppg. We'll know if he happens to stumble across this site because he'll retweet the link.

- One of the fun elements to every game is seeing who will emerge to get Rakeem Christmas' minutes - CJ Fair or James Southerland. Boeheim will play them both in the first half and ride whichever guy is hot. Against NC State, James played lights out in the first half and CJ came on strong in the second. If this team is going to make the Final Four, both need to work hard on the defensive backboards, because both of them are smaller than a traditional 4 and rebounding is an area of weakness.

- NC State made a bunch of shots early and while some of that was due to defensive lapses, some of it was just guys making shots. I've always felt its easier to shoot well against a zone because even if you have a hand in your face, you haven't had to fight through your man to get to a certain spot on the floor. It's easier to make shots -- even contested ones -- if your feet are squarely under you.

- Fab Melo took another charge and had another active game. He was a strong inside presence and it was needed because his back up, Baye Moussa Keita had an uncharacteristically bad game. I love Baye, but he was really bad in the second half. He was far too low in the zone, allowing NC State too much room to operate below the foul line and to top if off, he wasn't rebounding the ball or blocking shots. I expect him to bounce back, but let's forget this one and move on.

- In the first half Dion made a great pass to Southerland for a wide open three at the end of SU's big run and Waiters had his hand in the air celebrating the make before James had even released the ball. That's a team playing with confidence my friends.

- Syracuse's half court offense bogged down early in the second half and exposed the Orange's biggest offensive flaw - the team doesn't have anyone that can play with a back to the basket. Without a true post presence everything has to be a dribble drive or a jumper - and sometimes jumpers aren't going to fall. Melo is showing signs in that regard, hopefully he continues to develop.

- An interesting fact pointed out by OldSaltCityAce on twitter -- Syracuse outscored NC State by 16 after ESPN gave their second half Bernie Fine update.

- Speaking of that - while no one is questioning the seriousness of Fine issue or the charges against him - breaking into the game action in the first half and filing a separate report in the second half on Fine was completely unnecessary -- especially since there hasn't been anything "new" on the investigation in days.

The Schedule

Lastly, a few words on the SU's first "true road win." ESPN and others in the media have made a big deal about Syracuse's schedule and the lack of games in home gym of the opponent. Sean has pointed out the inherent laziness of this "analysis." The fact of the matter is that Syracuse does NOT play a murderous non-conference schedule. Almost no teams do - with the big exception usually being Michigan State.

Realistically Jim Boeheim shouldn't play an insanely hard non-conference schedule because SU already plays in the toughest damn conference in the country. At the end of season, the Orange's strength of schedule will be one of the hardest in the country. According to current rankings, SU has or will play 8 teams in the top 25 this year. By comparison, Duke has or will play five top 25 teams.

The Boeheim scheduling model is consistent - play in an early season tournament that guarantees one or two match ups against good opponents. Play New York State teams in the Dome to help those programs in terms of both visibility and money, and mix in a few tougher, under the radar mid-majors to test the team and keep the strength of schedule up. This year Marshall fits into that category. It's a model that works and makes sense, because the last time I checked the whole point of the season is to prepare for March and I haven't seen any team play a "true road game" in the NCAA tournament since it was outlawed years ago.

At the end of the day, Syracuse is the number one team in the county and all the cackling from talking heads is just that - cackling. So let's ignore the white noise and enjoy the ride.

Winnipeg Wants to be More Like Syracuse

2011-12-15T09:41:00.003-05:00

The Carrier Dome, home to an army of stainless steel pee troughs

Any male that has ever had the privilege of taking in a sport event or concert at the Carrier Dome knows one of the building's fairly unique charms is located in the men's room. Instead of your standard, stand alone porcelain urinals, the outside walls of each lavatory are lined with gleaming stainless steel trough-style urinals.

The pee trough as it is known has advantages and disadvantages.....for those who are shy or suffer from "stage fright" the set up is nightmare. With no individual area or dividers, it's just elbow to elbow of men with their members out doing nature's business.

No pictures of the actual troughs at the dome exist online (that's not a place where you should be using a camera) but they look a little like this

I for one, do not suffer from this problem and frankly find the pee trough advantageous. With no defined urinals you can maneuver quickly to open spaces and get your business done as soon as possible - whereas with standard urinals you always run the risk of landing in a line behind someone who does have stage fright or even worse -- you end up behind the 70 year old man with a prostate the size of a watermelon. That guy takes forever.

Plus I've usually got enough crappy dome foam in me that I'd take a leak in front of mother Theresa and wouldn't think twice about it. When you've got to go, you've got to go.

The trough is something you don't see much in major sporting venues any more -- which makes what a few fans are doing in Winnipeg interesting - if you study the urinal arts like I do. From Larry Brown Sports we learn that there's an on-line petition to bring back the urinal troughs. The troughs were used at the old Winnipeg Arena and apparently the lines at the MTS Center are brutal. Fans in Winnipeg are longing for the days of using this:

Photo of an actual trough from Winnipeg stadium

So Syracuse fans, the next time you trudge into the men's room at the Dome to do your business, look at the bright side - there are people in Winnipeg who are jealous of you......unless you are crazy enough to use the trough as a slip and slide - then you're just a dumbass.

Ebay Item of the Week: A Handful of Matt Gorman's Junk

2011-12-14T22:14:00.000-05:00

I'd pay a heckuva lot more than the asking price of $25.00 for this autographed picture featuring some guy from Davidson getting dangerously close to the junk of former Orangeman, and pride of the North Country, Matt Gorman.

Apparently Matt learned a thing or two about flopping from the English footballers during his time playing pro ball across the pond. Here he shows the best way to stop a fast break is to fake a devastating leg injury:

Gloria Allred Enters the Bizarre World of the Bernie Fine Scandal

2011-12-13T23:14:00.002-05:00

Once you've been lampooned on South Park, you've made it

Just when you thought the Bernie Fine scandal couldn't get any weirder, media-loving attorney//press conference holder Gloria Allred has entered the picture. Gloria has helped Bobby Davis and Mike Lang file a civil lawsuit against Jim Boeheim and Syracuse University.

For more on exactly what the civil suit means - check out this excellent post explaining the whole situation from a legal perspective at Orange 44.

To get you up to speed with Gloria, she's been holding press conferences where she demonstrates simulated anal sex -- in front of two nine-year olds. It's actually more pleasant with some classical music played over it.

Gloria's also been working to defend a dominatrix/assistant attorney general, protect a porn star from Anthony Weiner's twitter feed, and most recently she was working to take down Herman Cain. Watch out Santa, you're next - you misogynistic bastard.

Mick Cronin is the Man

2011-12-11T12:23:00.003-05:00

Cincinnati and Xavier got into an ugly brawl at the end of their traditional cross-town rivalry game yesterday. It culminated with Yancy Gates hitting Kenny Frease in the head.

I wouldn't expect to see Mr. Gates on the floor again any time soon. However, if you want to see how a grown man takes responsibilty for such an incident, watch this video of Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin address the situation. Some key points:

Cronin states that he doesn't even know who will be on his team going forward
You can see the anger, hurt and embarrassment bubbling under the surface
He recognizes importance of the institution and how poorly this reflects on Cincinnati

The fight yesterday was ugly -- but Mick Cronin's post-game press conference was impressive. It will be interesting to see what happens going forward, but I know this, Mick Cronin can coach my team any day of the week. Video via the Big Lead.

Jay Cutler Has Never Felt So Loved

2011-12-09T14:26:00.000-05:00

Remember last year when Jay Cutler got hurt in the playoffs and the whole world thought he was a wuss? Then it turned out he really was hurt and people still didn't seem to care? That seems like forever ago....Then this year started and it turned out Jay is pretty good when Mike Martz isn't trying to get him killed and things were going along swimmingly. Then BOOM Jay gets hurts and the artist known as Caleb Hanie takes over.

Naturally these are desperate times for Bears fans. So desperate they have turned to song. Luckily for the rest of the world, it's an awesome song. So, via With Leather, we present to Bears fans a truly amazing song parody -- Cutty Come Back. Jay Cutler has never felt so loved - and that probably includes time he spends with his on again, off again fiance.

A Syracuse Student's Reaction to the Bernie Fine Scandal

2011-12-08T09:14:00.000-05:00

Image via Blah Bethany

The Bernie Fine scandal is certainly serious and has cast a dark shadow over the Syracuse program. District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick said yesterday that due to the statute of limitations he cannot charge Fine. Now we wait for the federal government to see what exactly Fine's fate will be.

While we are bombarded with Fine related news on a daily basis you have to wonder how the students are reacting to the whole mess. Well our friends at Rush the Court have a very nice piece on their site from SU student and RTC correspondent Danny Conners about the SU student perspective. It's well done and worth checking out. Connors explains the students realized the magnitude of the situation and didn't react in a way that would allow the media to pour any more fuel on the fire:

Once we returned to campus after break, we were welcomed by a media blitz. There were television trucks on Marshall Street and reporters roaming University Avenue looking for interviews, but there was oddly no buzz on campus. If you didn’t know there was an ongoing investigation, you would have no idea if you only saw the fortitude exhibited on campus. “I don’t think the reaction to the scandal has been what the national media was looking for,” Ben Glidden, a sophomore from Maine, said. “There weren’t any riots. There were no students crying in the streets. There were just students who understood the magnitude of the situation and were happy with how the university handled it.”

After talking for bit about how students have dealt with the scrutiny, Conners concludes that the scandal has brought the campus closer together:

As a matter of fact, the investigation has actually brought the campus together, according to Wilner, who said, “it’s helped us grow even closer as a university community.” Through the taped phone calls, media blitz, and released statements, it is of utmost importance to realize that this scandal doesn’t reflect on our student body or campus. “You can’t let one man define a university,” Glidden said.

You can read the entire piece here - it's worth a few minutes of your time - Reaction To Bernie Fine From Inside Syracuse.

Ebay Item of the Week: The Motown Masher is the Only Currency I Need

2011-12-07T20:28:00.001-05:00

Photo: Bigeasthoops.com

Our loyal readers (all three of them) know that DC holds a special place in our hearts. I won't go anywhere without my Derrick Coleman commemorative silver coin in my pocket.

Speaking of...why do the Dome vendors always hand out half dollars in change?

Take it away DC:

Syracuse Wins, Ensures We Are Glad We Aren't Marshall

2011-12-06T21:55:00.001-05:00

Jim Boeheim was so happy the game the game was over almost made out with a Marshall player

The Syracuse Orange did something the Cincinnati Bearcats could not do - they beat the Marshall Thundering Herd by the score of 62-56 Tuesday night in the Carrier Dome. The game was more sloppy than a kindergarten arts and crafts class and brought up the age old question - did we witness two great defenses or two teams playing brutal offense? The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle, but there's no sugarcoating it - this was one ugly game.

During one stretch of the second half we had an air balled free throw, a shot that hit the SIDE of a backboard and a put back attempt from two feet away that clanged off the backboard and ended up 4 feet away. Simply put, it was one of those days. Syracuse was a little flat after beating Florida on Friday, but the important thing is that got the win - so let's roll through some quick observations and get busy never talking about this game again.

Observations

* The Orange played the 2-3 zone almost exclusively throughout. It was effective, holding Marshall to 34% shooting and 5-24 from behind the arc. All five of those makes came in the last 5 minutes.

* Conversely while the zone was effective, SU also got killed on boards (40-32) and gave up 17 offensive rebounds. It is harder to rebound out of a zone - but we need to cut SU some slack since Marshall was shooting it so poorly they were essentially throwing the ball off the backboard and chasing it. Basically they were dumping and chasing it hockey-style.

* Fab Melo could have helped more on the boards, but was limited by foul trouble.

* Scoop had a better second half, but both he and Brandon Triche had really slow starts offensively. All four guards were active in the zone defensively and did a really nice job getting steals and run outs at the top of the 2-3. If it wasn't for that, I don't think any of them would have scored in the first half. Triche didn't see much playing time in second half, as Boeheim went with Michael Carter-Williams who got some minutes and gave the team a nice spark.

* Marshall wins the award for ugliest uniforms worn by an SU opponent to date.

* Syracuse had 10 steals in the first half - they finished the game with 12. I thought the press was effective in the first half and then SU never deployed it again.

* Brandon Triche had an amazing killer crossover in the first half and then didn't finish. To me he looks quicker than last year. Most likely it's just increased confidence, but either way I'll take it.

* Syracuse still does a TERRIBLE job of feeding the post. Both Melo and Baye are good passers and they need to make more of an effort to get the ball down low. It will alleviate some of the pressure the perimeter guys feel and let the team play inside out. Both of those guys are capable of either finishing or kicking it cross-court for an open jumper. The team needs to make a better effort of getting it down there.

* Rakeem Christmas is this year's Craig Forth. He always starts, usually comes out quickly and rarely gets back in. He'll be very good down the line, but right now he's like senior citizens at a your local family restaurant -there at the begining of the night but certainly not sticking around for the ling haul.

* CJ Fair had the rare off game. In the second half Boeheim went to Southerland before CJ. James provides more outside shooting - but Fair is clearly the better rebounder. James was more active defensively, but rebounding is Colt 43's kryptonite. I think the minutes with these two guys will be split according to match ups.

* Fab Melo and Baye Keita have drawn more charges already this year than SU centers have in the past five years combined.

The best thing about the game is that it's over. While noting how ugly it was, Rod D Twitter noted that we were all a little dumber for having watched that game. These games happen from time to time, but that doesn't mean Rod was wrong - so for my final take on this game - let's hand it off to the teacher from Billy Madison:

Syracuse Beats Florida in the Shadow of Scandal

2011-12-04T20:55:00.000-05:00

The Syracuse Orange passed an early test Friday night beating the ninth ranked Florida Gators 72-68. The Orange passed an important early test in an otherwise soft non-conference schedule. Marshall will offer a decent test on Tuesday, but getting past the Gators means the Orange have a very good shot at being undefeated when Big East play begins against Seton Hall at the end of the month.

It seems a little silly to be doing an observations post two days after the game, but a couple of things stood out:

- Beating a top 10 team while shooting 17% from three point range is a good sign.

- Jameson Fleming said it on twitter during the game - so the credit for this is all his - but C.J. Fair is the team's best rebounder in the zone.

- Coincidentally, Syracuse used the same tape measure that said Josh Pace was 6'5" when measuring Fair.

- Up until the Florida game I thought Dion Waiters had been the team's best player to date. He went 1-8 and they still won. Another good sign.

- There aren't words to describe it, but Kris Joseph just looks so much more comfortable on the floor this year. It's like he's finally at peace with being the team's go to guy.

- Scoop has been quiet all year - losing minutes to Triche and Waiters and he hasn't pouted or hung his head. That attitude is infectious and so it was great to see him play an oustanding game and lead HIS team to a victory Friday. His maturity is visible right now.

- Jay Bilas said during the broadcast he thought Brandon Triche could be the teams' best player. By the end of the year he could be right.

- People in Florida are whacked.

As I'm sure you've seen and heard about a 100 times already, Jim Boeheim apologized after the game for earlier statements in regards to the Bernie Fine scandal. The video is above. While his press conference on Tuesday was cringe-worthy at times, the press conference on Friday night was perfect. The coach showed his human side -- something he works very hard at shielding. He expressed empathy for victims of sexual abuse and pledged to do more to raise awareness about a very serious issue.

In my real life I work as a public relations consultant and and have been doing communications for most of my career. Throughout the scandal, I've been saying Boeheim shouldn't have attacked the accusers and needed to show some empathy for them and others like them. About a million other people said the same thing, so I'm not going to claim its some great revelation. However I was very pleased to see the Hall of Fame coach do what he did Friday night. Good public relations isn't about "spin" and twisting facts. It's about doing the right thing and communicating what you are doing in an open, honest and transparent manner. Jim Boeheim did that Friday night.

The silver lining in this dark, ugly cloud is that now an issue that needs more awareness will get it. Jim and Juli Boeheim do a tremendous amount of good in the Syracuse community. Because of this, they are going to do even more.

For another great read on a situation, check out Brent Axe's piece. It's spot on.

Marshall is next Tuesday night.

Syracuse Football Season Ends on a Five Game Skid

2011-12-04T11:21:00.002-05:00

Doug Marrone is searching for answers after Syracuse's latest loss

The ugly 2011 Syracuse football season is mercifully over. It ended with a brutal 33-20 loss to a bad Pitt Panther football team. The Orange ended the season on a five game skid and as a result will not going to a bowl for a second consecutive season.

A year ago if you would have asked me if I had any doubts at all about Doug Marrone's ability to lead this program back to the top of Big East, I would have told you I had none. Now, I'm not so sure and the impending move to the ACC only adds my trepidation. The five game skid to end the year magnified glaring weaknesses that were masked by wins earlier in the year. Hell, we didn't even write about the Cincinnati game last week -- with all the Bernie Fine craziness going on and the fact that the team laid another egg, there wasn't much to say.

However, the Pitt game provided one last chance at redemption. One last chance to secure a 6th win and with it, the 15 extra practices that a bowl berth provides. It obviously didn't happen. The fact of the matter is that this team played one complete game all season long. One. It finished in last place in the worst BCS conference in the country. It played with a glaring lack of discipline that seemed to get worse, not better, as the season went along. Three years into the Doug Marrone era, here's where we are:

Syracuse is 6-15 in the Big East over the past 3 years. Two of his three years the team has one conference win.
In three years Syracuse hasn't put together a consistent offense and insists on running some sort of pro-style, uber-conservative "multiple" offense that doesn't stretch the field and doesn't threaten opposing defenses.
Marrone has won 9 games in three years against teams from BCS conferences. That's three a year. This year he only won two games against those team.

Turning around this program is a huge undertaking - no one is naive to that fact. Greg Robinson was 10 games in four years and left it shambles. Marrone has made strides, but this year was clearly a step back. Doug's going to have to sink or swim with his guys now -- if we get the same results next year I think it's pretty clear that he's not the right man for the job. As far as the game on Saturday:

Syracuse - Pitt Observations

* Out of all the problems this team had this year, the most disturbing is the number of penalties the team took -- especially personal fouls. That continued against Pitt. 9 penalties for 95 yards. It's been a constant refrain all season long and in my opinion, part of the reason that went on all season long was a lack of repercussions for doing something stupid. Guys like Michael Hay took an astounding number of personal foul penalties and were continually trotted back out onto the field. I understand that there's no depth, but I also understand every player has a back up. If a guy repeatedly takes bad penalties and repeatedly puts the team in a hole, how is that helping the team?

* Pitt started the game with a pooch kick off that Syracuse failed to cover. The Panthers did it again later in the game and Syracuse almost turned it over again. The fact that the team couldn't adjust to this is a damning indictment against John Anselmo and the coaching staff.

* Jarrod West, long trumpeted by Syracuse Post Standard writer Dave Rahme as a potential game breaker at wide receiver, was anything but. He's dropped passes all season long and the 4th quarter fumble was the capper in a disappointing season. He's only played one year and there's potential there - I hope he can realize it.

* Big Chandler Jones had an athletic interception and played another really good game. Hopefully he's back and healthy for 12 games next year.

* For all the good things Scott Shafer has done in his first two years at Syracuse, this year he wasn't very good. I know the defense was young and I can live with getting beat physically, but against Pitt the secondary was STILL blowing assignments, as evidenced by the Panthers first TD 10 seconds into the game.

* On the long 4th quarter TD drive, Orange44's John Brennan said it best - "The lack of urgency on this drive is stunning."

* I'm not sure what to make of Ryan Nassib anymore. His stats are solid, the the results aren't there. Part of the reason is the scheme of the offense. Part of the reason is a below average offensive line. Part of the reason is drops by wide receivers. Part of the reason is he can't throw a catchable deep ball and at times he lacks touch on intermediate balls.

* Tino Sunseri was booed lustily by Pitt fans and I can understand why. He makes some inexplicable plays.

* In a way I'm glad the season is over because I don't know how many more rollout/TE drags routes I can watch. I have no faith that Nathanial Hackett knows what he's doing.

* Antwon Bailey, while he fumbled a little too much, capped off a career with another hard effort. He ran hard every time he touched the ball and handled himself with class. Likewise Nick Provo capped off a very nice career with another solid effort. Those two will be missed next year.

* Alec Lemon continued a strong second half of the year with a number of substantial gains over the middle. He had a nice season that would have been better except for a some crucial drops in the end zone. There weren't any of those against Pitt, but they can't be overlooked. UPDATE: A reader points out Lemon has very few drops this year, including only one in the end zone - so maybe I'm wrong here. See the comments for more of the discussion. It's a shame the team can't find a couple of burners for the edges because Alec could destroy teams in the slot.

* Jerome Smith ran hard and showed a lot of promise for the future.

* Six turnovers to cap off an ultimately disappointing year. From 5-2 to 5-7 against competition no one would confuse with the SEC. The Orange end the season with more questions than answers. It's a common them.

I like Doug Marrone. I like the way he carries himself. I love the way he takes responsibility for the team's shortcomings. I love the way he talks about the fans and what success means to us. You don't see that often. However, you can take all the responsibility in the world, if you don't win game it doesn't matter. He built up a ton of goodwill last season. That goodwill is already gone. A five game losing streak, a sloppy undisciplined team, and three years of a punchless offense will do that.

2012 for Doug Marrone is more important than ever. SU fans have watched a decade of almost exclusively bad football and Doug's got one more season to fix that. He's taken responsibility for it - but those are just words and words are hollow. Winning football games is what matters. That hasn't happened often enough.

Ebay Item of the Week: Mullet Memories

2011-12-01T20:30:00.001-05:00

The Big East-SEC Challenge rolls into the Carrier Dome this Friday night when the Orangemen take on the Florida Gators. For Orange fans, the history between Syracuse and Florida includes an incredible high: the 1991 thrashing of Steve Spurrier in the Dome, and a really low "low": Donovan McNabb's farewell nightmare in the Orange Bowl.

When I think of the Orange's history with the Gators on the hardwood, I go back to their Final Four run in 1987 when a young, loud-mouthed, mullet sportin', Gator center named Dwayne Schintzius promised to take down Rony Seikaly and the good guys from CNY in the Sweet 16. Well, things didn't exactly work out for Dwayne.

We're honoring the mullet with this week's Ebay Item of the Week. I can't wait for Little Champ to take the court in his Dwayne Schintzius LA Clippers replica jersey.

I present to you perhaps the greatest highlight mix clip ever from Youtube:

Dwayne + R. Kelly = pure gold.

The Westboro Baptist Hate Mongers Come to Syracuse

2011-12-01T00:31:00.001-05:00

The Bernie Fine sexual abuse scandal has reached "theater of the absurd" proportions over the last couple of days. Deadspin is looking for players who have slept with Laurie Fine and the sub-human organization that calls itself the Westboro Baptish Church has said they will be protesting in Syracuse on Friday.

These "people" are severely disturbed and mainly publicity hounds. If you haven't heard of them, this is all you need to know, even the KKK is offended by them -- and they're white. The only good news is that there are adults running the actual investigation into Fine and they will get to the truth. However, that is going to take time. So while we wait for that, let's enjoy a couple of videos where people with functioning medulla oblongatas make these Westboro hate mongers look dumber than they make themselves look (not an easy thing to do).

Fair warning - the language is a little rough, but that's life.

I love the Foo Fighters and love them more after watching this:

Syracuse Beats EMU While Jim Boeheim and Media Fight to a Draw

2011-11-29T22:57:00.004-05:00

More people showed for Boeheim's press conference than the game

Syracuse beat a non-disgraced former assistant coach taking down Rob Murphy's Eastern Michigan team 84-48. The game served as a long prelude to Jim Boeheim's first press conference since Bernie Fine was dismissed. The game lasted about an hour and 50 minutes, the press availability went 20 and had infinitely more drama.

Here are some thoughts on the presser first, since that was the main event, and then the game.

The Press Conference

Boeheim started out with a prepared statement, but that's not what the throngs of media from all over the country came to hear. They wanted red meat and Jim Boeheim's ability to NOT speak his mind made the event riveting. The Hall of Fame coach got through the statement and then said he wouldn't discuss the case...and then of course proceeded to discuss the case.

Clearly Boeheim was a little more nervous than I've ever seen him. He's a man who honestly doesn't care much about his image. Based on body language, press conferences are boring - a necessary evil and just part of the gig. He usually spends them leaning on a hand while working through a few questions about the 2-3 zone before calling it a wrap. So to watch him address the media hoard in an almost nervous fashion was a little surreal.

He then sparred with the national media who wanted to talk about the case, generally making the points that:

- He's a basketball coach and he's never been concerned about losing his job
- He is responsible for controlling what he can control
- We don't yet know what happened
- He respects those that are in charge and those that make decisions, such as the Chancellor of the University
- Ball boys have never traveled with the team
- He still doesn't regret defending a friend
- He's responsible for what happens under his watch
- He's never listened to the Laurie Fine tape

Overall I would have much rather preferred that he stick to the statement and then express concern for any potential victims and ask that we wait until the results of the investigation before jumping to conclusions. Then walk off. The statement was comprehensive. However, that's not Boeheim and that's not what he did.

Throughout the 20 minute press conference he did a reasonably good job of bringing the conversation back to the statement. However, he did it while smirking (most likely a nervous smile), while making jokes to try and lighten the mood, while discussing some details such as the traveling policies of ball boys and in what some may pounce on -- he didn't give any big acts of contrition. Not that he needed to, but it was clear no one would fall on a sword tonight.

To expand on that, those that may take a critical view -- and we will assuredly get national columnists that will - may try to pounce on his perceived attitude. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see a "King Boeheim thinks he's bigger than this" column from some one. It's an easy point to make. This is a national news story, not a basketball story. People who are watching don't know Jim Boeheim. They don't understand his personality. They expect someone in his position to show more empathy than he's ever going to show. Its most likely going to be an on-going issue.

Here's what I took from it. Jim Boeheim knows he didn't do anything wrong. Jim Boeheim has confidence that when the truth comes out, it will show that if there was abuse there's no way he could have known about it. That there was no cover up. He's confident in the way he acted and the way the University has acted since new information came to light. Frankly I believe him. There is no doubt in my mind Jim Boeheim had any idea what might have happened in Bernie Fine's basement late at night. That defiance - that belief in himself and that belief in the fact that things were done the right way endear him to some Syracuse fans. Of course, that same attitude can come off as arrogance depending on your perspective. And that gives fodder to others.

Game Observations

The Orange started slow before kicking it into gear with a 50 point second half. Here are a few quick observations:

- Rob Murphy still has the shiniest head in basketball. It was great to see him and the head glow back in the Dome.

- Speaking of which, Coach Murph must have a rule against assistants unbuttoning their coats during games, because I didn't see one open sport coat. They also might be the best dressed staff in the nation. You have to look good to coach good -- just don't don't tell that to Bob Huggins.

- After 80 minutes of zone in NYC, we saw about 37 minutes of man to man tonight. In the first half, that man to man wasn't very good. In the second half, it was.

- Early on Scoop wasn't looking for his jumper and overall the team was over-dribbling in an effort to beat EMU's 2-3 zone. They struggled to get the ball in the paint and kept getting beat off the dribble on defense.

- Every one of those issues was corrected in the second half. That's good coaching.

- James "Colt 43" Southerland was on fiyah tonight and playing extended minutes. It's pretty clear that against zone teams James will see a lot of minutes and against man to man teams, CJ Fair will play much more. It is great to have that kind of depth.

- The second half started with a Rakeem Christmas offensive rebound that really got him going. He played his best half of basketball to date. SU will need to have that third big body ready to play by the time the Big East rolls around.

- I'm not 100 percent sure but I think SU had more more missed dunks (three) than EMU had dunks (zero).

- Dion Waiters didn't score much, but he's playing excellent defense and playing it all the time. It's night and day from last year.

- JB at the podium - with his statement that didn't stand a chance:

Back to Basketball: Syracuse NIT Observations

2011-11-28T22:04:00.001-05:00

The Bernie Fine scandal isn't going away anytime soon and while it casts a huge, bleak pall over everything else, the Syracuse basketball season isn't getting cancelled either, so let's talk about hoops for a while. Here are some long overdue thoughts on the Preseason NIT. These will be brief since it feels like the games were played a million years ago already.

Syracuse v. Virginia Tech

Obviously the offensive execution was off for Syracuse in both games and it was pronounced against Va. Tech. However, the real issue for SU was the Hokies style of play. Give Seth Greenberg credit, he knew his team couldn't run with SU so he made a deliberate effort to slow the game down and take the air out of the ball. This is much easier to do against a zone than it is against aggressive man to man. It allowed Tech to play a slow, boring game.

Now we know Syracuse is going to be a zone team, that's just what Jim Boeheim does at this point. That's fine. However, for the first four games of season, he showed a willingness to play some long stretches of man, so it was disappointing to see him revert to 40 minutes of straight 2-3 zone, especially when a couple of different defenses could have changed the tempo of the game. However, the truth of the matter is the zone was very good. Tech made some tough shots in the first half, otherwise they wouldn't have been in the game as long as they were.

Offensively, Kris Joseph and Dion Waiters came up huge in the second half, which very well could be a theme all season long. Joseph looks much more comfortable in his role as SU's go-to guy and Waiters has the most pure talent and athleticism on the team.

We also had Brandon Triche come up with 18 huge points and CJ Fair contribute off the bench. The beauty of the current backcourt situation is that Scoop Jardine, Waiters and Triche are all interchangeable. Each can play either guard spot which will let Boeheim mix and match based on whose hot and whose not. Fair will play starter minutes all season long.

Syracuse v. Stanford

While the offense was sloppy against VT, the entire team was downright flat v. Stanford. It's impossible to attribute how much the current scandal is affecting the team, but you'd have to be crazy to think it isn't playing a factor.

Against the Cardinal we again saw 40 minutes of zone -- but it was buttressed by an extremely effective full-court press that turned the game around. I actually really like the press-zone combo, as it's much easier to find your spot on the floor if your opponent successfully breaks the press than it is to track down your man. Hopefully the successful deployment of the press/zone combo against both Colgate and now Stanford will be enough to convince JB to go it much earlier in the game. The team has enough depth to pull it off.

Fab Melo was real presence on both ends of the floor and tournament MVP Kris Joseph again carried the offense. I killed Joseph on this blog a lot last year for a lack of defensive effort. He'll never be a stopper, but he's working much harder at that end of the floor this year.

This was a game that I don't think SU wins last year - so while it was an ugly win, it was also a good one -- and a good omen for the future. God knows we could all use more of those.

Tournament Quick Hit Observations

- Two tough games and Boeheim plays 80 minutes of zone. It worked, so that's fine, but it's telling.

- Two tough games and the bench got very short. Rakeem Christmas, James Southerland and Michael-Carter Williams are numbers 8, 9, and 10 respectively in the rotation. When the going gets tough JB plays 7 guys and plays zone. It is what it is.

- Dion Waiters play making ability is something he didn't show much of last year. He's been extremely impressive at beating guys off the dribble, getting into the paint and finding teammates.

- Dion and Brandon Triche closed both games.

- There's no player Boeheim trusts more than Brandon Triche. He has a really long leash and if he plays well -- and he's certainly capable of it -- this team will go far. He's certainly one guy that doesn't have to look over his shoulder after an errant pass.

- C.J. Fair doesn't start, but he'll play a ton of minutes and he'll be productive almost all of the time. He's got the consistency of a senior already.

- Would have liked to have seen some more of James "Colt 43" Southerland - but he'll get more minutes over the rest of the pre-conference season.

- I'd much rather worry about defensive rotations, playing time and opponents three point shooting percentages than sexual molestation charges. We all want justice - and we all just want sports to be fun again.

Darker Days Are Ahead as Syracuse Fires Bernie Fine

2011-11-27T22:36:00.007-05:00

These are dark days for the Syracuse basketball program -- and things won't be getting any better immediately. Sunday morning the investigation into sexual abuse allegations against former Syracuse Associate Head Basketball coach took a stunning turn. A taped telephone conversation between Fine's wife Laurie and the man who has accused Bernie of sexually molesting him was played on ESPN's Outside the Lines.

The contents of the tape were so disturbing that the University fired Fine Sunday night. Jim Boeheim released a statement on Facebook of all places supporting the move and expressing contrition for his earlier statements that attacked the alleged victims. As I write this, the media maelstrom is kicking into high gear. The rush to judgement is on. People like Darren Rovell are asking if Jim Boeheim should be fired. It is going to get worse before it gets better, because the only thing that will resolve this matter is the truth. Unfortunately it could take a while to find it.

The ugly, ugly audiotape raises more questions than it answers and in the process throws a 55 gallon drum of gas onto an already burning fire. A week ago the allegations against Fine were serious, but there seemed to be at least a plausible chance they were false. After all, the matter had been investigated by ESPN, the Syracuse Post Standard, Syracuse University and at the very least the Syracuse PD had heard about them.

We had Jim Boeheim screaming from the rafters that Fine was innocent and openly accusing the alleged victims of being motivated by money. Former players were coming out to support Fine from all parts of the globe. Even with the wild histrionics going on between District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick and the Syracuse Police Department, it seemed reasonable to think that the authorities would investigate, a report would be issued, and we'd all know one way or the other what happened.

But of course nothing about this case is reasonable. The tape is the height of insanity and now it appears Fine is not the person he claims to be. The case is so bizarre that were it fiction, it would be laughably bad. So far we've got:

Allegations of sexual abuse that go back nearly 30 years and were first alleged 9 years ago.
Three accusers, two of whom are stepbrothers, and a third whose own father says he's a liar -- and has been charged with sexual abuse himself.
The District Attorney launching a full scale attack on the mayor and a police department that refuses to turn over evidence to him.
Jim Boeheim calling the first two accuser liars who are out for money -- and then recanting.
The wife of the alleged abuser admitting on tape that she had sex with the victim.
The victim telling Fine he had sex with his wife and Fine not really giving a crap.
The firing of a guy who has been a Hall of Fame coach's assistant his entire tenure.

Make no mistake about it - the loudmouth, flame throwing columnists and sports talk radio personalities will start calling for Boeheims' head because that's what we do in this day and age - take a nugget of information, form and opinion and see who will be the most outrageous and scream the loudest. They will "debate" the issue and jump to conclusions and rant and rave. It's what attracts the most pageviews, ratings numbers and attention.

Gregg Doyel has already started. Gregg wants Boeheim fired because that's the opinion that will get the most people talking about him. He needs to be heard. And if you disagree with him, then you aren't smart enough to understand his point which is that because Boeheim went to far in attacking the victims (which he absolutely did do) then he needs to be fired. Zero tolerance Gregg Doyel. If he lived by the words he preached, he'd have been fired 10 times by now.

So Fine has been fired and that begs the question - where does this go from here? The firing tells us the University thinks he's guilty. Given the contents of that tape -- and the fact that Laurie Fine has told the Post Standard that it is indeed her, there's no plausible scenario that would totally absolve Fine of at least some of the allegations. While you could correctly argue that he got fired for embarrassing his employer and that's enough, we are all smart enough to know that even though he hasn't had his day in court, Bernie Fine looks a lot more guilty than innocent.

There are so many more questions need to be answered - in no particular order, they are:

Who knew what and when did everyone know it?
Was there any cover up on any level?
Are there other victims? If so, why haven't more stepped up? Will they?
If ESPN and/or the Syracuse Post Standard had this tape in 2003, why didn't they take it to the police?
What did the Syracuse Police Department do in 2002/03? Why did they not find more information?
Is the police department not cooperating with the DA because they are trying to cover their tracks from mistakes in the past? Is the DA overreacting?
If these allegations are true, what exactly did Syracuse University "investigate" in 2005 and why did it not find more information?
If Bernie Fine is a child molester, how did he make it to 65 years of age before being caught?

And obviously the biggest question - what will become of James Arthur Boeheim? He made a terrible error in attacking the two alleged victims and accusing them of being motivated by money. He could have defended his long-time assistant and friend and not taken that extra step.

How he responds in the days ahead, and what new information surfaces will determine his fate. The statement tonight was a necessary first stop. If there's no evidence he ever knew about Fine, there's no way he should lose his job. Based on his reaction to the initial charges, I don't think there's any way in a million years he thought Fine could be guilty. To date there is no evidence suggesting that he knew anything. If there is evidence, you can bet we will find out. And opinions will once again shift.

Another thing to watch for as this develops is how Boeheim handles the emotional toll this places on him. He's known Fine for 50 years. He's worked with him for almost as long. To find out something this hideous about a friend, after a long lifetime of friendship has to be crushing. He's not a young guy, although at 67 he looks great. He's still feisty and combative, however dealing with this is going to be draining. Explaining to his kids has to be agony. Living with the fact that he may have unwittingly enabled a child molester would weigh heavily on anyone. It's not going to be easy.

There is so much more to come out on this story it's going to be a rough ride getting there. Lives have been altered. Young boys may have had horrible, horrible things done to them. Legacies have been tarnished and a proud program has been stained.....and oh, and by the way -- the basketball season is 6 games old and the team has a chance of being pretty good.

Today was a dark day for Syracuse basketball, and tomorrow and the next day aren't going to be any better. Nothing will get better until the truth is brought to light. It could be dark for awhile.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T09:18:00.000-05:00

While its hard to tell sometimes, we truly appreciate the readers of this site. After more than four years of constant stupidity, we still enjoy doing this silly little blog and we are very thankful for our small, but loyal audience.

Like many Americans, Thanksgiving is our favorite time of year. Overeating, football, more overeating, naps on the couch and more eating -- its the perfect Holiday. In between all of those things it's also a time to reflect on what you are truly thankful for - and while we are thankful for our respective families and friends, we are also thankful to have you, the reader, to interact with and join us in making fun of the world of sports. So thanks for reading and don't be strangers, we love any and all comments and yes, that includes you anonymous "hire Mike Leach" guy.

Have a safe, happy, tryptophan filled Turkey Day. And with that, we bring you the Three Idiots on Sports Thanksgiving tradition - the WKRP in Cincinnati Turkey Drop, featuring the great Les Nessman -- who should never be confused with Munchie Legaux.

And of course, not to be left out, the Cheers food fight.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Syracuse's Little Play Offense

2011-11-22T00:23:00.000-05:00

Syracuse needs to find a way to make more big plays

It's no secret that one of the issues plaguing the Syracuse football team is the inability to generate big plays on offense. That forces the team to string together long drives in order to score points. This inevitably leads to dropped passes, penalties and negative plays that derail drives.

This has been especially true throughout the current three game losing streak as the defense and special teams haven't exactly been giving the ball to the offense in the best of spots.

Whether its the players, the scheme, the execution, or most likely a combination of all those factors, Syracuse simply has not generated big plays that can change the course of the game. While there are more advanced statistical analyses out there, at it's basic and most simple form, the stats are clear -- every team in the Big East has had a longer run from scrimmage than the Orange. Seven of the eight teams have had longer pass plays from scrimmage, with SU edging out Rutgers by two yards. The stats, from ESPN:

Pitt Panthers

Long Pass - 75
Longest Rush - 66

Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Longest Pass Play - 60
Longest Rush - 56

West Virginia

Longest Pass Play - 84
Longest Rush - 80

Louisville Cardinals

Longest Pass - 58
Longest Rush - 61

Connecticut Huskies

Longest Pass -64
Longest Rush - 65

South Florida Bulls

Longest Pass - 84
Longest Rush - 71

Cincinnati Bearcats

Longest Pass - 72
Longest Rush - 65

Syracuse Orange

Longest Pass - 62
Longest Rush - 53

Marrone has hinted that in the off-season he'll take a look at the overall picture but if he's going to take this program back to the top, he's either going to have to bring in some game breakers or figure out how to get the guys he's got now further down the field. You can't win exclusively with big plays, but you can't win at all without them.

This Week In College Football

2011-11-20T17:23:00.001-05:00

Much like the BCS, the Big East standings are really starting to take shape.

So the good guys had a bye this week, but what a weekend in college football it turned out to be. Here's what we picked up on:

* I'm not sure which was funnier, Lee Corso's f-bomb, or his Sal Governale-like apology

* Speaking of Gameday, you know it's a perceived slow weekend when they set up shop at the University of Houston

* Great ending to OU-Baylor, Coach Stoops, why did you call timeout again?

* The SEC West has turned into the AL East. The Iron Bowl and battle for the Golden Boot carry a ton of weight this weekend.

* Who else is secretly rooting for Georgia to win the SEC title game and really screw up the BCS?

* Finally! That's the Clemson I know.

* Least surprising news ever, but a really bad Big East team is going to be playing in a BCS bowl.

This is a great week ahead: Cuse hoops at MSG, some big time football rivalry games and time to put on the stretchy pants and eat some bird with the family. Enjoy !

Dear ESPN,

2011-11-20T17:18:00.001-05:00

Image courtesy of Meriam-Webster:

Syracuse Beats Colgate As We Get Back to Basketball....Sort of

2011-11-20T13:02:00.004-05:00

There was an empty seat on the Syracuse bench for its game against Colgate
(Photo by Nate Shron/Getty Images)

The Syracuse Orange once again crushed it's local "rival" the Colgate Red Raiders, winning 92-47 in the first game since the allegations against Bernie Fine became public. The game went as expected, with a deep talented team crushing another inferior opponent. The post-game press conference was 10 times more interesting than the actual game.

As for the game itself, it wrapped up a four game stretch that basically served as an extended exhibition season for the 5th ranked team in the country. The good news for SU is that the team breezed through this part of the schedule with no hiccups and got extended playing time for a very deep bench. The good news for the fans is that the Orange will face some stiffer competition, and some more interesting games, starting this week in Madison Square Garden.

The highlight of the game for SU was James Southerland scoring 7 points in 17 seconds during one stretch in the first half. It wasn't Reggie Miller scoring 8 points in 9 seconds, but it wasn't too shabby either:

A few quick observations on the game:

- Right now the team's two best offensive players are James Southerland and Dion Waiters. Interestingly, the reason for each is confidence.

- For Southerland, he's been playing with supreme confidence that he's found this year. Last year he didn't have it. The difference has been remarkable.

- For Waiters, in addition to being in better shape, he's reigned in his confidence. He's playing under control, sharing the ball more and as a result he's a much more efficient offensive player. Plus he's a freak athletically.

- I love watching this team press and Southerland is ideal for guarding the baseline. Long and athletic, he showed how he can create nightmares for smaller teams trying to inbound the ball. I'm curious how much Boeheim will press as the season goes on.

- Champ and I have decided - James Southerland's nickname needs to be Colt 43. Much like Billy Dee Williams, he's SMOOTH and he works every time.

- Hopefully Kris Joseph's knee isn't a season-long problem. It was a no-brainer to rest him in the second half.

- One concern I have with this team is that they aren't actively trying to feed the post. While Fab Melo and Rakeem Christmas aren't polished offensive players, they still need to send the ball down low, which will allow them the play inside out and get better looks on reversals and kick outs. You can't survive all year on dribble-drives and jumpers.

- Having three legitimate shot blockers makes this team dangerous.

- Fab Melo was a little off today, but you can tell how much Bernie Fine means to him from this AP story.

In terms of the press conference/Bernie Fine situation itself:

- It was fascinating watching Jim Boeheim handle the media after the game. While the Hall of Famer can be cantankerous and combative with the media, no one knew exactly what to expect. SU asked the media to only address the game, but everyone knew that wouldn't happen. Boeheim did his best to talk about basketball and stick to the script, but that's just not him. He believes Bernie is innocent and he's fighting for his friend. He couldn't hold it in and frankly that's OK. I don't believe you should attack an alleged victim, but you should also be able to defend someone you feel has been wrongfully accused. JB did that after the game.

- Boeheim is not alone in defending Fine - as players, coaches, and former ball boys from across the country have spoken out loudly and clearly in defense of the assistant coach. It's a vivid contrast from what is going on at Penn State.

- We can only hope the investigation is done in the most thorough and expiditious manner possible -- because if Bernie Fine is innocent, he will have been egregiously wronged -- and if he's guilty, then he needs to be held accountable. The worst outcome would be ambiguity.

- The Post Standard coverage of this issue has been detailed and fair. The ESPN coverage of the incident has been embarrassingly one-sided. I for one, agree with Jason Whitlock's take on how Mark Schwartz and his colleagues are "covering" the incident.

- I've never been a big fan of Bud Poliquin, but I think he hit a home run with his column today.

Hopefully justice can be served in this case and we can get back to basketball - because much like the current players at Penn State - the members of this Syracuse basketball team had nothing to do with this incident.

Allegations of Sexual Abuse Shock Syracuse

2011-11-18T00:45:00.007-05:00

Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine has been accused of sexually abusing young boys. The allegations are shocking.We know the regular readers of this site don't come here for "hard news." That's not what we do. However, the issue is too big to ignore.

Sexual abuse is a vile, despicable, repugnant act. For far too long monsters have preyed on young victims who are too scared and ashamed to speak out. People in a position of power abuse those below them and that, combined with the shame associated with being abused, makes speaking out that much harder. Everyone in our society has a responsibility to do whatever is possible to help those who have been hurt and work to stop future crimes. So, to belittle the claims of the accuser in this case is akin to to belittling victims of sexual abuse everywhere. We will not do that.

However, the accusations are just that -- accusations. Right now three people know what happened in this case - Bernie Fine and his two accusers. A mere four hours after the story broke we know Syracuse has taken decisive action to address the matter. The statement from the University is thorough and lays out the facts clearly. The statement from Kevin Quinn (who I can tell you from personal experience is as fair and honorable a person as you'll ever meet) reads:

“In 2005, Syracuse University was contacted by an adult male who told us that he had reported to the Syracuse City Police that he had been subjected to inappropriate contact by an associate men’s basketball coach. The alleged activity took place in the 1980’s and 1990’s. We were informed by the complainant that the Syracuse City Police had declined to pursue the matter because the statute of limitations had expired.

“On hearing of the allegations in 2005, the University immediately launched its own comprehensive investigation through its legal counsel. That nearly four-month long investigation included a number of interviews with people the complainant said would support his claims. All of those identified by the complainant denied any knowledge of wrongful conduct by the associate coach. The associate coach also vehemently denied the allegations.

“Syracuse University takes any allegation of this sort extremely seriously and has zero tolerance for abuse of any kind. If any evidence or corroboration of the allegations had surfaced, we would have terminated the associate coach and reported it to the police immediately. We understand that the Syracuse City Police has now reopened the case, and Syracuse University will cooperate fully. We are steadfastly committed ensuring that SU remains a safe place for every member of our campus community.”

So we don't know what went on - but we do know that the University has been proactive in its response. Bernie Fine has been placed on administrative leave. While you are innocent until proven guilty in this country, it was the right move to make. As fans of the University, the program, Jim Boeheim and all he stands for, we can only hope there is no cover-up and the University has done the right thing throughout. So far it appears that this is the case, but it's too soon to know for sure. We do know Jim Boeheim is standing 100 percent behind Fine and we also know a former ballboy calls these claims absolutely false.

Another investigation is underway and the truth will come out. All claims of sexual abuse deserve a thorough examination and it appears that this case will get one. That's the right thing to do. When we know what happened there will only be two outcomes -- we will find out that the lives of young boys have been severely and irrevocably harmed - or we will find out that Bernie Fine's reputation has been savagely destroyed.

Either way there will be no winners. It is a sad day for everyone.

Andy Reid Throws Challenge Flag on the Fourth Quarter

2011-11-17T00:37:00.004-05:00

Image: Tauntr

NEW YORK, NY (Idiot News Service) - Corpulent Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid today walked into NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's office in Manhattan and threw a challenge flag on his desk. A source that witnessed the incident said Reid then proceeded to lobby Goodell to shorten the league's games to three quarters. The source claims Reid was in Goodell's office for about 20 minutes before rushing out to come to the aid of defensive coordinator Juan Castillo who had accidentally swallowed a game piece from Candyland.

Reid's team has blown an astounding 5 fourth quarter leads on the way to a disappointing 3-6 season and in order to reverse the slide, Reid has embarked on an effort to change NFL games to three quarters. While Goodell wasn't immediately available for comment, Reid was reached by phone after today's meeting.

While he wouldn't confirm or deny the fact that he'd like to only play three quarters every game, Reid did say, "The NFL has to do a better job of putting the first, second and third quarters in a position to make plays. That's on them. I think we all realize the fourth quarter hurts that. The NHL only has three periods and that's working out just fine for them. I loved the hockey SuperBowl last year. That thing was good."

Reid continued, "I'll have to look at the film before I can give you an answer on whether we should play four quarters, however, I can tell you this -- the fourth quarter is not fun. If you've got a lead people expect you do crazy things like give LeSean McCoy the ball. That's something we're just not prepared to do. Also, by the fourth quarter Juan is really hungry and he can't think straight. He usually has a snack pack and some string cheese at halftime but that never holds him over."

Reid is believed to be the lone voice in the movement to get rid of a full 15 minutes of game play and other coachesrefused to comment, thinking it was too absurd to address. However, sources in the Colts organization said if enacted, Jim Caldwell would support the move since it would give him more time in the trainer's room to treat his chronic mental constipation which has been exacerbated by prolonged exposure to Curtis Painter.

Reid concluded, "Look the fourth quarter makes less sense than people who order meals at McDonald's and get them with a Diet Coke. I don't believe in that. In fact, when I hit the drive thru I don't mess around. I pour out the soda and then refill the cup with pure Karo Syrup. Nothing goes better with a quadruple quarter-pounder and a vat of fries than 32 ounces of sweet Karo Syrup over a little ice."

More on this story as it develops........

Syracuse Occupies Albany

2011-11-16T00:56:00.002-05:00

I always enjoy checking out how the opposing team characterizes a loss, via UAlbany Web Site

Much like the state police arresting occupiers in the State Capitol, the Syracuse Orange overpowered the Albany Great Danes Tuesday night in the Dome. Syracuse's 98-74 win moves them to 3-0 on the young season. While Syracuse fans were happy, people who bet the Cuse -24.5 were most likely really pissed - but that's what Vegas makes money.

For me personally the game was little different than your average run of the mill early season blow out. You see I've been a Syracuse fan since I was a little kid. Having grown up in CNY, it's all I've ever really known. However, I'm a graduate of the University at Albany, so while I was happy the 'Cuse won I was also pleased that my alma mater showed they can score some points this year. Offense has been a problem for Will Brown's teams the last few years, but this season the Danes should be able to fill it up when playing against America East competition.

It's late, so let's get to a few quick observations:

- In game one I was surprised that James Southerland got in the first half of the game. I'm surprised no more. It's clear he's taken his game to a whole new level. Expect Big Game James to play a ton of minutes this year, because he's damn good.

- SU was fantastic on the offensive boards tonight. That was partly a product of effort, partly a product of an inferior opponent, and partly a by-product of Albany thinking boxing out is now illegal.

- I love the fact that this team can play multiple defenses and multiple styles. I'm not sure what Dickie Vitale is going to do when the Orange play man and pressure full court for long stretches of a time, but it should be fun.

- I was very happy to see Baye Moussa Keita do so well tonight. Now that his wrist is better he's catching the ball so much better and he moves so effortlessly on the court. He even had a block and Mutombo finger wag tonight. That was fantastic.

- SU had some defenses lapses and let Gerardo Suero go nuts for 31 points while Logan Aronhalt hit for 20. It was the team's third mae in four days and the fact that SU was comfortably ahead for most of the game contributed to those lapses.

- I know you guys don't care about this, but it's my blog so screw it. I'm excited to watch this Albany team play this year. Suero gives them a scorer they haven't had since Jamar Wilson graduated and Aronhalt is a very good shooter. With Suero taking the pressure off him he can get more open looks. Point guard Mike Black is also a very solid contributor. If the big guys can be functional, this team can win the America East. The first time they won the America East in 2006, they almost bounced UConn from the NCAA Tourney.

- I agree with Times Union columnist Mark McGuire, this Albany team could be dangerous and are potentially a 20 win team. OK, I'll stop now, I know you don't care.

- One thing to watch once Syracuse begins playing tougher competition is how much floor time Scoop and Brandon play. Right now we are getting a lot of Dion and Michael Carter-Williams, while the starting backcourt spends long stretches on the bench. Right now Dion is the best guard on the team - he'll be playing, but I'm curious to see how the minutes get divided and who plays in crunch time.

- I know it's only been threes game but I am ready to see what this team can do against a real opponent. You can only drive the Ferrari around the neighborhood so long before its time to take it out on the track and see what it can do.

Colgate is next up. The walk-ons didn't get into this one, but they better stay loose.

Syracuse Slaps Manhattan

2011-11-15T00:18:00.001-05:00

Syracuse and Officer Lou Fab Melo locked up Manhattan tonight

The Syracuse Orange men's basketball team improved to 2-0 tonight with a 92-56 beat down of the Manhattan Jaspers in the Carrier Dome. In a flashback to the 80s, the Orange came out playing man to man defense. They then proceeded to press and physically overwhelmed a rebuilding Manhattan team. All that was missing was some inappropriately short shorts and a bad sport coat from Jim Boeheim.

Syracuse has dominated its first two opponents of the year and even though those two teams lost a combined 46 games last year it's not about Syracuse's opponents at this point - it's about the Orange. For the second game in a row Syracuse ran waves of tall, talented players at an opponent that had no chance. They didn't play down to their level of competition and while I don't want to make too much of the wins given the level of competition, there is no doubt that this team passes the "look test."

This is the tallest, deepest, most athletic Syracuse team I can ever remember -- and I've been watching Syracuse longer than a lot of our readers have been alive. SU has three legitimate big men in Fab Melo, Baye Keita and Rakeem Christmas. Unlike years past, all three of these guys can physically compete with anyone in the country right now. Supporting them are a cast of athletic guards and wings that will cause match up nightmares for opponents all season long.

With that said, here are a few quick takes on the game.

- Jameson Fleming said it best during the game when he stated "Dion Waiters is Syracuse's best player through two games and its not even close." Waiters has off-the-charts athletic ability and a new-found commitment to defense has only improved his offense. Waiters is getting steals and when that happens and he's in the open floor he's devastating. The weight loss and increased conditioning makes him a threat to score 20 or dunk on people every night.

- What is most impressive is that Waiters came off the bench and scored 17 points, while at the same time Brandon Triche came out firing, hitting a bunch of threes in the first half to get the Orange going. The team got great production from the guard spot tonight.

- Syracuse has a four guard rotation and all for can play either the one or the two. That sort of flexibility is such a luxury that Trevor Cooney will redshirt. This might be the only team in the country where he would be sitting for a year because there's not enough playing time.

- Last year Kris Joseph seemed to loaf on defense and fall asleep in the zone. I haven't seen that this year and I think the increase in man to man has helped his effort there. On the offensive end he was decisive and confident.

- A second big game in a row for James Southerland. He's been a bright spot so far.

- My wife thought Manhattan Coach Steve Masiello looks like a taller version of Peter Dinklage from Game of Thrones. You be the judge.

Is this man related to Steve Masiello?

- Scoop makes a dumb pass in the first minute and ends up on the pine for an extended period. Every guy on the floor is certainly aware someone is waiting to take his PT - or they will be. That's not a bad thing.

- What a difference a year makes for Fab Melo. You can see he actually understands defensive positioning this year. It will keep him out of foul trouble and on the floor a lot more. He does need to watch the wildly swinging elbows though. In this day and age refs are looking for reasons to T people up and toss them from games.

- As much as I hate to make this comparison, the size and athletic ability this team has amassed reminds me the UConn teams from a few years ago when it seemed like they had 10 big guys and every shot in the paint was rejected.

Two games down and two games where all the walk-ons have seen the floor. That's about as good a start as you can hope for. Bring on the Great Danes.

Syracuse - Fordham Observations

2011-11-13T21:09:00.000-05:00

A lot of guys got into the Syracuse - Fordham game

The Syracuse Orange opened the 2011-12 basketball season by crushing the Fordham Rams Saturday in the Dome. The game went actually went down to the wire as the Orange were 26 point favorites and won by 25. The lesson - gambling makes everything better. SU was expected to win easily and did, so that's a good sign. Here are a few quick observations:

- We know the team is deep, but I was pleasantly surprised to see James Southerland play so many minutes. They weren't garbage minutes either as he played extensively in the first half, and he played well. I expect ebbs and flows over the course of the year in terms of who plays, but it looks like right now Boeheim is committed to using 10 guys.

- No Trevor Cooney however, which means he may redshirt. It's crazy to think a player as good as Cooney might wait a year, but that's just how deep this team is. In the long run, I'm fine with this move.

- Michael Carter-Williams probably had the roughest game of any SU player, but JB played him extensively anyway. He'll have the first half of the season to work out the kinks and come Big East play he'll either be ready or he will be sitting. Boeheim won't have a lot of tolerance for throwing balls into the stands against Georgetown.

- Speaking of which, you have to love Shaq for his Georgetown sucks line. I can't remember a player in my lifetime I came around on more than Shaq. When he was a young player and just running over everyone on the paint, I had no use for him. As he got older and started showing his personality more you can't help but enjoy the big fella's antics.

- Fab Melo didn't do too much, but he didn't really have to. From the two exhibition games its clear he's a much better player than last year. There was an important development with Fab this game -- I finally figured out who he looks like - Lou the Cop from the Simpsons.

Lou the cop from the Simpsons and Fab Melo, separated at birth

- Dion Waiters had an excellent game and I can't decide what's better -- watching Dion Waiters have a great game or watching Dion Waiters re-tweet every single person on Twitter who tells him he's great. Both are pretty spectacular.

It was a nice start for the Orange -- it is going to be a really fun year on the hardwood.

This Week in College Football

2011-11-13T20:44:00.001-05:00

37-17 bad guys. On the positive side to Friday night's debacle, I got to make my first appearance at the Dome this fall and beforehand enjoyed an awesome tailgate with my fellow Idiots. Fun times fellas, fun times.

Anyways, let's take a look at what else caught our eye this weekend from the world of college pigskin:

* TCU-Boise was a really fun game to watch, I kept flipping over during the Cuse hoops game, tremendous ending. Rumor has it Boise's loss may lessen their Mountain West exit fee. This explains why John Marinatto was wearing a Horned Frog Snuggie this weekend.

* Mike Gundy, you are a man. Your team is made up of them also, 49 first half points, wow.

* Clemson, this tease continues.

* Who's the best one-loss team out there? Oregon is making a case to get back into the mix.

* Houston continues it's Playstation-like offensive numbers. However, what really caught my eye from that game are the rumors that RichRod may be headed back to Tulane.

* Arkansas is really starting to peak.

* Cincy loses at home; the Big East really stinks.

* Why do I always get 50 cent pieces in change at the Dome? Always.

* Congrats to the Red Dragons on keeping the Jug

And for your listening pleasure, some guy doing an acoustic version of the 90s rap hit "I Wish" by Skee-Lo:

An Inconvenient Truth

2011-11-13T19:44:00.003-05:00

On Friday night the Syracuse football team lost badly to South Florida 37-17. In doing so the team secured last place in the Big East and confirmed what we've been ignoring all season long -- this is not a good football team.

The signs have been there since the start, and they have been plentiful, but because we are fans we've chosen to ignore them. Instead we kept hoping against hope that this team is better than we've seen with our own eyes. It's what fans do. It's what fans are supposed to do. Sadly, with the loss on Friday we can't ignore this inconvenient truth any more. This is a bad football team and the evidence has been overwhelming. Consider:

- SU played three brutal quarters of football against Wake Forest.

- They barely squeaked past terrible Rhode Island team that is 3-7 this year....in the FCS.

- The Orange only scored 33 (really 32) points against Toledo. Consider the fact that the Rockets have given up 60 and 63 points in the last two weeks and 32 isn't that impressive.

- They produced a 5 turnover slop fest loss to Rutgers that snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

- They squeaked by a truly terrible, embarrassing Tulane team that is 2-9 and just gave up 73 points to Houston.

- They were utterly dominated by Louisville.

- They lost to a UConn team that cannot throw the ball and will not have a winning record this year.

- And then turned in a penalty-filled dropped pass-a-palooza that we witnessed Friday night.

I'm not trying to be 100 percent negative. To quote Greg Robinson, there were "flashes" this team could get it done. The flashes include:

- A brilliant 4th quarter comeback against a Wake Forest program that has had a decent year.

- The throttling of West Virginia. A magnificent performance that gave everyone hope that the corner had been turned.

- Ryan Nassib, Antwon Bailey, Alec Lemon, and Chandler Jones have all had some good moments.

- Saw what you will about the Toledo win, but the Rockets are going to a bowl game this year, so that's a decent win.

Sadly, as much as we didn't want to admit it, the negatives far outweigh the positives. With two games remaining in the season the Orange are guaranteed a losing record in the Big East and will need to upset either Cincinnati or Pitt to become bowl eligible.

This is an Orange team with an offensive line that returned four starters and was supposed to anchor a much improved offense. It turns out the group is a year older, but not really any better. Ryan Nassib, while improved, hasn't made "the leap" to being a top flight quarterback. Antwon Bailey looks slower than he has the past. The last two weeks have been strong for Alec Lemon but he still lacks consistency. While Nick Provo has been strong all year, a couple of guys have "nice" years or flashes of decency don't win you conference championships.

The defense is young and small but supposedly they were supposed to be fast and would get better as the season wore on. That hasn't happened. Blown coverages and missed tackles have plagued a unit makes enough mistakes to give up almost 28 points per game.

Coming into the season the hope was that while this team was young, they'd get coached up and win 8 games against weak competition. That didn't happen. The team is a 5-6 win unit and the verdict is still very much out as to whether this staff is the one that can make this program a contender.

In nearly three years as the head coach Doug Marrone is 6-13 in Big East play and 8-17 against schools that play in BCS conferences. For three years his offense has been limited and predictable. Last year was a leap forward, and this year it's been a step back. Next year will be the most important season of his coaching life, as a bunch of fans who have spent a decade waiting for next year are pretty worn out. At least this fan is.

As to the game itself, I don't have much to offer. Chances are you watched it and saw the same things I did. Here are a few quick observations anyway:

- Marrone said he wanted to play power football and wear down South Florida. Obviously that didn't work. Of course when you're trying to play power football with a 200 pound center and 5 foot nothing tailback, and running up the middle hasn't worked all year, I'm not sure how you think it's going to magically be the answer this time.

- Give Marrone credit for putting the loss on himself. However, as an Eagles fan that has been listening to Andy Reid do this forever, I can assure you it only goes so far.

- Once SU went to the air I didn't have a lot of quibbles with the play calling. If guys hadn't dropped about 257 passes, it would have been productive.

- Nassib faced a ton of pressure and the line doesn't handle things well when the defense attacks the A gaps. It's been an issue all year. It never seems to get corrected.

- In the first half South Florida didn't do anything real exotic on defense. They mostly sat in a 4-3 with two safeties over the top and dared SU to beat its base packages. SU couldn't.

- Jeremiah Kobena had another dumb personal foul. Whether its Kobena or Michael Hay there doesn't seem to be any consequences for acting stupid on the field. Call me crazy but that might be part of the reason why Marrone can't correct the rash of dumb penalties the team has taken lately.

- For the life of me I can't figure out why this team can't implement an effect screen game. Teams pressure the hell out of them. In theory the lineman are supposed to be light and quick and Antwon Bailey is at his best in space. It seems to be the perfect recipe for a good screen team. SU is not a good screen team.

- I have never, ever, in all my years on this planet seen a team kick as many footballs out of bounds on the kickoff as the 2011 Syracuse Orange. It's aburdly ridiculously absurd. And dumb. And ridiculous. And absurd.

- The defense made B.J. Daniels look like John Elway. That's not easy to do.

- In his coaching tenure Marrone's teams have gotten worse as the season goes along. He's 2-8 in November. That tells me the more film teams get on SU, the easier they are to beat. That doesn't speak well for the coaching staff.

There's no game this upcoming weekend and that's probably a good thing for everyone involved.

Syracuse v. South Florida Prediction

2011-11-11T00:28:00.001-05:00

With the whole week taken up by the horrific Penn State scandal and only a smattering of NBA labor talks mixed in to break up the wall to wall coverage, it hasn't been a fun time in the world of sports. On top of that, our guest "predictor" Andy Rooney passed away. Our back up guest predictor, the ghost of Harry Caray, was too busy cleaning out a spare room in his house in the afterlife to make room for Andy, so this week's SU prediction has been left to me.

Syracuse and South Florida battle for to for the basement in the Big East. A month ago this could have been a huge game - now, not so much. South Florida has repeatedly shot itself in the foot this year with turnovers and mistakes, while Syracuse periodically forgets to take its prozac and as a result we never know what team will show up. It makes the game hard to predict, so I'm going to stick to the facts - and the facts are these.

1. Doug Marrone has never lost to Skip Holtz.

2. Skip Holtz has never beaten Doug Marrone

3. A grown man should never go by the name "Skip."

4. If the name of your school is a geographic descriptor of its location in a state, that descriptor should be accurate.

5. You can never lose to a team that has fans that dress up like this:

Photo via People of Florida

Prediction

Syracuse - 3
South Florida - 2

Ebay Item of the Week: The Real Carrier Classic

2011-11-10T21:27:00.001-05:00

Photo: Mark Terrill, AP

Years before someone decided to throw a basketball court on an aircraft carrier and call it the "Carrier Classic," the Orangemen used to host a tournament dubbed "Carrier Classic." Besides a loss to Magic Johnson's Michigan State squad, and a random loss to Eastern Michigan that I attended with the Russianator back in '96, the Orange annually cleaned up in claiming the Carrier Classic title.

And here's proof: the 1989 Carrier Classic program featuring our beloved DC.

The Sherm to DC alley-ooop, it never gets old:

Neither does a DC to Owens to Dave Johnson alley oop against Duke in the now defunct Big East-ACC Challenge:

Handicapping the Big East Conference Race

2011-11-10T01:16:00.000-05:00

The Big East football season is essentially at its halfway point. I don't have to tell you that it hasn't been a stellar year for the league on or off the field.

However, some team has to win the thing and as I began to break down who has the best shot to go to a BCS game and get destroyed, I couldn't help but notice something. Something big. The fact of the matter is that there are a ton of similarities between the race for the Big East title and the race for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination.

Since Tuesday was Election Day and on Wednesday we had another debate, it is clear that the the race for the Big East crown is clearly linked to the current field of candidates trying to unseat President Obama. Let's break it down.

Front Runners

Cincinnati Bearcats - Mitt Romney: Like Romney the Bearcats were contenders a few years ago who came up short on the biggest stage, hit a lull and now find themselves back in the drivers seat. While it is generally accepted that they are the front runner, no one is all that excited about it.

The Road to Victory: Romney has to continue to raise money, keep Herman Cain at bay (and/or fan the flames of sexual harassment claims against him), not make any missteps and win New Hampshire. Cincy can still drop a conference game and win the thing outright.

Prediction: Cincinnati wins the BE, Romney the nomination

West Virginia Mountaineers - Rick Perry: Both were feared coming into the season, but some wild, unpredictable swings have hurt their chances. Perry has made a series of unexpected debate missteps (like tonight) new coach Dana Holgorsen has unexpectedly lost to Syracuse and Louisville. Its unclear if either can recover and there questions about whether they can lead on the national stage -- although its clear Holgorsen would kill a drifter to have Rick's hair.

Road to Victory: Perry has to take his foot out his mouth, rally his conservative base and hope those above him in the polls stumble. West Virginia needs to win out, including beating Cincy this weekend and hope the Bearcats stumble again.

Prediction: WVU finishes second, Perry a distant third.

The Louisville Cardinals - Herman Cain: Both have surged to the top of their respective races. Both are doing this despite the fact that few people predicted it. Cain and the Cardinals both lack experience and both are deeply associated with crappy chain pizza. Questions remain for both Herman and the Cardinals about whether they will hold up over the long haul.

Road to Victory: Herman needs to ride the 9-9-9 to victory town and tamp down the allegations against him, whereas Louisville needs to ride a good defense to the top and hope their offense can do enough.

Prediction: Cain eventually falls to Romney, Louisville drops one of the next three and ties WVU for second.

The Pretenders

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights - Michelle Bachmann: Rutgers and Bachmann each have small, loyal, almost cult-like followings. Both are adept at periodically grabbing the national spotlight. Both can win contests that have little overall significance - in Bachmann's case the Iowa straw poll, in Rutgers case, every non-conference game they've ever played. Both come up with crazy ideas - for Bachmann its adding people to Mount Rushmore, for Greg Schiano it's getting rid of kickoffs. Neither has ever won anything of national importance. Both are talked about, but not given any serious thought as true contenders.

Road to Victory: Bachmann needs aliens to invade the planet, Rutgers needs to win out and hope for help.

Prediction: Rutgers loses to Cincy but beats UConn and goes to the Pinstripe Bowl. Bachmann keep up her quest and when she does finally quit, declares she likes cheese.

The Pitt Panthers – John Huntsman: Todd Graham is new to the Big East, Huntsman is new to the national scene. Both have glorious salt and pepper hair. Both are more liberal than their contemporaries - Huntsman in his view that science exists and Graham in his view Tino Sunseri is a good quarterback. On paper both look good, but the results for each are lacking.

Road to Victory: Huntsman has to hope America suddenly trusts Mormons and Pitt has to win out, which means beating WVU, Louisville and SU.

Prediction: Gordon Ramsey will stop randomly yelling at people before either of these things happen.

The Connecticut Huskies - Ron Paul: Ron Paul and Paul Pasqualoni share the name Paul. They share the fact that they are older than the people they compete against. They share the fact that they only appeal to very specific portions of the population. Ron Paul wants to abolish the Fed. Paul Pasqualoni wants to abolish the forward pass. The only thing that will truly be abolished is their chance at victory.

Road to Victory: Each have the same road to victory - a flu pandemic that wipes out their competitors.

Prediction: As long as Contagion was fiction, don't bet on it.

The Syracuse Orange – Rick Santorum: Both look the part. Santorum looks presidential, Doug Marrone looks like a football coach. Both Santorum and Syracuse had success years earlier. Both preach and cherish family values. Marrone's offense and Santorum's social views are too conservative to translate into true success. Both are at the bottom of the standings.

Road to Victory: Syracuse needs to win out and hope the rest of the conference leaves in the middle of the season. For Santorum, it would take a zombie apocalypse.

Prediction: SU's road is more plausible.

The South Florida Bulls - Newt Gingrich: Skip Holtz has a big fat head. Newt Gingrich has a big fat head. Earlier in their careers both had success. Presently they are both in last place.

Road to Victory: The Yellow brick one - for each.

Prediction: Newt tries to recruit USF students for his campaign, since he can't seem to keep staff.

So, if you break it down scientifically, Cincinnati is headed to BCS Bowl and Romney is going to take on Obama.

How Penn State Made an Awful Situation Worse

2011-11-08T22:37:00.003-05:00

Penn State's lack of response to Jerry Sandusky's crimes made things worse
Image via Deadspin

Brent Axe was kind enough to have me on his show on the Score 1260 today discussing the horrific situation going on at Penn State. When I'm not writing bad jokes on the Internet, my day job is in public relations and crisis communications, so was able to apply a little real world knowledge to the biggest sports topic of the moment.

I wasn't going to write about the situation because like you, the whole thing make me sick. However, since I spent some time pulling my thoughts together on the topic for the radio show, I thought I'd provide a brief outline of how Penn State has made one of the worst possible situations an institution can face even worse.

First let me say while Penn State has failed miserably at handling the public relations aspect of this situation, this isn't something public relations can fix. The lives of an untold number of innocent children have been destroyed and no public response is going to fix that. The fact that it seems pretty damn clear that a number of adults at Penn State could have stood up and prevented some of this abuse is appalling. Again, no PR spin is going to help that.

However a firestorm rages and it burns hotter and hotter every hour that the Penn State administration fails to respond. Here is how Penn State threw a tanker truck of gas on an inferno.

1. They wildly underestimated the size and scope of the story.

This story broke Saturday afternoon. It was met with a couple of weak written statements from athletic director Tim Curley and V.P. Gary Shultz. Incredibly, school President Graham Spanier initially issued a written response saying he stood firmly behind these two men. I'm not sure how grown, educated men can think a perjury case that involves the rape of children will only be a perjury case. If this was merely a perjury case, a written statement might of sufficed. This is so much more than that.

As you can see from three days of inaction, Penn State had no plan to deal with this going forward. If they did, they would have implemented it by now. They didn't think it would get this big and they thought they could hide behind "letting the legal process run its course." They couldn't have been more wrong.

2. They have met a public outcry with silence.

In a crisis situation, time is of the essence. The longer a person or group hides from the media and the public, the more guilty they look. Combine that with a case that alleges grown men acted in collusion to protect a child rapist, and Penn State looks even more culpable. This isn't a case of who told who what. This isn't a case about how an institution's chain of command should function This is a case of Penn State not protecting children from a sexual predator. It is on every network. It is in every newspaper. It is on every web site. It demands an on-camera response.

Regardless of how an institution or organization works - a response needs to be issued as quickly as can be credibly formulated. Even if there are multiple factions, committees and interests at play, the organization must cut through those, select a spokesperson, and start providing information from its perspective as soon as possible. The story is moving with or without them and the silence coming from the "guilty" side is a void that's readily filled by outraged voices.

The spokesperson that is selected needs to be someone who can speak credibly and with authority and deliver an honest message to the public.

Penn State has holed up and went into a shell. They have tried to tell reporters what kind of questions they could ask, cancelled press conferences and muzzled Joe Paterno. Although to be fair, Paterno can speak any time he wants since he's larger than life in that state. He's just being a coward too.

As a result of this silence people are wondering what else Penn State is covering up, why they are hiding and how deep does this scandal really go. Silence makes everyone in the administration look guilty. Penn State already looks guilty and the longer they are quiet, the guiltier they look.

3. They have not taken responsibility, showed empathy, or proven they are going to fix this.

Boys have been hurt in the most heinous fashion possible. We have not heard a meaningful word from Penn State about how sorry they are for these victims. We have not heard from them that they are going to work with the authorities, launch a full investigation, and hold people accountable. We have not heard how they will do everything in their power to immediately start fixing the problems that got them to this place.

By Sunday, or Monday morning at the very latest, they needed to have a public message that echoed those sentiments. They needed a message that took responsibility and set a course of correction. If he's guilty - and it sure looks like he is - Jerry Sandusky is a monster who lied and deceived people for years. Many of those people worked at, or went to, Penn State. Instead of outrage being focused at him - and the presumably small number of people who helped cover up his evil - a whole institution has been tarnished - because Penn State didn't communicate.

Frankly at this point it's too late for Penn State to deliver these messages. Rest assured, they will come, but they'll need to be delivered by a new administration and a new football staff looking to establish credibility as honest communicators.Graham Spanier, Joe Paterno and the administration had a brief window to try and tell their side of the story. They missed it, and missed it badly. They'll pay with their jobs -- and frankly I'm fine with that.

RIP Smokin' Joe

2011-11-08T21:43:00.000-05:00

Godspeed Champ.

The Syracuse Post Standard Prediction Thunderdome

2011-11-08T09:36:00.001-05:00

The Syracuse Post Standard has their 2011-12 Syracuse basketball preview up -- and as usual they did another fine job. I've always enjoyed the work Mike Waters has done and Donna Ditota been a solid as well. In a day and age where papers are making drastic cutbacks we are lucky to have a couple of really good professionals covering the team. So check out the preview in its entirety.

However, we are here with a SPOILER ALERT - the prediction section isn't exactly "out of the box" thinking, unless you count wily old Bud Poliquin's brief bout dyslexia as an attempt to be different.

Losing Games and Social Media are not a Winning Combination

2011-11-07T08:56:00.000-05:00

The Syracuse Orange football team has lost two games in row. The losses have come to teams many feel the Orange should have beat. Naturally the fans aren't pleased, so when the University posts an invite to the weekly luncheon with the coach on Facebook (something that's done every week) the feedback hasn't exactly been stellar. Frankly I expected a lot worse. It's probably a good thing Alabama hasn't bothered to update their page in over a year a half. That would be pandemonium today. Crying pandemonium.

The Curse of Coach P Strikes, Syracuse Loses to UConn

2011-11-06T20:35:00.002-05:00

Paul Pasqualoni got the last laugh on Saturday as Doug Marrone goes to 0-3 v UConn

I waited a full day to write about the horrible 28-21 loss Syracuse had to Connecticut yesterday. I waited specifically so I could clear my head and rationally discuss what may have been the most disappointing loss of the Doug Marrone era. I'm not sure I'm there but I also don't think I ever will be, so it's time to get out a few thoughts that have been marinating in my brain. This may take a while, so settle in.

Two weeks after a big win against West Virginia (a win that already looks less impressive) the program has slid to the bottom of a bad Big East conference. After taking some really nice steps forward last year, and then showing signs of breaking out this year, Syracuse laid a second consecutive huge egg and is now 1-3 in conference play. The team sits at 5-4 overall and bowl eligibility, something that was a mere formality two weeks ago is very much in doubt.

With a loss this week to the least talented team in the league, coming on the heels of a rout at Louisville, it's certainly fair to question what direction the program is going in, and what exactly is the ceiling for Doug Marrone as a head coach.

That may seem harsh and reactionary, but let's consider the facts for a moment. Big East football is bad. It has been bad for a while, and that has been especially true for the three years Marrone has been on the job. Right now CBS Sports has the Big East rated as the eighth toughest conference in the country. If you're keeping track at home - that's not good.

Since taking over the Orange, Marrone's record in this bad conference is 6-12. Batting .333 will get you into an All-Star game, but this isn't baseball. A .333 winning percentage gets football coaches fired. To be fair, he did inherit a mess and no one expected SU to start running the table as soon as he got the gig, but after going 1-6 in his first year, he's gone 5-6 since. He has never beaten Louisville. He has never beaten Connecticut. He is 0-2 against Pitt and this year's upcoming game doesn't look promising. SU needs to run the table in conference play to have a winning record in the league. That's highly unlikely.

These numbers are most certainly a small sample size, but the fact of the matter is, for a guy who promised SU was going to win and win now, when Syracuse lines up against Big East foes, they lose twice as much as they win. This is happening when other coaches are succeeding. Charlie Strong is winning games with true freshman. Greg Schiano of all people is winning by playing two quarterbacks (who frankly aren't very good) and making it work. This isn't the SEC, every Big East game is winnable, yet Syracuse sits at 1-3. Seventh in the conference. You are what your record says you are and this year, right now, Syracuse isn't very good.

Now let's be clear here, I'm not saying Marrone should be fired. He's done too much good and its far too soon to even entertain that notion. However, for the first time since he's taken over I'm wondering if he's capable of putting together a team and a staff that will get Syracuse into contention for conference championships or whether he'll just be another Greg Schiano. Schiano is a guy who turned around a mess of a program and now schedules his team to decent records and crappy bowls, but never won a conference title and has one meaningful win in 11 years. Obviously this is crucial, since the move to the ACC means stiffer competition is just around the corner.

We know this team will never be a true contender until Marrone and his staff can figure out how to implement a successful offensive system, because the one that's in place now isn't working. Frankly he hasn't gotten it done on that side of the ball since he's been here. Whether it was Rob Spence and the bubble screen to nowhere offense, or the multiple formation, pro-set, power running/play action dud we've seen for the last two seasons, the Orange rarely strike fear into opposing defenses (unless that defense is West Virginia).

And that is what is most frustrating to many Orange fans. It's frustrating because we've been waiting for 13 years to watch a decent offensive football team. Last year's success was wonderful, but it came about largely because a stifling defense carried the team. This year, the defense isn't as good and wasn't able to shut the door against Connecticut and when SU needed the offense to carry they day, they simply weren't good enough.

Marrone has said the team will keep working to make plays. I certainly believe that. But I also believe that after two years of watching this offense sputter and fail, either what he's asking his players to do is too difficult for them to properly execute, or the scheme doesn't work. Either way, there needs to be some changes this off-season, because stubbornly repeating the same thing and getting poor results is insane. Things that worked in the Super Dome don't always work in the Carrier Dome.

Look, we want Doug Marrone to succeed and to a degree, he already has. He's restored pride in the program and went to a bowl game. No one wants another coach. No one questions his work ethic or that of the team. I believe everyone in the program is working their ass off. I really do. No one wants to go through another rebuilding process, especially given the fact that there's a 50/50 chance who ever replaces him won't be any better.

We know it takes time to turn around a program and Syracuse doesn't have $5 million a year to spend on a new guy. Doug Marrone wants to be here and he will be the coach for as long as he can get the job done. We love his passion for the area and the University.

However, you can't help be but disheartened after watching this team the last two weeks. You can't keep losing to bad teams and think things will turn around. This off-season Doug Marrone the head coach might need to fire Doug Marrone the offensive coordinator (while Hackett has the title, this is Doug's offense) if he wants Doug Marrone to bring this program back to BCS Bowl games.

As to the game itself, here are a new quick thoughts:

- When you have a "slow strike" offense that that generates no big plays like SU, field position is critical. SU was in a hole all day thanks to some horrific special teams play. When we do an autopsy on this season, the main cause of death for both the Rutgers loss and this loss one could be pinned special teams. It's been a recurring problem throughout Marrone's tenure and this team isn't good enough to survive mistakes in this area.

- Obviously if you create five turnovers on defense and turn them into zero points you don't deserve to win.

- UConn has two quarterbacks that can't pass the ball and still scored 28 points. For whatever reason the defense just decided to stop wrapping up in the second half. It was inexplicable.

- I'd like to see SU use Dorian Graham as the primary kick returner instead of Jeremiah Kobena. Graham takes one to the house against WVU and then doesn't get another chance. He's more experienced than Kobena and I think he'd do a better job of finding the holes out there.

- Ross Krautman has a slight groin pull. With the way he kicked off, I hope it was more than just a slight pull, because he was awful. I think he has set a record for kicking the ball out of bounds on kick offs. It's a mistake you can't make.

- I miss Rob Long.

- I have never, in more than 30 years of watching football, seen an offense that cannot operate outside of the hash marks quite like this one. If the play isn't a slant or a TE drag, it's not working. Nassib struggles on those throws and either doesn't trust his receivers to make plays, or they are always blanketed.

- It was a great game for Alec Lemon.

- We've always loved Van Chew, but in the last 5 games he has 11 catches for 100 yards. Syracuse absolutely has to get more production than that out of that slot. Even if he's open and Nassib isn't giving him a chance, it might be time to get someone else out there to see what happens.

- The missed tackles were Greg Robinson-esque. That hasn't been a big problem all year but it is what makes this team so crazily-infuriating to watch. One week they are making a terrible Tulane QB look like Tom Brady and a few weeks later they pick the ball off bunch of times but look like Rocky chasing a chicken when it comes to tackling.

- I don't think Connecticut wins another game this year.

- Syracuse and South Florida play Friday night - the loser is officially the worst team in the Big East. Yikes.

Cue The Crying Bama Fan Dressed Like Bear Bryant

2011-11-05T23:56:00.000-04:00

We're not trying to steal any of Brian's thunder from over at Orange 44. But this screen shot towards the end of the ~~Game of the Century~~ Field GoalFest was just too good to pass up.

Watching a grown man who wears a shirt and tie to a college football game cry on national TV--- that's gold Jerry.

Syracuse - Connecticut Prediction

2011-11-04T00:28:00.002-04:00

This picture mesmerizes and terrifies me at the same time, via Hoya Suxa

Syracuse travels to Connecticut on Saturday for the first-ever Coach P Bowl as the inconsistent Orange face a struggling UConn team. Franky the odds of there being even a second Coach P Bowl aren't great. Some Connecticut fans already want Pasqualoni fired, Syracuse is moving to the ACC, and God only knows what the Sun Beast Super Taint Conference Johnny Boy Marinara is cooking up will look like a year a year from now.

However, that doesn't mean the predictions come to an end. With the condition of our guest predictor Andy Rooney unknown, for the second week in a row we've asked the ghost of legendary Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray to fill in. Harry's working for us for a small stipend because the economy is tough - just like it was in 1980 when he cut this ad for La Preferida foods.

Hey everybody, Harry Caray back from the grave again -- kind of like Paul Pasqualoni's college coaching career. I died in 1998 and Coach P was coaching in the Big East. I wake up on 2011 and he's still there, just wearing different clothes. Do you think death messes up your rods and cones? I can't see any way another team would have hired him, so near as I can figure, Syracuse changed colors....and location.

You know Pasqualoni came out to Chicago once. Apparently Frank Maloney stole a bunch of Otto paperweights and Paul, being the stickler for law and order, came out to retrieve them 15 years later. How'da like that!

Well Maloney and I are slamming Old Style's at the Billy Goat and boy we are both piss drunk. Well Pasqualoni marches in and starts lecturing Maloney about stealing, but he's talking so slow in this low boring voice we can't hear him. All I heard was the word multiple about 20 times. How'd ya like that?

We tried to calm him down and it must have taken us an hour to get him to order a drink and wouldn't you know it - he orders a Hamm's. Hey - can you believe it - a Hamms! Maloney started laughing so hard a pickled egg flew out of his nose.

So Pasqualoni takes one sip of his Hamm's, starts rambling again and let me tell you - I think he hypnotized us! The old boy starts blabbing again and the next thing I know I've got piss running down my leg. We pushed him off on a Brewers fan and Maloney never did give him the paperweights back.

So hey gang, I've been in the ground for ever a decade and I tell ya, I still show more signs of life than Paul. Let me tell you, I don't think his trick shot QB is very good. What good is a trick-shot QB anyway? You can't even win a bar bet with those tricks. Any bar keep worth his salt will throw out on your ass the second you bounce a football off a bottle of Tullamore Dew -- Jim McMahon and I learned that the hard way in 1986.

Hey, don't you think Andre Dawson would be a better QB? I think eventually Dawson would wear down SU, but since the Hawk's skinny legs would look crazy in football uniform, I'm assuming he's not going to show up. Without him the Huskies don't stand a chance.

Syracuse - 28
Connecticut - 20

Ebay Item of the Week: That's a Dashing Young Coach P

2011-11-02T21:38:00.000-04:00

The first "Coach P Bowl" takes place this weekend and we're offering up the above autographed photo as our Ebay Item of the Week.

Syracuse Basketball Returns With a Win Over Cal State LA

2011-11-02T00:10:00.007-04:00

The Syracuse Orange men's basketball team played its first exhibition of the 2011-12 season, handily dispatching former Orange legend Stevie Thompson's Cal State-LA team 79-49. I'm not going to tell you this game meant anything, because frankly it didn't. It was an exhibition - a glorified practice if you will. In fact, I forgot it was happening and only watched the second half.

While we knew going we wouldn't learn much from this one, that doesn't mean there weren't a few things that caught my eye. In no particular order, here are some quick observations on the contest.

- Fab Melo has lost a ton of weight. He's obviously in much better shape and finally looks comfortable on the floor. Dominating a smaller, Division II opponent isn't something to get excited about, but the way Fab hustled and ran the floor with ease, certainly is. Now if we can just keep him away from turn signal levers, he could have a break-out year.

- Rakeem Christmas may be a freshman, but he's got the body of a man. Imagine Baye Keita's build last year. Christmas' is the same -- except the exact opposite.

- Michael Carter-Williams on the other hand is very thin. He will get better has he fills out.

- Seriously, Fab Melo looked like a completely different player.

- Likewise Dion Waiters looked slimmer and in much better shape as well. The whole team must have boycotted Chipotle in the off-season. He has freakish athletic ability.

- This team has 12 legitimate contenders for playing time this year, which is more than any year I can remember. It will be interesting to see how Boeheim divides those minutes. Last year he basically used 9 guys, depending on match ups and how people were playing. I'd expect to see something similar this year.

- If I had to guess, the three guys who will see the least amount of playing time are Trevor Cooney, Mookie Jones and James Southerland. Of course this will probably change by the time conference play begins, but the good news is that all three guys can shoot the ball well, so if JB team needs someone to come of the bench and make some shots, any of the three could get their number called.

- The star of the night was without a doubt Cal State LA's Carl Hoffman, who looked like a homeless lumberjack -- or as Champ put it - like Bill Wennington's fat younger brother. Carl is number 32 in this photo from Matt C. You can see all of Matt's photos from the game here.

Carl also has a slight resemblance to West Virginia's Deniz Kilicli, who himself looks like Non from the Superman movies.....if those two guys ate nothing but fried chicken for two months straight. I would have added Carl into this photo, but it was an exhibition game, and frankly that's too much work.

Get To Know Terrell Hunt

2011-10-30T23:32:00.000-04:00

Via Upstate at the Syracusefan message board, we bring you this video of Syracuse freshman QB Terrell Hunt. It's quite a story, the young man has lost both his parents in the last couple of years. You have to root for a guy after hearing a story like this.

John McEnroe on the SU-Louisville Game

2011-10-30T21:26:00.001-04:00

Syracuse Takes a Step Backward, Gets Pounded by Louisville

2011-10-30T16:56:00.001-04:00

Growing pains can be painful -- especially when there's no growth. The still growing Syracuse Orange football program went to Kentucky on Saturday and all they got was a beating from the previously sub .500 Louisville Cardinals, losing 27-10.

The loss was especially bitter for fans who thought last week's huge victory over West Virginia was a watershed moment for a program that is still recovering from the disastrous Greg Robinson era. It turns out the Syracuse performance against the Mountaineers may have been an aberration.

In the face of an aggressive pressure defense, the Orange offense once again folded like a cheap suit, something that has happened far too often with with Doug Marrone at the helm. The offensive performance was reminiscent of the impotent performances the offense had down the stretch last year.

Make no mistake about it, Marrone has done a commendable job so far. He turned around a train wreck of a program, turning in a winning season and bowl victory in year two and barring a complete collapse, the Orange will finish this year with 6 or 7 wins and another bowl trip this year.

The Syracuse program is better in every phase of the game under Marrone. However, the one thing he has not consistently established is an offensive attack that threatens opposing defenses. We've seen flashes, like last week, but it hasn't been consistent enough.

Every time we get an offensive flame-out, the same excuse appears -- that Syracuse doesn't have a game-breaking receiver. That may be true, but I simply don't believe receivers on this team are that bad. Part of it has to be scheme.

Marrone didn't have any problem recognizing the fact that his team would struggle against Louisville's pressure defense, but we was unable to get his players to implement an attack that would beat it. While I have no doubt he's working very hard to get this corrected, I don't understand the refusal to spread the field.

Sure the offensive line was getting beat, but if you go four wide and flex the TE you are forcing the defense to react to that and take those guys into account instead of just bringing heat right up the middle. I'd rather have Nassib hitting a WR on a hot route than have him fire another 2 yard pass into Adam Harris' chest. You aren't going to threaten a defense with Nick Provo and David Stevens running two yard drags all day.

Of course, this week it didn't help that Ryan Nassib missed every single throw he attempted outside of five yards. Ryan admitted as much after the game which is commendable, but he had some killer misses in this one. He has to connect on a few of those. I swear he missed on every vertical throw he attempted.

So for three years Syracuse has struggled against teams that play aggressive bump and run on the corners and blitz up the middle. And for for three years have haven't seen much deviation in the way the team attacks it. There's an old saying that if the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Marrone and Hackett need to go buy some more tools to and fix this offense.

As to the game itself, here are some quick thoughts:

- The defense didn't play well, but if the offense had helped a little the performance wouldn't have been so glaring. Those guys spent a ton of time on the field.

- There were a lot of bad angles taken and blown coverages in the secondary. This has been a reoccurring theme.

- I really like the linebackers. Probably the biggest question mark coming into the season, this unit has played well, and will only get better. Cameron Lynch, Dyshawn Davis, Marquis Spruill and Dan Vaughan are going to keep getting better.

- Another nice game for Chandler Jones, who was seemingly getting held on every play.

- The officiating was abysmal. The ass-clowns that were working the game threw a flag on seemingly every play. It was a joke. You would have thought they were getting paid based on the number of flags they threw. It wasn't one-sided either, the screwed Louisville a few times and screwed the Orange some as well. No one watches games to see referees. Someone should tell these guy that.

- Charlie Strong is a really, really good football coach. With him at the helm Louisville is going to dominate the Sun Beast conference.

- We got bad Ryan Nassib yesterday. I still think he's a pretty good QB, so let's just move on.

- The offensive line did a poor job of getting Louisville's middle blitzes picked up. After a masterful game against West Virginia, the unit struggled something fierce.

- I think Michael Hay gets personal fouls in class as well. He has to right? I can just see him slamming into professors after class is over, just to stay in practice.

- It was nice to see Jarrod West with his first career TD. Here's hoping there's many more.

- UConn is up next and that team is terrible. The Orange need to go to Connecticut and take care of business because if they make Johnny McEntee look competent than we should just shut down the season.

Two-thirds of the way through the season SU sits at 5-3. We are looking at another finish in the 7-5 range. At the beginning of the season there wouldn't be many people who would be disappointed with that record, so it's safe to say the program is still headed in the right direct. That doesn't make Saturday's game any easier to swallow, but all we can do now is move.

Go Orange, Beat UConn.

Syracuse - Louisville Prediction

2011-10-28T10:58:00.002-04:00

Image and U of L twitter heckling guide via Hoya Suxa

On Saturday the Syracuse football team will try and help it's coach Doug Marrone do something he has yet to accomplish in his two and half years as the head man - beat the Louisville Cardinals. It's ironic really, since Louisville was the only team Greg Robinson COULD beat. Greggers went 3-25 in the Big East, two of those wins came against Louisville.

Meanwhile the Cards look to do something the program hasn't accomplished since 2006 - win back to back Big East games. Take a bow Steve Krapthorpe and Greg Robinson - you each have a legacy that lives on to this very day.

This is normally the point where we'd turn to "Andy Rooney" and have him break the game down for us. However, Andy is in the hospital in serious but stable condition, so having "him" predict the game is a little too crass - even by our standards. We are wishing Andy a speedy recovery so we can go on mocking him with a clean conscience. In his place, we've asked deceased Chicago Cubs broadcaster Harry Carray to pinch hit....because picking on dead people is much more classy. You remember Harry.

Hey everybody, it's Harry. Theo Epstein's now running the Cubs and ordered me back from the grave. It's OK by me - it's cold down there. Hey, don't worry, I wasn't in hell, I was a basement bar in Topeka Kansas. Well maybe that was hell, all they served was warm Schmidt's and cottage cheese - but I ate it anyway. I mixed them together sometimes. You ever been drunk on cottage cheese beer? It's not as bad as you think -- if fact it's better than watching UConn try and play offense.

Hey gang, Louisville Kentucky is a great, great place. One time I was at Churchill Downs quaffing Shafer tall boys and playing the ponies and I ran into Steve Kragthorpe. Krags and I got to drinking and I bet him he couldn't shove a live a panther down his pants. He was going to do it too but on the way over to the zoo a cop stopped me for DWI. I got out of it by offering to let him sing take me out to the ball game at a September Cubs game. Don't drink and drive kids, you can't get out of that like old Harry can. Hey, I miss Krags.

But hey folks, Syracuse is a great place too. Bob Costas went there. I was drinking with the little guy once at the Cubby Bear. We went over for a few pops in the 4th inning of a game Steve Trachsel was pitching. The Trachmeister was throwing meatballs and working slower than a mexican bob sledder, so we ducked in for a few during the game. Buy hey, wouldn't you know it, Bob couldn't see the taps at the bar so they gave him a booster seat. What a great place the Cubby Bear. Don't you think Bob Costas looks like a Dunkin Donuts munchkin?

But hey, I think the game is going to be a doozy. The odds seem off to me -- kind of like a hot dog that's not perfectly straight. I'm not sure why Louisville is giving 3 points, considering their offense is 114th in the country in scoring. Hey, I scored more than that for last decade and I've been dead. Liz Taylor still gives it up in the after life. Hey everybody -- you need to score to win - that's science. My prediction:

Syracuse - 24
Louisville - 16

Ebay Item of the Week: SyrACCuse Gear

2011-10-26T21:05:00.000-04:00

Are you looking for some new Syracuse gear that reflects the Orange's soon-to-be move to the ACC? Well, if so, don't look here.

But if you are looking for a really bad 90s era hat that some guy stitched "ACC" onto, well then you've come to the right place.

Oh, what the heck. I'm sending one to Oliver Luck for Christmas.

DeJuan Coleman Highlight Videos

2011-10-25T23:56:00.003-04:00

By now you surely know Jamesville-Dewitt star DeJuan Coleman has decided to play college basketball at Syracuse. As one of the highest rated recruits in the country, it is another great get for Jim Boeheim and his staff and it will add to a huge and deep front line that Syracuse could potentially have in in the 2012-2013 season.

What's even better is that Coleman spurned John Calipari's Kentucky program to stay home. Calipari loves to operate on the fringe of the NCAA rulebook and the guy just reeks of used-car salesman, so seeing him come up on the short end of things makes us smile.

However, if there's one thing we've learned over the years its that recruiting hype is just that -- hype. Remember that for every Carmelo Anthony that is landed there are plenty of Paul Harris' and Fab Melos. Harris wasn't a bust, but couldn't live up to unrealistic expectations and while Melo has plenty of time to prove he's the real deal, last year was rough. Annointing teenagers as saviors rarely works out for anyone -- at least until all of Will Smith's kids come of age -- and the expectations are aren't really fair to the player either. So we'll be rooting hard for DeJuan, but not expecting miracles.

With that said, let's watch a few videos and learn a little more about SU's newest big man.

Here's DeJuan doing work on the court.

DeJuan's story, which highlights the challenges of growing up in a tough neighborhood.

DeJuan at the Boost Mobile 24 Event - talking the difference between east coast and west coast hoops.

CNY.com news story on the announcement.

Has Anyone Seen Tfburgess?

2011-10-24T22:25:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago we made a little video poking fun at Oliver Luck's statement that he would trade Air Force and Navy for Syracuse any day of the week.

That solicited a comment from reader tfburgess that claimed Syracuse lacked West Virginia's marketing savvy because Brad Pitt was once photographed wearing a West Virginia hat. He went on to claim that he'd heard "the ACC was already regretting" the decision to invite Syracuse. You can read all of his comments, and our replies in the comment section of this post.

After the ass-beating Syracuse administered to West Virginia on Friday, tfburgess, who left the same comment on a post over at the Orange Fizz, seems to have disappeared. We'd like to hear back from him and not because we're vindictive. We are actually here to help. After all Brad Pitt is getting a little long in the tooth and it's clear the Mountaineers need to kick that marketing machine back into high gear. We've got a few suggestions:

How about getting Bradley Cooper photographed in a West Virginia wife beater? or
Having the papparzzi catch Gerad Butler WV thong, or
George Clooney would look great in a Jesus Loves West Virginia Tee, and
This Trust Me I'm from West Virginia shirt screams Matt Damon

Tfburgess doesn't need to thanks us, giving back is what we do. Although for the record we agree with Sean McDonough's assessment of Luck.....and if you're keeping track at home, Air Force is 3-4 this year and Navy is 2-5.

Here's our video one more time for good measure.

Syracuse West Virginia Observations

2011-10-24T00:37:00.002-04:00

I can guarantee you Oliver Luck wasn't smiling Friday night. There's always been Navy and Air Force Ollie.

For the first time in what seems like a million years, the Syracuse Orange took the Carrier Dome turf and kicked the living hell out what was thought to be a superior opponent, crushing the 15th ranked West Virginia Mountaineers 49-23.

Coming into the game West Virginia was the class of the Big East. They are still the soon to be dead conference's only ranked team -- and Syracuse took them apart. It was the most raucous I've seen the dome in years, and it felt great. Let's do some quick observations.

What We Thought: West Virginia was a better team and there was no way SU could keep it close.
What We Know: If you give Doug Marrone two weeks to prepare, you are probably going to lose. Marrone is 3-0 in games after bye weeks, including wins against USF and WVU. The odds makers missed the point spread by 40.

What We Thought: The offensive line, while experienced, hadn't lived up to expectations.
What We Know: The entire offensive line played spectacularly. Ryan Nassib had a clean, clean pocket all game line. In the run game they battered the 3-3-5 Mountaineer set and Antwon Bailey, Jerome Smith and Adonis Ameen-Moore took advantage.

What We Thought: Ryan Nassib, after a quick start, was in a little bit of a funk.
What We Know: He could start his own band - Funk No More (sorry, that was a terrible joke). Nassib played a brilliant game, accounting for 5 tds (4 passing, 1 running). He was especially sharp on 3rd down. When you convert 12-17 third downs, you will win games.

What We Thought: The defense struggles to stop anyone.
What We Know: Chandler Jones returned, the defense was more healthy than it had been all year and holy hell, what a performance by that unit, and Jones in particular.. He was a beast and dominated from start to finish. If he can stay healthy he will be the best defensive lineman to wear Orange since Dwight Freeney. The rest of the unit rose to the occasion. Geno Smith and the Mountaineers accumulated yards, but not enough points -- and SU forced a couple of key turnovers.

What We Thought: Dorian Graham is getting better.
What We Know: Dorian Graham is getting better. A lot better. He made a couple of great grabs and to extend drives and he could the be X-factor the offense needs to stretch the field. You always hear how he's the fastest guy on the team and he really showed it on the kick off return for a touchdown when he was even with a defender and then turned on the jets and ran away from him.

What We Thought: Syracuse fans are terrible.
What We Know: We aren't so terrible anymore. Maybe it was the Friday night start or people used the bye week to re-charge their batteries, but I was pleasantly surprised to walk into the building before kickoff and see it more full than it had been in years. Once the Orange got rolling, so did the fans. When the Dome is close to full and the fans are into the game it is a very, very hard place to play. I was getting flashbacks to the McNabb years, It's an awesome advantage to have and I'm glad it's coming back.

Here's a shaky video I shot with my Droid of the crowd. It hasn't been that electric in the building in a long time.

What We Thought: Most people wouldn't notice or talk about this game after it was over.
What We Know: This win was big enough for to get my 90 year old grandmother's attention. On Sunday we celebrated by beloved grandmother's 90th birthday. She's a remarkable woman. She's kind, intelligent, loving and raised 5 kids under less than ideal circumstances. The whole family is blessed to have her. She is also a big SU fan and used to gently chastise me for being so mean to Greg Robinson....until he got fired and made the dumb little engine that could speech. After she heard that, she conceded I was right and Greg was in fact a dope. She liked him because he seemed like a nice man.

However, he main interest is in the basketball program. She's never been much for football so when I walked in the restaurant and sat down next her, the first thing she said to me was "Andrew, did you see that football game Friday night?" I sure did grandma -- and so did a lot of other people. At 90 she's still as sharp as a tack and her party was lovely bookend to a very good weekend. Here's hoping we've got 5 more of those coming.

Go Orange.

This Week In College Football

2011-10-23T21:41:00.000-04:00

49-23 good guys. The Ben trophy stays home. While you're waiting for the Russianator's game recap, check out some other stuff:

Axe, Nolan, Bud and the rest of the Syracuse.com crew

The Democrat and Chronicle's Bob Matthews saying SU's record isn't a fluke

Here's what we picked up on over the weekend:

* Clemson, this tease continues...

* In this week's future ~~Big East~~ Big Mountain West Conference USA East Game of the week: East Carolina got by Navy

* Wisconsin...how does that happen?

* Big hiccup for Oklahoma as well

* Boise vs. LSU/Alabama winner for the BCS title?

* Seriously, how did we lose to Rutgers?

* About that "Notre Dame could get into a BCS Bowl game" talk...

* Great news for Louisville CB Anthony Conner; get well soon.

* Overall, this was just a very "blah" weekend for games.

* No seriously, how did we lose to Rutgers?

A Nelson Muntz Moment

2011-10-23T21:20:00.000-04:00

"In fact, I would trade Air Force or Navy for Syracuse every day of the week in terms of the quality of the football program. No disrespect, but that's just an observation I think most would agree with who understand football."

~ WVU Athletic Director Oliver Luck

Ollie, this one's for you buddy:

John Marinatto's Plan to Supersize College Football

2011-10-23T21:03:00.001-04:00

So the ACC goes to 14. Talk of 16-team super-conferences continue. Big East commish John Marinatto apparently sees strength in numbers. I give you the 32-team merged Big East-Conference USA-Mountain West.

I haven't heard an idea this good since...well...I'll let Bill remind us:

Syracuse West Virginia Official Prediction

2011-10-21T00:13:00.003-04:00

Picture and West Virginia heckling guide via Hoya Suxa

The West Virginia Mountaineers and Dana Holgerson's hair travel north to take on the Syracuse Orange Friday night at 8 pm in the Carrier Dome. ESPN will be televising the game nationally for the seven people that are home on Fridy night and the four people that are sober enough in bars to notice. As you know by now, recently retired pain in the ass Andy Rooney is doing the predictions this year for us. Take it away Andy.

Did you ever notice that the state of West Virginia is really more north of Virginia than truly west? I have. If anything, it should be called North West Virginia, but people don't seem to care about maps any more and that's a shame. Because if the people in West Virginia could read, I think they'd be upset. No one gets upset in West Virginia these days. Don Nehlen used to get upset, but he's not there any more. At least I don't think he's there any more. Once the next issue of Sport magazine shows up in my mailbox I'll check.

West Virginia's mascot wears a coonskin cap. I like that. I bought my first coonskin cap at an C.G Murphy's five and dime in McKeesport Pennsylvania in 1947. I still have it and it looks great. The only problem is I can't figure out how to wash it. It's got 60 years of sweat and old man smell just baked into it. A few years ago I wore it a West Virginia game when that Mexican guy was coaching them. I got a chance to trade hats with the the WVA mascot and his hat actually smelled worse. How do you like that??? It just goes to show that no matter how much stench it has, you can never beat a coonskin.

I've also heard West Virginia is selling beer at their stadium now. I've seen West Virginians drunk and I don't think that's a good idea. It seems to me that if a person is too drunk to stand in a parking lot, that same person is going to be too drunk to make out with his mother when he's shown on the kiss cam.

As for the game itself, I don't think Syracuse can slow down West Virginia's offense. They are using this new thing called a forward pass, and it seems pretty effective. I think Sport Magazine is doing a feature about it next month.

Prediction

West Virginia - 41
Syracuse - 24

Ebay Item of the Week: Ice Ice Baby

2011-10-19T20:17:00.002-04:00

It's West Virginia week, so for our friends from Morgantown:

MARVIN GRAVES, MARVIN GRAVES, MARVIN GRAVES, MARVIN GRAVES, MARVIN GRAVES

Now that we've gotten that off our chest. Let's talk about the Marvin Graves-led '92 squad that defeated Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl. Our Ebay Item of the Week is an official championship ring from the game that we fondly remembered back in 2009, and for a cool $1K, it's yours. But cubic-zirconia? Really?

Marvin Graves wore a ring like this.

Big East All Conference Team is Better Than Any Other in the Nation

2011-10-19T11:11:00.005-04:00

The Big East pre-season all conference team is out and it the first team is stacked. UConn's Jeremy Lamb has remarkable talent that was on display during UConn's national title run. Pitt's Ashton Gibbs is a lethal scorer who shares a first name with a guy named Kutcher and a shooting motion with a guy who has involuntary muscle spams. SU's Kris Joseph is healthy and is ready to lead one one the deepest teams in the country while simultaneously raising awareness about how delicious poutine is. Notre Dame's Tim Abromaitis can shoot the rock better than Mike Brey can model turtlenecks. Kevin Jones from West Virginia can out-generic name anyone in the land and Darius Johnson-Odom is explosive off the dribble and his use of hyphens fills up highlight reels on a nightly basis.

Sure the group is small -- consisting of 2 guards and 4 wing players, none of whom is taller than 6'7", but that is irrelevant. This is the best basketball team on the planet and it's not even close. This fact is not up for discussion - if you put this team on the floor they'd beat any other team in the country and here's why -- there's six of them. You play 6 on 5 and you've got yourself quite an advantage there. That's just science. Check it out.

Obviously the league did this because they decided not to name a second or third team and had to properly honor the 6 best ~~perimeter~~ players in the league. Without second or third teams it wouldn't be right to slight of one of these guys.....unless in fact there were second and third teams, which curiously consist of just 5 guys each. Second and third teams must not be that special.

Clearly this is the type of out-of-the-box thinking that the soon to be formed SunBeast Conference will embrace.

Dana Holgorsen: Brilliant Offensive Mind, Terrible Hair

2011-10-19T00:29:00.004-04:00

The Syracuse defense will have its hands full when the high-powered West Virginia offense comes to the Carrier Dome this Friday night and as such, we fired up the Google-machine to do a little research for the game. The thought was to compile and break down some stats and talk intelligently about the contest. However that became impossible because we were getting continually distracted by one thing that cannot be ignored -- Dana Holgerson has some terrifying hair.

We certainly aren't the only ones to notice. Do a google image search for "Dana Holgorsen Hair" and this is your first page -- we highlighted a few things you need to see:

This is just a fantastic cornucopia of inexplicable images. Any time the first page of an image search turns up various bad pictures of the subject, a random Chris Berman shot, a picture of a woman that looks near death, a Gene Chizak afro picture and the star of the Pacifer, that's a winner.

Do a general google search and your top three results are:

As someone who is cursed male pattern baldness, there are a few basic things you need to do to get the situation under control --keep the hair short, avoid combovers and try not to look like a rapist. You take care of those three basic things and everything else is cream cheese. Holgorsen's offenses may score a ton of points, but his hair is close to triggering amber alerts.

The good news for Dana is that unless the Ty Willingham wind is blowing the Dome Friday night, he doesn't have to worry about his creepy locks getting blown out of place. Then again, with this guy we're not sure how you'd actually define out of place. What we do know is that the Tiger Droppings site summed up the Holgerson hair situation:

A Seinfeld Analogy on the Current State of the SU-Big East Relationship

2011-10-18T22:12:00.000-04:00

Photo: AP, Stew Milne

So if you conduct a conference call and don't say anything, is it still a conference call?

My favorite part about John's eloquent talk to the media today is the nugget that he's determined to hold Syracuse and Pitt to the 27 month waiting clause, even if they get up to 12 other football playing schools because:

"We’ve modeled a 14-team football division so if that came to that, we would employ that if it was to

our membership’s advantage.”

To illustrate the ridiculousness of this notion, we offer up the wonderful world of Seinfeld. (Excuse the link, but embedding was not allowed)

Turn you key John! Turn you key!

John Marinatto Announces the Future of the Big East

2011-10-17T23:42:00.002-04:00

Big East Commissioner John Marinatto is having call with reporters on Tuesday and it is expected he will announce higher exit fees -- with contingencies of course -- and since Missouri appears headed to the SEC, all hell is going to break loose once again.

However, what you don't know is this -- the Big East Commissioner has been hampered by an impossible situation. Evil forces have Big John over a barrel. Space Warlord Dark Helmet has taken his beloved Prince Vespa Tranghese hostage and now with the Prince's life in peril, Marinatto has finally agreed to announce the secret combination to saving the Big East. We present it to you exclusively. Enjoy.

Inspired by the fantastic 1-2-3-4-5 scene from Spaceballs.

Random Rants and Ramblings

2011-10-17T00:05:00.005-04:00

GIF via - Via Jose303

I'm not sure there's anything better than LeSean McCoy drilling Andy Reid after locking up a desperately needed win and watching the big man howl, which makes the GIF above so damn awesome. What is going on people? While the Syracuse football spent its bye week getting ready for the second half of the season and and basketball team was over taken with midnight madness, I was swamped with work and other family obligations, which is why it's been slow around here.

So, let's get caught up on some of the happenings in a busy sports weekend with some random rants and ramblings.....

- The best tweet after LeSean McCoy smacked Andy Reid on Sunday was something to the effect of "LeSean just did to Andy what every Eagles fan has wanted to do all year." I was too lazy to document who said it, but rest assured it wasn't me. I just read it and nodded.

- What a tragic day for racing with the loss of Dan Wheldon. It's certainly not the way that sport wanted to get back into the national consciousness.

- The Syracuse basketball team is practicing and judging by Mike Waters glowing practice report, we could be in for a special season. I say this because Mike Waters does not glow. Even though he writes for the hometown paper, he is a straight-shooter who tells it like it is. The fact that there are exclamation points and proclamations about the second team being able to make noise in the Big East is telling to me.

- So two coaches get into a near-fight at the end of a game and Rex Ryan wasn't involved? I find that hard to believe. Then again, I don't think Rex could have kept up with Jim Harbaugh or Jim Schwartz if either were sprinting down the field.

- Rex Grossman did something the Juan Castillo could not -- he figured out how to make the Eagles defense look good. Thanks Rexy.

- The Syracuse football team is 4-2 at the halfway point in the season. SU has been outscored by its opponents, is 96th in the country in total offense, 86th in pass efficiency defense -- and they could still win 5 of their last 6 games. Why? The Big East is TERRIBLE. The conference should just rename itself West Virginia and the Seven Dwarfs. Other than the Mountaineers, there's not a single game the Orange can't win and with the way this team has played so far, that says volumes.

- And we'll leave you with some deep thoughts from Lovie Smith, courtesy of the Heckler.

This Week In College Football

2011-10-16T20:55:00.000-04:00

The good guys were off this weekend. Be sure to get caught up on a couple of must reads:

First, Dave Rahme looks what needs to be corrected in the second half of the season.

Next, Bud catches up with former Orangeman Chris "2 More Yards" Gedney.

Meanwhile here's what caught our eyes during this "ho-hum" off weekend:

* Get used to this UConn fans, winning games you shouldn't and losing games you absolutely shouldn't

* In this week's "Future Big East Game of the Week," SMU rolled over UCF

* Best text message I received this weekend, courtesy of our fellow idiot Boss, "Syracuse wouldn't get a first down against LSU."

* Those Michigan State uniforms? Yuck

* The 'Canes topped UNC in the Butch Davis Bowl. Congrats to Miami for winning the Old Broken NCAA Rulebook Trophy

* Folks, not to press the panic button, but UTEP blasted Tulane this weekend 44-7

* Hat tip to Darren Rovell's Twitter feed on this one. Awesome work here by Hawkeye fans at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday:

* Falling back to Earth: Illinois, Ga. Tech and Baylor

* Clemson? You're teasing of us continues

* We'll find out if Kansas State is for real with Oklahoma (10/29) and Oklahoma State (11/5) looming on the schedule

A Nelson Muntz Moment

2011-10-12T21:53:00.000-04:00

Good times in Boston. Let's review:

Francona gone, Theo gone, fried chicken-gate, and BC Athletic Director Gene DeFilippio throwing the ACC and ESPN under the bus

Boston, this one's for you:

Ebay Item of the Week: Perhaps The Ugliest Piece of Syracuse Gear Ever

2011-10-12T21:27:00.000-04:00

Yikes. This week's Ebay Item of the Week is not exactly pleasing to the eyes. Let's just say I'd rather be caught wearing David Puddy's man-fur or his Magic 8-Ball jacket.

This Week In College Football

2011-10-09T18:47:00.000-04:00

37-34 good guys. To quote Apollo Creed in Rocky II, "Damn't I beat him but I didn't win." Your must reads:

1. An Idiot's Recap
2. Axe's Sunny Side and Dark Side posts

What else caught our eyes this weekend? Glad you asked:

* What the heck got into Pitt?

* Here's an interesting nugget on something that hasn't happened in the state of Florida since 1982

* In this week's "Future Big East Game of the Week," Houston rolled over ECU

* Oklahoma State....yamma hamma, if I didn't know it Coach Gundy, I'd say you have a team full of men this year

* I love listening to Lou Holtz explain how Notre Dame will be in line for a BCS Bowl appearance...that makes me laugh

* While I despise both teams, that Va. Tech/Miami ending was great

* The whole "half the stadium one color thing" is pretty darn cool in Dallas, I'm putting that game on my bucket list

* Clemson, you're teasing me

* Illinois is undefeated, no I'm serious

I Want My CSTV!

2011-10-09T17:37:00.001-04:00

Tremendous production work by the boys down South with the Syracuse game Saturday night. It's got me singing "I Want My CSTV."

Syracuse Loses to Tulane, Wins 37-34

2011-10-09T11:37:00.001-04:00

Photo: Frank Ordoñez / The Post-Standard
Like Doug Marrone, we are wondering what the hell happened too

The Syracuse Orange went down to New Orleans and beat a terrible Tulane team 37-34. The game should have never been that close. The Orange raced out to a 31-14 lead and then stopped executing on both sides of the ball. The game was played in front of approximately 12 fans and 9 of them were wearing Orange. You have to give SU fans credit for turning out - on TV all you could see were empty seats and Orange shirts. Let's get to some observations and then put this piece of garbage performance in the rear view mirror.

What We Thought: Deuce McAllister was a retired running back who had a nice career in the NFL.
What We Know: Deuce McAllister is a 400 pound, 65 year old football analyst working for Cox Sports. Seriously, Deuce looked really old, really fat and I'm pretty sure they passed a mirror under his nose at halftime to see if he was still breathing. Deuce was less than animated doing color commentary, although he did set the record for saying "you know" in a broadcast. Oh we know Deuce, we know.

What We Thought: Football television broadcasts have made quantum leaps forward over the past 10 years, with the exception of the Fox Robot.
What We Know: While we were happy to be able to watch the game, we learned Cox Sports laughs at new fangled things like "High Definition," "first down lines," "replays," and "down and distance graphics." There was a high school football game on another channel at the same time -- it was in HD and it was better produced. If Cox Sports was a dog, it would be put down for humane reasons. Champ said it best - Cox Sports in the John Marinatto of regional sports networks.

We We Thought: The defense had turned the corner with a strong performance last week against Rutgers.
What We Know: The defense has major, major issues. There's no way to sugar coat this - the performance Saturday night was abysmal. Tulane had 471 yards of offense. SE Louisiana held them to nearly a 100 less yards than that. Army held them to 199 yards -- and Army gave up 503 yards to freaking Miami of Ohio yesterday. It was a comedy of errors that included missed tackles, defensive backs being totally lost in coverage, and a complete lack of pressure on the quarterback. If the D repeats that performance against West Virginia, they will give up 800 yards.

What We Thought: The offensive line would be the strength of the team.
What We Know: The offensive line isn't that good. My senior year of high school I had a history teacher ask me how our basketball team was looking. We had went 3-17 the year before but I thought we'd be better. I responded that we had a lot of experience coming back and we'd be better. He looked me in the eye and said experience is nice, but experience alone doesn't always help. He was right, we went 4-16. The point is this SU line is experienced, but they are far from the dominant group we were hoping for. They are adequate in the run game and still struggle in pass protection. And Michael Hay had a particularly brutal game. We'd be willing to bet that if Sean Hickey hadn't blown out his knee in pre-season camp, he'd be playing right tackle now.

What We Thought: The offense was going to carry the team.
What We Know: The offensive scheme is unimaginative, conservative and when there is an opportunity to make a big play, the players aren't executing. Antwon Bailey bounced back with a solid game, beyond that I don't know what Hacket and Marrone are trying to do. The passing game consists almost exclusively of TE drags, shallow wide receiver crosses and roll outs that result in 2 yard passes to the fullbacks. Marrone challenged his receivers to step up this week and other than Dorian Graham, no one did. On the play on the last drive when Tulane was called for roughing the passer, Nassib threw a beautiful ball that sailed clean through Van Chew's hands.

We don't have access to the coaches tape so I have no idea if WRs aren't open or if Nassib isn't throwing to them, but there's virtually no pass plays outside the hash marks. Everything is either a crossing route or a TE in the seam. In the first half the Orange tried to test Tulane deep, but miss fired on about about 4 go routes. After that, I don't think Nassib threw a pass over 15 yards.

What We Thought: Ryan Nassib was having a great junior year.
What We Know: Last week he struggled against Rutgers, but those things happen. This week he didn't turn the ball over against Tulane, but Ryan missed a bunch of open guys and was trying to throw fastballs on every play. He seemed too pumped up. With an offense that is this conservative, he needs to be more accurate.

The Bottom Line: At the halfway point in the season, Syracuse is 4-2 and headed into a much needed bye week. The win over Wake Forest looks more and more impressive, the win over Toledo will look very good at the end of the year and the loss to Rutgers is more understandable. The Orange now have two weeks to try and get their acts together and prepare for West Virginia. The good news is that the tam's best defender Chandler Jones should be back and the week off will give a banged up team time to get healthy. Marrone and Scott Shafer will have two weeks to game plan for the Big East's best time.

The second half of the season has winnable games against Louisville and UConn, plus games against unpredictable Pitt and USF. There are plenty of opportunities ahead to get to second consecutive bowl game, but it's up to the Orange to seize them. They certainly didn't seize anything Saturday night.

Syracuse - Tulane Prediction

2011-10-07T00:35:00.001-04:00

We've given up predicting the outcomes of Syracuse football games ourselves around here, frankly it's too much work. Luckily, recently retired Andy Rooney needed something to do and is serving as our pinch hitter. Here are Andy's thoughts on Saturday's game.

Syracuse plays Tulane this weekend. Tulane is coached by a nice man named Bob Toledo. Like me, his best days were years ago, and like me, he continues to work. I like that. It also makes me think of Ohio. Toledo is a wonderful city. I used to drive my Studebaker into town and go window shopping for wainscoting in Toledo. They always had the best wainscoting there, but of course these days no one values a good piece of paneling. What I don't understand is without wainscoting, how are people going to cover up the lead paint and asbestos in their homes? We'll all rue the day we ignored wainscoting. Mark my words.

It's too bad this game isn't being played in Toledo. Instead it's in New Orleans. I don't like New Orleans. It's rowdy, it smells, and its so loud it blows my ear-hair out of place. Plus, there's a lot of African Americans down there and I hate the using the term African American. It puts me in a bad mood.

Plus, did you ever notice in New Orleans they call donuts beignets? I have. If people in New Orleans don't have enough common sense to call a donut a donut, I don't see any way the University of Tulane can field a competent football team. People that don't understand pastry don't understand life. If Syracuse loses to this bunch of beignet lovers, I'll eat my hat.

Syracuse - 38
Tulane - 23

TCU Leaves the Big East

2011-10-06T12:07:00.001-04:00

Well, that didn't last long. TCU did the sane thing and announced it was leaving the sinking ship that is the Big East (before it even got there) and will instead join the Big 12. In breaking up with John Marinatto and the Big East, TCU sent a very simple message.

RIP Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T08:59:00.000-04:00

Steve Jobs is gone, but his legacy will live forever. Take 10 minutes and read this powerful, insightful obituary from Wired and then watch the iconic ad that introduced the Macintosh computer to the world. It ran during the the 1984 SuperBowl. The Raiders blew out the Redskins almost as badly as the iPod blew out the Zune.

You really can't put into words what Jobs meant to a technology obssessed world, but when you're checking your fantasy football scores on your phone this weekend and then tweeting your friends from a bar, take a second and thank Steve. He made it possible. Rest in Peace.

Oliver Luck Explains His Comments About Syracuse

2011-10-04T22:08:00.001-04:00

West Virginia Athletic Director Oliver Luck is not shy. When he's not naming coaches-in-waiting, teaching morons about proper t-shirt etiquette, or trying like hell to get West Virginia out of the Big East, you can find Luck speaking his mind any place there's a TV camera or tape recorder.

The other day, when discussing the Big East and it's plans for the future, Luck stated that he would trade Navy and Air Force for Syracuse any day of the week - given the current strength of each school's football program. Now, in an effort to clarify those remarks, Luck decided to give an interview you Syracuse Newhouse School of Public Communications student Amanda Huginkiss. That interview is below.

Oliver Luck on Syracuse and the Big East
by: Russianator

Ebay Item of the Week: Dooley Womack Will Take You High Enough

2011-10-04T21:32:00.002-04:00

With baseball playoffs in full swing, we thought we'd honor some Yankee legends with this week's collection of items from the world of online sports memorabilia. Move over Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle and Jeter, this week we're honoring former Yankee hurler Dooley Womack. For $5.59 his 1967 Topps card can be yours.

Sporting a career 15-16 record in the Bronx, Dooley spent three years in New York before stops in Houston, Seattle and Oakland.

Since we're on the subject of Yankees, time for a little Nugent-infused '90s power ballad:

Too Much Moneyball

2011-10-04T08:58:00.000-04:00

As you know, we're Yankee fans around here and last night pretty much sucked. However, just because we love the Yankees, it doesn't mean we don't have a sense of humor and it doesn't mean we can't laugh at our own team. So, via Midwest Sports Fans, we bring you a funny spoof of the Moneyball trailer. I will probably watch this and cry a little more with every bomb A.J. Burnett gives up tonight.