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Being a parent is hard. Make the wrong decisions and your child can grow up to do something terrible, like root for Georgetown. How To Grow An Orange shows every parent how to make sure that never happens...by providing them with everything they could ever possibly want to know about Syracuse University sports. Buy the paperback version here and the e-book version here.

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"One [blog] that I consider appointment reading at least a few times a week is Troy Nunes Is an Absolute Magician, a highly entertaining look at Syracuse sports."
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How To Grow An Orange: Now On Amazon

If you've been waiting for a good reason to buy the How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way To Brainwash Your Child Into Becoming A Syracuse Fan paperback, you will have none better than this.  It is now available on Amazon.  That means goodbye crazy shipping costs.  And if you bundle it with a Syracuse T-Shirt or a SU license plate frame and you don't even have to worry about shipping altogether.

If e-book is still your thing, you can pick up a much cheaper version over at Barnes & Noble's site, but you won't be able to get the paperback version there...yet.

As always, thank you to everyone who has purchased the book and I hope you enjoy it.

Oh and let me go ahead and do this for you before you post it in the comments.  Your move, jackalope.

1 comment |

Zip-Zap-Rap: Getting To Know Akron

Akron quarterback Patrick Nicely (16) runs from Syracuse's Doug Hogue (32) during the first quarter in an NCAA college football game in Syracuse, N.Y., Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009. (AP Photo/Kevin Rivoli)

More photos » Kevin Rivoli - AP

10 months ago: Akron quarterback Patrick Nicely (16) runs from Syracuse's Doug Hogue (32) during the first quarter in an NCAA college football game in Syracuse, N.Y., Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009. (AP Photo/Kevin Rivoli)

Matt over at our MAC blog The Hustle Belt was kind enough to answer some questions about this Akron squad the Orange will be facing off against tomorrow.  Check out his answers and then get back to your #BeatAkron attack on Twitter.

The general consensus seems to be that Akron is going to be on the bottom of the MAC this season. Can you confirm?

Last place is really up for grabs. Akron, Miami, Eastern Michigan, Ball State. It's really anyone's race to the bottom. I predict Akron to finish 4-8, tied for last in the MAC East.

Rob Ianello...right guy for the job or in over his head?

Hey, he was the head coach at Notre Dame! Okay … it was an interim position until Brian Kelly was hired. But consider: the last Irish WR coach to take a job at a MAC school was Urban Meyer.

He's gonna have a tough go at it for the same reason Toledo, Bowling Green, Ohio, Miami, and Kent State struggle to stay on top: the geographical clusterfork. They're all fighting for in-state recruit leftovers that haven't chosen Ohio State or Cincinnati.

Akron features Mitch Browning and Derrick Jackson on their coaching staff, two guys who know Syracuse fairly well. How much of an impact does that play in the game?

Depends. Did Syracuse forget to remove Browning and Jackson from the e-mailing list where they share playbook secrets? If not ... I don't know if it'll be a huge factor, even through both of their first games will be against the very school that fired them. But it does speak to the larger truth about this game: this is probably bigger for Akron than it is for Syracuse. Wouldn't you say?

Continue reading this post »

4 comments |

Syracuse Daily Links - Gametime

Uni Watch: Welcome to the biggest college football preview in stripes, patches and piping history - ESPN
Syracuse seems to roll out a new design just about every season. This year's version features a serious downsizing of the shoulder stripes, along with the addition of a two-tone collar and contrasting sleeve cuffs.

Three Idiots on Sports: Official Idiotic Predictions - Syracuse v. Akron
I see the Zips coming out strong, playing with a lot of emotion and giving SU a real game, for a half. I see the Orange offense struggling to get in sync early and at the half we're tied at 7. In the second half the Orange defense starts really beating up the zips and the offense pounds it down Akron's throat for 3 second half TDs. Lichty ads a FG and Akron scores a late garbage time TD.

Nassib ready for 1st QB start - GreenwichTime
"I feel like I'm a veteran now," said Nassib, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound finance major from West Chester, Pa. "I'm still kind of young, but I've been through a lot, seen a lot, and I took it upon myself to help bring the younger kids along. We are pretty young in some spots."

Orange::44: 2010 Big East Prospectus Part 8: Syracuse
Syracuse begins their 2010 campaign under 2nd year head coach Doug Marrone with one very specific goal; get to a bowl game. Seems simple enough, but for a Syracuse team that has not headed to a bowl since 2004 and has not had a winning season since 2001 that is easier said than done.

HAWKS: Hawks Sign Etan Thomas
The Atlanta Hawks have signed free agent center Etan Thomas, according to Executive Vice President/General Manager Rick Sund. Per team policy, terms were not disclosed.

Orange::44: 2010 Big East Prospectus Part 7: West Virginia
Bill Stewart, who seems more like a happy grandfather than a football coach, sits on his third season at the helm of West Virginia. And he has another solid team. QB Jarrett Brown is gone and sophomore Geno Smith is now under center.

Politi: Ten years is long enough to expect Big East title from Greg Schiano, Rutgers | NJ.com
Nothing will happen to Schiano if Rutgers doesn’t this year. But 10 years is long enough to expect one.

Bud Poloquin raids Rick Pitino's closet for his Syracuse-Akron prediction:

Bud Poliquin: Who’s Gonna Win Saturday?

6 comments |

Syracuse vs. Akron: The Day Before Tomorrow

Courtesy of Michael Borkowski, of course.

Courtesy of Michael Borkowski, of course.

One day.  That's all that stands between you and watching the Orange play an actual football game (Plus, the whole ESPN3 thing...).  The final news and nuggets are trickling in, let's sort them out.

Ever think about maybe coaching football one day? Doug Marrone probably has a file on you. J. Edgar Marrone keeps files on every coordinator this side of the Pacific so that he can be prepared to beat them wherever they are:

"I’ve been keeping folders on coordinators since 1996. We keep folders on coordinators so when they change teams we know exactly what they do. I think it is hard to change if you’re a coordinator, your style, your system, what you want to run. You bank on that and that is what you’re playing, percentages."

Doug Marrone scares me sometimes.  And I like it.

Cornerback Kevyn Scott and linebacker Ryan Gillum are officially out for the Akron game.  Both have spent most of the last few weeks on the sidelines so it's not a huge shock. 

Gillum, a junior, was listed as having an upper body issue, and Scott, a junior, was listed as having a lower body issue on the non-detailed reports.

Well at least they're spreading out the regional body issues.

The heart and soul of the Syracuse defense, and possibly the entire team, are the linebackers.  Namely, Derrell Smith and Doug HogueThe Bone-masters are ready to take their game to something called "another level."

"I think there has to be another level," Hogue (72 tackles, 16 TFL, 9.5 sacks) said. "Last year was my first year of playing linebacker at this level. Derrell had two or three defenses here before. For him to learn this defense was like learning all over again, so it’s hard to play as fast. Now with this defense and what we know we can play faster."

"If you watch film you see a lot of missed tackles and times when we did a lot of wrong things," Smith (82 tackles, 10.5 TFL, 6.5 sacks) said. "There is another level."

Hogue is excited for the season and desperately wants a bowl game or some kind of championship to hang his hat on.  The man's got plenty of fingers, they need some rings.

Continue reading this post »

5 comments |

The Big East Is What Everyone Else Thought They Were

That noise you heard this morning?  That was UConn, Cincy and West Virginia collectively licking their lips after Big East favorite Pitt lost to Utah in an OT thriller in the season-opener.

In retrospect, how did we not see Pitt losing this game?  So much hype for so much Wannstache.  It was practically predestined to happen.  Pitt Blather tries to look at the game from a glass half-full perspective but spends most of their time looking at it glass half-empty.

Here’s the deal in college football. This isn’t the NFL. There is no playoff. If you want to play on the national stage, you have to win. You have to win all of the time.

Maybe that allows justification of the fact that aside from Notre Dame in 2008, Pitt has not won a non-conference game where they were the underdog. Right now Pitt is a decent to good team, but not much more than that.

Personally, I prefer Cardiac Hill's response to the game the most.

Rutgers hosted Norfolk State last night and although the final score was 31-0, it took a while to get there.  The Knights led only 6-0 at the half before the offense finally woke up in the second.  A pattern is emerging with Rutgers football, one of early-season lags and missteps.  Schiano usually finds a way to right the ship but if the program really wants to take itself to the next level, they need to be a complete team the entire season. 

With Pitt's loss, that means the chances are good the Big East will not have a team in the Top 20 of any poll.  West Virginia is the only ranked team and they sit on the cusp.  Not to mention that Pitt just lost to a MWC team and the implications that sends to the nation.  Ugh. Ugh.  Ugh.

The Big East has a chance to redeem itself tomorrow. Syracuse travels to Akron, West Virginia hosts Coastal Carolina, Louisville hosts hated rival Kentucky, Cincy travels to Fresno State and South Florida hosts Stony Brook.   And of course there's the big one, UConn at Michigian.  If the Huskies can win, it will erase the pain of the Pitt loss and catapult them into the rankings.  If they lose, the Big East continues to be what everyone else thinks we are.

17 comments |

Learn it, live it, love it. For the newbies, add your #BeatAkron thoughts on Twitter and I'll compile the day's Best-Ofs later on.

about 6 hours ago Untitled_tiny Sean Keeley 7 comments

The only thing that matters is...will TWC be able to show ESPN3's broadcast of Syracuse-Akron on Saturday. According to someone in the know, all TWC subscribers will have ESPN3 access by end of day Friday. So...almost there.

about 21 hours ago Untitled_tiny Sean Keeley 15 comments

TNIAAM On Your Radio Dial

Not me, believe it or not. via www.radioconnection.com

Not me, believe it or not. via www.radioconnection.com

I'm not quite sure how sitting here all day photoshopping together photos of Doug Marrone and Lost while referring to our backup QB as "Ridiculously Good-Looking Charley Loeb" qualifies me to talk in an expert capacity about SU football on the radio. 

And yet...here we are.

I stopped by On The Block today to talk shop with Brent Axe.  You can listen to the chat here, topics include Akron predictions, whether or not a bowl is possible for SU and how angry Glaude will be when he hears the way Brent describes TNIAAM.

Friday, I'll be on Matt Mc's Sport Fix's Syracuse Football Extravaganza (my name for it, not his). I'll be talking SU football and so will Orange44's Brian Harrison and Three Idiot on Sport's Andrew.  It's a perfect storm of Syracuse blogging expertise, which is to say...there will be fart jokes.  Oh yes, there will be fart jokes. Listen live on 1410AM in Watertown or catch the podcast on the site.

On Saturday, I'm swinging by Z89 to chat with The Saturday Morning Quarterbacks at 11:30 AM.  It's going to be an ongoing appearance during the season so if I'm horrible, don't give up on me.  I've got 14 weeks to nail this whole "talking out loud" thing down.  You can listen live at 89.1 FM in Syracuse.

Finally on Sunday I'll be back on Z89 at 11:15am to talk to chat with Paul Gallant and Zach Waldman on the Call It A Wrap program.  God willing, we'll be talking about Syracuse's decimation of Akron the day before.  Listen live at 89.1 FM in the Syracuse area.

And that's it. I promise to stay off your radio dial for at least four days.  I swear.

2 comments |

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@ Washington Sat 09/11 7:00 PM EDT
Maine Sat 09/18 7:15 PM EDT
Colgate Sat 09/25 3:30 PM EDT
@ South Florida Sat 10/09 TBA
Pittsburgh Sat 10/16 TBA
@ West Virginia Sat 10/23 TBA
@ Cincinnati Sat 10/30 TBA
Louisville Sat 11/06 TBA
@ Rutgers Sat 11/13 TBA
Connecticut Sat 11/20 TBA
Boston College Sat 11/27 TBA

Orange Basketball Schedule

Future Football Opponents

2011

Toledo (9/24), Wake Forest (TBD), at USC (TBD), Rhode Island (TBD)

2012
at Minnesota (9/22), Northwestern (TBD), USC (TBD)

2013
Penn State (8/31), at Northwestern (TBD), at Boston College (TBD)

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Boston College (TBD), Notre Dame (TBD)

2015
Georgia Tech (TBD), at Boston College (TBD), Navy (TBD) at Notre Dame (TBD)

2016
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at Navy (TBD), at Boston College (TBD), at Notre Dame (TBD)

2018
at Boston College (TBD)

2019
Boston College (TBD)

2020
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Syracuse Orange Football Roster

offense # Pos. DOB W H College
Michael Acchione 84 WR - 164 5-10 junior
Lou Alexander 77 OL - 310 6-3 junior
Ian Allport 76 OL - 320 6-4 junior
Ricky Azzoto 39 RB - 203 5-9 junior
Antwon Bailey 29 RB - 192 5-8 junior
Ryan Bartholomew 70 G - 298 6-2 senior
Cody Catalina 8 TE - 231 6-3 senior
Van Chew 82 WR - 170 6-1 junior
Zack Chibane 75 C - 298 6-5 sophomore
Clay Cleveland 31 FB - 218 6-0 freshman
Charlie Copa 92 TE - 246 6-6 freshman
Jose Cruz 85 TE - 250 6-5 senior
Adrian Fleming 22 WR - 198 6-3 freshman
Prince-Tyson Gulley 23 RB - 178 5-9 freshman
Michael Hay 74 OT - 290 6-4 junior
Sean Hickey 60 OL - 292 6-5 freshman
Doug Hogue 32 RB - 226 6-2 senior
Kyle Ishman 83 WR - 170 6-1 freshman
James Jarrett 16 QB - 204 6-2 sophomore
John Kinder 14 QB - 182 6-2 freshman
Tombe Kose 34 FB - 253 5-9 junior
Austin Lane 78 OL - 300 6-6 freshman
Alec Lemon 15 WR - 196 6-2 sophomore
Nick Lepak 72 C - 336 6-4 junior
Charley Loeb 17 QB - 208 6-4 sophomore
Jarel Lowery 65 G - 299 6-3 junior
Macky MacPherson 59 OL - 256 6-2 freshman
Da'Mon Merkerson 6 WR - 184 6-1 senior
Jonny Miller 7 QB - 210 6-1 freshman
Cody Morgan 81 WR - 182 5-8 sophomore
Ryan Nassib 12 QB - 224 6-3 junior
Robert Nieves 46 FB - 221 6-0 senior
Nicholas Pedrotti 73 OL - 296 6-4 freshman
Andrew Phillips 62 OT - 280 6-5 sophomore
Nick Provo 80 TE - 241 6-4 senior
Justin Pugh 67 OT - 287 6-5 sophomore
Nick Raven 18 QB - 218 6-3 freshman
Steve Rene 30 WR - 176 5-7 freshman
Colin Reno 31 WR - 182 5-10 sophomore
Adam Rosner 71 OT - 326 6-5 senior
Marcus Sales 5 WR - 177 6-0 junior
Jerome Smith 45 RB - 210 6-0 freshman
Derrell Smith 25 RB - 232 6-1 senior
David Stevens 86 TE - 219 6-2 junior
Andrew Tiller 66 OT - 338 6-5 senior
Thomas Trendowski 89 TE - 238 6-1 junior
Aaron Weaver 87 WR - 220 6-2 senior
Jarrod West 88 WR - 190 6-3 freshman
defense # Pos. DOB W H College
Ryan Ahern 38 FS - 198 6-0 senior
Hassan Aliyu 50 LB - 204 5-11 freshman
Ri'Shard Anderson 9 CB - 185 6-0 sophomore
Dom Anene 16 CB - 209 6-1 sophomore
Torrey Ball 95 DE - 247 6-3 junior
Chad Battles 53 LB - 230 6-3 senior
Max Beaulieu 98 DE - 255 6-4 freshman
Cory Boatman 56 DE - 256 6-2 junior
Jay Bromley 96 DE - 273 6-3 freshman
Lewellyn Coker 58 LB - 210 6-1 freshman
Carl Cutler 48 HALFBACK - 240 6-2 junior
Olando Fisher 2 SS - 198 5-11 junior
Ryan Gillum 41 S - 219 5-11 senior
Deon Goggins 13 DL - 280 6-3 junior
Dorian Graham 10 CB - 190 5-11 junior
Oliver Haney 52 NT - 292 6-3 senior
Adam Harris 49 LB - 232 6-2 junior
Brice Hawkes 20 LB - 216 6-0 freshman
Michael Holmes 35 FS - 182 5-11 senior
Chandler Jones 99 DE - 251 6-5 junior
Shane Kimmel 42 LB - 242 6-1 junior
Jared Kimmel 90 DE - 250 6-6 senior
Andrew Lewis 51 DE - 285 6-3 senior
Keon Lyn 18 DB - 188 6-1 freshman
Mikhail Marinovich 54 DE - 245 6-5 junior
George Mayes 36 DB - 182 5-8 senior
Zachary McCarrell 40 S - 195 5-11 freshman
Joe Nassib 40 CB - 141 5-9 freshman
Anthony Perkins 55 DT - 282 6-4 senior
Micah Robinson 93 DL - 259 6-3 freshman
Kevyn Scott 26 CB - 207 5-11 senior
Brandon Sharpe 91 DE - 233 6-2 sophomore
Marquis Sprull 11 LB - 223 6-2 freshman
Max Suter 24 S - 191 5-11 senior
Shamarko Thomas 21 SS - 200 5-10 sophomore
Phillip Thomas 1 CB - 189 6-0 sophomore
Bud Tribbey 94 DT - 290 6-0 senior
Mario Tull 43 LB - 206 6-0 freshman
Dan Vaughan 33 LB - 214 6-2 junior
Beckett Wales 97 DE - 233 6-3 freshman
Robert Welsh 69 DL - 259 6-4 freshman
Jeremi Wilkes 28 DB - 177 5-9 freshman
specialists # Pos. DOB W H College
Ross Krautman 37 K - 154 5-7 freshman
Maximilian Leo 57 LS - 210 5-11 senior
Ryan Lichtenstein 19 K - 155 5-10 sophomore
Rob Long 47 P - 190 6-4 senior

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