It's "Ernie Davis Field" To Me

by Sean Keeley on Oct 1, 2009 3:11 PM EDT

Next weekend during halftime of the West Virginia game, Syracuse University is naming the field in the Carrier Dome ‘Ernie Davis Legends Field’. Or as I like to call it, 'Ernie Davis Field.'

Sorry, not gonna call it Ernie Davis Legends Field. That sounds weird and confusing. It's Ernie Davis Field. Done. Why do we feel the need to garble the name? Can we ever just make an Ernie Davis tribute cut and dry?

Fine, DOC, explain it:

"Their naming of the field in his honor and recognizing all of the legends who have competed for Syracuse athletics is a tribute that is of the highest of honors. They have ensured that the legacy and impact of Ernie Davis to society will never be forgotten."

Are we honoring "legends" or are we honoring Ernie Davis? I'm all for honoring "legends" but if we're honoring "legends" let's just call it "Legends Field." If we're honoring Ernie Davis, let's call it Ernie Davis Field. If we're honoring other specific legends, let's honor them by name call it Ernie Davis Jim Brown Floyd Little Art Monk Donovan McNabb Larry Csonka Vic Hansen Wilmeth Sidat-Singh Jim Nance Marvin Harrison Field.

I'd just love to hear announcers say "Hello and welcome to the EDJBFLAMDMLCVHWSSJNMH Field for today's match-up..."

No word yet on where the Nike logos will be placed.

Update: Matt McSportsFix (that's his real name, right?) has a great point. "What did the Nappi's actually give to Syracuse for this field name? It cost $?" Yeah...why did they need money? We couldn't scrounge up a couple bucks in the SU Athletics coach to just add "Ernie Davis Field" to the sidelines in stencil?

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Im just gonna put it out there…. that statue sucks. Ernie was a solidly built handsome athlete. That statue looks like a caricature of a skinny little 15 year old black kid. Long skinny neck and arms, big protruding brow, lips and ears that stick out, ear to ear grin. Its neither imposing or welcoming. And why not scale him up? Make it 8 ft tall, a third larger. After seeing it in person, he looks short.

ernie should look like this

but this statue, especially with overhead light looks like this guy (which is terrible):

my 2c

by ryanwk628 on Oct 1, 2009 3:33 PM EDT reply actions

btw I didnt have that cartoon on my computer or anything. I googled african american cartoon.

by ryanwk628 on Oct 1, 2009 3:34 PM EDT up reply actions

I agree. I haven't seen it in person yet, but the pics of it leave something to be desired.

I like the pic you have there, but seeing as how he was a running back I think a Heisman pose statue would have been appropriate. Especially considering the significance of his Heisman.

Regardless, I agree the statue should have been both big and built like the athlete he was.

by NOLACuse on Oct 1, 2009 4:14 PM EDT up reply actions

Next they are going to name one of the trough urinals after GRob.

by stumpycuse on Oct 1, 2009 3:40 PM EDT reply actions

thats actually a great idea.

i dunno how much i like this “ernie davis field” talk. i love ernie davis. i grew up on his story when my dad gave me the elmira express book when i was around 10 years old. but ernie davis field? he didnt play in the carrier dome. the building is called the carrier dome. where does one get to use the “ernie davis field part”

“hello and welcome to beautiful ernie davis field, in the carrier dome” ?

ernie davis field would be a great name for some outdoor practice fields i dont think its relevant here, other than putting the name of a character who recently was portrayed in a major motion picture on the field of a football team run by an ego-maniac that is i guess..

by orngfan on Oct 1, 2009 4:01 PM EDT up reply actions

We have “Jim Boeheim Court” in the Carrier Dome. But honestly, continuing to name things after Ernie Davis starts to become trite rather than meaningful.

by Orange22 on Oct 3, 2009 8:28 PM EDT up reply actions

Is there a way to have a good football, hoops & lax teams and still fire Gross

for being such unbelievable tool?

by mcallj on Oct 1, 2009 3:56 PM EDT reply actions

a scandal. Call chris hansen.

by ryanwk628 on Oct 1, 2009 4:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Now that Marrone, Coach Q and Gait are in place as coaches, we don't need Gross.

Men’s hoops and men’s lax never needed him since Boeheim and Desko are basically demi-gods at this point.

by NOLACuse on Oct 1, 2009 4:10 PM EDT up reply actions

He'll leave SU whenever the USC job opens up

so that’s what you should be rooting for

Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician - The Syracuse blog that cares.

by Sean Keeley on Oct 1, 2009 4:43 PM EDT up reply actions

We need to be careful what we wish for… because Chancy Nancy will be picking his replacement!

by ryanwk628 on Oct 1, 2009 4:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Good point. Ugh.

by mcallj on Oct 2, 2009 8:10 AM EDT up reply actions

I don't like it

There I said it. I’d rather see the field at the Carrier Dome named for Coach Mac. He is the one that brought that field to prominence. Ernie Davis never even played in the facility. Davis was a great athlete, an all around wonderful human and a ground breaker, but can we just stop putting his name on anything and everything on the hill. It’s kind of like if they named it Dave Bing Court instead of Jim Boeheim Court. Mac has had a much larger influence on the program for a longer period than Davis did.

If we want to honor the legends get rid of the cheesy ink jet pictures in the hall and do some real high quality work and call the concourse Legends Concourse.

by jimmiejones on Oct 2, 2009 8:20 AM EDT reply actions