Syracuse Football Fans Need To Reboot
by Sean Keeley on Nov 2, 2009 1:25 PM EST
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PrintThe announced crowd for the Cincinnati game was 33,802. In reality, the chances that the stadium was even at 30K seemed implausible. Considering this was a game where tickets were selling for as low as $10 and every, single Syracuse student could get in free...well, to say that I was flabbergasted would be to sell it short.
So before we get to what happened during the game, let's discuss the crowd itself. First and foremost...the students.
I feel like a broken record here but I want to make the SU students who did show and have shown up all season long are to be commended for it and their efforts are appreciated by the players and fans like myself.
NOW, as for the rest of the Syracuse student population...you guys are awful. I don't mean that in a tongue-in-cheek way. I'm not saying it with a wink. You are a horrible student populous. You might be the worst in the nation among BCS teams. To any seniors who haven't attended a game this year, good riddance. To any juniors, sophomores or freshman who haven't attended a game this year...please don't purchase student tickets next year. We don't want you at the games. We'll gladly hold those spaces for the incoming freshman who haven't been tainted by your apathy.
Oh, you have excuses? Don't give a shit. "But it's six games in a row." That's amazing, how is that not a good thing? "But it's Halloween..." Didn't seem to stop every other student section from getting reasonably filled. "But it's at noon." Shut up. "But I knew we'd lose." Guess what, we hung with the No. 5 team in the nation for a reasonable amount of time and you've seen enough out of this team this year to know they've got it in them.
There will come a time, years from now, when you will look back on your time at Syracuse and realize how you wasted such a great opportunity. To have been part of something fun and exciting and compelling and to have a little faith that something great could happen. You'll wonder what the point was of going to a school like Syracuse. You might as well have gone to community college and saved the money.
I'm done wasting my time writing about it. You guys suck.
So let's discuss the crowd that was on hand. Unless there was a guy playing for the Orange with the nickname Boo, Orange fans decided to break out the old boo birds. And they directed them squarely at Greg Paulus' ears.
NOW, I'm all for getting emotionally into the game. I'm all for making your presence felt and making lots of noise. You should be standing. You should be yelling. You should not be doing the wave. You should be getting involved directly in the game. You should get animated. You should get frustrated. You should voice your concerns.
But you can't boo our guys. You just can't. Come on now...
Paulus just doesn't have the stuff we want. That's clear. And it becomes even clearer when compared to Nassib, who seems to have a better arm and more presence in the pocket. For whatever reason, Marrone wants to stick with what he's got and that means Paulus is the "starter."
I have absolutely no doubt that Paulus is playing to the best of his abilities. That's not to say we should all be happy about it when he throws an INT or the offense stalls. Far from it. But...come on, now. What does booing him do? Do you think he's going to run over to the sidelines and tell Nassib to go in for him cause he feels bad?
Syracuse Nation appreciates all of you who showed up at the game but for those who booed...no. You're better than that.
For their parts, Nassib and Paulus take the high road together.
"Once you’re in the heat of the heat of the moment, you don’t really notice that," said Nassib
"We have some great fans, some passionate fans," said Paulus
Cody Catalina was probably the most frank about the booing and his comments should be appreciated:
"It’s tough not only on Greg but on the team," Catalina said. "You want the fans to back what you’re doing. Even if they don’t agree with what’s going on, you’d like a little more support. At the same time, everyone has their own opinion. We’ve just got to go out and play. Whoever’s on the field, we’re going to play hard with and we’re all going to come together and play."
Here's some comments on the issue from the Syracuse.com folks. I think you'll notice a pattern.
Booing Greg Paulus? REALLY? You stay classy, SU fans.
What exactly was the point of that? It is one thing if you want to call a talk show, get on a message board, or criticize Paulus' play before or after the game in any format of your choice.
That is absolutely fair game.
To boo one of your own players during the game and then cheer when the other QB comes in, and to do it over and over? Explain that one to me.
Absolutely pathetic.
Simply, we make for one weird football town. Or wait. Maybe we’re just a bad one. Because even though this Syracuse club, under first-year coach Doug Marrone, is clearly improved over its immediate forebears, it has hardly been embraced, failing to draw as many as 41,000 in any game beyond the opener and averaging just 37,828 in that six-game Dome stand just completed.
By now it has become clear that his team is limited in critical areas such as the offensive line, cornerback and perhaps quarterback and lacks quality depth just about everywhere. It will be his job to address those concerns in the off-season. In the meantime, though, his Orange goes out and plays hard, physical football each and every game and has shown no evidence of throwing in the towel.
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Hey
Cincy beat Louisville and dropped in the BCS.
Cincy beat Syracuse and rose in the BCS. The computers like us.
agree completely
i’m one of those students whose been to every game this year and been in the front row. Our crowd is pathetic. The football student section is just plain embarrassing. And as for the booing I completely agree it was pathetic and uncalled for. Sure, Greg wasn’t playing an excellent game, but seriously he is still on our team. He plays for us and a lot of the fans were treating him like the enemy. It was completely classless and it made me embarrassed to be an SU fan.
On a side note, there were a lot of recruits on the sidelines for this game, maybe even more than any we’ve had so far this year. How does it look to them when we boo our own players and can hardly fill the stadium? Why would they want to come play here?
CUSE '13
Wasn't there people from Otto's Army on here last year?
Are they still around? Is the “Army” still in existence?
Enough is enough.
There have been multiple issues over the past few years at the Dome which have made be more than a little embarrassed to be a SU fan. The basketball team has been booed off the floor at halftime twice in the last three years. Football “fans” leave at the end of the third quarter and basketball “fans” at the under 8 time-out. Donte Greene is booed when he comes back to watch a game. Students pelt Georgetown fans with beer (understandable, but still classless). Now Greg Paulus gets booed?
The fans here seem to have little to no understanding of the effect that they can have on the program. You cannot expect elite recruits to choose Syracuse when attendance is horrible and we boo our own players. You cannot attend one game a season, decide you don’t like what you see, boo the team and say wait until next year.
t/j
mike williams quits football team!?!?!?!?!?!?! WTF
You can’t possibly expect people to show up to watch a losing team. I’m sorry, it’s painful to watch. I’ve watched every game this year because we’ve been way more competitive than usual. I see improvement in this team. If i was on campus I’d probably attend more. Students have no excuse when the tickets are free. I understand people staying home though. The bottom line is win some games and fans will come. It sucks for recruits but maybe the schedule needs to change or get some easy wins. Something…
Booing happens every where. . Booing when Paulus is in and cheering when Nassib comes in is a little excessive. But I think you go to any sports stadium and the home team starts loosing you will hear some boos at halftime. I don’t see a problem with that. Nature of sport.
I’ve delayed saying it this year, but is it basketball season yet?
I understand boo’ing a bad coach. Coach P got it. GRob got it. It was deserving. Boo’ing Dr Gross was fitting. But at this point its too soon to Boo HCDM. He has to make due with the players he has.
As fans, we should NEVER boo the players. They are not paid to do this. They were recruited to come here and if they are not good enough, thats the coaching staffs fault. When they make a mistake, bury your face in your hands, sigh, but dont boo. In the end its a 19 year old kid out there who is likely not sleeping because of midterms.
Going to the games gives this team the best chance to win. Having the community behind them is a huge morale booster and gives them an edge. Had the Dome been full and lould, I think Cincy would make a few mistakes, drive killing penalties etc and SU would have had an emotional lift resulting in a few big plays. If you watched the game youd know thats all it would have taken for it to be winnable.
SU Athletics needs all the help it can get right now. The football team needs money to update its facilities, the dome and what not to be competitive in the recruiting arms race. Supporting the football team also contributes money to other sports which have been doing great. Lacrosse is not a self supporting sport and needs football dollars to be sustainable. Same for field hockey, cross country, etc. These teams have been doing very well.
We as fans need to get on board and show those outside CNY that we believe SU is on the way back. If we do this recruits will notice.
Easy now...
I was agreeing with Sean for the most part. All I was saying is I understand why people won’t show (when the tickets aren’t free). Am I wrong to say It’s tough to watch a losing team?
If I was still on campus this year I’d go cause I see improvement. When I was there during the end of Paul P and GRob I saw bad play calling/bad coaching week to week. I don’t need to waste my time watching a team that isn’t improving and is out of it before the whistle blows. That however is not the case this year.
I agree completely with JRSu1....
Boo’s come with playing D1 football and being the “Big men” on campus. It’s sports, that’s it. You boo because you can and you cheer when the opportunity presents itself. The boo’s for Greg Paulus were because a lot of townies still resent him for shunning SU.
Win games-the fans will come back. Most are fair weather and don’t want to spend money on losing teams.
I think that all the Syracuse fans are at the games, actually. There really aren’t too many Syracuse “fans” at staying home, mainly because they don’t exist. The program has been for all intents and purposes atrocious since 2001. Yes, SU was in a bowl in 2004, but that was after a 6-6 season in the depleted Big East. The fans have lost interest, lost faith, and checked out.
You really can’t knock the Syracuse residents for wanting to enjoy fall Saturdays at home instead of paying for admission to watch a team lose. I don’t care how cheap game tickets are, watching a team lose sucks. Especially when there’s little, if any, chance of winning.
In fact, Syracuse hasn’t had a winning season since 2001.
2001 10 3 0 308 244 612,325
2002 4 8 0 347 406 525,407
2003 6 6 0 320 291 524,398
2004 6 6 0 273 293 472,090
2005 1 10 0 152 295 516,977
2006 4 8 0 219 285 452,037
2007 2 10 0 197 418 444,746
So, you really can’t even expect a packed Dome on Saturdays anymore and 38,000 should be expected. At least not until SU can win at least 8 games. Although Syracuse was good 8 years ago, (Freshman were 10 years old at that time, btw), there should be no expectation of packed games. No one remembers SU being good. There’s really is no fan base, anymore.
Yes, yes basketball draws crowds. But Syracuse is now more like Duke than Pitt or WVU. Excellent in basketball, not so much in fb. When was the last time you met a Duke fb fan?
Basketball draws fewer people too.
Compare to the 1980’s.
Fixing it is easy
Rearrange the schedule so that our most winnable games come first. Look at Michigan… 4-0… did not matter that they beat E. Mich, W. Mich, and Indiana. 4-0!
Look at who Rutgers had beaten before UConn. Did it matter? No.
S.U. is under the mistaken impression that quality of opponent is more fun than winning. True.. Akron only draws 30,000.
THAT IS WHY TEAMS PLAY EASY GAMES FIRST!!!! If you are going to get 40,000 for the opener, make sure it is a win. Then you are 1-0 going into game 2.
Why should Syracuse play a more difficult schedule than ANY other team in the country? Why?????
I agree with you. I know we joke about Rutgers playing a cake schedule but I bet their student body doesn’t care. Especially for us a team that hasn’t had success in recent years, teeing off on some cupcakes in the beginning of the year might do the trick. Seeing that we’ve been the cupcake for a lot of teams, it might do us some good to bully some people.
I hope ESPN takes notice
and never sends gameday to Syracuse again. Ever.
Oregon had their place rocking at 7am.
The Syracuse students cannot be considered fans. The marines(few and proud) that went to the game should get season tickets for free. After they get their tickets, the rest are given to whoever wants to pay for them, student or not. Don’t even have a student section anymore, it’s insulting to think they get a special spot that they don’t even use.
And I hope this ends the debate for basketball once and for all. The students get only behind one basket because we wouldn’t want it to be empty for both basketball and football on tv. Let the old farts that don’t stand and cheer have the seats along the sides. At least they are there sitting.
Basketball isn't a good argument
There were games last year where we filled all of our normal sections and had kids spilling over to behind where the grandstand is. Football turnout isn’t good, but our basketball section is very good.
Syracuse '12
by blackknight76 on Nov 2, 2009 3:46 PM EST up reply actions
what debate about basketball? The student section for basketball is awesome. The band is right there, it’s packed. I agree for big games that sections spills into the other areas. I don’t know what else you want.
College Gameday won’t come to Cuse for football until we are relevant again. Basketball it should be an every year occurance.
The thing about basketball is bullshit. Absolute bullshit. Sorry. The student section has never had problems for basketball. And unlike the old farts, we don’t tell people to sit down.
And I’m going to assume you are being sarcastic about disbanding the student section. That’s the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard.
Students have more to worry about than sports.
It’s like when we get upset at a student-athlete for caring too much about sports and not as much about school, only reversed. Students pay lots of money to attend a top institution, and if those three+ hours surrounded by frustrated fans watching your team get beat would be better spent on that essay you have due on Monday or studying for the big exam, then that i show students will likely spend their time.
For the record, I have been to every football game except the Maine game (who wants to pay money to see a blowout of a team from a lower division? not me. Especially when I have plenty more opportunities to see games against big opponents.), and I did have a paper to be working on last Saturday. If the tickets hadn’t been free, and if the #5 team in the nation wasn’t 10 minutes from my dorm room, I probably would not have gone. If it turned into a clear blowout (it didn’t- and I stayed for the whole game), then I would have left at halftime. Because I had a lot of work to do.
I’m not saying this is the excuse of every student, but we have to budget our time. That’s what college is all about, and frankly, my family is paying far too much money for me to put football above schoolwork on a routine basis. I could have gone to UConn for much cheaper and get the Div. 1 sports experience, but I came to Syracuse instead, because I feel it is more of what I want as an ACADEMIC INSTITUTION. That being said, I am a die-hard SU sports fan now, but sometimes you have to prioritize. If I was not a huge sports fan, and I know a lot of students here that are not, I would have easily gone the route of schoolwork Saturday afternoon instead.
Don’t get me wrong, I am still highly disappointed by the student turnout to the games, and I do my best to cheer on my team, but I feel like a word needs to be said for students being, well… students.
fair enough
although this goes for other games too… regardless, lots of students that aren’t huge sports fans like you and I probably feel that there are better ways to be spending their time than watching their team lose. If there’s a way you can spend those 3 and a half hours that you think you would enjoy more (or would be more productive, in the case of schoolwork), that’s what a student will do. Which is why losing is keeping them away, especially consistent losing. We lost hope at the South Florida game, in my estimation.
It’s a shame that that’s how they feel but that’s the truth. =/
Lets be real here. Unless you are a really serious engineering major (ie not a brother in Theta Tao) or some other insanely hard major, you are not balancing school with sports. You are balancing parting with sports. I’m going to graduate with an A average in the spring and I’ve never once actually done school work on a Saturday. This is why Sundays exist.
I understand the arguments for and against going to the games, so I'll just say this:
I was an architecture student when I was at Cuse. Most of my time at SU was during GRob’s tenure. I still went to almost every home game.
I sure as shit would be going to all of these. I understand not wanting to go watch an uninterested team get blown out (GRob years), but that excuse has sailed. Sorry. We are competitive again and as such we need butts in the seats. The Dome can be a huuuuuge home-field advantage. It’s cute to bring up schoolwork, but if an architecture student (and I wasn’t the only one) found the time for several hours on gameday, any student can find the time.
Audacious....
As an alumni who went through some of the worst of the worst years of cuse football (though I did get to rush the field when we beat ND in 03…) I saw three years of terrible G-Rob football. I went to EVERY SINGLE HOME GAME OVER THOSE 4 YEARS. I went to WVA, RU for away games, and pretty much live and die cuse football. I went back for PSU, WVU games in the last two years. It always a good trip.
Now, I might be biased because Syracuse runs through my family (5 alums, one enrolled). I really wish more people showed up for these games. I feel the exact same way. I watch every game at a bar now in NYC, (where I live).
It is embarassing.
However, upon reflection, if these kids don’t want to go, forget em. If they don’t want to know the proud history of the cuse, then forget them.
Cuse Football has given me enough great memories. Here are just a few. Why do I list these games? It makes me feel good. And true cuse fans can remember these games too.
1. Watching McNabb beat VT on the throwback play. I was in the dome with my dad and his college roomate for this one. What a game.
2. Watching Cuse crush Wisconsin at Giants Stadium in 97. The kickoff classic was great for jim turner, who returned the kickoff 106 yards. I sat at the 50 yard line going nuts. 1st time i saw the cuse outside of the dome.
3. Damien Rhodes goes off on VT, as cuse wins in 3OT. Again, watching with dad.
4. Cuse beats ND to stay bowl eligible. My freshman year, final game. Reyes goes off and we storm the field to see otto.
5. McNabb almost beats the Vols. A great game to watch, even though cuse couldnt pull it out. Never thought UT would be that good that year.
5. Vols game
5. McNabb almost beats the Vols. A great game to watch, even though cuse couldnt pull it out. Never thought UT would be that good that year.
Wasn’t that the game that the ref had a heart attack on the field? Damn that was scary. Lost 34-33…still hurts.
by DMF on Nov 2, 2009 4:53 PM EST up reply actions
2. Watching Cuse crush Wisconsin at Giants Stadium in 97. The kickoff classic was great for jim turner, who returned the kickoff 106 yards. I sat at the 50 yard line going nuts. 1st time i saw the cuse outside of the dome.
That was Kevin Johnson returning the opening kick for a touchdown. It was only 90 yards, I believe.
~K
"As the governor of Louisiana once said, the only way Chris Kelsay can lose his job is if he got caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy."
Nice job, Sean.
I think I bring a little bit of a different perspective, so let me give it.
First of all, I’m not a lifer. I grew up in southwestern New York, and to be honest with you I didn’t give two shits about the Syracuse Orange program growing up. I lived two minutes from the Reilly Center at St. Bonaventure, had season tickets for basketball for 18 years, and loved every basketball-suckin minute of it. Syracuse was nary a blip on the radar until they won it all in ‘03, and even then I wasn’t a “fan” even though I wanted them to beat Kansas. Want to know what I knew about Cuse football until I was 20? Donovan McNabb, Marvin Harrison, Dwight Freeney. That’s it.
Then I went to a D-III school near Rochester for undergrad. While it was a great school, I had a ton of fun, and I wouldn’t change anything about my time there, it wasn’t the same not having D-I sports to watch. Every Saturday as I sat down to watch Michigan-Penn State or Alabama-Georgia or Pittsburgh-West Virginia, I kicked myself in the ass for not going to a Division 1 school to see high-quality sports.
Then, I decided to attend graduate school. Lo and behold, I got into the Newhouse School and ended up here in Syracuse. I had lived here for two years before getting in, so, in total, I’ve been a Syracuse supporter for approximately three years.
Forget that Newhouse is a top school, because I was most excited about getting student season tickets for football and basketball. I couldn’t wait. Actual Division 1 sports up close! And I had never even sat in a student section before in my life outside of a high school game.
Syracuse football has not disappointed. Coming into it without all the G-Rob hangover, I can tell that this team loves playing for Doug Marrone, and they love playing division 1 football period. I’m all-in with Syracuse now. One year in the student section, and now I know I’ll be a lifetime fan because I will be a Syracuse alum. You’re right about these kids kicking themselves in twenty years because they didn’t get to be a part of something so fun and great and, well, amazing. No, not amazing in the win column, but amazing in spectacle.
Imagine me coming in on opening day against Minnesota. That day the stadium was packed. Walking up the hill hearing the band playing in the quad, walking into the dome for a football game for the first time, seeing how rowdy the student section was right up until Paulus’ desperate overtime heave. It was fucking awesome.
It’s been awful to see the student section dwindle like it has, and like I said, it’s not like I’m a lifelong fan of this team. I don’t know all the history, I don’t know all the great moments. All I know is I get to see division 1 football, and I’m not taking that shit for granted like all the punks who don’t show up.
As for the booing, I sit in the front row right behind the endzone in the student section, and I was trying my damndest to counteract the boos by yelling “Let’s go, Greg” over and over again. Obviously, it didn’t work, I’m only one person. It’s sad, though. Boo a bad decision by the coach (believe me, I’m a Bills fan and I know how to boo while punting on 4th and 1 in field goal range), boo the other team. Don’t boo your own players.
If you haven’t seen Doug Marrone’s press conference today, watch it at SU Athletics and tell me you still want to boo Greg Paulus. If you do, you’re heartless in my opinion.
Thank you Syracuse for providing me the awesome opportunity to watch Division 1 football from the front row, and the opportunity for future first-rounder Art Jones to destroy my hand while running to the locker room at the half.
Thank you to all the other people that I see in the front rows at every game for coming out and doing what you can to support the Orange. For the others, you should be ashamed of yourselves.
There's so many layers to this
I’ve already popped off on the students in another post/thread, so I’ll limit myself here to the locals and the alumni.
1. The locals are all up in arms about the students (which I don’t disagree with), but the locals shouldn’t be throwing stones.
Look, I don’t expect the same 50K people to show up every week. People have kids and work and driveways to pave. However, it’s making sure that everyone in the local fanbase makes 75% of those games. If everyone tries to make 75% (or, hell, 50%) of the games, the Dome will be full every week just by coincidence.
So, go to the games. And if you can’t go, make sure one of your dumbass friends goes. I know you’re all not busy throughout the fall.
I visited Syracuse two weeks ago. Your lawns all look like shit.
2. Idiot alumni like me that live within 5 hours of the Dome need to be making more than zero to one trips a year up to Syracuse. The drive sucks, but honestly, it’s not that bad compared to how other alumni travel to see their alma mater. I’m not talking about popping for a season tickets package, but maybe making one to two trips a year would really help things out.
I am squarely within the group that hasn’t held up his or her end of the bargain in this. I can’t even remember the last time I went up for a football game (maybe Connecticut in 2004 or Pittsburgh the year after?). That needs to change.
It’s great that we make the away games when Syracuse is in town, but that’s not enough. We all really need to support this program.
Spit-laugher
I visited Syracuse two weeks ago. Your lawns all look like shit.
Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician - The Syracuse blog that cares.
As a student season ticket holder..
…who’s only missed the Maine game due to making a trip back home for the 3 day weekend and has stayed at every game besides that until “On the vale of Onondaga” has finished, it’s been depressing to see how the student section’s been so small. I made this point a few weeks ago, but if you’re going to spend the 100-some odd bucks on football season tickets, then for god’s sakes go to the games. I know quite a lot of people who have football season tickets and have at best stayed for a half of a game. Give me a break with that. Also, some of these casual fans are beyond annoying. These are the type wearing their “The Devil Wears Orange” t-shirts and the only guy they know is Greg Paulus and go on and on about him before kickoff, only to boo him to death and yell how much he sucks in the 3rd quarter. And don’t get me started on the casual fans who sit around and don’t make noise the whole game. On the other hand, at least they’re making the effort to go to the game.
Now I must say I did a fair share of booing on Saturday, but it wasn’t towards Paulus. Instead it was for the reffing and occasionally Marrone’s 4th and short playcalling by taking it conservative, but mainly the reffing. I wasn’t too happy with Marrone’s switching back and forth between QBs, but honestly I really felt bad for what Greg had to go through in that 4th quarter. For god’s sakes some morons were blaming Paulus for Carter’s fumble in the red-zone. Give me a break. If you’re not happy with how the team’s being played, well, just keep it silent and in your head, that’s about it. I’m really looking foward to hoops starting in a week and not only the senior game against Rutgers, but also going on the road trip to Pitt the fine folks at Otto’s Army and the ORA have set up this weekend. That’s bound to be an experience I won’t soon forget. Also, as a freshman, I am optimistic that as the program grows, so will the crowds. I just hope for the home finale, we can pack the dome and give our seniors a send-off worthy of their effort all season long
I can live with booing the playcalling
and I can certainly get behind booing the refs.
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