Let the record show, I like Dr. Daryl Gross. I don't LIKE him. I don't want to be him. I don't want to hang out with him. I wouldn't pay to see him like I would, say, Iron Maiden. But I like what he's doing, what he's done, and what he hopes to do in the future. With the exception of one bad hire ( and be honest, on paper we all would have hired that guy ), he's done a fantastic job. As my Father would say, "you could pick the fly sh*t out of the pepper" all day with certain negatives, but overall the state of Syracuse Athletics is in a good place. And it seems to be continuing upward.

I'm not even all that disturbed by the fact that an opponent like USC is played at the Meadowlands. As a season ticket holder, I can't say it wouldn't have been nice to see that game in the Dome, but I get it. Or maybe I just drank the Kool-Aid. But for every knock against it, there are also good reasons for it.

That being said, there is one thing that is really starting to grate on me. This "New York's College Team" thing has run it's course.

It took me a while to come around. It provides a lot of opportunities for us to use it in funny ways ( see title ), and as a marketing slogan, it sure is fitting. But enough already. I just got a bracelet at the game with it on it. The Voice of the SUMB is now referring to them as "New York's College Band". Will they refer to the SSS the same way during basketball season? It's on the basketball court. It's everywhere! I seriously can't stop applying it to EVERYTHING I come across when I'm on campus. How about "New York's College Pee Trough Ice Cubes"? "New York's College Chapel" instead of Hendricks? "New York's College Kid In The Quad On Gameday With A Stack Of Daily Orange Newspapers Who's Supposed To Be Handing Them Out But Isn't So You Have To Walk Up To Him And Actually Ask Him For One"? It's been eating away at me little by little, and it's finally really irritating me.

But the one thing that drove me to rant about this, and how it's maybe just very wrong for us to be using that slogan, was an interview with Sean McDonough ( '84 ). He was interviewed via telephone on the morning show of one of our Syracuse radio stations the Monday after the USC game. He made a point to say how he thought it was very "arrogant" of us to use it. I'm paraphrasing of course. "What gives them the right to go into Madison Square Garden, where St. John's is the home team and make that claim?" "There are a lot of reasons why a kid is going to choose to go to Syracuse. Not 'Oh, they're New York's College Team? I'll go there'!" This all coming from one or Syracuse's own.

I think I have to agree with him to a degree. My view is this. It is a little arrogant. Why do we need that? The marketing could still be taking place down in NYC without it, and the "Orange is in the Apple" slogan is great on its own. Fact is, we are New York's College Team by default. We have no other major competition to make that claim. WE fill the Garden. WE are by all accounts better than all of them. Iona? Check. St. John's? Check. Albany? Check. Army? Check. Buffalo? Check. Market the hell out of us anywhere you want, but shouldn't the whole "New York's College Team" thing just speak for itself? Kind of a "act like you been there before" mentality. Until we do something to destroy it, WE are the top dog. I can't imagine I'm alone on this. I'm anxious to hear your opinions on this subject.

I almost named this FanPost "I'm With Sean", or "Sean McDonough Has Shown Me The Light". Then I figured if DOC saw it, he would just change it anyway.

*Sidenote - Am I the only one who has already began using Carl Spackler quotes to prepare for Minnesota?