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The Gerry Hater's Ball

What's up with people hating on Syracuse lately? We had the whole "Is Syracuse finished" podcast thing a couple weeks ago and the subsequent fallout therein.

Now, while checking out a Top 25 ranking,
I read this...

Finally Jim Boenheim has a squad that can compete on the national level. I never considered any team with Gerry McNamara to be anything but a regular season wonder. Time and again, McNamara has proven me right. Eric Devendorf needs to take the next step, with Paul Harris, and become impact players consistently. If they both do that, this team might sneak into the top 10.


Okay, let's take a step back for a second...


Finally Jim Boenheim has a squad that can compete on the national level.

I don't know who this Boenheim character is, but I think we can all agree that the 2007-2008 Syracuse Orange are not the first "squad that can compete on the national level" in Jimmy B's 30-plus year career. A career that includes three Final Fours and a national title, FYI.

I never considered any team with Gerry McNamara to be anything but a regular season wonder. Time and again, McNamara has proven me right.


Well, I can see why this blogger would think that. Well, that is, excluding Gerry's freshman year when his team WON THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP. Oh, and excluding his junior year when the Orange won the Big East Tournament, which is not part of the regular season. Oh, and of course he must be excluding Gerry's senior season when he nearly single-handedly led the Orange to another Big East title. So...yeah, based on Gerry's sophomore season, I guess he truly was a "regular season wonder."

ANYWAY, this got me thinking. Seems like there's a lot of anti-Gerry McNamara sentiment out there, doesn't it? And
not just from Big East assistant coaches. Is this the norm? Do most non-Syracuse fans hate Gerry McNamara? Would we have hated him if he played for a different team? Was Gerry McNamara the reincarnation of Bobby Hurley and we were blind to it?

I really don't remember anything terrible about the guy, other than the fact that he was a scrappy, white baller and that immediately conjures up thoughts of other scrappy, white ballers such as Hurley and Wojo, whom most people despised. Gerry had a great family and a great story. You can't deny that the guy was clutch when it mattered most. And there's no doubting that he gave 100% all the time. I mean, fault the guy for taking some shots he shouldn't have and sometimes disappearing for a while, but what is it about him that people seem to dislike so much?

My guess is that people choose to remember Gerry McNamara differently than how he truly played. They remember Gerry thumping his chest or snarling at an opponent after hitting a killer three. They remember Gerry worming his way towards a driving opponent, drawing a charge and clapping devilishly back up the court, laughing all the way. They remember Gerry egging on the opposing crowd, daring them to boo him.
Thing is, I'm not so sure most, if any, of those things happened.

Perhaps because of who he resembled and the way he played his game, people just lump him in with other players they hated and have tricked themselves into remembering him that way too.


Who knows, maybe I missed it. Maybe I blinded myself the way a Cowboy fan blinds themselves to Terrell Owens' antics as long as he keeps catching TDs. But I'm pretty sure that's not true.

If Eric Devondorf suddenly started throwing down triple-doubles, perhaps that would be the case, but Devo is no G-Mac. And Gerry McNamara was a damn good basketball player. Shame no one outside Central New York seems able to recognize that.