As bad as you felt yesterday after Syracuse lost to Villanova and essentially ended their chances of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament, it's best to try and maintain some perspective by reminding yourself that there's a group of people who probably feel worse than you. The players:
Donte Greene: "Very disappointed. There's no way we're making it. So I'm just disappointed."
Paul Harris: "It's tough, especially for me, being two years in a row...Never played in an NCAA Tournament game. It's tough, but it's reality. It really happened."
Scoop Jardine: "It's real tough...We feel like we let ourselves down. We feel like we let the city of Syracuse down."
I mean, I'm bummed out too. I'm disappointed and yesterday sucked ass. But I didn't play the game and in fact, contrary to public opinion, I haven't played a game all season. These kids (and I stress kids) did. And with the nation seemingly taking pleasure in our demise (at least those over at ESPN), it's time for Cuse Nation to huddle around it's boys again and support them. Going back to the NIT blows ass but if you honestly believe that "next year, we're gonna be awesome," you can't give up on these guys now.
Grit your teeth, swallow your pride, do what you gotta do, but support the Orange when they take the court against whatever directional A&M Technical University comes to town next week. To paraphrase what Axeman said on his podcast this morning, "It was easy to put on your "Got Screwed?" T-shirt, head out to the Dome and support the Orange in the NIT last year. The sign of the true fans will be how we show up this year."
(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)