Syracuse can beat Notre Dame this week.
Oh, I don't mean in football. As mediocre as Notre Dame is, they're not losing to a 2-7 Syracuse team at home on the weekend they honor Knute Rockne. No, I mean Syracuse can beat Notre Dame in a way that's only slightly more important than winning a football game...by improving the environment.
The Fighting Irish and Orange will meet each other on the turf Nov. 22 but beginning immediately and leading up to the game, SU students, faculty, staff, alumni and fans can take NBC Universal's Green Your Routine challenge to see which campus can take the most action in support of the environment. The winning university will receive $10,000 towards making its campus more eco-friendly.
What are the chances Notre Dame breaks out the green jerseys for this one? Would probably be a nice touch, although doing so against this SU team might single-handidly destroy the green jersey mythos.
Wait a minute, Syracuse isn't going to come out in green jerseys, are they? Oh the horror...the macabre...
So, what are you, just one man or woman, supposed to do? Well, head on over to CarbonRally.com and join the Syracuse team. Once you sign up, you can commit to doing certain challenges like recycling old cellphones, replacing household appliances with energy-efficient GE ones (oh, did you think there wasn't anything in this for NBC's parent company?) or just making change to your daily routine to cut down on carbon footprints and emissions.
It might not make the difference between Greg Robinson knowing how to properly substitute players during a game and not knowing, but you'll feel better.
FYI, it's not looking good so far. SU only has 302 members to Notre Dame's 522. Get on it folks, they announce this on national television. You don't want them to say "Syracuse fans don't give a shit about the environment," do you? (I don't think they'd say shit on NBC in the daytime, but it's still worth thinking about it.)
In the meantime, take solace in knowing that the SU-Notre Dame game will be carbon neutral, which is convenient. Syracuse is already passing-game neutral, tackling neutral and quality-coaching neutral, so it fits with our agenda.