'Homemade Otto' Is Now Dome-Bound Otto Thanks To You

Yesterday, Nolan Weidner wrote a piece on Aidan Bozzi, a 10-year-old boy in the Binghamton suburb of Endwell. Like much of that area, Endwell was hit with serious flooding that caused massive damage to homes and disrupted the lives of many residents.

The Bozzi family were lucky to find their home intact but many of their neighbors weren't so lucky. However, Aiden's mom lost her job when her company closed due to the flooding. That means money is tight this year for a lot of things, the least of which was Halloween costumes.

Not able to purchase a costume, Aidan decided to make his own costume and he decided to be Otto The Orange, the mascot for his favorite team, the Syracuse Orange football squad.

Bozzi said not everyone knew what Aidan was supposed to be last night as he roamed the neighborhood collecting candy, but most people got it.

Shame on those people who didn't know Otto the Orange...but I digress.

Towards the end of the article is this...

She said following the Orange has been good for her fourth-grade son, who insists that he’ll attend SU someday and play football for the Orange.

Bozzi said Aidan, who became a big Orange fan partly because of his cousins in Syracuse, normally gets to attend one game each season, usually around his birthday Oct. 21. But the family decided it was too expensive this year.

And with that, TNIAAM reader Steve Smorol sprung into action, alerting myself and Menotti Minutillo, keeper of the donations that so many TNIAAM reader provided so that we can give away SU football tickets to those in need.

As you know, we were able to purchase sixty tickets in Section 103 to the Syracuse vs. Cincinnati game on November 26. I'm sure you don't mind but we decided to offer six of those tickets to Aidan and his family so they could get the chance to watch the Orange this year.

Here's Aidan's (and his dog Taco's) reaction to the news.

Word on the street is that a certain mascot will be swinging by to say hi to Aidan as well.

The only thing that could make this better is if the Orange win that day. So, you know...let's do that.

H/T: Nolan Weidner, Steve Smorol, Menotti Minutillo & Everyone Who Donated