Jim Boeheim: “Those people are just haters, and they’re gonna hate”

Following the Syracuse Orange’s comeback victory over the Virginia Cavaliers, coach Jim Boeheim spoke with the media and things inevitably drifted toward the 1,000 wins conversation.

We pick things up in the final five minutes or so.

Syracuse.com ran a poll and over 98 percent of those that responded said he should’ve never been stripped of wins. Jim appreciates you guys... not so much the two percent on the other side.

“The people here feel that we should not have lost those wins, and that’s probably the way all fans would feel. I’m not gonna sit here and debate that point anymore. But there was some question about whether some of those — or even all of those — should’ve been taken, but they have. But the fans are not gonna accept that.

I’m glad that poll was taken. And the two percent went to Georgetown, Connecticut or some place and they’re on the (message) boards...”

You hear that, Hoyas and Huskies? Stay on your message boards.

“You know what’s funny, And trust me, when we play bad I don’t listen to talk radio and I don’t read the blogs.”

Have you tried a site called NunesMagician.com? I heard it’s pretty good and typically not like the other, potentially bad blogs it seems you read from time to time.

“When we’re losing there are 60 posts. 48-50 say I’m too old, the zone’s no good — along those lines. Now there may be 10 people posting four apiece. I’ve heard that. I don’t know that. When we win — when we won the other night there were two comments.”

Now, this is where there may be some mix-up in Jim’s world around message boards, comment sections and blogs. I would assume this is common amongst most over 50?

The boost to negative articles and results is not a phenomenon we’ve witnessed here, though perhaps the Syracuse.com comments are like that. Typically this place is far busier (traffic and comments-wise) when SU teams are winning.

“So what that tells me is that those people are just haters and they’re gonna hate, like John Gillon said. And I didn’t see any hating John Gillon the other night either.”

“But that’s the way it is, that’s the real world that we live in now. And y’know, you just have to move on. You just have to do the best you can. I’m very sensitive. I always have been and I always will be. I don’t think that’s a bad characteristic to have. I’m sensitive to what people think and what people say and that’s why I don’t read that stuff when we’re losing. I already feel bad enough, I don’t want to feel worse.”

Granted, if you’re sensitive, you probably wouldn’t think it would be a bad characteristic to have. But some nice introspection here by Jim.

“But we have to be able to move on and go and play. That’s all we can do. If you dwell on the negatives, you’re gonna end up being a negative and you can’t do that. We have to focus on what we can do and what we can change.”

That’s just solid life advice there, actually.

“I’m proud of everything that’s happened here. I take responsibility. I take whatever — all that’s happened here during my time. And obviously there’s good, bad, tough decisions, tough losses, bad things that happened. That’s life. That’s what life’s about. They key is do you get through it? Do you move on to the next stage? Are you able to do that? And that’s all we try to do. And whatever happens happens. Whatever the results are, you have to own it and you have to step up.”

We’re proud of everything that’s happened here too, Jim.

***

Far from an all-time press conference yesterday, but a meaningful one nonetheless. It’s clear that 1,000 wins isn’t lost on the long-time coach, and he talks about it in a way that keeps him inside the letter of the law. But he does get it, and appreciate it, along with the fan support that he’s received in the process.

He’s also received support from a lot of players along the way too. Some of them were captured in this cool video from Syracuse.com, featuring players from all of his milestone victories on the way to 1,000.