Why I’m a fan of the Syracuse Orange

Welcome to the refreshed Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician! To celebrate the new look and feel of our sports communities, we’re sharing stories of how and why we became fans of our favorite teams. If you’d like to share your story, head over to the FanPosts to write your own post. Each FanPost will be entered into a drawing to win a $500 Fanatics gift card (official rules). We’re collecting all of the stories here and featuring the best ones across our network as well. Come Fan With Us!

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I’m not sure if this is normal, but prior to coming to Syracuse, I had never attended a college sporting event in my life. I had been to plenty of baseball games, a handful of NFL games and even an NHL game, but never a game in which NCAA student athletes (of any kind) were playing. And that’s honestly probably the best thing to happen to me.

I wanted to be a Syracuse Orange football fan more than anything. I was never really into basketball growing up, so I decided after watching the Orange beat Kansas State in a crazy Pinstripe Bowl that SU football was going to be “my thing” when I got to campus that fall. So decked out in Orange, I made the trek from BBB to the Dome at 10:30 in the morning for a noon game versus Wake Forest.

Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images

If you don’t remember, that game was nuts. Syracuse went down 20-7 at the half, emptying most of the student section and allowing me and a few friends to make our way to the front row on the goal line. The Orange scored 15 points in the final quarter, picked off Wake’s final regulation drive and had the go ahead field goal attempt blocked all before scoring in OT to win it.

An 18-year old version of me was having the best time of his life, so I’ll always remember that game. I’ll also remember it for what happened at halftime when I saw my academic adviser on the sidelines. I yelled down to her, asking what she was doing. She said something about being a mascot coach before I interrupted her yelling, “I WANT TO BE OTTO.” Whoops.

It’s definitely a different reason, but I can’t imagine being a fan of any other team. And even though I still love my Pittsburgh (non-Panthers) teams, I can’t not watch Syracuse, even if it’s in the NIT or finding a way to New Jersey to watch Notre Dame pass all over them. I bleed Orange and when Dino Babers leads Syracuse to another bowl game win eventually, you can bet I’ll be somewhere in the stands yelling just as loud as I did in 2011.

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Again, share your own story over on FanPosts. I’m sure someone’s reason for rooting for the Orange far outpaces this one.

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