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If you’ve been paying attention to the news, an orange-tinged person is considering pardons for numerous individuals (even himself!). This inspired Sean to ask a question of all Syracuse Orange fans, since well... we’re also orange.
What Syracuse player, coach, or admin deserves to be pardoned for their "crimes"?
— Sean Keeley (@SeanKeeleyIsMe) June 4, 2018
My pick would be Donte Greene, who took the brunt of it from SU fans on behalf of every underclassman to leave early after him.
Who deserves a “pardon” from Syracuse fans for perceived slights and problematic occurrences that we’ve all been holding onto for way too long?
Sean posits Donte Greene, and I’d have to agree with the pick. Fans ran Greene through the ringer for leaving after the 2007-08 season, despite him doing all he could to carry a flawed and injured team to the outer reaches of the NCAA Tournament bubble. He was a first round pick, which makes his decision a success. But as Sean notes, nearly every player (Malachi Richardson aside) that left early after him has been criticized using the same lens Orange fans had back then: “he left too soon and didn’t accomplish enough for SU.”
I’ll happily pardon him for that — though, as former TNIAAM contributor Brian Tahmosh mentions, not for “the Dynasty.”
Twitter was happy to offer up other options, though. Some of the best tossed out there:
Lawrence Moten for calling TO in the 1995 NCAA game https://t.co/DRdDWMZlph
— Pat Bailey (@PatBailey518) June 4, 2018
Billy edelin? We still got a title ♂️
— Joe Gibbs (@Gibbs119) June 4, 2018
Paul Harris. https://t.co/ItWS99frDP
— Matthew McClusky (@MatthewMcClusky) June 4, 2018
Interesting question. I think probably Cooney coming into the Final Four in '13 cold as a Frosh. It is definitely NOT Paul Harris turning the ball over, losing a Pitt game and kicking SU off the bubble. https://t.co/NKki9SqVaw
— Brian Harrison (@BH_Orange44) June 4, 2018
DeShaun Williams. His punching Preston Shumpert in the eye and subsequent dismissal from SU left a lot of PT for Josh Pace. And James Theus whose departure led to a starting role for Gerry and minutes for Edelin.
— x-Warner (@Shue_Box) June 4, 2018
Arinze Onuaku's quad muscle
— Tim (@MilkShac) June 4, 2018
Are people still mad at Doug Marrone? My vote goes to him https://t.co/F12g49avkc
— Andrew Naylor (@Nails811) June 4, 2018
FabMelo (posthumous pardon)
— Thomas Fowler (@fowlplay1974) June 5, 2018
DC for missing the front end
— David Eisen (@DavidEisen3) June 5, 2018
A lot of basketball in there, with the obvious ones being Lawrence Moten (for the timeout), Derrick Coleman (missed free throw) and Fab Melo being the big ones. Doug Marrone is certainly one that everyone should probably get past at this point. If we’re adding another football option from that general era, perhaps Greg Paulus? His QB tenure started off rough, but he did end up completing nearly 68 percent of his passes for over 2,000 yards and 13 touchdowns. Given the minimal amount of talent on that roster, it’s pretty amazing.
Some other selections, in brief:
- Darius Bazley (I’ve already moved on)
- Robert Washington and Tyrone Sampson (if you haven’t already)
- Whoever came up with #CuseMode
- Rob Murphy for “Shut It Down”
- DOCTOR Gross (wait, nevermind)
- Whoever spell-checks things at Syracuse
- George McDonald (I’m not ready...)
You probably have your own picks. So feel free to offer your case for pardoning certain individuals below.