Year-in-review: TNIAAM’s most-commented articles of 2020

It’s been a year, as anyone and everyone has been reminding you for months now. As Syracuse Orange fans, we usually deal with our own level of strife in one way or another, but this year was its own unique animal in many ways. Still, TNIAAM got creative in talking about it all here at the end of full year No. 14 of operations — several lifetime in internet terms.

Given all the happenings, TNIAAM wrote over 1,500 articles on the year (I didn’t bother getting an exact number, but know it’s no less than that) and many of those generated quite a few comments from you all.

Starting our annual year-end recap articles, we wanted to look back at the pieces that generated the most reactions from this community. Of course, this list excludes GameThreads because adding those would be cheating.

TNIAAM’s Most-Commented Posts of 2020

1. It’s everyone’s fight, even if it’s not specifically your story

In the wake of the George Floyd protests, I felt compelled to say something about it. Several of you felt compelled to yell at me about it, as was the case at various junctures this year. Alas...

2. Athletes have had enough

Similarly, Andy discussed how athletes were responding to new calls for social — and specifically, racial — justice. Several of you felt compelled to yell about it.

3. Syracuse sports ‘what ifs’: You can only pick three

In the early days of college sports no-man’s land, we had to get creative. This one of many social media-inspired posts where we talked “what ifs” to varying degrees, to see which Orange fans preferred. There was a decent amount of consensus on 1-2 of those, with more debate beyond that.

4. No fans at college games in New York State, per Gov. Andrew Cuomo

Someone mentioned COVID/a political figure/race and several of you felt compelled to yell about it.

5. Syracuse football: Bump in the road, or the end of it?

Interestingly, last year’s second most-commented piece was a similarly (unintentionally) titled “Syracuse basketball: The end, or another bump in the road?“ Like that one, this piece tried to find the way out of a bad loss, even if it was by admitting that we were staring into the abyss.

6. ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament Cancelled

On top of Syracuse’s season abruptly coming to an end, there was the inevitable political conversation here too...

7. Jalen Carey and Howard Washington set to transfer from Syracuse (report)

Transfers — maybe especially those from backup guards — generate a significant amount of chatter from this group, as was the case once again when the Orange lost some depth right after the season wrapped.

8. SU’s depth concerns aren’t due to a lack of effort from Dino Babers

There were quite a few questions to ask about Syracuse football’s many issues this year, and Kevin dove into the depth concerns — and how this staff attempted to address them. That’s no excuse for the fact that they didn’t in several cases. But there is a difference between “can’t” and “won’t” with regard to actions.

9. Syracuse football: I hate this feeling

I honestly didn’t have the stomach for any more perspective pieces after a season full of them and disappointment, but luckily Sean sent something to my inbox following Rex Culpepper’s fourth down spike. You liked the piece, of course. So did I, despite the accurate sense of dread it encapsulates.

10. Miami 69, Syracuse 65: Hurricanes rip through Orange in OT

It seemed like Syracuse’s NCAA Tournament hopes ended with this unfortunate late loss. Little did we know what was ahead.

***

I’ll admit it: This was the toughest year yet when it comes to running this place. Between a lack of sports for months on end, COVID, an election year, various societal tensions and my own general sense of dread, it was a slog at times. Add to it a lack of any real Syracuse success this year, and the comment section has been a bit of a powder keg.

Still, I hope we were able to have some fun here and there, as you’ll see amid the unrest in the comment sections above. If you missed any of these last time around, go ahead and relive all the #jokesandgarbage and other assorted nonsense we shared with one another.

As always, thanks for reading.