Thursday, February 28, 2008
Fake Fans
To a true sports fan, probably the most annoying thing to witness is someone falsely rooting for a team that they support for all the wrong reasons, like solely rooting for them only because of the fact that they are winning. Many people know fans like this as bandwagon fans, people who only jump on a team's bandwagon when they start winning, but bandwagon fans are just a small sub-category of the real evil, the evil known as........the fake fan. Fake fans come in all shape and sizes and they are, admittedly, fairly harmless, just really really annoying. Fake fans are the people who claim they follow a team, but can't name their starting lineups, or they know hardly any history of the team. A fake fan claims that he loves his team, yet will miss games for the flimsiest of excuses, a fake fan will leave games early to beat traffic no matter what the score is, a fake fan will do anything that makes a real fan ashamed to be near them. The sad truth is that most fans are fake fans, and the only thing us real fans can do is call them out on it.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Sports Hell
I believe I am stuck in a perpetual sports hell.
You want to know hell? It's knowing that your team is known for two of the NCAA tournaments biggest upsets, losing the game against Vermont, and losing to 15-seed Richmond as a 2-seed in 1991. The year afterward looked gloomy, as their best player was gone, along with a few other vital pieces from the 2003 season. It was up to Gerry McNamara to put the team on his shoulders, but one man couldn't do it all as was proven by the Orange finished the regular season 19-11, with a 7-9 record in the Big East. Few were picking Syracuse to make the NCAA tournament as they entered the Big East tournament as a 9-seed.
The next season was more tolerable since with McNamara gone, there were not many expectation for Syracuse, still I, along with many many others, thought that Syracuse had earned a spot after beating mighty Georgetown late in the season, but once again I was left disappointed as they were snubbed from the tournament and ended up losing in the quarterfinals of the NIT. So as you can see, I have been stuck in this "Purgatory" for years now with no hope of getting out, it's not just that they lose, it's also that Syracuse always manages to raise my hopes at the best possible time, only to dash them just as quickly when it matters most.
I have also had to endure seeing the Redskins wallow in ineptitude for years now with the exception of this past season and the 2005 season, in which they had to go on major winning streaks just to make the playoffs and to be unceremoniously booted by the Seahawks both times.
And I don't even want to get started on the Yankees
Well not a hell per se, but maybe a sports purgatory, since for some reason, none of my teams can make any sort of noise in their respective playoffs. As a life long Syracuse Orange (or Orangemen as I will always know them as) fan, I have been part of the highest of highs, seeing them win a title in 2003, to the lowest of lows, seeing them get snubbed by the committee last year only to justify it by bowing out in the NIT. I know I shouldn't complain since many people don't get to see their favorite team win a championship, but recent futility of the team's playoff play has been embarrassing.
The year after they won the championship, the made a respectable run in the tournament, beating the 2002 champ, Maryland, before eventually losing to Alabama. Back then I was disappointed, but that seems great in retrospect. In the 2004-2005 season, Syracuse had what i thought to be one of their better teams of the past 15 or so years. The Orange spent most of the season ranked in or around the top 10 and had a truly exciting consensus All-American by the name of Hakim Warrick, who could throw a dunk down with the best of them and was also a very solid rebounder. Gerry McNamara also gave us someone to be truly happy with, as his touch from deep gave us a consistent 3-point option, and he was a career 89 percent free throw shooter. All in all this was a team to be very excited with as they retained many of the holdovers from the championship season and they had gotten used to the post-Carmelo world. So anyways, after a season when Syracuse managed to post a very solid record against very solid teams, they capped it all off by winning the Big East title, so as you can imagine I was very excited come tournament time when the Orange garnered a 4-seed and were pitted against lowly Vermont in the first round. So what happens? They lose! To Vermont! In the first round! I am not a good enough writer to describe my feelings that day, all I can say is that it was akin to the general feeling in the air that you have at a funeral, especially since it was Warrick's last year on the team.
The year after they won the championship, the made a respectable run in the tournament, beating the 2002 champ, Maryland, before eventually losing to Alabama. Back then I was disappointed, but that seems great in retrospect. In the 2004-2005 season, Syracuse had what i thought to be one of their better teams of the past 15 or so years. The Orange spent most of the season ranked in or around the top 10 and had a truly exciting consensus All-American by the name of Hakim Warrick, who could throw a dunk down with the best of them and was also a very solid rebounder. Gerry McNamara also gave us someone to be truly happy with, as his touch from deep gave us a consistent 3-point option, and he was a career 89 percent free throw shooter. All in all this was a team to be very excited with as they retained many of the holdovers from the championship season and they had gotten used to the post-Carmelo world. So anyways, after a season when Syracuse managed to post a very solid record against very solid teams, they capped it all off by winning the Big East title, so as you can imagine I was very excited come tournament time when the Orange garnered a 4-seed and were pitted against lowly Vermont in the first round. So what happens? They lose! To Vermont! In the first round! I am not a good enough writer to describe my feelings that day, all I can say is that it was akin to the general feeling in the air that you have at a funeral, especially since it was Warrick's last year on the team.
You want to know hell? It's knowing that your team is known for two of the NCAA tournaments biggest upsets, losing the game against Vermont, and losing to 15-seed Richmond as a 2-seed in 1991. The year afterward looked gloomy, as their best player was gone, along with a few other vital pieces from the 2003 season. It was up to Gerry McNamara to put the team on his shoulders, but one man couldn't do it all as was proven by the Orange finished the regular season 19-11, with a 7-9 record in the Big East. Few were picking Syracuse to make the NCAA tournament as they entered the Big East tournament as a 9-seed.
Just for some background, no team seeded as low as 9th had ever won the Big East tournament, and no team had ever won four games en route to the Big East title.
I mentioned earlier that Syracuse was relying on Gerry McNamara to carry them throughout the year and that he had come up short during the regular season, well that was all for naught as McNamara did whatever he could to ensure his team would win the Big East title and garner a spot in the bracket. In the first round against Cincinnati, McNamara hit a running, one-handed-three as time expired to lead Syracuse past the Bearcats by one point. In the second round, Syracuse faced Connecticut, who would eventually enter the NCAA's as a 1-seed, and McNamara hit a long 3 at the buzzer to tie the game and helped win it in over time, in the next game against Georgetown, he stole the ball at the last second and dished it to Eric Devendorf for the easy layup, giving Syracuse their first lead of the game with seconds left and the eventual win. In the championship round against Pittsburgh, he scored 14 points to help beat the Panthers. Syracuse dominated the headlines during this tournament and gave me newfound hope that they would be a dark horse in the NCAA's now that they had earned a seeding. Unfortunately it was not meant to be as Syracuse once again lost in the first round to Texas A&M, with McNamara only scoring two points in his last game at the school.
The next season was more tolerable since with McNamara gone, there were not many expectation for Syracuse, still I, along with many many others, thought that Syracuse had earned a spot after beating mighty Georgetown late in the season, but once again I was left disappointed as they were snubbed from the tournament and ended up losing in the quarterfinals of the NIT. So as you can see, I have been stuck in this "Purgatory" for years now with no hope of getting out, it's not just that they lose, it's also that Syracuse always manages to raise my hopes at the best possible time, only to dash them just as quickly when it matters most.
I have also had to endure seeing the Redskins wallow in ineptitude for years now with the exception of this past season and the 2005 season, in which they had to go on major winning streaks just to make the playoffs and to be unceremoniously booted by the Seahawks both times.
And I don't even want to get started on the Yankees
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