Well, to say the least, I've been the worst blogger in America the last few weeks. Between finishing up covering the Syracuse football season and the hoopla of finals and traveling and personal business matters, I just haven't been able to keep up with the Slog. There's definitely plenty of great Orange athletics coming up in the next few months, though, and I don't want it to go uncovered here. Unfortunately, while next semester will be much easier for me, I will also be spending it abroad. So, I'd just like to let you all know now that I'm actively looking for a successor to my spot blogging here and that he or she will be doing a much better job keeping this updated. This may very well be my goodbye from the CSTV Slog, but don't worry, somebody will be back to keep you updated on everything SU before you know it. Enjoy the holidays!

Posted by at 06:41 PM on December 22, 2005
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Hey, thanks to reader Pat who e-mailed me saying he still has his "Real Men Wear Orange" shirt from his freshman year at SU in 1999. In my entry about the "Real Teams Aren't Fruit" t-shirts, I said they were introduced in the 2003 season. That was just the first time I had ever heard of or seen them. Sorry for the mistake and thank you Pat.

Posted by at 06:38 PM on November 15, 2005
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The long, heated argument over "Orange" vs. "Orangemen" may never end, but this one group of guys has added a new twist to the drama.
If you're from the SU campus or surrounding areas, you know about the "Real men wear Orange" t-shirts floating around and all the spin-offs like "Real kids wear Orange," "Real grandparents wear Orange," etc. They came out in the 2003 basketball championship season and have grown wildly popular since.
Well check out these new shirts:

I think you can tell which side of the debate these guys are on. The shirts are for sale and so far the group has sold 200 shirts. I've personally seen them around campus and it's a pretty cool idea and execution. If you're interested, visit http://realteamsarentfruit.com. They're for sale at $15 each.

Posted by at 11:40 PM on November 08, 2005
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Hey everybody, here's some of the shows that'll be featuring Syracuse teams coming up on CSTV. Make sure if you get CSTV you watch. And if you don't get CSTV, well find a TV that does. Enjoy!

November 12th
9-9:30am Syracuse Sidelines
11:30am-12pm Inside the Big East

November 14th
3-4 pm Big East/MAAC/Ivy League Cross Country Championship
(tape delayed from 10/28)

November 19th
9-9:30am Syracuse Sidelines
11:30am-12pm Inside the Big East

November 20th
3-5pm NCAA Volleyball on CSTV: AVCA Match of the Week
Big East Women's Volleyball Championship
(SU could very well be in this match, so stay tuned)
LIVE
Re-Airs: 11/23 1:30-3:30pm

November 26th
9-9:30am Syracuse Sidelines
11:30am-12pm Inside the Big East

Posted by at 09:54 PM on November 08, 2005
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Finally, SU basketball season is on its way. After a pitiful football season (which, unfortunately still has three games to go), the kids on The Hill need something to cheer for. As has been the case for about five or six years now, Syracuse is a basketball school -- no doubt about it. A national championship and multiple runs in the NCAA tournament, excluding last year's first-round exit, will do that for a program. Plus, Jim Boeheim is coaching as well as ever, getting some great recruits for the future also.
I was lucky enough to check out Big East men's basketball Media Day down in New York City this week. All the talk is about the new teams coming into the conference, but this is a Syracuse blog after all, so let's talk Orange.
Gerry McNamara was named co-preseason player of the year for the conference with UConn's Rudy Gay.

It'll be interesting to see if McNamara lives up to the hype. He's a great shooter and one tough player, for sure, but he's been the second banana his entire career. As a freshman he enjoyed open looks based on Carmelo Anthony. The last two seasons, he's had Hakim Warrick as a running mate to take pressure off him. This year, it's just him. Sure, the talented junior class will now start to emerge, but there are no Carmelos or Hakims on this team. If you ask me, McNamara won't be player of the year when this season's over. But he'll definitely be more fun to watch than Perry Patterson, Joe Fields and Co. on the football field, I'll tell you that much.

Some other observations from Media Day:
-I think every team had its players dress up in suits except Syracuse, who sent McNamara in his basketball warmups. SU did the same thing last year; don't know if that's them trying to distinguish themselves but in my opinion, there's nothing like a sharp suit when you're in public like that.

-There's just something about Rick Pitino, whose Louisville team is in the conference right now. He commands a room, has that Italian charm that just has everyone gravtitating to him. Plus he wore a pink tie with sky blue ponies patterned on it. Any man with the gaul to pull that off is OK in my book.

-Some players were just completely shell-shocked. These country kids coming from Cincinnati and Marquette and South Florida were hilarious to talk to since most of them had never been somewhere like New York before. http://www.dailyorange.com/media/paper522/news/2005/10/27/Sports/Big-East.Basketball.Midwestern.Additions.To.Big.East.Marvel.At.New.York.City.Ex-1035580.shtml That's the notebook I wrote for The Daily Orange about Media Day, check it out to see what some of these guys had to say. It was really a good time. Anyway, as the season progresses we'll talk some more basketball. For now, keep cringing at football and counting down the days.

-Mike

*Photo courtesy BigEast.org

Posted by at 07:11 PM on October 29, 2005
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Sorry about that Pittsburgh entry from last week. They rushed us out of the press box after the game and my reporter and I had to get out of the city as quick as we could to get back to campus. Things got crazy then during the week (including a trip to Big East basketball media day, read about that in the blog, too) and I could never get back about the second half. Anyway, there wasn't much to talk about. Syracuse is playing its worst football in quite a while, if not ever. So don't worry, you didn't miss much from the rest of the Pitt game -- SU got outplayed again, couldn't take advantage of golden chances, and that was that.

Posted by at 07:03 PM on October 29, 2005
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Greetings from the Steel (and rainy) City. SU is at Pitt this week and it's a good game so far; we're at halftime and it's 17-17. The game's at Heinz Field, home of the Steelers, so it's a beautiful venue. Unfortunately there's nobody here. It's cold and drizzly and windy and these two teams aren't exactly the cream of the national crop. Still, SU is creating great opportunities on defense and special teams but is still turning the ball over on offense. Pitt has a lot of turnovers as well but they made a late second-half surge to tie it up. Anthony Smith is having a great game for SU with a big interception return and a blocked punt; we'll see if he can single-handedly carry them in the secondary and special teams. An interesting fact: if SU loses today, it'll be the first tiime it drops five games in a row since 1982. I wasn't even born yet.

Back with more after the game-
Mike

Posted by at 01:43 PM on October 22, 2005
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Here's a list of all the Syracuse-related programming to come on CSTV in the next few weeks. If you get CSTV on your cable package, check these shows out. If you don't, well call that cable operator and get moving.

October 15th
9-9:30am
Syracuse Sidelines

11:30am -12pm
Inside the Big East

October 22nd
9-9:30am
Syracuse Sidelines

9:30-10am
Inside the Big East

October 26th
11:30am-1:30pm
Big East Basketball Media Slam
Re-Airing: October 26th 11am-1pm

October 29th
9-9:30am
Syracuse Sidelines

11:30am-12pm
Inside the Big East

Posted by at 02:30 PM on October 11, 2005
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Just to let you guys know, we'll hopefully be getting some coverage on other sports up very soon. We had to take care of some administrative issues before we could do so, but soon we'll hopefully have some stuff on all the Syracuse fall sports teams for you to check out. So keep an eye for that sometime soon.

Posted by at 02:29 PM on October 11, 2005
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I predicted in the column you can check out in the last entry that Syracuse would win five games in a row, starting with UConn. Well....saying I was wrong would be an understatement. SU looked absolutely horrible against the Huskies Friday night and now I'm more inclined to say they won't win another game at all this season. Of course, the law of probability says the Orange will win at least one game the rest of the year, but then again who knows. The offense looked stale -- it took more than three quarters to score a touchdown and by then it was only 26-7. The defense looked porous -- it allowed 342 yards, 297 of them on the ground! Astonishing. Check out The Daily Orange's coverage of it online at http://dailyorange.com. Go to the 'archives' tab on the left side and select Monday, Oct. 10's issue for all the details.

Posted by at 02:14 PM on October 11, 2005
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