What might you have in common with this guy?  The bad news is its not good looks . . . but the good news is its not scientology.

I’m a busy guy, but I’ve decided to take time out of my schedule to write articles for CuseOrange.com.  Why?  Well its not to show up those snooty Georgetown bloggers.   OK, that might be a small part of the reason, but its mostly because I love Syracuse University sports and I want to do my part to help make them better.  To me, accomplishing this goal entails meeting two objectives.

OBJECTIVE #1

Education.

Knowledge is power.  I think too many fans are “box score fans.”  These are the kind of fans who expect to see certain numbers put up by both the team and its players.  They’re also the kind of people who get upset when those numbers are not met.  This is a frustrating way to watch basketball, because at its core basketball is not a game of numbers, its a game of nuance – a  high speed chess match between coaches and players that cannot possibly be broken down numerically.  When you understand why the numbers are being shaped the way they are you can appreciate the game for its many nuances instead of being constantly upset that your expectations are not met.  This leads to far less frustration and far more enjoyment.  And more than anything I want to teach people how to enjoy basketball, because I figure that will lead to more die hard SU fans.  And that, folks, is a big part of what this blog is all about.  Making regular SU fans into huge SU fans.

So don’t expect to see much numerical analysis here.  What you will get are fairly detailed breakdowns of the game plans both SU and its opponents have as well as analysis of how well those game plans are executed.  It’s a way of looking at basketball you don’t see too often, and my hope is that it will help everybody appreciate the game a little more, and maybe even help make you a little bit bigger fan than you already are.

OBJECTIVE #2

Free Stuff.

Some of you know that I run a bocce league called Turbo Bocce.  Others might not even know what bocce is.  If the latter describes you, or you’re just up for a good laugh, check out www.turbobocce.org.

Now that you know what Turbo Bocce is, you might wonder what on earth it has to do with SU basketball.  The answer is nothing – but it has everything to do with SU football.  Why?  Because of B.O.O.T. (my latest brainchild).  B.O.O.T. stands for the Bocce Organization Of Tailgaters and will have a logo that should look something like this (but hopefully less crappy).

Here’s the essential idea behind B.O.O.T.  You get a bunch of SU football fans together – enough to buy tickets in bulk so there are huge discounts – play some bocce before the game while getting all you can eat and drink for 5$, then chauffeur all those people to the Dome to watch the game and pick them up afterwords, like they’re Tom Cruse or something.

Sound like a good deal?

Its not too far from being a reality.  We already have beer and food sponsors from our summer bocce league.  We already have all the equipment necessary to play bocce, keep stats, and put those stats and standings up on the bocce website.  We’ve already got bocce shirts for our members, and we even have beautiful beer girls who are happy to run fresh cold ones out to you so you can keep on drinking and playing bocce at the same time.  Volunteers have already been amassed willing to drive people to and from the Dome, and SU already sells tickets to large groups of people at a fraction of their original price.

The ONLY thing we need is more people!

So, if you like SU football, and you like the idea of buying tickets at huge discounts, not having to pay for parking (or make that long walk to the Dome), and getting all you can eat and drink for 5$.  B.O.O.O.T. needs your help.  Put your thoughts about this potential bocce league in the comments section below or email me at pjc5@mail.com.  We are going to need people who are willing to join and people who are willing to help us spread the word to make this happen.

I think it’s a pretty good idea – at the very least its better than anything those crappy Georgetown bloggers ever came up with – but I still want some feedback, so leave a comment in the comment section even if you usually wouldn’t.

A full breakdown of the Florida game will be coming very shortly, so be on the lookout for that!

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at 10:31 am by Paul C. . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.