Of Course they're Selling These

Holy Shirt! A Syracuse based T-Shirt company has already issued a
T-Shirt commemorating the Big East Tournament Quarterfinal win.




They should be in stores by 2pm today although I have no idea
who would buy one.

Was it Good for You Too??

Gotta love the New York Post...



And the Daily News too...NY Tabloids are dirrr-tay (and not that original)

Syracuse Stuff

Greg Robinson landed on his feet sort of. At least he's in a position he has succeeded in before and can again. I will say when it comes to Head Coaches, Syracuse hires good coordinators.

Looking forward, SU's new Head football Coach's favorite watering hole is The Varsity?. Forget that The Varsity is the biggest copout brand name answer to any question about Syracuse hangouts, but I'm pretty sure to be considered a watering hole you have to serve alcohol and be open past 8pm. This whole interview ended my brief period of optimism for SU football. Although I guess it would be as discomforting to know that he fondly remembered killing brain cells at 44's or risking an STD at Darwin's.

The Men's Basketball team got killed at Pitt on Monday. Can someone tell me the last time SU Hoop beat an opponent in conference on the road on a Monday? I imagine its been a while.

Syracuse Women's Basketball got some national attention, only because one of the players tripped UConn coach Geno Auriemma during the post-game handshake. The Big East levied no punishment because well, Auriemma's a douche.

Shall we Reassess?

A little over a month ago I took a look at Syracuse's NCAA Tournament resume and came to an optimistic conclusion that Syracuse had a pretty good chance at making the NCAA Tournament even though they were playing mediocre basketball.

After Syracuse's devastating collapse to Pittsburgh today the Orange have loss three in a row, their RPI tomorrow will be somewhere around 60 and they have just 17 wins and a 7-9 record in the Big East with only one signature win, which seems like months ago against Georgetown.

The only way they make the tournament is if they win out the rest of the regular season (at Seton Hall, and home against Marquette) and win one game in the Big East Tournament (likely against West Virginia or Pittsburgh). That would give them 20 wins, a .500 conference record, three wins vs. the top 50, and a top ten Strength of Schedule. They could be a surprise in a la Stanford last year.

That's probably not going to happen as this was Syracuse's best performance of the year for 36 and a half minutes. It's hard to see a young team coming back and salvaging this season.

While Don'te Green's European style game (good length, outside shot, no toughness) had NBA Draftniks putting him in the lottery as recently as last month, that talk has seemed to cool down and I think a "Don'te Leave" T-Shirt and a good talk with Jim Boeheim (hint: It would start with "Carmelo Anthony was a friend of mine...") should return him to a team that could be loaded next year.

Actually they will be loaded, they will just have to overcome the tendency to disappoint that Syracuse has come to exemplify over the past five years.

So...You're Saying there IS a Chance!

After reading Paul's post after the Syracuse-Georgetown game. I sense that Paul is prepared for SU being left out of the NCAA Tournament again this year. While things may not look so good for the Orange currently, to write them off is to ignore a lot of mediocrity that is going on nationally among teams that will be vying for the 34 At-Large bids come March. Syracuse is a great basketball team that deserves to go to the NCAA Tournament this year. Syracuse's resume is such that it could be included in the 65 team field in what many have already labeled a "rebuilding year". While nothing below will heal Eric Devendorf's ACL, make Arinze Onuaku a good free-throw shooter or make Scoop Jardine any good at all, here is a pollyanna's optimistic look at the Syracuse resume.

Wins: All SU fans know Syracuse's 22 wins were the most by a Big East Tournament to not make the tournament since the field expanded to 65 teams. The Orange currently have 13 wins with 11 games to play. Before you think to yourself "Oh shit, they have to go 10-1" Here is what this year's team has going for it that others haven't.

RPI: As of this post Syracuse's RPI is 39th nationally. In this decade 6 of 8 teams ranked 39th have made the NCAA Tournament all by way of an at-large bid. Last year when Syracuse was notoriously snubbed, their RPI was 50.

Strength of Schedule: Syracuse's strength of schedule is 4th in the country behind Arizona, Miami (OH), and Tennessee. This is expected to at least hold steady if not bump up a spot but it most likely will not drop below 10th nationally. Since 2000, no team with 19 wins or more and a Strength of Schedule in the Top 10 has missed the tournament.

Record vs. Top 50: Has actually gone up to 1-6 (The Hawk will never die) since Paul's post, but an understandable concern nonetheless. How can Syracuse expect the committee to put it in the tournament unless they prove they can beat tournament teams? Forgetting that Kevin Durant and Texas only had 2 wins against teams in the Top 50 in the RPI last year, the Orange have more than ample opportunity to change this blemish on their resume with NINE games remaining against teams currently in the RPI Top 50. Five at home (Providence, Connecticut, Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Marquette) and Four on the road (Villanova, Louisville, Notre Dame, Seton Hall). While the opponent's place in the RPI Top 50 is tentative, Syracuse has a great chance to rack up wins at least against teams that will be in the bubble discussion come early March and maybe one or two "marquee" wins.

So what must Syracuse do? Considering these numbers 6-5 does it, and 5-6 with one win at Madison Square Garden may do it too. That would put them 19-13 on Selection Sunday with a Strength of Schedule likely in the Top 5. That would make them better than the one 18 win team with such a resume that got snubbed (Cincinnati in 2005). This would require marquee wins vs. two of the Top 20 teams on the Home schedule and two road wins over bubble contenders Notre Dame and Seton Hall. Not a gimme by any means but if this team gained any confidence by hanging with the Preseason favorite in the conference for 45 minutes, it is possible.

(No I don't know this all of the top of my head. Between now and March, I will be leaning on Ken Pomeroy's RPI site which is the first RPI site I found with Top 50 breakdowns and SOS stats.)

Dwight has a new Bobblehead

Congratulations Baylor!

That game you lost in Double Overtime to Oklahoma in 2005...you actually won it! What an upset!

The NCAA retroactively forfeited all of Oklahoma's 2005 wins because of improper payments made to Quarterback Rhett Bomar and Lineman J.D. Quinn at what can be best described as a "No Show" job at a car dealership.

The Sooners also forfeit their Holiday Bowl win over Oregon but do not have to return the monies awarded to the University.

In addition, Oklahoma will lose 2 scholarships in 2008-09 and 2009-10.

As a result of the forfeits, Bob Stoops coaching record goes from 86-19 to 78-19. Shouldn't it be 78-27? Either way, he is not on the "hot seat".

Oklahoma's probation with the NCAA is also extended until 2010.

Oklahoma avoided a more harsh punishment by dismissing Bomar and Quinn last summer and banning athletes from working at the same dealership until 2008-09. This is becoming a popular trend in college athletics scandals, self-imposing light punishments to avoid harsher ones.

Retroactive forfeits are punchlines for blog posts and seem kind of a silly punishment. If UMass didn't go to the Final Four in '96, or Michigan in '93 or Ohio State in '99, then who did? What lessons are learned when a win a team knows it earned on the field is taken away for an incident off of it?

For some reason, this punishment is getting more publicity than the three retroactive forfeits I mentioned. Can't explain why. Maybe because the news came out on "No Game Wednesday".

In a related story, Syracuse petitioned the NCAA to get the results of its 2005 season rescinded unsuccessfully.

Good SU Sports Blog

Many schools have very good sports blogs.

Ohio State has Bucknuts

Florida has Everyday Should be Saturday

But until now, you had to go to Syracuse.com's football and basketball blogs to get constantly updated Orange information.

Well some guy (Alumni, I assume) in Marina Del Ray, California has created

Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician

The name itself is reason enough to give it a look...

Let's Tipoff with a Warm Fuzzy!

A Final Word on Syracuse...

Closing the books on the Syracuse NCAA snub before I'm officially "over it" and move on to enjoying what should be a fantastic tournament.

This was my least favorite Syracuse team since Todd Burgan's senior year. This senior class (one Sweet 16, two First Round losses and an NIT bid) grossly underachieved their entire time at Syracuse and in key games this season. They let teams back into games towards the end of the first half several times and they blew big leads late in games. All in all, they were a very frustrating team to watch.

That said, they were one of more than a handful of frustrating teams across the country. Some teams that were brought from "The Bubble" to the tournament had just a .500 conference record (Purdue), or fewer than 20 wins (Stanford), or a .500 record in their last 10 games and a losing record in road/neutral games (Indiana). Syracuse had a +.500 record in what is believed to be (by those outside the committee) a tougher conference than Purdue's, four more wins than Stanford, went 7-3 since they were put on "The Bubble" (meaning 7-3 in "must-win" games, like the tournament is) and at least managed to go .500 on the road and in neutral sites.

The committee contradicts itself in this tournament's field when it reveals the seeds as some teams with lower RPIs are seeded higher than teams with higher RPIs teams that won good conference tournaments are given the same seed as some of the "last teams in".

There are five one seeds in this tournament as the committee chose pretty much not to choose on UCLA giving them a 2 seed with 1 seed privileges. Gary Walters, chairman of the committee tipped his hand when he admitted that Niagara was put in the play-in game because they were sympathetic to what the perception would be if two predominantly black colleges were put in the play-in game. Seems the committee was sympathetic to other perceptions besides that.

Drexel and Syracuse were linked all year because of Drexel's win over Syracuse in the Carrier Dome in December. Old Dominion and Drexel were believed to be a decision the committee would have to make because they were in the same mid-major conference. Old Dominion, having beaten Drexel twice would be a controversial choice to be left out in Drexel's favor. In the mind of the committee leaving out Drexel and including Syracuse would've been a P.R. disaster, and they are probably right on that. There wasn't enough room for Old Dominion, Drexel, and Syracuse.

The appearance is the committee decided to circumvent the Old Dominion, Drexel, Syracuse controversy by only including the one team without a loss to the other two, Old Dominion and putting one of the other suspect bubble teams in.

Syracuse is an easy snub as they are the anti-Drexel, a big school who doesn't schedule tough road games early in the season, but whenever you leave out the 5th place team in the Big East, you are going to create controversy and Gary Walters and the members of the committee should not be as suprised as they seem to be that Syracuse was a controversial omission.

In closing, neither Syracuse or Drexel had an National Championship trophy snatched from their hands by this decision and I am grateful that the controversies in College Basketball are nowhere near the stakes of its older brother, Football.

I still can not wait for one of my favorite times of the year, the NCAA Tournament.

I will take this time to credit Syracuse.com's College Basketball Blog as an invaluable resource for many of my Syracuse posts over the past few weeks. It has become my new favorite way to follow the Orange from afar.

Not Exactly Kennedy-Kruschev but...

Jim Boeheim appeared on the Dan Patrick Show on ESPN Radio...

Filling in for Patrick was adversary Doug Gottlieb...

Here's the transcript

Cordial, not too frosty, no laughs and some patronizing pleasantries, but no fireworks.

Syracuse's First Round Opponent in the NIT

The Jaguars of South Alabama.

The game will likely be played in the Carrier Dome which will spare Syracuse from South Alabama's Bush-manipulated jingoistic fanbase chanting...

"USA! USA! USA!"

Syracuse will likely lose this game as snubbed NCAA teams always seem to do the first round of the NIT.

I would be shocked if Terrance Roberts plays.

I would be surprised if Demetris Nichols plays more than Paul Harris, since Nichols is a Senior playing for just about nothing and Harris could use as much game experience as he can get.

I would be stunned if more than 15,000 people go to this game.

Syracuse Snubbed

Syracuse will not be in the 2007 NCAA Tournament

I was all set to compare Syracuse to some of the suspect teams that got into this field, but Kim Baxter of the Post-Standard already did it for me.

A lot of weight was given to performance in the conference tournaments, SU wishes they had this committee the past two years.

If this were enough to convince Syracuse to schedule some marquis non-conference opponents in November and December, I would say this be a snub that would do SU some good. But I'm sure instead we'll get more 128 Team Tournament talk from Jim Boeheim.

Hard to see a 10 win team from the Big East get snubbed especially with all the mediocre teams in the Big Ten getting in.

What I Learned Last Night...

Ayinde Ubaka probably has a very satisfied girlfriend...


Even in a Double Overtime Conference Tournament Quarterfinal involving a "bubble team", the words Inappropriate Sexual Relationship will get my attention...

Very rarely does a commentator broadcasting a game say any team involved in said game does NOT belong in the tournament (West Virginia) or deserve a #1 seed (UCLA)...

Two people do NOT want to see Syracuse in the tournament:

ESPN Announcer Doug Gottlieb and Paul Amin

Before West Virginia's loss to Louisville both said that they wouldn't be surprised if Syracuse was out of the NCAA Tournament.

Even though both had Syracuse in the tournament either if it beat Connecticut (in Gottlieb's case) or regardless.

While Paul's agenda is simply being a provocative contrarian, something he's great at. Gottlieb has another agenda...

In 1995 Gottlieb was a prized recruit out of California. He played for Notre Dame and started at Point Guard. However during the 1995-96 season he was booted from the team for stealing his roommate's credit card and charged over $900 fraudulently. He later transferred to Oklahoma State.

As an announcer for ESPN, Gottlieb cited Syracuse's weak pre-conference schedule. Syracuse Head Coach Jim Boeheim rebutted by
bringing up the scandal.

This spawned a feud that is not resolved and both sides refuse to discuss publicly.

Take anything Doug Gottlieb says about Syracuse with a grain of salt.

SU-Notre Dame Chit-Chat Transcript

(This is the e-mail banter during Syracuse's Quarterfinal matchup with Notre Dame transcribed. Unlike yesterday's transcript, read this from top to bottom)

DG: We ready boys???

DL: Are we set for a 2:35pm tipoff? Does Billy like/dislike the orange uniforms?

SI: Terrence Roberts still sucks I'm wearing orange at work

DG: Im not....you are all gay

SI: Tim Higgins is YOUR ruferee

DL: Worst ref in all of college basketball, yet gets invited to do every tournament. Put him up there with Joe West, Dick Bavetta, and those clowns that reffed the Steelers-Seahawks Super Bowl

MF: He is playing on a bad knee.

SI: Coach, stop pulling a Pete Mason. If his knee is hurt, sit him down!

DG: Not sure the 2-3 zone is gonna be good versus ND's good shooters...

DL: Birthdays of the Month at 3pm in my office. You gotta be shitting me!

DG: We're watching ESPN360 at work. We signed out the projector and we watching the game in my office....hahahha. So productive today



BP: I just took a bite of a pretzel.It was crunchy.Now I'm typing and chewing.
My butt itches. I wonder if Dan or Scott can scratch it. I bet Mike borrowed Stacey's orange shoes.Why is the sky blue?

DG: Look out! Look out! The ceiling is falling....

SI: I hate how Digger's tie always matches his highlighter That is gay

BB: SU 22 - ND 16, Harris just plowed over a defender and got called for a charge....

DG: Can anyone else picture derek sitting in a conference room eating cake while wearing a paper birthday hat?

SI: Derek, there is a Buffalo Wild Wings in Milford CT
2 hours and fifteen minutes from my house 26-16 Rautins to Roberts... he makes it the second time... ass clown

DG: Harris is having a decent first half Watkins always looks goofy to me.
Roberts is definitely in pain while he's playing. How's that pretzel Billy?

PA: the orange unis do not look good...but that has to do with the color...too bright
Jay Bilas made a Ron Burgundy reference Raf told him to stay classy im going back downstairs those of you watching should keep scores coming for those who aren't
Haskins if they aren't servicing you, just text me

SI: Great, let them take the lead why don't you 29-28 DAME

BB: MAKE A LAYUP EMINEMDORF!!

DG: Does Roberts have a tattoo on his arm for every free throw he misses?

SI: Big Nickel is MONEY

BB: Is this the same team that put up over 100 on us?? Halftime, SU 34 - ND 32

JH: Roberts just made two sick Magic-esque passes to Watkins and he blew the dunk. Big doofus looking guy.

JH: Ass-whooping has begun. Notre Dame is raining threes like Dan likes it when its raining men - All over the place. ND up 49-42.

BB: Nichols 3!!! ND 51 SU 45... Devendorf 3!!! ND 51 SU 48 13:21 to go..

DL: Went from 34-32 to 51-48 in three e-mails. Crazy!

JH: Notre Dame is chucking it up like Anton in the backyard of 920. Grab a damn rebound. 59-53 ND 11:35 to go

JH: Well, its worse now. Good thing we are staying in the zone. 65-57 ND. 8:57 left

JH: Good thing Roberts keeps posting up and getting fouled since he's money from the line. Notre Dame still up by six.

DL: When Josh says "Good Thing", he means bad thing.

JH: We took a huge smelly crap in our pants today boys.

BP: 76-70 2:38 left

JH: I like that Devendorf is at least looking to hit people since the Orange CAN'T HIT A DAMN FOUL SHOT! 11-24. That's crap.

SI: I have to work for an hour and this is what happens. FUCK YOU DEVENDORF!

BP: we're down 8, Nichols got fouled on a 3 with 1:05 left

BP: Down 4 with 46 sec left. ND ball. Time out.

BP: down 4 36.0 left

SI: We lost 89-83

BP: 89-83 bad guys

DL: The dynasty is over. Now hopefully SU (my pants are clean, no smelly crap taken here), can rest their legs and get out of the First Round of the NCAA's.

PA: played well: devendorf, Harris, Roberts
played poorly: Watkins, Nichols, Rautins

go back and look at Rautins game log in the past 10 games or so hes feast or famine
when he plays well they win, plays poorly they lose

mark my words
if WVa beats Louisville that knocks SU into the NIT

SU-UConn Chat Transcript

(Below is everyone's e-mails watching yesterday's Syracuse win over Connecticut in the First Round of the Big East Tournament. The e-mails have been transcribed to look like a chat session, which is pretty much what they were. Read from the bottom up.)

PA: I thought Beers was making millions off freesuri.com

SI: Beers, better buy up collegesportsbitchfest.com

PA: great second half by the Orange
they stopped turning it over which ended the fast breaking
the refs stopped calling fouls...no it was tim riggins...it was jim burr
tough game against ND...if they are on shooting our zone will get killed
I think our players ordered a size up in the new jerseys because they didnt look that tight
didnt look like wife beaters, more like sleeveless Ts
Derek is so upset that no one except me reads his blog
there is a Buffalo Wild Wings in a subway station in Brooklyn
SU is still on the bubble but looking pretty good

BB: By the way... This has spawned off a fantastic web site idea in my head... If only I could follow through on these things :(

DL: This was fun…let's do it again tomorrow!

DG: Btw, I cant wait to see the first fat kid in one of those new uniforms.
Baggy shorts and wife beaters is very futuristic...

JH: How is Rautins a horrible free throw shooter? He's white! Our foul shooting is awful. So awful.

SI: We'll take it. Bring on Digger's Dykes.

DG: horrible line for rautins 4 fouls 7 points 3 rebounds 0 assists.

DL: He's playing with four fouls. How does a scrawny little white kid get called for four fouls?

DG: Rautins cant hit a layup...horrible

DL: I believe tomorrow is 2pm tipoff also?

SI: Big Nickel with the trey! 75-60 cuse 3:08 left

JH: 4 minuets left, up by 16

SI: Where are the obligatory Leo Rautins crowd shots

DG: thanks josh. didnt know aboutthat

JH: I'm watching on Espn 360 off espn.com. 61-48 SU

DG: Jesus christ. I wish I had a tv at work

DG: There's still 10 minutes left and SU hasnt going into there prevent offense yet.

SI: Is that tomorrow? For shizzle

BB: glad to be wrong with my pick here.. Orange day wouldn't be the same tomorrow if they were already on a bus back to South Campus.

EW: Syracuse pulling away up 11

JH: Nichols with a 3. Up by 11.

SI: More importantly, instead of the Big Check... should we order a
championship ring for Josh?

SI: Look at that homo dressed up like a Husky. What a douche.

DG: Josh is gay....email of the year

SI: I'm surprised there haven't been any Beat Thabeet jokes.

BP: Rautins made and 3 and Jay Bilas just said, "Wow, it doesn't take long for him to squeeze on off does it?"

JH: Wow. You guys are tiring. I think "I love wings...." could be nominated
for the email of the year. 45-43 SU up

DG: I love wings....

DL: http://thepizzaparlor.blogspot.com/2007/01/ohio-state-weekend-blog-b-dubs.html

DL: Does anyone even read my blog anymore?

EW: I have seen those places in Buffalo !!!

SI: Where can I find one of these Buffalo Wild Wings places? Looks like
the kind of place Derek and I could go nuts in.

BP: 45-40 SU on top

DG: We are going to get josh anal beads instead of a championship ring.

MF: Is Bill watching AMC?

JH: Devendorf is down. 53-45 SU

BB: Syracuse looks asleep...............zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..................Here is why I am worried about our Big East draw:Team Rebounds Rankings:1) UConn
2) Syracuse 3) Notre Dame Gulp....

SI: OK, I'm watching now. I assume we've played down to the level of our competition for a half, gotten some bad calls, and Devendorf has 20 turnovers. That about right?

BP: 38-36 UConn at the half

MF: So many fouls.I think they may ask me to start the second half.

BP: 32-31 UConn w/ 3:40 left

PA: it's a miracle we're only down four at this point
they are playing very poorly
Raftery just said theyre gonna give Harris a blow
EZ chuckled
im going downstairs to watch the rest
enough of the rest of you are watching to keep haskins informed

BP: One Gerry McNamara reference down in the BE Tourny... 2,465,367 to go. STILL OVERRATED!

EW: Currently in montage of G-mac last year.

MF:We are in major foul trouble.Did Harris hit a jumper this year?I think I have a better shot than him.
PA: foul trouble Roberts has 2 Watkins has 2 Devendorf has 2 Matt Gorman is playing the middle of the zone we're about to enter a stretch where every UConn possession is missed shot, missed tip, good follow the great Boeheim plays only 6 guys all year
SU has no bench can't wait to hear him bitching about the selection committee on Sunday

DL: Mike likes them and thinks Terrance Roberts looks sexy in his.


PA: Jay Bilas called Andy Rautins a savvy defender
Bill loves court savvy

EW: The uni’s are GAY!!!!! When was silver a team color?

PA: Bill is wrong the new uniforms do look nice much better than the picture SU hates guarding jump shooters rautins chucked up a horrible 3 and fell on his ass UConn leads 8-5

MF: Rautins missed two threes by a mile. Watkins may be the difference maker if he can control the boards.

EW: We are currently in a commercial break – allstate insurance

BP: I'm changing my mind, they don't look good. They're too tight compared to the bagggy shorts. Looks like they're wearing wife beaters. UConn up 3-0

BP: Uniformed don't look bad, they're cool actually. They're not the underarmour tight shirts they were made out to be

MF: Nova wins 75 - 67.

BP: Exactly!

DL: In the tradition of Myron Cope, Tom Heinson, and John Sterling. Mike is our lovable homer.

EW: That’s what I like to see

MF: SU runs the table.

Big East Tournament

The Big East Tournament starts at Noon today. I was all set to call this tournament the "Carrier Classic", naming it after the December cupcake tournament Syracuse held every year in the Carrier Dome. Syracuse won this tournament every year Earl Boykins didn't play in it.

Two years in a row Syracuse has won this tournament winning four games in four days. Two years in a row Syracuse has had no legs left for its NCAA First Round game and lost.

By calling the tournament the "Carrier Classic", I was hoping to jinx Syracuse and reverse this trend.

The problem is, Syracuse must win at least today to ensure a birth in the NCAA's in case more Wright States happen across the country.

A loss to Connecticut this afternoon would probably put Syracuse on either CBS or ESPN's broadcast watching nervously.

Sad thing is I picked UConn to make a little noise in this tournament. So my picks in the Big East Tournament are:

Villanova over DePaul (Augustinians shoot much better than Vincentians)
Connecticut over Syracuse (Again with the reverse jinxing)
Marquette over St. John's (St. John's will be without their best player)
West Virginia over Providence (Guards over Forwards)

Villanova over Georgetown (ensuring a birth)
Connecticut over Notre Dame (Don't think Notre Dame's done anything in this tournament yet)
Pittsburgh over Marquette (payback)
Louisville over West Virginia (in 2 OTs hopefully, rematch of Mike's engagement party)

Villanova over Connecticut
Louisville over Pittsburgh

Louisville over Villanova

This Time Last Year...

Boeheim Melted Down...

If there's anyway Coors Light could turn this into a commercial with those guys at the Press Conferences, I'd be forever amused...

Deja Vu?

According to the Post-Standard's SU Basketball blog, maybe the best way to follow Orange Basketball, Syracuse is all but locked into the 5th seed in the Carrier Classic. As the 5 seed they would play either St. John's or Connecticut WEDNESDAY AT 2PM.

Need someone with TVs at work to send updates over e-mail.

Catching Up: SCZA Fest

Celebrated Scott's 29th Birthday with a day of basketball and night of drinking. Here is an annotated blog of the day.

The Day of Basketball- Syracuse 71, Providence 67

-As Scott mentioned, the Dunkin Donuts Center is an outdated building. It is due for renovation to be ready in Fall of 2008 which is a cheaper alternative than trying to find space for a new arena in an already overcrowded downtown Providence.

-Scott's friend and co-worker Kristin Stanley and brother Kyle took my other two tickets. They are the children of former Red Sox Pitcher Bob Stanley. Both were very quiet and introverted which became even more conspicuous when we met up with Pizza Parlor KeriAnn. I wonder if having to grow up in Massachusetts during the time their father was a World Series goat contributed to their shyness. If so, I feel bad.

-Beer is sold at "The Dunk", very surprising for a Jesuit College game.

-There was a planned "Black-Out" which is 2007's overused College Basketball gimmick in the tradition of "Jersey Popping" and "Crowd Storming". This was ruined by the 1/8 of the crowd which was Syracuse fans wearing Orange intermittendly around the arena. Syracuse "travels well" in basketball around the Northeast it does not "travel well" to college football bowl games (they're the games after the regular season for you die-hard SU football fans).

-Providence has the whitest dance team of all-time. It's as if there is not one tanning salon in the entire state of Rhode Island. Which is entirely possible.

-Andy Rautins is your star of this game shooting 5-7 from 3pt range while Providence went 2-145 (or so it seems) from beyond the arc. Any win in conference on the road is a good win, even if you needed a little luck to get it.

Night of Drinking- Contempo Skank 1, Grant from Ch. 7 0, Pizza Parlor Derek Retired

-Start at Dillon's in Boston's Back Bay. Long line at 9:30pm would lead you to think this bar has some added ammenity like a dance floor, dollar draft specials, HDTV, or a Mechanical Bull (my favorite). Nope! Nothing. Just your regular in-line bar. Joined by a horde of Scott's co-workers from Ch. 5 in Boston and Scott's friend and SU Alum Grant Grenburgh (sp inc intentionally so he doesn't show up on Google like Scott's wife did after my blog for his wedding) a producer from Ch. 7. We are later joined by Rhianna, another Ch. 5 employee dressed in matching hot pink/orange one piece dress and necklace with black hooker boots. Rhianna is not popular among the Ch. 5 crowd already there. One girl called her a "Contempo Skank" which is nothing I will forget anytime soon. Rhianna's nice enough but no one you'd want to be sitting next to on a plane. Upon hearing about Rhianna's loose reputation in the Ch. 5 group. Grant knows immediately who turn his attention to. You can take the boy out of Syracuse but you can't take the Syracuse out of the boy. Grant lays it on super thick even following her to The Pour House down the street after she, myself and a few others leave. Eventually Grant let his intentions be known and admitted he had no intentions of talking to her afterwards doing himself in. Rhianna leaves, so does the Ch. 5 crowd, so does Grant. Scott and I get chinese in ChinaTown and the night is ended.

-Why didn't I try to hook up with the "Contempo Skank"? Like Jack Bauer in the first hours after coming back from China and a suspect braced for interrogation... "I can't do this anymore".