Mel Evans/AP
Let’s go ahead and hypothetically suggest upon graduation in May ’01, I was cryogenically frozen and recently thawed out.
One of my first ventures, before checking basketball-reference.com for Todd Burgan’s NBA stats or seeing if Jennifer Love Hewitt was married yet, was to click SUathletics.com.
I wiped the dry ice from eyes, sat down in front of my Windows 98-driven Compaq Presario and viewed the video celebrating Syracuse’s win this weekend.
My initial reaction would be shock and bewilderment, followed by embarrassment. Wait, we beat Rutgers 13-10 in a dreadful game to become bowl-eligible and we’re making Titanic-inspired epics to celebrate?
My second reaction would be, “Wow, that was pretty cool.”
Once you forget it’s the NFL Films treatment for inclusion in the Beef O’Brady’s Bowl after a field goal victory over one of the worst programs in college football’s first century, it’s reason to pump your fist.
Best moments:
1) Marrone: “I’m giving you a 110% of what I have, all I’m asking you is to give 110% to each other.” Denzel-esque line. Remember the Orange!
2) Thank goodness it’s Matt Park’s even delivery for the soundtrack. Mark Johnson’s over-the-top screaming would have ended with his head exploding. “Krautman… RIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES!!!”
3) Ryan Nassib noticeably mouthing “F*ck yeah.” Kid friendly, that SUathletics production team.
4) Derrelle Smith saying, “Watch my form” as he mimes bowling in the locker room. Terrific.
5) Marrone admitting “That was an ugly game, both sides of the ball.” Gotta love a guy who doesn’t sugar coat the greatest moment of these kids’ playing careers.
6) The outfit the SU player is wearing as he walks into The Varsity. What is that? Doc Brown’s old-west getup from Back to the Future III?
As we wrote following the win, “Saturday‚Äôs game felt a lot like the Slop Bowl, two mediocre teams in a mediocre conference playing mediocre football”
True, but being mediocre never felt so good. Especially when you have Remember the Titans music playing in the background.
Posted: D.A.
