Yesterday, one of our writers, Dan Papillo, wrote something on this site titled, “Does Anyone Care SU and Georgetown Won’t Play?” I’ll answer his question simply. Yes! I care deeply that this rivalry won’t be played this season, and I imagine that there are a large amount of Syracuse fans who feel the same.
There are multiple reasons why this move angers me so much. The biggest reason, personally, though, is that I’m from the Washington, DC area. I know how many Syracuse fans live around here. Almost every time I leave the house, at least one car will have an SU sticker. My house has an Orange flag out front. The DMV is the second-largest alumni hub in the country. People truly care about the ‘Cuse here.
Not playing Georgetown every year means that Syracuse isn’t playing at Capital One Arena every other year. This is a MASSIVE disservice to the tens of thousands of alumni who live in or around Washington, DC, and have been able to go see the Orange in person. Every year, no matter how good or how bad the team is, the nation’s capital would get taken over by ‘Cuse fans. I’ve been in the arena before. It seems like a SU home game at times. There’s almost always more Syracuse fans than Georgetown fans, especially if you don’t count the student section. Getting rid of this game hurts all of those fans.
Also, the DMV has been one of the most important recruiting areas for SU. Recently, Donnie Freeman came to Central New York from DC. That game was always a chance for Syracuse to be in the news around Washington. Now that they don’t play there, that chance is gone. Add this to the list of things that the ‘Cuse do that I just truly will never understand.
