Maybe it was the orange everywhere.
Maybe it was Carmelo Anthony holding court at the bar.
Maybe it was Gerry McNamara looking directly into my eyes and talking about winning (immediately), discipline and accountability.
Maybe it was Fran Brown, Bryan Blair, Jim Boeheim, members of the 2003 national championship team and hundreds of Syracuse supporters all gathered in the same spectacular place, bidding on incredible packages, insider access to the teams, and raising $1 million in one night.
But walking out of Summer Slam Cuse at Vinny Lobdell’s property in Skaneateles, I couldn’t shake one feeling:
This felt like a turning point for Syracuse Athletics. Here’s my video about it:
Syracuse didn’t win a game last night.
But there was a level of optimism, unity and genuine belief that I haven’t felt around the Orange in a long time.
And everybody I spoke with seemed to feel it. I chatted with alumni, donors, fans, former players, fellow media, and members of the SU athletics staff. It was incredible to feel a unified front of excitement and anticipation.
Lobdell’s space itself is incredible. His barn has a full-sized basketball court, bars, cigar areas, two levels and beautiful landscaping. The walls are covered with Syracuse imagery: the Block S, the 2003 national championship and reminders of what this athletic department has been at its best. It was a surreal setting. Like if you had a “Dream Home Makeover: Syracuse Orange” edition.
Then the stars started arriving.
Melo.
G-Mac.
Fran.
Boeheim.
The basketball team.
Members of the ’03 title team.
And suddenly this wasn’t simply another fundraiser.
It felt like a big-time sporting event. Three-point contest. Dunk contest. A panel discussion between Melo and G-Mac remiscing about the ’03 season.
But what impressed me most wasn’t just that the big guns showed up.
It was how invested they were.
Carmelo didn’t make a celebrity appearance, shake a few hands and disappear. He worked the room all night. He took pictures with seemingly everyone. He helped drive up auction bids. He hung out at the bar. I left around midnight — Melo outlasted me.
That’s a special type of loyalty.
Then I spoke with Gerry.
His focus immediately struck me. He talked about bringing winning back to Syracuse, and doing it now. And he explained to me why this would be different, and how important it was that we recapture the SU greatness. I’m telling you, I felt like running over to the Dome and camping out until the opener right then and there.
I remember thinking: When does basketball season start? Can we play right now?
I also had conversations with Brown and Blair, and came away incredibly impressed with the demeanor and focus of all three men entrusted with leading Syracuse’s most important athletic programs. They have a plan. They have a modern approach. They have self-awareness, looking to improve, and confident without being arrogant.
There wasn’t a sense that success was simply owed to Syracuse because of its history.
There was a determination to do the work required to bring it back. And that it would come back.
Syracuse Fans Have Been Waiting for This
Orange fans have had plenty of reasons to be skeptical.
Basketball has missed five consecutive NCAA Tournaments. Football just suffered through a three-win season. Syracuse fans have watched old Big East rival UConn win national championships while St. John’s has surged back into relevance. Heck, Indiana just won a natty. In football.
It’s easy to wonder when it will be our time again.
But I also know this fanbase is desperate for a reason to explode again.
I felt it in February when I attended the North Carolina game at the Dome. The basketball season was essentially lost. Everybody knew Syracuse was headed toward another March without an NCAA Tournament appearance.
And there were still roughly 24,000 people there.
That doesn’t happen anywhere else.
The fans haven’t disappeared. They are waiting.
Summer Slam Cuse felt like somebody finally lit the pilot light.
There was no “Well, we’ll see.”
The feeling was:
Why not now?
Vinny Lobdell’s Message Matters
One of my biggest takeaways came from Lobdell himself. I caught him at a few different intervals over the course of the night.
Each time, he kept coming back to the same idea when we spoke:
Together, when unified, Syracuse can do great things.
That message is something I completely agree with. I was in school in the late ’90s and early ’00s. I saw a city that was lit on fire with a great basketball program and a football team that had dynamic duels in the Dome with Mike Vick, Tech, Miami, and Pitt. I know what it’s like to sit in that Dome and feel like it’s the center of the universe.
The event had a fundraising target of roughly $1 million, and appeared to hit it. Wow. Syracuse supporters coming together for one night and generating approximately seven figures to help its athletic programs compete.
That’s production, not merely a pep rally.
And Syracuse has the pieces to do much more of it.
It has an enormous alumni base, influential supporters, one of college basketball’s most famous buildings, history. iconic former players.
Most importantly it has a passionate fan base that hasn’t disappeared despite years of frustration.
The challenge is uniting all of it.
That’s why Lobdell’s words stuck with me.
Together.
Unified.
Syracuse can do great things.
It Felt Like Our Time Again
Melo was working the room. G-Mac was talking about restoring basketball. Fran Brown and Felisha Legette-Jack were there judging the Dunk Contest. Blair and Chancellor Haney were watching from the front row. Felisha Legette-Jack was dancing with a big smile on her face. Boeheim was cracking jokes and talking poker in the parking lot with me. Former Orange stars were everywhere.
Even I got swept up enough to throw $100 into the raffle for a gorgeous classic orange-and-blue Syracuse pickup truck.
I didn’t win. Ah, you can’t have it all.
I walked into the Lobdell Barn expecting a fun Syracuse event.
I walked out believing I might have witnessed something more important.
A community remembering what Syracuse Athletics can feel like when everybody believes together.
And possibly the beginning of something special.
