FAN BLOG ARCHIVES
Dec 14: More Important Things | Nov.30: When Dissappointment Is a Sign of Improvement | Nov. 23: UConn Highs And Lows | Nov. 16: Bowl Bound | Nov. 9: Tradition | Oct 26: Revenge Tour | Oct. 19: Moving On | Oct. 12: Searching For Greatness | Oct. 5: Get Your SU Fix | Sept. 28: The Only Way to Pre-Game | Sept. 21: How Fans Are Made | Sept. 14: Emerald City Blues | Sept. 7: The End of Summer
Fans couldn't help but smile watching players, in full pads, scurry up the leftfield snow banks of Yankee Stadium. They looked like what they are — a bunch of kids having fun. Maybe the sight wouldn't have had such an impact if we'd experienced it more often around these parts. Fun and football have pretty much been an oxymoron for the Syracuse Football program. But not on this day. Not during the trophy… yeah, I said trophy… ceremony for the first annual Pinstripe Bowl. Not as Doug Marrone smiled like a school kid as he lofted that trophy high and thanked his players. The fun is back.
There's just nothing more fun than watching a team that has worked so hard achieve their goals. There's just nothing like watching Delone Carter, titanium hip and all, smiling his GQ smile in front of a microphone as he thanks the fans for supporting him throughout his career.
And it didn't matter that is was a “Northeast” bowl, and that you had to wear multiple layers of clothes to survive the night. That didn't stop the players from forming a Rockette's kick-line with the cheerleaders as New York, New York blasted over the stadium's loudspeakers.
The venue itself couldn't have been more fitting, our coach being Bronx-born-and-bred and all. Ushers at the stadium remarked that it looked like a Syracuse home game with all the orange. The stadium was impressive, with clean, wide concourses, crystal clear sound, an amazing replay screen, and surprisingly good sightlines for a football game. The area around the stadium is classic Bronx. No touristy bologna at all. Even the street vendors and souvenir shops were pure New York. The bars and restaurants look like they were built by locals, for locals.
The entire day was just a great event and I'd recommend a return trip to anyone the next time Syracuse gets selected by the Pinstripe. And there will be a next time. Because now that the players have had a taste of the bowl season and all the fun that comes with it, something tells me we'll be back… often.
Go Orange! And congratulations to the players and coaches of the 2010 Pinstripe Bowl Championship team, the Syracuse Orange.
