Nunes can't escape, much like you hearing about lacrosse.Seeing as Sean has some time on his hands, I thought he should answer some of my questions. We talk one last week about lacrosse, plus some football. Enjoy the latest, and I promise to do some work on this blog soon.
1. Orange::44: Now after Syracuse won the National Championship are you finally interested in lacrosse?
Nunes: Yeah I guess I'll start paying attention now. What's lacrosse anyway, is that the one with the brooms on the ice?
I really got into it towards the end of the season and I guess that makes me a front-runner but hey, that still makes me a better lacrosse fan than 97% of the Syracuse fandom out there. You could not have asked for a better Final Four. Two amazing semifinal games and then a definitive victory in the championship over a hated, uppity rival. It's amazing how comfortable we all got again with being the best team so quickly. And yet it didn't feel like old hat at all. Last season, for all its terribleness, was a great re-calibrator for SU lacrosse fans.
And frontrunners like myself.
2. Orange::44: Any closing thoughts for you on the Lacrosse Final Four or the season in general?
Nunes: I KNEW that early on when all those "parity" folks came out of the woodwork that we'd end up with a Final Four consisting of teams like Hopkins, Duke, Virginia and Syracuse. I love that lacrosse is expanding and new teams are getting their due but college lacrosse is in a real Catch-22 right now. It needs to become more of a national sport yet it risks alienating its hardcore base if the Final Four ever consists of Ohio State, Denver, Notre Dame and Providence. The whole process is moving at a glacial, steady pace but maybe that's the best thing. It took a little while to get used to this whole "Duke is really good" thing and now they're part of the old guard. I think we'll see more teams creep into the top tier over the next few years, but not many and not as often as you might think.
Only four schools have won the national title since 1991. And only five schools have won the national title since 1978. That's INSANE. It's not in the sport's best interest for that to continue, but it's not in the best interest for those teams to totally go away either.
3. Orange::44: Has the women's lax team become relevant to the Syracuse community simply because of Gait and making it to the Final Four?
Nunes: When we remember this women's lacrosse season, there will probably come a point when we forget the Orange were really good last year as well, the year before Gait got here. But let's face it, there is no better form of instant credibility in lacrosse than to align yourself with Gary Gait. What may or may not have been a nice run by Syracuse women's lacrosse is now feeling like the budding of a dynasty. Northwestern more than proved how good their program is with another title this year, their fourth in four, but you get the sense Syracuse is about to become challenger #1 to that run. And possibly overtake them sooner than later.
Like women's basketball, the program is in a fantastic position to remain relevant in the community. Now they just have to keep building on it. And eating whatever it is Katie Rowan is eating. I'm guessing Wheaties.
4. Orange::44: We now turn to football. I know it is early, but how do you think the Northwestern game will turn out for Syracuse?
Nunes: God dammit, I thought we had another month or so before we had to trick ourselves into thinking we had a shot this year. Now Mike Williams went all cheatie on us and nothing feels good about this team anymore. That really sucked all the wind out of the sails. It opened our eyes to just how fragile this team is...take away one guy and we're left with a good QB, a questionably decent stable of RBs, an OL we just can't trust yet and a quorom of untested WRs. I'll go into battle with these guys but I can't be sure of how good we're gonna do.
On paper, we've tricked ourselves into thinking this game is quite winnable but we keep forgetting one thing. It's not like Northwestern is looking at us and thinking they're screwed. They're licking their chops over there...and why shouldn't they be?
It's too early to say for sure but I wouldn't commit to anything better than a 50/50 shot for us to win that one right now.
5. Orange::44: I make the argument that the offense should be better this season. But really, I think everyone should be concerned with the defense. Who will be and who should be the biggest defensive playmakers on the team?
Nunes: Assuming you wrote this question pre-Mike Williams news, you want to amend?
Agreed though, we're all so worried about the RBs, OL and WR positions we're forgetting about that defense that needed major upgrading over last season.
I'm counting on Bud Tribbey to step it up at the D-line. We just lost our most experience player, Tony Jenkins, and I think Tribbey is the best young guy with the shot to become an impact player right away. CB Mike Holmes, our second leading tackler last year, is going to need to step it up as well since I expect him to become our leading tackler, for better or worse.
6. Orange::44: Finally, now that school is out and it is the Syracuse "off season", what exactly do you plan to fill the void with, both in real life and on the blog?
Nunes: It's funny, I was literally saying to myself the other day that I have nothing to write about cause we're in a dead zone and then BOOM the Mike Williams thing happens. So clearly it's my fault. I do want to do a couple random ideas I've been thinking of, such as Best Places To Drink at SU or Ranking The Dorian's Sandwiches and I'm sure I'll get around to them as soon as there's a day one of our players doesn't break school policy and/or our athletics department isn't making vague statements about it.
In the real world, it’s the summer and I live in LA so I really have excuses. The great thing about California is that you almost feel compelled to go hiking/run/play volleyball every second of the day so it forces you to get out there and actually do something productive with your life that doesn't include detailing the inner workings of Syracuse football.
Otherwise I'm also trying to do a lot of writing in terms of screenplays and short films. I'm doing my best to uphold the stereotype that everyone in this town is either an actor/director/writer. I've currently got "multiple projects in various stages of development" so I'm just trying to keep those balls rolling and be productive. My goal is to eventually get on the writing staff of The Office and write an episode where they go to a Gerry McNamara autograph signing and Dwight freaks out. Fingers crossed.
Nunes: Yeah I guess I'll start paying attention now. What's lacrosse anyway, is that the one with the brooms on the ice?
I really got into it towards the end of the season and I guess that makes me a front-runner but hey, that still makes me a better lacrosse fan than 97% of the Syracuse fandom out there. You could not have asked for a better Final Four. Two amazing semifinal games and then a definitive victory in the championship over a hated, uppity rival. It's amazing how comfortable we all got again with being the best team so quickly. And yet it didn't feel like old hat at all. Last season, for all its terribleness, was a great re-calibrator for SU lacrosse fans.
And frontrunners like myself.
2. Orange::44: Any closing thoughts for you on the Lacrosse Final Four or the season in general?
Nunes: I KNEW that early on when all those "parity" folks came out of the woodwork that we'd end up with a Final Four consisting of teams like Hopkins, Duke, Virginia and Syracuse. I love that lacrosse is expanding and new teams are getting their due but college lacrosse is in a real Catch-22 right now. It needs to become more of a national sport yet it risks alienating its hardcore base if the Final Four ever consists of Ohio State, Denver, Notre Dame and Providence. The whole process is moving at a glacial, steady pace but maybe that's the best thing. It took a little while to get used to this whole "Duke is really good" thing and now they're part of the old guard. I think we'll see more teams creep into the top tier over the next few years, but not many and not as often as you might think.
Only four schools have won the national title since 1991. And only five schools have won the national title since 1978. That's INSANE. It's not in the sport's best interest for that to continue, but it's not in the best interest for those teams to totally go away either.
3. Orange::44: Has the women's lax team become relevant to the Syracuse community simply because of Gait and making it to the Final Four?
Nunes: When we remember this women's lacrosse season, there will probably come a point when we forget the Orange were really good last year as well, the year before Gait got here. But let's face it, there is no better form of instant credibility in lacrosse than to align yourself with Gary Gait. What may or may not have been a nice run by Syracuse women's lacrosse is now feeling like the budding of a dynasty. Northwestern more than proved how good their program is with another title this year, their fourth in four, but you get the sense Syracuse is about to become challenger #1 to that run. And possibly overtake them sooner than later.
Like women's basketball, the program is in a fantastic position to remain relevant in the community. Now they just have to keep building on it. And eating whatever it is Katie Rowan is eating. I'm guessing Wheaties.
4. Orange::44: We now turn to football. I know it is early, but how do you think the Northwestern game will turn out for Syracuse?
Nunes: God dammit, I thought we had another month or so before we had to trick ourselves into thinking we had a shot this year. Now Mike Williams went all cheatie on us and nothing feels good about this team anymore. That really sucked all the wind out of the sails. It opened our eyes to just how fragile this team is...take away one guy and we're left with a good QB, a questionably decent stable of RBs, an OL we just can't trust yet and a quorom of untested WRs. I'll go into battle with these guys but I can't be sure of how good we're gonna do.
On paper, we've tricked ourselves into thinking this game is quite winnable but we keep forgetting one thing. It's not like Northwestern is looking at us and thinking they're screwed. They're licking their chops over there...and why shouldn't they be?
It's too early to say for sure but I wouldn't commit to anything better than a 50/50 shot for us to win that one right now.
5. Orange::44: I make the argument that the offense should be better this season. But really, I think everyone should be concerned with the defense. Who will be and who should be the biggest defensive playmakers on the team?
Nunes: Assuming you wrote this question pre-Mike Williams news, you want to amend?
Agreed though, we're all so worried about the RBs, OL and WR positions we're forgetting about that defense that needed major upgrading over last season.
I'm counting on Bud Tribbey to step it up at the D-line. We just lost our most experience player, Tony Jenkins, and I think Tribbey is the best young guy with the shot to become an impact player right away. CB Mike Holmes, our second leading tackler last year, is going to need to step it up as well since I expect him to become our leading tackler, for better or worse.
6. Orange::44: Finally, now that school is out and it is the Syracuse "off season", what exactly do you plan to fill the void with, both in real life and on the blog?
Nunes: It's funny, I was literally saying to myself the other day that I have nothing to write about cause we're in a dead zone and then BOOM the Mike Williams thing happens. So clearly it's my fault. I do want to do a couple random ideas I've been thinking of, such as Best Places To Drink at SU or Ranking The Dorian's Sandwiches and I'm sure I'll get around to them as soon as there's a day one of our players doesn't break school policy and/or our athletics department isn't making vague statements about it.
In the real world, it’s the summer and I live in LA so I really have excuses. The great thing about California is that you almost feel compelled to go hiking/run/play volleyball every second of the day so it forces you to get out there and actually do something productive with your life that doesn't include detailing the inner workings of Syracuse football.
Otherwise I'm also trying to do a lot of writing in terms of screenplays and short films. I'm doing my best to uphold the stereotype that everyone in this town is either an actor/director/writer. I've currently got "multiple projects in various stages of development" so I'm just trying to keep those balls rolling and be productive. My goal is to eventually get on the writing staff of The Office and write an episode where they go to a Gerry McNamara autograph signing and Dwight freaks out. Fingers crossed.
Editor’s Note: This is another installment in the ongoing collaboration between Orange::44 and Nunes/Magician. Usually every other Tuesday Nunes::44 will appear here, while the following week Orange::44/Magician will appear on his site. Until then, enjoy Nunes/Magician articles and stay tuned to Orange::44 for complete postgame coverage from every Syracuse game.
Labels: Final Four, Football, Lacrosse, NCAA Tournament, Nunes/Magician
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