Brian Harrison - Certified Husky Hater

It has been a little while since I last joined you, so I figured I would start the school year off right with a completely antagonistic piece. A little while back I wrote an article asking the all important question every Syracuse fan should ask; do I hate Georgetown or UConn more? At that time, especially with the resurgence of Georgetown basketball under GTIII, and the fact we played them at home and away versus just home for UConn, I stated that it was more appropriate to hate Georgetown over UConn. The entire discussion spurred some excellent comments on the blog, as well as some e-mails from some fans providing their own personal form of Hoya hating. But as spring turns to fall that means football is in the air. Coincidentally, Georgetown does not field a D1-A football squad, therefore our attention and hatred once again focuses on hated football rivals. While West Virginia is still tops on my list, attention is still given to the most hated rivals of the conference, and by default that means Connecticut.

Connecticut was in a similar position as Georgetown several years ago. UConn was a D1-AA school, a fledgling program with an ugly on campus stadium that barely would impress Coventry High School. The students were scarcely into football and basically used them to get real shitty real fast. In 2000 the team jumped to D1-A, and then finally joined the Big East Conference as a full football member in 2004 after the entire Big East/ACC fiasco. Since then Syracuse and Connecticut have traded wins on each other’s home stadiums.

As you may have noted, I did mention that I do have some love for Connecticut’s football squad. Now before you jump down my throat like a good Syracuse fan should for me having put the words “love” and “Connecticut” in the same sentence, I do not really mean that I love UConn. On the contrary, I loathe them with as much passion as any Syracuse fan would, if not more. The truth is I have a long and tawdry history with that school in Storrs.

While the sordid details are not worth diving into anymore, it will suffice to say I used to venture on weekends from the virtuous and just hamlet of Syracuse, New York, and drive the four hours to that god forsaken land that claims to be “The Constitution State”, specifically near Storrs, Connecticut all too often in my undergraduate days. At the time I actually managed to enjoy the people I talked to at UConn. Despite popular belief, not everyone at UConn is a complete and utter douche bag. Some of them are actually decent and fun people. I managed to even get to a few Connecticut games not involving my beloved Orange. While I enjoy college football enough to just go to a game no matter who is playing, I realized that I was getting googly eyes for Rentschler Field (“The Rent”), and UConn and it was not good. Therefore I had to recommit myself to not getting fooled by UConn’s bullshit.

I mean, how fair is it that UConn, a state school, gets $90 million to upgrade their facilities. This means that a majority of State Representatives and Senators in the state of Connecticut (most of which actually graduated from UConn [conflict of interest much?] ), and then the Governor, agreed to give $90 million (yes, that’s $90,000,000) of taxpayer money, I’m guessing most of which could give two shits about college football, to the University of Connecticut to build a new football complex. You’re supposed to get money for that stuff through alumni donations (using their own money, not taxes), and you know, winning a few games (although I will say that the inside of the Press Box at the stadium is quite enjoyable).

Adding insult to injury, which is often overlooked, Randy Edsall, the head coach of Connecticut, is a Syracuse man. He played, graduated from, and then coached at Syracuse. While UConn was certainly not a football rival to Syracuse in those days, there has to be something about this that just does not sit right with him otherwise the man has no soul. I know I could not take a job at UConn and sleep at night. I did almost apply to the UConn law school, but I felt if I got in I would look myself in the mirror everyday and think “God do I suck”. Thus, I took the high road and ended up in Springfield where I am much happier. Either way, anyone that goes to Syracuse undergrad and ends up at UConn has some serious issues (talking to you Abby on this one).

I hate the fact that UConn was good last year. WTF was that about? They are picked to finish 7th in the league and they play WVU for the conference title? Of course they rightly got vanquished by the boys from Morgantown, but the simple fact they were there is asinine. I mean, they even made it to a bowl game (which they promptly lost). Actually, that last part isn’t so bad. Either way, it was complete bullshit. They had no business being good.

Then there was this nonsense…

I have written about this before, so there is no use getting into the entire thing again, but those referees blew that call. That UConn ass hole should have known better. This was basically condoned cheating.

You know what else really grinds my gears, the cupcake schedule they always play. Hofstra, at Temple, Virginia, Baylor, at North Carolina are the extent of their non-conference schedule in this upcoming season. They played Maine, Duke, Temple, Akron, and Virginia last year. Seriously? Say what you want about Syracuse, but they have traditionally not played cupcakes. While that has been possibly to the detriment to Syracuse’s win/loss record, at least we get interesting games (i.e. a game that is at least 50% pleasurable to watch).

Briefly, this notebook has also chronicled the various encounters the football players at UConn have had with the local law enforcement in Connecticut. Too numerous to mention again, it will suffice to say that it is not a good idea to bring a stolen credit card to Wingz Over Storrs and then when you get caught punch the manager.

That “Sometimes Love” nonsense has turned to full on hate again. More like I love to hate UConn. There are many valid reasons to yell “UConn… U SUCK!” or “UConn’s Husky” not just at someone from UConn, but just towards the direction of the state of Connecticut in general. These are just a few of mine. Connecticut is certainly not the pinnacle of Big East Football, but they are worthy of some ire from the good and rightly folks in orange. A rival is a rival, and thus a little personal, biased, good natured hate is just what the doctor ordered. So this season, if you are looking for someone to hate, and are just tired of looking at JoePa, try UConn again. It’s like a refreshing beverage; always satisfying.

Football season is just about here, which again means that I will premier my 2008 Football Prospectus, a team by team analysis of the members of the Big East Conference, starting soon. Also, this week I will start my four part series on fellow Elmira, New York native Ernie Davis leading up to the premier of The Express on September 12th. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you decide to shake off the summer cobwebs, get back into Syracuse sports, and stop by regularly here again at Orange::44.