In case you haven't heard by now, the fine folks at Maple Street Press publish a massive preview guide for only a hand full of elite college basketball teams in the nation. Syracuse is one of them. And they did a genius thing. They put Sean of Nunes/Magician in charge of editing the entire thing. Which means he hired the most talented people he knew to write the thing. Yes, the SU bloggers. Including me.

Normally you get 100% goodness about Syracuse from myself and Orange::44 Correspondent John Brennan right here. But my articles, along with the other fine writers you know and probably read, in this publication will only be available in the pages. It is 128 pages, no advertisements, and 100% on Syracuse Basketball. The Maple Street Press' Orange Tip-Off 2010-2011 is available at newsstands in the Northeast starting October 19th, or you can order one right here for the low price of $12.99. And just look at all the articles and authors here. If that isn't the mega brain trust of SU Basketball I don't know what is.

If you're an SU Basketball fan in the least, this is a must have for the upcoming season. Not only do you get some great articles from people you already like, but you learn about every player, the history of the team, predictions for the year, looks at last season, and much more. Just do it already. You'll thank yourself later. Just to prove it, check out a small segment from Hoya Suxa's Matt Glaude about the Georgetown/Syracuse rivalry here.

With training camp started for the Syracuse Orange football squad this week Sean from Nunes/Magician, Matt "The Glaude" from Hoya Suxa, and I chat about football and along the way we learn some life lessons. Episode 8 of Troy Nunes is an Absolute Podcast is now up. It's like 39 minutes of concentrated brilliance and was a lot of fun to do. Like this is pretty much the exact reason why I do these podcasts. Anyway, head on over to Nunes/Magician here to check it out. You can also download this or any previous episodes here.

Day 2 of the SOB's continue.

Welcome back to the SOB Awards, presented by your favorite members of the elite group known as the Syracuse Blogosphere. If you missed any of Day 1, check out yesterday's results here. Thanks to the Idiots for starting today off with the presentation of the Best Photo from the year. Now we venture on and present the Best Senior.

While some of these categories are highly contensious, this is not one of them. With all 12 of the votes from the panel, the far and away best senior this year was…

Andy Rautins

Since we all voted for him I’ll just go down the line.

Sean of Nunes/Magician: Andy Rautins - Andy Rautins the senior must look at Andy Rautins the freshman and wonder who that guy was. Once just a three-ball specialist, Rautins emerged this year as a team leader on and off the court. This was Andy's team.

Brian of CuseOrange: Andy Rautins - shed his rep as merely a three-point shooter and son of Leo Rautins (though broadcasters nationwide will contend otherwise) and improved his game more than about anyone I've seen who stayed at SU for four years...ok, five. Whatever. He's already planned for a fallback career as a hair model in case the NBA doesn't pan out for him.

Matt Glaude of Hoya Suxa: Andy Rautins: He's no longer "Leo's Kid." The guy could father 20 kids out of wedlock and I'd still want to hug him for his dagger wielding. Plus, did you see that hair? I haven't seen follicle development like that in a long time.

Dan Lyons of Bleacher Report: Andy Rautins: Andy was the ultimate glue guy all year, while also being the team's second star. He was one of the best defensive guards in the nation and possibly the best at the top of Boeheim's zone ever, was a lights out shooter, an incredible passer, and provided the leadership a team needs from its seniors. I think Andy might have played his way into the draft this season.

Brian Harrison of Orange::44: Andy Rautins: When he was on, Andy was the best pure shooter in America. But his true value was in his passing abilities and his domination on the defensive end at the top of the 2-3 Zone. The improvement from last year to this year was astonishing as well.

Orange Chuck of The Big Orange Bloggers: Andy Rautins – I love AO and you could point out that his being injured may have cost this team a championship but Andy's leadership on the court offensively and defensively were impressive. I am glad both bled Orange (as often as they were injured, literally as well) and when AO played great, he was one of the best big men in the game but Andy was the spark plug they leaned on to help when it was needed.

Jameson Fleming of Bleacher Report: Andy Rautins: Did you know Leo was his father? Oh, you did? I guess I'll have to tell you something new about Andy then. After being an offensive liability ever year until this year (yes, his game was not on par with last year's offense), Rautins became this team's catalyst. While he rarely could create his own shot, he created so much for others, that the offense essentially ran through him. Not bad for a guy who was once considered a one-star recruit.

D.A. from The Orange Fizz: Gotta be Rautins, although far too often this season I yelled upon an off-balance three-point heave, "Nooooo Andy!... YES!" He sunk more "bad look" threes than anyone in SU history - and ended the season doing the same in the Butler game. But without him, SU's season would've ended in the first round.

Steve from CuseOrange: Andy Rautins. Just goes to show what hard work, mixed with talent can achieve. He was the most needed player on the team. Seemed to hit many of his 3s after opposing teams runs or as an exclamation point on our runs. No doubt we will miss him next year.

Josh from Cuse Country: Arinze was a rock but Rautins was the engine that made this team go. Strange to say it but his loss will probably be felt more keenly than Wes or Arinze next season. There was nobody else on the team that could do what Andy could.

Syracusan from Cuse Country: Leo's kid. We'll miss Andy more than we've missed any player in a long time. I'm going to spend a lot of energy rooting for him to somehow pull an NBA career out of thin air. I think he's capable, but he's going to need a lot of luck.

Andrew of The Three Idiots: Andy Rautins. He ditched the fauxhawk, but picked up an improved all around game. While he didn't put up gaudy scoring numbers all the time, he was the player teams game planned against and while he was prone to throwing a few balls into the stands, the Jamesville-Canadian made some spectacular passes this year. I'm really going to miss Andy.

So there you have it. Congratulations to Andy Rautins on a great senior season and many thanks from the Syracuse faithful. That wraps up my end of the SOB’s for 2009-2010, but the awards roll on. Tune to The Orange Fizz at 11:00AM EST for the winner of the Favorite Moment of the Season. And once again check out Nunes/Magician at the end of the day for all the final results from this madness known as the Syracuse Orange Blogger Awards. We’ll see you next year. Thanks to Sean for organizing them again and special thanks to the members of the panel for the great work.

Five years, still no name on the header.

It is no small feat. Considering that this is the internet age of “what have you done for me lately” and the pursuit for the latest and coolest thing, anything lasting online past a year is probably a fairly big deal now. Yet we here at Orange::44 have endured. Not only that, but it has seen a complete turnover at the top, which seems kind of stupid for something as trivial as a sports blog dedicated to Syracuse University Athletics. Yet it happened. Because it has been five years we just can’t gloss over it.

“The Glaude”, Matt Glaude to be exact (now at Hoya Suxa), started this whole internet affair back on March 12th of 2005. Seems like forever ago at this point. I was in the home stretch of my senior year at Syracuse, loving life as the basketball team was cruising with Gerry McNamara and Hakim Warrick rolling through the Big East. Then the Catamounts ruined my March, and the first part of my April as well. Gus Johnson just HA HAAAAAA’ed all over my dream of a long NCAA Tournament run my senior year. I mention all of this for one reason, that a big part of me moving on with my senior year was Matt Glaude’s musings on the subject and Orange::44.

I met Matt my freshman year and I’d like to think we had a friendship based on mutual respect but I’m guessing he thought I was a dumb freshman and I knew him as a cool senior who had his act together. Every so often he’d come back and I’d see him and we’d talk but it wasn’t anything earth shattering. Then he started this notebook. I read it often, and often I laughed my ass off. Then he put out an open call to write for Orange::44. In April of 2006 since I still lived in Syracuse at the time I figured what the hell, I’ll write for this blog thing, whatever a blog was. I joined up with a couple other people and somehow I was the one to last. It’s especially interesting since I was probably the least funny one and I’m also guessing I had the worst grammar at the time.

I eventually went off to law school, so the grammar got better. Syracuse eventually got worse at a lot of things, so I got bitter. Somehow Matt let me keep going. I eventually wrote more and more and he wrote less. Finally one day he wanted to scrap the whole thing and I wanted to keep going so instead of moving on to something else, I asked him if I could take over this site. He agreed. He moved on to speak of the evils of Georgetown and I kept going here. Since November of 2007 I’ve been at the helm of this thing and it’s been pretty great. Occasionally I’ve enlisted my good friend John Brennan to write some things, but it’s mostly been me plugging along.

Rarely do you go five years without some pretty notable memories from your time doing something. Because of this blog I’ve been interviewed by Brent Axe on The Score 1260 in Syracuse, Matt McClusky on WNER 1410 in Watertown, and yes even The Daily Orange. I’ve stirred some stuff up on occasion, and had a dust up with a certain former beat writer. And in between we’ve seen some extraordinary moments in Syracuse sports including a six overtime game win over a rival, a big time win over Rutgers in football last year, and a game tying goal with four seconds left in the National Championship, to go on and win two back to back.

But it isn’t just games we write about. Over the long history of Orange::44 and the over 1,100 articles published we have covered a lot of topics. They range from coaching changes, uniform changes, curling, the National Spelling Bee, various tragedies, holidays, Big East Tournaments, campus projects, campus events, television and movie references, and other items of interest to Syracuse fans and alumni. I’ve discovered the joy in both the mundane moments, along with the spectacular and lucky ones.

Things have changed since we started. When this started Facebook was barely taking hold, no one used Twitter, and no one did videos or podcasts really. To “break news” I got a text message from someone in the know, and then went from there. While bloggers generally have a bad wrap for not being held accountable, we at Orange::44 tried to uphold a higher standard by always using our real names and providing general responses to critical feedback, as well as trying to confirm things we said that we were reporting to be facts as best we could. I hope that has been clear through the years. When we weren’t being ridiculous on purpose that is.

Because I’ve taken off a couple years from the celebration of the anniversary of this notebook I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out some of my favorite articles over the past two years. I pointed out some of the best from our first two years here, and celebrated our third birthday here, but we’ve done a lot since then.

Coaching Rumor of Interest
This article blew up my blog for a while and got me intertwined by Donnie Webb, the former football beat writer for the Post-Standard. It resulted in my writing this open letter to him as well. I maintain I had enough sources at the time, and so did Brent Axe, who stated it on his show as well. Either way, it still remains one of the most commented item on this blog.

The Inaugural Big East Blogger Roundtable - 12/3/2008
While this isn’t an article, it was the first time we put several well known Big East Bloggers together in a roundtable online which was a really good time for all of us I think. I’ll have to do that again sometime I guess.

Sleep: That's Where I'm A Viking!
Part of our catalog here is occasionally just posting a picture with a small paragraph because the photo does most of the work. In this case a good friend of mine just happened to be in the right place at the right time to get a picture of a sleeping Greg Robinson leaving town after being fired. We’ll miss you for your press conferences and awesome sayings, but not for the coaching.

The Official Hoya Hater Certification Test
I may hate Connecticut with a burning passion, but even I know what rivalry pays the bills around here and for Syracuse fans. I developed a test for the big game in the Carrier Dome in February of 2009 to illustrate the pretenders from the true haters. I think it truly works. You be the judge.

The Glaude Dancing
This one isn’t even an article. It is our good friend Matt Glaude celebrating a Syracuse trouncing of Duke in the National Semi-final game in Boston in the 2009 NCAA Tournament. He was too busy dancing to the music to notice I snuck in the filming. Here’s hoping he does the same in a parking lot in Baltimore in May. A moment of true jubilation… and booze.

Troy Nunes Is A Podcast Magician
Sean from Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician and I had been doing a back and forth Q&A for a long time. Then we decided to try it in podcast form. From the comments we’ve gotten you loyal readers seem to enjoy it as well. Frankly I am not quire sure that many other people could just yammer on for around 45 minutes on a somewhat regular basis about Syracuse like we do. We do it so you don’t have to.

Carrier Dome Beer Public Service Announcement
Orange::44 Correspondent John Brennan and I look good in suits. We also both have law degrees. I guess that’s why it seemed natural to stage our own video in the wake of the anti-wave video the SU Blogosphere took part in. The result was our video advocating that the Carrier Dome return to letting individuals purchase four beers at a time. It didn’t work, but hey Pat Campbell retired. It was clearly the public pressure we put on him.

Interview With Rich Kimball, Maine Play-By-Play Announcer
We are used to doing Q&A’s with lots of blogs around here. But it isn’t often we get to do one with a genuine professional. Rich Kimble, the radio man for the Maine football team was nice enough to respond to my questions. Hat tip to my good friend Chris Sedenka for setting it up for me.

The Tampa/DC Travelogues
Part of the attraction of blogs is getting a different experience than you would from reading the game recap in a paper. As much as I enjoy seeing games I also enjoy traveling. When they combine good fun is usually had. I traveled to Tampa to see Syracuse take on Florida and John traveled to DC to see Syracuse play Georgetown. Often the best stories happen around a game even if the game is great itself.

It was hard to pick some of my favorites, but that is just a small sampling of some of the momentous occasions over the past couple of years.

I do want to give some thanks and shoutouts as well. First and foremost I have to thank Matt. He issued his thoughts on starting this blog a couple of weeks ago here. It’s vintage Matt, as you are now used to at Hoya Suxa. He’s always been hilarious, but he’s also a really nice person, devastatingly funny, and very sharp. I’m grateful he had enough faith in my so-so writing abilities back then to let me come aboard and then take over. It was against most of his inclinations I’m sure. I also want to thank John Brennan. We were acquaintances in high school and became great friends and roommates at Syracuse. He’s become the person I bounce various blog ideas off of and usually the one I’m at a game with. I couldn’t have continued with Orange::44 without his occasional and vital help and for that, along with the time since 2001, its thanks. I have to give it up to Sean at Nunes/Magician who has become an excellent blogging ally and occasional partner in crime. It started with mutual respect, turned into a weekly back and forth, and now a podcast. But he really is the best around right now and I’d like to think that our blogs complement each other well. I’m glad he didn’t tell me to take a hike when I first e-mailed him. To the other SU bloggers out there a big thanks. I’m looking at you Idiots, Cuse Country, Jameson, Cuse Orange, The Fizz, Chuck, Poncho, and all the others that have come and gone. You fine folks make it fun to banter, argue, and write in our orange world. Keep it up folks. Big thanks to Axe and Matt Mc not only for having me on their programs but just being cool people. I’ve talked to Axe many times in person and electronicly and he never had to be nice to me, John, or our little blog but he is and we thank him for that. Same with Matt. He had me on his show for lacrosse in the beginning. Not exactly a giant ratings getter. Thanks for continuing to have me on. I look forward to the live broadcast from Baltimore in May. Thanks to all of the Twitter followers out there who follow me, respond, and interact. It continues to make things entertaining, just to have fun talking to people about sports and Syracuse things. Finally thank you to the readers of Orange::44. Your time is valuable and that you take even a minute out of any of your days to stop by our little notebook and read what the hell I have to think about something a trivial as a basketball game or a coaching change at Syracuse University is humbling and amazing. I never got into blogging for the recognition but it is certainly much appreciated. To anyone else that has stopped by or I may have forgot, thanks for joining us and thanks for making this blogging thing interesting. Finally, thanks to all the crying children out there. You keep us in business every football season.

I got into blogging because I was bored and wanted to be more creative. I never thought it would evolve to what it has become today; an almost daily occurrence in my life. Occasionally I need to step back but I have yet to run out of things to talk about or do in terms of this notebook so I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. The original and continuing mission is to chronicle the daily disaster that is Syracuse University Athletics. We all know that isn’t stopping so neither will we. Another five years is too much to guarantee, but we’ll still be here, plugging along, doing it for free, advertisement free, and for little recognition or appreciation. That’s the way we like it. It’s a good time and a way to be creative and vent frustration. That’s all I ever wanted it to be. I’m grateful for all the extra that’s come along with that though. Thanks again for joining us here. UConn… you suck! Georgetown still sucks. And as always GO ORANGE!

At least it's not a bull's ass, right?

Syracuse enters Big East play for the 2009 football season this week, and on Homecoming no less. And it is a tall order as well. Syracuse will be playing the South Florida Bulls. A team that just beat a ranked Florida State team in Tallahassee. A tall feat. Syracuse meanwhile comes off of a half assed win against 1-AA Maine. Reality has set back in that Syracuse will have to play a great ballgame this weekend to win.

Syracuse enters the game averaging 26.3ppg, putting them at 64th in the NCAA. USF averages 37.8ppg, putting them in 21st. On top of that USF has allowed 27 points, whereas Syracuse has allowed 109, which is more than they have earned. As a matter of fact, Syracuse has allowed more points than they have scored overall. However, Syracuse will not be facing Orange killer Matt Grothe, but rather BJ Daniels. While he had a spectacular performance last weekend, specifically rushing 23 times for 146 yards, it is highly suspect that he will have the same performance this week. This defense has clearly watched the film, and will be ready to stop the run by any means necessary. Daniels threw two interceptions last week, so Syracuse could wind up winning the turnover battle, and earning points off of them. Of course, Syracuse will face the best defense they have seen so far, specifically with DE George Selvie. He is one of the best defensive players in the league, so SU will have their hands full. If Syracuse can create turnovers, and keep scoring (especially converting third downs against this tough defense), Syracuse will force USF to respond. Syracuse needs to play a perfect and balanced game though. If Syracuse establishes the run, which they really have not been able to these past games, the Syracuse has a real chance to shock the league. If not, it will be another day for the Bulls in the Carrier Dome. I just don’t see Syracuse being able to convert most of their third downs and playing a perfect game, so I sadly have to give it to the Bulls on Homecoming. I’d love to #BeatUSF, but I have to call USF over Syracuse in a fairly close game 30 to 24.

It is Homecoming so you know I’ll be in the Carrier Dome at high noon (as Axe likes to say). Look for my tweets (@BH_Orange44) or Correspondent John Brennan (@JBren) during the game, however I warn you I will be tweeting far less this week than the last. Either way, it should be an entertaining game, and a good time for everyone. It’s Homecoming, so even if you can’t get to Syracuse this weekend, think back fondly on your time on the hill, or if you aren’t a graduate your time in the Dome. Win or lose, it should be a good time as it is college football. Just don’t do The Wave. To hammer this point home, tune into the Syracuse Blogisphere’s Public Service Announcement below.

The Syracuse Orange Blogger Awards were this week. The SOB’s give out awards based on several categories for this past basketball season. The voters are members of the Syracuse blogging community and they also unveiled the awards on all of our various websites. The full wrap up and list of winners can be found right here at Nunes/Magician.

SU took a hit in the street cred department this week when Chris Basile, a walk on with the football team, was charged with felony burglary in the second degree and misdemeanor petit larceny. Awesome. He allegedly broke into a Winding Ridge apartment at 5:30 in the morning. Something more as the story develops.

I was on Matt Mc’s Sport Fix this past Monday talking lacrosse, lacrosse, and lacrosse. I talked about the Siena match, the overall bracket, I picked my Final Four, and even some upsets. Check the right side of the site and click on May 4th. I’m in around the 18 minute mark.

Finally, like I said I’ve been busy. I had finals all this week that took up all of my time. However I am done with Law School. In that spirit, this weekend is Syracuse’s graduation ceremonies. Therefore to all of my friends still at Syracuse that are graduating, and to all Syracuse students graduating this weekend, congratulations to you and best of luck to you in the future.

And Sunday is Mother’s Day as well, so thanks Mom. Love you.

Another year, another set of hardware.

The Syracuse Orange Blogger awards are back! I know the excitement is palpable. Starting today at 10:00am, the first award will be handed out at Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician. Then every hour until 5:00pm another award will be handed out. The blogs involved will then do the same thing tomorrow starting at 10:00am and ending at 4:00pm. Check out Nunes/Magician for the complete schedule and the blogs involved. This year 12 bloggers were on the voting panel, including yours truly here at Orange::44. Check out all the awards but be sure to head back here at 5:00pm today to see which game was the Best Game of the Season.

Also, just a reminder I will be back soon with complete NCAA Lacrosse Tournament coverage of the Orange's first round game, and the entire tourney. Look for that soon.

These kids have the right idea.

Let me start by saying I am ALL FOR an Orange-Out on February 14th versus Georgetown in the Carrier Dome. I give Nunes/Magician commenter “SUFAN4LIFE34” credit on getting the idea going here. I also give a lot of the credit to the SU Blogisphere for embracing this idea and the fine folks at orangeoutthedome.com for getting organized enough to put together a nice little website. I will be wearing my orange Syracuse jersey with an orange shirt underneath. Rest assured if the weather was warmer I would be wearing my orange sneakers. Hell, I probably will even wear my orange “gameday” boxers. I am for this and think it will be great and intimidating to the Hoyas and the Hoya faithful.

That being said, how sad is it that we need an Orange-Out to prompt fans to wear orange? The answer is pretty fucking sad. For the record Syracuse only has one official color, and that is orange. Navy, by definition, is the UNOFFICIAL accent color of the university. White is obviously necessary for home or away jerseys in every sport, but it is not even an unofficial color of the university. Certainly what should never, although frequently, be worn in the Carrier Dome includes but is not limited to; flannel, denim shirts, green, yellow, whatever the hell Scoop wears, pink, hula skirts, or any combination therein. I equate this kind of fan behavior to be just as bad as leaving before the end of a game. My overall point however, is that you should be wearing orange to every game anyway. We are the Syracuse Orange after all. Our mascot is an orange. You yell “Go Orange!” You chant “Let’s Go Orange!” How is this something that is not glaringly apparent to do at a Syracuse game?

Maybe I’m just a spoiled guy for having gone to Syracuse. I guess I just assume that every Syracuse fan has a minimum of 20% orange Syracuse items. However, is it that crazy to assume every fan has at least one orange shirt of some kind? Maybe a jersey. Maybe a pull over. Something. Anything. If this isn’t the case, then I’ll admit I’m wrong and will issue a small and brief apology, but from talking with fellow alumni in recent days, it seems that wearing orange should all but be a given to a home game.

I hope this does not seem like I am making this an “Alumni v. Fan” debate either, because I most certainly am not. The Syracuse community is a necessary and valid part of the fan base, and this team is something that the overall community feels pride and ownership over. That is great. The point is though, that you should come to the games properly attired.

I commend the idea and the organizers behind the fan mobilizing movement that is the Orange-Out. Anytime that the Syracuse fan base can come together in any manner is a positive for the school and the team. My point is, it shouldn’t take something like this for you to wear orange to a game and cheer for the team. It is the least you can do when those kids are out there doing their best for your entertainment and pleasure. Feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you think about the Orange-Out. I hope the Dome is chalk full of orange as Syracuse redeems itself over the often hated Georgetown Hoyas. As always… GO ORANGE!

The people at Syracuse.com cannot seem to get enough of this Lloyd Carr business. I missed it yesterday, but they posted an article that drew attention to the Daily Orange article Brent Axe and I were interviewed in. It also opens up the door for Lane Kiffin speculation (which is very inappropriate and only reserved for main stream media types). Two points about the post. It seems like I have officially been recognized for breaking the Lloyd Carr story, which I still find unbelievable and hilarious. Second, the comments people left on the article is absolutely priceless. Enjoy mulling over all that. I think it is funny that I have basically moved on from the entire Lloyd Carr thing for now, but Syracuse.com cannot seem to let this stuff go yet.

Was Lloyd Carr on Campus? You tell us you're the Reporter.

Also, Donny Webb finally did a reporter like thing and called Lloyd Carr's office (why he has one no one seems to know). No return phone call. SU Spokesman Kevin Quinn did say that Carr and Gross have not spoken though. I submit that via Donny's own reporting, he showed that Gross was out of town when I reported that Carr was on campus. So does that even prove anything? The correct question to respond to was if he was on campus. I'm totally ready to move on, but let's at least get the issues correct before doing so.

Lloyd Carr has now joined the likes of Carmen Sandiego and Bigfoot.

Yesterday I spoke with Daily Orange columnist Zach Schonbrun about the posting of my article reporting that Lloyd Carr was on campus. It was the buzz of the internets all weekend around both Syracuse and Michigan blogs. I’ll be the first to admit I did not see this kind of reaction coming. Schonbrun also talked with Brent Axe to get his take on the whole situation as he reported it on his radio show the same day as well. Was Lloyd Carr actually on campus? At this point I guess we may never really know, but I still stand by my reporting, even if it is just this one time. The full Daily Orange article is right here. Skip the video unless you want a tour of the Tennity Ice Skating Pavilion. Judge for yourself.

I cannot point out how much Matt Glaude is still a blogging mentor to me. It is simply because he writes stuff like this, or even just this. On top of it, when enthusiastic Hoya bloggers fail to get the joke, it makes for even more hilarity. Thus, Matt has to respond with the likes of this. When Matt started his new notebook, Hoya Suxa, he simply reasoned that it would be much easier to make up facts than write about real ones and back them up. Any person reading the blog that has half a brain would know that it is complete satire. Thus, unabashedly hating on Georgetown and the like was born. So enjoy Matt Glaude in all his splendor, because when he actually takes the time to write, it will clearly be the funniest thing you read all day.

Everyone likes awards!

It is that time of the year again! I know you are all very excited that the SOB’s are back! What are the SOB’s you may ask? The SOB’s are the Syracuse Orange Blogger Awards. The little experiment started last year, and even more blogs are involved this time around. It involves the very best and worst that this basketball season had to offer. We will start at 9:00am EST tomorrow and continue through all 20 categories. The ballots were handed out to ten prominent Syracuse blogs, and will feature all the folks you should know if you are a Syracuse fan and blog reader. The winners have been picked, and it is once again time to hand out some awards. Yours truly will be announcing the Best Syracuse Video of the year, as well as the Favorite Moment from the year. Please tune in to see if your answers matched the brain trust of the Orange Blogisphere. The complete list of times, awards, and websites are listed right here at Nunes/Magician, and stay tuned right here at Orange::44 Thursday and Friday at 4:00pm each day for my unvaling of the awards.

I imagined Sean on the radio like Troy with a headset on.

Since Sean of Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician was on Brent Axe's new show "On The Block" today on ESPN1260 in Syracuse today, and that he liveblogged the show yesterday, and the fact that The Sport Hump liveblogged the liveblog, I decided to liveblog Sean's appearence. It is an orgy of liveblogging! Enjoy!

4:00pm: Axe will be back out of the hard hourly break with Sean from Nunes/Magician on shortly. They keep proclaiming him the “Best Syracuse Blog”. You know what that means? Next time Sean and I are in the same town there will be an Orange Blogisphere knife fight.

4:03pm: There was a commercial on the internet stream for “Speed Racer” coming out soon. Will anyone on earth see this movie? Not likely.

4:06pm: Sean is finally on. Axe hedges his bet by saying no offense to us for calling Nunes/Magician the best Syracuse blog.

4:08pm: Already there was a Hot Pocket reference. Nice. Death pocket.

4:10pm: Another Orange::44 reference. Excellent. My ego is blowing up faster than Bill Self’s street cred.

4:11pm: Sean recounts the story of how he named the blog “Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician”. I agree, it is one of the best names for a blog period. No joke here, it is just the truth.

4:14pm: Axe makes a Marcy reference. If you know who Marcy is… you win.

4:16pm: Sean has a 9-5 job? I hope his employer doesn’t understand what internet is.

4:18pm: The word "flash" was just used by both Sean and Axe no less than 17 times within the minute.

4:20pm: Talking about Greg Robinson’s press conferences are good for no less than 4 laugh out louds.

4:24pm: Axe once again kisses Sean’s butt and Sean says goodbye. Excellent job fellas. I’ll do my best to not sound like a fool tomorrow.

I will be "On The Block" tomorrow with Mr. Axe around 3:30pm EST so please tune in for that. I know I'm looking forward to it and it should be a lot of fun.

One of us is a radio star.

Every once in a while something good happens to a nice guy. Luckily someone smart and in charge at ESPN 1260 in Syracuse realized that Brent Axe of The Axeman Bloggeth is entertaining, knowledgeable, and knows what he is doing. Therefore they gave him his own radio show Monday through Friday from 3:00pm-6:00pm. Conveniently for those not in the Syracuse/CNY area you can listen to the live stream of ESPN 1260 right here at there website. In his most recent posting Axe has listed some of the big guests appearing on his show for the week, some of which are kind of a big deal. Axe was nice enough to ask me to be on his show this week and that will most likely happen Tuesday at around 3:30pm, so you should clearly check that out, especially if you have enjoyed the Orange::44 podcasts. Definitely tune in today at 3:00pm for episodes of the retooled now ready for radio “On The Block”, I know I will.

I am on Spring Break right now, and it was St. Patrick’s Day only a few hours ago. But, I must post the fact that my good friend and former partner Matt Glaude has started a more interesting blogging endeavor, Hoya Suxa. Please check out his new blog and cherish the wit and wordplay that Matt Glaude is known for. I will post some new material soon, but until then, who’s more Irish?

The Salt City, and the reason we have crap to talk about.

There is a lot going on today in the arena of Syracuse Athletics. While I usually leave the linkables to our colleague at Nunes/Magician, I thought I would point out some interesting things, while satisfying the completely self serving purpose of pointing out the latest installment in the collaboration between myself and Nunes/Magician.

First up, like I said in the intro, there is another installment of Orange::44 is an Absolute Magician at Nunes/Magician’s site. We talk, of course, about football and basketball, and I answered some pretty interesting questions. For proper background in the last couple of questions, be sure to read Matt Glaude’s article regarding the coach of the football team.

Our friend, Brent Axe, the Axeman, is all over the rumor mill regarding Greg Robinson’s job. GRob Watch 2007 is underway going full steam ahead. He states that he received information that the Big East office was contacted by Syracuse and was informed that Robinson would return as the head coach. It also appears that the feelers have been sent around to different coaches and the prime target currently could be Boise State’s coach Chris Petersen. This is a sexy option in my mind. If only the university went with my idea of all orange field turf, Petersen would feel right at home. Of course, this is all moot as, as Axe reports here in this breaking news, Robinson will remain the head coach.

While it got off to a slow start, I have discovered my favorite blog of the week; Get Gross Out. They clearly illustrate in stats just how far the Orange have fallen in the short tenure of the good DOCTOR. Entertaining, informative, and arguments with merit make this the newest blog I’ll check on a regular basis.

Who hates the BCS? A lot of people. Who is very angry? Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. As my usual internet surfing has discovered, the sports blog With Leather has a clip of Carl going off about the BCS, the NY Football Giants, and other assorted things. Very enjoyable, even if you do not like the show.

If reading articles that express similar frustration that you feel often, then read this post on Nick’s 2 Cents. He sums up a lot of what we are feeling about this football season. While I have yet to pen my ultimate disgust and frustration finale for this year, his will do nicely before you get your fill of the Orange::44 orgasm of frustration you have come to expect from our site.

A little while back, our own Matt Glaude answered some questions for State of the Orange and he had some pretty interesting answers as to why he started this whole Orange::44 situation you now enjoy. To know where you are going you have to know where you have been. Learn the mysterious origins of Orange::44 here. Alright, it really is not that mysterious, but Matt is entertaining as always.

Look for another installment of Nunes::44 next Tuesday. I apologize for the answers getting to Nunes a day late, but I had to play catch up from having a week off for Thanksgiving. Look for your regularly schedule collaboration next week. Also, coming up, that special three part series I promised, my football season review, thoughts on keeping Robinson, and of course the usual postgame coverage. Enjoy the UMass basketball game tonight on ESPN Classic at 7:15pm and enjoy immersing yourself in all the ‘Cuse internets you can handle.

Also, we will all be commiserating the decision of DOCTOR Gross for the immediate future, and wondering what the hell happened.

I do not have classes on Thursdays until the evenings, leaving me plenty of goof off time (homework time if my Mom is reading). Thus, the internet is a cool thing to browse. One of the reasons I joined this blog was to interact in a different way with fans of the Orange. But the internet can be used for evil as well. Our boy over at Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician sent me an e-mail this morning that alerted me to a certain podcast that can be found here. I was so enraged at the complete lack of any semblance of knowledge based in reality that I had to write about it.

Our other good friends over at Cuse Country have done a little transcribing, so you can not only read, but follow along with the lunacy. Some choice quotes from podcasters Galen Clavio and Sean Bartel of The Meaningful Collateral are as follows:

On Jim Boeheim: He has been the classic coach of “win all these games at home against mediocre squads, go .500 in your conference, be on the bubble every season, make it three out of four years, miss it one year and you complain, you whine and you bitch like crazy in the year that you don’t make it.

He had one great player in Carmelo Anthony that led them to a dream season, a Danny Manning-type season, but he’s come back to where he is, which is a good, but nowhere near fantastic coach who’s going to win a lot doing what he needs to do: Winning at home against bad teams, going .500 in a tough conference then getting a win here or a win there to move on into the NCAA Tournament with a good seed, maybe make the Sweet 16 here and there, but that will be his legacy.

On the Big East: You’re redefining these teams in the Big East and I just don’t see any way that Syracuse can compete year in and year out against so many schools like Louisville, like Georgetown, like Marquette, like some of these bigger schools. And they are a big school, but I just think basketball-wise I just have trouble seeing Jim Boeheim being able to compete year in and year out.

Ok, first off, last time I checked, enough people in Springfield, Massachusetts, thought that Jim Boeheim was good enough to be put into the Basketball Hall of Fame. I really do not think you can get put in for being just a great recruiter. You cannot make it to the Final Four, let alone the championship game, without being a good coach, understanding how to prepare your players, and being able to be a floor general during games. I’m sorry, but that just does not happen if you do not know what you are doing, no matter who is on your team.

Second, I really do not think they understand what the word remote means. From Dictionary.com, the second definition reads “out-of-the-way; secluded”. The last time I checked, which was about a month ago when I was there, Syracuse is in Central New York. How can something be secluded if it is in the middle of one of the biggest of the 50 states?

Third, a little fact checking might be in order for these gentlemen. These guys simply jumped on the ESPN (not this year but last year and many before it) Bandwagon of calling on the veracity of our non-conference schedules. While in the past this may have been true, the last several non-conference schedules have showcased many NCAA Tournament teams, and several more which you could have made a case for. In addition, Syracuse has only been at .500 or below four times since Syracuse became a founding member in 1979. Syracuse was the only team from a BSC conference in the history of the NCAA Tournament (with a 64/65 team field) with 22 or more wins, and ten conference wins, to not make the NCAA Tournament. If there was ever a time for Syracuse (Jim Boeheim) to bitch, last year was it.

I can let you make your own judgments. Again, Jim is in the Hall of Fame, he has a crapload of 20 plus win seasons in his 31 years at Syracuse, three Final Fours, a National Championship, and a really hot wife. You decide who is right in this debate. However my good friend and colleague Matt Glaude said it best in an e-mail this afternoon:

"Mr. [Clavio and Mr. Bartel], what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response[s] were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul[s]."

Editor’s Note: Special thanks and hat tips to MariusJanulisForThree from Nunes/Magician and Tim from Cuse Country.

We find out so you can just read it. Note: Brian Harrison not pictured.

Absolute Magicians make it rain out there.

Time for a little grab bag here at Orange::44. We have all been a little busy with real life and so we have all neglected our blogging for a bit. However, I will try to catch you up on some of the finer things in SU athletics.

Men’s Lacrosse
The Orange earned a key victory last Friday, April 20th, with a big win over #2 Albany, winning 17-13. The previously unbeaten Great Danes came into the Carrier Dome looking to take out a struggling Syracuse team that basically has its back against the wall. The Orange finally delivered in every aspect of their game (except for a four goal stretch in which Albany dominated in the first half). Peter Coluccini made some spectacular saves (15 Total), especially in the fourth period, and what can you say about the offensive awesomeness that is Mike Leveille, scoring five goals and assisting on two. Syracuse also dominated on face offs and ground balls. If you can check out the highlights I highly recommend you do so. This places the Orange back in contention for an at large bid in the NCAA Lacrosse Tournament. Syracuse is now ranked #12, while the loss dropped Albany to 8th in the latest poll on April 23rd.

Syracuse travels to UMass this Saturday, April 28th, to take on a Minutemen team that is certainly no patsy, but in a similar position to Syracuse with a win or go home attitude. This rivalry has become pretty intense over the last few seasons so look for this game to be an excellent display of lacrosse skills and guts. That is, if you have ESPN U. Syracuse will finish its season in the Carrier Dome hosting Colgate on May 5th.

Also, because of the win against #2 Albany, John Desko was named the US Lacrosse Coach of the Week. Congratulations to Coach Desko.

Albany box score can be found here.

Women’s Lacrosse
We do not normally cover the ladies, but they earned a mention by earning a share of the Big East Lacrosse Regular Season Championship. They earned a #2 seed in the inaugural Big East Lacrosse Tournament and will play #3 seed Rutgers in the opening round this Friday. Did I mention the tournament is being held in the Carrier Dome? If they advance, they will play the winner of #1 Georgetown and #4 Notre Dame on Sunday. Hopefully they will earn a spot in the big dance by earning the automatic bid the tournament winner will receive. The Orange earned a 4-1 record in the Big East only losing to Georgetown, the tournament’s #1 seed, whom they share the regular season title with. Lisa Miller has taken this program from the ground up and has earned the respect of her peers. She was also named head coach of the National Canadian Women’s Lacrosse Team. Congratulations to her and the program.

Football
The annual Spring Football Game was held last Saturday in the Carrier Dome. While much ado has been made about the attendance, really what matters is what was happening on the field. Andrew Robinson went 12-19 for 146 yards throwing one touchdown and one interception (which really was not his fault). He led a 67 yard opening drive for a touchdown and looked fairly sharp and impressive from the footage I’ve seen. The offensive line did not look like a porous sieve for once, allowing time for Robinson to make mostly good passes,which in my opinion is the key to the entire season. After the game, the receivers stated that Robinson has a much crisper pass. Much more crisp than that oaf of a quarterback Patterson (who displayed his mad football skills on Pro Day in the Carrier Dome).

Hope once again springs eternal for the Orange Football Team, who will take the field for the first time next season on August 31st against Washington in the Carrier Dome. Greg Robinson is hoping that Andrew Robinson is the answer to a team that still struggled to put together a decent offense game in and game out.

ESPN.com recently did an article (once again) on the hopefulness of the Syracuse squad that is looking to resurge and take its rightful place in the top tier of the Big East teams. The highlight for me is Joe Starkey, who covers the Big East for ESPN.com and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, who calls our receivers corps “downright dangerous”. I love that.

The Express
I personally have not commented too much on this project yet. I have pretty strong feelings about how this movie should turn out as I not only went to Syracuse, but I was born in Elmira, NY, and my family still lives 15 minutes away from Elmira in nearby Horseheads, NY. Every day for the past three summers when I have been home I passed the statue of Ernie Davis in front of Ernie Davis Middle School on the way to work, and my mother attended Elmira Free Academy for High School, like Davis did. I also know his mother, Marie Fleming who still lives in Elmira, is worried about how it will turn out too.

I think it is a little too early to judge, as the film is selected for a 2009 release. However, the cast seems to be good for the rolls they are in, there is excitement about the project, and filming is underway in the city of Chicago.

Really my only gripe is that at this time I don’t believe they plan on doing much shooting in Elmira or Syracuse. I only hope they choose the locations they film at very carefully because there are people that will certainly be able to tell the difference. My hope is that, much like the documentary Spike Lee directed on Jim Brown, Syracuse University, and possibly Elmira, will get its own showing of the movie and possibly a Q&A panel with the films stars and makers.

Stay tuned for further updates and commentary on The Express, and check for updates at the blog of a former Elmira Star-Gazette Reporter who happens to be in Chicago and is filing updates from the set with the paper. The paper also has a special section called Ernie Davis: The Elmira Express. Look for articles related to Ernie Davis here as well.

Daryl Gross
I ask you this… is it really a curse of this blog and Matt Glaude, or it is really Daryl Gross? Think about it.

Nunes/Magician
Our friend over at Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician got a little love from the Syracuse Post-Standard’s Donnie Webb, giving him the old hat tip on finding some YouTube videos that are hilarious. By the way, if you are not checking out his blog… you are pretty wrong.

Well that about wraps it up for this edition of the grab bag. I’ll try to do some timelier posts once finals for my law school classes are done. Until next time remember this; the weather in Syracuse is gorgeous seven months out of the year. The other five we’re playing basketball, and as always, go orange.