'Cuse Is In The House... Ohmagod, Ohmagod

I almost put parentheses around those "ohmagod"s and then I realized how much I've been abusing my parenthetical privileges lately. And everyone knows you've got to properly ration your punctuation if you want to be taken seriously in this life. Props to you if you even understand that title; you are no bandwagoner.

You also may have noticed the color change. Keen observation. This time of year I'd normally spruce up the ol' ball and chain up with some green for St. Patrick's Day or perhaps some punchy spring colors. Yet recent events involving the basketball team of my alma mater and the fact that I have suddenly become able to tolerate televised sporting events have inspired me to show my support for Syracuse as they embark upon the Big East finals this weekend.

I must say, I highly enjoy the scrappiness that has spiked the past few games. I'm not a big fan of spectator sports but I have always appreciated testosterone-laced contention between young men who are operating under the impression that they are tough shit. I prefer my Eric Devendorf with a side of game-time altercations, hold the punching random girls on the street in the face. Alcohol-inspired girl-slapping notwithstanding, I fully support shenanigans such as leaping onto press tables when one sinks a 3-pointer at the buzzer, or letting loose celebratory gutteral screams in each others' faces or in no particular direction at all. Just because they are he-men like that:


ESPN color commentators are already referring to the Syracuse victory over UConn in the sixth overtime as EPIC. It has already been re-played on ESPN Classics. There are t-shirts and many a facebook status of my fellow alumni commemorating it. Apparently it was a big deal or something? Ok, it really was. I broke a personal record for most consecutive minutes of televised sporting event watched EVER in history. Several hours of sleep and half a pint of Ben & Jerry's Fossil Fuel were sacrificed for it. In case you're wondering, the lost sleep was completely worth finally seeing victory and eating fudge dinosaurs.

I have also developed an immense appreciation for what rabid, unabashed cockbags Syracuse fans are. They sing profane songs ad nauseum and unapologetically rush the court, perhaps a little more often than is entirely necessary, and scream in the disturbing ways that you are about to witness on this video. They also directly accost the cameras of people they don't even know:



Alright, well technically I know her; we did live together for like four years this one time. But I'm pretty sure she'd do that to anyone's camera given the chance!

Syracuse fans have had a rough few years of late. It's not easy to see your team go from National Champions in '03 to the infamous NCAA tournament snub of '07, so I am happy to see all the excitement that's been brought back to my school's community, and the Syracuse area in general, because the townies sure do love them some 'Cuse basketball too. Anytime Syracuse University isn't being a complete and utter embarrassment (AHEM, Nancy's Wall) and people have something to rally around and wear their orange with pride, I'm on board. And for the first time in a long time, we have something that actually validates all that cockiness.

Let's go orange. (Clap, clap, clap clap clap.)