Syracuse Football: 3 traditions that need to return NOW

We take a look at three important traditions that need to return for Syracuse football ASAP.

The Syracuse football 2021 season is inching closer, and we’ve got some thoughts on various traditions that should be brought back.

The Syracuse Orange Kickoff Song

Both teams are lined up for the game’s opening kickoff. The Syracuse Orange are kicking off to the opponent to start the game. It’s go-time for the teams.

It also used to be go-time for the band.

Back when I was a student at SU, right before the ball was kicked, the band would begin playing a loud, brass-heavy song at a slow pace…that would get faster….and faster…and faster. The tempo would increase and then peak at kickoff. And guess what?

It got the fans into it. The sound pumped everyone up. It built the excitement into a crescendo that peaked as the ball was kicked. It was perfect. Here’s one example, from our 1999 matchup against Michigan, an opposing team led by a pretty decent QB.

I’m not sure when but at some point over the last 20 years, the song went away. What replaced it? Well…nothing of note? It’s a wasted opportunity. We removed something that pumped up the fans and replaced it with a void.

I heard a rumor that it may have gone away around the same time that Florida State banned the tomahawk chop, but that begs the question…did that song of rapidly increasing speed have something to do with Native Americans?

There were no words, it was literally just a faster and faster series of sounds. If there was a direct connection between the song and Native Americans, I can see the shelving of this one, but I have not been able to find one beyond speculation. If there’s nothing to that rumor, it needs to be back.

The 44

Alas, this is the easy one. Bring this number back. Begin using it as an active recruiting tool. The worst decision that a small northern school with little to entice recruits ever made was rendering useless one of the few assets it had in the number 44. In 2015, the number was supposedly brought out of retirement, but nothing has been done with it yet. It hasn’t been given out, nor have any recruits been offered it (at least publicly).

It’s time for that to change. It’s time to find that one special blue-chip recruit that we are in the mix for and see if maybe, just maybe, the number tips the scales in our favor.

I’ve heard that “permission” would have to be gathered from those who had the number before to put it back into circulation. Indeed, there is actually a special commission of former players who would be consulted in order to offer it to a player.

Why have we boxed ourselves in like this? We have created a problem where there previously was none, creating yet another disadvantage in trying to recruit an elite player. It makes no sense. The number was primarily retired as part of a flawed PR stunt by the AD at the time, Daryl Gross.

I would argue that the greatest way to individually honor those exceptional athletes who previously wore the number would be to put the number back into circulation and, instead, create a monument park type area somewhere within the Dome, which would be only for the 44’s – this would be in addition to inclusion in the recently created ring of honor.

The Loud House

One of my favorite memories of attending games in the 1990s was the marvelous array of Orange-clad fans that surrounded me.

Now, the majority of my games I am surrounded by far more dressed as aluminum-clad bench seats.

How many recruits have we lost because they have walked into the Dome and looked around to see sparse crowds and spartan levels of support? Maybe not a lot, but I would have to imagine at least a few. The Dome can look and sound ridiculously intimidating and impressive when we have a relatively full crowd. That’s why it is called The Loud House, after all. But empty, it can look dark and even… depressing.

I know the counterpoint. Give us a product to support and we will go. But it’s a bit of a chicken and an egg situation. The team plays better when the people are there. Better recruits are more likely to show up when the people are there.

We have been so far apart for so long over the course of this pandemic. Come be with fellow Orange fans at the Dome. Maybe come see Syracuse football take on Rutgers for the season opener?

Look, there are few better values in sports than the cost of a couple of upper-tier tickets to a Syracuse football game. Add some tailgating with your fellow Syracuse Orange fans and it is a fantastic way to spend a fall day. I ask Orange fans to commit to going to at least one or two games this year.

Get the cheapest seats in the building if you want. Make a day of it. Experience campus, experience tailgating. Partake in some of the amazing food options available. Yell your head off at the game, and maybe, just maybe, the team will feed off of it. I promise you will have a great time…one which will be made even better with a Syracuse Orange victory.