Syracuse Football: The final countdown until the season starts

Depending on when you read this, we are days if not hours away from the start of the 2021 Syracuse football season. As Eminem aka Rabbit rapped in 8 Mile, “my palms sweaty, knees weak” as we finally stop the speculation no matter your expectations and the team finally takes the field.

All your questions will be answered and all predictions and betting lines become a reality. The future of the program, the staff and the players start to become more clear as every minute ticks off the game clock.

Every play will spark conversations in living rooms and man or women caves across CNY and even throughout the country, throughout sports bars and lead to play-by-play social media posts as Orange fans wait with anticipation and react according to how it plays out. Some will go forward with either low or high expectations with the possibility of being proven wrong or right.

For me, this is how I will escape a reality filled with anxiety, parenting, depression and uncertainty. This is how I will balance my emotions of sharing a new season with my current family and remember all those memories I made with my mother, my father and others no longer here to watch with me, while wishing they were still here with me for one more game.

My life has changed a lot over the last few years and for me, writing and watching Syracuse sports is a way to go to a place filled with joy and excitement. To root on my favorite players and hope for the best.

To visit the Syracuse campus and Dome for home games and relive memories I lived growing up these past almost 50 years and see the dream school I wished I could attend and the Carrier Dome that brought tears to my eyes driving up 81 North after we moved away and grew up watching on TV.

It’s a chance to watch I team I loved and often heard people randomly just say to me, “Oh Syracuse football stinks” when I would wear the clothing or be overly excited about the season and just hope they won to prove those people wrong and that my heart wasn’t misleading me. It’s the beginning of the season when all teams start out fresh and with an open slate and fans like me believe that even going undefeated is a possibility because we believe in our team.

Are you ready for some Syracuse football?????

For Syracuse football and Ohio University fans, those expectations become a reality on Saturday, September 4th at 7 pm on the CBS Sports Network, locally on the radio on TK99, fuboTV, as well as streaming on networks like Cuse.com, TuneIn and SiriusXM most likely as well. Two teams will walk into Peden Stadium in Athens, Ohio, with no wins and no losses only to have one leave with a win and one with a loss that will likely spark conversations about their futures almost immediately depending on the results and play.

Is a Syracuse football coach on the hot seat? Does a certain player look like an NFL prospect? Are the leaders leading their team in the right direction? Is the play-calling what we hoped it would be, what we thought it would be or did it disappoint us? Is the strength of the defense in the young linebackers, the young secondary or the experienced line? Is the running game or the passing game going to be the best option to put points on the board or will there be a healthy balance?

The tailgates are back. The Loud House fans are back. The Carrier Dome concessions and troughs are back…well week 2 against Rutgers anyway as well as other games throughout the season. Once game one gets underway, the season will be rolling so fast and before we know it, we will be wishing for more games and less snow.

But for now, it’s the start of something beautiful. It’s the start of memories with friends and family or making new friends in your section or beside you at Tully’s or Home Team Pub or your local neighborhood bar to help support a local business owner you respect or who offers affordable food and drink options.

This is the chance to rally the community together to root on the local team and show little 8-year-old Timmy in Baldwinsville it’s okay to believe in his favorite team. This is a chance to redeem any past transgressions and say to all those who doubt you that you are better than they said you were, and you deserve the support and for little Timmy to pump his fist when he walks back into school on Monday wearing his favorite team outfit because he believes in them.

So let the countdown begin to kickoff, my friends. Let that anticipation and excitement be met with results that leave us excited for the next week and the week after that and eventually maybe even a postseason.

Let’s wear our team apparel, our face paint, our foam fingers and partake in our game day traditions. Let’s fire up the grills, load up the coolers, and grab the family or friends and live our best lives before we go back to work on Monday. Let’s cheer loudly for our team even if it means going to work on Monday with a sore throat. Let’s remember this is something we love and are passionate about and this is our favorite time of the year.

So get your tickets now if you haven’t already and go forth with your hopes and dreams and pursuit of happiness and let’s play some football because it’s our time now that we waited all these months for and we are READYYYYY!

LET’S GO ORANGE!!!!