Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Happy Kwanzaa. No matter what holiday you observe, I wish you and your family only the best of times. That's not political correctness...it's simply respecting that we live in a society where people are allowed to worship as they please and I fully support their right to do so, no matter my beliefs.
So as the holidays start this week, I wanted to share with you some wishes for gifts I hope we all receive this holiday season from the Syracuse athletic department.
My five holiday wishes for Syracuse Orange sports.
I wish for the Syracuse men's basketball team to figure out what's missing with this team. I truly believe this team has the talent to be better than it is. I truly believe Syracuse basketball head coach Adrian Autry and his staff are good enough to coach this program. I know JJ Starling is a local guy who when healthy will be a huge catalyst for success.
What I don't know is why this team isn't clicking. Why Chris Bell who has shown a great ability to hit the outside shots is struggling so much? Why Coach Autry has to keep emphasizing defense so often? Is something not clicking? I don't like to think this team has given up and I am willing to wait it out to see what happens next but I do wish for them to figure it out and be the team I know they're capable of being.
Speaking of which, I wish we could find ways to be more supportive when our teams struggle. This issue bothers me immensely as someone who has kids their ages and has had days at work where I struggled too and would like to believe that people believed in me to find ways to turn it around and support me while I do.
When I say this, I am not saying we have to like losing because I don't either but maybe practice a bit of tolerance for them to figure it out and be a more supportive fan base like we would want on our worst days.
I wish for the women's basketball team (and other women's sports) to get more love at least a bit closer to what the men's programs get. Syracuse women's head coach Felisha Legette-Jack played at the Cuse, was raised in the Cuse and bleeds Orange. She did amazing work at Buffalo and I love her fight and desire to build Syracuse into a national contender as well. I would love to see the same enthusiasm that is behind the men's team and football team maybe given to this team and others.
Football packs them into the quad, has tailgates galore, and has like a 3 hour pregame show and local radio has post-game shows addressing callers and the press conferences and the men's team gets a similar type of support not to mention a lot of social media activity too. Maybe if the women's basketball team got similar treatment, more love with NIL and support in the crowds and on the street, we could help build it up together.
I truly believe that while it's important to win to get support, support also can help a team win too. Home-field advantage is real, players feeling loved and supported can add confidence and if recruits see that the environment they are committing to play in is one that will be fun, they are more likely to consider Syracuse.
I wish if the NCAA is going to give guys 7th & 8th years of eligibility no matter the reason but screwed over Terrel Hunt who had legitimate injury concerns for the 2nd straight year early in the season, they give Kyle McCord one more season in Orange.
One more season of Kyle, should he choose to come back too, would do so much to help the foundation of this program even more than one season did. It would show players his caliber can and want to play for Syracuse head football coach Fran Brown and his staff. It would show that Syracuse can be a team considerable of being ranked regularly without all the hesitation that "Syracuse will collapse like they always do" nonsense that permeates even when the team is winning, forgetting that so many of the past issues also had some serious injury factors play into it too.
Rumor is Kyle has petitioned to get one more year due to being placed into a 5th game during "junk time" and wasting a year that could have been used to redshirt when the head coach should have considered that factor and Kyle is the kind of guy who when a coach asks him to play will play.
And finally, my fifth wish for a gift is to possibly inspire more Syracuse fans to show up for games. Syracuse repeatedly has some of the best prices nationally for ticket prices and I appreciate that more than you know. But many of the most diehard fans who do wear their Cuse merchandise win or lose don't exactly have second houses in Skaneateles...many of them are working long hours or two jobs just to pay the rent and have food on the table.
So while I appreciate the Syracuse administration for keeping most of those prices relatively affordable, what if they did more to make the whole experience more affordable? What I mean is do more family packages that include parking or concessions. Like if you purchase a four-pack of tickets for the family, you receive a voucher for 4 Dome Dogs and 4 small sodas. Or find ways to give parking vouchers for lots closer to the Dome if you do get a family package or work with those running lots to make it more like $5 or $10 maximum to park.
Happy holidays!