Showing Off the Town
It's always nice to have visitors up here in the 'Cuse. As someone who is actually proud to live here (most of the time... more on that later), I enjoy getting to show people around, whether it's new Masters students or friends who have never been here before. So last weekend when I had a couple of my old Chambersburg friends in town (with parents in tow) for the SU/Penn State game, I made sure they had the best time possible.
Of course there were some things I couldn't control... like the fact that they thought they had booked one hotel and instead wound up at a different one on the other side of the city... and the fact that the seats we got for the football game already belonged to season ticket holders... but aside from that, things went well.
Yeah, the football game... not so good for my side, but I'm used to that by now and my friends knew going in that they would probably have a much better time with the football game than I. Final score-- Penn State 55, SU 13. It was 38-6 at halftime. Hell, it was 21-0 by the time we finally got the whole "getting seats" mess resolved and could finally sit down. So yeah, it was much fun for the 20,000 Penn State fans who made the trip, not so much for those in orange. Which is why half the student section left for halftime and didn't come back, and also probably why when they introduced the athletic director and chancellor at halftime, they got booed.
The halftime festivities were to celebrate the world premiere of the movie "The Express", held the night before at the Landmark Theatre. The movie tells the story of Ernie Davis, star running back for SU's 1959 national championship team (yes, we actually won a national title once in football), who later would become the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy, college football's most prestigious award. They unveiled a new statue of Davis on the quad for the occasion, and they're going to name the new dorm after him. Actor Dennis Quaid, who played SU coach Ben Schwartzwalder in the movie, gave a rousing thank you speech to the SU faithful... and actually sounded more fired-up than actual current SU coach Greg Robinson does. Maybe when Robinson gets fired (not if, when), we should make Quaid the new head coach. Couldn't be any worse...
So before the game, my friends got to see Armory Square, look around downtown, and we had lunch at the Dinosaur. After the game, I gave them a quick tour of campus, then we went up to Tipp Hill and Coleman's for dinner. They ate well and seemed to think highly of the sights they saw. It's good to show people that we're known for more things around here than just the occasional drug bust of a 90s rock star. And I got "paid" in free food for showing them around, so I wouldn't mind doing something like that on a regular basis.
Unfortunately, it was kind of a bummer to show them around and tell them about all the things we want to do around here but we can't... because of lack of money, the economy, or Average Syracusan standing in the way. Don't get me wrong, we have a lot more being built or about to be built than we have in years: the Center of Excellence, the Children's Hospital, the mall expansion, Jefferson Clinton Commons... it's kinda cool to see the obligatory chain-link fence with advertising billboards promoting what is getting built. I saw those all over the place in Toronto last year but not around here. But Central Tech... the convention center hotel... hell, a scoreboard for the Crunch and one for the Chiefs would all be nice to see.
And speaking of that... great moves by everyone involved in trying to bring the Mets here as a parent club (Warning: MASSIVE SARCASM in the previous sentence). When asked to pony up for a new scoreboard to replace the unreadable one that still has "Beavis & Butthead" graphics in 2008, the county legislature punted. Then the Board of Directors met to discuss whether or not to sell a piece of the team to the Mets (seen by some as a deal-clincher) and they decided last Friday to do that... but demanded that NOBODY TELL ANYONE. So by the time the news finally broke about that yesterday, there was more urgent news that had already been leaked... that the Mets have already chosen Buffalo and an announcement is imminent. Way to go, folks. Have fun playing in front of 50 fans a game next year when you are the top farm club for the Washington Nationals. The only way this could get better is if the Nats and Marlins go elsewhere, and the Blue Jays are our only possibility... and they say, "Screw you guys, you dumped us... hey, why don't we try to put a new team in Ottawa? After all, they're in Canada like we are..." and we have NO baseball team in this town anymore.
Oh, and that Ernie Davis statue? Turns out the statue has Nike shoes on... and Nike of course did not exist in 1961. OK, so this town isn't perfect but we have to grudgingly admit it's getting better...
Of course there were some things I couldn't control... like the fact that they thought they had booked one hotel and instead wound up at a different one on the other side of the city... and the fact that the seats we got for the football game already belonged to season ticket holders... but aside from that, things went well.
Yeah, the football game... not so good for my side, but I'm used to that by now and my friends knew going in that they would probably have a much better time with the football game than I. Final score-- Penn State 55, SU 13. It was 38-6 at halftime. Hell, it was 21-0 by the time we finally got the whole "getting seats" mess resolved and could finally sit down. So yeah, it was much fun for the 20,000 Penn State fans who made the trip, not so much for those in orange. Which is why half the student section left for halftime and didn't come back, and also probably why when they introduced the athletic director and chancellor at halftime, they got booed.
The halftime festivities were to celebrate the world premiere of the movie "The Express", held the night before at the Landmark Theatre. The movie tells the story of Ernie Davis, star running back for SU's 1959 national championship team (yes, we actually won a national title once in football), who later would become the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy, college football's most prestigious award. They unveiled a new statue of Davis on the quad for the occasion, and they're going to name the new dorm after him. Actor Dennis Quaid, who played SU coach Ben Schwartzwalder in the movie, gave a rousing thank you speech to the SU faithful... and actually sounded more fired-up than actual current SU coach Greg Robinson does. Maybe when Robinson gets fired (not if, when), we should make Quaid the new head coach. Couldn't be any worse...
So before the game, my friends got to see Armory Square, look around downtown, and we had lunch at the Dinosaur. After the game, I gave them a quick tour of campus, then we went up to Tipp Hill and Coleman's for dinner. They ate well and seemed to think highly of the sights they saw. It's good to show people that we're known for more things around here than just the occasional drug bust of a 90s rock star. And I got "paid" in free food for showing them around, so I wouldn't mind doing something like that on a regular basis.
Unfortunately, it was kind of a bummer to show them around and tell them about all the things we want to do around here but we can't... because of lack of money, the economy, or Average Syracusan standing in the way. Don't get me wrong, we have a lot more being built or about to be built than we have in years: the Center of Excellence, the Children's Hospital, the mall expansion, Jefferson Clinton Commons... it's kinda cool to see the obligatory chain-link fence with advertising billboards promoting what is getting built. I saw those all over the place in Toronto last year but not around here. But Central Tech... the convention center hotel... hell, a scoreboard for the Crunch and one for the Chiefs would all be nice to see.
And speaking of that... great moves by everyone involved in trying to bring the Mets here as a parent club (Warning: MASSIVE SARCASM in the previous sentence). When asked to pony up for a new scoreboard to replace the unreadable one that still has "Beavis & Butthead" graphics in 2008, the county legislature punted. Then the Board of Directors met to discuss whether or not to sell a piece of the team to the Mets (seen by some as a deal-clincher) and they decided last Friday to do that... but demanded that NOBODY TELL ANYONE. So by the time the news finally broke about that yesterday, there was more urgent news that had already been leaked... that the Mets have already chosen Buffalo and an announcement is imminent. Way to go, folks. Have fun playing in front of 50 fans a game next year when you are the top farm club for the Washington Nationals. The only way this could get better is if the Nats and Marlins go elsewhere, and the Blue Jays are our only possibility... and they say, "Screw you guys, you dumped us... hey, why don't we try to put a new team in Ottawa? After all, they're in Canada like we are..." and we have NO baseball team in this town anymore.
Oh, and that Ernie Davis statue? Turns out the statue has Nike shoes on... and Nike of course did not exist in 1961. OK, so this town isn't perfect but we have to grudgingly admit it's getting better...
Labels: college football, Mets, Syracuse
posted by Dave | 10:27 AM
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