"Everything's comin' up Milhouse!"

Well, maybe less about Bart's weiner friend and more about the Orange and their fans on this Christmas Eve.

The Men's Lacrosse team has recently had several players put onto the pre-season All-American list...that's here.

The Women's Basketball team has started to get their feet under them.

The resilient Men's Basketball team goes into the holiday with a 12-1 record. Having defeated three ranked teams in those 12 wins.

And then there's the Football team. The other day the Orange received word that Arthur Jones would forgo the NFL Draft to return for his senior season with the Orange. And today, perhaps some even bigger news. Mike Williams, one of the few bright spots on the Orange offense over the past few season, has announced that he will likely return to Syracuse in January, having passed all of his classes at a Community College in Massachusetts.

I know what you're thinking. Why do the Orange need ANOTHER threat on offense. After all, it's not like the Syracuse O seemed to be neutered in the past four.....oh wait. You mean this Mike Williams? No.

This one. Apparently he was a stud. Name doesn't ring a bell.

Anyway, one could say that Coach Marrone has already secured his two most important recruits for next season. The fact that one of them was already on the team and the other was an embattled former Orange isn't important. Dougie's gonna need all the help that he can get on both sides of the ball next season if he hopes to lead this team back to mediocrity and on. Getting the "Alpha Dog" (not this one) on both sides of the football for HIS Orange is a good start.

Happy Holidays folks!

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Living in Buffalo might have it's perks (if you think of any, let me know), but at least I have an excuse to do nothing all day. The foot of snow in my front yard is going to make damn sure of that.

Big win for the Orange last night. Despite the Tigers struggles so far this year, I thought the task of going into Memphis against a ranked team, down Devendorf and with an ailing Johnny would be too much for this squad. I also thought that taking down Kansas in the state of Kansas would be too difficult. Shows how much I know.

Flynn led the 'Cuse with 24 points, sure, but I thought that Rick Jackson really set the tone in this game. I know that sounds weird. But, by a show of hands, who thought that Rick would be the difference in this game? Onuaku was largely ineffective in his 30 minutes. Jackson picked up the big mans slack with 14 points in his 28 minutes. He had several dunks and I also believe I saw him steal the ball at one point and fire it down to an open man downcourt. I might have been daydreaming, don't hold me to that memory.

Though the Orange played well, there were some ugly parts of this game...most notably the Orange free-throw shooting and the Memphis three-point shooting. Both putrid.

But let's keep things happy. This was a massive win for this squad. Somewhat depleted and banged up, they went to the home of a tournament team and came out with another non-conference win to slap on their resume. Exciting. I like this. Let's keep it up.

Marrone the Obama

Let me say first that while TNIIAM was reminded of MTV's "The State" when hearing about Doug Marrone. I was reminded of this little guy.

Okay. Secondly, I'm not trying to make a political statement at all with this post. But to properly explain the point, it should probably be known that I voted for Barack. I believed that he offered a hope that the other candidate, and past candidates did not.

Now a little background. At the outset of the search for a Syracuse football coach, I set up shop at many "camps". At first I was all ready for Lane Kiffin. Partially because of Layla Kiffin. Now, it should be noted, someone in the Syracuse blogosphere had already pointed out the fact that Juli Boeheim is, and shall remain, the "alpha dog" in the hierarchy of hot Syracuse coaches wives. But let's be honest. We have two eyes. And as soon as I have the ability to turn my eyes in two different directions, I'll need another wife to look at. But I digress...

Then I remember getting on Chris Peterson and loving the idea of the Boise State coach. It should be noted that I still think he would have been a great choice . He's a young offensive mind, who beats name programs with inferior talent. But that never panned out.

Then I liked the idea of Turner Gill. I live in Buffalo, so there was a lot being made out of UB's ascension to the league of not-crappy teams. There was always something a little uncomfortable about Turner though. I would have liked him as a coach and would have given him my full support, but I would have liked to see him duplicate this years performance without the support of the senior quarterback he had this year. Seeing it happen for a second year in a row would have really sold me on him.

Throughout this entire process, I read about Doug Marrone, heard about him, but never really expected anything out of him. Certainly didn't expect him to be named the head coach.

When Skip Holtz did (or did not) turn down the Syracuse job, and Marrone was really gaining momentum as the top candidate, I have to say I felt a bit uncomfortable. But after his press conference, and a few other times in which I've heard him speak, I'm absolutely comfortable with this guy.

Now to the point that I was trying to make originally. Listening to Dougie's press conference reminded me of hearing Obama speak. He had this hope that we haven't heard in years. He had a strong, yet calming presence about him. He talked about having transparency in his leadership. He was going to make everyone a part of the program and be absolutely clear about how he and his staff were going to fix this program. It was a great moment for me. I felt ( and still do feel) supremely confident that we might have pulled a diamond in the rough here.

Frankly, Pat Forde can think what he wants about the Marrone hire. He and several others in the media have slammed Syracuse for choosing one of their own. Forde covers and entire nation of college football. I would expect him to know a little bit more about the situation and the differences between a coach on his was down and a coach on his way up, but I know better. ESPN is full of Pat Forde's. They have small opinions about everyone, but no deep opinions on anyone.

An Explanation...

My confession is that updating a blog is a lot more work than anyone seems to be given credit for. I, for one, had the itch this summer, posted several times, then realized what an absolute chore it was to find something to post on a semi-regular basis.

Well...I have the itch again. Except this time I plan on scratching it softly so that it doesn't totally go away.

We SUCK!

At this point, I think we know how atrocious we are. The "cock-tease" that was the first 35 minutes of the Northwestern game had me hopeful, but the other shoe has dropped...quickly. While we were getting slapped by Akron, I was in Maryland watching the Terps get beaten by Middle Tennessee State on television. I think it's about high-time that we think about the possibility of the apocalypse happening with all of these ridiculous losses by a number of teams. Rutgers was stomped last night by North Carolina. SU losing to Akron and Northea....whoa. That hasn't happened yet. But you get the idea. Can't say that I feel too bad Schiano and the Scarlet Knights. We've kept the thrones in the basement of the Big East warm for a couple years, and we will likely keep those seats toasty. BUT, maybe we'll have a friend!?

Let's not think that SU getting crushed is the only thing going on in the world of Syracuse Athletics.

The Express, with Dennis Quaid and Rob Brown, will be entering theaters soon. It'll be a great time to remember what an awesome program we used to have. BUT, maybe, just maybe, it will wake up some people....ahem GrossCantor...that what we are going through now is bad enough and we can let Greg Robinson go midseason. But I digress...

We are also about to get a supreme beatdown by a mercurial Penn State team. I always think that the Nittany Lions are going to have a great season. Then they go out and lose to Minnesota, or some other Big Ten team that they shouldn't drop a game to. But, make no mistake, we're in for a long Saturday.

Lastly, just to brighten my day a little, Cody Jamieson, Lacrosse Demi-God, is enrolled at Syracuse and will hopefully be joining the squad this spring.