Fans look for big moments at SU FanFest.

Mike Waters and I took in FanFest from a different perspective Friday night outside Manley Field House.

As the Syracuse University football followers crowded to the bleachers and stood along the fence to watch the Orange scrimmage as part of this celebration of a new season on the horizon, Waters and I stayed behind the table set up by the good folks at the SU Bookstore, where we were stationed to sign copies of “The Syracuse Fan’s Survival Guide to the ACC.”

So I tried to follow the field action by ear.

I listened for the ooohs and ahhhhs, knowing that the best plays would draw spontaneous reaction.

I only heard a couple of loud outbursts.

As fans returned to the turf field where the tables were set up — the big draw, of course, was the long expanse of chairs on both sides of the field where the Syracuse players sat after the controlled scrimmage to sign autographs — the folks who indeed fulfilled their promise to come back after the action to buy our book reported that first-year coach Scott Shafer had kept the action strictly vanilla.

Never know who’s scouting the action for other schools, you know. It happens.

Sign this, please.

In any case, they talked of a couple good passes and runs. It seemed like most agreed that sophomore Terrel Hunt was still ahead of senior transfer Drew Allen in the race for starting quarterback.

Things will shake out soon. They have to. The opener vs. Penn State in New Jersey is Aug. 31. That’s three Saturdays away, for those of you keeping score at home.

Meanwhile, over in Rochester …

One of the great pleasures of experiencing a golf major live and in person is feeling the applause and gasps from other holes roll across the fairways to help pinpoint the hot golfers and cataclysmic water shots.

Watching on TV, while surely giving you a more complete picture of the good and bad, also takes away that thrill.

I didn’t make the trip this time.

So I was left with the world to watch Jason Dufner top Jim Furyk for his first major title on the flat screen.

And listen to all those yahoos who line the tee boxes just to scream nonsense at the point of impact.

You’ve heard them. “You the man” has morphed to “mashed potatoes.” Whatever. Stop the idiots, please. Even over TV, it gives me a headache, and I do not have home theater sound.

Yesterday, the fools came close to yelling too soon and making the golfers in the final pairing flinch. At one point, Furyk turned toward the back of the tee after his drive to point a finger and unleash his displeasure.

Announcer Nick Faldo said it well earlier during the week. The multiple winner of the Masters and British Open heard the buffoons and declared: Oh, please. This is a major.

So, I say to you screamers: If you must hear the sound of your own voice bellowing to make you feel whole, go take a walk in the woods. Don’t walk along with Tiger Woods ever again.

Bravo to the guy with the soul patch for his well-earned Wanamaker Trophy, by the way. Two years ago, Dufner frittered away a four-stroke lead in the final four holes and then lost the PGA title in a playoff, to Keegan Bradley. This time, his bogey-bogey finish on the treacherous 17th and 18th at beautiful and mean Oak Hill was enough to keep his lead over Furyk at two strokes.

Dufner’s two-under 68 under the pressure was a thing of beauty, great enough to overcome Furyk, who started the final round with a one-stroke lead.

One of the huggers congratulating Dufner as he walked from the final green was Keegan Bradley, happy his PGA Tour pal had joined him in the ranks of one-time major winners.

At the 2014 Masters, Dufner will join this year’s Augusta winner, Adam Scott, and the U.S. Open champ, Justin Rose, in discovering what Bradley and so many others know.

The second major can be pretty darn elusive, too.