It’s become the big thing to get a stadium full of fans to wear the home team’s colors.
Syracuse football officials wanted a big Orange Out to help the squad build a head of steam for its Atlantic Coast Conference opener against Louisville in the Carrier Dome Friday night.
The Pride of the Orange. Syracuse University’s marching band’s halftime show Friiday night in an already disinterested Carrier Dome.
Major fail.
I snapped the photograph above during halftime, the Orange trailing the Cardinals and looking awful, yawning expanses of empty seats in the stands, the Syracuse band on the field, the air seemingly out of the dome.
Syracuse limped through the second half, losing to Louisville 28-6 to fall to 2-3 for the season. It needs to win four of seven games to earn a spot in a bowl game. Defending national champion Florida State comes to our town Saturday.
And early this week, it all got worse. News came that Syracuse starting quarterback Terrel Hunt would miss four to six weeks with a broken bone in his leg, leaving the most important offensive position to a collection of two or possibly three unproven young players, one of them a true freshman who has spent his first year in college so far imitating the opposing quarterback that week. But A.J. Long has shown so much talent on the scout team, coaches have talked of burning his redshirt year midway through and seeing if he’s the answer.
Speaking of coaches, offensive coordinator George McDonald was relieved of the duty of calling plays and heading that half of the team and demoted to receivers coach only. Quarterbacks coach Tim Lester was promoted to call the plays.
I write about all of this disheartening football feeling around these parts in my weekly community blog for Syracuse public media site waer.org. You can find the piece by clicking the link below.
http://waer.org/post/orange-out-failed-miserably-whats-left-season-dome
Somehow I thought I’d be finished comparing my hometown team and the squad from my beloved alma mater when Maryland beat Syracuse in the Carrier Dome two weeks ago, their last meeting on the football field until they tangle again down in College Park in the 2019 season.
Ha.
At noon Saturday, I turned my wide screen to ABC, eagerly anticipating Maryland’s first-ever Big Ten home game, against traditonal power Ohio State.
The tradition at Byrd Stadium, said announcer Sean McDonough, is called the Unfurling of the Flags.
I don’t know if Maryland officials asked fans to wear read, but the stadium sure looked good on TV in the short moments before kickoff.
But then Ohio State ran and passed all over the Terrapins to the tune of 52-24, a far worse thumping on the scoreboard than Louisville delivered to Syracuse.
Maryland is 1-1 in the Big Ten, 4-2 overall, and who knows if the Terps can get to 6-6 and a bowl game?
The Maryland uniforms vs. Ohio State had plenty of red in them. (From my flat screen)
There was not much orange to be found in Syracuse’s uniforms during the Orange Out. (Getty Images)
But they sure won the color war. That fact gives me little solace as we head to another college football weekend.
Do you wear your team’s colors for big games? What are your team’s colors? What colors do you think you look best in?
Here’s the link for the source of the photo of the Syracuse receiver dropping the pass in the end zone vs. Louisville.
Mark Bialczak 
Mine are blue and its nice to go to a place where your team colors interrupt the flow of the home teams colors.
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Yes, that works, Tony.
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I hadn’t thought about it before: Michigan fans used to wear blue to the stadium. A few years ago, they switched to yellow (not maize). The team has been rotten lately. Coincidence?
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I think not, Cat. Yellow is harsher on the stadium eyes, don’t you think? My alma mater Terps visit Michigan on Nov. 22. Please don’t go back to the winning blue that soon, Michigan admin …
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I do little things to support the Buckeyes, wearing a buckeye necklace, a bracelet and sometimes my OSU gear out and about. Especially on game days. It will be a tough game on Saturday for ‘my’ team. I just wore my Pink and black (for cancer awareness month) BGSU Falcons shirt to work. They are used to me wearing my orange and black…Take care and wishing lots of good luck for your team to become winners!!! Go Orange for Syracuse!!
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And go Bowling Green. Thank you, Robin!
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Mark, I wear a lot of Kentucky blue and Syracuse orange (my color for today) which just happens to also be the MS color (isn’t that convenient?), so I support both teams, even though I would probably cut my hand off before I actually watched a game. Just not a sports fan, but love the colors. I really am sorry Louisville beat your team though. Louisville isn’t really part of Kentucky though. I personally think that is a Hoosier city, that just happened to be built on the southern side of the Ohio River instead of the north. Any college in the bluegrass state who dares to wear red instead of Kentucky blue just has to be Hoosier, never Kentucky.
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I appreciate your logic on Louisville being a Hoosier city, Angie. Very UK of you. Yes, you are loyal to your family, and I love that about you, my friend.
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Even during the worst of seasons, I proudly sport my Texas orange and my Hokie colors. Tough being a Longhorns fan this season, but they’ll get better.
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Charlie Strong is a great coach, Apple Pie. He needed to lay down the law and get the bad actors out of there. Next season, the good eggs will have the Longhorns back in stride. You’ll see. I cannot root for the Hokies with you, though. Too much former Maryland, still Syracuse rivalry going on!
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Ouchie on the broken leg! Did he break is playing at a game on in practice or doing something else? The stands may be partially empty, but I still think all the people who got the orange memo are cool. 🙂 Oh, and black or old school camouflage (not digi-cam). 🙂
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On Sundays, for NFL games, I wear my Ravens Flacco jersey. Right now I’m wearing Orioles Orange though (and doing a lot of praying!). 😀
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Birds-Royals. I feel like I’m in the Wayback Machine, Kate. Check the K.C. bat handles out for pine tar, you know? I am Orioles all the way now, right with you. Go Brooks. Go Eddie. Go Cal. Go Buck’s Boys.
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He broke it in the game I was writing about here, Rachel, the Orange Out game, in the second half. Nobody knew how bad it was until afterward. Ouchie indeed!
OK, no old-school cami.
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Oh, ouch! 😦 That sounds so painful! I’ve heard (don’t know if it’s true) that a lot of those sports players are hard to insure. I hope that’s not the case.
You know, I just thought of something that might interest you… Every year we photograph an awards banquet where some retired pro sports person gives a speech. I never have a clue who they are, but you probably do. I’ll get you their names and see if you do. 🙂
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Let me know. Cool beans.
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So the people under those flags can’t see a darn thing then? Hope it is temporary.
Purple. Though many Minnesotans pull for the Green Bay Packers so then it is green. I do not wear team colors. I consider myself above that foolishness 😉 That said, I would never judge another so hurrah for those with genuine team spirit. I admit to being traumatized in high school what with wanting to be popular and never quite making the grade (though grades were what I was good at, hence not being popular), the result being today an uncomfortable feeling with team spirit and such.
You will have to start billing me for your psychological services. I do seem to unload a bit here.
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LIz, Liz, Liz.
I just flipped the page on my yellow legal pad.
I rooted for my teams in school AND I got good grades. I was not extremely popular in high school, but I was not unpopular. I became cool in college and still rooted for the school teams AND got good grades and was very popular.
So I guess what I’m getting at is that team colors on everybody is not foolishness, no matter what age you may be? It’s a feeling of community, which I think never goes out of style, just like good grades.
No charge. I think you’re plenty cool, and I bet you’re really popular, too. Do bourbon fans all wear dark brown? You could look good in that, right?
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Forgot. Yeah, the flag thing is just for a moment before the game starts. It is cool for a minute, then gone.
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I wear red for those Huskers when they aren’t playing Kansas State. Born and raised a Nebraskan, but those college years grab a hold of us and never let go. Purple looks good on everyone. 🙂
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I can so relate to the Nebraska-Kansas State dichotomy in your heart, Aud. Thank you for sharing that with my Terp-Orange dilemma, my friend. Go Purple Bill Snyders, I say for you. Ha. More schizo. Your second nickname for me is Red.
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GO BUCKS!!!! 🙂 I was wearing red Mark. 🙂
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Yay! Red was great. But your state team was way better. So, so much better, Colleen. It was scary how good your QB Barrett is. And he started out second team until the big injury. Yikes.
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Well, we Ohio folk are pretty amazing!!!! (hahahahahhahaha…. see what I did there?? Just lumping us all together like that???? ) 😉
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I’ll tell Tater how smooth you lumped all you Ohio folk together like that. 🙂 He went to Bowling Green. 🙂
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Tater may just get that then. 😉
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wow, a color war of the highest order. i do wear um colors on game days, as well as others, especially when we are going through a down time, like this year )
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Blue and maize for you, and it must look good with the red topper, my friend Beth. We play each other soon. Friendly-like competition, just like baseball? I have a feeling Terps-Woverines means more to both of us … but still friendly.
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yep, friendly competition it is, mark. and may the best animal theme named team win! we both need it )
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No kidding, Beth, it could mean bowl or now bowl for us animal lovers. ((
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exactly, mark!
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I haven’t actually known a team well enough to wear their colors in support. And honestly I don’t have a lot of clothes such that I would have their colors – I would have to buy some and that’s not in the budget.
But I do enjoy watching others cheer on thier favorite teams by dressing up.
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You need to follow a squad that wears white and go with your best T-shirt, Paul! No new wardrobe needed. 🙂
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Ha! I’ve never seen anyone choos a team that way. Are you sure it’s legal?
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No less dangerous than, say, rolling the dice, Paul!
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There is no victory in winning the color war. Your teams are letting you down. Even the mass red show of solidarity could not assist. What is a terrapin?
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A Terrapin is a turtle, Kerbey. The campus newspaper was the Diamondback, a turtle species. The team mascot is Testudo the turtle. I think we are the only college to rally behind a turtle.
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But…turtles are slow.
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But snapping turtles are tough. (Only retort I have, Kerbey, so you better not tell my we should be the Maryland Hares. (One year when we were in school, I do recall as an aside, our quarterback’s name was Tim O’Hair.)
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