Neutral, no way. I had to cheer for my alma mater over my hometown team

When it came down to one lineman pushing and another shoving, my loyalty came through Saturday afternoon as dear wife Karen and I sat at the bar at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill in Destiny USA watching my alma mater and my hometown squad tussle on the football field. The prior game…

Love and loyalty play out on the football field

Tuition checks trump season-ticket checks. Today comes the football game I have been anticipating for more than two calendar years. Ever since it was revealed in September 2011 that Syracuse University would be leaving the Big East to join the Atlantic Coast Conference, I have metaphorically and mentally drawn a big, red circle around the…

On Nov. 6, it was golf weather in Syracuse

My last wish for golf season 2013 was granted Tuesday. I got to play one more round of golf in Syracuse, N.Y., before the cold and snow settle in for good. The day broke with the weather forecasters promising temperatures in the 60s, with sun until sometime in the afternoon. I sent the text messages…

The ACC makes it sportsmanship week, but will our athletes ever play nice?

It’s “Sportsmanship Week in the ACC,” the announcer intoned, explaining to those of us wondering just why the players from these two college football teams were standing wide, almost end zone-to-end zone, facing each other quite near the center of the field and ready to take those last couple of strides to shake hands. All…

Will a Syracuse team fighting for a bowl chance lure Central New York to the Carrier Dome?

The last time I took a look at the Syracuse football squad here, the Orange was coming off a 49-14 loss to Clemson in front of a just-about-full Carrier Dome in its first game ever in the Atlantic Coast Conference. I said that the two road games in between would go a long way toward…

I take the NFL Red Zone for a spin and end up dizzy and dazed

It sounds enticing, this NFL Red Zone channel that I can click onto my flat screen at 1 p.m. Eastern any and every football Sunday. The Red Zone, you see, does all league-related surfing for you. With a cool voice riding in the back to moderate, The Zone promises to take you to all the…

Jason Smorol starts his big task of making the Syracuse Chiefs cool

A couple days into his new position as general manager of the Syracuse Chiefs, Jason Smorol obviously is knee-deep. I caught Smorol with CNY Central sports anchor Niko Tamurian on last night’s news. They stood in the parking lot outside NBT Bank Stadium, the big ballpark serving as the backdrop as Smorol explained that it…

Can a 49-14 loss to Clemson help Syracuse carry any big-time atmosphere into this ACC journey?

Syracuse football fans really wanted to be in the big-time Saturday afternoon in the Carrier Dome. For the Orange’s first ACC game ever, some 49,000 folks — the biggest Carrier Dome crowd in a dozen years — roared to make it the loud house, better to make it hard for Clemson’s offense to hear or…

Mets have many good young pitchers. May the math be with them in 2014

With the last spot in the 2013 baseball playoffs decided last night — congratulations, Tampa Bay Rays, your prize is a series with your AL East rival Boston Red Sox — it’s time to ruminate one more time on my New York Mets. The Mets kept my interest this season, down to the end, despite…