Syracuse on National Blog

I was given the opportunity to write for the national college basketball blog Storming the Floor about the men's basketball season so far.

Otto's Army at Women's Basketball

Otto's Army is going to create a student section for this Thursday's game against Penn State. The ladies are 5-1 with their only loss coming to North Carolina. Penn State enters the game coming off a win against top ranked Duke. They enter the game with a 6-2 record with two wins against ranked opponents (Duke and Pitt). So again come out Thursday at 7:00 in the Carrier Dome and support the Women's Basketball team. If you can't make it to the game Z89 will have the coverage.

A founding father weighs in

This hurts.

The issues I’ve heard going on with the student section are disheartening and I’d like to comment on a few things. But before I do that, I want you to know that I never intended to be “that guy” who graduated but always seems to find a way into supposedly petty current student happenings at the university. Let me assure you that when you do see my name or face around an issue, it is because whatever is going on is of huge importance to me. I loved and cherished my time at SU and want you all to leave with the same positive feelings that I did.

When the bunch of us founders graduated in May and left the brainchild that is Otto’s Army behind, we thought we got the message across. I thought, at least, that its core values would be upheld.

If you attend SU sporting events, you are part of Otto's Army. It is not an elitist group and does not separate students from one another for seating purposes or otherwise. It is a group promoting spirit for SU athletics, a fair and fun student fan environment, and for the betterment of our relationship with the community. We do this through events and gatherings, representation of the student body to university and athletic administrative bodies, and service to our university and community.

The most active student fans have been doing great work for our athletic department and in supporting our teams. We hosted the Winter Carnival Pep Rally, we advertised and helped get more than 200 students sitting TOGETHER at the first men's lacrosse game last year (which typically has poor or scattered student attendance), and we raised thousands of dollars for Relay For Life.

However, there have been current students contacting me, distraught that the student section may be heading in the wrong direction. As I watched the Tulane game tonight, I noticed some of those complaints come to life. They became very real when I received phone calls and text messages after the game from upset student fans.

The Dynasty

I love the Dynasty gesturing and posing and think it created a unifying element for the team.

It should have stayed at the pep rally. I don’t think it is necessary for me to go on about how bringing stuff like that over to games that count make the team look way to focused on their ESPN image. After a completely senseless loss to UMASS, it looks like our team got the picture from Jimmy B. I didn’t see any posturing or diamond-throwing against Tulane.

Do I like that students still use the hand sign during games? Not particularly, and I can’t totally fault people for using it to be more personal with the team. I do, however, have a problem with the athletics department running promotions for Manny’s version of the dynasty t-shirt. And I have an even bigger problem with our own bookstore trying to cash in on this arrogance.

Most of our players aren’t 10 games into their collegiate career and you have to go turn their heads into hot air balloons. Selling that shirt represents the opposite of what should exemplify a collegiate athletics program – respect, humility, and pride. How is anyone going to take us seriously when the institution itself anoints them as gods? Could they win the championship in their time here? I do hope so, but it is not necessary to endorse the kind of behavior that the team now (hopefully) has behind them.

Player-Fan Interaction

I only read on blogs and message about the incident that occurred between Eric Devendorf and a student fan at the tail end of the UMASS loss.

I don’t support heckling your own college team. If you’re one of the culprits of this in our student section – and I know there are some – please stop. If you’re dissatisfied with their performance, just be quiet. They’ll get the message. These kids work hard to put on a good show for you and, although you’re probably ready to retort that they get free tuition – think about all of the money their talents bring to SU every year.

Alas, they sometimes make mistakes on the court. Dimwitted, ridiculous, “oh my god are you serious?” mistakes. You know what screaming and yelling at your peers on their home court accomplishes? Not a damn thing except making one of them snap at the end of a bitterly frustrating game. Eric should have kept his cool, yes, but what kind of messed up fan situation is it that we need to debate about an altercation between people on the same side?

Actually, heckling and fighting with your own team does appear to accomplish something. According to students who contacted me after tonight’s game, Eric looked angrily at the student section, and a number of reporters sought out “that kid” who fought with him. This is not the kind of attention our program needs.

The Hey Song

I watched the game tonight and noticed that people were singing it with about 10 minutes left and ‘Cuse clinging to a slim double digit lead.

Let’s go with bullet points for this one, because it’s getting late and I’m realizing how ridiculous it is that I actually need to write some of the stuff in this post out, most of which should be common sense. The Hey Song does have the words “suck” “shit” and “fuck” in it. This makes it incredibly fun to sing, which brings me to my first point:

• The Hey Song has the words “suck” “shit” and “fuck” in it. Some of the community dislikes it and the university officially dislikes it for that reason. We should not overuse it, lest we might (a) sever important relationships with the community and (b) face action from the university.
  

• In my 4 years at SU, if we sang the song before the game was in hand, 99% of the time someone on the opposing team would have the 5 minutes of their life, we’d lose, and make us wonder why we were so stupid to prematurely declare ourselves the victors. Ask Quincy Douby. And that brings me to…
  

• The Hey Song is a song of victory. It really should be brought out in moments of true elation, unexpected outcomes, and torrential beat-downs against hated rivals. Did that happen tonight? No. I saw people singing the song with 10 minutes to go with a minor lead against a school whose shirts we recently sold in our own bookstore to aid their hurricane ravaged campus. Yea, we ended up winning by 13, but they also lost to Buffalo by 14 a couple of nights before.

During my junior and senior years, we pretty effectively taught people the simple principles of The Hey Song: please, don’t be a prick. If you started the song for the sake of starting it, or because it “is a totally awesome song” or because you thought you needed to cheer louder, you missed the point completely – and you eventually listened to us who directed you to hold and cherish the song’s sacred words for the most spontaneous and fulfilling times. Now, I’ve heard that those same cries for moderation are falling on deaf ears.

My red-eyed conclusion

It’s now 3:30 in the morning and I’m still here pouring my heart out about this stuff. I could’ve still been at the bar putting $20 in the Buck Hunter machine or, better yet, sleeping. Instead, I answered the calls and text messages of my fellow befuddled Orangemen and Women who are not quite sure why there were students fighting with each other during tonight’s game.

I really do care about every one of you.

So, I’ll leave you with this: being an SU student is an amazing experience. Being an active SU sports fan while being an SU student is a couple of steps from heaven. Being in the student section is something you’ll keep with you long after you graduate, so don’t degrade it all with politics, anger, and cockiness.

Support your team whether at their highest highs or lowest lows. Or, if you really need to, just be quiet.

Don’t take for granted your 4 year excuse to be completely wild and rowdy at sporting events – no one looks at you strange. In fact, they love your enthusiasm.

Most of all, treat your onlookers, your team, and your fellow students with respect, humility, and pride.

-Menotti Minutillo
Founding Member, Otto's Army
Syracuse University Class of 2007

To Hey Song or not to Hey Song

Before I go into the debate on the Hey Song, here it is in two forms:

National Championship Celebration:


After 2007 Georgetown game:



Tonight the Hey Song was done twice during the second half of the Tulane game. First with nine minutes left after I think a Jonny Flynn three in the corner. During the timeout that immediately ensued, the student section did the Hey Song under the direction of Otto's Army President Darryl Patteson. About three minutes left, the student section does it again, I can't really remember what happened before that, that prompted us, I think it was a Devendorf three. There were some students that did not approve of the Hey Song either time. Against UMASS with 17:41 after the Jonny Flynn no look to Donte Green dunk, the Hey Song was imminent. The students down in the floor seats didn't approve and it never happened. Syracuse went on to lose the game. So the debate exists: To Hey Song or not to Hey Song.

To Hey Song: Tonight the student section wasn't really going again partly due to a pretty boring game and probably because the team was coming off a loss. The Hey Song with nine minutes left really got the students going for about two minutes until the technical fouls got whoever wasn't into the game into the game. After the Hey Song, students were pounding the benches and chairs for the first time during Tulane offensive possessions. The UMASS game had a weak student section again, and probably would have been energized with the Hey Song. From that timeout on, UMASS slowly got back into the game and then finally put S.U. to bed late. In football the Hey Song is done after every touchdown when Syracuse has the lead. The Hey Song was done twice in the Rutger's game before the Scarlet Knights even scored, and look how that game turned out, but no one complained we were doing it then.

To Not Hey Song (The reasons I could come up with why someone against the Hey Song. If there are more post a comment.) : The student section shouldn't be doing a cheer which signifies that the game is over until the game is out of hand. There was nine minutes left against Tulane and 17 against UMASS. That is a lot of time for bad stuff to happen. The Hey Song should be reserved for big games.

To Hey Song: Name the most well known student section. Most will say Duke, and most will say they hate them because they are cocky. The Hey Song makes you look cocky and that's what you want. You want the opponent coming in knowing the student section hates you, despises you. Last time I checked, you don't want the rivals coming in saying, "jeez that student section likes to cheer, but they aren't cocky, they don't act like there is no doubt their team is going to win the game."

To Not Hey Song: It was said that the Hey Song makes Syracuse look cocky, and make S.U. look really bad if Syracuse was to lose the game. You don't want to cheer too obnoxiously when you are losing or have the chance to lose because that will also make you look bad should you lose.

To Hey Song: When your team is losing, you need to cheer harder and louder to encourage them. Now you wouldn't Hey Song when losing, but the student section should get as loud as possible during the game.


I'm for the Hey Song and tried to give all the reasons I could think of or heard already why someone would be against the Hey Song. I'm sure there are probably more for both sides. So what are your thoughts?