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The Daily OrangeYear in Sports | After they went Orange: The senior class saw zero bowl or NCAA Tournament wins. And since Syracuse changed its identity, there's enough disappointment to go around
By Zach Berman
Posted: 4/28/08, 10:29 PM EST Section: Sports
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The football team, with a highly recruited freshman quarterback, was opening at Purdue. The basketball team was still waking up from a national championship. The men's lacrosse team was at the apex of its sport, marching with this new nickname and logo and won a national championship three weeks later.
It was the type of moment that years later can be identified as the time when everything changed. It just changed the wrong way.
The freshmen who arrived with hope four years ago leave with something different. They are realizing what to do, where to live, how to lead a life that doesn't start at noon and doesn't feature $3 pitchers. But they're also trying to figure out where the four years went. They're trying to determine why an athletic department that appeared so promising left so much disappointment. They're trying to piece together what happened after Syracuse went Orange.
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Nick Natario's job was tougher than he bargained for. As Otto, Natario is in charge of exciting a crowd. This is easy to do when the game is tied with a minute left or Syracuse is on the verge of a major upset. But when half the fans departed or SU is playing its second-straight NIT, the job becomes more difficult.
"Basically to sum it up, there were a couple highs, but there were a lot of lows," Natario said. "And the lows definitely outweigh the highs."
Once he became Otto during his sophomore year, the major teams' success declined, and the fans' interest waned. During the 2007 football season, the SU Spirit Team received e-mails complaining about Otto dancing around when the football program was sinking to 2-10. Never mind Otto's job requires dancing around - the fans didn't need a mascot to help them cheer when the teams wouldn't make them cheer.
Natario even held meetings with the other Ottos to discuss how to handle disgruntled fans. It was a struggle between performing their jobs and performing for their fans. "We had to bring our 'A' game," Natario said, "even when the football team wasn't."
The most unrest Natario felt was actually during a basketball game gone awry in 2006-07, when the cheerleaders charged the court for the "C-U-S-E" flag running and the fans responded with boos.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
'07 alum
posted 4/29/08 @ 3:00 PM EST
I am so sorry, class of '08...and I thought we had it bad =(
A sad time for all
Marc LeVine
posted 5/01/08 @ 2:37 PM EST
"this year's seniors become mere archived alumni in a database."
This quote, more than any other I have read in the D.O. over the past year, is most disturbing. (Continued…)
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