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Well, as you can see, behind me, I am at
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the Lally Sports Complex here on South
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Campus at Syracuse University. The
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morning after last night's unbelievable
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Summer Slam Cuse event at the Lovell
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Barn. And here are all my observations
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from the day, from the night, okay?
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Number one, it is impossible to walk
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into an event like that, which was at
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this beautiful place in Skaneateles, in
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property, with this incredible barn
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built that has a a full-size
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court inside of it, and it's got bars
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and cigar areas and all types of
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beautiful landscaping outside and and
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inside two levels. The whole thing is
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incredible. It's impossible not to walk
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And when you see all of the walls
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plastered with Syracuse
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and you see the the orange-clad fans
1:03
and you see the 2003 national
1:06
championship icon and you see the block
1:10
S. It's impossible not to just
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immediately feel pride and optimism.
1:15
Then you combine that with
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Carmelo coming through, G-Mac coming
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through, Fran Brown coming through, and
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suddenly it's kind of elevated to star
1:27
status. Wow, I'm at this event and all
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the whole crew is here.
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Then Boeheim is there as well. Then you
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add in the team which are going through
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really cool things like the three-point
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contest and the dunk contest, and that's
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kind of the spectacle. And then you add
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to it this kind of auction type of of
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event where there's a lot of
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fundraising, there is a lot of elite
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packages being um, off, and you're like,
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"Ah, this is really, really cool."
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Everything's kind of coming together.
2:01
And then, the final piece of the puzzle
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is, it's not like Carmelo and Gerry are
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kind of just there to shake a few hands
2:09
and to like be the names.
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Those guys are in it, and that was the
2:14
coolest part about this. Carmelo,
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in his incredible pink velour jumpsuit,
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and working the crowd. I couldn't
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believe how natural and authentic he was
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in working the crowd and getting people
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You had Gerry McNamara, who when I spoke
2:31
to G-Mac was so focused on bringing back
2:35
winning and discipline and
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accountability. I'm like, "Wow,
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I'm ready to go right now for basketball
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season. Like, what's the date?"
2:44
Combined with this energy of the the
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entire event. I know they had a target
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about a million bucks to raise. I think
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they hit the target, which is incredible
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for one night for Syracuse to knock out
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NIL for a million bucks or whatever,
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was just awesome. The whole thing was so
3:01
positive, and I thought there was a lot
3:03
of interesting anecdotes and quotes from
3:08
But, the vibe was so glass half full.
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And I love that, because you know,
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Syracuse fans can naturally be kind of,
3:17
you know, beaten down. Maybe it's the
3:19
winters, maybe it's the fact that we've
3:21
seen other Big East brethren soar, like
3:24
UConn to win national championships or
3:26
recently seen St. John's getting really
3:28
good again. Maybe it's when you're in
3:30
the ACC, you're measuring yourself
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against UNC and Duke in basketball.
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Maybe it's the three-win season in
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football. Maybe it's all those non-bowl
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seasons over the last decade plus, two
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But, you know, there's kind of a natural
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like, "All right, we'll see." But, last
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night was everybody was so amped
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for it to be now. For it to be now, and
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after I went to the UNC basketball game
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"This is a crowd that is just wanting a
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reason to erupt again." You know, it was
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a lost basketball season,
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and they were going nowhere in February,
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and there were still 24,000 fans in the
4:11
building. Everybody knew that it was
4:13
going to be 5 straight years about the
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tournament, and yet there were still 23,
4:19
people inside And not many of them were
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wearing Carolina blue,
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because they're just waiting for hoops
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to get good again. And I thought last
4:26
night was kind of that pilot light that
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has to be lit, where people start
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getting charged up. And the introductory
4:32
press conference of G-Mac was certainly
4:34
indicative of that. But when you hear
4:37
him speak and hear him and Melo swap
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stories, and they're working the crowd
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in this incredible setting,
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you're going, "All right. Now the pieces
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are really in place." And I just walked
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out of there going, "This is a real
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real moment of of camaraderie, of unity,
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of optimism, and of production."
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They raised a lot of money.
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I even threw in a hundred bucks, because
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I went in for one of those uh one of
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those raffle tickets for the Syracuse
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classic pickup truck. I knew, and they
5:13
told me I could drive it off the lot. I
5:15
knew that I would either return home to
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my my house in the Hudson Valley, and my
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wife and my two kids would consider me a
5:23
conquering hero because I was driving a
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classic orange and blue painted uh
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pickup truck with a Otto the Orange on
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the side, and I would be king forever,
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and they would fetch my slippers and
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cook me meals, and they would be uh
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well-behaved and eat all their dinner
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and go to sleep on time, and be like,
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"Wow, Dad, you're the best."
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Or my wife would say, "What the hell is
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Where did you get that and how much did
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And so I only threw in 100 bucks cuz at
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I could rationalize it. I did not win or
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else I would have it behind me right now
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But everybody felt the vibe last night.
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I connect with so many alumni, so many
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fans, so many people from the area
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that just felt good and I and I think
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for a long time Syracuse sports fans
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have felt like when is it going to be
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our time? And I thought last night kind
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of felt like it was finally. It was kind
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to to be the cool kids, to have the cool
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spot, to have the cool stuff, to have
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the cool players. And um I can't say
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enough about Melo. I mean like he took
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pictures with everybody.
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He hung out at the bar at the Labdells
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Farm Barn for the entire night. I mean
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he outlasted me. I left at like
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midnight. He was with everybody, hanging
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out, having a good time. Bunch of the
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guys from the '03 team came back. I was
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talking to a bunch of them like Matt
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Gorman and others. They're all great.
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And uh you know, Latavius Murray was
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there, Syracuse native, Buffalo Bill. We
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had a Buffalo Bills chant going on. And
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uh it just was a was was really good
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big ups to Vinnie Labdells, big ups to
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Syracuse, big ups to Melo and Fran and
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Felicia and G-Mac and all Brian Blair,
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everybody that was there. And and
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even Boeheim was in seemingly good
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spirits. And that's that's when you know
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When when Coach Boeheim is cracking
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jokes, cracking wise, and talking about
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his poker games. Food was awesome. The
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food trucks were great. And uh just the
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the entire night was uh
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fit the bill of a big-time sports event
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with the community rallying and I was
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really lucky to be there. And hopefully
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you guys feel like you share some of the
7:38
experience as well from this video and
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from those pictures and probably the
7:41
videos online as well from uh from
7:43
Syracuse Athletics. I I've got videos,
7:46
recap videos of every single football
7:48
game coming up after every football
7:49
game. I'm doing a video right here on
7:51
this YouTube channel. So, make sure
7:54
I'm fired up about the season and I have
7:55
a sit-down interview with Fran Brown
7:57
coming up. I've got a long-form sit-down
7:59
interview with Brian Blair coming up
8:00
that we recorded just earlier this
8:02
morning. So, look for those right here
8:03
on this channel. I'm super stoked to put
8:06
those out there cuz I think it gave us a
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lot of insight, gave me a lot of insight
8:09
on the football program, the athletic
8:11
department in general and what they have
8:12
in store for us all as fans in 2026.
8:17
In 2026. So, thanks everybody for
8:19
watching. Appreciate you. Make sure
8:20
you're subscribed to the channel. Make
8:22
sure you're reading Orange Fizz as well.
8:24
And I'm DA, Damon Amendolara. Catch me
8:26
weekday mornings on SiriusXM Channel 82,
8:30
I will see you next time. Go Orange.
