If you can’t tell from the picture at left, I’m really sick of all the stories I hear about how the Syracuse University Athletics Department seems to be really pushy with people. Oddly enough, the one straw that broke the camel’s back was a recent article in the Syracuse Post-Standard, where a Carrier Dome usher was fired because he spoke critically of the team’s policies.
Yes, ironically, this is the very same university that’s home to the world-renowned S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, where journalism professors teach budding reporters all about the Freedoms of Speech and Press, guaranteed all Americans in the First Amendment to the Constitution.
According to Jack Allen, 78 (the man who was fired), all 250 football game ushers were required to “to form a gantlet a couple hours before every home game last season. They had to applaud the Syracuse University football players as they walked across the field to the locker room.” Allen wrote a letter to the editor about this, and the day the paper published it, he was told his services were no longer needed.
Unacceptable on Syracuse University’s part. First of all, if the team was any good, they wouldn’t need to pay the ushers to come on-duty 15 minutes earlier to cheer the team as they enter the building. Instead, the dome might be surrounded by devoted fans who arrive early, in the hopes of scoring autographics or passing on an encouraging word. The Dome itself would be packed with thousands of fans making plenty of noise during the game, and the players would likely have a wide selection of post-game celebrations to choose from.
Instead, the team sucks, so they have to pay their own employees to come out and give the players a pat on the back as they enter the building. Besides being humiliating to the ushers, it’s probably embarrassing the hell out of the players, don’t you think? As long as their at it, why not fly in each player’s mother to be there after the game! They can offer a consolation peanut butter sammich, and tell their sons, “it doesn’t matter if you lose, because you tried your best, and mommy still loves you… there, there.”
Seriously, it’s one thing if a handful of ushers who also happen to be fans, line up genuinely, voluntarily, and greet those players out of sheer pride. But when you’re forcing people to line up and clap, and the players know that applause is paid for, that’s not doing anyone any good.
In the 20+ years I’ve lived in this area, I’ve never been to a game at the Carrier Dome. I’ve considered it… even a little more now that I live much closer to Syracuse, but incidents like this really don’t motivate me to fork over the cash for those overpriced tickets.
0 Responses to “Commentary: SU Athletics Arrogance”