You Stay Classy West Virginia

After Syracuse’s 49-23 thrashing of West Virginia last Friday, all seemed to be well in Cuse Nation. Apparently, there’s someone out there who disagrees. A local West Virginia fan took umbrage with some of the festivities at the Dome that night, and sent a letter to the editor to voice said umbrage. Thanks to our friend @Flaminio44 for sending this article to us:

SU displayed poor sportsmanship vs. WVU
The Post-Standard 10/27/2011 9:25 AM
To the Editor:

Having recently moved from West Virginia, we were excited by the prospect of having a new football team to root for. We were enjoying ourselves at the game Friday night when it took an ugly turn. Suddenly, I was no longer embarrassed by the poor performance by the Mountaineers, but mortified by the poor sportsmanship exhibited by Syracuse fans.

I expect to hear insults tossed around in the stands. What I didn’t expect were the “Hey, you suck!” chants — led by the Syracuse cheerleaders themselves; the SU mascot’s performance of “dueling banjos,” mocking the entire state of West Virginia; and the constant close-ups of West Virginia fans on the screen, encouraging 45,000 people to erupt in a chorus of boos in an attempt to further humiliate those who only want to show support for their team.

We’ve attended countless games at WVU. Never did the organization do anything to mock or disparage opposing teams, or single out fans to boo.

There is nothing worse than poor losers, except poor winners. Syracuse may have won the game, but it lost to WVU when it comes to professionalism, graciousness and class. It also lost a group of people who had been considering season tickets for next year. They will find a new team to cheer for.

M. Koresko
Oswego

Really Mr. Koresko? Really? Let’s analyze this step by step. First off, he claims the Syracuse cheerleaders led a “Hey, you suck!” chant towards West Virginia. This is simply false. Syracuse cheerleaders never have, and never will, lead such a chant. Now there is a chant where the crowd yells “Hey!” that I’m sure all fans have participated in at some point. However, adding “you suck” to the end is the choice of the fans, and most commonly the student section. The cheerleaders do not encourage or lead that chant. Secondly, he’s insulted by Otto playing “dueling banjos” which he claims mocks the entire state of West Virginia. As Brent Axe put it on his radio show the other day, you’re really insulted by a giant fuzzy ball playing a fake banjo? Really? As if that’s the first time anyone’s associates banjos with West Virginia. Please. Third, he claims constant close-ups of West Virginia fans encouraging the fans to boo them. What is he talking about? Has he never been to a football game before? Every game Syracuse does promotions during timeouts which show various parts of stands. The Pomco kiss cam is one, the Yancy’s Fancy say cheese cam is another. These are normal promotions done every game, and were not done to encourage booing. When they happen to pan by areas with some WVU fans, the crowd booed. Shocking! He acts like every timeout all they showed in the big screens were WVU fans with a message underneath stating “BOO THEM!!!” What was he expecting? Golf claps? Did he want the crowd to simultaneously say “awe it’ll be ok” in a parent talking to infant type voice? He must’ve been surprised because no fans have ever booed the opposing team and/or its fans before. Then he acts like all of these things were done by the University and sponsored by them specifically to insult and mock WVU. That’s just not correct, not logical, and reasonable.

But the last paragraph is what kills me. He actually said West Virginia won in graciousness, professionalism, and class. Really? You want to go there? Ok I guess we’re going there. Once again, most of what I’m about to say is similar to or the same as Brent Axe’s take on his radio program the other day (On The Block in TheScore1260 2-6pm). But it’s worth reiterating. He wants to talk about class when comparing West Virginia to Syracuse. The “classier” West Virginia is the same West Virginia that has a tradition of burning couches after every win. That’s right. BURNING COUCHES. These are the same fans who have shirts printed out, and worn frequently, that say “West F*****g Virginia” but actually say the F word. In fact, West Virginia had to send out a letter to all fans BEGGING them not to wear that shirt for their recent nationally televised home game against LSU. All class all the time. Lastly, WVU athletic director Oliver Luck stated recently that both Navy and Air Force are better football programs than Syracuse. Classy comment right there. I don’t seem to recall our athletic director sending letters to our fans asking them not to wear shirts with obscenities on them. Nor do I recall burnt couches lining the streets after wins, nor our athletic director ripping their program. West Virginia = class. Would you like to maybe reconsider your statements Mr. Koresko?

Link to full article: Letter to the Editor