Author: Damon Amendolara
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Gerry McNamara Was Frustrated After Syracuse’s Win. Is That Good or Bad?
Syracuse basketball opened the Gerry McNamara era with a 74-58 victory over New Haven on Monday night. And apparently, G-Mac wasn’t particularly happy. He said he was “disgusted” by parts of the game, he called Ryan Moesch’s performance “terrible” and said they’ll need to “grow up fast.” That’s interesting. Because I watched the same game…
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Thousands of CNY Kids Will Discover Syracuse Basketball’s Magic. That’s Bigger Than a Game.
There’s something magical about the first time you walk into the Dome. The size of the building. The sea of orange. The noise of 20,000 fans. The feeling that you’re part of something enormous. For generations of Central New York kids, that experience helped turn Syracuse basketball into something more than a college sports team.…
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Syracuse Finally Won One of These Insane ACC Games. And Boy, Did It Need This.
Of course it had to happen this way. If Syracuse was finally going to snap its ACC losing streak, it wasn’t going to be with a comfortable, uneventful victory. That would have been entirely too easy. No, it had to be chaotic. Absurd. Emotionally exhausting. Another game that felt like it was specifically designed to…
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Watch Middletown-Newburgh, the Epic Must-See Section 9 Game of the Year
Middletown had waited 32 years to beat Newburgh at home. On Friday at Fowler Field, the Section 9 game of the year lived up to every bit of its billing, and Friday Night Films was there to capture all of it. Middletown won 33-22. The film shows what a box score can’t: a long line…
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Gerry McNamara Is Pointing At UConn. Is Syracuse the Next Great Resurrection?
Gerry McNamara isn’t just trying to bring Syracuse basketball back to the NCAA Tournament. He’s looking at a much bigger possibility. What if Syracuse could beome the next UConn? In my recent conversation with McNamara, I asked him why he was so determined to restore Syracuse’s old Northeast basketball connections. Madison Square Garden. St. John’s.…
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Gerry McNamara Gets Brutally Honest About Syracuse’s Place in College Sports
Gerry McNamara is back at Syracuse to restore one of college basketball’s proudest programs. But he isn’t pretending the Orange have everything figured out. I had an exclusive conversation with him at Apex in Destiny USA, and asked a question that goes well beyond the UConn and Siena games. Is Syracuse positioned to succeed in…
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Marvin Harrison Sr.’s Influence on His Son Comes Under Scrutiny in NFL Report
Marvin Harrison is one of the greatest players in Syracuse football history. A Pro Football Hall of Famer. An NFL legend. One of the most accomplished wide receivers the sport has ever seen. But a fascinating new report raises questions about whether his demanding standards may have created unexpected problems for his son, Marvin Harrison…
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The Photo of Fran Brown and Bryan Blair That Captures Syracuse Football’s Crossroads
A photograph taken more than 45 minutes after Syracuse’s loss to Louisville has struck a nerve with Orange fans. The image, posted by our writer Michael Batson who was covering the game for Orange Fizz, shows Fran Brown and athletic director Bryan Blair talking on the field long after the game ended. It’s already generated…
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Epic! Watch Middletown’s 99-Yard Strike and Late Surge Past Valley Central
The scoreboard says 29-7. The film says Middletown had to earn every inch of it, and that’s why this one is worth watching instead of just reading. Friday Night Films took its cameras to Faller Field for the Game of the Week. The matchup was unbeaten Middletown against a Valley Central team that was so…
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Arlington Buries North Rockland 35-7 for Fourth Win in Five Games
By Derrick Touba Jr. For the first four games of the season, North Rockland rolled over everyone in its path. Friday night at home, the Red Raiders had their worst game of the year. Arlington beat North Rockland 35-7 and led 21-0 at halftime, the biggest deficit the Red Raiders have faced all year. It…
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Middletown Outlasts Valley Central, Now Eyes Newburgh for Section 9 Supremacy
The final score says 29-7. For most of the night, it didn’t feel that way. Middletown spent three quarters in a slugfest with Valley Central, and the Middie Bears carried only a 15-7 lead into halftime. Valley Central’s defense held up and made the offense work for everything. The one exception was a 99-yard touchdown…
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Valley Central Was Told Its Defense Was the Problem. Elijah Struther Disagrees.
Watch Elijah Struther’s postgame interview Elijah Struther didn’t need to say much to make his point. He had already made it on the field. The Valley Central corner has five interceptions in four games played, and he missed a game with an injury. One of those picks was the pick-six at Kingston that helped seal…
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Watch: Elijah Struther’s Pick-Six Powers Valley Central Past Kingston 20-7
Watch Friday Night Films highlights of VC’s win here: Valley Central’s defense is the story right now, and Elijah Struther is the headline. The Vikings went into Kingston on Friday night and never let the Tigers threaten. It was the second straight week Valley Central held an opponent to just seven points, and a week…
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Watch the Highlights: Warwick-Goshen’s Breakfast Brawl in the Rain
I’ve never experienced anything like this. The nor’easter came through, canceled the homecoming parade, canceled the bonfire the night before, and pushed the start time from 1:30 in the afternoon to 10 a.m. in the morning. I guess it couldn’t be any other way. A hundred and thirty years, one of the oldest rivalries in…
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Le Moyne Just Landed a Jersey Sponsor. That’s Great News for All CNY Fans.
Le Moyne has entered the big time and is playing like it. Central New York sports fans has a new D1 program to get excited about, and it represents a momentum building in the entire region. Le Moyne College announced a jersey patch sponsorship last week with ForEDU, the locally founded education technology company built…
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Fran Brown Got This Right: Steve Angeli Deserves Another Shot
There has been plenty to criticize about Syracuse football over the last few weeks. Fran Brown’s decision to stick with Steve Angeli isn’t one of them. Brown confirmed Monday that Angeli will remain Syracuse’s starting quarterback against UConn, saying, “He’s our quarterback.” Amari Odom is expected to play as well. Good. The calls for Odom…
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Johnye Booker Is Quietly Building Something Special at Cardinal Hayes
Reporter: Diego Falero The Cardinals are up to a 2-1 record, matching last season’s team record, in just 3 games. The team has been playing far better than what they were expected to. The team shows versatility and the ability to dominate the game offensively, with a good balance of a run game, a passing…
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Gerry McNamara Delivers: Five-Star Moussa Kamissoko Commits to Syracuse
Five-star forward Moussa Kamissoko has committed to Syracuse, giving Gerry McNamara the biggest recruiting statement of his young tenure as Orange head coach. The Bronx native announced his decision Friday on social media, turning the recruiting buzz that surrounded Syracuse all week into a commitment. And suddenly, the bigger picture is coming into focus. When…
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Watch: Sage Caesar and Cornwall’s 49-7 Statement at Monroe-Woodbury I Highlights
Friday Night Films | By Damon Amendolara Two words hung over Central Valley on Friday night: frustration and surprise. Cornwall and Monroe-Woodbury, two of the best programs in Section 9, both came in 0-2. Neither is used to being winless in September. The question was which team would channel that anger better. Cornwall answered it…
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Joe Brady Just Unlocked a Different Josh Allen. Call It Certainty.
Josh Allen has had big games before. Plenty of them. What happened Wednesday night in the Bills’ 41-31 win over the Lions wasn’t just another one. It was something different, and there’s a word for it: certainty. Not confidence. Not swagger. Certainty. The difference matters, and it showed up on nearly every meaningful drive of…
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Every Warning Light on Syracuse’s Dashboard Is On Right Now
When one thing goes wrong on a football team, you fix it and move on. When everything goes wrong at once, that’s not a bad night. That’s an engine light, and right now, every single warning indicator on Syracuse’s dashboard is lit up at the same time. Three games into the season, and there isn’t…
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Newburgh Goldbacks Football Highlights: 42-6 Win Over Warwick
The first Friday Night Films highlight package of the season is here, and it’s Newburgh fans who get to enjoy it most. The Goldbacks’ 42-6 rout of Warwick to open Section 9 play wasn’t just a final score. It’s now a full video story, shot on the ground at C. Ashley Morgan Field, capturing exactly…
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Is Steve Angeli Fully Healthy? Nobody Seems Totally Sure Yet.
Something looked off with Steve Angeli against Cal, and depending on who you ask, that “something” means very different things. Start with what the coach said. Asked directly Monday whether he felt Angeli was healthy enough to be effective Saturday, Fran Brown didn’t hesitate. “Yep. Yeah, I thought he was felt enough. Just made some…
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Fran Brown Isn’t Another Dino Babers. Here’s Why the Numbers Lie.
Saturday was ugly. Syracuse committed 15 penalties, blew a lead it should have controlled, and watched Steve Angeli throw three second-half interceptions, including a pick-six, in a 21-18 loss to Cal. It was the kind of self-inflicted collapse that makes a fan base spiral, and some are already asking the uncomfortable question out loud: is…
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Sean McDermott Just Predicted The Bills In the Super Bowl
Sean McDermott got fired by the Bills eight months ago. He still thinks Buffalo is going to the Super Bowl. Appearing on The Rich Eisen Show Friday, McDermott didn’t hedge when Eisen pushed him for an actual prediction. “It’ll be Bills-Rams,” McDermott said. “It’d be a great Super Bowl, those Rams.” That’s a pretty classy…
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Iona Prep Just Delivered the Biggest Statement Win New York Will Have All Season
Forget everything else happening in New York high school football this week. This is the result the whole state needs to be talking about. Iona Prep beat Christian Brothers Academy Syracuse 38-18 at the JMA Wireless Dome on Thursday night, snapping a CBA win streak that had reached 41 games and included three straight NYSPHSAA…
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Army’s $170 Million Michie Stadium Makeover Is Ready. Here’s What Fans Get.
Army football fans have waited more than a decade for this. Now it’s finally here.
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Why Blaming the ACC for Syracuse’s Financial Woes is Foolish
There’s a massive hole in this theory though.
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Actually, Spending on Sports Is Syracuse’s Enrollment Fix
Syracuse is having a rough day on Twitter, and it isn’t about football or basketball. The Wall Street Journal published a deep look at Syracuse’s finances under the headline “Why Syracuse Can’t Attract the Students It Needs to Pay the Bills,” and it spread fast. Business analyst Josh Kraushaar’s reaction (132k followers on X) cut…
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When CNY Sports Fans Rally For Each Other, There’s Nothing Like It
Every so often a story comes along that reminds you what all of that CNY passion is actually built on top of.
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My Bills Win Total Prediction and the 3 Reasons Behind It
Three preseason games are in the books, and one thing is clear to me: this Bills team is winning double-digit games. The real question is where in that range they land, 10, 13, maybe 14, and that’s exactly where this new coaching staff, Joe Brady and Jim Leonard leading the way, gets defined this season.…
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Bryan Blair Told Us Syracuse Gamedays Would Change. It’s Already Happening.
When Syracuse athletic director Bryan Blair sat down with me last month, one of the most interesting parts of our conversation had little to do with recruiting, NIL or wins and losses. It was about you. The fan. Blair talked extensively about the challenge facing modern sports: why should someone leave a 4K television, their…
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Ja’Mori Maclin Made Two Big Plays. Does It Mean Anything Long-Term?
Ja’Mori Maclin got three targets against Cleveland. He turned them into 108 yards and a touchdown, and suddenly he’s the most talked-about name on the Bills’ receiver depth chart. The question worth asking isn’t whether it was a good day. It obviously was. The question is whether one big day actually means anything once roster…
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Welcome to Play D.A. New York. Here’s Why I Built This.
This will be the best one-stop shop for Upstate and Western New York sports anywhere. And it will all be perfectly engineered for your phone.
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The Ed Oliver Story Isn’t a Cover-Up. It’s a Family Grieving.
This is Ed Oliver’s story to tell, if and when he ever wants to tell it. Nobody else’s.
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New AD Wants JMA Dome Tailgates to Feel Like Bills Mafia
New Syracuse athletic director Bryan Blair has a vision for football Saturdays that has nothing to do with what happens between the lines, and it borrows directly from two and a half hours down the Thruway. “Those people (in Buffalo), they’re having a really good time and they’re doing it in a New York flare…
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