Daryl Gross will no longer be featured in Fly Syracuse commercials

If you are a resident of the Syracuse area, you probably know about the Fly Syracuse campaign. The Fly Syracuse campaign is an attempt to keep airline fees out of Hancock International Airport low. Their intent is to convince people to fly through the carriers at Hancock instead of driving to Rochester or Albany where the flights are much cheaper. The campaign has put together billboards, print advertisement and has television commercials featuring local people flapping their arms like a bird in areas around Syracuse. One of the most famous images from the commercial happens to by Syracuse Athletics Director DOCTOR Daryl Gross flapping his arms like a buffoon on the steps of Hendricks Chapel. (Check the 0:08 second mark of the following video)



However, the news came out in Donnie Webb's blog yesterday that the Athletics Department is going to be making a few purchases. First comes the news that ribbon boards may soon be added to the Carrier Dome (which I have long thought would make it look so much better). The second and more important news which I caught on the Idiot's blog this morning was that the Athletics Department may soon have their own private jet. All I can say is are you fucking kidding me?

I know that DOCTOR Daryl Gross is Mr. Hollywood. But honestly? You think a private jet makes sense here?

I don't know about you guys, but I actually keep tabs on private jets and those things are pretty damn expensive to use every year. With the cost of aviation fuel skyrocketing, how exactly can the Athletics Department justify that cost? I took a look at one of the premiere companies for private jet timesharing, NetJets, to get an idea of the cost of using a jet for a year and it is unbelievable.

For a base fee of $416,625 a year you can own a 1/16 share in a jet from them. Tack on an acquisition fee, management fees, occupation fees, and other hidden costs and you can see that this could balloon pretty quick. But let's just assume that it would cost you the base fee for a a 1/16 share of a jet per year. That turns into $6,666,000 a year to essentially own the jet. Let's say that they have a roughly 25% profit margin and it is going to cost you $5,000,000 to own your own private jet each year.

Think about all of the things that they could fund with $5,000,000. The Athletics Department could take 4 years of that and build the Olympic facility that is needed for swimming and diving, Tennity Ice Pavilion could be expanded so that the Women's Ice Hockey program could play on campus, we could fully fund scholarships for sports that were dissolved years ago such as Baseball and Wrestling.

And of course while doing that, DOCTOR Daryl Gross could continue to be featured in advertisements promoting the use of local air carriers. Not to mention all the US Airways Frequent Flyer miles he could be racking up...

Syracuse Athletics Babe of the Week

Catrina Roth is a Senior on the soon to be defunct Swimming and Diving team (but we still support her as SABotW). Unfortunately the S&D site hasn't been updated with information from last year, but Catrina primarily swims the Backstroke and won both the 100m and 200m many times her Junior season. She was also a BIG EAST Academic All-Star and a member of the Athletic Director's Honor Roll both semesters in 2006-2007 and is a dual major in public relations and sociology. Congrats to Catrina on being our Syracuse Athletics Babe of the Week.

Syracuse is well positioned in Olympic Sports

I saw this link to this Daily Orange interview of Daryl Gross earlier in the week over at TNIAAM, but I hadn't had an opportunity to remark on the inconceivableness of it all. Daryl Gross talked about how the athletic department is performing as a whole.

"It was always 'The future's bright. The future's bright.' Well, now we're here. And we know we're positioned well for our Olympic sports."

I think Daryl Gross is right. We are pretty well positioned for our Olympic Sports. You know, until you recall that the biggest Olympic story this summer was Michael Phelps. A swimmer. Yeah, swimming. You know, that sport that the University is getting rid of for Women's Ice Hockey.

I get it now, Daryl was talking about these Olympics.

Want-to

I am back from hiatus. Life has been busy. Too busy. But, I am back with an attitude. I'll have a conclusion of the 2007-2008 Syracuse Athletics season soon. In the meantime, here are some items of note from while I was gone.

• Daryl Gross (allegedly) got a contract extension for three more years. This means that Greg Robinson's future is no longer tied to the good DOCTOR's and that must be troubling news for Mr. Robinson.
• With the buzz that was generated by US Olympic Swimming and most particularly Michael Phelps, isn't it time that Daryl Gross rethink his decision to cut the swimming and diving programs?
  

And a little something disturbing that I picked up off the wires. Apparently Gregisms are spreading to other programs across the country. Nebraska Receivers Coach Ted Gilmore had this to say about receiver Menelik Holt:

"His positioning is better. We've still got to get more consistent, but the effort is there. The want-to is there. We'll get the rest of it."

Nebraska should know they are in trouble if Bo Pellini starts talking about Osmosis or his players flashing.

Women's Hockey

According to an article by the Daily Orange, Daryl Gross might be making the wrong decision in dumping Swimming and Diving in favor of Women's Ice Hockey.

Mare MacDougall, assistant coach at St. Lawrence University up North, who happen to be ranked 4th in the country had this to say about Syracuse,

"I don't think anyone can conclude that Syracuse University will only want to recruit N.Y. players. I would only assume, looking at what I've learned through recruiting, that that is not feasible for them."

This seems in clear contrast to DOCTOR Daryl Gross' comments in June when he announced that Syracuse would be adding Women's Hockey. Gross said,

"We welcome the opportunity to field a women’s ice hockey team. It provides the potential for an outstanding student-athlete experience, and success is limitless given the area of the country we live in, the facility we have on campus, and the popularity of the sport. Women’s ice hockey gives us a significant opportunity to compete at a national level, especially given the talent in Upstate New York and surrounding areas."

So who do you trust? Personally, I'll trust the assistant coach on a program that consistently fields a winning team over our malfunctioning Athletic Director any day.