Halftime Snack

February 19, 2010 - 12:14am
Fifth-ranked Syracuse (25-2, 12-2 Big East) remained unblemished on the road this season, holding off No. 10 Georgetown (18-7, 8-6), 75-71, in Washington, D.C. Thursday night. It was Syracuse’s first win on the Hoyas’ floor since 2004.

It was opposite night at the Verizon Center. And with one quick Kris Joseph crossover, it was back to the Same-Game for Syracuse:  one team has a huge lead, lead evaporates, Orange win, masses complain about officials.

February 12, 2010 - 1:49pm
This is the fifth installment of “Friday Five,” a weekly column with analysis and insight on the Orange, the Big East and the rest of college basketball. Love it or leave it, let the emotion flow out.

This weekend is the time to love or to hate, Halftime Snack chooses to love:

February 7, 2010 - 4:20pm
Over 100 million viewers will watch a football game this evening, and the main storyline is centered around Syracuse great Dwight Freeney and his twisted ankle.

The No.1 sporting event in American athletics should be re-named this season. Rather than the call it fancy-old Super Bowl XLIV, it should be the Syracuse Bowl.

February 5, 2010 - 11:54am
This is the fourth installment of “Friday Five,” a weekly column with analysis and insight on the Orange, the Big East and the rest of college basketball. Adjust your computer monitor accordingly.

February is a month of adjustments. The number of days on the calendar is known to change, Valentine’s Day can be a disaster or heaven depending on your love life, and in 2010 the Winter Olympics interrupts the normal TV programming.  Halftime Snack is on board with Adjustment Month:

The starting five:

February 2, 2010 - 9:36pm
Pull out your 2010 calendar and insert these five must-see Syracuse sporting events.

The 2010 sports schedule has the Winter Olympics, the World Cup and the imminent return of Tiger Woods. These events are more than a spin up the Thruway, so what can the local fan look forward to in 2010? Halftime Snack has five ideas:

January 29, 2010 - 10:47am
This is the third installment of “Friday Five,” a weekly column with analysis and insight on the Orange, the Big East and the rest of college basketball.

Halftime Snack is out of position and just got called for a blocking foul. This theme is going to run wild, or fall over with a thud.

The starting five:

January 22, 2010 - 1:29am
This is the second edition of “Friday Five,” a weekly column with analysis and insight on the Orange, the Big East and the rest of college basketball.

The local basketball team found stability amongst the instable, the smart kids are winning and Halftime Snack is back with more predictions.

The starting five:

January 16, 2010 - 6:17pm
A pair of freshman guards, Syracuse’s Brandon Triche and West Virginia’s Dalton Pepper, sparked their respective programs in the first game between two top-10 teams in Morgantown, West Virginia since 1960.

Quantity nearly beat quality Saturday afternoon. Fifth-ranked Syracuse withstood a barrage of late three-pointers by No. 9 West Virginia, making just enough free throws to defeat the Mountaineers, 72-71, in Big East action.

West Virginia guard Darryl Bryant sank three free throws and an NBA three-pointer in the span of four seconds while the Orange missed three of four attempts at the charity stripe. The final attempt, a Kris Joseph clank with 2.5 seconds left, fell into the hands of All-Big East guard Da’Sean Butler who drew nothing but air on a three-quarter-court heave.

January 15, 2010 - 4:39pm
Halftime Snack is transitioning from the weekly Football Friday posts, covering Syracuse and college football nationwide, to the new “Friday Five” with analysis and insight on the Orange, the Big East and the rest of college basketball.

To get ready for the basketball weekend, readers can find Halftime Snack’s five “starters,” picked just like any college coach in the country: “1” is the point guard, “2” the shooting guard, “3” the guard/forward hybrid, “4” is usually a forward, traditionally with power but in the modern game, with more dribble.  The “5” is the big man, the center, the protector of the paint, King of the Nylon, be big, be a brute, keep ‘em out!

January 14, 2010 - 12:31am
Syracuse guard Andy Rautins scored a season-high 23 points with nine assists in the 81-65 win at Rutgers Wednesday night. Rautins is the Honda Odyssey in fifth-ranked Orange’s crowded stable of victory vehicles.

Orange head coach Jim Boeheim has a basketball vehicle for every game he drives through. The veteran Big East coach knows every contest has a different course layout, an alternate track to navigate.

Some nights the road lays straight and wide, like an expressway. Boeheim moves the score with a large mass, either his A & O dump truck or his big Rig Jackson.

In Piscataway, New Jersey, site of Rutgers University, residents drive through life, one stoplight at a time.  

Stop.

Start.

Stop.