Bleeding Orange

The other day when I visited Facebook for my daily login to my home page, I scanned the news feed and immediately noticed that 13 of my friends had just become a fan of the same page. Usually when this happens, it is an extreme annoyance. Lately people are becoming fans of new pages as often as Syracuse sees snowfall - about every second of the day. I have tried to stay away from this fan page craze because I’m sure like the rest of my 364 friends, once I start I won’t be able to stop.

But this time, something was different. These 13 friends weren’t gathering together to become a fan of something stupid like ‘I raise my hand in class and then immediately forget what I was going to say,’ they were coming together to become a fan of Syracuse basketball star Andy Rautins. More specifically, ‘That feeling you get when Andy Rautins hits a 3.’

Instead of rolling my eyes and scrolling down to other news, I actually took the time to visit this fan page. My next move shocked me even more. Even though I am not a die-hard basketball fan, even though I didn’t even know Syracuse was famous for basketball before coming here, and even though I had only seen Andy Rautins score three’s a couple of times on my television set, I became a fan.

Sure, some might call it jumping on the bandwagon, but I call it school pride. I didn’t have to know everything about SU basketball or even shooting guard Andy Rautins to feel pride for this Facebook page, it was just a natural thing.

At Syracuse, when they aren’t shoving the names of famous alumni down our throats, or encouraging us to “Go Green, Be Orange” they are raving about basketball. When I arrived here in late August, all I had to do was buy an orange shirt to feel like I was a part of something greater than myself. However, although basketball is a huge part of our community here at SU, it’s definitely not the only way to feel school pride.

Before coming to SU, when I was all the way down south in San Antonio, Texas, I would tell random people I met or neighbors that I was attending Syracuse for college. Their reactions typically were as follows: First, they would gasp and congratulate me, and second they would start telling me a story about how they knew someone that went there, or their friend of a friend goes there and loves it. The SU community is alive everywhere.

When SU does something, we do it big. We don’t just have a good basketball team; we’re currently number one in the nation. Greek life doesn’t just exist here; it dominates. Parties aren’t just a way to chill; they’re an opportunity to go completely insane. You get the idea.

The environment that SU promotes allows students to easily get involved and become members of a very large community. Whether you show your spirit by attending each basketball game in an orange wig and face paint, or by sitting at home clicking ‘Become a Fan’ of Andy Rautins, you can be sure your veins will forever bleed that ever-present, signature orange.