As originally aired on The Rochester Press Box
My son Nathan has never been particularly loyal to a sports team. Save one. Syracuse University basketball. That loyalty produced a grudging acceptance of Jim Boeheim which grew into open resentment as the program began to fade the last few years. He certainly wasn’t alone.
Jim Boeheim didn’t make himself easy to like. Which is a shame because there is a lot to like there. Starting with his loyalty. Boeheim arrived at Syracuse in 1962 and never left. And always said there was no place he’d rather be. He represented his city and university well. And provided all of us who considered ourselves stuck in upstate New York for the winter, a reason to live.
There was a national championship, five Final Fours. 35 NCAA Tournament appearances and over a thousand victories. So he is a little two-faced with the media. His distain for local reporters contrasts with the charm he turns on for the network guys. My lasting memory of Jim is being at a pre-tournament press conference years ago where someone simply asked if this wasn’t the fun part of the job. To which he said, “This isn’t fun. This is hard work.” My thought was, he was a guy who should be enjoying his life more. But I was wrong. It’s just his way.
Prickly. Nerdy. Difficult. Sure. But now it’s over for Boeheim and it’s safe to love him again. It’s OK to say thank-you. And to appreciate how much he brought to us, under no obligation, for the last 61 years. There won’t ever be another like him.
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