Item: With the 2018-19 sports calendar now complete for football, coming off a rare season of double-digit victories (seven total), the basketball team going one-and-done in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006, and the lacrosse team being knocked out in the first round in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1981-82 (1982 was a non-NCAA lax season). It also means the calendar is creeping closer to the summer months which include instructional camps, ‘Cuse athletes competing in various international competitions, the now-three day ACC football media extravaganza, the basketball team headed to Italy to bond and develop, and the football team’s preseason camp heading into a much anticipated ’19 season, coinciding with college football’s sesquicentennial season.
It’s been just over a month since the Syracuse spring football showcase event, a weekend in which head coach Dino Babers gushed about the quality of athletes that were taking a look at a percolating program setting its sights on a continued rise in the ACC, and making noise on the national stage with its inclusion back in the weekly Top 25 polls.
This much spotlighted fourth year of Babers’ turnaround, with accompanying record ticket sales including a sold-out September visit by big dog Clemson to boot, coincides with college football’s 150th anniversary season, a campaign which will be marked by many celebrations of the sport around the country, dating back to the first-ever college football game played between Princeton and Rutgers in New Brunswick, N.J. on Nov. 6, 1869.
» Related: Previewing Syracuse’s week 3 matchup with Clemson
Unlike the sport’s centennial celebration in 1969, and 125th anniversary season in 1994, when teams could decide if they wanted to wear a “100” helmet decal (Syracuse wore a decal) or 125th anniversary patch (Syracuse simply had the number “125” on the right sleeve of its jerseys), all NCAA teams have to be uniform about one of the elements of its uniforms this season – a jersey patch.
We confirmed with the Orange equipment staff at last weekend’s NCAA lacrosse game at Loyola that it is mandatory for all NCAA teams to wear a 150th anniversary patch on their jerseys this season.
To comply, the ‘Cuse staff worked in conjunction with major uniform patch supplier Emblem Source based in suburban Dallas, and ordered hundreds of the 150th season patches to affix to the three different colored jerseys for each player on the roster, and to have extras on hand just in case they’re needed.
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