ALBANY — Tolerating the crowded atmosphere, dozens of Syracuse fans poured into the Mad River Bar and Grill on Friday night, imbibing Heinekens and donning orange leis.

Current students mingled with 40-somethings at the gathering, organized by the SU Alumni Association. An inflatable Otto the Orange hung in the corner of the bar, located two blocks from the Pepsi Arena, and pom-poms were distributed.

The party kicked off a weekend-long festival, one with a distinctly orange feel. Thousands of SU fans rushed to New York’s capital, dominating the chants in the arena and the sidewalks in front of it.

After the Syracuse men’s basketball team’s 63-47 win over Oklahoma clinched a spot in the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four, SU fans stood on the arena’s front steps chanting ‘Final Four!’

On Friday, Syracuse fans crammed South Pearl Street in front of the arena. Some scrambled for tickets. Others boasted about their methods for obtaining them.

‘We got them from Auburn over the Internet,’ SU freshman Mike Rippe said.

Rippe made the trip with fellow freshmen Brian Leigh and Chris Ponte, who conceived the idea for buying tickets through the Orangemen’s Friday opponent. The trio lucked out, paying $120 a piece for fifth-row seats.

Others weren’t so lucky. Police reportedly confiscated 100 counterfeit tickets from fans attempting to enter the arena. The duped fans were shut out.

Perhaps they should’ve taken a lesson from SU sophomores Sal Cheema, Sarah Smith and Adam Friedman, who stood in line for six hours outside the Carrier Dome last week. Cheema said Friday he heard of tickets selling for upwards of $1,000 on the street. Cheema carried an orange SU flag over his right shoulder.

‘We waved it out the car window the whole way down,’ he said with a smile.

Doug Morrison appeared more somber as he sat on the arena’s front steps with his son, Mike. The father and son drove down from their Baldwinsville home on Friday, hoping to buy tickets on the street. Doug, a 1982 SU graduate, held a cardboard sign that read ‘I Need 2’ and said he’d be willing to pay between $250 and $350.

But most of Albany’s atmosphere was free.

The block of South Pearl Street in front of the arena was barricaded and lined with white tents. Vendors peddled hot dogs and sausage sandwiches. A band played while jugglers tossed bowling pins. And, fittingly, a 25-foot-high white plastic East Region bracket hung on a building across the street from the arena.

With their appetites whetted from Albany’s smallish-town party atmosphere, it’s no wonder that Syracuse students went into hysterics after the Orangemen’s win and talked excitedly of New Orleans, the site of this weekend’s Final Four.

After all, if South Pearl Street was hopping, imagine what Bourbon Street can bring.

Published on March 30, 2003 at 12:00 pm