Super Bowl renews Boston-NY rivalry at SU
There could be serious consequences after the Super Bowl for Syracuse sophomores Deana Toussi and Mark Murphy. The partners in a ballroom dance class on campus are rivals this week.
Toussi roots for the Patriots. Murphy is a die-hard Giants fan.
‘If (the Giants) do win, Mark should watch his toes in class,’ Toussi said, ‘because there definitely will be some toe-stepping if we lose.’
The New York-Boston sports rivalry has transcended the Yankees-Red Sox animosity and will be resurrected this Sunday in Glendale, Ariz., when the New York Giants and New England Patriots square off in Super Bowl XLII.
The game has already had a polarizing effect on Syracuse’s campus, where many students hail from the Boston and New York City regions. Fraternities, sororities, roommates, neighbors, couples and classmates will all be divided over the Super Bowl participants.
Rooting for the underdog Giants, Murphy is optimistic his team will prevail in the end – even after Toussi’s warning.
‘I’m feeling a score of 31-28, Giants,’ Murphy said. ‘(Ahmad) Bradshaw would win MVP because I feel he’ll break away for two big touchdowns.’
There will be an abundance of trash talking throughout the Phi Iota Alpha fraternity house. Junior Adam Ocasio, a New York native and avid Giants fan, will have to deal with the antics from his frat brother, Brandon Kimm, a Boston-bred Patriots fan. Kimm taunted Ocasio after the Red Sox won the World Series and admitted he would continue the torture if the Patriots brought another championship to Beantown.
‘I plan to rub it in for a good year,’ Kimm said. ‘I just stopped talking about the Red Sox winning the championship, so hopefully this will give me something else to talk about.’
Sophomore Kate Nerviano, a New Jersey native, can relate to Ocasio’s suffering. For the past few months, she has patiently endured heckling from her former roommate and current neighbor, Chrissy Cronin, over the Pats’ perfect record of 18-0.
‘It’s annoying because the Patriots are like the new Dallas Cowboys,’ Nerviano said. ‘Only people from New England like them, everyone else is united in dislike.’
However, all the parties can agree on one thing. There is plenty of personal and provincial pride on the line. Come Sunday, there will be no shortage of elaborate victory celebrations.
Ocasio revealed the taunting methods he had prepared for Kimm if the Giants were to vanquish the Pats.
‘I will have all possible full-page newspapers laminated and put up in my room, so that every time he sees me he will see the Patriots’ defeat,’ Ocasio said.
Still others, like Cronin, may take the quiet, diplomatic approach in claiming their team’s supremacy.
‘I wouldn’t feel it necessary to rub it in if the Pats won,’ Chronin said. ‘I think the win would speak for itself, that we are the better team.’
Despite the playful antics, there are undertones of respect.
‘Overall, you have two great cities, two very diverse places to be in, two heavy sports backgrounds,’ Kimm said. ‘And it just happens to make up the greatest rivalry in the history of the United States.’
But no matter what the outcome on Super Bowl Sunday, the hatred between Boston and New York will always remain the same, at least for the dance partners, Murphy and Toussi.
‘I just really hate Boston,’ Murphy said. ‘Great city, but if there was one city I wouldn’t go to for no good reason, it would be Boston because I can’t stand their fans.’
