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John Thompson Jr. Named Citizen of the Year... In Syracuse

I am really dumbfounded by this nugget of news coming out of the prison holding cell known as Syracuse, NY.

Temple Adath Yeshurun of Syracuse, NY is honoring John Thompson Jr., the man who patriotically told a room of full of Canadian Cuse delinquents that their beloved field house was officially closed after a crushing Hoya victory, the man who outperformed their worthless and whiny coach in every conceivable metric during comparable time spans, the man who complied 26 victories against their prison-orange clad teams, with its annual Citizen of the Year award tonight.

I repeat, a Syracuse temple is giving John Thompson Jr. of Georgetown University its Citizen of the Year award.  And the award is being presented by Jim Boeheim.  While Thompson and Boeheim may have reconciled their differences as over a decade has passed since their last on-the-court battle, there is certainly no lack of hatred for the big man way up there in Syracuse.  Take the following comment from scoonman1962 as proof:

John Thompson getting an award in Syracuse for something other than being the "Ugliest Corpse" is just wrong. Like other posters have said, what has he done for the local community except insult it and set back race relations 50 years? Guess the Temple was hard up for tickets, and the sad part is most attending, if they are true to themselves, will boo his entire appearance.

Or this one by dartime:

Its like honoring the Japanese for Pearl Harbor, just something wrong there. There is proof that Georgetown really doesn't matter any more.

HoyaSuxa had this to say about the news:

Temple Adath Yeshurun in Syracuse, New York, is out of its collective latke-loving mind.

Can't say I disagree with the latter assessment.  How desperate are things getting in Syracuse?  I realize that they flamed out again in the Big East and NCAA Tournaments, were shocked in their beloved and exclusive lacrosse tournament, were one of only two BCS teams to lose scholarships due to pathetic graduation rates, were shunned by the Big Ten, have low expectations for a once grand football program and are probably expecting snow in two weeks but seriously, giving a sworn enemy the Citizen of the Year award?  Is there no other farce at their disposal?  Are we not paying enough attention to our neighbors up north?  Is this a desperate cry for attention by a city that is justifiably ignored for much of the year?  Or is Temple Adath Yeshurun setting the precedent for a new found love, admiration and respect for its basketball superior?

Either way, all this harping has got me riled up for Big East basketball, too bad conference play is a mere 6 MONTHS AWAY.