A Very Special Syracuse Valentine’s Day

When you think Valentine’s Day, what comes to mind? For most people, this day brings visions of chocolates, roses, candlelight dinners, and potentially sharing some jewelry.  Though this is true, my February 14^th was a bit different this year. Instead of making this an opportunity for some alone time, my girlfriend (Margaret Lee ’13) and I instead decided to spend the night surrounded by 35,446 of our closest friends at the Carrier Dome.

Growing up in Camillus, NY and now an MBA student here at Whitman, I have always been a big Syracuse basketball fan.  Taking this into consideration, you can imagine my initial reaction when this year’s schedule was announced was to laugh when I saw that the biggest game of the year against Duke was to take place on Valentine’s Day.

I immediately began working on my pitch (marketing vocabulary!) to Margaret, hoping for the best, but still not sure what kind of response I would get. One thing that I did have working for me was an opportunity for great seats. You see, my boss at my current internship working for the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation mentioned that he was able to score some extra tickets six rows from the floor, and he knew that I would be definitely interested.

With everything starting to fall into place, I was still a little nervous to approach Margaret and see if she would be supportive with this idea. Luckily, she is an SU alum herself and was 100% (OK, probably more like 85%) on board with attending the game… Professor Lathrop would be impressed!

Once Saturday finally hit, it was time for the big day. Despite the Syracuse loss, it was still an amazing game. We battled like we have all year, and although her day was filled with Dome Foam and nachos instead of wine and chocolates, Margaret was a trooper. More importantly, we had an absolute blast together. It went so well, I am already excited to see which sporting event we will be spending Valentine’s Day at next year… Just kidding!

P.S. – Don’t worry, I did take her to Pastabilities on Sunday night, so it’s not like the weekend was totally without any romantic gesture… although I still vote that the kiss cam counts as romanticism!

Jay Dietz, ’16 MBA