For Michael Dow, his “addiction” with Syracuse University sports stretches far beyond his three Syracuse tattoos — for him, ‘Cuse has a deeper meaning.
“I have always had a huge passion for Syracuse,” Dow said. “‘Cuse is always something I wanted to name my kid.”

In 2009, Dow, from Gloversville, New York, got his wish. On the way home from the hospital, wearing a white beanie with an embroidered Syracuse block “S,” Avery Cuse Dow slept in the backseat.

While preparing for the child’s arrival, the couple bought every Syracuse thing they could get their hands on: jerseys, T-shirts, booties, binkies and more.

After some convincing, Dow was able to persuade his first wife, Crystal Oathout, to name the child after the university.

The parents played around with several variations of the name. If it was a boy, his first name was to be simply Cuse. As for a girl they thought of Sarah Cuse for a while, but decided against it in favor of Avery.

“I actually liked Cuse Otto, but we thought that would be a little too much,” Oathout said.
Dow said anyone who knows him knows about his obsession with Syracuse sports, and that not many people were surprised that he planned to incorporate Cuse into the name.

He admits that not everyone is in love with the name, but that his friends and family were supportive.

“Honestly, I think Cuse has a cute ring to it as it is,” Dow said. “It’s not like we are calling her Georgetown or Notre Dame or some other kind of swear word like that.”

The 6-year-old goes by Cuse, Dow said, but they wanted to give her the option of going by Avery when she was old enough to make that choice. Dow said no one calls her Avery except for his mother.

“It is up to her to go by Cuse when she is older. She will always have that name either way, Dow said. “I think she will embrace it, and she might go through phases in her awkward teenage years where she might be, ‘Well, I don’t know if I like it,’ but I think as she gets older that she will absolutely love the name.”

The young girl prefers to go by Cuse, but she sometimes pushes her parents’ buttons.

“Sometimes when I get upset and I say, ‘Cuse get over here,’ she will say, ‘My name’s not Cuse,’” Oathout said.

His second and current wife, Ashley Dow, said when she first heard his daughter’s name was Cuse, she thought it was “a little obsessive,” but that it totally fits Cuse’s personality as a tomboy.

Like many fathers, Dow hopes one day his daughter goes off to college, but admits that he has hopes of visiting her on the Hill one day as a Syracuse University student.

“Her going to Georgetown — that might be an issue — but as long as she goes to college and is happy. I would prefer it would be in Syracuse, but if not that’s OK, too,” Dow said. “Eventually, she is going to have to make her own decisions, but hopefully I will brainwash her enough to know what the right ones are.”

Oathout described Cuse as energetic and as a major goofball, saying that Cuse is not a typical “girlie-girl” and is a “brute” at times.

“She is our very random child — you never know with her,” Ashley Dow said. “She isn’t a very whiny girl, she is very well-behaved, but she’s our crazy girl. She’s out there, and you never know what you’re going to get.”

Michael Dow said they often watch football and basketball games together. Cuse has never been to campus or to a game, but Dow hopes to make the two-hour journey from Gloversville, New York soon.

“She hasn’t been to Syracuse or to a game yet, but she’s at the age that she would really like it, so we do plan on coming,” Dow said.
Currently attending kindergarten, Cuse said her favorite class is gym and that she likes to swing at recess. She said her favorite piece of clothing is her Syracuse jersey.

When asked what her favorite color was, Cuse did not hesitate to answer.

“Orange and blue, because they are the Syracuse colors.”

Published on January 26, 2015 at 12:01 am

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