Camping for court side: Otto's Army, Orange fans, wait days for prize seats at last home game

By: Evan Weiss

Posted: 2/27/07

The call came from the top of the Gate E stairs at the Carrier Dome on Saturday evening.

"Someone order food down here?" the Cosmo's deliveryman yelled.

Nobody there had.

"It says, 'Love, class of '92,' and it's paid for," he said.

Menotti Minutillo, a senior information studies major, and co-basketball chair for Otto's Army, then went up the stairs to retrieve the delivery. Minutillo came back down with five pizzas and about a half dozen orders of wings. All of it came from anonymous alumnus.

Minutillo wrote his account of the story on Otto's Army's Web blog dedicated to the weeklong stay. The blog entry, which can be found at cuseline.blogspot.com, was commented on by the anonymous alumnus.

"I think it's awesome that you guys have been posted up for almost week now …

HUGE game tomorrow. Have fun," the alumnus wrote.

Minutillo and representatives of about eight other groups have been braving the cold and camping out at the bottom of the Carrier Dome's Gate E stairs since as early as Feb. 19. They were waiting to get the best seats in the house for Monday's basketball game against Georgetown.

"There's no experience like being in the front row of a Syracuse basketball game," said Harry Shafer, senior television, radio and film major.

Shafer has been at the Dome since Tuesday night, and has slept in a tent on the hard concrete floor for all but one of those nights. He even had to find a substitute for the Saturday evening "Woo Hoo Comedy Hour," which he hosts. He said the end result makes it all worth it.

"Nothing is going to keep me from sitting in the front row for this game," Shafer said.

The line for Monday's game started much earlier than normal, probably because of the magnitude of the game, said Patrick Campbell, manager of the Carrier Dome.

"Because it's Georgetown, because it's the last game of the year," Campbell said.

The sentiment was nearly repeated by Josiah Gruber, a junior computer engineering major who arrived Thursday. He said it's only the second time this year he's slept at the Dome.

"It's Senior Day, it's Georgetown, it's a big game," Gruber said.

About 25 groups were on the "list" by noon Monday. Otto's Army's rules allow for groups of up to four people to sign up for seats at the game, and require that at least one person from the group must be present at all times, or the seats are given up.

Zach Siegal-Eisman, a freshman sport management major, was at the Dome on Monday morning to avoid sleeping there Sunday night. It would have gotten in the way of classes, he said.

"If I didn't have class today maybe I would have done it, but school comes first," Siegal-Eisman said.

Not all students share the enthusiasm of those who began waiting outside the Dome days in advance. Steven Spector, a junior history major, said he'd get to the Dome at around 5:30 p.m. Monday, and that he wouldn't even think of showing up any earlier.

"It's ridiculous to show up on Saturday," Spector said. "I'll go two hours before the game starts and get seats on the lower level just off to the right. That's good enough for me."

The 1992 alumnus who ordered the pizzas never could have experienced exactly what went on this week at the Carrier Dome. While this isn't the first time students have lined up early for a game, it is the first year Syracuse University has officially recognized Otto's Army.

The group's official status has helped the process of getting into the games greatly, Minutillo said.

"This year has been amazingly smooth," Minutillo said.

Otto's Army has been nothing but a positive, Campbell said.

"We've been very happy with the way things have gone this year. From football, to basketball, and even into lacrosse," he said.

It is not just the Carrier Dome staff or even unknown alumni taking notice of the student's dedication. Otto the Orange also paid a visit over the weekend. Otto delivered hot chocolate to the fans braving temperatures that dipped down to 11 degrees on Saturday.

From the visits, to the surprise deliveries, to the eventual payoff of front-row seats, most of the students there said they wouldn't trade any of it for even one night in their own bed.

"I wouldn't trade all that for the world," Shafer said.