View full sizeLeft to right, Aida Cass and Dawn Ascioti, both of Liverpool, watch the Syracuse vs. UConn game at PJ's Pub and Grill.Syracuse, NY -- Many of the 100 or so lunchtime diners at PJ's Pub and Grill are wearing their orange and blue, but Dawn Ascioti stands out.
Maybe it's the bright orange ballcap on her black hair, or the sequins stitched into the blue block 'S' on the hat's brow.
More likely, it's the broad grin on her face as she watches her beloved Orange take on the UConn Huskies.
She and 30 other fans are perched on stools at the horseshoe shaped bar. TV showed the game tied at 10.
"I've been rooting for the Orange since I was probably 12 years old," said Ascioti, who says she's around 50.
It's a loyalty she learned at home from her mother, Betty Bahouth, Ascioti said.
"My mom just turned 80. She's their most wonderfulest fan," she said.
If so, Ascioti may run a close second.
Before the Liverpool resident left home this morning, she dressed her dog Ralphie in an orange SU sweater.
She left the game on for him, too.
Ascioti said she took the day off from her job at Dermatology Consultants to catch the game with other fans at PJ's.
And beware, UConn fans -- she took Friday off, too.
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