Sitting alone at a table in front of a fireplace in a Fayetteville hotel lobby on Feb. 29, Roosevelt Bouie slid on his glasses, looked into his iPad camera to see it was recording, then started the show.

“Syracuse University versus University of North Carolina. This is Orange Appeel coming to you from the Craftsman Inn and Suites,” Bouie said.

His co-host slid into the shot, wearing a gray sport coat over a white Nike shirt, taking the seat to Bouie’s left.

“I’m Roosevelt Bouie, this is Dale Shackleford.”

Following the Orange’s 13-point loss to the Tar Heels, it was time for another installment of the duo’s Facebook Live show, “Orange Appeel,” currently hosted by the former teammates and dedicated to all things Syracuse basketball.

“We feel like sometimes people like to hear from ex-players,” Shackleford said. “People who have played for Coach Boeheim before. Not that Roosevelt and I are the greatest, but you know, a different view on a game from someone other than the coach is interesting to people.”

The Shackleford-Bouie Syracuse basketball braintrust has grown “Orange Appeel” from its initial viewership of roughly 25 live viewers and a few hundred after the fact, to nearly 1,400 between live broadcasts and episodes watched afterward. The hosts lean on their playing experiences to contextualize the contours of long, mercurial seasons.

In trying to distinguish their respective voices, the duo is loath to criticize Boeheim’s decisions or errors players made — they understand Boeheim knows more about his team and both made plenty of mistakes when they played. They’re “100% behind Syracuse,” Shackleford said, and toe a careful line of analyzing and providing critical insights on SU without becoming backseat coaches or being too overtly negative — or positive — about athletes.

As former players, Bouie and Shackleford see things outside fans might not, Shackleford said. They help viewers get a better idea of what it’s like to be in the locker room at halftime, how Boeheim handles certain situations and why some plays went the way they did. Together, they played 235 combined games for Syracuse in the 1970s, building an almost unmatched expertise.

When Time Warner Cable was purchased by Charter Spectrum in 2015, Bouie and Shackleford, who then worked at Time Warner, were out of jobs. Eager to still be a voice on Syracuse basketball and “on-air” in some sense, Bouie decided to start a Facebook Live show. He texted Syracuse broadcaster Dan Tortora and asked him what equipment he needed. After spending about $1,500 — he already had an iPad to be the main camera — Bouie started the show with Brendan McDaniels, who he’d worked with previously at Time Warner.

The original show aired on Thursdays. McDaniels and Bouie previewed upcoming games and broke down prior contests. The first episode aired from a living room-style set in Brockport, New York, on Dec. 21, 2017. Bouie and McDaniels delved into SU’s narrow win over Buffalo two days before and talked about the misconceptions of a team like Syracuse playing smaller schools and being expected to blow them out.

“When we decided to do this we decided ‘Let’s do the living room scene. Let’s talk basketball like we’re in your living room,’” McDaniels says about 90 seconds into the inaugural show.

Bouie and Shackleford use their expertise as former players to help viewers get a better idea of what it’s like to play for Jim Boeheim. Courtesy of Crystal Tipton

About a minute after McDaniels finished his explanation of the show, Bouie mentioned SU alumni stay in touch, and he’s got a “host of them on speed dial.” He also said that Shackleford would be joining them in a few weeks.

Originally, Shackleford was a call-in guest for the show — he didn’t live in the Rochester area like McDaniels and Bouie. McDaniels and Bouie were the anchors and, almost like a reporter in the field, Shackleford called in to offer his pieces. He became a consistent, but physically distant, voice on the show. So when McDaniels and his wife had their third child in 2018 and he didn’t have the time to continue hosting, Shackleford was a natural replacement.

“Dale and I, we always got along well as teammates and we’re a little bit different, basketball-wise,” Bouie said, “but our perspectives complement one another. So that was a whole thing. I didn’t want someone to have the same opinion about everything as I did, because that would be boring.”

After the Orange’s UNC loss, at the two-minute mark of the episode, the conversation turned toward Bourama Sidibe. The oft-maligned center turned in a 17-point, 15-rebound game against the Tar Heels in which he blocked six shots in the middle of the 2-3 zone.

“Let’s talk about the man, the myth, the legend,” Bouie said, turning left toward Shackleford, pausing, “in the post.”

“Well, you know what? People have been on Bourama Sidibe’s case all year, all last year, and the last couple games, without him in there, Syracuse would be getting blown out of these games,” Shackleford replied.

“Anybody who says the young man can’t play has got to be out of their mind,” Shackleford said a few moments later.

The conversation flowed out of that exchange into Bouie actually explaining what went well for Sidibe in the game, the duo effortlessly showing why “Orange Appeel” works.

The genuine interactions between two former teammates on air, coupled with an immense passion for what they’re talking about, all over the backdrop of immense knowledge of the subject at hand propelled the show from a passion project into a regularly followed show. It started with them asking friends and family to like the Facebook page, hitting up local businesses and having occasional guests — including Dennis DuVal and Jimmy Lee — to raise its profile.

There’s still room to tap into Syracuse basketball’s inherent and rabid following, and Bouie and Shackleford have an easier job than most, of course. More guests and more travel to road games are high on their list of priorities for the future.

Regardless, after a Syracuse game, “Orange Appeel” will invariably go live, its two co-hosts and friends sharing their views on SU hoops.

“We can literally walk in the door, turn the mic on and start talking about it,” Bouie said.

Disclaimer: The D.O. and Orange Appeel previously had a business partnership. No money was exchanged.

Published on March 4, 2020 at 10:47 pm

Contact Andrew: [email protected] | @A_E_Graham