Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all my fellow Redmen posters and a big thank you to Paul for enabling me to meet and become friends with so many great people over the years.
Without Redmen it never would have happened.
It's the first web site I check every morning and the last one I check every night.
Merry Christmas to all!
Echo JSJ and MJMahers posts.about making friends here. I've met both and consider both friends, as both are terrific guys.
It's really a great site, Redmen.com. Whether at CA or MSG, I will often chat with someone sitting near or next to me, and will mention redmen.com. All fans are aware of it, many read and don't post, and it's kind of cool that when I identify myself, the person will comment on having read my posts (whether they agree or disagree doesn't really matter, does it?).
SJU is a special school I believe where relationships among students has always been something special. Most of my closest friends are SJU alums, and even today if I run into a classmate or frat brother I haven't seen in a very long time, the exchanges are at minimum warm, and on occasion re-established friendships and contacts. So many offspring of SJU alums have gone on to more prestigious schools. I hesitate to say "better schools" because for me back then, there was no better place to be than SJU.
I specifically greet people with Merry Christmas because Merry Christmas to me is not exclusive to those that are Christian - in fact I believe it is the most inclusive greeting in the world. At SJU, many classmates rarely spoke about faith, but even if by experience we were being formed in an ethic of how to treat and care for people, to be concerned about those less fortunate, and how to conduct yourself with integrity. All Christian values (though not exclusive to Christianity), that we learned through everyday interaction with our peers at SJU. St. Francis of Assisi once wrote "Always preach the Gospel and when necessary, use words". That credo could certainly apply to our SJU experience
So, Merry Christmas again to all. So many of you, including Paul - our enabler - have become friends I've yet to meet. PMs are a great way to share private dialogue without interference from others, and my New Years hope is that I meet a few more of you that have become friends online will become friends in person.
Thank you all for making this a great forum for everything SJU basketball and everything else.
