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From the Lubbock article posted earlier:

"Watching them play the other day against Rice, it's a team that has speed and talent on offense," said James, referring to SMU's season-opening loss in Houston. "And you could see June's impact already. ... They're going to score a lot of points and win a lot of games this year."

James doesn't hate our program. Never has. There just has not been anything worth cheering for. SMU chose to not make athletics a priority. No commitment. He knew it and some of us knew it. Now that our administration actually gives a darn, there is a reason to cheer and have interest. CJ and ED want us to win, just like any other proud SMU alum.

Change occurs only when someone has the courage to point out faults and make their opinions public. Even when those opinions are not popular. That is what a good leader does and that is how change occurs.

May be stating the obvious for some of you, but the hate is not called for. If he didn't care, he wouldn't comment.

Never hated the guy. Like you said, he did not have anything to cheer about.

Someone didn't care for 20 years. I never thought it was Craig so what's your point?

Nacho wrote:Someone didn't care for 20 years. I never thought it was Craig so what's your point?

The point is animosity still surrounds those guys from this board. Even when we are talking about CJ's son.

I, for one, have waited a long time to hear something positive come out of CJ's mouth concerning our program. We all remember him making passive aggressive comments about our graduation percentage (among other comments).

It sure is nice to see the optimism and good pub from one of our famous alums.

Glad to hear him coming out for the Ponies. We met him in a restaurant in FW before a bowl game a couple of years back. He was not the friendliest person. I hope Coach Jones gives him (and the rest of us) a lot to cheer for in the coming weeks and years.

CJ doesn't hate on us, just all of the losing. When he's commented on the school before, he's been honest about what we've been. His comments have been much less offensive and derisive than 85% of what you see on PF daily.

does he have a ponyfans account yet?

There is a "craigjames4ever" registered on PF. Could it be...

smupony wrote:James doesn't hate our program. Never has. There just has not been anything worth cheering for. SMU chose to not make athletics a priority. No commitment. He knew it and some of us knew it. Now that our administration actually gives a darn, there is a reason to cheer and have interest. CJ and ED want us to win, just like any other proud SMU alum.

A lot of us have been marching in this parade for a long, long time. Isn't it nice to know that they're finally coming around when things start getting good?

its that kind of patronizing crap that makes many SMU fans and players of that era want to hurl. What just because they haven't been as naive and clueless as most cheerleaders means they didn't want SMU to suceed Hurl. Look pal Craig James did more for SMU the day he committed to SMU after the 5A Championship and started a landside of top talent falling to SMU than 99% of the players since the DP. You can say that Craig James was the FIRST stud to jump onboard the SMU bandwagon when most of the Top Texas talent wouldn't give us the time of day -and for that SMU should give him more respect. Without Craig James' original commitment then we might well be talking about a 40 year bowl drought. SMU desperately needs that type of "Pied-Piper" Blue Chip recruit today that others will follow. Craig James was that recruit in the 1970s-the cornerstone recruit of the 1980s success.

FWMustangGirl wrote:Glad to hear him coming out for the Ponies. We met him in a restaurant in FW before a bowl game a couple of years back. He was not the friendliest person. I hope Coach Jones gives him (and the rest of us) a lot to cheer for in the coming weeks and years.

I've met him and he's plenty nice. Good guy. Dickerson too.

(Ever been to Wrigley?)

Craig did give a pep talk to the TT football team before the season started. I guess we can be mad at him for that.

Stallion wrote:its that kind of patronizing crap that makes many SMU fans and players of that era want to hurl. What just because they haven't been as naive and clueless as most cheerleaders means they didn't want SMU to suceed Hurl. Look pal Craig James did more for SMU the day he committed to SMU after the 5A Championship and started a landside of top talent falling to SMU than 99% of the players since the DP. You can say that Craig James was the FIRST stud to jump onboard the SMU bandwagon when most of the Top Texas talent wouldn't give us the time of day -and for that SMU should give him more respect. Without Craig James' original commitment then we might well be talking about a 40 year bowl drought. SMU desperately needs that type of "Pied-Piper" Blue Chip recruit today that others will follow. Craig James was that recruit in the 1970s-the cornerstone recruit of the 1980s success.

Didn't hurt that his girlfriend was attending SMU.

Jerry LeVias has been around through thick-and-thin. And there's a man who had plenty of reasons to abandon the program. But he didn't. Shows a lot of character.

Jerry LeVias is my all-time favorite player-but I don't believe he was involved in the program very much at all until about 10 years ago. In fact, he has said he took many years to resolve some of the feelings he has had about his experience. LeVias has taken aim at SMU with some well-deserved and pointed criticism of what he experienced at SMU. LeVias has never been one of sugarcoat what he went through at SMU. So I think your analogy is wrong. Both have not been hesitatant to criticize the school if they thought it was deserved.