Chat with Eric Dickerson, Craig James

[Hoop Fan]

like the way ED says "WE". Oh to have been a fly on the wall to watch every step of his recruitment. He's seen it all and knows it all firsthand. The UT quote is unbelievable. threatening to make it so he couldn't get a job after college if he didnt choose the Horns. you can't make that crap up.

[Stallion]

Some things never change-here's Bergermeister and that great Sam Houston St. graduate MM65 and a bunch of other "die hard" SMU fans(who haven't been heard from in a decade) taking shots at Dickerson in 2003. There's about 20 of you that have consistently taken shots at Dickerson over the years. You were wrong and you are now hypocrites. Great thread below-some were kissin' up to Big Jim Copeland and the negative backstabbing comments of that whole group and others were making arguments supported with strong evidence supporting the best long term interests of SMU for a strong nationally prominent football program.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3885

[ALEX LIFESON]

Some things never change-here's Bergermeister and that great Sam Houston St. graduate MM65 taking shots at Dickerson in 2003. There's about 20 of you that have consistently taken shots at Dickerson over the years. You were wrong and you are now hypocrites

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3885

Did you really dig back to 2003 to find this? BEAT ARMY!!!

[RGV Pony]

Some things never change-here's Bergermeister and that great Sam Houston St. graduate MM65 taking shots at Dickerson in 2003. There's about 20 of you that have consistently taken shots at Dickerson over the years. You were wrong and you are now hypocrites

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3885

Did you really dig back to 2003 to find this? BEAT ARMY!!!

Stallion always gets his man

[mustangbill67]

In light of additional evidence, I find it harder to defend Mr. James. Would it KILL him to type through his SID typist a generic "I'm so happy for SMU. I loved my time there, and I love seeing them back." For christ's sake, he followed his wife here. How could you not have good memories of the place?

So much empty rhetoric concerning James. Yes, he was a great player in the early 80's and yes he has a national stage as a sportscaster but to expect that he would use that stage to sing the praises of SMU is just naive. I do not know what ED, CJ or any of the players of the great teams of the early 80's have done for SMU since they left monetarily or otherwise. I for one have never heard CJ make any negative comments about SMU as an institution or about his playing days.

[Stallion]

UPDATE: in conjunction with the theme of Dickerson's 2003 comments and the 2003 thread concerning the Model limiting the number of minority athletes. 67 out of June Jones' 103 signees/commits through the present 2011 class have been African Americans. From less than 1/3 African Americans in those early 2000 years to 2/3rds African Americans signed/committed under June Jones. Eric Dickerson was RIGHT and he was making an argument in the best long term interests of a strong nationally competitive football program. Too bad so many missed the point so you could snuggle up to Jim Copeland

[RednBlue11]

UPDATE: in conjunction with the theme of Dickerson's 2003 comments and the 2003 thread concerning the Model limiting the number of minority athletes. 67 out of June Jones' 103 signees/commits through the present 2011 class have been African Americans. From less than 1/3 African Americans in those early 2000 years to 2/3rds African Americans signed/committed under June Jones. Eric Dickerson was RIGHT and he was making an argument in the best long term interests of a strong nationally competitive football program. Too bad so many missed the point so you could snuggle up to Jim Copeland

did people on this board seriously think we could compete w/ a mostly white team?

[PonyKai]

In light of additional evidence, I find it harder to defend Mr. James. Would it KILL him to type through his SID typist a generic "I'm so happy for SMU. I loved my time there, and I love seeing them back." For christ's sake, he followed his wife here. How could you not have good memories of the place?

So much empty rhetoric concerning James. Yes, he was a great player in the early 80's and yes he has a national stage as a sportscaster but to expect that he would use that stage to sing the praises of SMU is just naive. I do not know what ED, CJ or any of the players of the great teams of the early 80's have done for SMU since they left monetarily or otherwise. I for one have never heard CJ make any negative comments about SMU as an institution or about his playing days.

I'm not really asking him for him to preach to the heavens that we are the most wonderful thing the world has ever seen and everybody should be reminded constantly that SMU is our gift to the world that we must share with others. I don't think its fair to characterize it as that.

This isn't James in the booth, it isn't a national broadcast, it isn't a game between two teams that has nothing to do with us, and it isn't about his purple tie. This is an online Q/A that focuses solely on this school and his days playing there. The only topic of the entire conversation is this school and this football team. In light of the setting, the audience, and the event it relates to, I don't think it would be unreasonable to get some kind of substantive comment, one way or the other, from Mr. James. I'm not trying to rag on him just for the sake of it like a lot of folks around here, but I find his statements to be pretty empty, shallow, politically correct, and devoid of any real substance, good or bad. That to me is dissapointing.

I've never heard him say anything overtly negative either, save for pointing out the truth that we were run by incompetent fools for two decades, but that isn't the point. I didn't, and haven't claimed he was throwing bricks at us. To me, as a fan and fellow alum this is one of those times where we have the reasonable expectation to be able to reach out and feel that connection with one of our more famous alums. I get that from Dickerson, I just don't get it from James. If that means I'm full of empty rhetoric, well, that's alright. I just get that vibe.

[NickSMU17]

He defn threw a shot at us on bowl countdown show on sunday...

[EastStang]

Given that we sucked in football for 25 years after he left, I'm sure there was a bit of for lack of a better word, embarrassment for him for years regarding our football program. How many times do you think at the Bristol water cooler, he heard, "I see the Mustangs got stomped again." I know I've had to put up with that and I don't work for the "leader in sports". He's been positive on the air about SMU, he's never hidden his ties to SMU and while he has been a bit closed mouthed of late, perhaps because of the TT fiasco with his son, or his political ambitions, he still does not bad mouth the school. So, now that Don Meredith is gone and Payne Stewart is gone, Craig James and Eric Dickerson are the biggest names in sports to graduate from SMU. So, cut them some slack.

[PonyKai]

Actually thought I was pretty clear, level headed, and fair in my critique. I'm definitely not looking at it through the lens of a fanatic that demands he walk on set with his old jersey on and preach to the masses. We're a small family here at SMU, as Dickerson alluded to, I was just hoping for a bit more substance in his comments on the subject, not a pro-SMU sermon.

[ponyscott]

In light of additional evidence, I find it harder to defend Mr. James. Would it KILL him to type through his SID typist a generic "I'm so happy for SMU. I loved my time there, and I love seeing them back." For christ's sake, he followed his wife here. How could you not have good memories of the place?

So much empty rhetoric concerning James. Yes, he was a great player in the early 80's and yes he has a national stage as a sportscaster but to expect that he would use that stage to sing the praises of SMU is just naive. I do not know what ED, CJ or any of the players of the great teams of the early 80's have done for SMU since they left monetarily or otherwise. I for one have never heard CJ make any negative comments about SMU as an institution or about his playing days.

I'm not really asking him for him to preach to the heavens that we are the most wonderful thing the world has ever seen and everybody should be reminded constantly that SMU is our gift to the world that we must share with others. I don't think its fair to characterize it as that.

This isn't James in the booth, it isn't a national broadcast, it isn't a game between two teams that has nothing to do with us, and it isn't about his purple tie. This is an online Q/A that focuses solely on this school and his days playing there. The only topic of the entire conversation is this school and this football team. In light of the setting, the audience, and the event it relates to, I don't think it would be unreasonable to get some kind of substantive comment, one way or the other, from Mr. James. I'm not trying to rag on him just for the sake of it like a lot of folks around here, but I find his statements to be pretty empty, shallow, politically correct, and devoid of any real substance, good or bad. That to me is dissapointing.

I've never heard him say anything overtly negative either, save for pointing out the truth that we were run by incompetent fools for two decades, but that isn't the point. I didn't, and haven't claimed he was throwing bricks at us. To me, as a fan and fellow alum this is one of those times where we have the reasonable expectation to be able to reach out and feel that connection with one of our more famous alums. I get that from Dickerson, I just don't get it from James. If that means I'm full of empty rhetoric, well, that's alright. I just get that vibe.

Good points Stlhockeyguy02 as CJ DID have the podium to at least say something nice about the school named SMU and he clearly chose not to. He still harbours ill feelings towards SMU for some reason as the generic Texas comments are so lame IMO.

[PonyKai]

Eh I'm really not trying to say he harbors any ill will, and if he does, it's probably justified since SMU outright shunned our greatest gridiron stars for a quarter century. That is totally inexcusabile what SMU did to its own alums. We should have welcomed them back for our first game with open arms. We are a small family, a proud family, and we should take care of our own come hell or high water, damn it.

Maybe he does, but I at least didn't want to claim that here. I'm just bummed at this PC, generic, shallow comments in this setting.

[NickSMU17]

The guy takes pot shots at the school all the time....

Even when they Sucked I predicted us to go to a bowl every year and stood up for the team...

defend the clown if you want...guy is a [deleted]...its no surprise that the stall loves him....peas in a pod...

[b_caesar]

What I find interesting is that just about every mention of SMU's DP and all the corruption swirling around also tends to come with a photo of James & Dickerson, usually one like this:



http://thewizardofodds.blogspot.com/200 ... o-swc.html

Since they were so tightly associated (and rightly so) with the wild success of the program in the early 80s, then they both have, by the unfortunate distillation that so often occurs in the media, become the default poster boys for the DP era in its entirety, which is an unfairly broad and sweeping characterization. They weren't the only ones involved, as most on this board well know.

However, I'd be willing to bet that only a tiny percentage of people asked, even those aware of what happened at SMU back then, could tell you even one of the names of the players (literally & figuratively) who were the real reason for the DP being enforced by the NCAA, without also mentioning Dickerson or James in the same breath.