Dec. 23, 2003

The holiday season is in full swing, and the Patriot League staff certainly wishes one and all a happy, healthy and safe holiday season and sends best wishes for the new year.

We head into a few days off, beaming with pride. The success of the fall season, highlighted by Colgate's run to the football national championship game, was certainly great.

There were many team and individual achievements, including Navy's women's soccer team giving national champion North Carolina one of its toughest games of the season before falling 1-0 and Bucknell's men's soccer team upsetting second-ranked Maryland.

Several dozen student-athletes earned All-America and other regional and national recognition. Four were presented the highest awards -- American's Karla Kucerkova won her second-straight CoSIDA Academic All-America of the Year award, Colgate's Jamaal Branch won the Walter Payton Award as the top offensive player in Division I-AA football and Lafayette's Herb Kennedy and Meghan Ramsey, the ECAC/Robbins Scholar-Athletes of the Year.

But what may be the most impressive achievement is the MANY compliments after Colgate's 40-0 loss in the football national championship game.

Dozens of articles appeared in regional and national publications and web sites as the Raiders won their way to Chattanooga, promoting the team, the University and the League what they all stand for -- true scholar-athletes who have their priorities in order and who excel in the classroom and on the athletic field of competition.

But after the national championship game, several columnists and writers in upstate New York and from around the country have written glowing pieces about the class and dignity of the individuals on the Colgate football team. Several of those stories are included in today's Patriot League Newsletter.

The League office also received an e-mail from a fan of Colgate's fiercest football rival, saying, "I believe that the reaction you got from (a story on CU Sr. DB Sean McCune) is typical of a vast majority of Patriot League athletes. It is the reason that athletics is an important part of the educational process. It teaches discipline and hard work in an environment where striving to compete is more important than a victory. The competitor is always a winner. Congratulations to the Colgate Raiders."

We agree, and we're confident these stories could also be written about most other scholar-athletes on all Patriot League teams. It's why the Patriot League is a special group.

One last word of congratulations to several groups of people that work behind the scenes at PL athletic departments. Let's hear it for the athletic trainers, media relations and facilities folks who put in untold hours to help keep the scholar-athletes safe and healthy, promote their achievements and prepare the competition sites.

Colgate hosted not one, but two, football playoff games in snowstorms. The work done to Andy Kerr Stadium was unbelievable (as was the commitment by the CU administration).

And after 16 years in college athletics (after 12 years as a sportswriter at a daily newspaper), we can guarantee that the CU media relations staff "burned the midnight oil" numerous times to make sure all Raider teams, not just the football team, received as much attention and publicity as possible.

Credit those dedicated individuals for a job well done. The same can be said all year for their counterparts throughout the League, particularly when institutions host any of the PL's 22 championship events.

There's plenty to give thanks for this holiday season. "True Class" is a gift we can always share and appreciate.