No whining about meal money

Received a nice alumni donation and note today from our old pal Pat Casey, one of the original St. Anthony's Friars in the Modern Era (post-1991) team. Pat was a hard-working and hard-running varsity runner here and has remained a loyal alum, more than 10 years after his graduation.

Here's the short note he attached with his donation:

"If you still get K&D subs for the team, please put my donation towards extra mayo for everyone. There was nothing like biting into a K&D sub with extra mayo after a long day at the track. Your blog is at the top of my favorites list. I enjoy watching the program evolve and love watching the records fall. Say hello to Coach Chuck and the Friars for me."

Will do, Pat. Thanks for the note and the donation!

Just so current team members know: Back in the day (the 1990s), to save money what we used to do was NOT give out meal money to the team. Rather, I would go shopping the night before with about $100 total for both teams -- loading up on bagels, bananas, Gatorade and water. Then, we would get boxes of subs and chips from the aforementioned K&D Deli (the official sandwich supplier of Marist Athletics). And that would be it! No meal money. No nothing, other than what we provided.

Generally, the pattern with meal money goes something like this: The first time freshmen get it, they are like, "Wow, how cool is THIS?" Then, they get used to getting it. And maybe one trip we get a little less, and they hear the upperclassmen harrumphing about the lack of meal money, and they cop that attitude too.

And so, ladies and gentlemen of the 2010 team, I ask you to recall this post and please remember what your forerunners got (or didn't get), when you complain about the relative lack of meal money. It's literally better than nothing, which is what Pat Casey and his loyal 'mates received, back in the day.