If James Naismith were alive today, he would be grilling
Kielbasa
and cursing his brackets, just like the rest of us.
St. James Day Activities
St. James Day 2010 will be celebrated Friday, March 19.
In
honor of the traditional roots of the tournament, we here at the website
continue to denominate the brackets by the compass, rather than by the
hosting city. It only makes sense. Would you rather win the "St. Louis
Regional" or be crowned "Midwestern Regional Champion of the World?" And if
we said "Salem Regional," would you know which part of the bracket we were
talking about? Of course you wouldn't. And neither would James Naismith.
West Regional Festivities:
Host, Paul Smith
I know, I know. It is hard to believe, but St. James Day is
almost here again. And, this year, we celebrate our 10th consecutive year
of celebrating St. James's gift to us all--the NCAA Tournament (well, except
for 2006...but we don't like to talk about that--and, of course, we've all
beencelebratingfor
more than 10 years, but nobody knew to call it St. James Day until 2001).
For those who remain uninitiated to (or blissfully ignorant of) St. James
Day, you can check out the official website atwww.stjamesday.com.
(For those public employees included on this e-mail, you might want to wait
to check out that website from home). Or, if you'd rather, just ask, and
I'll tell you that St. James Day is the first Friday of the NCAA Tournament
when we all take off work and watch basketball. (In Oregon, the Governor has
been kind enough to declare St. James Day this year to be a state
holiday--unfortunately it is also an unpaid furlough day...but I digress).
Anyway, this year's festivities are again in Salem (as their was near mutiny
at the suggestion that we go to Derek's house in Roseburg...and we're all
about marital harmony and increasing turnout here at St. James Day
Central). Here are the details:
Date: Friday, March 19, 2010
Time: First
game tips at about 9:00 a.m. Feel free to come by anytime between 9am and
5pm. We'll do lunch about noon.
Where:
Contact Paul or Derek for details.
What: Lots of
College Basketball (this year, in High Definition!), Snacks, Soda, Lunch
(the traditional kielbasa)
Who: YOU!
Kids, spouses, friends, and random passersby are also welcome (that means,
invite others who might enjoy taking a day off of work and watching college
basketball--just be sure to let Paul know how many to expect so he has
enough kielbasa).
Thank you! Looking forward to seeing everyone on St. James Day!
Midwestern Regional Festivities:
Host,
Rand Simmons
St. James Day will be celebrated this year in Emporia! In short, we will
have the games on, we will be grilling, and we look to have plenty of food
and good company.
Date: Friday, March 19, 2010
Time: Feel
free to arrive as early as noon (Bring a dish to share -- snack food or
whatever sounds good.)
and we expect everyone to leave before they need to go to bed. ;-) BYOB.
Where:
Contact Rand for details.
If the weather ends up being nice, bring your own lawn chairs, as well.
RSVP is appreciated. We need to know how many kielbasa’s to plan on cooking
up.
Midwestern Regional Festivities,
part II:
Host, Scott McLoughlin
To ease complications of
schedules not conducive to taking off on St. James Day, there has been talk
of continued celebration on Saturday, March 20, at the McLoughlin home in
the greater Leavenworth area.
P.S.--for those of you outside of the above designated festivity areas --No,
we don't actually expect you to come to travel just to watch basketball.
But, we do expect you to spread the gospel of St. James by either finding a
local St. James Day party or holding one of your own (and be sure to send
pictures as proof that you actually celebrated).
Scrapbook
Midwestern Regional festivities 2009 were celebrated at the
McLoughlin McMansion in the Greater
Leavenworth, Kansas area. Festivities began at the break of dawn
on St. James Day.
West Regional festivities
2009
took place at the home of
Paul Smith.
International festivities...
In a sign of the growth in popularity
of St. James Day, in 2009, it was celebrated for the first time in a
foreign country. Mr. Thummel and Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez enjoyed St. James Day at a London pub. Jolly good, mates.
West Region, March
21, 2008:
One Stanley, two Smiths, three Littlejohns and three Agarwals, and four
Simmonses.
Midwestern Region, March 21, 2008: Front row, left to right:
Scott McLoughlin, Katie Chastain, Mike Chastain, and Adina Sanchez. Back
row: Melissa McLoughlin, Todd Thummel, Tracy Million Simmons, Rand Simmons,
and Cyprian Sanchez
West Region, March 18, 2005: Front row, left to right: Rives Kistler, cofounders Derek Simmons and Paul Smith, John Wittmayer. Back row,
left to right: Patrick Smith, Barry Smith, Scott Stanley, J.D. Cozier, and
Colin Benson.