Rakeem Christmas picks Syracuse over FIU

The 6 foot 9 Christmas choose Syracuse over FIU and Georgetown.

Christmas told FOX sports' Jeff Goodman, “I had a lot of great options, but I fell in love with Syracuse. I know a lot of the guys on the team and that made a difference in my decision. I also felt that I could fit in well with their system.”

Read full story here.

Response to comments

@Que bola: I'll let you guys know tomorrow what practices will be open to the public.

Comments

[TheChampionUnderdog]

lol... im not the ringleader of the adam bashing, but this is clearly an adam post.

proud of your alma mater huh? c***s****r

[Justin Azpiazu]

That was my post.

[O'darris D'haiti #20 (FIU '09)]

I'm just happy to have new on FIU, forget these people that bash and show no respect. Let haters hate and just try to improve yourself in the best way you know how.

[Please fire Adam Beasley]

Who care who put the post. The Herald knows what it needs to do.

[Jim Johnson]

Well, then... why not put your name at the bottom of the post. I mean it just takes one second. Are you not proud of your work? Do you think we are mind readers?

[panther viscosity(frustrated with negativity on this board)]

If you guys keep bashing them were never going to get any insightful info. If you want send e-mail's to the head of the sports department at the herald fine but not the reporters these guys are just the messengers.

[FIU Fanatic]

I agree. Let's not bash for the sake of bashing. We all felt Pete was doing a great job, and he (and us FIU fans) was demoted (fired, taken away) from the FIU beat and this blog, and it bothered and infuriated us. It's time to, unless another one of those editorials keep trying to convince us otherwise, turn the page and let Justin do his job.

I too found Adam's two pieces...including his first one as FIU's beat writer (athletic fees with a negative slant) to be oriented to put FIU in a negative light, but he has also written some pretty good pieces...not necessarily showing FIU in a good light..but in a more middle of the ground pointview.

Our bloggers have mostly made a point, and even if Mr. Rojas and some other "up there" would refuse to acknowledge it, I believe Pelegrin's last blog and our resulting posts have hit a nerve.

Sure, Justin doesn't appear to really know much about FIU sports, including football, but I would venture to think, and will give him the benefit of the doubt, that he is willing to put the time and effort to know the FIU administrators, coaches, and players...that is, if Mr. Rojas and Miami Herald staff lets him do it.

Finally, it's too bad that Rakeem just picked Syracuse over us, but it was evident from his quotes that it was either FIU or Georgetown until his two AAU teammates the last month or so (who are committed to Syracuse) convinced him to join them and visit SU. But good luck to him in his future in the school at Onondaga County, New York.

[JulesFIU07]

I agree with viscocity and Fanatic, the negativity needs to stop. If you want to respond, respond in a reasoned manner to the latest editorial, but don't fire from the hip and say wildly negative things. It makes us look bad.

[Koplan]

FIU fans are the worse..stop whining!! Grow up!! How redundant of you clowns...If these guys don't write feel good stories or give you clowns the kool aide delusion then you bash them. Nothing is every good enough for you. Even when Pete was doing his FIU is great stories the fact remained your football team won 3 games and played poorly all year. Your basketball team team won 7 games and stunk all winter. So why do you come here and expect to here great things about this GAWD AWFUL program? GET REAL PEOPLE..IF FIU WINS THINGS WILL CHANGE UNTIL THEN ACCEPT WHAT YOU HAVE

[Ocfiupanther]

It's funny how a couple of new posters join the board all of the sudden to defend the heralds invisible coverage. They are Herald staff and If they aren't Herald staff than at least understand that we've been at this for years and now and no what we are talking about.

[panther97]

Glad to see cooler heads may start to prevail here. All of this constant bashing of these two guys adds nothing and may be driving people away from this blog. If every time Justin or Adam put something up here it's met with a barrage of hate, this blog is going to be seen as more trouble than it's worth. I miss Pete too, did the whole bit, e-mailed Rojas numerous times. I also appreciate our other sources of FIU news, GoldenPanthers.com, FIUSM, Joel. Good stuff, but not the same as having our athletics in the Herald, in front of people who otherwise wouldn't know what we're building at Tamiami. There's an old adage that there's no such thing as bad publicity. At the stage of the game FIU is at, having people talking about us, the good and the bad, helps us. Right now the Herald is the only mainstream media giving us any kind of coverage. The Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, 790, 560, 940, we're invisible. If you want to say this is Adam or Justin writing this...sigh...fine, but burning our bridge with the Herald and causing it to pull down this blog will be to our great detriment and makes me wonder who are the true enemies of what we're trying to build at FIU. Have a nice day.

[Tri-Panther]

Great post panther97, couldn't have said it better myself.

[Fomenter1]

This meltdown is hysterical. People lose all sense of objectivity when it comes to discussing just how qualified, or not, Pete was. But proceed with hating people who are trying to do their jobs in a fair manner...

[FIURage]

Seriously guys we FIU fans need to back off ...

[chiaPanther]

We had already discussed Rakeem going to the Q's... that's fine.
Coach Thomas isnt going to get everyone.... he still has the no. 17 class with a big time center in Coleman..... would of been icing on the cake..
Nothing wrong with the post... thanks for the info.

[CA Panther]

Agree with '97, Tri-, 'Rage, Jules, and everyone else who is just looking to read about FIU sports without all the other nonsense. These guys are just trying to do their jobs in an industry that's going through pretty hard times.

OcFIUPanther and other "conspiracy theorists" -- isn't it possible that the vast majority of readers of this blog don't comment? (We'd better hope that's the case, otherwise we're in trouble). I only did because the level of noise on here was getting ridiculous -- '97 said it best, thanks.