Happy New Year everybody. I thought this column ought to be about you, and by you, the readers.

Over the years one of the joys of writing this piece every week are the responses from you. Sometimes columns bring old friends back to catch up. Sometimes it’s new friends saying hello. Sometimes it’s just points and counterpoints to what’s been written.

Todd Studnicka played hockey for the Bears when I did the announcing. He wrote to say hi from Detroit and commented on a column. “If you need a place to golf when in Detroit give me a call.”

Love those invites.

A column on T-shirts worn at a Seattle baseball game that had the word “suck” on them and got the fans throw out drew comments. Ray wrote, “Are the rights of a few any more sacred than those around them? The fans with the T-shirts had a choice. No one said they could not attend the game, just that appropriate dress was required.”

Tom from Farmingdale said, “I listen to the Red Sox on the radio or watch them on TV and constantly hear the yells of “Yankees s-k. It’s idiotic, childish and downright boorish. And it is probably keeping families away from ballparks.”

On Pete Rose and his ongoing battle to be reinstated by MLB, Ron (a broadcast friend) wrote, “I can remember the day when saying ‘I’m sorry’ meant a lot and usually was the ticket to another run of good privileges and favored treatment at home, at work or at play. Why is it, then, that it is so difficult these days for people to admit their mistakes, say ‘I’m sorry’ and move on to bigger and better things? … Now the transgressions are so humongous that is really does take more than a simple little sorry to straighten the score.”

On the column regarding playing “God Bless America” at baseball games after 9-11, Richard in California wrote, “As for ‘God Bless America,’ yes, please drop that idea in a sealed casket in the East River or McCovey Cove, whatever’s handier. Over 162 games, the ‘tribute’ gets awfully tacky.”

The column on Shaw Walsh’s death brought this from Rick in Minnesota, a recent transplant from Bangor. “As I sit here in my office in Minnesota waiting for the puck to drop in Maine’s Frozen Four [appearance] … I was moved to tears to think about how much the passing of Shawn Walsh has impacted all our lives.”

On the column on the death of my sports hero, Ted Williams, Richard wrote, “The only major league game I saw as a kid was in 1957, when my parents drove me from Bangor to Boston and back in one day. My only vivid memory of that game was that Ted Williams played. A shame his son lacks the respect that millions of people throughout the world have for Ted.”

Greg from Dallas wrote, “My first introduction with Ted Williams was my first visit to Fenway Park. In 1975 or so I finally entered the temple. … My parents still live in Bangor and I continue to visit the BDN and listen to the Red Sox over the Internet.”

Jim from New Jersey wrote about my law degrees, “Tonight I read your online bio with great amusement. … Obviously, your academic studies imparted enough wisdom for you to make a wise career choice. America needs another Red Barber more than it needs another Alan Dershowitz.”

I rest my case. Thank you, all of you, for making your case with me in responses to these columns. Peace and good health for 2003.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and NBC sportscaster.