Happy Holidays from a lawyer (in training)

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere, and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishes.

By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself or himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

More love for Muhammad

I posted in October about Vandy grad Muhammad Yunus winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

Here's an article about how he took $27 of his own money and turned it into $5.7 billion in loans and the Nobel Prize.

Click Here

Winter in Milwaukee

Well, my first final is on Monday and thanks to this great snowstorm, my car is snowed under and I can't get to the library. The newspaper says that we got 9.7 inches at the airport, which isn't too far away. Awesome!

Boom Goes The Dynamite

Your next Sportscenter anchor, courtesy of YouTube:

We Support Your War of Terror

Pretty good last couple of days.

-Thursday- Watched the Cards beat up on West Virginia on Thursday.
-Friday- Saw Borat. All I can say is funniest. movie. ever. It is offensive and disgusting, but also 90 minutes of hilarious comedy. Very niice.
-Saturday- not much to report. Watched Vanderbilt claim yet another "moral victory" against Florida. I'm getting pretty damn tired of keeping games close but not actually winning them. We outgained them on the ground and threw the air and forced more turnovers, but we lost because of damn special teams.
-Sunday- Went to the grocery store. I hate going because the damn store doesn't have any baggers. They have the greatest business model because they make you do all the work and then you pay them for this opportunity. Plus the store is in the hispanic ghetto, so there's always something interesting going one.

Also got pulled over today on the interstate. What for you might ask: speeding? nope. broken tailight? nope. passing in the right lane? nope. Give up...if you guessed suspicion of armed robbery you were correct. That was interesting to say the least, but they let me go when they realized I wasn't the same race as the suspect.


Here's the first 4 minutes of the Borat movie for your enjoyment.

Bird's the Word

Well, the St. Louis Cardinals have qualified to lose the World Series to Detroit. Seriously, I can't see the Cardinals winning more than 2 games, probably only 1, but I can also envision them being swept. The one thing Detroit has going for it is that when they play in St. Louis, they aren't going to be hurt too much by having to give up the DH. If you look at their lineup, all of the players who do any damage are regular positin players.

Anyway, how about that catch by Endy Chavez. Best catch I've ever seen.



Also, Go Dores! Beat those Cocks!

I swear to God I'm going to pistol whip the next guy who says, " Shenanigans."

Just some random ramblings:

- Vanderbilt beat #15 Georgia 24-22 IN ATHENS. This is the first SEC road win against a ranked team in... well, no one can seem to find out when this actually happened before. It might have been the first time ever.

Great performances in the game all around. The V-Unit shut down the Georgia running game and turned them into a one dimensional team. Ryan Hamilton forced a fumble and made a game saving tackle. Sean Walker made 2 huges grabs- a long TD grab and a 4th and 5 reception on the final drive. Chris Johnson used the hit stick on kickoff coverage again, but, unfortunately, it cost Thomas Brown his season. Earl Bennett continued to be Earl Bennett. The O-Line stepped up with the losses of Brian Stamper and Josh Eames- both of those guys are likely done for the season and hopefully Stamper can get a medical redshirt.

Chris Nickson also showed great poise. He made two absolutely terrible throws, but he also showed some big cajones in leading the comeback. He could have let the interceptions destroy his confidence, but he didn't. I honestly don't believe that Jay Cutler would have won this game his sophomore year, but Chris Nickson did.

In the last year, VU has beaten Tennessee and Georgia on their home field, and came one horrible officiating crew away from doing the same against Florida in the swamp.- Rick Louimet, if I ever see you in person, I am punching you in the balls for costing us the Florida and Arkansas games.

-I lost $20 because the Bengals lost to the Bucs. I don't know what the deal is with the Bengals, but they better get there act in gear. They have an absolutely brutal schedule coming up and it could get ugly. Hopefully they get Brian Simmons, Dexter Jackson, Rich Braham, and Levi Jones back ASAP. The running game hasn't gotten on track and Palmer has looked rattled.

-Louisville better get their act together as well. Any team with national championship aspirations doesn't give Cincinnati the chance to win the game on the last play. They better figure it out soon because Pat White and Steve Slaton had about 400 yards rushing combined on Saturday. Hopefully it was just rust for Brohm, but losing Zach Anderson at DE really hurts.

-North Korea was sanctioned by the UN. Great, all we need to do is piss off Kim Jong Il even more. This is only going to hurt the citizens of one of the most isolated countries in the world. Also, as someone recently pointed out to me, have you ever met or heard of a famous North Korean (besides their dictator with the Napoleon complex) ? They seem to destroy the idea of six degrees of separation all together.

That's all I can think of right now. I'm going to bed and sleeping in because my morning class was cancelled.

P.S. Who ya with? VU!!!

Vandy Grad Wins Nobel Peace Prize

Awesome news for the alma mater and the Economics Department as Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/10/13/nobel.peace.ap/index.html

WHO YA WITH? VU!!!

Vanderbilt- 24
#14 Georgia- 22

You're so wise. You're like a miniature Buddha, covered with hair.

Had an eventful day yesterday:

-Woke up at 5:00 am on a Saturday for a Golf Scramble that was supposed to shotgun at 8:00.
-Scramble actually started at 9:00, so I was pumped about that.
-My team played pretty horribly, but collectively, we ham and egged it pretty good and took 3rd place. We won a bunch of Brewers stuff, the best of which was a Robin Yount bobblehead doll. It comes complete with big, bushy 'stache and all.
-Listened to Vanderbilt choke the game away against Ole Miss. We gain 400+ yards of offense, give up less than 200, and still manage to find a way to lose with 6 fumbles, 1 int, and 2 missed FGs.

This is probably the 4th most disappointing loss in my brief history as a Vandy fan. The only others I think that can best this one are:
1. Last year v. MTSU where Ted Cain has a genius idea to run several plays with Jay Cutler lined up at WR, and none of them are a WR pass.
2. Last year v. UK- the game that took any bowl hopes away. The Dores decided to take the first half off and tried to make a comeback in the 2nd, but it was not enough.
3. 2004 game v. Rutgers where we managed to blow a 24 point lead in the 4th quarter, and this was back when Rutgers was still Rutgers.

Yesterday, we were a favorite in a road game for the first time in forever, but we managed to choke it away. The only saving grace was I had The Fray concert to look forward to. Fortuneately, the concert venue is literally right across the street from me, so I didn't have to worry about getting lost in Milwaukee or paying for parking or any of that other fun stuff.

The concert was pretty sweet, especially if you forget the fat, ugly chick with the frizzy hair that kept bumping into me. Some band named Aqualung opened for the Fray and played about a 45 min. set and were alright, but mostly it sounded like a Brit whining into a microphone.

The Fray played everything you'd expect. They didn't do "Over My Head" until the end, and then acted like it was their final song, and all of the girls around me were pissed because they hadn't played 'How To Save A Life" yet. Then they came back out for an encore and played 2 more songs, the final of which was How To Save A Life. I was laughing in my head when they pretended to finish with Over My Head because I heard them playing "How To Save A Life" during the afternoon sound check, so I knew this was coming.

Overall, a good day, and now I have to work on my homework for tomorrow.

In the Words of Veronica Corningstone, "Take me to Pleasure Town"

If this UK fan gets this excited over a single catch, imagine what he'd do if UK could actually beat U of L.

Barry Bonds' Bacne

Went to the Brewers game last night against the Giants. Got to see everyone's favorite flaxseed oil spokesman, Barry Lamar Bonds. He was on fire last night, he went 3 of 5 with 6 RBIs and a homerun. The Brewers ended up winning 13-12, but it had to be the most boring, anticlimatic high scoring baseball game of all time. I never left a Vanderbilt football game early (and I saw some VERY bad games), but I ended up leaving this game after the 7th inning. I did stay long enough to see the Bratwurst win the sausage race, but much to my dismay, my personal favorite, Chorizo, was a DNP Coach's decision last night. That was horribly disappointing.

This was my 3rd MLB game of the year: I saw the Padres play the Mariners out in San Diego and the Reds against the Rockies in Cincy this year. The Padres game was definitely the best experience of the 3: there were 8 homeruns hit (but all were solo shots), the game was close, and the weather was perfect. The Reds game was good as well, but it was in 90* heat and was just miserable in that respect.

Considering I hadn't been to an MLB game since 2003, it was nice to catch 3 games in 3 different parks.

Strategerie

Yesterday, U of L put the beat down on "The U." Before the game, Miami stomped the Cardinal logo, drawing the ire of the entire Cardinal team and coaching staff. Miami lost, 31-7, but they should have known better than to stomp the Cardinal. Miami got lucky to only have 31 hung on them. Here's what has happened to teams who stomped the Cardinal:

Cardinals win 59-7 over East Carolina in 2004
Cardinals win 41-9 over South Florida in 2004
Cardinals win 70-7 over Cincinnati in 2004
Cardinals win 56-5 over Rutgers in 2005
Cardinals win 31-7 over Miami in 2006

That totals out to: U of L 257 and their opponents 35.

Notice a trend?

I'm Kind of a Big Deal. People Know Me...

After about a million submissions over the years, I finally got a quesiton answered by ESPN, by Pat Forde (former Louisville CJ writer) of all people. Anyway, my little 15 seconds of fame (I reserve the other 14:45).

Will (Milwaukee, WI): Pat, What's the damage going to be on Sunday in the U of L v. UK game? U of L blowout or will UK make it close again? Will Brian Brohm be close to 100%?

SportsNation Pat Forde: Will: I believe Brohm will be close to 100 percent. Might still be lacking a smidge of speed and quickness, but his arm is fine, his reads are great and he's as accurate as ever. I don't think it will be too close. Louisville 49, UK 28.

He's performing a public colonoscopy. Isn't that sweet?

Well, I'm done with 2 days worth of law school, and no complaints so far. I seem to have evaded the stereotypical, evil law school professor. While I do have 3 classes that rely on the Socratic Method, only one of them require you to stand up, and he doesn't seem that bad. Of course, these were just the first few classes, so who knows what will happen once we get into a routine.

On another front, I found out that I live 3 block from where Jeffrey Dahmer used to live, and in the words of the great Carl Spackler, so I've got that going for me, which is nice.

I'll have pics of my apartment up once I get my furniture in, which won't be for about 2 weeks. Right now, I'm using an air mattress as a couch and a storage bin as my kitchen table. However, I've learned that I can survive without cable television (which gets installed on Sunday), but I'm going to need something to look forward to each night after studying, and its a good thing I have TiVo to come to the rescue.

They've Done Studies You Know...60% Of The Time It Works All The Time

Well, Nathan and I got back from San Diego last night after a full day of travelling. All I have to say is that San Diego has the best weather ever. Honestly, it never got above 80* or below 60* while we were there, and it was more like 75* during the heat of the afternoon- and all of this is with about 0% humidity. Here's a brief overview of what we did:



Highlights

-Attended Padres vs. Mariners game and saw 8 homeruns (a Petco Park record)

-Trip to the beach on Coronado Island (water was cold as hell!)

-Paid $3.50 for a 20 ounce Gatorade

-San Diego Hall of Champions: Tony Gwynn's Gold Gloves & Silver Slugger Awards, Bill Walton's NBA MVP Trophy, Rashaan Salaam's Heisman Trophy, Reggie Bush & Alex Smith's High School Jerseys (both attended same high school)

-Saw an old guy in a Mercedes curse out 2 old women for holding up traffic when it wasn't either of their fault

-Gaslamp Quarter- place where they always went out on the Real World is basically an entire street of bars and clubs

-Saw 3 gas stations ($3.25 per gallon) and about 30 bums, one of which had the worst BO in the history of mankind

-Dinner at Coyote's Cantina (supposedly the best Mexican Food in San Diego)- we had the worst table in the worst location with the worst service possible. We were seated at a wobbly table about a foot from the next table. To a casual observer, it would look like we just broke off of the next table over for a little space. It was horrible. Then we had a server, who, while very hot, was not very good at her job. It took her 20 minutes to get us something to stabilize the table, even though there were open tables we requested to be switched to. Also, were sitting next to a table full of lesbians comprised of 4 mommies and 2 daughters- not there's anything wrong with that. My personal highlight was Nathan having the biggest margarita I've ever seen.

-And the highlight of the trip, Nathan was hit on a by a gay guy within half an hour of arrival. We had dropped our stuff off at the hotel and went to eat lunch, and he was accosted by a little Asian guy (is that redundant?) who struck up a conversation with Nathan. Suffice it to say that he was a little embarassed by the situation and keeps trying to pass the buck to me.



Pictures Available Here: Click Here

Discovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it San Diego, which of course in German means...

Well, got some big news...I got into Marquette!!! It is a huge relief knowing that I got into my #1 school and will be in Milwaukee in the fall. It's gonna be COLD there in the winter, but they're a lot more prepared for snowfall than Louisville or Nashville.

I am sending in my admission deposit tomorrow and now have to find an apartment and a roommate or 2. Its gonna be weird knowing this is my final step in my education, but there are bigger and better things that await me in the future.

I mean, really.. explore the space. I like what I'm hearing.

Another scorecard update.

Admitted
1) Washburn U.
2) Florida Coastal U. (they have a sports law program)
3) Northern Kentucky

Rejected
1) University of Denver (really?)
2) University of Miami

Wait Listed:
1) Marquette University
2) University of the Pacific
3) University of Louisville
4) St. Louis University
5) Quinnipiac University

Still waiting to hear from:
1) University of Memphis
2) Hofstra University

That was gonna be a great track. Guys, what's the deal?

Well, I've heard back from more law schools in the past few days. Here's the updated report card:

Admitted
1) Washburn U.
2) Florida Coastal U. (they have a sports law program)
3) Northern Kentucky

Rejected
1) University of Denver (really?)

Not good enough to accpet yet, or bad enough to reject
1) University of Miami
2) University of Louisville
3) Marquette University

Still waiting to hear from:
1) University of the Pacific
2) St. Louis University
3) University of Memphis
5) Hofstra University

Wait Listed:
1) Quinnipiac University

I'll be honest.. fellas, it was sounding great. But.. I could've used a little more cowbell.

Well, it's time for March Madness and for the sixth time in seven years under Kevin Stallings, Vandy is on the outside looking in. I know it's not practical to expect VU to make it every year because our recruiting pool is half the size of the other 11 SEC schools, and we don't offer classes in P.E. or golf.

Nevertheless, 1 out of 7 is inexcusable. There is no reason that Vandy shouldn't have been in the tourney this season, especially considering that we lost 3 games on the last posession and blew a 16 point lead at home to UThug. I've always been a Stallings supporter, but it's hard to be one nowadays after such a disappointing season. I'm willing to give him one more season, but that's it. VU should have nothing less than a 9-7 SEC record next season and must be in the NCAA for Stallings to keep his job. If some team wants to come along and take him from VU, I'd be more than happy to let him go. There are plenty of good candidates out there who could be a good fit at VU: Karl Hobbs, Mike Anderson, Jeff Capel (probably not ready yet), Rick Majerus, Greg McDermott, Doug Wojick, etc. We are paying stallings $850,000 a year to not have winning seasons, we could save money and win more if we made a switch.

I'll post some thoughts on the NCAA Tourney tomorrow after I have time to evaluate the bracket. However, I do know this: Pittsburgh got screwed as a #5 seed, and Air Force did not deserve to make it.

Yes, the Bruce Dickinson

Haven't posted here in months. Well, all my law school apps are in and I'm starting to get responses back. If any of these seem like weird choices, it's because they sent me application fee waivers. Here's the scorecard:

Admitted
1) Washburn U.
2) Florida Coastal U. (they have a sports law program)
3) Northern Kentucky

Rejected
-None so far

Not good enough to accpet yet, or bad enough to reject
1) University of Miami
2) University of Louisville

Still waiting to hear from:
1) Marquette University
2) University of the Pacific
3) St. Louis University
4) University of Denver
5) University of Memphis
6) Hofstra University

Not much to update. I'll post my comments on Vandy Basketball after the SEC Tourney.