Sporting news

Quite a weekend in my little sports world. Stanford took Notre Dame down to the last minute, and then blew the game like you knew they would. I was in a room full of Notre Dame fans, and they were very, very nervous. I was being boisterous. This was about the 10th time this season when my team has allowed a last-minute score because the defense can't do a damn thing. Michigan lost at least 3 games like this, and Stanford had 3 as well, I think.

My speculation about the UC Davis game was confirmed by SF Gate this week. If they had won that game, they would have gone to a bowl. Even quirkier, if there had not been 8 Pac-10 teams playing that day, they would have gone to a bowl. (You see, because so many teams were in action, the Pac-10 couldn't send replay review teams to every game. Replays showed that a Stanford player made an interception in the last minute of the game that would have won it for Stanford, but the officials blew the call and there was no one to review it. UC Davis won. Stanford's season was essentially lost. Hilarious.)

Anyway, back to the game. We were snacking on Thanksgiving leftovers, and I noticed that whenever anyone was eating pumpkin pie, Stanford did something good. So when they got the ball back with a minute left, down by 7, I begged that someone in the room eat more pie. The ND fans were believers by then, and they wouldn't touch it. So, even though I was stuffed, I had another piece. It almost killed me. We lost anyway, so the pie didn't work, but after the game I went to meet some friends at a bar. I couldn't stay, though, because I was in physical pain from eating so much. I had to go home, take some Tums, and sleep it off. (The pie came after turkey, stuffing, another piece of pie, cranberry sauce, and five beers, by the way. I wasn't being a total wuss. Just a minor one.)

Then the Seahawk game sapped me of the rest of my energy for the weekend. All the missed field goals that could have won it for the Giants... all the stalled drives for the Seahawks... I was exhausted from yelling and throwing things by the time the game ended. It turns out to be a huge game in the race for home field -- a four-game swing, in effect. If the Hawks lose, they are tied with the Giants at 8-3, but essentially a game behind them when you consider the tie-breaker goes to the Giants. With the win, though, they are two games ahead (9-2 vs. 7-4), plus a tie-breaker, making it actually a three-game lead. 3 games ahead, or 1 game behind... all coming down to field goals. Crazy.

Not that I'm getting excited about the team, or anything. I know they will still try to break my heart. I agree with all the pundits who just aren't sure how good the Hawks are yet, despite the 9-2 record.

Next week... Monday Night Football in Philadelphia. Should be fun.

Links, of a random sort

First, here is delightful article about "teenager repellant." Pretty funny.

Second, here is a fun little gizmo that will sing any lyrics you type. Cool.

That's all.

Props for tight ends

In this P-I article that overrates the value of Jerramy Stevens, it gets one thing right:

Quarterbacks look to [tight ends] as security blankets. Coaches use them to leverage an advantage against a slower linebacker or smaller safety. It all sounds so easy. Try playing the position.

"It's a brutal position when you break it down," said Brent Jones, former 49ers tight end.

They are expected to block with the strength of a tackle one play and show the cottony hands of a receiver the next.

"There's almost nobody that's capable of handling both of those functions at a high level simultaneously," Jones said.

Word. Too bad I didn't get to show off my cottony hands in high school. For some reason, they never threw the ball to me. . .

This time, real snow

It came down heavy today, and actually it's still coming down. Several inches. This is what my neighborhood looked like today:

Only six more months of this. And I know, jokesters, that I only have more of this waiting for me next year. It's just so funny.

A rough day

Ohio State beat Michigan on Saturday on a last-minute touchdown. People around here were very sad. I have never really gotten into hating Ohio State, even though I now consider myself a Michigan fan. After Saturday, however... Oh How I Hate... Ohio State.

After that game I went to a sports bar to watch the Stanford/Cal game. About half the people in the bar were OSU fans, watching the Penn State game. They were loud, drunk, and obnoxious, and they sing the stupidest songs -- something about how they don't give a damn about Michigan because they come from Ohio. I, for one, would never brag about being from Ohio, but that's beside the point. One guy spilled beer all over his pants, and then ran around the bar telling people that he pissed himself because he was so happy his team won.

Meanwhile, Stanford was trying to hang on against Cal. It turned out that I was the only Stanford fan in the place, but there were a few Cal fans sitting near me. I would clap loudly whenever Stanford made a play, which caused them all sorts of pain because they couldn't figure out why a guy in a Michigan hat would be cheering for Stanford. I think they thought I was trying to taunt them. One guy had to stop and ask me why I was cheering for Stanford.

Me: "Because they are the superior institution."
Him: "What?"
Me: "Because they are the superior institution."
Him: "Superior to who [sic]?"
Me: "Cal, of course. And most other places." [If I had been as quick as my friend Chris I would have corrected his grammar for him, but I really didn't expect any better from a Cal fan.]
Him: . . . befuddled silence . . .
Me: [under my breath] "Now go away."

Finally he asked if I had a connection to Stanford, and I told him I went there, and finally he was satisfied. He continued to talk to me for the rest of the game, and as the game went on I had less ammunition for talking shit about the football teams, I had to resort to talking about the seven-game win streak, and about how Cal is, of course, a safety school. Heh, just kidding.

It was a pretty brutal environment -- surrounded by drunk and happy OSU fans, and drunk and happy Cal fans -- and it was a brutal game. Let's just say that several pitchers of Labatt helped me deal with the hostilities.

Stanford now has to hope for a miracle win against Notre Dame, or else it's another year without a bowl. I'm tired of losing Big Game. Walt better get the guys going next year, or I'm going to cut back my giving to the Stanford Fund. I gave $0.00 last year... next year, I might go steal something. Beez stole a urinal divider once.

Dangerous thoughts

This from ESPN:

"I keep discounting the Seahawks because of their tortured history ... and they keep beating the crap out of teams. At some point, it's not luck anymore. And when you think about it, since the turn of the century, the Red Sox, White Sox, Patriots, Buccaneers, Jim Boeheim, Roy Williams, Phil Mickelson, Pete Carroll and Larry Brown all won championships. Clearly, there's no rhyme or reason to this stuff anymore. So why couldn't the Seahawks win a Super Bowl? I'll believe just about anything at this point. I mean, even Clippers fans are about four more wins from printing "Why Not Us?" shirts. This is the century of the Lovable Loser, isn't it?"

I've learned that I cannot afford to think like this. The whole point of Seattle sports torture is that it happens to everyone else, but not us. So even trends like this, where other loser teams finally win, mean nothing. We are our own curse.

It would be fun to fantasize about the Seahawks joining this list of teams who overcame years of failiure, but there's nothing fun about being a Seahawks fan. The best we can hope for is to enjoy times like this -- a five-game winning streak and a 3-game lead in the division -- without looking ahead. Expectations of anything more are futile, and lead to inevitable heartbreak.

Winter!

We had our first snow yesterday. Just some flurries -- not too much accumulation -- but it was damn cold. I was caught at school without my big winter coat, and I had the coldest walk home I've ever had. My car has realized that winter is here now, too -- the locks are sticky, the steering wheel is tight, and the doors are a little frozen shut. And it's only November... it's only going to get worse.

"Activist courts"

I've talked about this before, but I'm going to keep talking about it because I think it's important. The public's opinion about judges, and how they rule, is dominated by buzz words and catch phrases that have no real meaning, but carry a negative connotation. I speak specifically about the Republican obsession with the term "activist." They bring it out whenever there's an opinion they don't like because it sounds bad, but it means nothing. Ex: "What a horrible opinion. Damn those activist judges! They're an unelected oligarchy, and they're taking over the country! We want judges who interpret the law, not make the law!"

This is all crap. Ignore it. It could mean something if the people saying it were principled and consistent, but they aren't. The latest example is this story from Volokh. The same people who decry judges for being "activist" are asking the Ninth Circuit to be activist now.

Rome

Is anyone else watching "Rome" on HBO? This show is awesome. It has way too much violence for, say, my mother, but others would like it.

Next week is the season finale -- and Caesar better watch out. Brutus is pissed.

One more semester

It's that time again... what classes should I take during my last semester? I'm already signed up for Supreme Court Litigation, so I need 2-3 more. I think I know what I'm going to take, but it's always interesting for me to hear what other people, especially non-law students, think would be interesting. (Yes, Wally, I know... IP sounds great... heh)

Almost bowl-eligible

Somehow Stanford won another football game today. The team now has five wins... unchartered territory since Tyrone left. It also means that the team needs one more win to be bowl-eligible, with games against Cal and Notre Dame remaining. The Big Game will actually mean something this year.

If Stanford loses the next two games, though, it will mean that the loss to UC Davis would keep them from a bowl. This would be both appropriate -- they don't deserve a bowl if they lose that kind of game -- and tragic. Hopefully it won't come to that.

So my schedule next Saturday will be: 11:00 - tailgate. 1:00 - Michigan vs. Ohio State at the Big House. 7:00 - Big Game at local sports bar. It's my last Football Saturday as a "college student," gotta go out in style.

Bad Senate

Continuing on theme from the last post, here's news about the Senate's vote (49-42) passing an amendment that would eliminate the statutory right to habeas corpus for alien detainees held by the DOD at Guantanamo. This is a legislative answer to the Supreme Court in Rasul v. Bush, which made clear that detainees have habeas rights (the case is on remand now).

This is a disturbing vote. To quote the SCOTUSblog article I linked to: "this would be a very momentous development, and would probably mean that most or all of the Administration's decisions on, and conduct regarding, detention, interrogation and abuse at GTMO, would be impervious to judicial review and oversight."

I'm at a loss for why our legislature continues to strip other branches of government of power to make the Executive the only player in this huge issue. Clearly the legislature disagrees with the Supreme Court's holding in Rasul, but this amendment simply invests too much power in the Executive, which has proven to be a dangerous idea.

McGee of the Day

"Last month, the Senate voted for a ban on torture 90-9. You heard me correctly: Nine United States Senators refused to vote against torture. Those senators included Illinois Democrat Thumbscrews McGee, Iowa's Cattleprod von Analpair and, of course, Ted Stevens [of] Alaska."
---Jon Stewart

Ah, good ol' Thumbscrews.

Fatigue

I have oral arguments for moot court all this week. I had my first one tonight, and although it's only ten minutes of talking, I am worn out. I came home and fell asleep. I woke up long enough to work on tomorrow's plan a little bit, and now I'm heading back to bed.

Oral argument is fun, but tiring. I was happy with how my team did tonight, but I'm also excited to have three more this week to see how much better we get. This is one of those things that takes practice.

Improv skills translate a little, but the thing about improv was that you could make almost everything up as you go (you just have to remember character names, events, space objects, etc.). Here, you actually have to know the law and make sense when you talk about it. You basically have to memorize an area of law, and then be able to access it, analyze it, and make conclusions about it extemporaneously. When done well, it's fun to watch. This is why I post links to SCOTUS oral arguments sometimes. That, and because I'm a dork.

20 questions with Vader

I have been busy with moot court and classes lately, so it's been a little slow here. In the mean time, try this amusing diversion. It made me chuckle. (Best with sound up)

Call of the Wild

My pursuit for employment after law school has come to an end; I'll be clerking for a judge on the Alaska Court of Appeals in Anchorage starting next fall. Apparently I'm trying never to live in a warm climate ever again.

Come visit!

James K. Polk Day

As I'm sure you know, today is James K. Polk's birthday. Young Hickory would have been 210 years old today. He whipped up on Henry Clay in the 1844 election to become the eleventh President of the United States. During his presidency he annexed the Oregon territory south of the 49th parallel, and successfully fought Mexico for California and New Mexico. Manifest Destiny was realized under his charge.

He made a campaign promise that he would only serve one term, and so he did not run for another. Instead, he died of cholera three months after leaving office. Worked himself to death, I'd say. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more successful single-term president.

You probably also know that I'm related to "Napoleon of the Stump." How odd that his birthday is my half-birthday, hmm?