The EMO-tings of a First Year Law Student!

PLAYOFF & SUPER BOWL PICKS (then) and (now)
AFC West--Denver Broncos (then), Denver Broncos (now)
AFC North--Cincinnati Bengals (then), Baltimore Ravens (now)
AFC South--Indianapolis Colts (then), Indianapolis Colts (now)
AFC East--Miami Dolphins (then), New England Patriots (now)
AFC Wild Cards--New England Patriots & Kansas City Chiefs (then), San Diego Chargers & Jacksonville Jaguars (now)
AFC Champs--Indianapolis Colts (then), New England Patriots (now)
AFC Chumps--Houston Texans (then), Houston Texans (now)

NFC West--Seattle Seahawks (then), St. Louis Rams (now)
NFC North--Chicago Bears (then), Chicago Bears (now)
NFC South--Carolina Panthers (then), New Orleans Saints (now)
NFC East--Dallas Cowboys (then), New York Giants (now)
NFC Wild Cards--Arizona Cardinals & NY Giants (then), Atlanta Falcons & Carolina Panthers (now)
NFC Champs--Carolina Panthers (then), Chicago Bears (now)
NFC Chumps--Detroit Lions (then), Arizona Cardinals (now)

Super Bowl Champions--Indinapolis Colts (then), New England Patriots (now)

REGGIE BUSH v. MARIO WILLIAMS
(Reggie Bush was the ..2 player chosen in the 2006 NFL draft by the New Orleans Saints, after being widely regarded as the consensus ..1 pick by every expert in favor of Mario Williams by the Houston Texans)

Reggie Bush--RB
Week 8 v. Baltimore Ravens; 5 carries for 16 yards, 4 catches for 5 yards...
Reggie's worst game as a pro, no doubt about it. He threw for an interception too on a trick play in the endzone that cost N.O. a scoring opportunity. Saints lost 35-22 to the second best.. Defense in the league and it wasn't even that close. This game was 35-7 in the fourth quarter. All the skeptics about Reggie and New Orleans were waiting for this game, their first real loss of the year in which they didn't just come up short but got beat. The Ravens with their crushing defense can do that to a lot of teams. That's why they're 5-2. So too is New Orleans and still sitting atop their division. They're still a playoff team. And thanking their lucky stars Reggie fell into their lap at .. 2 in the draft. One game (unless it's a Super Bowl) does not a career break, or make.

Mario Williams--DE
Bye Week

SUNDAY TRIFECTA

(1) Cleveland Browns @ San Diego Chargers
The Line: San Diego by 12.5.
Storyline: The Bolts will begin to experience life without LB Shawne Merriman, who has begun serving his four-game suspension. This week shouldn't be much of a test. Cleveland is breaking in a new offensive coordinator in the middle of the season in the hope of salvaging its predictably disappointing season... RB Reuban Droughns had a big day last week but the Bolts front 7 alone is better than the Jets D' and should be able to contain their ground game. LT, Antonio Gates and company give QB Philip Rivers too many weapons to go to. The Chargers put up 38 at home last week against a better St. Louis team than are the Browns. On to 6-2.
My Pick: San Diego 33, Cleveland 13.

(2) Dallas Cowboys @ Washington Redskins
The Line: Dallas by 7
Storyline: One of the oldest and best rivalries. Why, I don't know. The Cowboys have won so many times in the past several years it's pretty one-sided. The Redskins aren't very good and haven't been for a while. The Cowboys are one of the biggest soap operas this year; T.O. this, T.O. that. Bledsoe or Romo? Will Bill Parcells be back next year or not?? They're like the New York Yankees with all the gossip and rumor mills swirming around them. It can't not be a distraction. At 4-3, the Cowboys are still very much in it, but in a mediocre conference that's not saying much. Was it ten years ago this franchise was last a super bowl winner? Troy, Emmitt and Michael, not to mention Jimmy Johnson, where have you gone?
My Pick: Cowboys 27, Redskins 17

(3) Indianapolis Colts @ New England Patriots
The Line: New England by 3.
Storyline: The Game of the Year. Who's the better QB; Peyton Manning or Tom Brady? New England has beaten them seemingly every time in this one-sided rivalry in the last five years, except for last year. After all the hype about matchups and history two things stand out in my mind. One, Indy's run defense is one of the worst in the league and New England has the two-headed monster at RB in Corey Dillon and Laurence Maroney. If they can establish the run, and keep Peyton Manning off the field, advantage Pats. Two, ex Patriot and Super Bowl hero K Adam Vinatieri comes back to Foxboro for the first time as a Colt and following his game winning field goal last week in Denver. NE has yet to face a game winning or game tying kick this year, so if this one is close late in the fourth quarter, advantage Colts. Third, if Indy wins this game they go two up on New England and the rest of the AFC and are in good position for home field advantage throughout the playoffs. If the Pats win, they're both tied at 7-1 with the tiebreaker going to the victor, New England for home field so there's more on the line than just bragging rights. Peyton's playing as well right now as ever. Brady put on a clinic last Monday night in Minnesota and seems to have found his rhythm after a sluggish start. What gives when the two time MVP faces off against the All-American Boy?
My Pick: New England 28, Indianapolis 24. Don't ever bet against Bill Belicheck and Tom Brady.

Last Week: 3-0
Season: 17-5

Current mood:  lazy
Category: News and Politics

I'm glad John Kerry didn't win the Presidential election in 2004.

This is what he said the other day at a campaign rally at Pasadena City College "You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and do your homework, and make an effort to be smart, uh, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq.

What he meant to say was "If you don't, you get us stuck in Iraq" and hence the punch line was not supposed to be against the brave soldier on the front line in Baghdad, but President Bush. I guess on the campaign trail this passes the laugh test but it reeks of being a sore loser.

Even if he had said what he intended to say, it still isn't very funny.

It's patronizing.

This is funny.

John Kerry isn't some first or second term member in the House though, he's the Democratic Party's most recent nominee for President. More important than what he said, or attempted to say, is that he was attempting to use the military, and not the civilian brass in the Pentagon or Secretary Rumsfeld but the everyday Airmen, Soldier, Cadet and Marine as the subject of his joke. For a man whose claim to fame was that he 'served in Vietnam' I would think he would have a little more respect for his fellow comrades in uniform. For someone who wanted you and I to entrust him as Commander-In-Chief, and who still has ambitions to do so, I find his attempted statement even more condescending than his actual gaffe.

And his comment, laid bare for all to hear, is a quintessential example of what is wrong with the Democratic Party. It's become the party of John Kerry, no longer of John Kennedy. A generation ago, the soldiers and privates in our military were by a margin of 2:1 registered Democrats to Republicans. Today, they are more than 2:1 Republican. And not because they support long-standing GOP plans to eliminate the estate tax or reform this country's tort system. It is because Republicans, conservatives, have much less of a problem than do liberals, progressives and what other adjectives those on the political left and in the Democratic party want to call themselves, with the idea of America and being American. It's that simple.

It sounds corny but it's true.

It's the culture war stupid!

Culture wars are not about abortion and guns, gay rights and the environment. They are about the notion that this is a country worth living in and not being embarassed to say so, and therefore it is a country worth sticking up for and defending.

I'm not saying John Kerry is unpatriotic. Or that Democrats are unpatriotic. But it is fair to point out that it is those on the political left who have a much harder time embracing an American national identity and uniting in common cause with their fellow citizen. There are several reasons for this.

One, is that those left-of-center, like John Kerry, think that they are smarter than those right-of-center. That Harvard, or MIT are infinitely more interesting places than say, oh, Texas. That everything in between the Ivy League and Berkeley is flyover country.

Two, those left-of-center have no problem with identity, just an American one. It's why John Kerry and those like him love to count among their supporters any group of Americans that has a hyphenated identity that seperates itself from the rest of us.

Three, John Kerry and many of his followers are baby-boomers and of the Vietnam era, and forged their political identity not so much as being anti-war, but anti-military, skeptical of the use and projection of American power in the world, opposed to defending our national interest. It's why they are always looking for some conspiracy or cabal behind every foreign policy of our government. Usama bin Laden isn't evil, the Carlyle Group or PNAC is. Saddam Hussein isn't the real threat, Halliburton is. And on, and on.

This wasn't the case back in 1960 when John F. Kennedy was the Democratic Party's standard bearer. Just reread the words in his 1961 inaugural address.

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

If you didn't hear his Boston accent which gives his identity away, you'd swear it came out of the mouth of a Republican. And it would be followed by charges of imperialism, racism, colonialism and every other ism that you learn in sociology and ethnic studies classes in college.

From my favorite Constitutional law professor, and talk radio show host Hugh Hewitt; "Kerry reminded people that the war against the war has been underway since mid-2003, and that the Democrats have never taken the many opportunities to try and rally around the effort to reconstruct a free Iraq but at every turn have demanded an exit on some sort of rushed and arbitrary timetable. They disparaged the effort to push elections forward, then the effort to form a government, and now that government's effort to rule and unite. The enemy has been watching, and has calculated that they only way they can win is by waiting out America ---just as the North Vietnamese did."

Kerry has since issued an apology. Always a day late and a dollar short, he can't even be sincere in saying he's sorry. Like his Iraq votes, he was for what he said, before he was against it.

The troops aren't buying it though, and neither should you. Remember who understands that we are whether we like it or not a country at war. And that you don't fight wars unless you intend to win. John Kerry and too many Democrats don't want us to win. They don't want to win because they never supported getting in the fight in the first place. Not winning in Iraq validates their anti-war position all along. Democrats and John Kerry do not want bad things to happen to this country or our interests, or more directly to you and I one morning on our way to work or in an airplane up in the sky. But they have no plan or strategy to prevent such incidents from happening; be it a suicide bomber on a bus like in Israel or a spectacle of the 9/11 variety.

It's not their patriotism I question.

It's their judgment.

Any vote for any Democrat is a vote against victory and a vote for vulnerability. Vote for victory. Vote Republican.

Current mood:  excited
Category: Sports

OK, so it wasn't Game Eight in the ongoing series between the Phoenix Suns and my LA Lakers, but it was impressive.

No Kobe.

No Kwame.

No problem.

Lakers win 114-106 last night in the NBA season opener.

My heart tells me we can go 82-0 but my head is thinking more like 55-27. That's 10 games better than last year and given how much the team improved during the season under Phil, there's no reason they can't pick up where they left off last April.

Beat the evil Suns, Clippers, Warriors and hated Sacramento Kings enough times this year and they're division winners guaranteed a top 3 seed in the playoffs.

Anything less is a disappointment.

Current mood:  awake
Category: Sports

THOUGHTS ON WEEK 7 IN THE NFL
So it's not just major league baseball that has a problem with steroids. Pity, poor Shawne Merriman and my San Diego Chargers. While most of us have no idea what nandrolone is and when pressed probably couldn't even name three actual steroids, it's become the evil buzz word to be avoided at all costs. Mention the word steroids and you are guilty until proven innocent and assumed a cheater. While I don't believe that Merriman didn't know what the supplements he was taking contained I personally don't care what he took. He shouldn't be suspended because he did nothing wrong. Neither allegedly did Barry Bonds, nor Mark McGwire. Steroids is a word when the busybodies who run sports leagues and get hauled in front of Congressional committees have to label as bad and wrong and cheating without actually making the case for how it skews the quality of play and gives one an unfair advantage. Take all the anabolic steroids you want, it's not going to speed up your hand-eye coordination and enable you to see the ball better or swing a bat quicker. It allows you to get bigger and put on muscle mass via working out and excercising. So what? Unless you compete in weightlifting or bodybuilding how is that a competive advantage for highly skilled football or baseball players? Football players have always been big. Being bulky and massive won't help you as fat as hitting a baseball square. Second, everybody knows that the supplements and the substances will always be ahead of the testing. Test for anabolic steroids and the bulk of players are on to human growth hormones which can't be tested. Find a test for that and they're on to something else. Players who want to get an edge will find one, whatever the politics may be. What the NFL and other sports leagues should do is make it abundantly clear not what testing positive for steroids will do to your career but educate players and the public what such controversial substances will do your body and your life. If a player wants to assume the risk, that is up to them. Take your suspension Shawne, and get back in time for Denver and the playoffs. Don't play me for a fool and say you didn't know what it was. I don't have a problem with he did.  I do with how he's handled it.

REGGIE BUSH v. MARIO WILLIAMS
(Reggie Bush was the ..2 player chosen in the 2006 NFL draft by the New Orleans Saints, after being widely regarded as the consensus ..1 pick by every expert in favor of Mario Williams by the Houston Texans)

Reggie Bush--RB
Stats for Week 7; None. Saints bye week
Saints are 5-1 all alone in first place in NFC South.

Mario Williams--DE
Stats for Week 7 againts Jacksonville Jaguars; 2 tackles, 1 sack of injured QB Byron Leftwich.
Congrats Houston you actually won a game 27-7 against a better team than you. At 2-4 and out of contention, better start working on next year's draft, so you don't f&..$ it up this time!

SUNDAY TRIFECTA
San Diego Chargers v. St. Louis Rams
Sporting Line: Bolts by 9.5
Breakdown: Two high powered offenses. One high powered defense. Even without Shawne Merriman the Chargers still have the better D but with him, we won't get caught with our pants down like in the final 2 minutes last week against KC, an inferior team we should have beaten.
My Pick: Bolts by 7

Indianapolis Colts @ Denver Broncos
Sporting Line: Orange Crush by 3
Breakdown: What gives when the league's best offense meets the stingiest defense? A great game hopefully. What Peyton is able to do against the Broncos D that has been rebuilt with the sole purpose of corralling the Colts should be must-see-NFL-tv, but this game could hinge on how effective Indy is at stopping Tatum Bell and the Broncos running game. As good as Denver is, they can't blow people out, so this one will stay close. Perhaps Indy K Adam Vinatieri will appear sometime late in the 4th Q with the game on the line and start to pay dividends for the Colts.
My Pick: Indy by 3

Seattle Seahawks @ Kansas City Chiefs
Sporting Line: Off (???)
Breakdown: Down RB Shawn Alexander the Seahawks are a one-dimensional passing team. Down QB Matt Hasselbeck their offense rivals Miami for ineptness. The Chiefs are down at QB too but they still have RB Larry Johnson, and as the San Diego Chargers know all too well, that is  more than enough.
My Pick: Chiefs by 14. They better win or I'm the third to last person to miss out on $800 in my work pool.

Last Week: 1-2
Season: 14-5.

Current mood: nostalgic

Category: Life

The difference between history's boldest accomplishments and its most staggering failures is often, simply, the diligent will to PERSEVERE.