Fisher Times-Post-Dispatch-Courier

First stop: Miami, Florida, where we last saw the gentlemen from the "U" in a civil disagreement with their opponents from football powerhouse FIU.  After Miami suspended involved players for one game (the game against DUKE), they announced an "indefinite" supension of helmet-swinging Anthony Reddick.  Apparently in south Florida, indefinite means four games, because Reddick will be back on the field Saturday.  If you’ve seen the video of the incident, you know "brawl" is less appropriate than "riot," and Reddick was among the worst offenders using his helmet as a weapon.  Considering that the player who is seen on tape kicking and stomping on opposing players on the ground was among the one-game suspensions, Miami allowing Reddick back on the field at all this season doesn’t surprise me, but it does disappoint me.  A remainder-of-the-season suspension was the minimum I was hoping for.  I don’t want to see this young man’s career ruined, but the punishment needed to have been severe enough to have a significant impact on it.  Way to send a message, Miami.

Next stop, Tallahassee, Florida.  I now know where corporations get the idea that paying executives who are fired huge sums of money is a good idea.  Those people must have graduated from FSU’s business school.  Offensive coordinator (soon to be ex-offensive coordinator) for the Seminoles’ football team will be receiving more than half a million dollars to resign.  Granted, the school itself isn’t paying, the money is coming from the "boosters," the same people football teams continuously "fight" with to keep them from giving NCAA rule breaking gifts to players.  What a waste.

Finally, we visit Blacksburg, Virginia, and Memphis, Tennessee, where the NCAA is investigating allegations that a lawyer (great job, jerk) gave money and gifts to players.  The allegations came to light when the attorney sued the players to get the money back when they didn’t hire him as their agent when they went pro.  Any result less than "completely bogus allegations" will result in both institutions receiving some sort of sanction, so here’s a preemptive wag of my finger to those schools (revokable in case the schools are cleared).

And in old news, in case you hadn’t read anything about this, the legal adventures continue for the Northern Colorado ex-punter who was arrested and charged with stabbing the starting punter.  Attempts to close the proceedings to the public were shut down by the judge recently.  Now there’s a runaway player.

Things that I want to point out:

1 - There are still plenty of experts who think that bubonic plague is, in fact, the black death.  Then again, there are still plenty of experts who think a one-loss team from the SEC or Big-10 (which has more than 10 teams) or the Pac-10 would be more deserving of playing in a national championship than an undefeated team out of the Big East.

2 - The experts on plague may be right that plague is the black death.  Football experts who think a team that has lost deserves to play in the National Championship when a team from a major conference, with major conference foes and wins, does not, well, they are not right.  If teams from the SEC and other conferences want to prove they’re more deserving, start scheduling games against West Virginia and Louisville and Rutgers.  Stop scheduling games against I-AA opponents.  Otherwise, shut up.  Rutgers is a major conference team, that, so far, has beaten all comers.  Only Ohio State and Michigan can say that now, and after those two play, we (might if both teams win out) will have two teams that haven’t been defeated.  There’s your national championship game.  End of story.  Period.  Of course, Rutgers doesn’t have "tradition" (never mind being one of the two teams in the first college football game ever), and doesn’t have "history" or "stars" or national draw, so we’ll likely have another undefeated on the outside of the game looking in.  Schmucks.

3 - I am awesome.  I had my Trial Ad trial today, and I kicked butt.  My partner was great, too, and our witnesses were great, and our opponents did a fantastic job.  But our side got the jury verdict, and if feels grrrrreat.  Good to have that out of the way.

4 - I remember poo-pooing the Kenny Rodgers acquisition when the Tigers picked him up, and I was wrong.  I am going to poo-poo the Sheffield pick-up now, and hope that I go 0-2.  I just think Sheff is the wrong guy at the wrong time for the Tigers.  For too much money.  And he’s getting old for a baseball player.  And I think he’s annoying and it will be a struggle to watch any of his at-bats as a Tiger.

5 - No rest for the weary.  2 classes down (or almost down).  One more soon to be out of the way.  And yet I will still have to contend with half a month’s classes, write another seminar-length paper, work, research, study, and live.  Yay for barbiturates.

6 - That last line was a joke. 

Recent happenings:

I just finished my seminar paper last week.  22 pages of gloom and doom, with footnotes, about the threat of a viral pandemic, how the US is unprepared but starting to recognize the threat, how the world is scrambling to prepare, and how the preparations are causing a threat to the health of US citizens.  The US and world governments are stockpiling supplies and medications, hospitals throughout the US are stockpiling supplies and medications, and now corporations are stockpiling supplies and medications.  All this stockpiling is creating a strain on the manufacturing capacity of the pharmaceutical and medical supply makers, and hospital orders for current treatment needs are on backorder.  Scary stuff, and I’ve learned way too much about viral threats, including how the black death was probably not caused by bubonic plague (it was more likely a hemmhoragic fever out of Africa, a la Ebola.)

In other news, quite the exciting Tuesday.

Upcoming:

Trial Advocacy final trial is this Saturday afternoon.  Jurors, a judge, and a real courtroom in St. Louis County.  Should be fun.

Four new photos are up.