What a sad, sad night. Yesterday, I read my employment casefile (despite not volunteering to answer today in class ) early so that I could take a couple hours off to watch the UVA-Purdue game. I should have just stayed in the library then and studied instead. What a waste.

No, I don’t mean that. But I am somewhat (understatement) bitter that UVA couldn’t pick up a W yesterday. I, of course, remain devoted to the team, but I’m also frustrated that UVA just can’t seem to get our road game act together. I don’t understand. Does NCAA have any rules against setting up road game scrimmages? Can we set up an annual scrimmage with a team we don’t usually play, but is at least decent, so that we can get used to playing on the road? Is that possible?
Is it bad that I’m wishing Tunji were still out on his groin injury/surgery? I mean, if Tunji had taken a step forward (or alternatively, stayed on his man), then that shot with 1.3 seconds to go would not have gone in, right? I’d like to also be angry at JR for being out of bounds on the inbounds pass, but let’s be honest - you can’t rely on a halfcourt heave to win a game. And he wouldn’t have made that shot anyway, since we saw he actually did take it.

We have a good streak of home games coming up, save the San Juan Shootout or whatever. Our next real road game is at UNC. Great. Screwed.
Which leads me to my next point. There are only two redeeming things about the ACC/Big 10 challenge this year. First, ACC won, once again. No big shocker there. Second, Carolina beat Ohio St. last night. It wasn’t pretty, but they got the job done. So the Challenge wasn’t a complete waste of my life. That’s comforting.

In unrelated news, class is particularly painful. The girl to the left of me has been on facebook all day. The guy in front of her (diagonal to me) was looking to buy a duct tape wallet. The guy next to him (and thus in front of me) is catching up on what seems to be a month’s worth of news articles. The guy next to him (diagonal to me) is reading up on ESPN college football. The girl behind him (next to me) is a huge celebrity gossip fan and has been reading up on that all class. I don’t know what the guy behind her (diagonal to me) has been doing, since I can’t see that angle. The girl next to him (behind me) is on IM and her away message says “D-Day.” You can only imagine how bored she must be. The guy next to her (diagonal to me) keeps snickering at his computer and whispering to the guy to next to him. So there you have it. Each of the 8 people around me are equally pained right now. Someone save us.

Nice. Writing this post has brought me to 11:44 am. Class is out in one minute. The professor is talking about getting his retarded brother a job as a consultant for $1M a year. His words, not mine.

OK, so apparently I was just kidding about all that jazz re: a victory over Virginia Tech.  UVA was shut out 17-0 at Lane Stadium, which, of course, is horrible.  But there are some silver linings here.  For one, it wasn’t a complete disaster.  I think we all remember the disaster that was 52-14 in Scott Stadium last year.  Sure, we were shut out this year, but our defense held their own for much of the game.  A key fumble at the end of the first half was most unfortunate, but without that, we were looking at 0-0 heading into the locker room.

Sewell.  It’s his first season and he performed much like you’d expect any first-y…freshman to.  But, had we stuck with Sewell since day one, this season may have been very different - we should have beaten W. Mich., we should have beaten ECU.  We didn’t, but we should have.  Those two wins and we’re looking at a bowl-bound 7-5 squad.  But alas.  In any event, Sewell really needs to work on his accuracy and needs to learn to avoid the sack - whether he can run out of it or whether he needs to sacrifice his pass percentage, that’s up to him (though that didn’t seem to be as big a problem this game).  In any event, Sewell’s got his work cut out for him during the off-season, but we should be looking at a strong player next year (next three years, for that matter).

Offense.  You can’t win a game if your offense doesn’t score.  Sorry, bub.  It just does not work that way.  We got only five first downs.  Five.  One of those was off of a roughing-the-kicker call.  Combine that with a fumble, an interception, and a 2-13 on third down conversions stat, and your defense is brewing up trouble.

On the plus side, we’ve got a young team.  On the plus side, Tech’s special teams didn’t do anything crazy.  And on the plus side, BASKETBALL season is here!

Wait. Don’t stop reading yet. I know it’s crazy, but after our loss to W. Mich. (Notice how I properly Bluebook-abbreviated that…sorry, law student…), who would have thought that we would be on the bubble for making a bowl this year? I suspect Coach Groh had an idea that this would be a dismal season (he and the rest of the fans out there), which is why he made this a 12-game season. In any event, we are just one win away from securing the eighth ACC bid!  The only thing that stands in between us and a bowl is Virginia Tech.  And victory is totally ours!!  Sure, they’ve only lost to BC and GT - both of whom will soon be facing off for the ACC title, I imagine. But what’s stopping us from beating them? That we’re playing in Blacksburg, and we haven’t won in Blacksburg in seven years (1998)? Psssh. I take you back to the glory days when, over the span of 10 years, the record was Virginia 175, Virginia Tech 5. We shut them out for all but one game and certainly beat them throught that series.

OK sure, if you want to be all technical about it, that was back in 1895-1904. Let’s look at more recent years, when over a span of 8 years, we shut them out for 4 of those years, won three more, and tied for one. Eh? OK, fine. 1945-52. Even so, 1987-1994 was a good stretch for us also - allowing them only 2 wins there. My point is, Virginia Tech has not always owned the series. They’ve beat us 54.6% of the time, but that is not too shabby.

I mean, Tech’s already locked in for a decent bowl. Their ACC Championship dreams are gone, so why do they need this win? All I’m askin for is a little help. We’re on the bubble, baby. I want to be MPC Computers Bowl-bound once more!

I thought I had lots of stuff to say, but I don’t remember any of it. So first, let me start off by begging all of you to donate to Relay for Life. This year, I started a Law School team called, cleverly enough, “Cancer: We Object!” It’s an amazing overnight fundraising event which raises money for cancer research through the American Cancer Society. It is also a time to celebrate survivorship. I’ve done this a few times before and it’s always one of my favorite things each year. So please, consider donating as much or as little as you can. This year, for everyone who donates $20 or more, I’ll give you a free Cancer: We Object! t-shirt. Who can say no to that?

Now where was I with the regular posting? Oh yes. Miami. How about that? Our first victory over Miami, 17-7 (very well could have been a shutout, even!). I mean, when I say that, you have to remember that they’ve only been in the conference for three years, so it’s not like it’s been decades’ worth of losses to them. And you have to remember that they had just lost three in a row before meeting us. And their general suckiness. But hey - any time you can say you beat Florida St. one year and Miami the next, you’ve got to be happy, right? This means we’re now 5-6 and bowl eligible with just one more victory. Problem is that our next game is against Virginia Tech, at Blacksburg, and I think it’s going to be an uphill battle, to say the least. This means that we’re going to have to put up with another year of the dirty dirty Hokies giving us crap. On the other hand, the Commonwealth Cup will be awarded to UVA at Lane Stadium. Because we believe in well-roundedness. Anyway, I could begin ranting and raving about the lameness that is Virginia Tech, but I suppose I’ll let it go. Check out the picture on the left of CavMan parachuting into the stadium last Saturday. Pretty sweet, huh? You can thank professional photographer Ericka Alonso for that still.

Saturday night I went to Professor Leslie’s house with my section (he INVITED me, I did not show up as the lame tagalong PA…and Lauren Aronson came too!). That is always a good time, plus it was cool to see the finished $90,000 basement. It was even more cool to see Bartthedog again. What a trooper, that guy. Pictures from that, courtesy of Jackie, are up in the photo gallery.

I’ve decided that I’m bored with reading about employment law. So Diane sent me a link (bustedtees.com) that had some tshirt designs that kept me pretty entertained. Here are some highlights:

First, for the law school crowd:

Here is one that we all remember:

Quite possibly my favorite:

Perfect for this facebook group:

For the dirty minds among us:

And also:

Lastly, this fits me perfectly:

What an AWESOME weekend! Friday was well spent on Admin Law - got to do a little bit of review and it oddly enough felt nice to actually get some studying in at last. Saturday I had a preparty at my place for the PILA Auction. I dressed in pink going for the “I’m straight, but yeah - I’ve got style” kind of look. Always a good time. PILA was a ton of fun this year - lots of dancing, lots of bidding. As a result of my overzealousness, I will now be attending a winetasting event with Professor Moran (which we wanted to do anyway) and a dinner before the NCAA Championship game with Dean Jeffries (which I wanted to do and am glad that Jerry was able to win that and invite me!). On a related note, I really have to stop spending so much money.

Also, tonight unranked Virginia opened the new season in the new John Paul Jones Arena against #10 Arizona (Picked a #3 seed in Bracketology). I walked in with some hope, thinking that because of the great fan turnout and the new arena, we’d stand a chance with these guys. After all, last time they were in Charlottesville (two years ago), we definitely beat them. Sure, last year we got stomped in Arizona, but you know…there’s still a chance. At tipoff, my friend next to me said, “Oh dear lord they’re going to kill us.” So that’s less than inspiring. Anyway, in case you haven’t gotten the update, we rallied in the second half and clung onto a 93-90 victory over the Wildcats. Our team looked good, though there’s still much improvement. Our rebounding was less than desireable. Sean Singletary seemed to be wincing in pain at the end there due to some sort of hamstring injury (though he played through the end). Lars Mikalauskas fouled out with ten minutes remaining in the second half…he is much too easily excitable to be trusted, haha. JR Reynolds seemed to have some sort of eye problem, while Tunji Soroye is out for a few weeks due to a groin injury. As Brian Kirby pointed out to me, Ryan Pettinella, transfer from UPenn (Boo Ivy…but who remembers that they’re Ivy anyway?), had just as many fouls as he did points. That’s never a good thing.

What this did tell me, though I already knew it, is that we have a fantastic year coming up. We’re a #10 seed in ESPN’s Bracketology. Don’t get too excited about that though, because you know our team always struggles a bit when it comes to meeting expectations. See, e.g., 2001-02 Season (Ranking as high as #4 without making the NCAA Tournament). In any event, I enjoyed tonight’s game and all the wonders.

What cool stuff happened, aside from the game? Curtis Staples’s #5 jersey was retired. That’s cool, though I expected more cool stuff surrounding that. The opening stuff was pretty remarkable. They are playing the Adventures of Cavman on the big screen, so that of course guarantees excitement. Also, CavMan came down from the ceiling tonight - also cool. Fireworks INSIDE the arena (though I didn’t move fast enough to get a picture or video of that.

Anyway, check out the PHOTO ALBUM for pictures of both PILA and the basketball game. For your viewing pleasure, here is a 5 minute (23 MB) clip (.wmv) of the pregame stuff. All pretty cool stuff! I should note that, as you watch the video, most of the commentary you’re hearing is coming from the buffoon sitting next to me - Dhiraj Joseph. There are some pretty good lines in there from the both of us.

Well, we’re coming up on the end of the semester, and I’m starting to get back into the flow of things — you know, studying and such. I’m starting to review Admin only to realize how few notes I’ve taken in class, and how I’ve read even fewer pages from the casebook. This is going to be a disaster. An absolute disaster. Which is why I’ve decided to tool around online instead.

I purposely did not make any post regarding the elections. The democrats got a huge victory, and I think having Nancy Pelosi third in line for the presidency is really paving the way for Hillary to step in. Which brings me to my next point. When have you ever seen someone as successful as her run a campaign on her first name alone? I’m wondering if she’ll make the bold move of dropping “Clinton” from her name and only go by Hillary. Much like Prince. She can say that she’s retiring the Clinton, much like in the footsteps of Sean Combs / Puff Daddy / P. Diddy / Diddy, who I’m sure is undoubtedly her idol.

Also, I was snooping around online and I found these little treasures. If you didn’t know, when I was little, my brother and I had an entire room full of Legos. We basically had the entire city collection - police, ambulance, fire station, houses…it was awesome. We also had two big pirate ships..cuz you know, sometimes cities get attacked by pirates and stuff. Anyway, check out how great Lego has become!! I totally want these.

Not sure if you can see these, but these are magnets from their city characters.

Salt and Pepper Shakers!

An ice cube tray? You can’t beat that.

Or can you? Corkscrew and Bottle Opener. Something seems wrong about using Legos for this…

Oooh. it’s almost 5:00. I should head home, clean up my apartment, and get ready for the PILA Auction tonight. Go Hoos (always an appropriate response to anything)

I don’t know who came up with that title, but it sucks.  I just wanted to pop in and let you know what’s in store for the upcoming month:  studying, studying, studying.  Ooh, and PILA.  November is when I really crack down and just focus on studying for my exams…which is particularly important this year given how many classes I’ve missed due to interviews and the like.  With the occassional basketball/football game, plus the ever-important PILA auction, I’m afraid to say that updates here will begin to dwindle.  Once a week maybe?  But hey - if you keep making comments on my site, it will remind me to update here.

I want so badly to comment on the whole Mike Stark fiasco that has been going on over the past week.  But I can’t.  He’s a student in the class I’m Dillarding for, and as such, I think it would be best for me to bite my tongue.

Borat.  Has anyone seen it?  I’m sure many of you have.  It didn’t particularly strike my fancy when I caught a trailor for it, but it seems that everyone is pretty excited about this silly movie.  Is it worth my while?  I also have yet to see The Departed.  I want to though.

Alright, at this point I’m really just babbling.  Did anyone watch the debacle that was the Virginia - Florida State football game yesterday?  Holy Crikey (My apologies for using the word “Crikey” - are we retiring that word or no?)!  33-0?  Seriously?  Come on, Sewell.  Stop protecting your pass completion percentage.  That’s lame.  There was one “drive” (does it count as a drive if you go backwards?) where we had 4 sacks in 3 downs.  That is just ridiculous.  Virginia Football makes me angry sometimes.

I have a ticket to Earth Wind & Fire on November 11 that I will not be going to (thanks to PILA!).  If anyone wants it, let me know - it’s yours.  The show is free for students (I believe you get tickets through SHOTS), but if you’re a student and want to bring a guest, then I don’t know how else you get a guest ticket.

Alright.  I’ve got to get the day started.  Peace.