Until Virginia upsets USC and sends Pete Carroll home crying.

Of course, we all know my obsession with #44.  Or I guess I now have to call him #7.  Singletary was drafted last week by the Kings as the twelfth pick of the second round.  He’s all grown up and headed to the NBA!  Come on, as though there were ever any doubt, right?  Right?  Heh.

Now, I have never really followed the NBA, except for the finals this year (is it really necessary, by the way, to have best-of-seven series?  I know I’m not making any original arguments here, but seriously now.  Single elimination or a best-of-three is plenty enough.  I don’t need to same the same game 7 times in a week), so I don’t really have any commentary here.  But it looks like next year I will be following the kings, even though I know I should be following the Knicks.  Meh.

OK, back to BarBri.

I finally found one reputable source that has Sean Singletary going as #53 to the Jazz. Let’s hope Thursday works out for him. SI.com a while back had an article about him being an underrated draft hopeful. I’ve always liked ESPN and Sports Illustrated.

Abovethelaw.com finally posted today about the Duke article that I posted yesterday. I scooped you, ATL. I want credit, because I know David Lat sits and reads my journal all day long looking for new content for his little ATL blog.
Obviously, I am kidding on this post. I know I’m not the first, nor the last, to post about this. Don’t leave me sassy comments about how self-entitled I am and all that crap.

In what’s becoming a recurring theme here, Duke sucks. I know, I know. That’s like saying the sky is blue, or humans need oxygen, right? It’s basically something that any ol’ court could take judicial notice of (Sorry, I’ve been studying for the Bar, in case you haven’t noticed).

But in this post, I have judicial backing that Duke sucks. Not only does the court agree, but Duke’s own lawyers are arguing for this point. ESPN.com recently reported that a Kentucky judge agrees what we all know already: Duke Football is abysmal. Duke pulled out of the final three games of a four-game contract with Louisville. When Louisville sued for $450,000 in liquidated damages (the article incorrectly calls this a “penalty” when we all know, I think, that it can’t just be a penalty fee), the article states that Duke lawyers argued:

the Blue Devils’ performance on the field was so poor that any Division I team would suffice as a replacement. Duke is 6-45 over the past five years, 13-90 since 1999.

Ha. The article goes on to state:

…this is a threshold that could not be any lower,” [Judge Phillip J.] Shepherd wrote in a summary judgment issued Thursday, according to the paper. “Duke’s argument on this point cannot be reasonably disputed by Louisville.”

Hey Louisville, I hear Virginia is looking for some higher caliber opponents.* Sigh. I mean, we’re going to be awesome next year. What do analysts know? We’ve got an Elite 11 Camp quarterback and a pretty stellar RB coming in. Sure, Torrey Mack is our only 4-star recruit this year, but with a wide open ACC Coastal, aside from Virginia Tech, it’s certainly possible for the Hoos to sneak their way up to the top again. But I digress.

I hope ESPN continues to churn out these types of articles such that I can justify my incessant surfing studying online.

*But seriously, I would like to see UVA take on Louisville.

Credit Liam for the link.

1. Spygate. Seriously. Let it go. I don’t care anymore. No one cares anymore.
2. Big Brown. He lost. He either had a bad day or was injured or the jockey was paid to pull up (how come, in the day and age of widespread accusation, no one has brought up yet?) or something else happened, but either way, he lost. Can we all go back to not caring about the Triple Crown unless it is to be used as an excuse to drink heavily? See, e.g., Foxfield.
3. The NHL. OK, we haven’t heard too much about the NHL lately - just a comment or two here and there on your regular blogs and shows. But still. See above re: going back to not caring.
4. Donaghy Donaghy Donaghy. Donagiveadarn. Maybe it’s because I only started following the NBA recently (it still pales in comparison to college, in my humble opinion), but are people really all up in arms about this? I have no horse in the race and therefore don’t really care.
5. Constitutional Law.

I read this article from STLtoday.com the other day and couldn’t help but laugh out loud at:

Irked that his hottest new prospect turned the wrong way during a drill at Rams Park, defensive line coach Brian Baker marched up to Chris Long and spread his arms.

“Does this look like Virginia to you?” Baker blurted. “This is the NFL.”

Answer: Yes, it appears it does look like Virginia to Chris.

In April, I posted about Duke’s flopping camp, mostly as a joke, though we all know that Duke is among the most egregious flopping schools. The NBA has decided to institute a fine for “the most egregious flops,” according to their VP of Basketball Operations Stu Jackson. I think this is a brilliant idea in theory, but I question its execution.

We don’t know as of yet how much the fine will be. As of now, the fine for a technical foul for unsportsmanlike conduct is only $100. Surely a flopping fine would be lower than this? And if this is the case, what’s the point? Even if it’s comparable to unsportsmanlike conduct, is $100 really going to deter these players from flopping? This guy, at least, is dubious.

I think the smarter, more logical approach is to start issuing technicals for egregious or consistent floppers. This, of course, will also result on a fine against the individual player, but it also means that the team as a whole suffers in that game. And it’s when the team suffers that we’ll begin seeing results.

Ugh, since when did I begin following anything about the NBA, much less posting about it? In my defense, what makes me most excited about the NBA’s action against floppers (whether or not it’ll actually work) is the potential that (a) this flows down to the college ball and (b) it results in Duke’s further downfall.

Anyone who has read pretty much any of my posts know that I LOVE comments. I obviously like the good ones better than the bad, but I got one just now that I thought I’d make a quick comment on. You can read the comment here. So to Max Wilson, this one’s for you.

First and foremost, I don’t seriously think Sean has any regrets about coming to Virginia over Kansas. I also have no doubt that the thought has at least crossed his mind, however briefly. If you’ve read any of my other random babblings this year, you’ll know that I have the utmost respect for him and, like I said in my original post, a man crush indeed. So, I’m not going to bother saying anything else about this, haha.

Second, it is completely conceivable that the sports writer went to Burns for the story. Assuming the story that he published was not a twist of words (an assumption I make based on the lack of response or follow-up from Burns, Leitao, or anyone involved with Virginia athletics), to me it doesn’t matter if Burns went to Reid or Reid went to Burns. Any athlete, especially in either football or basketball, speaking to a media person knows that the appropriate response there is “no comment,” unless you want the story published. A comment like “I don’t know if I’m going to stick with it” sends a lot of different messages about the program and the team. Yes, one of those messages could be “Oh man next year’s recruits are so awesome, I know I’m not even going to get final-five-seconds PT!!” — in which case, SWEET. Let’s all rejoice in that one! But to me, it sends questions about team dynamics, and I wonder if his mentality might also be shared with other teammates. I sure hope not.

You’ll also have to accept my apologies for not collecting information, conducting my own interviews, and “jumping to obtuse conclusions about what others have written.” Let me assure you - if I had access to Burns, Singletary, Leitao, Littlepage, or anyone else, really, I would be all over it. Unfortunately, I am but a peon at the University. However, I did once send a Facebook message to Sean wishing him a happy birthday. He even replied! So, maybe I have more clout than I think I do, but I think we both know better than that, haha.

OK, just two more points to make and I’ll be on my way. First, you say that “Like most bloggers,” I don’t do my research before I write. I don’t purport to be a “blogger.” I purport to be someone who keeps a journal. I don’t expect anyone in the world to come to my site to get their daily fix on UVA sports or really anything I write about in the world. I say things like “YAY we won!” I hope that’s not the type of news people want. The only thing that I could possibly be considered a “blogger” for is the law school, as I have a good sense of what’s going on in here and don’t post things until I’ve checked it a couple times. So, thank you for considering that the content that I put up here is blogworthy. I don’t hold myself as “high” a standard as a good blogger may. Ha. I just said that bloggers hold themselves to a high standard. I hope you know what I mean.  I am a babbler.  Not a blogger.
Second, you said that you think I delete comments that don’t agree with my opinions, though apparently I am easily critical of others. I take some offense to your thinking that I am easily critical of others. I’m not. If you were to know me in real life (and who knows, maybe you do and you’re writing under a pseudonym), you’d know that I’m more self-critical than anything else. But, I found a silver lining to this insult. You apparently think I get comments! Haha. No, alas. I get comments from some of my good friends. And a few random people. But people generally don’t read my site to get belligerent with me. They read it because they seem to have run out of internet. Although, once (on my old site, before I made this layout) I made a crack about med students using the law school library and a med student said that if he were ever to see my *** *** on his surgery table, he’d refuse to help me. He also said something about bringing blenders to the law library and plugging them in all around me just to piss me off. I have to admit, I deleted those comments. Haha. But yeah, I won’t delete your comment unless it’s unproductive and just violently angry. You don’t seem to hate me / want me to bleed to death on a surgery table, so your comments get to stay. It’s a low standard, really.

Anyway, thanks for the response!

And I hope everyone sees how excited I get when I get comments. Keep them coming.

Chris Long, on ESPN:

You know, I haven’t had that much contact with very many teams. It’s been pretty quiet. I’m starting to wonder if I’m going to get drafted. …please somebody pick me!

After the interviewer says, “I’m going to go out on a limb and say you’ll get drafted. Early.” Chris Long:

That’d be pretty cool.

April 17, 2008. Man I love this guy!