The Fickleness of my Sports fandom

“You love the Red Sox, but have they ever loved you back?” – Fever Pitch

 

I never believed in being loyal to a sports franchise, just because it is a local team. My belief is that you should be loyal to a franchise as far as it is loyal to its fans. I’ve been a Yankee fan for as long as I’ve understood sports. Yes, they’re the Yankees, of the 200 million dollar payroll. Yes, I grew in Queens, New York, where the Mets play. But the Yankees always ensure that they have a good product on the field. They utilize the uncapped nature of the baseball financial system and make sure that the team is worth rooting for. The Dallas Cowboys, despite an erratic history of success since I’ve been alive are another team I root for solidly. They continue to try to win every year.  They also do a great job of catering to the fans.

 

The Knicks are on the other side of the equation. On my 13th birthday they traded my favorite player on the team, Marcus Camby to the Denver Nuggets. That was the beginning of the end of rooting for the Knicks. It wasn’t a crazy trade at the time. They brought back Antonio McDyess, who at the time was a star player who put up better numbers than Camby. Camby was also injured, and spent a large portion of the first Nuggets season hurt. Of course, Camby went on to lead the league in blocks for years and won a Defensive Player of the Year award, and McDyess went on to be terrible for the Knicks and better for other teams. The Knicks also have a terrible owner in Dolan, and have had all types of off the court issues. Why should I ever be loyal to that organization?

 

Sports loyalty can be like dating or like marriage. As long as your honest about what your loyalty level is, I’m not going to judge. My basketball rooting interests have nothing to do with loyalty, and more to do with interesting storylines (See ‘08-‘09 Rockets). Will T-Mac get to play in the second round? Will Ron Artest ever recieve redemption? Will Shane Battier get the respect he deserves? Those are the types of things that make sports great. It also means that when teams make boneheaded decisions, I can leave at will with no hard feelings. When the other option is remaining loyal to a poorly run organization, its much better than simply rooting for the laundry.

I still stay awake at night

 

I don’t sleep. When the normal people are going to bed, turning their lights off, preparing their bodies for the next day, I’m awake. I started writing the post at 2 AM MST. I figured moving west would help. It hasn’t.

Moving to Colorado has been a blessing in many ways. Moving 2 time zones west means that my friends can’t enable me anymore. Some of them are night owls too, but they aren’t usually awake at 5 AM NY time when I’m up at 3 AM Denver time. If they are, they aren’t on Xbox live giving me an excuse to stay awake. It also gives me some peace and solace. I’m physically far away from the financial troubles, the losses and the racism that soured my last few years in New York.

Most of the reason why I moved was to get away. I’m a huge fan of the Count of Monte Cristo. In the book, a guy who has it all, a wonderful girlfriend, a great job and limitless potential has it all taken away by people who betray him. He ends up in jail, viewed as a traitor. Then he, through his own skill and will to survive and quite a bit of luck, goes to Monte Cristo and finds a huge fortune. He returns to his home and seeks revenge upon those who betrayed him and to win back the girlfriend he lost.

In more than one obvious way I viewed Colorado, and Colorado Law School as my own Monte Cristo. Obviously, Colorado has mountains, and part of going to law school is for the opportunity to make money. But also, I viewed Colorado as a safe haven. In New York, I couldn’t help myself or anyone else. When I leave Colorado, I’ll have a j.d. and with it, the ability to change lives. I could graduate with my degree and stick it to people who felt I wasn’t worthy of respect because of economic class and race. (A certain set of parents comes to mind) But between then and now, I want to be in a position where I’m not suffering.

Living in my house in NY, with all of the problems it had and no way to fix it was depressing. I knew I couldn’t spend 3 years of law school there. If I’m lucky, I’ll never move back. The experience of studying while the sound of gunshots fills the air (followed by yelling, followed by sirens) is one that strengthened me, but something I’d prefer not to deal with if I could. I used to stay awake at night wishing I could change it, hoping I could fix the issues in my home that I couldn’t do anything about. I was always so stressed. My heatless room, without electricity, the bills that always seemed to increase, the broken stairs and the feeling of being useless kept me up at night.

Even though I’m almost 2,000 miles away, I still stay up at night. Sure, I’m in Colorado and things are good for me. I just finished my first year of law school. My apartment in Boulder is wonderful. I’ve met some great people, and my internship at the Boulder Public Defenders office is fulfilling. But in leaving, I can’t help but to feel that I’ve made other people’s lives worse in the process. My mom and sister are still in that home, in that neighborhood, dealing with the same issues (although neither of them has my old room, thank god). The kids at the library who saw me as a role model and a steadying influence no longer see me around or have me there after school. I’ve done what I always criticized other people for doing. I found success and I left the neighborhood behind. People never bring back their success; they move and never come back. I feel guilty and it keeps me awake once I stop studying and biking and working and gaming.

Perhaps I’m too hard on myself. My ex-girlfriend’s mom described me as like Atlas once, saying that she could tell from my eyes that I had the weight of the world on my shoulders. This is more true than not. I take on responsibility, being the person who does the right thing and tries to lead by example. I don’t engage in a lot of activity because of it. I know I don’t have to be responsible all the time but I can’t help but feel responsible for ensuring the wellbeing of those who surround me. It’s why I don’t drink (gotta make responsible decisions). It’s why I don’t curse on my Facebook wall (gotta ensure that I don’t offend anyone, or at the very least not offend anyone unnecessarily). It’s also why I can’t sleep.

One day I’ll have a restful sleep. Either I’ll find a way to properly balance my need to help people with occasionally behaving selfishly, or I’ll stop caring as much. People have been, are and will be fine without me. Maybe I’ll drown out the voice that says “you have to make sure they get home safely”, when they’ll be fine. Or perhaps, like I have before, I’ll continue to behave as I do and just accept that I’ll be awake thinking about all the things I could be doing.

 

** COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO SPOILERS**
The protagonist doesn’t find solace in revenge. He certainly gets a lot of revenge, but it isn’t what brings him happiness.  Yes I added a spoiler tag for a book that is over a hundred years old, just in case someone wanted to read it and didn’t want the end spoiled (Superego strikes again).

23 songs from my 23rd year.

Thank you to everyone who made my last year special. My last year was tumultuous. I left New York City, New York and moved to Boulder, Colorado for law school. The only thing that stayed consistent other than my friends and family was my music and love for it. Over the last year music helped me get through tough spots in my life.

*As opposed to my usual method of lyrics posting, I’m not censoring a word. When the artists said the lyrics, they didn’t say f*%^ they said fuck. And it’s not on my Facebook page so you have the option of not reading the rest if 4 letter words are problematic for you. That being said, there aren’t a ton of curse words here.

.

 

Trouble on my Mind - Tyler the Creator ft. Pusha T

"This is for the critics, who doubted the chemistry
Two different words, same symmetry
And this black art, see the wizardry
When you at the top of your game, you make enemies
You’ll never finish me " – Pusha T

In the song the 2 different worlds are Pusha T, a former drug dealer and veteran rapper as opposed to Tyler the Creator, a rookie and hipster. My different worlds are, my personal life, dating gaming and rap music versus my professional life, studying and working.

Oldies -Odd Future

"And me? I just spent a year Ferrisin'
And lost a little sanity to show you what hysterics is"

"Then I made a mil and them psychics was liars
Now, how many fucking crystal balls can I buy and own
Humble old me had to flex for the folks"

“To have some type of knowledge that is one perception
But knowin' you own your opponent is a defeatin' bonus”

Oldies is a 10 minutes song. I play the song for timing in the morning. If I need to do something for 10 minutes then leave I use the song. I know one Tyler’s part comes on it’s time to get out of the apt.

Murder to Excellence - Kanye West and Jay-Z

"Is it genocide?
Cause I can still hear his mama cry
Know the family traumatized
Shots left holes in his face about piranha-sized
The old pastor closed the cold casket
And said the church ain’t got enough room for all the tombs
It’s a war going on outside we ain’t safe from
I feel the pain in my city wherever I go
314 soldiers died in Iraq, 509 died in Chicago" – Kanye West

"And they say by 21 I was supposed to die
So I’m out here celebrating my post-demise " – Jay-Z

Murder to Excellence is a dark song. It’s starts with the large amount of black on black violence and ends with the lack of successful black people. Of course it’s related. How many future stars were gunned down, or are in jail  because of decisions made in their youth. Also the 314/509 stat is from 2008 

Welcome to the Jungle

“My faith in God, every day is hard
Every night is worse, that’s why I pray so hard” - Jay Z

[Kanye West]

“Why I pray so hard, this is crazy God
Just when I thought I had everything, I lost it all”

“I’m losing myself, I’m stuck in the moment
I look in the mirror, my only opponent
Where the fuck is the press? Where the fuck is the Pres?
Either they know or don’t care, I’m fucking depressed
No crying in public, just lying to judges
Risking my life, I’m already dying, so fuck it well”

Great song, not much of a blurb, but it’s another watch the Throne masterpiece

Devil in a New Dress- Kanye West

"May the Lord forgive us, may the Gods be with us
In that magic hour I seen good Christians
Make rash decisions, oh she do it
What happened to religion? Oh, she lose it
She putting on her make up, she casually allure
Text message break ups, the casualty of tour
How she gon' wake up and not love me no more?
I thought I was the asshole, I guess it’s rubbing off
Hood phenomenon, the Lebron of rhyme
Hard to be humble when you stunting on a jumbotron
I’m looking at her like this what you really wanted, huh?
Why we argue anyway? Oh, I forgot, it's summertime "

This is a song I didn’t appreciate at first. This song grew on me, and sometimes in life the songs that are meaningful depend on the experiences you have

Funkmaster Flex Freestyle

-Pusha T and Kanye West

"Penitentiary chances, the devil dances
and eventually answers to the call of Autumn
all of them fallin' for the love of ballin'
got caught with 30 rocks, the cop look like Alec Baldwin" - West

"it's been a while since I watched the tube
cause like a crip set ,
I got way too many blues for any more bad news
I was looking at my resume feeling real fresh today
they rewrite history I don't believe in yesterday " -West

It starts off incredibly dark discussing the perils of the community

"I aint got it I'm comin after whoever who has it
I'm coming after whoever who has it
you blowing up, that's good, fantastic " -West

The sarcasm with which he congratulates others’ success is hilarious in the course of the song but also an insight to Mr. West’s frame of mind.

"Feels like I'm doomed to dealing with women whom
Relationships with their fathers won't allow us to bloom" – Pusha T

BET Cypher

"Is it me? Or is what I'm hearing just pitiful?
Airwaves the same, now the stereo's typical
My skin's thick, so the critics ignored
So unafraid to die, you'd think I did it before " - Joe Budden

"Hi Rihanna.. I don't need to know you better
You tell me you love my music again? We go together
Bye Rihanna.. now back to y'all fools
We rock out like the outside of a guitar school" - Royce da 5'9

"A B, let's C, you said you were gonna do X-Y-Z
'til you fuck around and get dropped like an E when you add an I-N-G
Don't put a K in front of that though, when I MC "- Eminem

3 of my favorite artists in the same cypher? Yes, yes and yes. And yes again.

Joe Budden discussing the problem with rap and where he fits in (not watching the throne but sabotaging it). Royce being irreverent and creating an instant trending topic. (Just as funny was when Rihanna tweeted "Hi Royce") Eminem being overly creative. The second line is about verb tenses.

Can I live – Jay Z

"At the time it never bothered me, at the bar
Getting my thug on properly, my squad and me
Lack of respect for authority, laughing hard
Happy to be escaping poverty, however brief
I know this game got valleys and peaks,
expectation
For dips, for precipitation we stack chips, hardly
The youth I used to be, soon to see a mill'in
No more Big Willie, my game has grown: prefer you call me William "

"Forgetting all I ever knew, convenient amnesia
'I suggest you call my lawyer, I know the procedure'
Lock my body, can't trap my mind
Easily, explain why we adapt to crime
I'd rather die enormous than live dormant, that's how we on it
Live at the main event, I bet a trip to Maui on it "

The first verse of Can I live is one of my favorite verses ever. It's a verse about maturation. It starts off with Jay-z talking about his issues now, then transitions to the things he did at a more immature point of his life and progresses to the more mature point he is currently. The line where he says he only wants to gamble at the craps tables where you have to gamble a thousand or more to prevent the people with less money (and more to lose because of it) from gambling with him is genius.

The irony is that the things that he's saying now are things that the younger people in his "profession" would want to know. The problem is that they probably wouldn’t listen to the advice that he gave anyway because they’re young

Dance (Remix)-Big Sean and Nicki Minaj

"Wobble-dy wobble-dy wa wobble wobble "

There is nothing particularly redeemable about the fact I like this song. I tried finding a particularly witty lyric, or something that would make this acceptable. With rap music, generally lyrics are the only thing that matter to me. Nope. What do I like about the song? It's not deep at all. I like the Nicki Minaj "Michael Kors" line. I like the fresh prince reference in the video. I like the fact that the video begins with the word ass in different languages. I like the fact that there's a censored sign every time he curses or says an inappropriate word. It also has a great beat that samples "Can't Touch This" by Mc Hammer.

But really, it’s a fun song that isn't like the other 90% of music on my iPod and puts me in a better mood by listening to it. I'm not a dancer, but it makes me Dance. And really that's the point right?

Mercy -Kanye West, Pusha T, Big Sean, 2 Chainz

"I work them long nights, long nights to get a pay day (Huh!)"

Another fun video. Secret. Watch at 0:29-0:36. One of the best dance sequences in a video period. Still being silly.

Help I'm alive-Metric

"Help, I'm alive, my heart keeps beating like a hammer
Hard to be soft, tough to be tender"

Hey! You're not a rap song. What are you doing here Are you lost? I love the song, especially in its acoustic version. Love the beat love the lyrics. Also used heavily when I gave my oral argument.

Interstate Love Song - Stone Temple Pilots

“Breathing
is the hardest thing to do.
with all I've said and 
All that's dead for you, 
You lied - good bye”

I always assumed that the "all these things you said to me" were lies she told him. Then I read that the "all these things you said to me" was a summary of things she said to him. So was he lying. Was it intentionally able to go both ways. What do I get out of it? "You lied. Good bye."

Free Bird - Lynrd Skynyrd

"If I leave here tomorrow 
Would you still remember me? 
For I must be travelling on, now, 
'Cause there's too many places I've got to see. 
But, if I stayed here with you, girl, 
Things just couldn't be the same. 
'Cause I'm as free as a bird now, 
And this bird you can not change. 
Lord knows, I can't change. "

One of the highlights of guitar hero was the solo for this song. Also a song that I played in the mornings in spring semester.

About a girl - Nirvana

"I'll take advantage while
You hang me out to dry
But I can't see you every night
No I can't see you every night, free "

In the 1st semester of law school, the term law school widow was a running joke. By the second semester it was a reality for many of us. "I can't see you every night…."

Rigamortis

“And this is rigamortis and it's gorgeous when you die”

Sometimes the impact of a song isn’t within the lyrics but more the delivery of them, the flow. Kendrick keeps it quick but still pretty calm and mellow.

Shiny Suit Theory - Jay Electronica Jay-Z

“In this manila envelope the results of my insanity
Quack said I crossed the line between real life and fantasy
Can it be the same one on covers with Warren Buffet
Was ducking the undercovers, was warring with motherfuckers?Went from warring to Warren, undercovers to covers “ – Jay-Z

Another look at me then vs now line. Sounds familiar?

“I pack up all my sins and I wear them to the show
And let 'em go, let 'em go, let 'em go, let 'em go”    - Jay Electronica

The Announcement

"We choose to go to the moon
We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things
Not because they are easy, but because they are hard
Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills " - JFK

Who starts a song with a JFK speech? Someone with massive confidence. Someone who has enough boldness to say "Get it? Forget It." Even if you don't understand we'll move on. The JFK speech also serves as a good reason I went to law school. Not because it's easy, but because it is hard and it serves to measure the best of my energy and skills.

Exhibit C - Jay Electronica

“I used to get dizzy spells, and hear a little ring
The voice of a angel telling me my name
Telling me that one day I'mma be a great mane
Transforming with the Megatron Don spittin out flames
Eatin' wack rappers alive, shittin' out chains “

I really like that last line. There's only but so many ways you can say that you're better than everyone else. Again, it's another song that discusses maturity. Jay begins by discussing what he used to be. Then he hears a voice telling him he'd be a great man (interesting that he describes himself as a great man, not as a great rapper). Then he proceeds to say why he was skeptical and then why he accepted the voice. Another more creative than it needed to be line was "So now I'm back spittin that "he could pass a polygraph" He could have said spitting the truth. But again sometimes its best to be creative.

Doomsday - Nero

No lyrics. It's a dubstep song. Still love it though. 1st heard it from the borderlands trailer.

So Appalled - Kanye West, Swizz Beats, Jay-Z, Pusha T, Cyhi the Prynce

“Paranoid mind, I'm still under the watchful
Eye of the law, aspire for more” - Pusha

Love this line. A drug dealer discussing being watched by the law. Or maybe not. Oh, the paranoia of illegal activity, worrying about getting caught and the consequences. Even while being aware that it makes his paranoid, he still aspires for more. The illegally gained money only will make him watched more.

"If God had a iPod, I'd be on his playlist"- Cyhi
Speaking of cocky, Cyhi doesn't lack for confidence in this line.

Mr. Nice Watch - J-Cole

"No more mr nice guy, hello mr nice watch"

Been there. Doing that

Black Lip Bastard - Ab-Soul

“I told niggas, caught, wrecked, and then I towed niggas
Fold niggas like clothes and drawers nigga
Homie chose to go toe-to-toe, I had to break his leg
Like a cliche to rock a show, is that over your head?
Niggas stretchin' the truth like they choose to do yoga instead
Either that or that or they depressed, eatin' yogurt in bed”

Sometimes songs are just creative. I really like the first lines of the song. Period.

Trayvon Martin.

 

Why do I care? Bad things happen to good people all of the time. Certainly it is tragic. Perhaps it is because, at least for many of the black males with the I AM TRAYVON MARTIN statuses, the fact that the events that occurred could have a happened to them. This a 17 year old who had potential for good and parents attempting to steer him in the right direction. The statistic that many black men don't make it to 25 is one that I joked around about at the National Black Law Students Association with my male colleagues. It was dark humor (no pun intended), but interesting nonetheless. The black boy gunned down motif is one that bothers me greatly, mostly because I often feared that it would be me. I worried about it in my own almost entirely black neighborhood growing up, and I was concerned about it when I went to other Queens neighborhoods where I was  the only black guy there. 

There's a huge racial angle to the story and it has very little to do with whether or not Zimmerman actually is racist. "I think he's on drugs or something" "He looks suspicious". The feeling is that if it were a 17 year old white kid that it would have gone differently. Again, there's a lot of imprinting. In my case, I'm reminded of store owners following me throughout stores, including in one case a time where a store clerk followed me outside of the store yelling and cursing accusing me of stealing from him, AFTER I HAD PAID. He thought that I paid for something small and then stolen something larger. Was that racial? When police entered a McDonald's approaching me with their guns "at the ready" (holster unsnapped, hand on the handle), and then asked me if I was supposed to be in class, essentially truancy, was that racial? Here in Colorado a lady looked at me and said "there's so many thugs here." Was that racial? In all of those cases the answer is maybe. Are they unjust? Certainly. If Zimmerman is truly not a racist, and would have committed the acts in question regardless of the race of the kid, does that make it better that an unarmed kid was shot? No.

There's also hoodie angle. This goes something along the lines of "Trayvon was wearing a hoodie therefore he must have been doing something wrong" or "Trayvon was wearing a hoodie so it is reasonable that Zimmerman thought that something was wrong". I understand that angle to an extent. I don't have a major issue with Zimmerman calling the police. Our feelings about what constitutes "suspicious" are often different. Honestly, if that had been the only thing that happened, this wouldn't be a national story. For Zimmerman to accost Trayvon after calling the authorities is where the problem comes in. Zimmerman shouldn't have done that. (the 911 operator also should have said "don't do that" as opposed to "we don't need you to do that", but that's another story).  The details after are almost irrelevant.

There's also the angle I look at it it from. The angle of police misconduct. It appears that at many levels the police blew this one. To me, what the police did, or didn't do is much more egregious than what Zimmerman did. The reason why is because we don't know all of the facts of what Zimmerman did and there's a time period that remains blurry. What we know entirely is what the police knew, and that in knowing what they knew at the time, should have arrested Zimmerman. The police should have arrested him at many occasions between then and when he was arrested last week. Also the 911 tap releasing his phone number was not a smart move on the part of the police. Of course, my bias here comes from my background in Criminal Justice, so I know academically what's supposed to happen. I also understand that the academic understanding often conflicts with the pragmatic applications in many areas. However, there's no excuse for the lack of an arrest here. If this was really self defense, then arrest him and let the jury decide. If not, let him go home knowing that what he did was valid within the law.

Will any result make race relations or police handling of cases any better? Probably not. Will any result bring back Trayvon? No. However, the fact that we're talking about race relations openly is a good thing something that I find to be promising. More importantly, the fact that justice s being served is meaningful

He's back

2nd Half talk.

In order to be an MVP you have to be valuable. As far as I'm concerned the MVP race is a 4 person race in this order.

1. Lebron James. He's having a historically good season. On top of that he's reduced his bad shots and upped his fg% a ton.

2. Kevin Durant. Sure I could put him lower, but the Thunder are the best team in the conference. He's the best player on that team. The thunder would be a middling team without him.

3. Dwight Howard. If you wonder where the Heat/Thunder would be without Bron and KD, where would the Magic be without Dwight.

4. Chris Paul. Remember how the Clippers were last year. Add CP3 and people are discussing them for the title.

Other guys

Derrick Rose. He's missed 1/3 of the season. How can you be MVP if you're not there.
LaMarcus Aldridge. Because someone has to mention his contributions. Even if LA went to the Tim Duncan School of excitement.
Chris Bosh / Russell Westbrook / Luol Deng - Sure they've improved mightily this season, but the second best player on the team can't be MVP, right?
Steve Nash. Another where would the team be without him guy. Unfortunately, the team is pretty bad with him.
Josh Smith. Not as much anymore
Jeremy Lin. just kidding, for now

AFC Recap

 

Just in case you have forgotten, at the beginning of the NFL season, I pick all 256 games based purely on who I think will win the match up. I don't update them. After the season, I do a recap to show how close or far away I was. And to laugh at myself.

 

AFC North

BAL: Prediction: 15 wins

"The Ravens need to win this year. If they cannot win the division this year I wonder if they ever will. I think Ray Rice will have an outstanding season.  "

Actual: 12 wins

Told you they were still good. They weren't juggernauts on defense, but they did more than enough to get the job done. Thy would have won more had they not fallen asleep at the wheel against inferior opponents. And Rice was outstanding.

 

PIT: Prediction: 12 wins

"Rooting against the Steelers. Always. Betting against the Steelers? Not happening. "

Actual: 12 wins

Roethlisberger's name is really hard to spell. And their pass offense is equally hard to stop. 

 

CLE: Prediction 12 wins

"To quote a friend of mine, the Browns are "creeping on the come-up".  Colt McCoy is improving. The O line is high quality. Peyton Hillis will be good till the madden curse hits him.  I honestly think they'll be a first round exit team. "

Actual: 4

I should have known better than to trust Mccoy and Hillis. Never again. The defense wasn’t terrible, but they just could not score against anyone.

 

CIN:  Prediction 6 wins

“I have a bet going. I think the Bengals will be bad. However, the Bengals might be ok defensively. I think they are going to do just enough for a low draft pick.”

Actual : 10 wins

Everything I thought Cleveland would be. Cincinatti has take advantage of a weak schedule and taken a wild card spot. They beat up on inferior opponents all year. And of course, they were a first round exit team.

 

AFC East:

NYJ: Prediction: 10

“Listen to this. The team lost some of their best defenders, their second best wide receiver and didn’t improve any of the positions on the team. Their biggest signing was a wide receiver who hasn’t played in nearly 3 years.  “

Actual: 8

I was concerned about the fact that every transaction this year made them a worse team. They lost recievers, offensive linemen, Defensive players and still kept Sanchez. They may have deserved to be worse than they were.

 

NE: Prediction: 11

Why do I keep picking against the Pats to win the division. They’re the best team this year.

Actual: 13

They find ways to win. 31st pass defense? Who cares, I'm gonna throw TDs to my tight end like this is a game of Madden.

 

BUF:

Prediction: 6

The Bills are going to win some games. I like them. It’s a shame that they lost their best defender (Pozluzny) and Lee Evans. They won’t be able to "Suck for Luck" but they’re okay

Actual : 6 wins

Another team that lost more than it gained in free agency.

 

MIA: 

Prediction: 3

“Running Backs? Gone. The fans have no faith in their starting QB and were booing him in Practice. The ownership tried to get rid of their coach and extended his contract upon the realization that they couldn't. This is a potential train wreck. I stand by the phins being an awful squadron.”

 

Actual: 6

Played hard for the coach. Bush was surprisingly good. That was all

 

 

AFC West:

DEN:

Prediction 0

“Hmm. I don’t have any faith that this team will be better.”

He's a gamer, he's a baller, playmaker, shot caller. And terrible at the most important part of being a QB, throwing the ball. Mobility is important, but what made other mobile unconventional QBs good was their arm. See Young, Steve; Vick, Michael; Flutie, Doug; and the deceptively mobile Rodgers, Aaron. Oh and the defense was pretty good too. I like the future of Von Miller.

In response to my initial prediction, I couldn’t see them beating a lot of the teams that they handled. I didn’t like the Kyle Orton situation, because when the fans are actively rooting against their own QB bad things often happen. I figured that the tense relationship would last throughout the season, leading to a lot of L’s.

 

KC:

Prediction:9

”KC wont be as good as they were last year with the injuries that they have suffered. The schedule is harder.”

Actual: 7

That prediction was written before  KC lost their running back, their best Safety, their starting TE and their QB for much of the season. They still finished respectably.

 

SD:

Prediction: 9
”You want respect Phillip Rivers? Don’t get swept in the division by the Raiders. Don’t lose the first 4 games and expect to make the playoffs. Most importantly, don’t act as if you're going to kill your wide outs after every single incompletion. “

Actual: 8

Dear Chargers, I've given up. Like the gf/bf you keep hoping will change and never does.

 

OAK:

Prediction:  7

“You want respect, Oakland? Stop firing head coaches. Until then I'm not picking you to win more than 7 games ever.”

Actual: 8

Despite the loss of RUN-DMC they were quite respectable. My prediction for AFC west champ next year.

 

 

AFC South:

 

IND: 

Prediction: 8

“Too many wins. They don’t have the personnel to beat teams without manning. I've had to rewrite this because the manning story gets uglier and uglier. Out indefinitely? I should take some wins away from this squad.”

Actual: 2

My wins predictions were based on Manning coming back in 5 games. That’s what I was promised and I want to void everything I predicted about them.

 

HOU:

Prediction: 8
“The Texans remind me of the niners. Weak division. Quality players. They gotta win this year.”

Actual: 10

It was ugly, They looked like they didn't want it. But they are now the 3rd seed in the AFC. Could there be a QB controversy next year with Yates and Schaub. I swear I'm not crazy.

 

JAX:

Prediction: 1

“I'm done with the jags. You can’t get rid of your starting qb and expect to find success, especially when your team is not very good.”

Actual: 5

You still can't ship your QB away. You just can't. Although, if Garrard is so good, why is he still not on a team. Must be the money. On the other hand, MJD is better than I thought, and he stayed healthy the entire season.

 

TEN:

Prediction: 7 
“Boring. Just the way they like it.  CJ2k is back and their QB is lackluster. The defense is mediocre.”

Actual: 9

Boring. Oh and now he's CJ1k. If you want the 2 bck you're gonna have to earn it. Oh and now your my second favorite CJ. Behind Spiller, of course.

 

AFC Ratings:

Perfect: BUF, PIT

Close enough (1- 2 wins away): TEN, HOU, OAK, SD, KC, NYJ, NE,

Wrong: (3-5 wins away): JAX, MIA, BAL, CIN

Terrible (5 or more wins away): IND, DEN, CLE

Big Brother is watching. Just let me know.

One of the values of going to law school is being around smart, hard-working people. One of the reasons why I picked Colorado Law specifically is the technology law focus. The current dean has a heavy tech background and has really focused a lot of energy on having great panes and programs concerning technology law. The Silicon Flatirons programs has been particularly helpful.

In today's talk, The Economics of Privacy, there have been great ideas put back and forth. What has concerned me is how much information the internet has about me. The first panel I watched talked about the ways advertising is used. I'm thinking about it even more considering how Google links all of my information. My screen name which I use for email is linked to my real name and identity through my Android phone, and Google+ account. The not so ironic point is that I'm currently on Chrome and writing the post utilizing Blogspot, both Google products. Even knowing how much I'm involved in Google products it was still interesting to see how specific, and how well the targeting advertising targets me. Named targets for dlbinspg: urban and hip hop music, american football and basketball, computer scripting, so on and so forth. Every YouTube video I post and watch, and every website I visit utilizing Google's search features also lend themselves here.

The next talk was about the cutting edge. This was led by two of my professors.The first thing was tying physical identity to digital identity. New tech puts a lot of information online in a public manner. Scales that publish your information on Twitter, iris scanning attached to credit cards and other financial information, and so on. It's to the point where I wonder whether or not privacy matters as much any more.

To an extent it certainly does. I don't want every iota of information publicly information. I probably wouldn't want my potential employer to read everything in this blog. At the very least, the  hours I spend playing video games may be percieved to be problematic. I certainly wouldn't all of my information exposed to my family. I wouldn't want strangers to know where I live, and that I'm new to Colorado.

On the other hand, by putting out a ton of information, I also receive a lot of information. When I sign up to Facebook I put out information about my likes and assocations and correlate them to my real name. In response, I also have that information and am able to get to know people more quickly than I would before. Sure we're different politically, and have different tastes in music, but we're both Dallas Cowboys fans or we're both criminal justice majors. I can listen to music and use the music I already own to find more music I may like that is similar. Also, as a result of all of the information I've put out, people with similar interests can also find me. I can find out when Serge Ibaka (NBA player) is returning to the U.S. to begin practice, because of my twitter page. There are a lot of ways that the large amount of information put into the world has been helpful. I think that more people are benefiting from the information than those who are losing out on it.

However, just because I benefit more than I lose doesn't mean that people don't have the right to have their image, thoughts, and interactions to remain private. Unfortunately, it feels like the fight is a losing battle.