"The Fighting Irish" No, really.

Cork's Brendan O'Sullivan in a skirmish with Kerry's Seamus Moynihan just before the end of the first half of the All-Ireland senior football semi final at Croke Park yesterday. Apparently, Brendan proceeded to gauge Seamus' eye out when the Kerry man threatened to steal the Cork man's lucky charms. I propose that these two fine athletes be our first speakers at our annual St. Patrick's Day breakfast. I had the honor of attending a hurling match at Croke park during my stay one month ago. During the game, I could faintly hear off in the distance... "Oh Paddy dear, did you hear the news that's going 'round? The shamrock is forbid by law to grow on Irish ground..."

More Praise for Clarkson

I can't stress it enough. This chick is the real deal. Be sure to watch the MTV VMA's tonight to see just how many this talented, gorgeous superstar takes home for what is probably the best music video since Michael Jackson's Thriller, for the best song since the Beatles' "Hey Jude".

BC Bounces Back...

and beats one of the best teams in the city.

You May Not Like Us, But Your Girlfriends Do.

Fury at the Fuel Pump

Gas prices are at their highest level in history. It cost me $30 to fill up my Honda yesterday. I agree, it sucks.

Millions of Americans are asking, along with the elite news media: "What is the government going to DO about this?"

Hopefully nothing.

During the late 70s, in response to rising oil prices, the Carter Administration created the Department of Energy. Worst idea ever. Carter set price controls on fuel, regulating what gas station owners could charge for a gallon of gas. This, of course, led to long waiting lines at gas stations because demand was unnaturally outstripping supply.

Enter Ronald Reagan, whose first action as President in January of 1981 was to end these disasterous price controls.

Bam. Energy crisis solved. Gas lines disappeared. Beginning in 1981, the price of oil went back up to its natural market level, inducing firms to produce more oil, and during the course of the 1980s the price of oil dropped substantially. With the stroke of a pen, Reagan ended the energy crisis.

So what's going on 25 years later? The explosive growth of China and India over the last 5 years, the current mess in the Middle East, and a strict Sierra Club-style regulatory environment preventing production and refining in the US are all reasons for oil's high price today.

My point is, we don't need an energy "plan". The best thing the government can do right now is LEAVE THINGS ALONE and GET OUT OF THE WAY. The cure for $60 a barrel oil is...$60 a barrel oil. The price system will take care of everything, and all indicators show that it already is doing so. Prices are the most efficient mechanism at sending the necessary signals to producers through profit incentives to bring more petroleum to market (world oil production is at its highest level in history), to entrepreneurs to invest more in alternative fuel technologies (happening), and to consumers to conserve more (also happening; i.e., more people are buying hybrids instead of SUVs).

There's a great article at the Baltimore Sun that puts this to words much better than me. Subscription is free.

Give me one example where government has done a good job solving energy crunches. Why do people always turn to government to solve their economic problems? Especially when the government has the worst track record and the free-market has the best? All of the aforementioned participants, acting in their own self-interest and not under some grand "master plan" of a central authority, nor naive altruism (notice, for example, how more people are buying hybrids today NOT because they're tree-huggers or anthropology majors but because it will SAVE THEM MONEY), will solve our energy crunch in the most efficient manner. Just watch.

The rendez vous point

Look at that sparse sun baked crab grass... great surface for boat shoes.

More BC Stuff

Coach Brackett spoke at the Alumni Association meeting last night. Typically, Brackett uses Holtz-like poor mouthing when talking about his teams. Last night, though, he seemed rather upbeat about the Cadets chances this year. Here's a breakdown of what he said.

As a unit, he said this is the best group of RBs he's ever had. There's no superstar but they all understand their roles and are ferocious blockers. Kourtney Pollard (4.4 40) is the best of the group but had some attitude problems last year. Brackett promised that he is straightened out.

QB is still a tossup between Dotson and Cail. Both have shown significant improvement over the offseason, thanks in large part to the new QB coach. I imagine Dotson will get the nod against Marist because he is a senior and he is a Dotson.

OL started out as a question mark but the coaching staff has found a good set of starters. If any of the five starters goes down, though, we could be in trouble. The new OL coach is Ken Cooper (former OL coach at UGA and head coach at Ole Miss). Both tightends are good receivers and will be utilized in the passing game.

Coach Brackett was not so optimistic about the defense. They are small up front and will not be able to go toe-to-toe with a strong offensive line. After consulting with former Valdosta coach, Mike O'Brien, this summer, Brackett is putting his best athletes at DE. One is Craig Thomas, who will also start at fullback. The other, whom Brackett did not name, went down with a knee injury.

We all know who is back at linebacker. Although not quite as gifted as his older brother, Anthony Wallace will be the focal point of the defense. Brackett also seemed pleased with the other starter at LB, whose first name, if I heard him correctly, is Gay. If that is his real name, I hope he takes out all his frustration from being teased as a kid on the Marist backfield.

The secondary seemed to be the coaching staff's biggest concern. Lack of size, speed, and depth is a deadly combination.

The kicking tandem of William Boyd (PK) and Ashton Phillips (P) is one of the best in the area. Boyd has a strong leg but was very inconsistent last year, missing way too many extra point attempts. Scott Shelton worked with him a little over the summer and hopefully straightened out his technique.

Despite the losses of long-time coaches Wayne Munch, Donal Chumley, and Tommy Cannon in recent years, Brackett said this is his best staff yet. Ken Cooper certainly adds validity to his statement. Also, the new OC is former East Hall head coach, Buddy Sorrow. Before retiring, he led East Hall to many region championships. He called Brackett out of the blue and told him he wanted to get back into coaching, but only at the right place. Coach Hall (QB coach) played quarterback at a D3 school and also coached QBs at the collegiate level. Donal Joyce ('97) started on the DL on the infamous '96 team and returns this year to coach the DL.

And finally, Coach Brackett guarenteed victory Saturday night. He said the attitude and leadership on this squad is off the charts.

I stand by my prediction:

BC .......................20
Marist.................14
Class of 2001.....Drunk

On a side note, I met yet another cousin to the Leonard dynasty last night at Sky Bar. He was a Markwalter, but I'm not sure what his first name was. Vick, maybe. Anyways, that satisfies my yearly quota of meeting people related to the Leonards in Statesboro.

BC-Marist Brings College Atmosphere

Even the Savannah Morning News is pumped up about the War Eagles coming to town. The article says that BC is trying to also add St. Pius to the schedule, so that, each year, we would play one game in Atlanta and one game in Savannah.

In other news, I just recently discovered the BC Alumni website www.benedictinealumni.org. You can create an account and they have message boards and news forums. There is a meeting tonight to vote on the Association's Board of Directors. Jason Jue is one of the nominees. Enough said.

BREAK AN ARM! BREAK A LEG! BENEDIC! BENEDIC!

3 MORE DAYS!!!!!!!

One More Week

The Cadets and War Eagles will be lacing them up exactly one week from now. My prediction:

Benedictine 20
Marist 14
Class of 2001 Drunk



I hit the phones hard today and made a lot of headway. Here is the RSVP list so far.

1. Eric Brown
2. Tavares Brown
3. Stephen Bruce
4. Ty Butler
5. Adam Clary
6. Rett Colleran
7. Tommy Davis
8. Davis Derst
9. Jeff Disk
10. Steven Doan
11. Will Fleming
12. Randy Gill
13. Mark Haslam
14. Patrick Holland
15. Morgan Jenssen
16. Chris Lane
17. Stephen Leonard (if he can find a ride)
18. TC Madison
19. Bryan McBride
20. Lee McCurry
21. Stephen Morgan
22. Chris Murray
23. Chris Pace
24. Arvind Raman
25. Michael Reardon
26. Patrick Sauers
27. Ryan Smith
28. Nardis Walker (maybe)
29. Tim Wallace
30. Brent Watts
31. Patrick Whitledge
32. Joe Wood
33. Brooks Zeigler

This list only shows people that have confirmed either me or Brooks. With everyone spreading the word, it looks like we might get 50 or more people!

Come Fall In Line

The 5-year reunion is starting to come together nicely. We already have confirmations from about 20 guys. I think 40 is a realistic goal. I checked out Marist's website and it looks like they are bringing a lot of people too. They are sponsoring a student trip to Tybee that afternoon. It also seems Marist is hosting a barbecue dinner at BC before the game. I can't wait!

12 MORE DAYS!!!!!!!!