Finals, Round 2: "AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME!"

In a few short days I will be tackling my second round of finals in law school. It all starts on Tuesday, May 5th at 5:00 PM with Property and wraps up on Saturday, May 16th sometime around 4:00 PM. Through that time I will be put through two hours of Property, three hours of Torts, three hours of Civil Procedure, three hours of Contracts, and three hours of Criminal Law. If 14 hours of closed book, cumulative, essay testing isn't enough to get you excited I don't know what is!

Anyways, I decided this would be a good enough time to throw out another update. Mixed in around the many study blocks (thanks, Prof. Klein!) there is plenty of things to occupy a study break these days. At the time of this writing the New York Mets are sitting at 10-12 after taking the first of a three game series against the hated Philadelphia Phillies on Friday in Philly. Big Pelf bounced back with a solid start tonight, but still isn't where the Mets would like him to be, but you can't really complain with his 3-0 record to date. Tomorrow, will be a bigger test as the Mets are sending Oliver Perez to the hill. Ollie has been absolutely terrible so far in 2009. There's just no way around it. He needs a quality start tomorrow in Philadelphia or he risks being dropped from the rotation, which is tough to swallow for the team that recently signed him to a three-year deal just a few short months ago. Ollie has amazing stuff and some days he is absolutely lights out. Sadly, he hasn't had one of those days yet in 2009. Here's hoping tomorrow is the day.

Also of note for Saturday, and what I probably consider the biggest sports event of the day, the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby will take place at 3 PM pacific at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. If this race didn't fall into the time of the year when I absolutely cannot afford to spare more than an hour of my time at various times throughout the day I would be on a plane to Louisville right now or at least making my way to Santa Anita for some amazing Derby Day festivities. As far as the actual race goes, I Want Revenge is currently sitting as the favorite at 3-1 odds, not far behind him are Dunkirk and Pioneerof the Nile who are both at 4-1. Friesan Fire is at 5-1. As far as my picks go, I haven't been able to put nearly as much time into handicapping as I would like to, but after quickly looking at the post positions, odds, jockeys and trainers of each horse I'm going to go ahead and throw out Friesan Fire to win, Pioneerof the Nile to place, and I Want Revenge to show. That's a 6, 16, 13 trifecta for those of you heading to the betting windows. If it ends up that way, I would like a cut though!

Since I last posted former Duluth Huskies pitcher Mark Melancon made his Major League debut for the New York Yankees. Melancon made his debut against the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park last Sunday on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball and proceeded to pitch two scoreless innings with one strikeout. He made his next appearance on Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers and threw another scoreless inning with another strikeout. Finally, tonight against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Orange County of California of the Pacific Time Zone of the United States of North America of the Western Hemisphere of Earth Melancon finally gave up the first run of his career throwing 1/3 of an inning allowing one earned run on one hit with a walk and a wild pitch. This will not be the norm for Melancon, his control and "stuff" is just too good. He'll be in the Major League's for a long time and it wouldn't surprise me one bit for him to eventually follow Mariano Rivera as the closer for the New York Yankees.

I must say that I should try to get on here and write a little more often. Even if nobody is reading it! It's refreshing to just flow and write about something other than the law every once in awhile. I set high goals for myself, but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm adding another post on here before the end of finals, but if I don't I'll most certianly get on at some point before heading to Minnesota for a week and a half.

Oh, one more thing. Tomorrow the St. Scholastica Saints will be retiring the #33 for the late John Baggs, easily the most successful baseball coach in the programs history. He built that program from essentially nothing to a Division-III powerhouse. The Saints are currently ranked #3 in the country which is amazing considering what those guys have been through. Coach Baggs passed away shortly before the season started from an incredibly aggressive cancer that was diagnosed in September, shortly after I moved out to California. I wish I could be at the Wade tomorrow for the ceremony, but I know that Coach Baggs is always with me. Thank you for what you did to help me with my career in baseball Coach. I'll never forget you. Hoka Hey!