Someone call 9-1-1!!! There are Law Students out there!

Police Sketch based on preliminary reports

So...

Two 1Ls definetly just called 9-1-1 on AJK and I.

We were just standing outside, smoking cigarettes, talking about evidence, or interviewing, or some such non-sense.

Then Aaron saw someone come to the door of the library and then run away.

Then they did it again.

Aaron decided he should go in and check it out.

When they saw him approaching the door they FREAKED OUT, picked up their cell phones and called 9-1-1.

No joke, they were standing at the circulation desk, on their phone. Right before Aaron walked to the door, the auxillary lights turned off, adding to the "freakiness" of the situation. When they saw that Aaron was inside the building, the girl started screaming "No! No! No!" and waving her phone at him as if the glow from the display would vanquish him back to hell. (Actually might work with AJK)

At this point I went over, screamed through the door "Hey, we're students" but they didn't believe us. They insisted we show them ID. I didn't have mine, but Aaron did. Thankfully.

They are 1Ls, what the hell do they know anyways.

Aaron: "It must be the beards"
JMay: "Or they are just so green that they don't realize they aren't alone in the law school at 4am during exams..."

(Aaron's away message after "the incident": "Hello 9-1-1? Yeah you better get down to the law school right away. There are two incredibly dumb 1L's loose in the building. If you don't get here soon they're liable to hurt themselves. . . Oh? You spoke to them already? Brilliant!")



Stay Tuned...

Barack Obama Annoucement

This gives me goose-bumps...



He's so good...charismatic, clever, everything you want in a President.

Its too soon for Barack, but he could be an ideal VP in 2008.

Here is the link for those of you reading on facebook.

I think 2016 is the first time Barack would have a real shot.

Lets go BEARS!

(well, Titans first, but then the Bears)

Stay Tuned...

Pete Carroll at USC? It will never work...

This is a great article for the Alabama Faithful out there wondering what to do next...

I am going to paste the text in for easy reading:

Carroll's hiring is another mistake for troubled USC - University of Southern California football coach Pete Carroll

Tom Dienhart
Dear Mike Garrett:

I 'think you made a mistake hiring Pete Carroll as USC's next coach. As Trojans athletics director, you needed to hit a home run with this hire. This looks more like a scratch single.

I know. Carroll might end up being grand, but the perception in the here and now is what matters for a program that's on the wane. And that perception isn't good.

Some might compare Carroll to Paul Hackett, the coach he replaces. That might not be fair, but you can't blame them. Carroll is an NFL guy. He's a defensive tactician who hasn't coached in college since 1083, when he was an assistant at Pacific. Hackett was an offensive expert who hadn't coached in college since 1092 when he landed the USC job before the 1998 season. At least Hackett's most recent college stint at the time was as head coach at Pittsburgh.

Unlike Hackett, Carroll proved he can be a successful head coach, leading the New England Patriots to a pair of winning seasons and playoff berths. He's also a super-enthusiastic guy. But Carroll doesn't know college football.

Oh, he's saying the fight things. You know, stuff like, "If you can understand the process in the NFL ... in the draft process, it's all about watching players in college, I don't consider myself unfamiliar with the college game at all."

I'm sure Carroll, like Hackett, knows his X's and O's. The problem is the college game Carroll doesn't know. It was the same one Hackett had trouble grasping. I'm talking about things like academic issues, recruiting / and dealing with alumni.

Is Caroll up for whispering sweet nothings into the ears of know-it-all 18-year-olds? Is Carroll up for spending more time speaking at booster events than breaking down film? Is Carroll up for fans demanding to know why USC can't dominate the Pac-10 anymore?

Carroll needs a positive start and would help himself by retaining defensive line coach Ed Orgeron and running backs coach Kennedy Pola, a pair of Hackett assistants who red-line their intensity meters.

I know, Mike. You say, "Average Joe doesn't know football." Believe what you want, but Average Joe has reason to doubt your hiring skills and thinks you are part of the problem. Hackett was 19-18 at USC, and his last team finished last in the Pac-10, the first t/me that ever has happened. He was your man after you mishandled the termination of John Robinson after the 1997 season.

Your job might be riding on Carroll's performance. Your non-communicative ways cause people to make conclusions that might not be tree about you and your program. And you didn't help yourself a few years ago when you gave a "pep talk" in the locker room.

It was hard for you to believe people didn't fall over themselves to coach your beloved USC. But it's not that good of a job because it's not 1975 anymore. The 85-scholarship limit has made college football an equal-opportunity sport in which schools such as Oregon State and Virginia Tech have BCS dreams.

Also working against USC are substandard facilities-all the way from Heritage Hall to the antiquated weight room. And the L.A. lifestyle isn't tot everyone, especially not for assistant coaches. Housing prices are out of sight, To live in a decent area, coaches must drive an hour to and from work. Their days are long enough as it is.

Oregon State's Dennis Erickson and Oregon's Mike Bellotti are the biggest names who sniffed around the USC job but didn't really pursue it. San Diego Chargers coach Mike Riley would have been a good hire. He served as Oregon State's coach from 1997-98 and was USC's offensive coordinator before that, but he couldn't make up his mind. When he continued to drag his feet, you grabbed Carroll, who was out of work last season.

Contrast that to the job search at Alabama. Marquee names such as Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer and Miami's Butch Davis seriously considered taking the job. In the end, the Tide got TCU coach Dermis Franchione, one of the hottest coaches in the college game.

Dennis Franchione, USC Coach. Would've had a nice ring to it.

Sincerely,

Tom

Here is the link for those who want to see the source.

It makes a great point, though by accident.

Hind-sight huh?

Coach Fran, USC Coach.

That will be the day!

Roll Tide!

Stay Tuned...

Worst TV President ever...

Charles Logan - Season 4 & 5 of "24"

Stay Tuned...

NBA-Bloggers...

I've been invited to write for a new site that is collecting blogs that address NBA Basketball.

NBA-Bloggers

An interesting development.

Dear blog author:
We recently came across your site, spadream.blogspot.com, while searching for bloggers who blog about the NBA.

A small group of us have started a new site called NBA Bloggers. Our intent is to bring basketball bloggers closer together, and make a positive contribution to the Internet community.

Would you be interested in joining NBA Bloggers? Please take a few minutes to have a look at what we are trying to do, and if you are interested, there is a sign up page to get the ball rolling. We would greatly appreciate your support in this endeavour.

Its nice to know that someone "came across" my blog that isn't on facebook getting bombarded with "news feed" articles about "Jonathan May has posted a new Note".

I haven't written much about my Grizzlies lately, between the Election and Alabama's coaching search I have been preoccupied.

I'll have to change that now.

Good news first - Pau Gasol has been cleared for full contact drills, and may return to the Grizzlies lineup as soon as Wednesday. Also on the positive, Dhantay Jones is finally playing NBA basketball. I don't know how it happened, but he has become a reliable 11-13pt scorer. You've got to have those guys on a roster if you're going to do something special (which we won't this year).

Bad news second - The Griz are now 5-15 after a home loss to the Clippers last night. Even more saddening is that only 14,000 of my fellow Memphians came out to support their boys. Throw in that Lawrence Roberts has been hurting the last few days and the whole mess with Brian Davis trying to buy my team you can see where bringing Gasol back to the court would be a big deal.

Anyhow, AI is on the market, but don't look for him in Memphis. Too much uncertainty to take on that kind of contract. Plus, we'd lose all the cap space we've got coming after Eddie Jones contract comes off the books in May.

Stay Tuned...

SO....now what?

Coaches I do not want at Alabama:

1. Houston Nutt - Head Coach of Arkansas

2. Jim Grobe - Head Coach of Wake Forest

3. Paul Johnson - Head Coach of Navy

4. Chan Gailey - Head Coach of Georgia Tech

5. Slyvester Croom - Head Coach of Miss St. (I know he is one of Bear's boys and such, but he's been a dick at MSU. I don't think that transition would go smoothly. He went into recruits homes to play the race card against UA...hard to forgive and forget, since some of those kids are now on OUR team)

Coaches I am luke warm on:

1. Mike Sherman - Former Packers HC and current OC/Assist. HC for the Houstan Texans

2. Mike Stoops - Head Coach of Univ. of Arizona (I believe his quote was "I would walk on broken glass for the Alabama job." Or something to that effect. That was 4 years ago.)

Coaches I do want at Alabama (and are realistic, in no particular order):

1. Mike Leach - Head Coach of Texas Tech

2. Jim Leavitt - Head Coach of Univ. of S Florida

3. Jimbo Fisher - Off. Coord. for LSU Tigers

4. Joe Kines - Def. Coord for Alabama (probably only has two or three more years of coaching, so they would have time to bring someone in to take over at their own pace...maybe Jimbo as OC under Kines, with an agreement in place for Jimbo to take over after 2 years? Could be interesting.

5. Dabo Swinney - WR Coach for Clemson
(Swinney, 33, received a bachelor of science degree in commerce and business administration at Alabama in 1993 after lettering three times for the Crimson Tide (1990-92). A walk-on who went on to earn a scholarship, Swinney played at wide receiver and was a member of Alabama's 1992 National Championship team under Gene Stallings. His position coach was Bowden in 1989 and former Tiger assistant Woody McCorvey from 1990-92. Swinney was also an All-SEC Academic team and SEC Scholar Athlete Honor Roll member in both 1990 and 1992.)

6. Bobby Petrino - Head Coach of Louisville

Coaches I do want at Alabama (but are long-shots at best)

1. Nick Saban - Some have suggested that CRR turning down 'Bama has allowed UA to wait until after Jan 1. If reports that Saban was actually interested were true, this could be interesting, however the exchange regarding reported contract numbrs the last three days may kill this one before it starts running (again).

2. John Grudden - Rumor has it his days in Tampa could be numbered...

3. Jim Mora Jr - Same thing as Grudden, except replace Tampa with Atlanta

4. Bear Bryant - Hey, wouldn't I disappoint you as a 'Bama fan if I didn't say it?

5. Bob Stoops - some say he wants out of Oklahoma due to possible NCAA infractions...do we need that here?

6. Mike Shula - I was pretty consistent from the start that I wanted him to have another year. The team is primed to break out next season and we could have had a "bama guy" for the next 25 years in CMS. I bet somewhere in South Florida CMS is laughing while spending thousands of dollars that UA owes him. $67k/month until 2012 (less whatever his next job pays him).

Other names out there I can't judge:

1. Rick Neuheisel - QB coach for the Baltimore Ravens. Former HC of University of Washignton and University of Colorado

2. Gene Stallings - Said on Paul Finebaum's radio show that he would be interested in a short term stint, to help buy time to get "the right guy". Bama and our "revisionist history" has forgotten that a big faction of the fan base wanted Stallings out before the 1992 season and that he left under questionable terms.

3. Greg Schiano - Head Coach of Rutgers. was pretty clear he wasn't going to leave Rutgers for U of Miami. I don't see him leaving for UA either.

If the trustee's open the checkbook even wider, and really drop $4M or $5M per year in someones lap, we can still draw a big name. If we can't I'd prefer to draft risky. I have been using the NBA draft analogy. I'd rather take a kid out of HS or with 1 year of college experience who has unlimited potential, and high risk. These are the Jimbo Fishers and Dabo Swinneys, and in some ways even a guy like Mike Stoops who's only been a HC for two seasons. If you go the other route, you can draft a guy who was a 4-year college player. The problem is what you see is what you get. When Spurrier went from Duke to UF, he was nobody. When Stoops went form UF to OU, he was nobody. Look where they ended up. Granted it doesn't always work out (i.e. Larry Coker).

It was nice to see Coach Rodriguez come out and say that his decisoin not to take the job at Alabama had everything to do with staying at WVU, and reasons to stay. It had nothing to do with reasons to take the Alabama job. He handled the whole thing pretty well. Gave Mal Moore a lot of respect, and my tendancy is to believe that they are pretty professional. Just not cut-throat enough. If we put an offer on the table for $2.5M, WVU wouldn't have been able to get close. We got cheap. Its our mistake. One we won't make again I hope.

Of note. I wrote on this blog yesterday at 4pm Eastern:
"My gut says he wont accept the job. if thats the case, we're fucked. majory fucked. "

Being clairvoyant is burden...

I can't make a coach prediction yet, but will soon.

Stay Tuned...

Time to Eat Crow...

As I feared all night, CRR is staying at WVU.

Its hard to be too upset. He played there. He's from the area. He's a god there.

You'd like to see that be a difficult decision for the guy.

If it was easy for him to walk away from, it wouldn't look good for keeping him at UA.

That won't be a problem now.

Some reports are that his wife didn't want to live under a microscope.

Some reports are that he was afraid of the pressure.

I don't know that I belive all that.

But its my turn to eat crow for being so excited the last two days that I let a few of my friends in the Law School know that I was looking forward to seeing CRR in Crimson.

I hate the Birmingham News.

If they hadn't broken this story yesterday evening in an attempt "be first" maybe the pressure doesn't mount on CRR when he gets back to WV last night.

Maybe...

If...

But...

What do we do with Mal Moore?

It doesn't look like there is anyone else on the radar.

Moore has overseen some turbulent times in the football program.

But every other aspect of the Athletic Dept. has grown under his leadership.

The facilities have been renovated and expanded.

Baseball, Basketball (Mens and Womens), Softball, Gymnastics, Tennis, Golf...all made significant improvement under Mal.

The truth of the matter is, it looks like the days of prominence for the University of Alabama are over.

Maybe it is time to wake up and look around.

The SEC isn't want it used to be.

And neither is Alabama.

Don't hate CRR.

He showed the kind of love to his school that we want someone to show to Alabama.

Be upset.

Be hurt.

Don't hate.

I have to sleep. I have been up watching this story and writing my exam for Blaze since 10am yesterday. Thats a solid 29+ hours. Maybe some sleep will help soothe the pain.

I am going to drink tonight that is for damn sure.

Who's in?

Stay Tuned...