Bagel

Keep the faith Ramius and continue to make the man proud.

Here's a scouting report on Brooks from last sumer: One of our favorite prospects on this [Maryland] roster three years running has been offensive lineman C.J. Brooks. An athletic blocker, Brooks combines the ability to play in space with strength at the point of attack. Agile, he easily adjusts in pass protection and displays solid blocking range yet at the same time Brooks opens holes in the middle of the line for the running game. Many forget, as a sophomore he had a solid season playing left tackle before moving inside to guard. While he needs to turn up the intensity of his game Brooks could easily be a top 75 pick next April.

No, not at all. The stated University policy is a minimum 3.0 gpa and 1000 SAT score to be considered. But in practice you need much higher scores to be seriously considered. As the same article continues, "At Stanford, though, the average [athlete's] SAT score tends to be considerably higher than 1000."

Actually the rule of thumb at Stanford for an athlete's admittance is called the Rule of 2100. You take a candidate's gpa, multiply it by 300 and add his/her SAT score. If it's over 2100 then they have a chance to be admitted. For example, if you have a 3.5 gpa and a 1000 SAT score (3.5 x 300) + 1000 = 2050 (under 2100), then you don't have a chance to be admitted. But if you retake the SAT such that you have a 3.5 gpa and a 1100 SAT score (3.5 x 300) + 1100 = 2150 (over 2100) then you have a chance to be admitted. But I think that we're getting away from the point. Despite difficult admission standards Stanford has won the Directors Cup for the best overall athletic program in the country for the last 10 consecutive years. It can be done. Notre Dame is the most storied footall program in the country. It's also an amazing place with fantastic academics. Who wouldn't want to play football for Notre Dame? It should be a top 10 team year in and year out. Under Urban Meyer I think that will happen.

Nope, everyone had a level playing field with me -- even Dolphin fans.

No, those that don't keep up fail. I know because I've failed them.

Having taught at Stanford -- including student/athletes from various sports including football and basketball -- I can assure you that the students work their tails off. From personal experience I think that students work harder at Stanford than at Harvard or UB. Moreover, the athletes are not treated differently than the general student population. They are competing with the kids who look to found the next Hewlett-Packard, Google, etc. Frankly, I don't see how the athletes do it. I know that I could not.

Ty was the same at Stanford -- inconsistent. There were some great years and some lousy ones. In 7 years at Stanford his record was 44-36-1, not exactly acceptable at Notre Dame. I liked Ty personally. But his recruiting was also inconsistent. In one 2 year stretch he signed a total of 3 offensive linemen. How does that happen? I'll be stunned if ND doesn't sign Urban Meyer. He'd be a great fit. I don't see Butch Davis at ND. I think that a better fall back person would be Hawkins -- even though I'd like to see him at Stanford.

Similar articles from other sources: http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1123/p05s01-woeu.html http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6374820/ http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=273145

Has anyone been following yesterday's disputed presidential election in Ukraine? The communist Prime Minister (backed by Russia) has high jacked the election -- stealing it from the pro-Western candidate -- and mass protests are occurring. President Bush's envoy, Senator Lugar, alleged "concerted and forceful" fraud by the government. Crazy stuff! I hope that democracy wins in the end. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4033475.stm

Arafat is dead, good riddance. But Sharon has been killing civilians since the early 50's -- see Unit 101 in Qibya. Even the Kahane Commission, an Israeli investigative body, found him complicit in the murder of civilians in Lebanon in the 80's. This isn't a competition. But Sharon is no choirboy. In my mind the only hero in the region was Rabin. I hope that peace didn't die with him.

I liked Garden State. It's quirky and well written. The side characters are fantastic and Zack Braff is solid. Zack Braff has an excellent future as an actor and writer. I'm not a Natalie Portman fan -- I think that she looks like a little boy and fails to take full advantage of an excellent character. I recommend the movie. It's melancholy, but enjoyable.

Great news Bill. I'd love to buy you a celebratory beer at McFaddens one of these days.

Stay positive Bill. Good luck tomorow.