Kaulapi World

Another close game, another loss by the Pats.  Another way 2012 is seeming a lot like 2008.  Hopefully this is just in the football realm.  This has been an interesting season for me as far as football.  Both Wisconsin and New England got to the big game after great seasons, only to come up short at the end.

With the Pats, it was a pretty dominant season with a lot of promise, a lot of records broken, largely with the help of a bruising tight end and a more balanced team than the last super bowl run.  Unfortunately it was a similar outcome as the last visit, against the same Giants.

With the Badgers, it was a crazy year, inaugural big ten championship against a tough MSU team that won the regular season match-up on a Hail Mary pass, which was also followed by another game lost on another Hail Mary by Ohio State, and just 1 second away from attempting a Hail Mary against an explosive Oregon  team in the Rose Bowl.  With QB Wilson, the Badgers had what I’ve noticed for a long time that they needed, a mobile QB that can throw accurately to give another element to the power running game.

Don’t know why it sticks out in my mind, but this was a season in which both of my team’s QBs gave up safeties on intentional grounding calls in the end zone in big games.  Crazy season, just wish the last remaining seconds of both games came out slightly differently.  Looking forward to next year already.

About a week back into classes and work is picking up as well. Looking like a busy spring is in store for me on many fronts. On a side note, I got a chance to make wonton, some for saimin and another batch to freeze for later. It had the flavor and feeling of home.

Still following the primaries for the upcoming 2008 presidential election, have to say that I’m still a little torn on the prospects that I’ll most likely be considering come November. I’m always amazed at how US politics has become a warped version of reality TV and a strange never ending talk show in which candidates field questions and are continuously giving speeches and smiling so hard that it hurts.

Meanwhile, AFC championship is coming up, New England v. San Diego in a rematch from last year’s divisional, this time the stakes are higher as the winner goes to the Superbowl in Glendale, AZ in a few weeks. Read an article online about how both Jr. Seau and Rodney Harrison were both former Chargers before coming to New England, but Harrison was able to get there in time to get a superbowl ring or two while Jr. is still gunning for his first in 18 years. Reading about the pursuit of perfection at a professional sports star level puts things into perspective, it shows the drive and dedication of some athletes to stick with goals for years and years. We’ll have to see how this season plays out, I have a feeling that this season will be memorable thats for sure.

So semester 6/8 starts with a busy week, lots of reading to do, new profs, some familiar faces in the crowd of inspiring students, some new ones. So far I’m taking Administrative Law, Criminal Procedure II, and Legislation. I noted that it’ll be the first semester in which all of my classes are actually ones that I’m personally interested in, not just classes to take as they are recommended for the bar. While it’s always hard to gauge a class by the first couple of meetings, I have to say that I’m genuinely looking forward to the semester and the material that I’ll be covering. so far so good, lets see where this all goes.

It was a tough and physical game, but the Patriots advanced to the AFC championship for a second year in a row. In other news the Chargers upset the Colts in a close match-up and will be in the AFC championship as well. I’m cautiously optimistic that New England will be headed to Superbowl 42 based on the fact that the Chargers are pretty banged up right now, if both Rivers and LT were healthy, I would expect a battle like it was in last year’s divisional, but this time around I think it won’t be nearly as close.

Meanwhile Green Bay toasts Seattle in a classic Packer game in the falling snow. After rough start Green Bay’s running game comes to life and Favre is looking like it is 1999 (1998) again, who knows, maybe it’ll be a rematch of the 1998 superbowl? That would be my first choice of matchups this year for Superbowl Sunday.

I still feel like I was just studying for my Immigration law final, but as crazy as it sounds, I’m starting up classes again tomorrow. Ran up to the school to get my books in gear, ended up spending an arm and a leg (again). I’m pretty much used to it. It seems like the more letters you try and tack to the end of your name the more hundreds of dollars get tacked on for books for the semester.

Also marking the new year is once again my return to work/school schedule something that I’m not looking forward to at all, but have accepted it as just a fact of life for the next couple of years at least. Been feeling completely drained both mentally and physically lately, not really looking forward to the late nights in class and even later nights reading and studying up for the next class. The positive spin this semester is that I’ve been able to stack all of my classes on two days a week, meaning that I’ll have some more evening time to get a work out in here and there, and if need be, work later hours. I think just getting mental break from school for one extra day makes a big difference. Will see.

Wild card weekend, it looks like New England will be facing Jacksonville for the divisional round game. Been reading up on a lot of the news reports and it seems like a lot of people are picking the Jaguars to knock off the Pats. I’m not so convinced, although I do think that the Jaguars are a hot team right now and are looking pretty tough for a wild card after beating Pittsburgh almost as convincing as the regular season meet up in the snow.

Another new year rings in, surprised how time flies. Made my annual version of ozoni, decided to mix things up a bit and got some steamer clams (instead of little necks) from whole foods. They were actually cheaper by the pound, and ended up tasting really good. Kind of felt back for the little guys when I took them out of the fridge, their nozzles were sticking out of the shells looking for salt water. Still recovering from my finals, still don’t know how I did, but this time around I’m surprising very much at peace with all of it. maybe I’m just a little numb to going through this 6,7 times already, but I can honestly say the stress level is a lot easier to stomach as time goes by.

Meanwhile in football distractions on the New Year, UH pretty much got destroyed by UGA in the Sugar Bowl, 41-10, really it felt more like more like 41-3 since the last touchdown was scored against UGA’s scout team. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for all the UH fans that made most likely some of the most expensive travel plans in a long time to fly from Honolulu to New Orleans. All week long there were a lot of new stories in the local media talking about the clash of cultures, happy times, and overall anticipation of the upcoming game. When it came down to it, it was painfully obvious how mediocre an otherwise prolific quarterback can seem when his offensive line is outmatched by an athletic defensive front, and with virtually no running game to balance the offense out. After a few series I noticed the Georgia players dropping 7-8 players back, their front 3-4 were able to get to Brennen with no problem, either sacking him, or rushing his throws. with 7-8 linebackers or corners, Georgia could double team all of Hawaii’s star receivers pretty much all night. Hawaii’s defense did pretty good at first, but after about a quarter it was obvious who the better team was.

Not to be too cynical, but the whole ordeal was a reminder of reality in the differences in facilities, recruiting budgets and overall caliber that Hawaii has against many mainland colleges. After a certain point, believing in yourself, dedication and hard work cannot make up for lack of talent, or more importantly, the missed opportunity to harvest and develop that talent into it’s full potential. Hawaii is a very good team no doubt they prove it by winning their conference and going undefeated during the regular season and beating everyone and anyone who was willing to play them and didn’t chicken out like Michigan. The game just showed how much better a #2 or #3 team in a BSC conference can play, especially in a prime time bowl game on national TV. Case in point, earlier today Wisconsin lost a close battle to Tennessee in the Outback bowl which didn’t get nearly as much spotlight as the Sugar Bowl. Even though the Badgers lost, they were in it until the very last drive, and last pass. At least they were able to compete and keep winning the game a possibility. UH clearly had no chance whatsoever.

The whole affair actually did remind me of another team that I’ve been following that has been pretty much dedicated to the pass attack. One that has so far kept an undefeated season alive and well. At least New England has an offensive line, and a few solid running backs in the backfield when it needs to change things up. Looking forward to the playoffs.

With a hard fought victory in the meadowlands, the Patriots go 16-0 in an amazing season with a number of dominating victories along with a few close come from behind games. I had a feeling that they would be in good shape to make a playoff run, but to get the top seed and home field advantage through the playoffs and to cap off an undefeated season was pretty unexpected, at least to me. New England players now hold a bunch of league records, in addition to the first undefeated regular season since 1972, records for total points scored, passing and receiving touchdowns in a regular season. The downside is that after watching such a dominating regular season anything short of a trip to Glendale would be a letdown. I’m hoping that there are at least 2-3 more wins for the Pats this year. We’ll see if they can keep it up in a couple weeks.

The other aspect of modern day totemism that I would be interested in how Durkheim would’ve analyzed in is how sports fans have put up fan blogs and discussion forums on the various articles floating around on the internet. For every celebrated match up, both team’s fans are quick to boast about their respective team’s strengths, the abilities of its star players, coaching staff, and go on to predict the outcome of the football game. There is usually a bit of comment about each team’s past laurels, from the current season as well as past seasons, all evidence on the superiority of one’s team. One of the forums I browsed through recently had some interesting turns, as the debate on the final football score in the sugar bowl went from discussing football to discussing the quality of public education at the UH-Manoa vs. the UGA. Another one went into the greater debate on what it means to be a local (Hawaiian) vs. a mainland Wannabee local. This is an ongoing debate that revolves around Hawaii’s star quarterback and his troubled past before he came to Hawaii.

Survived another round of finals (3 this time), and with one more small paper or so, am just about wrapping up my 5th semester or so of night school (6th if you count summer school). As always I’m not sure how I did, but I think the difference with this semester and those past is that I’ve definitely gotten to a point that I can honestly say that regardless of the paper grade, I know that I’ve learned a bit more about the law. Also this time around, although just as hectic and stressful, I think I’m getting better and better at coping with the demands. I attribute it partly to a lot of B vitamins, taking a break here and there to watch a football game, and surprisingly, getting more sleep than usual. After parking myself at various coffee shops for hours on end, lugging heavy casebooks for almost 2 weeks non-stop, I could feel my physical health start to take a hit. I’m a little amazed that I didn’t come down with the flu or something after shocking my immune system.

In other news, there’s an internet tea party today, as in the 234th anniversary of the one thrown by a bunch of feisty free thinkers once upon a time. I caught a documentary on PBS the other night about the last day-long money drive, the one that broke all kinds of records for one-day fund raisers. I’ve been tracking the tally from early this morning, as of 8:41am its roughly at $1,350,000 and climbing at a rate of $180K per hour. It looks like regardless of the total, at the current rate Ron Paul should be sitting on another big chunk of change with Iowa coming up in 18 days.

First snowfall of the year in the district, and I’m in full study mode for this next round of finals. Got a paper out of the way a couple of weeks ago, then its two big staple exams, and then I have a 4 day break before the last elective course is up. After that its another smaller paper, and some administrative matters which would wrap up the semester. Its crazy enough that I planned ahead to take some annual leave this week, ironically it ended up that my job had a crunch this week as well.

Crazy to think how busy life gets right around the holidays, when most people are thinking about winter vacations and shopping for Xmas presents. I’m usually camped out in coffee shops and libraries. I suppose its been like that for almost a collective decade now. Its become second nature really, the one year when I didn’t have to go anywhere or study anything I felt kind of lazy.

Pleasant distractions/breaks from studying has been the ongoing successes of my college and pro football teams. Hawaii went undefeated in the regular season and is set up to go to the Sugar Bowl to face Georgia, who had case to be playing for a national title. Wisconsin is on its way to the Outback Bowl to face Tennessee. On the pro side Green Bay lost a battle with Dallas, but is still in the hunt for the NFC playoffs at 10-2. Finally New England has had a couple of close games but is still undefeated at 12-0. I suspect that the rest of the games will be tough, even the winless Miami and almost Winless New York. Everyone is saying how Pittsburgh will be the hardest game, and it should be a cakewalk after that I’m not so sure, after seeing how the Baltimore and Philly brought their A game on to face the Pats. Its a strange feeling really, being in a bar and hearing just about everyone cheer against your team, even though they aren’t Baltimore fans.

One thing for certain, its looking like both pro teams will be in the playoffs, and both college teams are in New Year’s day bowls – which makes for good football distractions for the winter, and the first month or so of the next semester.

Haven’t had much of a chance to comment on the status of the football teams that I follow, following one of the biggest hyped pro games tonight, maybe a brief post is due. Its a little past mid season for both college and pro, and two of the teams that I follow are undefeated, (Pats, Warriors) one with one loss (Packers) and the other still with a winning season at 7-3 (Badgers). Growing up I followed Hawaii for college ball, and thanks to my Dad’s loyal following from his time living in Boston, New England. Spending a collective 6 years of college and grad school in Madison I traded Hawaii to become a faithful Wisconsin fan, and to some extent started following Green Bay, but still considered the Patriots my pro team. Some people think its lame to have more than one college and pro team, but given all the miles I’ve had living in different parts, I think its more than justified. At least the teams are in different conferences, so they’ll rarely play each other except inter-conference play or in a bowl game.

The thing I get a kick out of is how people are quick to lob that comment about me being a bandwagon fan or something, since Boston seems to be having a lot of sports successes recently. Two world series, 3 Superbowl wins since 2000, and I guess the Red Sox and the Pats are challenging the Yankees for the most hated teams out there. Not too long ago one guy I talked to said that he didn’t believe me that I had been following the Patriots as long as I can remember, and that I remembered how much they used to suck so I’m just enjoying it while they are playing well. He said that he still didn’t believe me, and that every bandwagoner says that. I kind of sat there and stared at him, not really knowing what the point of the conversation was, or why I should even have to convince someone about something as stupid as fan loyalty to a team that happens to be having a good season. I suspect it had something to do with him being a Redskins fan.

With the mess of the BCS which relies on polls and perceptions of sports writers, both Wisconsin and Hawaii tend to get the short end of the stick as non-traditional powers. Granted this year hasn’t been the best for the Badgers, every year it seems like Wisconsin is considered overrated and as soon as they lose, the sports writers are dying for a reason to drop them in the polls. This week Wisconsin kept up with #1 Ohio State and actually lead until they imploded in the 4th quarter, which I think was better than anyone thought they could’ve done. Hawaii on the other hand usually has trouble getting ranked, and despite having an undefeated year so far this season, are being kept out of the top 14 BCS, mostly being dinged for not playing anyone good on their schedule, despite the fact that nobody seems to want to fly out and face Brennen and June Jone’s run and shoot offense. I remember all the years that Northwestern was ranked and even won a few big ten conference championships after breaking the smashmouth football tradition and going with a spread offense, but no one claiming that it was just a “system” therefore not legit, or worthy of national recognition.

One thing for sure, I think its time for a playoff system for college ball. Make teams qualify based on their records, and then fight out for wild card games, seeding in a 2-3 week tournament instead of bowl games that most people don’t even follow anyway if it isn’t on Jan 1, or the national championship. To make the season more doable, they could cancel the conference championships in favor of wild card spaces. They could even create a system to restore some of the traditional match ups, like keeping the Rose Bowl between the Big 10 and Pac 10 team that qualifies with a certain record.