Happy Memorial Day Weekend

I will be heading home tomorrow for the long weekend, so before I forget, have a great and safe weekend everyone. Once again, if you're in the area, gimme a call and we'll hang out. The empirical portion of my final paper is almost over, and may be over tomorrow. Currently, I'm on pace to finish and defend in late July, so that's very exciting. There's still nothing substantial to report on the job situation, but that may be changing soon, let me just say that.

Alright, what else is going on:

• The Miami baseball team won their first game of the MAC Tourney, defeating Akron 2-0. It was my first time at the ballpark here on campus to watch the boys and I came away very impressed. Not only does Miami have good starting pitching, but good defense as well. I may have to drag my dad back down to Oxford Saturday if Miami can advance to the championship game. It was a great day sitting outside and enjoying the game and the weather.
  
• In the NBA, the Spurs lead the Suns 2-0. As much as I like the Suns, they can't stop anyone or rebound to save their lives. Steve Nash and Amare Stoudamire are phenomenal players, but Stoudamire needs to learn how to play defense and rebound around the basket. In the East, the Heat tied things up tonight behind 40 points from Dwayne Wade. It will be interesting to see who ends up being the better player, Wade or LeBron. LeBron is a better perimeter shooter, but I'd take Wade right now, especially after watching him bounce back from his dismal performance in Game 1 of the series. Wade wills his way to the basket and finishes at a high percentage while also finding the open man. Kobe Bryant should take some notes.
• Carrie Underwood won American Karaoke. I think the finale show is the dumbest thing in television. Didn't the new single sound very similar to "A Moment Like This". Listen to the chorus next time you hear it, I think you'll agree with me.
• The Contender ended up Sergio Mora, 1st; Peter Manfredo Jr., 2nd; Alfonso Gomez, 3rd; Jesse Brinkley, 4th. Manfredo tried to neutralize Mora's speed by tying him up, pushing him against the ropes to give him a stationary target. But Mora landed combination after combination, hurting Manfredo and tiring him out most of the fight. Of all the reality shows, this one appears to be extinct. How did this show not do better than some of the ones out there? Oh well, I really liked the show and I hope it finds a way to comeback.
• I forgot to mention this the other night, but the Daytime Emmy Awards were last week. To prove no one really cares about soap operas, one only had to look at the attendance in the theater that night. This is the only awards show that doesn't sell out, there were plenty of seats available. Even the Tony Awards sellout, c'mon.
  
• I agree with the pundits that the Indianapolis 500 is no longer the sporting event it once was. I'd still put it above horse racing, but when the Coca-Cola 600, a regular Nascar event has higher ratings than you, that's a problem. Open wheel racing is probably 3rd in racing supremacy behind Nascar and the Busch series, and is probably not much higher than the Craftsman Truck series. But there is still something about "Gentlemen, start your engines," on the last weekend in May that gets me going and pulls me in.
• The French Open is now into the 2nd round with the big story being Andre Agassi's back and hip problems. Despite having a 2 sets to 1 lead in his 1st round match, Agassi lost all mobility in his back and hip, which gave his opponent a chance to comeback and easily defeat Andre in the last 2 sets. Agassi revealed he's been forced to take cortisone shots to ease the pain, which even with the injections, is still there. You've gotta think this is the last year for Andre, if he can play through the pain. How much magic does he have left? Andy Roddick is through to the 2nd round, while Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, the two favorites, are into the 3rd round. On the women's side, all of the big guns are still there, with Maria Sharapova in action tomorrow.
• Finally, Ken Jennings fell short in the Ultimate Jeopardy finals, placing 2nd to the guy ( can't remember his name) who had previously won the most money on Jeopardy prior to Ken. Ken played well, but the other guy was phenonmenal, knowing everything from Latin to rocks.

Have a good weekend, see you on Monday.