Oops, I did it again

All semester, I had been saying, as long as certain things fall into place, this will be the end of my time at Miami and I will be entering the real world come August. Well, a lot of those things fell into place today. In order to receive your Master's in Economics here at Miami, you need a 3.0 GPA in all of your classes. This requirement is why 3 of the 12 people who originally started the program decided to withdraw during 1st semester. About 6 weeks ago, I would've fallen short of the mark and would've had to take those classes over or take additional classes to get the 3.0. I've had my back against the wall before, but not like this with my career potentially at stake, so there was definitely more pressure surrounding me than ever before. But, for the last 6 weeks, I did what I needed to do and finished with the necessary GPA (3.04) and will receive my Master's come August, as long as I finish my exit thesis, which shouldn't be a problem.

I don't know why I do this to myself constantly, making life hard and creating unnecessary drama, but more often than not, I've been up to the task and been able to overcome the obstacles in front of me. I'm very grateful for being able to come through in the clutch one last time. By getting the grades, I can now look forward to finishing my paper and getting a job over the next 3 months, not having to wonder if I would even receive my degree to begin with. I can't tell you how excited I am to be able to walk across the stage for a third time come August. This, by far, is the greatest accomplishment of my life, up to this point. Nothing compares to the feeling I have right now. I'm not done yet, but I'm awfully close. It's like I've reached the top of a brutal Tour De France mountain climb, and all that's left is the descent to the finish. If I just stay upright, I will be in good shape. Thank you to all of you who have supported me and been there for me, it means a lot, more than you'll ever know.

Ok, here now are the results from the Elite 8 of the Ultimate NCAA Tournament:

• 00-01 Duke 96 88-89 Seton Hall 91. This Duke team again showed its flexibility in style, pushing the pace, knocking down 3s, eventually wearing down the Hall. Jason Williams emerged, scoring 22 points and dishing out 7 assists.
• 75-76 Indiana 101 77-78 Duke 88. Scott May turned in one of the greatest performances of all-time, scoring 49 points on 22/23 shooting, which is better than Bill Walton's 43 point performance for UCLA in the 1973 Final 4. This Duke team ran out of magic, despite another 23 point, 10 rebound performance from Mike Gminski.
• 87-88 Oklahoma 91 82-83 Houston 90. This game was fun to watch as neither team let their foot off the gas, with the Sooners coming out on top in the end. Akeem Olajuwon was his usual super-self (13 pts, 22 boards, 7 blocks), but the Sooners had a balanced attack, led by Mookie Blaylock's 18 points and 8 assists. Blaylock was able to break the Houston pressure, leading to 6 Sooners scoring in double figures.
• 92-93 UNC 89 61-62 Cincinnati 77. UC's front-line of Hogue and Bonham were matched by Lynch and Montross of UNC, with the UNC guards, led by Derrick Phelps' playmaking ability, providing the difference.

My whatif teams finished their seasons, Daaaa Bears 2-2 and the Runnin Ramblers 4-6, winning their last 4 games after Coach Lavelle called off the full-court pressure.

If you notice, this post is earlier than most of my others because I just finished watching ESPN's 20 Most Overrated things in sports, and I disagree with some of their selections:

• The NBA Slam Dunk was included, but so should every professional All-Star game. Becoming an all-star is now about as hard as participating in a college football bowl game, it isn't hard at all. Do we really care what happens in all-star games??? Give me one famous moment from an all-star game besides Magic Johnson's return from AIDS, the infamous tie in baseball, and Carl Hubbell striking out 4 American League all-stars in a row. Didn't think so.
• Greg Norman and Bill Buckner should've been a lot higher. Especially Buckner, when it was really the Boston bullpen who was responsible for blowing the 86 World Series. 2 outs no one on, then Calvin Schiraldi gave up a run, Bob Stanley threw a wild pitch, tying the game, so that decisive game shouldn't have come down to Buckner trying to field that ground ball.
• I don't see how Joe Namath could've been included. He was an All-American at Alabama. He predicted the Jets would beat the 18 point favorite Colts in the Super Bowl and he delivered, throwing for over 200 yards, good for MVP. Yeah, he was hurt a lot after that, but he made the Super Bowl relevant. You can't be overrated for doing something like that.
• How about Mark McGwire? He's pretty much admitted to using steroids during his career, how can he be considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time?
• I can't believe there was some disagreement as to why Anna Kournikova was the most overrated athlete of all time. Listen up people. She was the #1 ranked junior tennis player when she was 16. She had won all of the major junior tennis tournaments multiple times. That's why there was so much hype surrounding her to begin with. She didn't become a hottie until she was around 18 I would say. Jennifer Capriati came back to win majors, why couldn't Anna?
• The Ryder Cup shouldn't have been on this list. Until this past year, the Ryder Cup was one of the few sporting events that lived up to the hype. You'll have a hard time convincing me that the Comeback at Brookline in 99 was overrated.

And, last but not least tonight, more news has come about Jennifer Wilbanks, the Runaway Bride. It seems that she has been caught shoplifting not once, not twice, BUT THREE TIMES!!!! What is this guy thinking?!?!?! Dump her, now!!!!