Law School: The Aftermath

Only 8 short days til the National Spelling Bee! Ahhhhh! (10 days to the ESPN/ ABC national TV coverage). Gotta agree with the commenter in my last post about guys I forgot about, or "slept" on, if you will:

Zachary Zagorski, from New York, 17th place last year, and an eighth grader. And a Boy Scout (did I mention I used to be a Cub Scout, Pack 197? No joke, I especially liked the handmade-car races at the end of the year).

Shari-Jo Miller: Jamaica always produces a good candidate from their talent system, last year was no exception: they always make it into the quarterfinal/semifinal rounds, and once in a while they produce a winner, as evidenced by Jodi-Anne Maxwell in '98. Good catch.

Other sleepers:
Vincent Medina from FL, tied for 17th place last year.
Kennyi Auoad from Indiana, of Youtube fame for hilariously spelling "sardoodledum" in 2007 (and helping the spelling bee become a ratings boon), it's his 3rd year at the joke and he might be a contender this year, all joking aside.

I keep thinking this will be another year a Canadian makes it very interesting (as happened in 2006 and 2007, when a Canadian was the runner-up), and I've already mentioned some, but another name came up: Jonathan Schut, from Prince Edwards Island, helps on his parents' blueberry farm and umpires baseball games. Sounds like a good ol' boy, until u see this is his 3rd-year at the bee. Also could be ready for those tough agricultural words.
Kun Jacki Chiao, from China. Just wanted to mention him cuz it's the first time China's ever had a NSB contestant, proving how prevalent English is in the (once) Forbidden Kingdom.

Now that law school's over (for now), I have a bit of time, and I've wasted none of it by finishing the final book in the Percy Jackson series (the Last Olympian).....I would say that this was a nice finish, but it felt a little rushed, and I hate to be critical of the series, because I loved what Rick Riordan did in the wake of Harry Potter, but this ending was not as good as the 3rd and 4th, which is actually in line w/ what I felt about HP: the 3rd and 4th books (Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire) were at the peak of the series because Rowling had mastered her characters and had enough fresh ideas to make them very cohesive, thus producing a wondrous product, but after that things became just a tad stale, which was solved partially by Riordan by limiting the Percy Jackson's to only five, and in true series form the Titans' Curse and Battle of the Labyrinth were easily the best books in the series, and the Last Olympian wrapped up but did not go out with a bang, as I'd hoped.

However, apparently there's another series of Camp Halfbloods coming out? Prolly about someone other than Percy, but hope of Percy making guest appearances will make me continue to buy, as well as other avid readers in this country. Keep pluggin', Rick!

Also, I've gotten a chance to pick up James Maguire's "American Bee," easily the best and most entertaining book about the spelling bee out there, as well as most comprehensive. For you novice NSB followers out there, before each spelling bee (or anytime in ur life, for that matter), pick up "American Bee" the book or "Spellbound" the DVD documentary, and each will capture your heart and your imagination. Seriously, not to be cheesy. Do it.

Just completed a trade of Miguel Cabrera for Alex Rodriguez in my one league, which is very speculative of me: I don't add anything in terms of depth or position flexibility or have injury capital or anything like that, it was just a straight-up trade: one of the best pure hitters in the league right now who is blossoming before our eyes in Miggy, or one of THE best hitters in the history of baseball, with a little Straying problem and Juicing problem to go with it, and age might be catching up. But not this year. I predict from this point forward, with like about 77% of the season to go, A-Rod will produce ridiculous mashing #'s, get 30HR's, 100RBI's, 100R's, and 15 SB's. That's legit, and in a Yankees lineup that is again armed to the teeth with Murder's-row like guys, especially with Robinson Cano actually hitting this year. I love it.

Victor Martinez will NOT bat .400 this season, although it's been a nice ride this year, hasn't it? Would be even better if that lineup was at 2003 or 2007 levels, but even getting Travis Hafner back will be a nice addition to the R's and RBI totals for V-Mart.

Buy low on Jimmy Rollins. Believe.
Don't quit on Garrett Atkins. I've seen this before. Believe.
Don't believe that Scott Kazmir is not hurt. Expect a DL stint any day now.
Don't think Aramis Ramirez will be back this season, unfortunately. "The worst injury in his career" sounds anything but promising.
Brandon Webb NEEDS to return for one of my teams or else i'm doomed. Thanks in no part to Randy Johnson ballooning my ERA to preposterous levels.
Picked up Justin Verlander from WAIVERS a few weeks ago. Grave, grave mistake. Never give up on high-strikeout guys unless they're hurt. Justin's the one doing the hurting now.

Fantasize on,
Robert Yan