Today is cold and rainy, and I’m one of those few
psychopaths who actually enjoy this kind of weather. I get nostalgic for some
reason; it could be because I always look forward to Thanksgiving and the
holiday season. It really is my favorite time of the year.
I decided a few weeks ago that I would take a chance with my
life and apply to law school. Let me make one thing clear, here: it’s not
something I’m pursuing on a whim. I’m not going about preparing for it
willy-nilly, either. I’m going at it full-force. It’s certainly very late in
the application cycle to get started on something so big, but I can guarantee I’m
putting my all into it.
In fact, I think I may have overdone it these first few
weeks. At first, I could get through whatever material I had in front of me
without much of an issue. But now, I can’t get through half a page without
dozing off. So as a result, I think it would be prudent to adjust my schedule a
little bit and take a couple of breaks during the day. I’m far enough along in
the material that I can be a little more relaxed about it.
I wonder if it’s true that all lawyers go to hell.
Meanwhile, I’m balancing a couple of community college
classes to help keep my mind fresh. They’re a little easy, but it’s still
nothing to sneeze at. College is college, after all.
Now that I’ve got all that boring crap out of the way, I can
move on to what really matters – my poor, pitiful Pittsburgh Steelers.
The last thing you want to do is count out a team, no matter
how bad they look. But right now, it’s not looking good for Pittsburgh. The
offensive line is in shambles; as a result, both the running game and Ben
Roethlisberger have taken a sizeable beating. And with the offense unable to
really sustain any drives, the defense is getting gassed a lot more quickly.
Let’s get one thing right, though. The Steelers looked
helpless when defending against the run on Sunday. The Texans’ offensive line
is nothing to sneeze at, and Arian Foster is an absolute monster. The obvious
explanation is that the Texans are simply the better team. I’m sure I’ll have a
hard time finding anyone who would argue otherwise.
With the Steelers banged up and terrible, I initially
anticipated I wouldn’t really enjoy the NFL all that much this year. But 2011
really has proven to be one of the more unpredictable and exciting years in
recent memory.
Yes, there are those teams we expected to do well – the Green
Bays, the New Englands and others – that have failed to surprise us. But for
the most part, the league is in a state of chaos. Buffalo is at a shocking 3-1,
Detroit is undefeated through four weeks, and the Eagles, whom many trumpeted
as the preseason NFC champion, are at a shocking 1-3.
It’s years like these that let me focus more on the league
as a whole instead of only the Steelers and those few non-Steeler players on my
fantasy teams. And really, I emerge from these kinds of seasons for the better,
either by learning a little more about the league as a whole or not getting so
upset over my favorite team’s performance (or lack thereof).
Should the Steelers find a way to pick things up, I’d be all
for it. But until then, I’ll sit back and enjoy the three-ring circus that is
the 2011 NFL season. I can’t wait to see how messed up the playoffs will look.
Baseball, for now at least, is pretty much dead to me. The
Angels once again had a tremendously disappointing season, culminating in the
long-overdue resignation of GM Tony Reagins and his cronies. But never mind
them – I’ve had plenty of time to get over that.
The main reason I can’t really follow the MLB playoffs too
closely is that there are very few moments I can conceive that would surpass
the last day of the regular season. Time and time again, I look back on that
day and shake my head in disbelief. What occurred on that day was something you’d
only expect to see at the end of some sappy Disney movie.
I’m not going to go through it all here – I had a much
better take on it here.
But I can’t possibly imagine any moment involving these seven remaining clubs
that would be somehow more memorable than the combined collapses of Boston and
Atlanta last Wednesday. I wouldn’t mind seeing Texas or the Yankees go out in
heartbreaking fashion. I know I'm not in the minority there.
Big day tomorrow. I scheduled a self-administered practice
LSAT in the morning, so we’ll see how that turns out. It will be the first of many.