Rob and Julie's Wedding on 4/8/2006

Julie's cake for Rob.

It was an awesome ceremony near Atlantic City. They looked so happy and wonderful together. And I just loved the cake Julie and her sister made.

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Articles of the Day

So the anticipated movement to challenge Roe vs. Wade with the appointment of Alito and Roberts has already begun. Governor Michael Rounds of South Dakota recently signed a bill making it illegal to perform abortions unless the pregnancy is an imminent risk to the mother's life. Let's see how drawn out the legal battle over this issue will be now, once it gets to the Supreme Court level.

In some odder news,

Distillery to Revive 184-Proof Whisky

By JENNIFER PRICE
LONDON (AP) - A Scottish distillery said Monday it was reviving a centuries-old recipe for whisky so strong that one 17th-century writer feared more than two spoonfuls could be lethal.

Risk-taking whisky connoisseurs will have to wait, however - the spirit will not be ready for at least 10 years.

The Bruichladdich distillery on the Isle of Islay, off Scotland's west coast, is producing the quadruple-distilled 184-proof - or 92 percent alcohol - spirit "purely for fun," managing director Mark Reynier said.

Whisky usually is distilled twice and has an alcohol content of between 40 and 63.5 per cent.

Bruichladdich is using a recipe for a spirit known in the Gaelic language as usquebaugh-baul, "perilous water of life."

n 1695, travel writer Martin Martin described it as powerful enough to affect "all members of the body."

"Two spoonfuls of this last liquor is a sufficient dose; if any man should exceed this, it would presently stop his breath, and endanger his life," Martin wrote...

In personal news... this past weekend was excelelnt. I visited my parents after a long time, and took two friends home with me to make up for it. Among other things, I made them watch a Hindi movie that I like (with English subtitles). They actually admitted to liking it. We watched Final Destination 3 in a theater and enjoyed it tremendously - it was exactly what I expected: nonstop entertaining, gory deaths. Later on Sunday, Atif came over to my apartment from way up North Jersey as he had to take Step 2 Clinical Skills of USMLE in Philly today. We hung out for a bit yesterday, and as I was working at the hospital, he rocked the CS from 8-4. After he left, I meant to do some productive work, but, alas, here I am with nothing really accomplished. Ooh.. I just remembered... I left my Wal-Mart purchases from today in Soumen's car. I guess I will get them later - there is nothing I need immediately in there anyway. Oh well - time for some music and then off to bed. I have to get up an hour earlier tomorrow.

Cavemen preferred blondes

Apparently Blondes are mutants.

Here's the link.

Watch out, late fee dodgers!

First, here's the article:AOL Money & Finance: - - A New Threat To Your Credit Rating Now. I say good for them! In my mind, if you get a ticket, you have to pay it. If you get a fine, you have to pay it. If you dont return your library books, you have to pay for them! If cities want to start collecting on all these fines, etc. that people owe (and yes, they do owe) I say it's about time. Especially if it will help keep taxes down. It doesnt seem unreasonable to me. I do have to wonder about the cost effectiveness of hiring a collection agency to track down small dollar amounts. I mean, does it make sense to pay a collector $10/hr. to track down a $40 fine? But, I suppose if they werent getting any money out of it they'd come up with a new plan. Or just tax people more. The part that really makes me mad, though, is this Mr. DaCorsi, who seems to be under the impression that the library just gives away books. He says he prided himself on his excellent credit, which would lead one to the conclusion that he's in the habit of paying all his bills on time. So why can't he return his library books? Granted, things happen and whatnot, and library books get returned late, so you have to pay a fine. But c'mon...is 10 cents per day really that much of a financial hardship? PAY YOUR DAMN LATE FEES, DUDE, AND QUIT WHINING ABOUT IT!!! And now the poor DaCorsi children are barred from going to the library. They must go to Barnes & Noble from now on. What, exactly, is he trying to teach his children? The library was wrong to want the late fees/missing books that Mr. DaCorsi owed them? Because, yes, he did owe them! So next time Junior wants a picture book, he's going to have to shell out at least $20 for it. Hmm....Barnes & Noble seems to be profiting greatly from Mr. DaCorsi's situation. Perhaps it's all an evil plot? Who wants to bet that B&N is behind this evil scheme to ruin the credit of all library patrons because they're borrowing books instead of buying them!?

Tennessee beats Temple 11-6 in low scoring NCAA basketball game

This was feautured in some news articles... I found it very interesting. Talk about a boring game. Look at it on the bright side... 17 points would be very exciting if it were soccer or hockey!

Infamy in 17 points - Flashback: Tennessee 11, Temple 6
Basketball Digest, Dec, 2003 by Chuck O'Donnell
TRUDEAUX TO KNEIB.

Kneib to Trudeaux.

Trudeaux to Kneib.

Two of Temple's best ball-handlers, Rick Trudeaux and John Kneib, stood like Easter Island statues in Chuck Taylors, passing the ball back and forth for minutes at a time. With no shot clock to stop them, the Owls had decided before their game with host Tennessee in the Volunteer Classic on December 15,1973, that no matter how ugly or boring it was, or how badly they desecrated the game of they were going to stall.

For Temple coach Don Casey, this was the Owls' best, and perhaps only, way to best Tennessee.

"Tennessee had a great team," Casey says. "We thought this was going to give us the best chance to win. So we took two guys and put them out by the 28-foot line, had them standing about five feet part, and we had them pass the ball back and forth, back and forth.

"This was uncharted territory. We didn't know exactly what we were doing. It got to the point where we said, "Well, what should we do next?"

Continue articleAdvertisement


Kneib to Trudeaux.

Trudeaux to Kneib.

Kneib to Trudeaux.

As the ball went back and forth and the sands of time oozed through the hourglass, Tennessee held its ground.

"Temple had a good team," says Len Kosmalski, the Volunteers' leading scorer that season. "We were prepared for a good game. Then we got word that Temple didn't think they could play with us. They went into their stall tactics. We played a disciplined style taught by coach [Ray] Mears. We were precise. We'd work the ball around until we got a good shot. Temple thought it would slow the pace down and reverse the roles on us. [Assistant] coach [Stu] Aberdeen told us, 'Just stay in your positions. Be patient.' We stayed back in our zone and they passed the ball back and forth at the top of the key. Six or seven minutes would run off the dock and I'd just be sitting there in the lane, watching the clock wind down.

"The coaches didn't want us to come out of our 2-3 zone. [Temple] had some good inside players. I guess they thought if they could draw us out, it would open things for their inside players. The coaches told us to stay packed in."

Trudeaux to Kneib.

Kneib to Trudeaux.

Trudeaux to Kneib.

The strategy, for lack of a better word, was working Temple held the ball for the final 11:44 of the first half and went into halftime trailing by just two points.

Temple went back into the stall in the second half. The Tennessee crowd, which had lost its patience much earlier, began to well with hostility. The arena echoed with thousands of boos. Seven or eight police officers were summoned to stand guard behind the Owls bench, just in case.

Mears also grew angry. "Once in awhile, we'd look down at them and say, What are you doing? Play some basketball already.'" To which Casey, in his first year as head coach, would yell back, "Why don't you come out and get us?"

Says Casey: "I don't understand why they didn't come out. If they had attacked those two men, there would have been temporary chaos. We wouldn't have known what to do next."

But as it stood, Temple stalled and Tennessee waited. "A war of wills ensued," Casey says, "We had no idea what we were doing. I had no idea how to bring it to a conclusion. It was one of those things where we got so far into it, we didn't know how to get out of it And they didn't do anything to get out of it."

Kneib to Trudeaux.

Trudeaux to Kneib.

Kneib to Trudeaux

Temple didn't allow the Volunteers a single shot from the field in the second half But the Volunteers got four free throws from John Snow to collect an 11-6 victory. It was the lowest-scoring major college game since 1938. Kosmalski topped all scorers with five points.

Tennessee officials forced the Volunteers to play an intrasquad scrimmage after the game. "The people had come to see basketball," Mears says. "I was angry. I told their coach after the game was over that this is a game played for our fans. We invited teams from the east and west so they could see different styles of basketball. Temple had an eastern style. I told Casey, 'I gave you $10,000 to come in here to play and I'm disappointed. I'll never invite you back.'"

Casey says he got letters from psychologists, who were analyzing his personality through how he coached that game. Legendary DePaul coach Ray Meyers, at the game to see Tennessee in action, forever gave Casey grief for ruining his scouting trip. Temple didn't get its $10,000 check for over a year.

To this day, 30 years later, disbelieving fans will come up to Kosmalski and ask him if the final score was really 11-6.

"People see it in the record book and they ask me about it," Kosmalski says. "I'm like, 'Believe it or not, that was the score.'"

COPYRIGHT 2003 Century Publishing
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group

Clinton Declares Self President For Life

Since the last article was from the onion, I decided to add one of my favorite onion articles here, published, as you may infer, during Bush and Gore's election fiasco.

November 15, 2000
| Issue 36•41

WASHINGTON, DC–Denouncing the American electoral process as "immoral and corrupt," President Clinton announced Tuesday that he will not step down on Jan. 20, 2001, declaring himself "President For Life."

Enlarge Image

Clinton greets his subjects from a White House balcony.

Proclaiming Nov. 14 a new national holiday as "Day One of Americlintonian Year Zero," Clinton issued a directive of total martial law over "all territories formerly known as these United States, from now on to be called the Holy United Imperial Americlintonian Demopublic (HUIAD)." He added that all election results are "hereby invalidated under Demopublican provisional law."

"The American people have spoken," Clinton said. "By failing to generate a 51 percent majority for either candidate, they have shown their inability to muster the drive to collective action. The time has come for a new America, a strong Americlintonian Empire, capable of providing the indecisive electorate with direction through one man's sheer force of will."

Dressed in full military regalia and flanked by members of his elite Demopublican Guard, Clinton told reporters, "Let all peoples of the land know this: The era of bipartisan inaction and paralysis has ended. The Age of the Great Cleansing Fire begins today."

A significant portion of the U.S. Armed Forces has sworn loyalty to the Imperial Demopublic Council of Generals, the new military wing of the Clinton regime. But despite such support, many political observers question the constitutionality of Clinton's actions, which include the burning of the Constitution, the dissolution of Congress, and the establishment of "re-education camps" in suburban D.C.

At a sparsely attended press conference, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno raised the prospect of a Justice Department investigation of "possible illegal activities" on the part of Clinton. Most observers, however, believe that such a probe is unlikely: Less than an hour after Reno spoke, her battered and broken body was publicly fed to Clinton's dogs.

"Let them bring their pitiful reprisals to the impotent courts. Their lawyers and lawsuits shall face the wrath of a people united by the almighty fist," said Clinton, whose divinity as HUIAD's first Emperor-God was ratified late Tuesday night by the Americlintonic High Priest Council. "Let them recount their puny, paper ballots. They shall wither, as will the bankers, lawyers, and lobbyists all, before the Holy Cause of Americlintonia's glorious, righteous might."

Defiant in the face of objections from the Bush and Gore camps, Clinton has consolidated his power over the last several days, ordering armed takeovers of major federal buildings and the systematic collection and display of his enemies' heads on iron pikes.

In a test of the new regime's power outside the nation's capital, Senator-Elect Hillary Clinton, rechristened "Bride of The Lord Clinton On Earth," summarily ordered HUIAD troops to fire on Manhattan crowds, leaving more than 2,500 dead on Wall Street and quickly dispersing protesters loyal to defeated Republican challenger Rick Lazio.

Resistance movements are already forming. The new Legion Of Californians has sworn to defeat HUIAD in the west, and anti-Clinton groups have been reported across the U.S., including Naderist factions in Washington State and Maine.

Clinton has publicly dismissed such insurrections as "pathetic," confident that nothing will stem his authority over "the former U.S."

"The rebels are but mewling kittens who shall taste blood instead of milk," said Clinton, threatening to deploy HUAID-controlled nuclear weapons against members of resistance movements. "The holy power of the atom shall, if it must, cleanse this nation of all infidels."

Sudden Elder Death Syndrome

And you thought SIDS was bad.....
Here's an article from the onion.

Millions Of Americans Succumbing To Sudden Elder Death Syndrome

February 8, 2006 | Issue 42•06

McLEAN, VA—Despite remarkable advances in health care and the study of medicine in recent decades, scientists remain baffled by Sudden Elder Death Syndrome, a disorder that cuts long lives short and leaves aggrieved loved ones wondering why.
Millions Of Americans Succumbing To Sudden Elder Death Syndrome

Also known as Craftmatic Adjustable Bed Death, SEDS is the sudden, unexplained passing of an elderly person. In many SEDS cases, even a full autopsy and a review of 80-plus years of health records cannot account for the mysterious death.

"We have no forensic explanation for it," said Dr. Martin Gerrard, chairman of the SEDS Institute. "These seemingly healthy elders—some of whom are performing such normal activities as eating liquefied food, trying to stand up, or taking frequent naps—just stop breathing."

According to a study published by the SEDS Institute, Sudden Elder Death Syndrome is the leading cause of death among people over the age of 85. Nicolai Korsgaard, author of the most comprehensive SEDS investigation conducted in the past decade, said scientists have been unable to replicate his results because study participants often succumb to SEDS before the studies are complete.

"Over 99 percent of elders between the ages of 100 and 105 die of SEDS," Korsgaard said. "As a researcher and caregiver, I can't think of a scenario more gut-wrenching than that of a healthy and contented centenarian slipping into a deep slumber and never awakening."

The earliest recorded SEDS fatality occurred on American soil in 1661, when 58-year-old English-born colonist Jonas Clay died in his sleep in his cabin. While advances in mattress technology and elder care have raised the average age of SEDS victims from 54.5 in 1700 to 78.6 today, the mysterious syndrome kills at exactly the same rate it did three centuries ago.

"Doctors haven't isolated any genetic anomalies or behavior patterns among elders afflicted with SEDS," Gerrard said. "The one constant in the SEDS community is age. We do know that the older one gets, the greater the risk of becoming a victim."

However, independent research group SEDS Prevention Alliance has detected patterns among SEDS victims.

"Nearly 80 percent of SEDS deaths occur in a home setting, such as a nursing home or assisted-living facility," said SEDSPA director Melinda Byrnes. "Inactive elders who lie in their beds all day ingesting prescription medicines are especially susceptible."

For many loved ones of SEDS victims, however, these and other theories offer little comfort. Atlanta resident Mary-Beth Soltis, 34, lost her grandmother Esther, 91, to SEDS in 2003.

"Every day, I think, 'There must have been something I could have done to save Nana,'" Soltis said. "When I left the hospital the night before, I never thought that it would be the last time I saw her. What did I do wrong? I'm a terrible granddaughter."

Byrnes recommends putting elders to sleep on their backs, checking on them regularly, and monitoring them with a device called an electrocardiograph, which emits a sustained electronic tone if your elder is in danger of succumbing to SEDS.

goddammit :)

Yikes was my reaction to this article.

Here's a blurb:


Starving woman curses God, dies in her sleep

NAIROBI (Reuters) - A starving Kenyan woman placed a powerful tribal curse on God, accusing him of sending famine, and died in her sleep, local newspapers said Thursday.

Here are some rules on when to storm

GREAT article from ESPN.com by Pat Forde

Thursday, January 26, 2006
Here are some rules on when to storm
By Pat Forde
ESPN.com

Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college basketball ("Bison Beat Bucky!" (1) T-shirts sold separately):

TO STORM OR NOT TO STORM

Within the last 10 days, those crazy college kids from Michigan, Iowa, Indiana, Georgetown, St. John's and Tennessee have stormed the basketball court to celebrate big victories -- and for the chance to act like lunatics on TV. ("Look, Martha, there's our boy! Yes, the shirtless one with his face and torso painted, howling like a savage and jumping on that other child's back. ... Is that a whiskey flask in his back pocket?")

After watching all these giddy group gropes, it's high time to publish the Forde Minutes Court-Storming Protocol Guide. Students are advised to read the following rules and to act accordingly the next time their team agitates them to the edge of hoops ecstasy:

• The Old Money Principle (2): Look up at the ceiling of your gym and count the banners. If your school has won three or more national titles in its history, you shall not rush the floor at any time. Schools affected: UCLA (11 titles), Kentucky (seven), Indiana (five), North Carolina (four), Duke (three).

Your program has won big games before. Act like it.

The Old Money Principle clearly puts the Indiana student body in violation of The Forde Minutes' protocol. Especially when the vanquished team, Illinois, owns zero national titles of its own. How terribly tacky.

The Illini did not even qualify for a Minutes Protocol Exception (3), which states that if your august basketball program has hit the skids to a dispiriting degree (Indiana has missed the last two NCAA Tournaments), a storming is allowable under certain conditions:

Condition A (4): The opponent is ranked No. 1 and/or undefeated at least halfway through the season (14 or more games). Illinois was merely ranked fifth in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll and already had a loss on the season.

Condition B (5): Your august program defeats a top-five team on a suitably miraculous shot (25 feet or farther) at the buzzer, spurring spontaneous joy that overrides better impulses. (The Indiana-Illinois game went down to the wire, but it wasn't won at the buzzer on a prayer.)

Condition C (6): You are so intoxicated that you cannot remember the opponent's ranking, or how many titles your school has won. But be forewarned that The Minutes will not pay your bail if you're the lone trespasser on the court and wind up in cuffs.

Ashley Judd
If you see Ashley, storm all you want.

Condition D (7): You see college hoops fan Ashley Judd (8) sitting at the other end of the court, and you know that the shortest distance to her is a straight line.

• The Upper-Middle Class Principle (8): If your school has won multiple national titles, you are generally discouraged from storming the court unless you have defeated one of the above blue bloods, and only at the last second. Schools affected: Kansas, Louisville, Oklahoma State, Cincinnati, San Francisco, Michigan State, Connecticut, North Carolina State.

However, stormings are allowable under the following conditions:

Ancient History Exception (9): If your national titles predate Texas Western's, you are free to storm the court for any dramatic win over a top-five team. Schools affected: Oklahoma State, San Francisco, Cincinnati.

Semi-Ancient History Exception (10): If your national titles predate the 3-point shot, you are free to storm the court for any dramatic win over a No. 1-ranked team. Schools affected: Louisville and North Carolina State; Kansas and Michigan State halfway (one title before the three, one after).

Current power Connecticut (two titles in the last seven years) is discouraged from rushing the court under any but the most extraordinary circumstances, such as beating the No. 1 team on an eyes-closed, left-handed hook shot from half court.

• The Middle Class Principle (11): If your program plays in a major conference, has some basketball heritage and takes itself fairly seriously, court stormings should be reserved for: upsetting a top five team; knocking off an unbeaten league rival of particular dislike; ending a period of extreme and elongated futility against an arch rival; clinching a conference championship.

Under this principle, Iowa is hereby indicted for its floor rush Tuesday night after beating No. 11 Indiana. (In fact, it's flatly inexcusable on any level, other than the boredom that January in Iowa City can precipitate.) Michigan is granted clemency under the elongated-futility-against-an-arch-rival clause. Georgetown, St. John's and Tennessee were all cleared for liftoff last Saturday.

Daniel Horton
Daniel Horton can celebrate; even the UM fans are exempt.

(Although The Minutes fully understands the Rocky Top rush, the SEC did not. It fined the Volunteers $5,000 for failing to keep the students off the floor, a violation of the league's sportsmanship policy. The Minutes fails to see the clear and present danger. This isn't football, where the fans mount heavy metal objects and send them crashing down upon the mob below. First time they tear down a basket stanchion, a fine will be in order. Not until then.)

• The Lower Class Principle (12): If your team plays in a mid-major or low-major league and manages to coax (or trick) a BCS-conference school into visiting and you win the game, a storming is allowed. Exceptions: Memphis, Gonzaga or any other school whose program is demonstrably larger than its conference profile. Also: beating a certifiably horrible BCS-conference school (Baylor, Arizona State, Purdue, South Florida or anyone with an RPI worse than 150) is not worth the effort.

The Bottom Feeder Principle (13): If you're North Dakota State, still on the D-I taxi squad, and you shock Wisconsin? Go crazy. Even if it's a road game. Break into the home gym and storm that sucker.

• The Morehead State Principle (14): The Eagles are 0-15 against NCAA competition. Any 8-0 run is justifiable incentive to rush the floor.

IT'S GETTING LATE EARLY IN THESE LEAGUES

It's still January, but The Minutes is ready to declare winners in a few conference races. (Hey, if they can call states in presidential elections with one percent of the vote counted, we can call a league champion or two before Super Bowl Sunday.) No fewer than five leagues already have one team that has put itself far above the competition:

League: Atlantic Coast Conference (15), where even Billy Packer would have a hard time getting chesty about an ACC with one team in the current RPI Top 20.

Winner: Duke (16). The Blue Devils already are two games up in the loss column over North Carolina State, Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina. Consecutive road games at Carolina and Maryland Feb. 7 and 11 could make the race mildly interesting. Or end it altogether.

Only potential spoiler: N.C. State (17). Wolfpack conceivably could be favored in every remaining game, but it doesn't get a rematch with Duke in Raleigh.

League: Big 12 (18), where the same two words you heard all football season still apply: hook 'em. If you can find another lock NCAA Tournament team in this motley conference right now, your vision is better than The Minutes'.

Team: Texas (19). The Longhorns also have a two-game lead in league play, over a half-dozen pursuers. Nobody has yet come closer than 19 points to the Horns in five Big 12 games.

Only potential spoiler: Oklahoma (20), and we're stretching to say that. The offensively challenged Sooners have averaged 56.4 points per game in 2006 -- but they do get Texas on their home court Saturday.

League: Conference USA (21). You think this league lost something in realignment? Just because eight of the 12 teams are ranked 200 or worse in the RPI? Nooooo.

Winner: Memphis (22). The Tigers have played only three league games, and there are two other unbeatens in C-USA play, but let's get serious: anything less than 13-1 in this conference would be a disappointment for a group with this much talent.

Only potential spoiler: UAB (23). The plucky Blazers are 4-0, play a problematic style and have two shots at Memphis, the first of which is Saturday on the road. But with senior Demario Eddins out for the year with an Achilles tear, The Minutes does not foresee a legitimate threat to the Tigers.

League: West Coast (24). After a couple of pretty good years, there are a whopping two teams with overall winning records.

Winner: Gonzaga (25). With road wins already at Santa Clara, San Francisco and San Diego, if the Zags don't run the table it would be a shock.

Only potential spoiler: Loyola Marymount (26), if you insist. The Fighting Bo Kimbles are 5-1 in WCC play and lost only by a dozen in The Kennel, but five of their final eight games are on the road. The Zags will win the league by at least three games.

League: Big West (27). It isn't very big this year.

Winner: UC Irvine (28). Anytime a team called the Anteaters is in first place, it's a good thing. They're deep and experienced, they lead by two in the loss column and they have five of their remaining eight league games at home (albeit, where they lost earlier this year to D-II Cal State Stanislaus).

Only potential spoiler: Pacific (29). The Tigers owned the league last year, and could again by season's end -- but they'll have to hustle. They've already been beaten by Cal-Irvine once.

COACH WHO EARNED HIS COURTESY CAR

And earned the right to run over a certain Conference USA officiating crew with it: Houston's Tom Penders (30). You probably heard that Penders drew a T last Saturday for having the gall to collapse on the sidelines during the Cougars' loss to UAB -- and that officials upheld the T even after they discovered that, gee, Penders wasn't lampooning a call, but was being wheeled out on a stretcher. Thankfully, Penders feels well enough now to laugh about the incident.

"It's a good thing I didn't die," he told the Houston Chronicle. "They [the Blazers] would have gotten two more free throws and possession."

COACH WHO SHOULD RIDE THE BUS TO WORK

Syracuse's Jim Boeheim (31), whose Orange have led a total of zero minutes and zero seconds in their past three Big East games. Granted, the competition has been brutal (Connecticut, Villanova and Pittsburgh), but since when is Syracuse supposed to roll over like that? They trailed UConn and Villanova 12-0 each before scoring, and were down 7-0 before getting on the board against Pitt. How 'bout answering the opening bell, guys?

SWAPPING E-MAILS WITH...

...Kentucky guard Patrick Sparks (32). Since transferring from Western Kentucky, his shooting has proven to be the true bellwether for the Wildcats: when the senior makes two or more 3s in a game, Kentucky is 23-3. When he doesn't, Kentucky is 18-9. His latest big bomb was a 3-pointer measured by the school's sports information department at 29 feet, and it came with 30 seconds left in a comeback win over South Carolina. The Minutes ruthlessly interrogated Sparks this week on that shot and other pressing topics.

Forde Minutes: A 29-footer with 30 seconds left? Was there even a moment's thought when you were going up that, gee, I'm pretty far out here?
Patrick Sparks: No. I just shot it. We needed a bucket and I was open.

FM: You've now taken three of the most memorable shots in recent UK history: the last-second 3 where you drew the foul against Louisville last year; the rim-dancing 3 against Michigan State in the Elite Eight; and the 29-foot hoist against South Carolina -- fair to say you like taking the big shot?
PS: Yes, I'm willing to take the big shot. I'm not afraid of the outcome. You can't make it if you don't shoot it.

FM: You once scored 71 points in a 32-minute high school game. Kobe (33) scored 81 in 42 minutes Sunday night. You win on points-per-minute. Was your performance better?
PS: I only played 28 minutes, but it wasn't better than 81 in an NBA game. That's impressive.

FM: What's the one thing a visitor to your hometown of Central City, Ky., must see or do?
PS: Great question. Everybody knows Central City for being home of the Everly Brothers (34), but the small-town atmosphere is what's great about living there. Plus, the hunting and fishing is great, too.

FM: What's the craziest thing a UK fan has ever said to you, requested of you or done to you?
PS: We have the greatest fans in college basketball. There's probably nothing I haven't 'John Hancock-ed.' Their passion is what makes playing at UK special.

FASHION POLICE

The Minutes is always vigilant for crimes against basketball fashion, and this year it is pleased to report one positive trend: Headbands have almost universally moved north on the craniums of the players. They're no longer being worn as earmuffs, but actually rest above the ears, as intended when James Naismith or John Wooden or Slick Watts or Bill Walton -- somebody -- invented the garment.

Now, here are the looks that still violate Minutes ordinances:

Knee-high navy blue socks, as worn by Xavier big man Brian Thornton (35). White? Maybe. Dark blue? Ugh.

Tights, as worn by Fairleigh Dickinson guard John Blackgrove (36). Men in tights might work in Sherwood Forest, but not in college basketball.

Sketchy beards, as worn by the Syracuse trio (37) of Gerry McNamara, Darryl Watkins and Eric Devendorf. Is the snow piled too high up there to get to the store and buy a razor?

The hobbit hair of Gonzaga's Adam Morrison (38). You can keep the 'stache. Just do something with that 'do.

Coaches Division: the orange suspenders of Tennessee's Bruce Pearl (39). At least they weren't an orange-and-white checkerboard pattern.

BOX SCORE OF THE WEEK

Massachusetts 60, Temple 34. (40) Nobody's teams are more famously hot-and-cold than John Chaney's. This might have been the game where the Owls reached absolute zero, shooting 26.5 percent from the floor and 10 percent from 3-point range in scoring their fewest points since 1973.

They actually led 13-12 at one point, then proceeded to score two points in the final 9:16 of the first half. They followed that up by scoring three points in the first 9:54 of the second half. That's five points in a span of 19 minutes, 10 seconds -- nearly impossible in modern basketball, unless it's played by kindergartners.

But that's Temple, a team that can beat Army by 32 and Miami by 17, then lose to Auburn by 31 and UMass by 26. When the Chaney mojo is good, it's very good. When it's bad, it's unwatchable. In this case, Mother Nature might have sensed the presence of the bad Owls; angry weather in the area knocked the broadcast off TV for about 10 minutes.

Pat Forde is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at ESPN4D@aol.com.