NFL Week 9 Picks

Baltimore at Cleveland
The Browns are playing a bit better after a disastrous start. In an AFC where a lot of the traditionally good teams are struggling, it might not be too late to get back into the playoff chase. Despite the improvement Joe Flacco has shown of late, I like the Browns at home here.
Spread: Cleveland -2
Pick: Cleveland 23, Baltimore 17

Tampa Bay at Kansas City

The Office: “Employee Transfer”

Once again, the writers of The Office packed quite a bit into an episode this week and left me wanting more…in a good way.

She isn't gone for good...right?

Update

My application to Santa Clara University has officially been sent off. Also sent are applications to UNLV and University of Denver. I’ve pretty much dropped University of New Mexico from consideration.

Will soon get my applications off to Seattle, Wyoming, Wake Forest and now Cincinnati (who piqued my interest by offering me a fee waiver on my application…they’re ranked just outside the top 50 on the U.S. News rankings, so I figured I’d toss them a free app and see what happens). I’m pretty sure that, pending more fee waivers, that will complete my list of applications. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s 13 schools that have been sent my application, and four more that will, for a total of 17 prospective schools. I felt the need to cast a wide net due to the unpredictability of how schools will see my big split between a low GPA and a high LSAT score.

Did some LSAT prep last night for a couple of hours, for my upcoming retake. I got some good work in, but man it’s hard to get up for studying that same material again…

NCAA Week 10 Picks

Pac-10

#24 Oregon at California
I think the winner of this game will play in the Holiday Bowl. They both impress me, Oregon maybe a little moreso, but Cal just hasn’t shown much weakness at home yet.

NFL Week 8 Power Rankings

1. (7-0) Tennessee (1)
That was one heck of a statement game. The Titans, shockingly enough, have a flat-out stranglehold on the AFC South through only seven games.

2. (6-1) NY Giants (2)
Gutsy, gutsy win. The Giants are holding a lot steadier than their division rivals right now..

3. (5-2) Pittsburgh (3)
Nothing to hang their heads about, I still think the Steelers are an elite team after this close loss to the Giants.

4. (6-2) Carolina (8)
Took them a while to get going, but Carolina is looking incredibly tough to beat at home.

5. (6-2) Washington (5)

The application cycle begins.

I have officially sent off my applications to the following schools…
University of Arizona
Arizona State University
University of Notre Dame
University of San Diego
Chapman University
University of Idaho
Pepperdine University
University of the Pacific (McGeorge)
Gonzaga University
Indiana-Bloomington

These schools will have my app by the end of the week, once I get some things clarified on their specific applications before submitting them…
Wake Forest University
Seattle University
University of Wyoming
Santa Clara University

As for other schools, we’ll see. There might be more applications than this. This is 14, and I imagine I would be accepted to at least a few of them (and hopefully more than just a few).

If I don’t improve my LSAT in December by a few points, then I bet those top three schools (the Arizona schools and Notre Dame) will reject me. But, I still have some kind of realistic hope, and think enough of those places that I would be truly excited if they took me, and they’d have an inside track to gaining my attendance. It’s worth taking the shot.

Anyway, I give myself a decent chance with all of the other schools I listed, even if I failed to improve my LSAT score. I’m sure some will probably reject me, but I would hope and expect to have several acceptances to choose from.

Yeah, I’m doing it again.

I signed up for the retake. I’ll go in on December 6th. In the meantime, I’ll send in my applications to all of the schools that I’m going to apply to no matter what…on each application, I’ll note that I’m retaking in December. This way, my apps get in early, they look them over, hopefully some of the schools already pencil me into a spot, and then once my December LSAT score comes in, it’ll either boost my chances with some of the tougher schools or confirm my admission to some that I already have a good shot at.

And again, if I somehow feel during that test that it’s not going well…cancellation is an option, at which point I could just fall back on my 165.

I don’t really look forward to putting myself through the test again, but it would just bother me too much to not take a stronger shot at getting into the schools that I was hoping on the most.

NCAA Week 9 Top 25

The musical chairs acts in the ACC and Big East mangle the second half of the list up again…the top of the list, however, is pretty much the status quo.

1. (8-0) Texas (1)
Colt McCoy is now an obvious frontrunner for Heisman, and one who’s easy to root for. Texas won’t relinquish the #1 spot until they actually lose a game.

2. (9-0) Penn State (2)
You can go ahead and pencil them in for one of the spots in the national title game, I think.

3. (7-1) Oklahoma (3)
The Sooners forgot to play defense in the first half, but their offense is just ridiculous. I’ll officially be surprised if they don’t not only play in a BCS bowl, but win it.

4. (8-0) Alabama (4)
Bama football isn’t pretty, but they look very tough to beat. There only looks to be three games left where their bid for an undefeated season will be seriously challenged.

5. (6-1) USC (6)

To retake or not to retake?

Well, when I came out of the test, my thought process was, “I’ll accept a 166 or better and just apply with it…lower than that, and I’ll think about retaking.” So my result is…165? Blah.

Again, to be clear, I’m proud of this score, 92nd percentile is very good. Unfortunately, I’m far from being proud of my grades back in undergrad, and as they are another big factor in the application process, I wanted more out of this test. I wanted to test like a genius, but instead I tested like a really bright guy. Splitting hairs maybe, but law schools split hairs when they decide who to admit and who to reject.

Okay, so how competitive is my application as of today?

So where does my combo of a 165 and a bad GPA leave me? Here’s the breakdown of how the LSAC calculator sees my chances at the schools I would currently apply to…

Arizona: 20-45%
Arizona State: 10-26%
Chapman: 55-80%
Gonzaga: 90-100%
Idaho: 55-88%
Indiana-Bloomington: 40-68%
UNLV: 40-76%
New Mexico: 24-65%
Notre Dame: 2-10%
Pacific (McGeorge): 74-90%
Pepperdine: 10-25%
San Diego: 63-80%
Santa Clara: 80-95%
Seattle: 32-55%
Wake Forest: 10-30%
Washington: Reach
Wyoming: 45-85%

So, as you can see, the good news is that I’d probably get a decent number of acceptances out of these 17 schools I’d apply to if I was sending apps off today. The bad news is that the schools that are probably my very favorites (the Arizona schools, Notre Dame) aren’t looking very good. I do think that you can put me on the higher end of those ranges a lot of the time, due to the bad grades hit being reduced by my 5+ years out of school, but still the outlook is bleak with some of them.

I’ll be putting up another post soon that talks about the decision in front of me on whether or not to retake the test.

165.

I’m disappointed with a 165. Okay, I outscored 92% of the country (and not just 92% of the country, but 92% of prospective law students, a presumably smarter portion of the population), so it’s hardly anything to be embarrassed about, but…I wanted more. I was averaging 169 near the end of my practice tests.

Sure enough, Reading Comprehension was the bane of my existence. I got an overall score of 85 correct out of 100…and of my 15 incorrect answers, I got 9 of them wrong on reading comprehension (only 27% of the test).

I’ll consider accepting this score, and consider retaking in December. It’s a close decision.

Seriously?

Four times a year this test gets administered, and for years every test has come no later than the end of this Friday relative to the test…and this is going to be the time they don’t give us the score on said Friday? It’s now past 7:00 on the east coast, LSAC operates out of Pennsylvania, so I’m officially losing faith that I’ll get a score today.

Also my computer’s wallpaper at work.

It’d better come tomorrow, at least. This is irritating. Alright, I’m going to stop posting non-updates now, my next post will contain my score.

Is it too early to open a bottle of wine?

I have a pinched nerve in my back, which is absolutely killing me…I’m having a very hard time getting comfortable at all. That, on top of my impatience with waiting for a score to arrive, makes me want to head to the fridge and uncork a bottle of wine.

Meh…it’s only 2:00. I’ll hold off for a while.

Nothing yet.

Come on LSAC, just give me my answer so I can take the rest of my life off pause. At least I have the day off from work today…

The Office: “Crime Aid”

They sure packed a lot into this episode of The Office. Michael and Holly hit the fast track as a couple, Roy returned for his first appearance since the middle of season three, leading indirectly to teasing some drama between Jim and Pam, and Dwight broke down and confided in Phyllis, the first time he has openly acknowledged any fling between he and Angela. Oh, and Michael/Holly, which was going perfectly so far, appeared to hit a bump in the road as David Wallace (a surprise appearance, I always love seeing him) was seemingly less than pleased to see them together. All of this in a 30 minute episode, I was duly impressed. Probably the best of the four episodes this season so far.

NFL Week 8 Picks

Atlanta at Philadelphia
I’m buying into the Falcons as at least being a decent team, but winning at Philly is still beyond their reach at this point.
Spread: Philadelphia -8.5
Pick: Philadelphia 27, Atlanta 20

Kansas City at NY Jets
I don’t think much of the Jets, especially after they opted to miss out on about five chances to beat the Raiders, but the Chiefs are on the lowest level of ineptitude, as bad or worse than the winless teams.
Spread: NY Jets -13
Pick: NY Jets 35, Kansas City 13

St. Louis at New England
You often see teams have brief resurgences when making a coaching change…key word being “brief.” The Rams had a nice two game run, but it ends in Foxboro.
Spread: New England -7
Pick: New England 24, St. Louis 13

Buffalo at Miami
The Dolphin bandwagon didn’t have seatbelts, and I fell off quickly. I don’t know if Buffalo is elite, but they’re definitely legitimately good.
Spread: Buffalo -1.5
Pick: Buffalo 24, Miami 17

Oakland at Baltimore
What an ugly matchup to try to pick. Joe Flacco just had his best game, so I’ll throw my hands up and pick the Ravens, but how can this spread be so big?
Spread: Baltimore -7
Pick: Baltimore 16, Oakland 14

Washington at Detroit
Detroit has been covering spreads lately, but still aren’t playing well at all. The Redskins will be back to looking like worldbeaters this week.
Spread: Washington -7.5
Pick: Washington 28, Detroit 10

Arizona at Carolina
Carolina has been fantastic at home, and the Cardinals remain unproven on the road. I think this is a relatively easy pick
Spread: Carolina -4.5
Pick: Carolina 31, Arizona 20

San Diego at New Orleans (in London)
Why do the poor Saints lose another home game? On a neutral site, I have to go with the Chargers here…New Orleans is just too banged up.
Spread: San Diego -3
Pick: San Diego 24, New Orleans 17

Tampa Bay at Dallas
The meltdown in Dallas is no fluke. The Brad Johnson edition of this team looks pretty ugly, and Tampa is a genuine NFC contender.
Spread: Dallas -2
Pick: Tampa Bay 23, Dallas 17

Cincinnati at Houston
Ryan Fitzpatrick under center for the Bengals…bet everything you own on the money line for Houston.
Spread: Houston -9.5
Pick: Houston 27, Cincinnati 13

Cleveland at Jacksonville
Cleveland couldn’t keep the offensive roll going last week, and I think the Jags are starting to pick up steam. The “bench Derek Anderson” crowd is going to get loud again this week.
Spread: Jacksonville -7
Pick: Jacksonville 21, Cleveland 13

NY Giants at Pittsburgh
I’m just not buying into this Pittsburgh offense, they haven’t produced consistently at all…in a heavy ground battle, I’ll take Brandon Jacobs and company.
Spread: Pittsburgh -3
Pick: NY Giants 20, Pittsburgh 10

Seattle at San Francisco
First time I’ve done this in weeks, but I’m going to pull the trigger and pick the Hawks this time around (I switched my pick to a loss against Green Bay after Hass’ injury got announced). The Seahawk defense abused the San Francisco offensive line earlier in the year, and I think they’ll do it again and make it count for a win this time. The Seahawks aren’t good right now, but the Niners are a joke.
Spread: San Francisco -5
Pick: Seattle 17, San Francisco 14

Indianapolis at Tennessee
I’m going to stop losing out by picking the Colts. They’re obviously just not as good as logic suggests that they should be. Tennessee, on the other hand, is clearly better than logic suggested they would be.
Spread: Tennessee -4
Pick: Tennessee 21, Indianapolis 20

Last Week: 9-5
Season: 67-35
Spread: 6-8, 9-5
Season: 50-45-3

Almost there.

Sure enough, as Friday approaches I become more and more anxious to see my score. I’m not wigging out or anything, because I really do have enough confidence that it won’t be a disaster, but I’d really just like to have a confirmation that I’m not going to want to retake this thing, and I’d also like to know exactly where I’ll be applying.

Of course, once this waiting game is over, an even longer waiting game will begin…most schools don’t start making decisions on applications until at least January (aside from a few that do an early decision option), so it’ll still be a long time before the fate of where I’m going to be next fall all settles out.

In the meantime, stay tuned if you’re interested in my score. While the LSAC usually sends out test scores on the Friday before the Monday they promise them, they’ve even sent them out on Thursday a couple of times…so while that’s unlikely, I’ll still be crossing my fingers to actually see my score tomorrow. It’ll probably be Friday, though, and at what point in the day…who knows. Whenever I know, I’ll post soon after.

Books I’ve read lately.

As I mentioned in a recent blog post, I magically became a reader overnight. That wasn’t just a brief phase (or if it was, it’s a brief phase that hasn’t come close to ending yet). I’m enjoying reading quite a bit more than I ever have before, and am reading a good mix of different stuff to keep me entertained/interested…

Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe): Man gets shipwrecked on an island by himself and has to find a way to survive. It’s a fine novel for being one of the first ones (early 18th century), obviously it was groundbreaking in its own right, but it could really use an editor.

NCAA Week 9 Picks

Pac-10

UCLA at Cal
In spite of another loss where they looked less than impressive, I maintain the stubborn belief that Cal is one of the better teams in the conference, and still a solid contender for the Holiday Bowl. UCLA won’t pull a true upset all season long (their upset over Tennessee has since been illuminated by the ineptitude of the Vols), and I honestly think they’re headed for a season no better than 4-8. The Bears haven’t lost yet at home, and I’m fully expecting the good Cal to show up this week.
Spread: Cal -17
Pick: Cal 34, UCLA 21

NFL Week 7 Power Rankings

1. (6-0) Tennessee (1)
The Titans are good and the Chiefs are bad. We already knew that.

2. (5-1) NY Giants (2)
It wasn’t all that pretty, but it was good enough. The schedule gets a lot tougher now.

3. (5-1) Pittsburgh (3)
They let the Bengals hang around longer than they should’ve, but a win is a win, and they kept pace in the race for a bye.

4. (5-1) Buffalo (7)
People try to denigrate the Bills, mostly based on their playoff drought, but a road win at Jacksonville and a home win over San Diego…these mean something. The Bills are good.

5. (5-2) Washington (4)
Against lesser teams, that kind of lethargy would’ve cost them. They get another easy one against Detroit, but they need to play better football.

6. (5-2) Tampa Bay (5)