Brice's Blog

I have a problem with the way some unfortunate alcohol-related deaths have been addressed in the law lately. I have two cases that have made news in the last week that have gotten me a little irritated. The first of which involves the case of Amanda Jax, who died last year celebrating her 21st birthday at bars in Mankato. Jax was found to have had a blood-alcohol level more than 6 times the legal limit to operate a vehicle when she was found the next morning. In the past week, the bar that Jax was at that night and served her the alcohol had it's liquor liscense taken away (link). The second case involves Sean Humphrey,19, a Chaska boy who froze to death last winter attempting to walk home from a party when he was heavily intoxicated (link). In this case, the man who bought the alcohol for the party has been sentenced to 90 days in jail. I will start with this case first. In a statement released by Assistant Prosecutor Michael Wentzell, he said, "If they don't have access to the alcohol then this isn't going to happen." Blame in this case has been very misplaced I feel. I don't know what high school and early college years were like for this person, but for me and everyone else I know, that statement doesn't ring true. If one person declines to buy alcohol for minors, which Wentzell is saying that man should have done, Humphrey and the others would have had a long list of others that would have. When I was in high school, our class had mutliple people we could go to. Some people in our class dated girls and guys that were 21 that we could go to, some had friends or siblings that were over 21, and some had parents that were willing to do it. The bottom line is, one guy telling those kids "no" does not solve the problem, it only delays the time it takes for the kids to get the alcohol buy a few more minutes. To me, it comes down to the individual making the right choices for himself. Humphrey did not have to walk home, he made that decision himself. He did not have to drink as much as he did, he made that decision also. Don't get me wrong, I think what happened to him is very, very sad and I all the sympathy in the world for the friends and family, but I won't believe for one second that if that man had not bought the alcohol, no one else would have and the kids would have never gotten to drink that night. I think anyone who does think that way is really missing the big picture. Punishing that man is a lot like putting a bandaid on a broken leg, it just doesn't solve to problem completely, sorry. In the second case, Jax's family has sued the bar for their daughter's death, saying they should have cut her off. Again, the decision to drink and order those drinks falls on the individual. She didn't have to keep drinking. And how is the bartender supposed to keep track of how many drinks she has? Speaking for someone who has been at that bar, its pretty crowded. It's next to impossible to keep and exact number of drinks pinned to one person. So I'm not gonna sit around and let people try and convince me that the bartender is responsible for the death in some way. I think as a person, you reach a point in your life were you need to take responsibility for your own actions, and stop placing the blame on others. Once you reach a certain age, you can't rely on someone else to change your diapers forever. Eventually, you gotten make your own dinner, do your own laundry. Once again, not that the situation is not extremely sad. It always is when a young person dies from drinking. As a college-aged person, hearing about it always puts a different perspective on life. I'm just sick of hearing the wrong people getting blamed for other people's mistakes.

Posted by Brice Lehner at 1:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's hard to see this Gopher's men's basketball team being deserving of a spot in the field of 65 in two weeks when selection sunday rolls around. Sure they will likely end up with around 18 wins, a huge turnaround from last season's embarrassment of a team, but this is just not a tournament-ready team. This team, despite the current 17 wins, has not beaten a ranked team or a team that will likely make the NCAA Tournament. There only quality wins are over teams that are further down then them. The only way it will happen, other than somehow winning the Big Ten Tournament, would be to win out the final 3 games of the regular season, and get at least a win and a close loss in the conference tourney. Even then it would be close. But this isn't likely to happen anyway, considering the three remaining games are against Ohio State, Illinois and Indiana. The Gophers are qutie frankly more likely to lose out rather than win out. Granted Tubby Smith is a fantastic coach, one of the best in the country, but he's not a miracle worker. He should be applauded for even getting 17 wins out of this team, that in reality probably only has about 12-win talent. If Purdue's Matt Painter wasn't the the clear deserving choice for coach-of-the-year in the conference, Smith would be a shoe-in. Maybe next year, when he has some of his own recruits to enjoy.

Posted by Brice Lehner at 10:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Is it just me, or is Roger Clemens just seeming so completely unbelievable in his testimony in Washington against former trainer Brian McNamee. To believe Clemens, it would mean that I would have to disbelieve McNamee, who really has no reason to lie in the first place about this, and Andy Pettite, since apparantley, according to Clemens, they "misremember." Ya, just like I "misremember" if I was at class yesterday and who was there also. Clemens believes it is unfair that he has beened tried as guilty in the court of public opinion, but in reality, with the major scandals that have surfaced lately, we have every reason not to believe him. Marion Jones told us she never used performance-enhancing drugs, and has obviously since admitted otherwise. Rafeal Palmerio waved his finger in front of congress and told them "I have never used performance-enhancing drugs, period." That worked well for him, considering he was suspended for steriods months later, and hasn't really been seen since. Face it Roger, no one will believe you in the court of public opinion until you can change that trend, which I don't believe you can do. Roger is likely now looking at a possible indictment for perjury stemming form his testimony earlier this month. This, Roger, means that Congress really didn't buy into your claim either. And it will be quite difficult to change my mind on this topic until a court tells me otherwise, considering I never thought he was clean years before the Mitchell Report was released. When talk surfaced about Barry Bonds and BALCO many years ago, I always said that he still belonged in the Hall of Fame, because I don't believe that the pitchers that were pitching to him were clean either. And with Pettite's and likely Clemens' use, clearly I think I was right about that.

Posted by Brice Lehner at 11:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With yesterday's news that Vikings wide reciever Troy Williamson had reached an agreement with the Jacksonville Jaguars about a trade, the era of Vikings fans watching catchable passes fall to the ground after hitting recievers in hands has apparantly come to an end. After his pathetic display this past season, including 2 terrible drops in the season finale, this should come as a blessing to all Purple fans. I can only hope that a change of scenery can help reguvinate his young career. Maybe he can have a career as returner... then again, he needs to catch a ball there too. But you never know, stranger things have happened, like the Giants winning the Super Bowl for one. I don't know who will be signed or drafted by the team to replace Williamson, but all I know is he should be able to catch the ball better. Than again, Bryant McKinnie could probably catch better. After all, he seemed to handle the bouncer at the Miami night club pretty well. (OK cheap shot). While on the topic of McKinnie, expect him to sit out more than a couple games this upcoming season for his incident. If the Vikes don't suspend him, NFL commisioner Roger Goodell surely will crack his whip on him. I can't help but wonder if this isn't the beginning of the end for McKinnie as a Viking either. With Vikings owner Zygi Wilf cleaning house lately of all character-problem players, such as Dwight Smith, I can't see McKinnie lasting too much longer in purple. After all this isn't his first brush with the law, since he was one of the 4 prominemt players identified in the "sex boat" scandal. I look at this as a good and bad thing. McKinnie certainly is one of the top run blocking tackles in the game, and with Chad Hutchinson and Matt Birk at his side, the left side of the line is excellent. But pass blocking, McKInnie is possibly the laziest tackle I have ever seen play the game. He gets beat more times than any high-caliber tackle I have ever seen. Maybe it's time for a change at left tackle, maybe not. I guess that is up to Wilf to decide if McKinnie is worth the off-the-field trouble.

Posted by Brice Lehner at 11:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A lot has been happening in the past month and half in the NBA so there is a lot that needs to be covered. Obviously, I think the best place to start would be in the Western Conference, which is actually extremely intriguing for the first time in a long time. Whether than just having 3 teams running away with the conference every year like it has been pretty much since the turn of the century, there are about 9 teams within shouting distance of the top spot in the west. The Rockets may have to be written off with todays news of Yao Ming's stress fracture that will keep him sidelined the remained of the season. I just can't picture T-Mac leading that team into the playoffs even by himself, especially when the team has already reached its peak where they are at right now. Houston won't play better the rest of the year than they have in the month of February, and unfortunately, they will likely be the odd-team out when April rolls around.

But which teams will emerge with the top 4 seeds in the conference and get the all-important home-court advantage for the first round. With the addition of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum on his way back, the Lakers have clearly asserted themselves as one of those 4 teams. Kobe is back to being the best player in the league, after the past couple seasons where I have been on record saying he wasn't, and Dwayne Wade was. With Wade's injury-prone last year, and Kobe's play as-of-late, Kobe has reclaimed that right from Wade, for the time being anyway. Jason Kidd has sparked the Mavericks team that seamed to be in need of a spark. Kidd gives them experience down the stretch and a reliable option to work with the tandum of Nowitzki, Howard and Terry. The Mavs should be a force in the coming months (as long as they can avoid Golden State in the playoffs). I'm still not gonna count out the champs, because, quite frankly, they don't deserve to be. The still have Duncan, Mr. Eva Longoria and Manu. The addition of Kurt Thomas should make them tougher in the middle and give them some added muscle to go against the Lakers and Suns. The last spot I'm tossing between 2 teams at the moment. I like the way the Hornets are playing all year, and Chris Paul is without a doubt the MVP runner-up in my books, behind KG. The Suns still have a great team, even with the addition of the big fella. Shaq has opened up a lot more for Amare to be Amare, and now the Suns have someone in the middle to go to when San Antonio and other teams slow them down. At the moment, I'm gonna give the last spot to Phoenix, but that could change.

Now to the minor leagues, I mean the East. There are about 2 and a half teams over there that could maybe do some damage in the post-season. And actually, I could see either those teams winning a title this year, simply because they will have to go through chumps like Phily and Washington to get to the Finals, and can basically hit cruise control until the Eastern Conference Championship and let the West beat-up on themselves. More than likely, Boston and Detroit will earn to top 2 seeds since they are clearly the class of the field in the East, and the Cavs are OK. We'll see how they work with Big Ben and Wally's world. But look at it this way, say the Lakers end up emerging from the West as Champs and the Celtics emerge out of the East (dream match-up for Stern huh). The Lakers will likely play no series that go less than 6 games, while the Celtics would probably pull a sweep or two. And we've all seen over the past couple years how far the Suns fell deep in the playoffs when being taken into deep series by the Lakers, Clippers and Spurs. A fresh KG and Co. just might have enough to beat the class of the West.

Posted by Brice Lehner at 11:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday. Meaning It's the last chance to watch actual football until the end of August since Arena football doesn't really count. We've had 2 weeks to prepare, everyone knows the storylines of the game so there's no need for me to reiterate them. Everyone knows about the potential for 19-0, spygate, bootgate, Plaxico's prediction, Randy's restraining order and all the rest. But know it comes down to the simple question. Who ya got? Pats or G-Men? New England opened up as 14-point favorites 2 weeks ago upon beating the Chargers for the AFC Championship, and that spread has not gotta much smaller since then. Is it just me or does that seem like a really wide margin considering the Giants almost beat the Pats a little over a month ago now?

But, whether it seems like it or not, unfortunately, I do agree with it. I'm picking the Patriots to win by a score of 38-23. Brady's focused, had 2 weeks to rest, and the Pats are as motivated as ever to finish this thing off. So for all those Giants fans hoping Boston will stop haunting your city just as they have for the past few years, keep hoping, because it's only going to get worse tomorrow. There will be no need for the Boston Globe to cancel the 19-0 books that are already being printed and no need for Patriots' owner Robert Kraft to cancel his trademark on the '19-0.' It's going to happen, whether you want it to or not. This team is too good, and the Giants really are outmatched here. This will also be the worst secondary New England will have faced in the playoffs, and Brady will not be repeating his dreadful performance of 2 weeks ago.

So there you have it. My chance to go 7-0 in predicting the final 3 playoff weeks of the season rests on the greatest team ever completely their unbeaten season. I like my chances.

My MVP pick for the game is... surprise, surprise, Tom Brady. Although, if Brady does not win it, look for Wes Welker, Kevin Faulk or Laurence Maroney to pick up that award.

Posted by Brice Lehner at 4:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)