Dec. 18, 2001

Finals week always leaves me in a haze. I walk around with my eyes glazed over not really sure where I am sometimes. If I'm not sitting at a computer typing a paper, then I'm trying to stay awake while going through all my notes from the semester. This past week is something that I hope I only have to go through one more time.

It's been a long time since our last game. We played well against Cornell and the score was indicative of that. Rob Dill got a chance to play a lot and put up good numbers. He has improved a lot since he arrived at Lafayette, and if he keeps improving he is going to be very good. I think as we go on in the season there are going to be games like this where our fans are surprised. Not many people, besides the coaches and players, knew that Rob was capable of playing like that. We have a lot of talent and hopefully different people will get an opportunity to show what they can do.

I just got back from eating lunch with Ben and Justin. We were talking about our dads' basketball careers and I told them how my dad got cut from the varsity his senior year at Camden Catholic. It's kind of a funny story. A new coach came and wanted to clean house. He told my dad he was the best shooter they had, but he didn't fit into the team's plans. This guy was good friend of my dad's older brother Edward, which makes the whole thing sound a little strange. I've heard the story many times, but this past time when I confirmed it with my dad for the journal, he told me that he smoked and his conditioning wasn't as good as it could have been. That may have played a role in the coach's decision. Yeah I guess it may have. I've never seen a team light up during a timeout--not a good team anyway. The story will never sound the same again. Thanks dad. I hope I didn't embarrass you.

Speaking of famous Camden Catholic graduates, Tim Bieg is in the journal this week. It was great to see him at the Drexel game and the Cornell game. I owe some of my success here at Lafayette to Tim. When I got down at times my first couple of years here, he was always there telling me to keep my head up. He saw that things were tough for me early on and made sure I kept the right attitude. It's something I'll never forget. It was easy to look the other way and pretend everything was fine, but he went out of his way to help me. Thanks Tim.

I also want to congratulate Tim on becoming the newest member of the When Am I Going To Be In The Journal Club. The first thing he said to me when I saw him after the Drexel game was "When am I going to be in the journal?" I explained that I couldn't just put him in there for no reason. He needed to do something that stood out and something that people would like to hear about. That's what made me think of all the times we shared as teammates and roommates. It jarred loose a lot of memories both good and bad. Thanks Tim.

This week is short because we play Scranton and Princeton and then head home for a couple days for Christmas. I get home fairly often throughout the school year, but Christmas is still great. I get to be home with the family, not think about schoolwork, and get a mental rest from basketball (except when I'm working out). It is great for the guys who don't get a chance to go home much at all during the school year. Rob (Worthington) is from the Twin Cities, Winston and Mike from Florida, Andrew from California and Justin from Arizona. I think everyone else can get home if they want for the weekend, or at least they are in driving distance (Mick doesn't go home for weekends, but he can drive home. Buffalo). Everyone looks forward to Christmas, no matter where they live.

Happy holidays everybody. Thanks for reading the journal.

Members of the "When Am I Going To Be In The Journal Club:"
Tim Bieg
Susan Burke
Tom Burke
Mike Longabardi