Happy New Year!

Here's the lyrics for the song Auld Lang Syne, just in case you need them. Happy New Year from the Bushido! (Picture of Jet, Craig and Miles compliments of Alexa White)

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,and never brought to mind ?Should auld acquaintance be forgot,and auld lang syne ?
CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp !And surely I’ll be mine !And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,for auld lang syne.
CHORUS
We twa hae run about the braes,and pou’d the gowans fine ;But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fit,sin’ auld lang syne.
CHORUS
We twa hae paidl’d in the burn,frae morning sun till dine ;But seas between us braid hae roar’dsin’ auld lang syne.
CHORUS
And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere !And gies a hand o’ thine !And we’ll tak a right gude-willie-waught,for auld lang syne.
CHORUS

Lights on Marion Square

Happy New Year! Here's a few pictures I took of the lights down at Marion Square. Btw, they're have a bash down there tonight with a band and lots of friends. Happy New Year, have fun and be safe! The Bushido will see you next year!

The future is so bright, I gotta wear shades...

Rutgers defeated Kansas State in the Texas Bowl last night and if I can have any excuse to put a photo up of Kristin Davis you know that I will. Rutgers football team won their first bowl game and when considering next season, think about this, Rutgers is returning 13 starters. Not bad for a team that was 1-11 just 4-years ago. The future really is so bright for Greg Schiano and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights!

Que the music please, "I got a nuclear science. I love my classes. I got a crazy teacher who wears dark glasses; things are going great and could only get better. Well I am doing all right, getting good grades and the futures so bright, I gotta wear shades! I gotta shades!"

Gamecocks face the Houston Cougars in today's Liberty Bowl @ 4:30!

There is a lot to do in Memphis. You could travel the city sampling bbq, hit the legendary Beale Street clubs for some of the best music in the country or take a tour of Elvis’ home (Graceland) like Syvelle Newton did yesterday. But today @ 4:30 pm, the Gamecocks (7-5) will leave the five-star Peabody Hotel behind and head to the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium to face the Conference USA champion, Houston Cougars (10-3) on the artificial-turf in this year’s Liberty Bowl.

By the numbers: Cougar’s coach Art Briles is 0-2 in bowl games since taking the helm at Houston. Coach Spurrier is 0-1 at Carolina. SEC teams were 9-1 against C-USA teams in the regular season. With losses by Rice (to Troy), East Carolina (to SoFla) and Tulsa (to the Utes), C-USA teams are currently 0-3 in this year's bowl games. For all of you gamblers who like to put some money down, the Gamecocks are favored today by 5 points.

The State newspaper has an excellent article today on the importance of this afternoon’s Liberty Bowl game against Houston for Coach Steve Spurrier because “you always remember your last game.” Spurrier hit the nail on the head. Think about it, all last summer most people didn’t remember the magical season with notches of victories over Florida and Tennessee; they remembered the blemish of a blown lead and win by Mizzou in the Independence Bowl. The Visor is a football history encyclopedia and he knows that USC, with a 3-9 bowl record is the caboose of D-1 Schools, (with 3 bowl victories Indiana, Kansas and UNLV also share in this dubious honor.) After dropping an embarrassing (38-31) loss to Missouri in the 2nd half of last year’s Independence Bowl, Coach Spurrier will need another year to tie Coach Holtz for all-time bowl victories by a USC football coach (2, both against Ohio State in consecutive Outback Bowls).

The Bushido is pulling for the Gamecocks today and I’ll try to sneak out of work early to grab a cold one and catch the 4:30 game. The Gamecocks must respect and contain the throwing game of the Cougars led by Kevin Kolb, (C-USA Player of the Year) or we could end up with the same outcome as last year’s very similar styled Mizzou team. If the Gamecocks win today they will finish the season with 8 wins. If they blow-out Houston, they may just get enough votes to change that 35th ranking to a top 25!

Nina Sossamon throws in the towel and puts on her party hat!

For over a decade we've watched the our favorite female newscaster, Nina Sossamon give us our daily dose of local Chucktown news, but now she is throwing in the proverbial towel and putting on her party hat to spend more time with her and William and Mary's favorite choir boy, Ben Pogue's three kids. Admit it, you all were jealous when a guy who was the sacrificial virgin of W&M's choir, weekend meterologist (weather guy) and had the last name "Pogue" landed the cute talking head who told us all about obese children, shootings in NoChuck and Francaised named hazers at the Citadel. But Ben's a good guy and he's got a plan. He retired from news-broadcasting as well and is a 1L at CSOL.

Nina is a long way from Baton Rouge and rooming with Mary-Lou on the US Gymnastics team, and I have to admit she's done quite well for both herself, and the community. She began "Starting-Spaces" a non-profit group that helps the transition for battered women and she wears simply dashing hats which just takes the Holy City to a very cosmopolitan level. Good luck to you Nina Sossamon Pogue.

Busted! Ok, so I haven't watched Nina in a few days: Cops shoot at driver after highspeed police chase
I heard about the high-speed police chase on Christmas Eve that traveled from Hollywood to I-526 this morning on the radio. The Chas County Po-pos chased 17-year old Marquese Green and 18-year old Leraldo King (riding shotgun) in their Chevy Blazer from Towles Rd, down Savannah Hwy to Bees Ferry (I guess these guys weren't thinking about last minute shoppers causing traffic outside the Super Wal-Mart) to the Glenn McConnell until wrecking on Paul Cantrell Blvd near the on-ramp to I-526. (Mr. Green, not stopping and hitting something, That's at least one count of failure to stop for blue lights and charge of malicious injury to personal property).

Would the Smoky do this to the Bandit?

After stopping the Blazer, the sheriff deputies Andrew Miller and Kevin Harvey drew their guns and ordered the men out of the Chevy. "Either get out of the Chevy or we'll drop the heavy!" Green (the driver) then pulled a half-Nina and backed up into the police car. He only gets a half-Nina because he didn't actually run over anyone. (I think he'll still earn a ABWIK). I digress; sheriffs Wyatt and Doc Beuford T. Justice opened fire and dropped a sh_crap ton of led into the 1/2 ton of vehicle and Mr. King is still at MedU. SLED is investigating the shooting.

Scarlet Knights play Kansas State in tonight's Texas Bowl

The 16th ranked Rutgers Scarlet Knights are headed to Houston with a chance of winning their first bowl game and a chance to end their season with 11 wins for the second time in over 137 seasons. Having lost to West Virginia, Rutgers did not get the Big East's automatic BCS bid, so look for Kristin's (and Craig's) Scarlet Knights to put on a show. My only question is, will Craig's pulling for the Heels in tonight's b-ball game put the bad ju-ju on his Rutgers football squad? We will have to wait and see.

(Photo of Kristin in her scarlet battle attire, compliments of Style Magazine)

Look who's riding shotgun! JET loves Barbie!

I am home from Christmas holiday and I have to say that despite what you may believe about your family, my family definitely put the "fun" in dysfunctional. I love my family to death and we all love to pick on one another, but to my surprise, my sister, Dani gave me a Barbie doll this year. (She had her reasons!)

I know what you are thinking, 30-years old, not married, maybe he needs a hint or a reminder that the proverbial "clock is ticking". Indeed, she did the right thing. Well, she did do the right thing. She first made me think that I mistakenly in my haste to shred apart colorful paper opened one of my nieces gifts. But alas, the joke was on yours truly. (Rule #1: Play hard, laugh hard in our family).

I digress; I catch a lot of slack from the family for only dating what they refer to as "Barbie dolls" and not the challenging, intellectual, Alpha-types. (I swear it is not me, those Alpha-types of girls don't like the "Dupreeness" or "Jetness" that I bring to the table.) And are they assuming the young ladies on my "long, but distinguished list" of ex's are not smart? I'll have you know, that one of the freshmen that I dated actually read at a sophomore level.

D-Fense!

In my defense, is it my fault that I live in the Holy City where even the Alpha-types could double for Malibu-Barbie? I think not. Is it my fault that I am not looking for a Rhodes Scholar? I think not. Look I didn't invent the game. If the "All-knowing, all seeing Holy" on top of "Mt. Whatchamacallit" wanted me to have married prior to now, then it would have happened. And it is not that I have a comm..it..ment issue (see I can say, err, spell the word), because I would have happily married my high school crush Kendra Dietz, but it just wasn't in the cards. (Full disclosure: Ms. Dietz was smarter than I was and a Varsity cheerleader. I, on the other-hand, was bedeviled with acne and was too small to play football. Despite what the "centerfolds" say, not all girls just want a guy that can make them laugh. I doubt that I even came up on her radar.) Good grief, I haven't thought about that name (Kendra) in years. I wonder what ever happened to her-probably married. Sorry Y'all, time to focus.

7 Types of smoke!

I think what the family and especially my sister Dani are trying to express is that they are tired of always getting smoked by yours truly in trivia, "Who Am I?" and other board games during the holidays. They think that if I get married I will some how lose my superior cerebral powers. That I will become one of those married guys who asks, "Honey, where do we keep the ice?" But if it helps to put their worried minds to rest, I recently found out via Post Scripts that Reese Witherspoon and her kids have moved to town. Now there's an interesting, intelligent woman! (Not that I am hanging out at the aquarium or at the city parks or anything) Btw, in case you didn't pick up on it, I saw You, Me & Dupree last night, it is well worth the trip to the video store or how ever it is you get your new releases.

The Infamous, IHOP on Cox Rd. Gastonia, NC

Just a funny story to start your "Monday", that is if you are like me and are just returning from holiday. When the folks at the "Gas-Town" International House of Pancakes answer the phone, they say, "IHOP on Cox". I am not so sure I could do that with a straight face.

Wednesday's WTF?

WTF??? How did Craig Blackmon get a job as a trainer for the San Diego State University Cheerleaders? WTF Craig? You can't give a Bushido a call?

In a perfect world...

In a perfect world this would have been my birthday present for turning 30! And Eddie Murphy impersonating James Brown would be singing "Hot Tub" while I cannon-balled into the tub with my new friends.

Will it make me wet? YEAH...Will it make me sweat? YEAH! Good God! Hot tub!

The Godfather of Soul wearing gold chains, a flashing Rolex, shades as dark as midnight, perfectly coiffured hair and a bright smile would have jumped in to the tub and we'd laugh at Eddie, ask him, "Eddie, what have you done for us lately?" We talk about the Godfather's days playing baseball, and his appearance in the Rocky flick singing "Living in America", whether or not he'll see the new Rocky flick, lost loves and how Jeff Garcia is a real surprise this year leading the Eagles. To which the Eagles cheerleaders would join in with a freshly popped bottle of bubbly (probably a '98 Perrier Jouet-no 'Tal or Dom for this 5-some), inside info on the team and the hope Jeff has brought to bring Philly as they are now headed to the playoffs. Sadly, this is not a perfect world, and the Godfather of Soul has left the building. He's probably just finished a set on at the Pearly-Gates Amphitheatre, slipping into his Rainbows and robe, warming up the tub and starting the party with out me. Got to have a celebration!

RIP J.B. Thanks for the show!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Whether you are celebrating the arrival of Santa Claus or Hannukah Harry, from my family to yours, Happy Holidays! These are pictures of the Christmas tree outside of Burke County Courthouse in the Bushido's homestead of Morganton, NC .

Momma Bushido donated money to have our names along with those recently departed family members names put on the tree. It meant a lot for her to have us all home for the holidays and we repaid the favor by not having any of our infamous Rocky 5 renditions.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Friday Night Lights

I can't help but warn all of the Bushido readers out there about the nightime, blinking red light located at the corner of Calhoun St & East Bay because in the short time that I spent immediately after crossing this intersection, I saw blue-lights and so did two other Charleston motorists. As Charleston's finest, officer J. Poston said, "Watch that light, it is tricky".

Officer Poston gave me an early Christmas present, but it appears to be a catch-22 because I am supposed to spend $232 for "allegedly" not coming to a complete stop. I feel kind of bad because the Bushido didn't get old Po-Po Poston anything. Well maybe I can get him something before February's court date. Be careful folks, tis the season for giving and the cops are feeling the spirit of Christmas!

Blizzard drops 2 feet of snow in Colorado

The worst blizzard to hit the region since March 2003 dropped 30 inches of snow in the mountains and 2 feet of snow in the metro area of Denver, Colorado Springs and Ft. Collins, Colorado. I am including a picture from Miles of his friend's son back in Denver. All government offices, schools and the Post Office are closed.

The blizzard has left over 4,300 airline passengers stranded in the Denver International Airport as over 1,000 flights were canceled. Colorado Governor Bill Owens activated the National Guard after declaring a state of emergency. The Guard will help deliver necessities to shut-in families and help clear the roads as Interstates 70 & 25 are completely shut-down.

Good news: The Denver Nuggets will finally be cooled off from their fight against the Knicks and if you have family in Colorado whom you've yet to buy a present for, you have time-just blame the Post Office being closed. Stay safe out there Colorado.

The Donald believes in 2nd chances, Tara Conner is a keeper!

My thoughts exactly, an enthusiastic YES!
Seriously, Vanessa Williams already went the Penthouse route, we need a classy Miss USA who'd rather work for another six-months and then maybe consider posing for Hef's magazine instead. Congrats to my girl Tara! Thanks again Donald!

Composite basketballs, brawls and the lack of class in the NBA

In the December 18th issue of Business Week the Spalding NBA basketball was noted as one of the "Worst Products" of 2006. That same week, NBA 'Commish' David Stern announced that as of January 1, 2007 the league would return to the old leather ball previously used for the last 60 years. Despite the microfiber-composite ball having a more consistent bounce and scoring percentages being significantly higher than previously years, the players' union filed a formal grievance because the ball caused skin abrasions and slipped in contact with sweaty hands.
Whoa is me, oh chilrn of basketball
Now far be it from me to think that in a perfect world millionaires would have blisters from hard-work, but after watching last Saturday's game between the Nuggets and Knicks, it would seem that perhaps players should worry more about unprofessionalism on the court than a slippery ball that makes these guys' hands look like they put in a hard-days work. Carmello Anthony was sanctioned with a 15-game suspension for throwing a windmill punch and other fines and punishments will come down the pipe-line, but it seems that the infraction of the foul (See the YouTube clip) wasn't life-threatening to warrant a fight between the players.
This is a message for all of you NBA players out there

No one really wants to watch a bunch of 5-step traveling, over-paid showboaters brawl on the court. Basketball is a physical court, but it should be played by those who are true competitors. In the press conference held by the Knicks, head-coach Isiah Thomas blamed the Nuggets for inciting the incident because they kept their good players in the game when the Nugs were up by 15-points. Hey coach, FYI, a basketball games outcome can have a 15-point shift within 2-minutes. Quit making excuses and accept that you were beat by a better team. Did the Knicks have their best players on the court at the same time? YES!
Finally, when it gets to the point were (as a fan) you would feel safer at a dynamite convention or a open-pit cock-fight than at a NBA game, the league needs to make changes. Just because a fan taunts you or calls you names, or another player fouls you from behind doesn't mean that you should fight. Be a man, be a true admirable athlete and let your game do you talking instead of your fists.

Miss America 2006 Finalists

Just a glimpse of the rest of the talent that Miss Kentucky, Tara Conner beat to earn her tiara and title as Miss USA 2006!

U-S-A...U-S-A, everybody now!

Please keep Tara Mr. Trump! She's not bad, she's just drawn that way! The Bushido is pulling for you Tara!

The Fab Five...Miss America Finalists

If (and that is a big if) Donald Trump says to Tara, "You are fired!" Then the runner-up Miss California Tamiko Nash will take her place as Miss USA.

Happy Birthday Miss America Tara Conner

Ironically with all of the hub-bub about Miss USA's nights on the town, playing kissy-face with Miss Teen USA, failing drug tests and underage drinking threatening the status of her crown (title), today is Miss USA's 21st birthday! Happy Birthday Tara!

Granted all of these sordid allegations (if your famous read: good publicity) will put a damper on Miss Conner celebrating the time-old tradition of getting “housed” on one’s 21st birthday, but the publicity is doing wonders for the Donald and the Miss USA franchise. Think about it, most people (outside of Kentucky and the pageant world) did not know who Miss Conner was until TMZ.com broke the story of alleged lesbian kisses, bar-hoping and cocaine use forcing Tara to turn in her tiara. I only knew of Ms. Conner because of an article I wrote back in November (comparing CofC grad and former Miss USA, Lu Parker against Tara) for the CofC Sports Fan before the CofC v UK basketball game.

Gratuitous plug: please check out the CofC Sports Fan for my attempt at keeping CofC fans and grads in the loop as well as polishing my paltry sports writing skills. (Editor’s Note: I mistakenly wrote that Tara Conner attended the University of Kentucky; she did not, she attended Somerset Community College.)

Tara (pronounced TAR-uh, that’s how they pronounce it in Russell Springs, KY) Conner is a former Miss Young Russell County, former Miss Kentucky Teen USA, the reigning Miss Kentucky and reigning Miss USA. Finally, Tara was fourth in the Miss Universe pageant this past July.Tara, Happy Birthday, and I just want you to know, “the morning I wake-up, and before you put on your make-up…I say a little prayer for you!” I hope you keep the tiara Tara.

Rookie mistakes! Sorry that I've been so slack recently on posting. I have been busy at my new crime-scene detective job-look out Gary Sinese!

All right, that's just a joke from a friend. I have just been very busy; tis the season, if you know what I mean. Stay tuned because I have quite a few posts in the 'drafts' section.

Happy Birthday to my brother Mike and Carol Anne!

The Bushido would like to wish Pit-Stop's special lady, Carol Anne (blonde in photo) and my brother Mike Trabert Happy Birthday!

Sunday Samurai: Productivity

Fortune Magazine's Stanley Bing, "While you were out", addresses the recent US Dept of Labor's release that (non-farm business) productivity hit naught for this past quarter. Meaning, American workers are getting paid (annually) 3.8% more for doing the same work as last quarter. Bing attributes the lack of productivity to variables such as excessive meetings, too many digital devices and too much time hanging ten on the keyboard (internet surfing).

Mr. Bing did an excellent job also addressing the intangibles of production: What does this country actually produce? How do we measure productivity? And after the job cuts to boost the numbers throughout the 90's and in this decade forcing 10 workers to do the work of 20, aren't we already maxxed out when it comes to productivity?As a blogger with a day-job, I understand the pressure of productivity. As a rule, I don't blog from work (full disclosure: every once in awhile I'll see a video on You Tube and spend the 20-seconds it takes to send it to the it takes to send it to the Bushido.) I do bounce ideas off of my colleagues and as part of my job I do get a lot of time to read articles for research. Besides, I spend my day putting out fires and dealing with deadlines so being on blogger wouldn't be very "productive".

I do take it as a point of pride to try and be productive on the Bushido, not for the money (naught) but to keep you all, if not informed at least talking about issues of the day. Obviously, you can tell when I am on vacation, sick (I had a touch of the bird-flu last week) or just plain beat from well, shuffling papers all day at Crosby, Stills and Nash. But if we measure productivity by posts, then the Bushido's production is up from last year. But since there is a new blog started every 30-seconds (one for every person in the country) then I have to at least keep things interesting, brief and office appropos to keep you coming back. So I'll do my part of producing intangible, yet entertaining, diatribes if you promise to keep up your productivity (currently even keel according to the government) at work.

Happy Birthday to John Tumey

I'd like to wish Mr. John Tumey a happy birthday! Unfortunately, John won't let me put photos up of him on the Bushido, so here is one of his daughter Isabel looking for her Daddy! John we are all very proud of you for building a wonderful family and a great business (Planted Earth Landscaping).

It's a funny thing about me and Tumey, in college I dated his sister and was hesitant to meet him because, well, I used to date his sister. But as one of those funny things in life happened, I (unfortunately) haven't spoken with Mary in quite sometime, but I "shared" best-man duties at John and Jenny's wedding. I can only hope that I'll continue to have a best friend like John for the rest of my life. Now, if I could only get him to have some interest in sports other than hunting and fishing. Happy Birthday Tumey!

The Alpha and Beta of Thomas Ravenel

My fellow South Carolinians, here is T-Rav, your State's Treasurer! God Help Us All!