The Cougars lost to Davidson by Two! I was going to wait until I posted on the SoCon, but after numerous comments from fellow blogger WB @ the Davidson-Basketball blog, I caved under the pressure. (The Davidson Photo is from his blog-thanks WB.) Yes, the "fancy-shooting Tex" rich white kids kicked the backside of our low-riding shorts for the 5th time in a row.

The Dontaye Draper Show: Dontaye Draper led the Cougars with 20-points and took the last shot from behind the arc to attempt to win the game, but as the Post & Courier remarked, "the effort was for naught." Still in mourning, JR Hairston played for 2-minutes of the game. We can only hope that we can have him at full strength against Chattanooga. Also, for you stats geeks out there, this is the first time the Cougars have let a team score 67-points or less and not won the game.

Click here for the Post & Courier article about the game. More about the SoCon Tournament on Wednesday. I will make this prediction, Chattanooga will be a repeat of January 28th, Georgia Southern will leave their regular season brooms at home, and...let's see how much of my austral gentlemanly manners should I extend...I got it.

Daddy
A-hole
loVers will
be In
Deep
Shit
On the court against
CharlestoN

In your face Wildcat WB! We're back and we'll be doing the Charleston all over you and your Wild-Kittys in the SoCon Tournament! Booyah!

Charleston School of Law

Movin on Up, to the East Side.
The Charleston School of Law's Dean Richard Gershon just inked a deal to expand the school's square footage. Click here for the Post&Courier's article.

The reason for the move of course is two fold: first the ABA Accreditation Committee is coming back in April to give the school another review for their “provisional accreditation” (which could be granted on June 10th-stay tuned) and the Bell South building’s 85,000 sq feet would accommodate the growing student body better than their current limited 24,000 square feet in the Mary Street building. Secondly, students paying $30,000 a year in tuition deserve better digs then the back end of the Music Farm.

I am Sailing Away: Other Charleston School of Law news is the opening of the new Charleston Maritime Law Institute chaired by Professor Randall Bridwell. It is a natural decision for CSOL to have a Maritime program, especially since Charleston is a major port city on the east coast and has access to prominent attorneys from Charleston and Savannah. One of the Bushido’s pals, Paul Tecklenburg, is on the Advisory board. Yes, I did my part two and donated 2-sets of Maritime Law books.
Click here to view the Charleston Maritime Institutes first “Malabu” bulletin

Moot Point: To demonstrate the level of talent the Charleston Law School is attracting one has to look no further than the results from the American Center for Law and Justice's Moot Court Competition. This was the first Moot Court CSOL students had competed in and they brought home a win on their first try. They argued a hypothetical case involving privacy rights-whether the state had the ability to extend a nasal-gastric tube (ouch) into the stomach of a (female) death-row inmate. The Charleston School of Law students went up against some of the biggest "future" hired-guns from the best law schools in the country and knocked their first pitch out of the park. Congrats to the students at CSOL and their advisor Professor Form and Pulchritude Lorri Unumb.

You are always lecturing me! Finally, here is the list of speakers and dates of their addresses for CSOL’s Lecture Series which will be held in the Charleston Museum’s auditorium-360 Meeting Street, Charleston:

March 1, 2006, 5 p.m.: Attorney Timothy W. Bouch of Charleston’s Leath, Bouch and Crawford, who chairs the S.C. Supreme Court's Rules Commission, will discuss ethics and the legal profession.

March 22, 2006, noon: U.S. District Judge David Norton will discuss professionalism and the federal courts.

April 5, 2006, 5 p.m.: Columbia attorney Zoe Sanders Nettles will discuss professionalism and women in law.

Please join us for a reception honoring
L.W. Flynn
Candidate for Secretary of State
February 27, 2006
5:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Erlich House
1315 Blanding Street
Columbia, South Carolina
Light hors d'oeuvres & Cocktails
Business Attire

$50 per person $75 per couple

Please RSVP by February 24 with the enclosed card,
by calling 803-261-4800 or by e-mailing rsvp@flynnforsecretaryofstate.com

Please disregard this invitation if received by a Lobbyist.
*Paid for by Flynn for Secretary of State

Lowe's (LOW) reports their numbers in 15-minutes. If you are a Jimmie Johnson fan (btw, the Lowe's#48 car came in 2nd yesterday at the Auto Club 500 in California, bested by Matt Kenseth in the #17 Dewalt car) or own stock in his main sponsor, then you are just as excited as this "odd lot" guy and other stubs holders. Click here for the companies earnings conference call.

The January new Homes Sales will be announced at 10 am this morning. Analysts aren't very hopeful about this report, but it should beat expectations. Previous was 2.9 percent.

The new Lamborghini Murciélago LP 640 (the fastest Lambo ever built) will be unveiled this week at the Geneva Motor Show. Unlike the new Miura concept car Lambo showed us in Detroit back in January, the new Murciélago LP 640 will be in production by fall of '06.
Engine
LP stands for 'longitudinale posteriore', which refers to the V12 unit mounted lengthways behind the cockpit. Lambo machined deeper and wider bores on the cylinders bumping the previous 6.2-litre V12, to 6.5 juicing the output to an imperious 631bhp at 8,000. If the sounds of the engine doesn't turn heads and get the attention of the skirts you can add a glass engine cover to show the full monty of the 6.5-litreV12. Married to a brand new six-speed gearbox, which can also come with Lambo's e-gear sequential paddle shift. The Murciélago LP640 rockets from 0-62mph in 3.4 seconds - 0.4 seconds quicker than the 6.2-litre model. Lambo is tight-lipped about the top speed, but Top Gear reports the word on the street is a top of 210-mph.



Body
Lambo reshaped both the front and rear bumpers to give the car an aircraft-like aerodynamics to move air more efficiently, with the exhaust incorporated into the rear diffuser to help cancel out aerodynamic lift at high speeds. Of course, it wouldn't be the new Lambo flagship model without the Murciélago's signature scissor-opening doors, so Lambo obliged. The only thing hotter than the body on this machine will be the skirts you get to ride shotgun.



How to buy a Lambo
One of my favorite writers Michael Lewis wrote a column on Bloomberg called "How to buy a Lambo like a Wall-Street Guy. It is definitely worth the read--click here for the article.

Modern Skirts
Bucky talked me into going and seeing a band called Modern Skirts from Athens, Georgia on Friday at the Map Room. I motivated Parsons to get off of the couch and we jumped in the General to ride over to the Map Room. It was a nice surprise to find the Map Room to be a nice, spacious bar albeit stuck behind an Arby's in a West Ashley strip-mall. Having a sound remniscient of a Government Mule and Ben Folds cocktail the Modern Skirts put on one hell of a show.

Bassist Phillip Brantley, drummer John Swint, guitarist and singer Glidewell were a formidable cast supporting the talents of the ivory-tickler Jay (Joe-Joe) Gulley (green-jacket in the photo) and his vocals. Perhaps I am not giving the aforementioned front-three enough credit, but the green-horned, Athenian sound tech was not up to par to perfect the acoustic blend needed with such a wide bouquet of vocals and instrumentals. One would think with the band dressing the part the sound-tech would take his part serously as well.

I rubbed elbows with Bob Ailstock, Bucky and Stephen Blackmore during the show. And I was quite impressed with the skirts the Modern Skirts attracted. They ended the show with their cover of Biz Marky's "You got what I need", and the Bushido gave props to Joe-Joe after the show for their performance. Check out their merch' when you get the chance or just pick up their album "Catalogue of Generous Men (Go to Your Room)"! They just might be the next big thing you hear come out of Athens!

Sunday Basketball Scores:
Heels v Terps
The #21st ranked University of North Carolina Tarheels swept the Maryland Terps 81-57 and earned a 1st round bye in the ACC Tournament. Freshman Tyler Hansbrough had his 11th game this season with at least 20-points scoring 21-points and 7-boards. David Noel and and Marcus Ginyard both scored 12-points putting any chance Maryland had of redeption from their previous meeting to bed. Ekene Ibekwe scored 12-points and Mike Jones had 11-points for the Terps, but it wasn't enough to cool the hot tar the Heels mopped across the floor.
The Terrapins are now 16-11 and 6-8 in the ACC. The Tarheels are now 19-6 and 10-4 in the ACC.



Bama v Florida
It seems 9th ranked Florida met the Man of Steele tonight but left their Kryptonite at home, losing 82-77. Ronald Steele went 6 for 6 at the line, leading the Tide with 20-points and 7-assists. Hendrix had 14-boards as the Tide rolled all over the Gators. Taurean Green led the Gators going 4 for 10 from behind the arch scoring 20-points.
The Gators are now 22-6, 8-6 SEC. Alabama is now 2nd in the SEC behind LSU and are 16-10, 9-5 SEC. Bama has their last season game against in-state rival Auburn on Wednesday, March 1 at 7 pm.

Big East Rematch
2nd ranked Villanova marched into UConn as the highest ranked team the Huskies have played at home. UConn wasn't about to hang their heads as they did earlier this season and put away Nova quite methodically 89-75. Ray led Villanova with 19-points, Sheridan had 11-boards and Lowry led with 4-assists. Leaders for the Huskies were Brown with 23-points, Adrien with 7-boards and Williams led with 10-assists.
UConn is now 25-2 and Villanova is 22-3 for the season.

In case you missed it go to the Budweiser Kaiser to read "Kaiser Chief" Brad's recap of games from Saturday and the special I saw on EPSN Sports-Center tonight about the autist High School Varsity BBall team manager named Jason McElwain who played and scored 20-points (hitting 5-three-pointers) in his first and only high school basketball game.

For all College Basketball scores click here for the ESPN Scoreboard. (Photos compliments of Espn Sports.)

Tattooing in the Palmetto State is Officially Legal!
For all of you South Carolinians who love to travel to Savannah or other destinations to get your 'ink' you finally have good news-Tattoo regulations are now legal because the State House fell asleep at the wheel and forgot to either approve or reject the Tattoo approval. Look for "butt antlers" (see photo from tattoo.blog.com) to become more popular across the Palmetto State.

Background
South Carolina was one of two states outlawing tattooing, until the Tattoo bill passed 2-years ago. DHEC developed regulations last year and the House had to pass those regs. The State Senate approved the regulations in May of '05, but the House could not come to terms on whether to pass the regs or send DHEC back to the drawing board. (Note: it is an election year, so nobody touched the regulations in the House, and they went into effect without action.)

What you need to get started

1. Business and tattoo license (In addition, some municipalities are limiting the locations available for tattoo parlors.)
2. Health Certifications and Sterilization equipment inspection.
3. Certificates in first-aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
4. Complete a "blood-borne pathogen class approved by DHEC"
5. A steady hand and a bit of artistic talent (not really, but they should have added it)
   

2006 Olympics
Let me begin by apologizing to anyone who finds this photo (compliments of Chewie's blog) offensive; however, I had trouble finding another appropriate photo as the Post & Courier did not post photos on line from the event and I would like to mention the flip-side of the photo is that these Olympians are indeed unique, but they are just as competitive as the other Olympians in this race.
Over 700 participants competed in various events including basketball, badminton, gymnastics and handball at the Citadel's McAlister Field House. 15-year old Michelle Annibale lit the torch to begin the Special Olympics ceremony. I have attended this event in the past and I must say that not only does the spirit of the Olympics put smiles on all of the winner's faces but also it puts smiles on the faces of their biggest fans.

Bushido Blogging: (The Local Movement)

Recently I have noticed while on the Campaign Trail and as I try to press the Bushido movement in certain busy or somewhat noisy affairs that telling people The Bushido Way's address (if you just missed the hyper-link it is http://thebushidoway.blogspot.com) is somewhat of a challenge. Being that it is a dreary, cold wet f-ed up February day and that Ryan Parsons and I were having a double-scotch, single malt night to the wee hours this morning, I laid in bed and watched sports and of course the Food Network all day. After watching Chef Batali's program (more on that later) and the circus of business of which he is the "ring-master" I had an ephiany-I should see if the Bushido is available on Blogspot and make it a local politics and news blog focused on South Carolina and the Low-Country.

The Move is being made because 1) the Bushido Way is becoming a monster of information and misses a lot of what South Carolinians want; 2) the idea to change the address has been banging away in my head for quite sometime; 3) as I mentioned, the Bushido Way is too hard to get people to remember to type in on their computers when they get home; 4) "the Bushido" is easier to Google Search for and finally, 5) I think it will be good for business and will keep things interesting. I'll keep the local news, South Carolina politics, local sports (obviously the Braves and the Tarheels will get a healthy amount of representation) and local music.

College of Charleston defeats the University of Dayton in (softball) the College of Charleston Cougar Classic. The College of Charleston Cougars defeated the University of Dayton Flyers 9-1 in just five innings by scoring cored 9 runs off 11 hits at the (softball) Cougar Classic at Patriot’s Point. The Cougars set their record at .500 with the win against Dayton. CofC’s Golden Girl went yard for her 4th homerun of the season and Amber Havnar gets the W from the mound. Amber Shifflet’s first start for the Cougars had her batting .500 (2-4, w/1-RBI) Jayme Durand went 2 for 4 w/ 1-RBI as well for the Cougars.

For the University of Dayton, Erin Lafayette gets the Loss, the rest of the games were rained out except for the Flyers’ last game on Sunday which they lost to Eastern Carolina University. However to end things on a positive Dayton Senior Christina Vetter looked great and the team has spirit. Sorry Sarah (Hatcher) Claire, the Flyers have gone straight down hill since you left.

Research In Motion Update:
The NY Times reported today that Federal Judge James Spencer (US District Court in Richmond, Virgina defered ruling on the injunction in the case between NTP and RIM. He opted to rule on the damages NTP is seeking in the case first. NTP's intellectual property case took a hit when the US Patent and Trademark Office denied NTP's patent claim for the third time early this morning. Note: Judge Spencer will not let the USPTO's decision effect his ruling on the suit. Fortunately, for those of us in the Carolinas and in the rest of the world (3.2 Blackberry users in the US alone) will not service.

I'll give Jim Cramer a big Trabert Booyah-skeedaddy because I picked up a handful of RIM at opening today and the dice rolled right because my newly acquired stock went up 8.2% ($5.75)