KFC--The Hillary Special

Air Force goes to the Elite Eight in the NIT

Air Force continues to show that it should have gone to the Big Dance, this time knocking off Georgia by 31. Chip Towers from the Atlanta Journal Constitution tells about the game.

Dennis Felton knew it. He just couldn't say it. Air Force was the worst of all possible draws for Georgia in the NIT. For anybody, really.

Monday night, the Falcons (25-8) were obliged to show the world why.

Playing in their packed little arena on the side of a mountain (elevation 7,100 feet), they used guile, hustle and 3-point accuracy to run the Bulldogs out of the gym, 83-52. Air Force was up 23 points in less than 13 minutes, then just did what it had to do from there to advance to the third round of NIT.

The Falcons, once considered shoo-ins for the NCAA tournament, will face DePaul. Again, it will be at Clune Arena.

The only solace for Air Force opponents is that four of its five starters are seniors and coach Jeff Bzdelik is the leading candidate at Colorado.

Against the nation's No. 2 scoring defense, the Bulldogs shot 36 percent and never really figured out the Falcons' matchup zone.

Meanwhile, Air Force put on a clinic for running the Princeton motion offense. The Falcons produced lay-ups galore and mixed in nine 3-pointers to boot. Jacob Burtschi led the way with 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Dan Nwaelele added 19 as they shot 55 percent from the field and 10 players scored.

Romney over Rudy

John Mark Reynolds (an evangelical Christian, by the way) has written a great piece about why Mit Romney is the man that conservatives should be supporting at this point in the race.

Far from worrying about our prodigal Romney who has come home to social conservative values . . . I worry about him least on these issues.

Why? Romney has over time come to traditional points of view on culture of life and family issues. This is not surprising given his religious and social background. Romney is a man of profound faith (though it is not my own) and of deep and abiding traditional values in his personal life. As he has grown older, it is no surprise that a maturing statesman would bring his personal life into closer consistency with his political life.

Romney has the zeal of a new covert tempered by the pragmatic wisdom of one who knows the strengths and weaknesses of his old views.

Even on pragmatic grounds, the convert can be trusted more than the older member. He cannot afford to switch again without looking like a disaster and will work hard to keep his new allies.

The prodigal Romney has come back to his conservative roots having tried to eat the pig food of Harvard and the secular left.

AND

I like Rudy . . . and admire him on many levels. I would love to see him as an attorney general chasing the Mob or Terrorists. He is a liberal of the old school . . . willing to work with conservatives for the good of the nation. We need more liberals like him, but he is a liberal and the Republican party is the conservative party in America.

Rudy is a friend of the conservative movement . . . and an ally, but he should not lead that movement. The Romans were finished when they picked Germans to lead them . . . and the Republicans do not need a friendly foe to head their cause.

Law and Order in the White House?

Foxnews.com is reporting that former Tennessee senator and current Law and Order star Fred Thompson is considering a run for the White House.

"I'm going to wait and see what happens," Thompson said. "I want to see my colleagues on the campaign trial, what they say, what they emphasize, whether they can carry the ball next November."

Thompson, 64, who plays district attorney Arthur Branch on NBC's drama, said he was pondering a run after former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker and other Tennessee Republicans began drumming up support for his possible Republican candidacy, citing his conservative credentials.

"I think people are somewhat disillusioned. A lot of people are cynical out there. They're looking for something different," he said.

On the issues, Thompson said he:

—Is "pro-life," and believes federal judges should reexamine the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 which established a woman's right to an abortion.

—Opposes gay marriage, but would let states decide whether to allow civil unions. "Marriage is between a man and a woman, and judges shouldn't be allowed to change that."

—Supports President George W. Bush's decision to increase troops in Iraq. "Wars are full of mistakes. You rectify them. I think we are doing that now," he said. "We've got to give it a chance to work."

—Would pardon former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice now, rather than waiting until all his appeals are exhausted. Libby was found guilty of perjury and obstruction in the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.

Libby is "bearing the political brunt of something that should've never come about," Thompson said, noting that "practically every witness at trial had inconsistent statements."

Thompson said he was not setting a deadline to make a decision and believes he will not be at a disadvantage if he waited until summer. "The lay of the land will be different in a couple of months than it is today, one way or another," he said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday."

I like what I see so far. Very interesting...

Hoops stars to officers

Robert Sanchez from the Denver Post has written a great article about the Air Force men's basketball team. Four of the starters are seniors and are now months away from being commissioned as officers in the US Air Force. Sanchez does a great job of contrasting the difference between these young men and their counterparts at "normal" universities, and then describing what they have waiting for them after graduation.

They expected to play basketball somewhere, but their talents were more suited for Division II ball, or the Ivy League, where several of them had offers.
Still, in their minds, they imagined sinking the game-winning shot in front of thousands of screaming fans on national television. They imagined they could someday have their own sliver of March Madness.
But they never imagined the opportunity would come on a hillside in Colorado, where the iron gates around the campus are as much about keeping people in as they are about keeping others out.
"One of the most common sayings around is that this is a great place to be from, but not be at," says Eric Kenzik, a 22-year-old junior from Florida who wants to fly Air Force transport planes or bombers upon his graduation next year - a decision his parents support.
"It's one of those things where you can't explain it if you're in it, and you can't understand it unless you're part of it," senior center Nick Welch says. "Survive this, and then you'll know."
It's hard to call the academy a college because it is unlike any collegiate experience.
You're told when to wake up, when to eat, when to go to class, when to study and when to go to bed.
Academy life means basic training before you step inside a classroom. It means being told your zipper has been pulled too low on your military issued jacket. It means averaging 18 credit hours a semester when a five-year player at another college might take only 24 an entire year. It means calculus and aerodynamics classes even though you're an English major who has no interest in calculus or aerodynamics. It means eating with 4,000 other cadets at the same time every day while your buddy at the University of Utah grabs a Big Mac at midnight.
But for the players who took the challenge, for them, it means the opportunity to become a better person.
"Every day of my life here, I'm being challenged to be better than I was the day before," Welch says. "By going through this, I'm developing into a leader."
At most college programs, basketball is the most rigorous and scheduled part of an athlete's life. At the academy, it's just another thing to add to the pile.
"Sometimes I'll see the look on their faces that says, 'I was up until 5 a.m. studying, I've got practice and exams and someone chewed me out this morning,"' coach Jeff Bzdelik says. "I know then that I should ease my foot off the gas."

The Falcons will be hoping against hope this afternoon to see if they make it to the Big Dance. If they don't, it won't be the end of the world. Their life is just beginning.

On running a Bed and Breakfast

Well, we just got back from a seminar in Camden, Maine, on how to start and run a bed & breakfast. We had a great time. We stayed at the Timbercliffe Cottage B&B, along with 4 other couples. The seminar was called Inn Your Dreams and was conducted by Don Johnson, a veteran in the Maine B&B scene, having owned and run his own inns for 12 years and now in the brokerage business.

Since we're thinking of running our own B&B when we retire in seven years, we thought it would be a good idea to find out more about the whole business and see if it's what we really want to do. Inn Your Dreams was a great way to do that. Don began by giving us a quiz to see if we've got the right temperament and personalities to be innkeepers, and took us through the whole process, including finding the right B&B, buying it, shopping for supplies, pricing the rooms, and then the daily demands of running it. In the afternoons, we went on tours of the local B&Bs to get ideas to use in our own inns. Overall, Inn Your Dreams was a great investment for our future career. Don was thorough in his training and brought in a few experts in various fields, such as financing and webpage design, to enhance the experience. We'd highly suggest the seminar for anyone interested in running their own inn someday.

Another facet to Inn Your Dreams that made it very rewarding was the fact that we actually stayed in a local B&B. In this case, our hosts were Karen and Dave Kallstrand at the Timbercliffe Cottage (as mentioned above). We stayed in the Chauncey Keep Chamber, the best room in the inn. The room had a beautiful view of Penobscot Bay and felt very cozy with a warm fireplace. Karen was an excellent cook, providing delicious gourmet breakfasts every morning. Dave and Karen went out of their way to provide that "home away from home" experience. And of course, Caffrey, the Kallstrand's golden retriever, offered her own hospitality by greeting everyone by the dining room. Timbercliffe's common areas offered a great place for guests to sit and visit with each other, drinking coffee or wine by the fire.

Christine and I were very glad that we took this opportunity to learn more about innkeeping. It made us even more eager to start on the next stage in our lives after the Air Force.