Lott Should Resign

We interrupt your regularly scheduled volleyball playoff news to bring you a political rant.

The extent of Trent Lott's racism has been coming to light recently, and it's disgusting. Talking Points Memo is a blog that's done an excellent job covering all the dirty details, including uncovering the amicus brief Trent Lott filed on behalf of Bob Jones University back in 1981, when Lott was in the House.

"If racial discrimination in the interest of diversity does not violate public policy, then surely discrimination in the practice of religion is no violation," Lott asserts in the brief, trying to help Bob Jones U. regain its tax-exempt status despite it's racist policies.

This may not be as damning as his endorsement of Thurmond's candidacy, or his association with racist organizations and people, but it's not too hard to connect the dots.

I think the guy should resign from the Senate altogether. Really, that's up to the people of Mississippi. I'm afraid that they knew full well what they were getting when they elected Lott, and are more upset at his apologies than his prejudice.

If getting rid of him isn't an option, his colleagues in the Senate should do everything they can to keep a man with such dangerous beliefs about racial equality out of positions of power.

To the Finals We Go

We managed to defeat "One Toe Over The Line" in our semifinal match. It was a particularly sweet victory because they were the team that knocked us out of the semi-finals.

Both teams played excellent, scrappy defense and we had some fantastic rallies. It was an exhausting and exhilirating match.

Apparently, our team has a high sense of drama, because we keep our matches very close. We won the first and thrid games last night, and let our opponents come back within 3 points of victory before we won the game. If we were televised, the networks would love us.

Monday night is the finals match. Here in New York, there's a threatened strike that would shut down the subway and buses as of Sunday night at midnight. This will make getting to the match a challenge.

But I guess it will suit are sense of drama just fine!

On to the Semifinals

One Team Under Dog, also known as "The Underdogs," "UD," "Big Dawgs," and "O.T.U.D.", won our quarterfinal match last night against "Dink You, Dink Me." We dominated the first game, lost our mental focus the second game, and came back to solidly win the third game.

This team's come a long way.

We're up against "One Toe Over The Line" in the Final Four tomorrow night.

Diversity Volleyball

Lots of volleyball lately. With my indoor team, we ended our season in second place and we have our first playoff game tonight. I'm psyched. This will be our last season all together. The team started as a company team, and most of the team has been laid off.

This past weekend, I fielded a team in a tournament in the local gay volleyball organization. We play with them fairly regularly and integrate the place a bit by bringing in a few women and heterosexuals. Lots of fun, although we usually get our butts kicked.

The previous weekend, Jeanhee and I took the subway to Queens. There, at the curb on Queens Boulevard, we met our fellow teammates. My friend, Celinda, who is half-Thai, half-Puerto Rican (she calls it Thairican!), her boyfriend from Poland, and his friends from Portugal, Ghana & Jamaica. We went undefeated.

Pretty diverse.... A lot of that is just part of living and playing in New York City, but volleyball itself attracts a wide variety of people.