Solitary Man

[Wayne23]

1/19: 66-77 at Western Kentucky. Down 17 at the half. Wood was in foul trouble all night. They're fifth year senior Center simply outplayed him. That's going to happen when a frosh goes up against a really good player with a lot of experience. We're working on not letting it get to him. 20, 2, 5 for Wilk. Both Howe and Ward played well.

[Wayne23]

1/23: 73-49 over George Washington here. 41-17 at the half. 21, 14, 3 for Spen, 14, 3, 6 for Wilk. A much better game for Wood; he out played his man and had 8 and 13.

Ward is getting Kest's minutes at SF.

1/24: My attorney and I went over our plan. I will get to testify so what I say and how I say it will be important. My attorney's role will be to point out the extremely harsh sentence, which was way outside of the judicial guidelines for this type of sentencing, and to show how rarely this stiff a sentence has been given in similar cases. We'll also talk about my great record in here, my position of responsibility in food service, and my completing my law degree, as well as the fact, that as of today Born Free has offered me a position in their organization when I am released from Walpole.

[Wayne23]

1/26: 65-68 at Winthrop. Damn! They're one of the better teams in the conf., and this would have been a big win for us. We never led after the first few minutes but we had the last shot and missed a three, so we had a chance. Poor shooting, 37.0%, hurt us, as did the fact that SG Greg Wolf fouled out in 21 minutes. 17, 3 for Spen. Wood had 13 and 5 but was out played. He's a good player and will get better, but he's a freshman and a good Senior is bound to outplay him.

It's early but we're in a 6 way tie for 2nd, at 11-6, 4-2, one back of 1st place.

Still prepping for our court date.

1/29: As expected, one of our recruits didn't hit our SAT score.

[Wayne23]

1/30: 76-85 vs. Oregon ST here. Not good. 3 losses in our last 4. 28-52 at the half. Our home crowd doesn't usually desert us but many left at the half and those who stayed were very quiet. Can't say I blame any of them. 2 bright spots, Wood, with 31 and 10, and Spen, with 20 and 3. No one else did much of anything.

I'm going with Ward at SF, just to shake it up.

[Wayne23]

2/2: 48-56 at Drexel. Damn! We just lost to a 3-16 team. Awful. We shot 25.4%, 14.6% on threes. We took 13 more shots and made 3 fewer. There's no way to win when you can't put it in the hoop.

Bench Coach Tim Allen: Coach and I are kind of at a loss. We've lost 3 in a row, 4 of 5. We have some great freshmen coming in next year and we may just need to write this year off- not that Coach has any quit in him.

Coach Blake: The hearing is on Monday. My emotions are all over the place.

[Wayne23]

2/6: 70-54 over Cleveland ST here. We really needed a win. We were down by as many as 8, 5 at the half. I kind of unloaded on the guys at the half, well, more than kind of. It worked. 20, 4 for Ward, 14, 9, 3 with 5 steals for Wood, 10 each for Spen and Howe.

12-8, 5-4. In a 4 way tie for 5th, but only one game back of 2nd. If we can get it together we can finish in the top 4, but we need to get it together NOW!

The hearing lasted all day. It's not an adversarial procedure. My attorney and i met before a three judge panel. We made our case and they asked questions during and after. I really thought my attorney did a great job, and I thought I presented myself well.

The panel will render a decision in two weeks, on 2/20. It's a long time to wait.

[Wayne23]

2/9: 58-68 at South Florida. They're the best team in the conf., so we knew it would be tough. +16 RBs but 23 TOs and allowing 10 threes did us in. Their starting back court lit us up for 35.

We need to go at least 5-1 in our last 6. Fortunately, 4 are at home.

Can't think of anything other than what the review panel will do.

[Wayne23]

2/13: 67-50 over Yale, here. We led all the way. Great D and 8 TOs. 11, 10 for Spen, 15, 6 for Wood, really good guard play.

13-9, 6-5. In a 3 way tie for 6th but only one game back of 2nd place. We need to keep winning, get at least 4 of our last 5.

Recruiting Coach Steve Brown. We're going after a C hard. We'd like to add him to our list. We expect to bank the other scholarship unless something unforeseen happens.

Coach Blake: One more week to wait.

[Wayne23]

2/16: 57-58 to South Dakota ST at our place. This is a devastating loss. I'm not even going to talk about this one. I'm too pissed.

Bench Coach Tim Sales: We fell asleep for about 10 minutes in the second half and found ourselves down by 12. We chipped away at it, got it down to one, with the ball, with 9.3 left. No one was making shots. Kev Wilk, who was 2-20 at the time, decided to take the shot himself, a 16 footer off a screen. Then he was 2-21 and the game was over. Obviously, he should have worked it inside to Spen or Wood. It was a really bad decision on every level. We shot 31.8%, 6-36 on threes, and we were -4 on the boards. The loss drops us into a tie for 7th place. Not good.

Coach Blake: If I weren't in prison I'd get drunk. Sadly, that's not an option.

[Wayne23]

2/20: 87-77 at New Mexico. The offense was really on fire tonight. We're not a team that scores a lot of points (71.5 per), so that was good to see. The D could have been better. Wood led us with 23, 8, 6. 18, 6 for Ward, 16, 8, 3 for Wolf.

We have 3 left, 2 at home, and we need to win all of them.

Today was the day the judicial review panel rendered their decision.

My attorney and I went to the courtroom, stood when the three judges entered, and heard this:

"The panel, after long and difficult deliberations, has concluded that the sentencing in this case was improper. Judicial guidelines recommend a sentence of between ten and twenty years for an offense of this type.

"The panel hereby revises the defendant's sentence to 15 years at the maximum security facility in Walpole, Massachusetts. The defendant has already served eight and one-half years. He will be eligible for parole on April 24, 2051."

With that the presiding judge banged his gavel and declared the review adjourned.

I have one year, two months, and one day left to serve. We were hoping for "time served" but this is not horrible. I woke up this morning sentenced to life in prison. Now I can see light at the end of the tunnel, and the tunnel isn't terribly far away. I'll get out a week before my 35th birthday.

My attorney said that this gives us time to make plans for what i will do upon release. Born Free's headquarters are in San Francisco. Since I will be working for them, they have time to decide whether to use me there, or to assign me to their Boston office, or maybe one of their other offices. They and I also need to plan for an apartment for me, clothes- all of the things a person needs to just get by. When I get out of here I will be broke so I'll need financial help until I start to draw a paycheck, so yes, all of that will definitely take time.