What's been going on around here

- What I'm watching: The College Softball World Series. Compelling, competitive, and it's fun to watch and figure out which players are trying to insist to the viewers that they're girly girls and not butch. (Hint: The ones with the bows in their hair are the girly girls desperately hoping you know that they like boys.)

- Thursday afternoon was spent with Dad at Buffalo Wild Wings watching the Red Sox beat Toronto, 3-1, and a rookie umpire play big man on campus by knocking off the two managers and both catchers. Took in a few games of trivia as well, finishing nationally in the top 20 once and the top 100 the rest of the times. We're really out of practice. Used to be we'd always finish in the top 10 or 20. I blame the Asian Zing sauce.

- Any good will Coach Cal had when he left Memphis? Gone. Nearly a decade of man-love vanishes when it's discovered that Derrick Rose not only didn't take his own SAT, but his high school changed grades on his transcript, as if he was Ferris Bueller altering his attendance. "NINE times."

I'm not naive enough to think that cheating doesn't happen all over major college basketball, and Coach Cal probably handed over envelope after envelope to many players during his Memphis tenure, but hey, we sure did see a lot of exciting wins, am I right?

Now over to you, Josh!

Meanwhile, the women's golf team will probably get punished severely for being a non-revenue sport, for such horrible, horrible infractions as a player staying with the coach for two nights after the player's apartment was robbed. Hey NCAA, this is Memphis, just be lucky you weren't mugged when you came to investigate! This is Memphis, yo!

- Wednesday night Val's school held their graduation at the Botanic Garden in Audubon Park. There was no use having a speaker, because from my perspective in the back of the overflowing, hot and loud room the attendees couldn't have cared less. Knowing that it was going to get very loud in there when the names were called, and I was still damp after getting caught in a gullywasher while getting Chick-fil-A for my pregnant wife, I snuck out to lobby to read and await Val, who looked positively adorable in her duds!

- Saturday night Val and I went with her whole family to see the Redbirds play at AutoZone Park. I was able to see the first game of the doubleheader starting at 4, but had to go to work afterward. Val took off as well, overheated after spending the first few innings burning up in the 90-degree heat, unable to recover even when we got ice cream in a helmet or sat in the shade. Not even BBQ nachos or a foot-long hot dog could do the trick. Well, for me, I mean. New Tigers coach Josh "Coach Cal left me in a pickle" Pastner threw out the first pitch (high), and American Idol top 12 finalist Jasmine Murray sang the national anthem (pitchy).