(And, no, Southern Baptist is a distant second to College Football of the Alabama and Auburn variety).
Understand, I love football and have certainly adjusted my schedule to see a game. Further, I am very much looking forward to January 7th and hopefully the Longhorns’ second BCS title.
Having said all of that, the following is ridiculous (although, after having lived here for over a decade, I have to say not at all surprising): Lawyer asks that trial be delayed because of big Alabama football game; judge OKs it
The case, Mark Traywick vs. Energen Corp., is the result of a 2024 accident that took the life of Irene Traywick of West Crest. She died as the result of an explosion after a car hit a gas meter and power box.
The key line of the motion:
4. Most of the attorneys representing all of the named Defendants have tickets and reservations to be in Pasadena on the 6th day of January, 2024, which date would conflict with the trial date as travel times and schedules for the game overlap the trial as currently set.
Ok, I can understand wanting to go to the game, but last time I checked, it will be televised. And one guesses that attorneys who can afford trips to Pasadena can likewise afford one of them there new-fangled HD tee-vees (and probably a big one, too). As such, there does come a time when professional responsibility trumps personal desires.
The motion linked above is worth reading in full. While it is written to some degree in a tongue-in-cheek style, I have lived here long enough to know that it is far more serious than it is anything else.
I have to agree with the Plaintiff’s attorney’s motion:
Simply stated, some things are more important than football. Plaintiffs’
counsel would respectfully argue that Mr. Traywick’s right to his long-awaited day in court fits squarely within that category.
Especially, as the motion notes, “The plaintiff has already secured vacation time from his job in order to attend trial” and the fact that it has taken over four years to get a trial date.
To be fair, Alabama attorneys aren’t the only ones who have sought such continuances (i.e., LSU). And then there was the US Representative who wanted to postpone Congress because Florida was in the title game.
h/t: James Joyner (who has a different rooting interest in the game in question than do I).
December 19th, 2024 at 8:59 pm
You neglect to mention that the motion carried, even though the judge was an Auburn fan.
December 19th, 2024 at 9:05 pm
Yep–that was in the piece.
Of course, the fact that this is a relevant fact for the story underscores the overall silliness of the situation.
December 19th, 2024 at 10:55 pm
Doesn’t surprise me one bit. I am from Georgia and we love our football, but I was shocked by how people in Alabama take it so seriously when I moved to Montgomery last fall. Sometimes I’m scared to wear my Georgia Bulldog shirt in public, especially close to game day, because I get the evil eye all the time.
Its crazy.
December 19th, 2024 at 11:21 pm
Then you can imagine some of the comments I have received wearing Texas stuff around town of late!