He Won Last Night

In an effort to Be Rock & Roll,
my brother inadvertently makes the sign for "I love you"

During my freshman year of high school, I took a Gourmet Cooking class. At least a few times a week my fellow group-mates (there were four of us in our group) would ask for an update on how my little brother had performed in the previous night's baseball game, to which I would always reply, "He won last night." This became the theme of our group. James was the beneficiary of most of our concoctions -- grasshopper cookies, and I'm sure some others but I don't remember what they were, except for the time we chose to make pizza and wings and served it with strawberry Quik but we just ate that during class, we didn't have any to take home with us -- delivered to him in a paper bag with the words, "James. He won last night." written on it with Matthew's sharpie.

The thing is, James has always won. Excellent artist. Top wrestler. Cutest boy around. Class clown. Star musician. It's just what he does. I'm over it.

Which is why when he phoned me on Saturday from Texas and told me that he and Steve are TEAM USA, I didn't react with much flourish. "I'm happy for you and everything but to be honest, I'm just not surprised. It's what you do. Plus, I don't know exactly what this means, but I think it's like the Olympics or something, so, you know -- YAY!"

I'm wicked proud of him.

And only a little bit jealous that he's currently here:


Poor baby.

What's that you ask? What is it that he won?

Well.

Since I barely know anything about it, I'll let you read the words of my brother's friend (professor?) George. **I completely ripped the following from facebook. I don't even know George.**

Illinois Team Wins ABA NATIONAL Client Counseling Competition in Texas!

As reported previously, our college team for the ABA Client Counseling Competition, Steve Rogers and James Noonan (2Ls), went to Milwaukee last month and won first place in our region.

They have just finished representing our region in the national ABA competition at Baylor Law School in Waco, Texas, on Friday, March 19 and Saturday, March 20.

Steve and James had three rounds of competition on Friday afternoon and won them all. At the end of the day, six of the twelve regions were eliminated and the other six regions were seeded for the semifinal round on Saturday morning. At the banquet on Friday night, it was announced that our team had earned the #1 seed! They were also given a trophy and three placques to commemorate their regional championship.

On Saturday morning, Steve and James won their semifinal round and advanced with two other teams to the final round Saturday afternoon. The final rounds were video recorded and will be made available nationwide. After the judges gave their comments, all of which were very favorable for our team, it was then announced that the University of Illinois team was the new national champion! Steve and James were awarded another trophy to commemorate their achievement, in addition to other first place prizes.

136 law schools had participated in the United Sates regional competitions of the ABA Client Counseling Competition this year. As the first place finishers in the national competition, Steve and James will represent the USA at the international competition in two weeks, April 7-10. Steve and James will be competing against the national champions from Canada, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Holland, Finland, China, Cambodia, Australia, New Zealand, and Nigeria (and other nations). The internation competition is being held this year in Hong Kong.

We certainly can be proud of our team for winning both the regional and the national championships. We have had many wonderful teams represent us in years past, and many of them advanced to the finals of the regional competition, often finishing in second place. This is the first year we have won the regional championship of this competition. To then go on to win the national championship is truly remarkable, and well deserved. I watched them compete in every round and I understand why the judges were unanimous in awarding them first place. They are a great team and will do a wonderful job representing our college, and our country, in the international competition.

George Bell

I'm-a win a contest! Law! I Object Your Honor! Honk! Whaaaaaaaa?