Greg Walsh (grad March 09)

Tennis Tournament in Simpsonville

This weekend I entered my first tennis tournament since 6th grade. Simpsonville, SC was hosting a tournament at the Holly Tree Country Club. Since my girlfriend Jaclyn has played tennis tournaments all of her life, I brought her along so she could tell me what to do.

It takes about half an hour to get to Simpsonville from Spartanburg, so I left pretty early so I could have an hour to warm up. I watched people from the age of 18 to their 50's competing against each other at all different skill levels. I was motivated as I saw a few courts in which the players looked to be worse than me. Considering I was in the easiest division, I felt good about my chances. As fate would have it, my first opponent did not show up and I won by forfeit, allowing me to advance to the second round. So I drove back to Spartanburg and waited a few hours for my second match, hoping it would be as easy as the first.

When it was time for the second round to start, I introduced myself to a big guy that looked all too similar to a young Byron Leftwich. He was probably the strongest looking guy in the club, which worried me a little. I told him it was my first time ever playing a tennis tournament and he just nodded. I think he thought I was lying.

In this tournament, you have to win 2 out of 3 sets to win the match. If it was tied 1-1 the players would play a tie breaker (first to 10 points). I went out there and started playing the best tennis of my life. I quickly destroyed my opponent in the first set and felt like this was the easiest thing in the world. Unfortunately my opponent started going bananas. While we were drinking water on the bench between sets, he would start smashing his racquet on the ground in anger. After successfully cracking it, he pulled out another one from his bag as I stared wide-eyed. This was the beginning of the end for me.

The second set would be the most memorable half hour of tennis in my life. I started playing much more conservatively than I did the first set. Unfortunately my opponent started smashing my weaker shots back at me. I was shocked, as my opponent was ultra stinky in the first game but now looked unstoppable. To make matters worse he would start screaming at me at the top of his lungs every time he won a point. This was especially awkward. Only in professional wrestling had I seen somebody so arrogant/obnoxious/loud/uncalled for. Although I got ahead 4-3 in the set, I began to play even more conservatively and barely hit the ball over the net. He started not only yelling when he won his points, but he would smash the top of the net with his racquet over and over again in an apparent attempt at breaking either the net or another racquet. It was all really shocking. I wish I had a camera. To make matters worse, I began to lose track of how many points I was winning, and was constantly asking him the score.

In the end, we went to a tie-breaker and he ended up beating me 10-4. It was probably the strangest sporting event of my life. I have never seen such childish, selfish, and arrogant behavior in my entire sports playing and spectating life until this weekend. After the match I commented on this to my girlfriend, who has played tennis her entire life. She told me "Get used to it, this guy wasn't even one of the worst people I've seen." Thus, I was entered into the world of adult tournament tennis.

A Classic 4 Q's with Sherman Student Frank Yanik

I have had a lot of requests for a Frank Yanik Q and A, so I went ahead and sat down with my roommate Frank. Frank is a waiter at Capri's in Spartanburg as well as a high quality chiropractic intern. Although he is well known for stealing other people's food from the fridge, he will always leave you a little bit so that you question whether or not you ate it or it was truly stolen. We will be introducing him to the caps lock button later on this year.

1. Where will you be practicing once you graduate?

i am practicing in the one and only dallas pennsylvania. the name of the street is carverton road conveniently located just off the highway right by pizza perfect!

2. Who is your favorite "Green Coat"?

after last week my favorite is definitely kallie yamane

3. What does Capri's offer over the Olive Garden?

capri's has unlimited soup and salad everyday....wait, no thats olive garden. so NADA

4. If you were given a belt color for adjusting talent similar to that of karate belts, what color would you be?

geez, thats a toughy....i'd say i'm confident more half the time so maybe....whats between green and purple, thats what i am

My Grandparents

As I am putting my part III boards behind me, I will soon have to prepare for my part IV boards in November. Part IV involves performing actions and dialoguing with a doctor where the first three parts were simply multiple choice tests. Anyway, I heard a rumor that the test in Iowa was easier than the other test locations because of their review they do before the test. I put 100% faith in this rumor and signed up to fly to the middle of the country to take my test.
Fortunately my grandparents are going to help me out with the costs of flying to Iowa and I could not be more thankful. My grandparents are famous amongst my friends for supplying me with a steady stream of coupons and care packages full of food. Life as a college student would definitely be difficult without them. They were also the ones responsible for giving me a great deal on my car (1 dollar), making it easy for me to become a Doctor of Chiropractic, as well as socially acceptable. I'm looking forward to getting them in the clinic to give them chiropractic care. I've already told them I'm saving my good adjustments for them.
Here are some pictures below of the good times we had last summer at the Jacksonville Zoo.

As you can see my grandfather got a kick out of the fact they named a crane after him.

4 Q's with the Intern of the Month Amanda Lafferty

At Sherman we give an honorable award to one intern every month that exemplifies all of the positive qualities of a great chiropractor and very few of the qualities that exemplify a bad chiropractor. This month Amanda Lafferty's name was pulled out of the hat (just kidding Amanda), making her September's intern of the month.

1. Where are you going to practice when you graduate?

Amanda: Either Paintsville, KY or Prestonsburg, KY.  I'm still trying to narrow it down between the two.

2. Do patients ever tell you what they need adjusted? How do you handle it?

Amanda: So far, I haven't had that problem with outpatients.  From the beginning though, I always educate my patients so they understand where they hurt is not always where the subluxation is.  It's not always easy to address this issue, but I've found it's important to be honest with the patients and explain what we do- Correct subluxations.   

3. If you had to pick a Sherman Faculty member to adjust you, who would it be?

Amanda: Dr. Westbrook because I believe in the Results System and I know he's a great chiropractor.

4. Which would you prefer for your reward of being intern of the month...
A golden jacket to wear for the month
or
A Stouffer's French Bread Pizza?

Amanda: Since I love anything pizza, I would have to choose the Stouffer's French Bread Pizza.

4 Q's with Football Watcher Mike "Walshy" Walsh

I decided to do a little question and answer blog with my brother Mike. He has been traveling across the country this week to watch the Patriots first game in Foxboro, the Red Sox series against Tampa Bay in Boston, and Ohio State's game against USC in southern California. Unfortunately for Mike, horrifyingly bad things happened to all of the teams he loved right before his eyes this last week, making him the last guy you want with you at a game.

1) What were your feelings when Brett Favre came out of retirement to join the New York Jets?
I was ectstatic that Favre joined the Jets. The Pats secondary should have a field day picking off his jump balls he will launch the entire game. I think the Pats will go 2-0 against them this year starting with a big win on Sunday.

2) Being at the Tom Brady injury game in Foxboro, tell us what it felt like after he was taken off the field.
It was upsetting that Brady got injured but it was inevitable to happen at some point. Everyone else was really upset but the coaching staff (unlike many others) know what they are doing, so Cassell will be pretty good. The Pats will still go 12-4 without him although they will have a tough time winning the Super Bowl without him.

3) Do the Carolina Panthers make the Playoffs this year?
Carolina will go 10-6 and make the playoffs.

4) Who are your bottom three coaches in the NFL? Also, please give a recommendation to each of these coaches as to what they could do for a different profession if they get fired this year.
Norv Turner, the head coach of San Diego - He should be an O coordinator
Wade Phillips, the head coach of the Cowboys - He should be a D coordinator
Marvin Lewis, the head coach of the Bengals - He should be a Pridon warden (he has plenty of experience)

Pro Football Season is Back

I would like to think that I did not jinx Beanie Wells from not playing this weekend in the Ohio State-USC game, but......... I might have.
Anyway, the professional football season is back and I would like to say that it has been pretty interesting so far. Just one week into the season we have had Chad Johnson fighting with the NFL to get his new last name on his jersey, Vince Young wandering the streets aimlessly in the middle of the night looking for his confidence, the Colts and Chargers losing at home, Michael Turner and Eddie Royal dominating the league, T.O. getting too "big" for Philadelphia, the underdog Carolina Panthers throwing a last second touchdown to win the game, and the Pennsylvania teams looking dominant.
We have also had the injury to Tom Brady's knee. I will get to that in a minute. Before that I would like to do a new thing this year. The last two years I have done picks every week before NFL matchups. This year I will be doing observations instead, as I feel like there are many interesting things going on.

Observations
I think the Panthers are going back to the playoffs this year. They have a manageable schedule and they seem like they have helped solve their biggest weakness of the last few years; their ability to score points. With their all-star receiver Steve Smith coming back to the team after a two game suspension for punching fellow teammate Ken Lucas in the face, the team looks ready to move the chains at will.

The Eagles, Falcons and Steelers are not as good as they looked on weak 1. Each team was playing a terrible defense and should fall back into the general mix of teams as the season goes on. Pittsburgh has the hardest schedule in the league and Philly has the toughest division.

The Colts looked a little bewildered this weekend. The Bears were cleaning their clocks on every play.

The Bengals and Ravens game was pretty ugly. My old roommate Joel has too much faith in a mediocre Chris Perry to save the team.

The Packers looked pretty good. I feel they are going to be one of the teams to beat in the NFC along with the Cowboys, Panthers, Eagles, and Bears.

The Giants and the Redskins are pretty much locked in for being 7-6 in week 13 and having to play for the wild card. I feel like this happens every year.

I think it is time for the 49ers and Cardinals to just merge into one team. They are always playing each other and each team seems to be terrible at something and excellent at another.

Interesting Games This Weekend That Are Not OSU-USC

Carolina and Chicago is the surprise "good" game this week after the way they both played last week. After about 2 years of crappy Panthers games I am finally looking forward to one.

Chargers-Broncos, Cowboys-Eagles, and Browns-Steelers. Three divisional matchups that include 6 playoff caliber teams!? What a good weekend.

Patriots-Jets
This game is going to be especially interesting because of the 403 subplots surrounding the game. Link here if you are unfamiliar with the entertaining, illegal, and emotional history between the teams.
This game will be especially interesting because of the injury to the 2007 MVP and starting Patriot's quarterback Tom Brady. His knee injury last weekend will place him on the bench for the rest of the season. Many of the sports writers have put this year's Patriots season in a casket and predicted the Jet's to win the division behind a rejuvenated Brett Favre. The Jets are even favored by Vegas to win the game this weekend. Although I am admittedly a Patriots fan, I still don't see why the Jets are predicted to even have a winning record this season as they barely eeked out a win against the Dolphins (last year's last place team) in week one. I am sure the Patriots have heard the many reports of New York bars and restaurants cheering in delight when Brady's injury was shown on TV's. I bet they have seen the tasteless T-shirts celebrating his injury that are being sold by one sick Steelers fan. They will use this adversity to band together for atleast this one game and deliver one of the best performances of the season.

College Football Has Begun

My Ohio State Buckeyes are going into a matchup with the #1 ranked USC Trojans this weekend and about 90% of the country feels that USC will win handily. Although I admit that Ohio State has not fared very well in big games these last few years, I feel that they will be able to keep the game low scoring and close in the fourth quarter. OSU recently played the Ohio University and barely escaped with a victory, causing everyone to quickly jump off the OSU bandwagon in just week 2 of the season. Fortunately the game is at night this Saturday so I can get through my boards earlier in the day and be able to enjoy it. On a side note, Ohio State has the best running back in the country this year. Chris "Beanie" Wells is going to play with an injured ankle and could be the difference that Ohio State needs to win. It will be interesting to monitor his status during the game.

The South Carolina Colleges have been off to a crummy start. Clemson, ranked 9 in the country at the start of the year, has already lost a game to Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide. Shortly after, USC (the South Carolina one) have fallen to a mediocre Vanderbilt football team. It is really a shame because the people around Spartanburg really enjoy their college football and to have two promising teams lose early is really going to affect their spirits for the rest of the fall. Maybe more people will get into the NFL games this year, as the Panthers won their first game on the last play of the game to upset the Chargers in San Diego. They'll be hosting the Bears this weekend who had a similar victory against the Indianapolis Colts this weekend.