Second year at Jimmy Green Hall

As I reach the midpoint of the semester, I have found the second year of law school to be busy yet enjoyable. Now that I feel like the pace of the semester is beginning to slow, I have had a chance to realize how much I miss the summer. I am sad to see that summer has ended because I had a good time gaining experience working in Wichita. I enjoyed putting some of what I learned the first year to use, dealing with real client problems, and, of course, the weekly competition of lawyer league softball.

With the end of summer, the lawyer softball league season came to a close with the playoffs and a banquet at the always convivial Larry Bud’s Sports Bar & Grill. As my team surged toward a last place finish in the league, I didn’t have much of a chance to recognize the joy of playing a sport, however badly, as a way to relax away from the practice and study of law. Only now do I realize how precious those moments were when 45-year-olds tore muscles and broke bones trying to relive their glory days.

Although the second year has been more enjoyable than I thought that it would be, as the weeks began to pass I realized that I had a hole in my heart–a hole the size of a men’s slow pitch softball. Naturally, I, like thousands more on KU’s campus, have tried to blunt the pain caused by the absence of glory in one sport this time of year by turning to basketball. Every week, I meet up with fellow law students to recreate the festive nature of lawyer league softball.

So far, the games have been a success. There are guys who haven’t played since junior high, like me, a couple who played in college, some former collegiate female stars, and even a former WNBA player. Despite the dimly lit, too-small court and the old and injured knees, the joy of reliving those glory days serves as a nice break from studying.

James Carter, 2L