Osler's Razor

Tonight I'll be at the big Baylor/A & M basketball game here in Waco. For some reason, this has become a very heated rivalry (I'm from Michigan, so I don't know much about in-state rivalries; we really only have one strong school). At this game last year, in fact, the ESPN announcer said with a straight face that he "feared for his life" and that the crowd had "turned ugly."

The fact is that I really like A & M. Many of my favorite students came from A & M, including many of the best writers, a fact which flies in the face of my theory that the best writers come from small schools.

I like the strong traditions and identity at A & M. I find that to be a constant at the schools I like best-- you never get the idea it was anyone's second choice (Yale Law has this quality, too).

For law school purposes, too, I like the fact that A & M produces strong personalities like Jed or one of my favorite Razorites, the Dallas ADA (who is an Assistant D.A., not an Americans with Disabilities Act, as some have implied).

A few years ago, I was asked to give a Wiley Lecture down at A & M. I had never been on the campus before, but I was the recipient of tremendous hospitality. I was given a parking space to shoot for, and when I pulled in, a group of students walked up to greet me and take me to dinner. I was fascinated by the culture of the place almost immediately.

When it was time to give the lecture, I was shown into a full room. There was a professor there to introduce me, and a student to introduce him. The student approached the podium, looked up, and said "Howdy!"

"Howdy!" yelled everyone back at her.

At this point, I leaned over to the professor, and asked him what the heck was going on. "If you say "howdy" to people," he explained, "they have to say it back."

I began my lecture with about three rounds of "howdy!" It was a good day, one of those lush green fields...