"In a New York minute, everything can change. In a New York minute, things can get pretty strange. In a New York minute, everything can change. In a New York minute."

This is one of those introductions that seemingly can only be written using the words of someone else. Inevitably you cannot find any of your own, no matter how long or how hard you search. Larger events happen in the world, with far-reaching ramifications, but it always seems like the smaller ones that really get to you. Maybe the big things are just too big to fathom.

Or maybe it is just that I went to college and worked in a large athletic department that can quickly be made to seem so small. I can't imagine that wasn't the case yesterday news broke that a men's lacrosse player, George Huguely, had been charged with the murder of a women's lacrosse player, Yeardley Love.

Love was and Huguely is a 22-year old senior.

It appears that no weapons were used, and Love's roommates originally thought she was suffering from an alcohol overdose when they called 911 Sunday night.

"It was quickly apparent to them that this young lady was the victim of something far worse," Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo said.

Charlottesville is a gorgeous town about 2 1/2 hours south of Washington, DC. Home to the University of Virginia, the college started by Thomas Jefferson, and one of the nation's best, it is also relatively crime-free, especially violent crime. I considered applying for a job late last year, which would have reunited me with my former boss at UW, Jim Daves. He is currently the director of athletic communications.

You can read all of the details in the ESPN story linked above. Apparently the two had some sort of relationship, but I am staying away from any sort of speculation. What I will wonder aloud about is the fate of these two programs. Obviously this immediately brings to mind the very widely publicized incident with the Duke lacrosse team a few years ago. Both are ACC programs and not very far apart.

The similarities end there. This was a murder. It happened mid-season for two top-5 programs. The NCAA tournament begins in a couple of weeks, with the men's team ranked No. 1 and the women five. Discussions have begun about not participating in the tournament. Young people are resilient, but the murder of a teammate would test the wills of even the strongest individual.

Especially when the murderer may have been one your own.

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- A naturalized US citizen from Pakistan, and a resident of Connecticut, was arrested last night
as he tried to board a flight to Dubai. He is the suspected owner of the explosive-filled vehicle left in Times Square Saturday night. Experts are saying that, since the bomb did not explode, investigators are left with ample evidence to work with, both to help identify a suspect and pinpoint motive.

- A bill in the senate has a record number of co-sponsors, but one man, a former Navy captain (and former maverick), has been block the name change of Department of the Navy to Department of the Navy and Marine Corps. Yes, the Marine Corps is under the umbrella of the Navy.

- "The nation so nice, it's been devastated twice." Jon Stewart's take on the Gulf oil spill. It is good that he included Obama in the clip of those who called drilling "safe."

As this situation plays out, however, there is an important dynamic that should be noted: BP should not be the enemy. Frankly, this really may turn out to not be BP's fault. They lease the rig, but they don't operate it. Inevitably it is the company's responsibility, but it probably wasn't their screw up that caused all of this.

That said, the blame lies in my current town. For almost a decade now, the legislature has introduced and rejected legislation that would cut America's dependence on oil. I am not saying that we don't need oil. We do. Nor am I saying that we should not drill off our shores. I am not that naive and I'd rather us do that than buy oil from the middle east. Drilling is dirty, disgusting, and dangerous. So is coal mining. But so is playing football. Okay, so I may have severely limited the scope of how dangerous drilling is there, but the point is that we're going to do it anyway and it isn't going to get a whole lot cleaner.

However, it can become a whole lot less necessary. With clean energy and climate legislation we can invest in clean energy and energy efficiency, both of which would reduce our oil demand. By capping carbon emissions, oil becomes a little more expensive, which take together with investment in clean energy, will make newer, cleaner, safer forms of energy a cheaper alternative. This effort is stalled on Capitol Hill yet again. You want someone to blame, try Washington. It is long past time for us to stop pretending that oil companies could make their billions in profit without our help.

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- A former teammate of mine in Seattle is tearing the cover off the ball at Virginia Tech, with his sights set on grander things

- And one more note. Remember when financial reform was the leading issue of the day? Well, as one of my morning reading's remind us, in this town, anything can happen at any time.

The Times Square bombing plot and the Gulf oil spill prove once again that external events can completely take over the political conversation at a moment's notice.

Have a wonderful Tuesday everybody.