Lawyer wins delay so he can go to Rose Bowl

SAVANNAH — A Georgia attorney was allowed to postpone a court hearing in a civil case to attend the Rose Bowl after sending the judge a pleading motion about his hopes to see the University of Georgia prevail in the game.

The Savannah Morning News reports that attorney John Patrick Connell asked for the delay, explaining that his older brother had tickets and travel accommodations for the game pitting the Bulldogs against the University of Oklahoma Sooners in a college playoff semifinal in Pasadena.

“The 2018 Rose Bowl will be a momentous occasion for the Dawgs,” Connell wrote in his request, according to the newspaper. He described the football game as “what will hopefully be the last stop before we play for, and win, a national championship.”

Chatham County Chief Superior Court Judge Michael Karpf, a University of Georgia graduate, responded with his own tongue in cheek writing saying he “reluctantly” granted the lawyer’s request.

“Counsel’s motion is certainly enlightening,” Karpf wrote, adding that Connell, “made it clear to this court that a victory for the Bulldogs hinges on nothing less than the very attendance of (Connell), himself at the Rose Bowl.”

The judge said that Connell had to inform opposing counsel of the continuance. The judge also said in the “unfortunate happenstance that the University of Georgia does not emerge triumphant” that Connell would have to explain “why he should not be held in contempt (of court) for failing to secure a Bulldog victory through his presence in Pasadena.”

Karpf said that because he did not have “relations who are so generous as to arrange a last-minute trip to Pasadena” that he will watch the game from the confines of a “couch in Savannah.”