period, 1982 and 1984). In the period from 2000 forward, on average only 32 percent of the justices attended the State of the Union Address. This includes a three-year time period when only a single justice — Stephen Breyer — represented the Court at the annual address. While there has been an uptick in attendance during this period (with six justices attending the two most recent addresses), the contrast to the earlier time periods is quite remarkable.

Other conclusions from the study, as summarized by Liptak:

Professors Peppers and Giles found that the likelihood of attendance declined with age and length of service.

Attendance in the early years of a justice’s service may be explained in part by loyalty and gratitude. As Justice Scalia put it, it is easier to stayand funny, but I'm not seeing how he would be a good coach.

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Sheed had one of the highest basketball IQs in the NBA. His teammates loved him and he took the youngsters under his wing and taught them the game. When the Pistons traded for him in 2004 they were 34-23, and went 19-4 the rest of the way. Remember during the Palace brawl he was the first guy into the stands to try and calm things down; when teammates had issues and he didn't, he was that voice on their shoulders to cool it.

He's always been a really emotional guy, but mostly only when he was on the court or when the ref was making bad calls that personally affected him. He's a perfect assistant