Irish Trojan in Tennessee

Richard Jewell dies

By Brendan Loy

Richard Jewell, the hero-turned-villain-turned-media-martyr of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic bombing, is dead.

Erik Ainge and the Pinky Finger of Doom

By Brendan Loy

The greater Knoxville area is abuzz with anxiety this evening after the revelation of what Tennessee fans doubtless regard as the most consequential finger injury since Gollum bit the Ring off Frodo's hand: Vols quarterback Erik Ainge has broken his pinky finger on the eve (well, not quite the eve, but close enough) of UT's big showdown with Cal. The official word is that he'll start, but the football-obsessed denizens of Big Orange Country are nevertheless worried. Could Tennessee's hoped-for dream season be thwarted before it begins by a broken pinky?

I, of course, hope Ainge is able to play with full effectiveness -- but I must say, I'm extremely torn about how I want the Cal-UT game to come out. On the one hand, now that I'm living in Knoxville, I'm supposed to root for Tennessee when doing so doesn't conflict with my other loyalties (i.e., USC and ND), and anyway a Vols win over the Bears would really make the start of football season exciting here, the sort of excitement that can only come when the crazed populace of a football-mad region begins to see some validation of their championship delusions. :) On the other hand, this is a very big conference showdown between the Pac-10 and SEC, and although I'm trying to warm to the latter now that I'm living in SEC country, my primary loyalty as a Trojan fan obviously lies with the former. A second consecutive Cal loss to UT, in Berkeley this time, would be humiliating for the Pac-10, and would make it much harder to argue with the "SEC = NFL" crowd as the season goes on. And that could become very consequential for USC, if they end up in a BCS debate at season's end against the likes of LSU or Auburn or Florida (or, well, Tennessee!). So I feel like I sort of have to root for Cal in this one, even though I'd sort of like to root for Tennessee.

2 years later

By Brendan Loy

Today is the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi. Dr. Jeff Masters is blogging about it, and he links to Margie Kieper's excellent, in-depth feature on Katrina's Surge.

Stylesheet issues? Broken links? AAAHH!!!

By Brendan Loy

Is anyone else having technical difficulties whereby my blog's stylesheet is refusing to load, thus causing the website to look all screwed up? (If you're confused, it's supposed to look like this... not like this.) I am, and when I try to load the stylesheet manually, I get a "404 Not Found" error. I have no idea why.

Also confusing: the first time I clicked the URL in InstaPundit's post linking to me, I got a 404 error. The second time, the link worked. The third time, another 404 error. WTF? I know it's not just me, because Anonymous Hoosier is reporting problems too. Moreover, the traffic is very much below what I'd expect from an Instalanche... so I think lots of people are having trouble accessing that URL.

TypePad, I'm not real happy with you right now...

Fear not Red Sox fans...

By JLR

In spite of our disheartening loss last night at the hands of the Bronx B*stards, a quick calculation shows that the Magic Number for the Sox to clinch the AL East is

24

Just an update from your friendly neighborhood Red Sox fan.

Football meets futból

By David K.

Booty for Heisman: let the hype begin!

By Brendan Loy

Via TrojanWire:

I'll be honest: I wasn't terribly impressed with Booty last year... until the Rose Bowl. But man, if he plays this season the way he played against Michigan, he'll be a runaway Heisman winner.

Oh, and speaking of college football: Don't forget to enter the 3rd annual Irish Trojan USC & ND pick 'em contest!

A.G. Lieberman? V.P. Lieberman?

By Brendan Loy

The D.C./netroots rumor mill is churning tonight with the suggestion that Senator Joe will become Attorney General Joe. (Hat tip: InstaPundit.) And then there's the ultra-paranoid kicker, that Lieberman will subsequently be elevated from A.G. to V.P. to replace a resigning Cheney, thus setting him up to run for president in 2008 as Bush's hand-picked choice*. Attorney General Joe? Vice President Joe?? President Joe??? Oh, the Joe-manity!!!

The veep stuff is obviously nonsense, but will the A.G. rumors come to anything? I doubt it. As James L. at Swing State Project notes, "if you've believed all the rumors, Lieberman should have been one or all of the following by now: Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Homeland Security, Ambassador to the United Nations, and George Bush's running mate in 2004."

Also, Ron Beasley (not to be confused with Ron Weasley) says, "I really can't see Lieberman giving up another five and half years in the Senate for 16 months as AG." I agree. I also, of course, don't share the Left's (plainly irrational) belief that Lieberman is a power-hungry closet "Rethuglican" who wants nothing more than to get all Larry Craig with President Bush and his cronies... so I can't see him taking this post unless he honestly believes he could do more good for the country in it than in his current capacity. And that seems doubtful.

Still, if Lieberman were appointed, that would bring about something truly remarkable: President Bush would have managed to find an attorney general who is, at least arguably, hated even more viscerally by the Left than John Ashcroft ever was. Wonders never cease!

*Why would anyone want to be Bush's hand-picked choice in the 2008 election? Just asking!