Irish Trojan in Tennessee

Ugh, powder blue

By Brendan Loy

Clinton and Obama wore (nearly) matching outfits at their Unity event this afternoon: her pantsuit and his tie were both, according to Politico's color-spectrum analysis, powder blue.

Powder blue, of course, used to be a UCLA school color, back when I was at USC. But the Bruins switched in 2003 to a different shade of blue, so I guess I can forgive the Dems for their use of what I've always considered a rather distasteful shade of an otherwise fine color. Still... for future reference, I'd recommend either Notre Dame blue or Newington blue. :)

Anyway, here are some more photos from the Obama-Clinton rally in Unity.

About that Kevin White thing...

By Brendan Loy

I realize I'm incredibly slow in blogging about this story, but just in case you've been living under a rock and haven't heard, Kevin White is no longer Notre Dame's athletic director.

Kevin White was hired as Duke's athletic director Saturday, leaving Notre Dame for a school with an elite basketball team and a football team that has had 13 straight losing seasons and has not been to a bowl since 1994.

Notre Dame appointed Missy Conboy as its interim athletic director. The school said there is no timetable for a permanent replacement.

White will replace Joe Alleva, who was hired as LSU's athletic director in April after a decade of leading the Blue Devils' 26 sports programs.

"Kevin White is in the first rank of athletics directors nationally and will make a perfect fit at Duke," university president Richard Brodhead said.

White had been at Notre Dame since 2000. He hired football coaches Tyrone Willingham and Charlie Weis, and hired former Duke assistant Mike Brey as the men's basketball coach. ...

White helped Notre Dame plan a $26 million renovation of the basketball arena and expand the school's nonrevenue sports. He and his wife were made honorary alumni three days before switching jobs.

But White was widely criticized by Irish fans because the football team hasn't won a national championship since 1988 — the longest stretch in school history — and some fans place much of the blame on White.

He gave Bob Davie a contract extension in 2000, then fired him after the next season. White replaced Davie with George O'Leary, who resigned after less than a week on the job after he admitted he had lied about his academic and athletic past. White's next hire was Willingham, who lasted just three years.

In all, the Irish football team had four winning seasons, three losing campaigns and one .500 finish during White's tenure.

Her Loyal Sons and Rakes of Mallow have complete coverage of White's departure and the search for a possible replacement.

I apologize for not blogging this sooner. My parents were in town this past weekend, visiting us and the baby, so my free time for blogging was limited. Even so, as I mentioned in comments on another post, I actually drafted a whole post about this on Saturday, only to have my computer crash before I'd saved it. I then intended to post something Monday or Tuesday, but got totally consumed with blogging about the rapidly changing Hillary Clinton-related developments, and never got around to it.

Anyway. Yeah. Kevin White, gone. I can't say I'm shedding any tears over it. What do y'all think?

P.S. Duke sucks.

Shark sighting!

By Brendan Loy

As I mentioned earlier, my parents are in town this weekend, and tonight my dad and I went to a Tennessee Smokies game. I had totally forgotten that Notre Dame's Jeff Samardzija is a Smokie (er, a Smoky?), but he is, and there he was, standing in the dugout right in front of us:

I couldn't resist saying something, so I walked up to the edge of the dugout and yelled "Hey, Jeff!" a couple of times until he heard me and looked over. I then said, "Go Irish!" He responded with a sort of half-smile and quasi-acknowledgment that suggested he gets that all the time from Notre Dame fans who feel so passionately about the Irish that they figure it's perfectly reasonable to treat famous ND alums like long-lost buddies and thus randomly say "Go Irish" at them. Heh.

Alas, Samardzija wasn't pitching tonight, but it was cool to see him anyway. He's got a blog, by the way.

Anyway, the Smokies won the game, 8-3, and we had a good time. Here are a few more pictures:

A thought on West Virginia

By Brendan Loy

There have been a lot of articles published in recent days with man-on-the-street quotes from West Virginia along the lines of, "I heard that Obama is a Muslim and his wife's an atheist."

Now, I'm not denying that this sort of sentiment is a problem for Obama, nor am I necessarily denying that it's a particularly severe problem in West Virginia. But can we please take this reporting with a little grain of salt, at least? I'm not sure whether these sorts of quotes tell us all that much about the electoral dynamic in West Virginia, as opposed to the psyche of the reporters writing the stories.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that, if you're a reporter, and you conduct enough man-on-the-street interviews, you can find some idiot to say "Obama's a Muslim" -- or even "Obama's a n***er" -- anywhere. You can find racists and xenophobes and conspiratorial crazies in California, New York, Texas, Illinois; you can find 'em all over the damn country.

Can you find them more easily in West Virginia? Perhaps. But you're also much more likely to publish their quotes in a story about West Virginia, because it fits the storyline perfectly. Indeed, such a quote is precisely what these reporters are looking for when they start conducting the interviews in West Virginia. Whereas in California or New York, they'd probably ignore the random racist quote, in West Virginia they go out, they turn on the yokel-detecting radar, they hold up a microphone to the redneckiest-lookin' redneck they can find, and -- voila! -- journalistic magic happens.

Again: I'm not denying the real, genuine significance of racism as a factor in Obama's problems, nor am I suggesting that Appalachia is devoid of racists. But please, let's not jump to the conclusion that, when Hillary wins tomorrow's primary by a margin of 70% to 30%, it means that 70 percent of West Virginia Democrats are racists, just because we read a handful of cherrypicked quotes that seem to validate that preconceived notion.

Hillary Clinton's supporters prefer her to Obama for a whole bunch of reasons, some of them cultural, some of them political, some of them overtly racial, some of them subconsciously racial, and some of them falling into various other categories. While I disagree with their choice (and I strongly disagree with Hillary's conscious or reckless exploitation of the prejudices that do exist), it's an insult to those voters to paint them all with a broad brush and assume the only reason they've voting for Hillary is because they hate black people, or people with the middle name "Hussein," or whatever.

It's possible to condemn prejudice without engaging in it, and that's what's called for here. Some people in West Virginia (and elsewhere) are voting on the basis of racism, and that sucks. Most others aren't, and we shouldn't assume that they are. And that's all I have to say about that.

UPDATE: Poblano writes:

I do want to write a little bit more about the notion that West Virginians are racist. ... [T]he short version is: yes, there are racist voters in West Virginia, but there are racist voters in every state. The primary determinant of the extent to which racism tends to be more manifest is education levels, and so the effects may be more noticeable in West Virgnia, a state with poor academic achievement. But there is no reason to believe that West Virgnians are particularly racist, relative to their education levels.

That seems right to me.

NDLS 2L wins Long Island Marathon

By Brendan Loy

Remember Dan McGrath, the Notre Dame law student who finished 33rd in the New York City marathon during his 1L year? Well, now he's a 2L, and on Sunday he won the Long Island Marathon, then flew back to South Bend in time for a Monday-morning Jurisprudence final. As a result of his exploits, he's featured on the sports mega-blog Deadspin, under the headline "Annoying Superhuman Lawyer-To-Be Makes Life More Difficult For The Rest Of Us." Heh. Congrats, Dan!

Trustee donates $15 million to NDLS

By Brendan Loy

More good news from Notre Dame Law School:

Robert F. Biolchini, a member of the University of Notre Dame Board of Trustees and partner in the Tulsa, Okla., law firm Stuart, Biolchini & Turner, and his wife, Frances, have made a $15 million gift to the University to help underwrite the renovation of the current Notre Dame Law School building. ...

After a comprehensive renovation of the existing law school building, which will be renamed Biolchini Hall, it will house an expanded Kresge Law Library. The renovation in Biolchini Hall also will include two 50-seat classrooms, new space for Notre Dame Law Review, and new offices and work space for admissions and career services. The exterior of the building, including masonry, windows and roofing, will be restored where necessary.

A covered archway will link Biolchini Hall to the adjacent Eck Hall of Law, a three-story, 85,000-square-foot building that is under construction on the site of the former campus post office. Eck Hall will be composed primarily of a new moot courtroom, classrooms and faculty offices. When it is completed in January 2009, law school operations will be moved out of the existing building and renovation work will begin.

“The combination of Biolchini and Eck Halls will give Notre Dame one of the outstanding law school facilities in the country,” said Patricia A. O’Hara, Joseph A. Matson Dean of Notre Dame Law School. “On behalf of all law school faculty, students and alumni, I want to offer my deepest thanks to Bob, Fran and their family.”

Hmm... Biolchini Hall and Eck Hall, connected by a covered archway. Hey, how much does it cost to build a covered archway? We should put together a blog fundraising campaign, and get it named the "Irish Trojan Archway." ;)

And a Trojan shall lead them

By Brendan Loy

Fellow "Irish Trojan" Katherine Kirkpatrick, who, like me, attended USC for undergrad (she's even a Daily Trojan alum), and who is now a rising 3L at Notre Dame, was elected NDLS's new SBA president in a runoff election last week. She will be inaugurated on Sunday.

A Trojan at the helm of the Notre Dame Law School student body: I love it!! Finally, Operation: Trojan Horse can proceed as planned! ;) Just kidding. Seriously, congratulations, Katherine!

In addition, an anonymous tipster informed me that A.J. Bellia and Lloyd Mayer -- the latter being my former Election Law professor and adviser for my Electoral College paper, the former being one half of the school's recent professorial retention coup -- finished tied in the initial balloting for NDLS Professor of the Year. That led to a run-off, which Professor Bellia narrowly won. Congrats to him, and to Professor Mayer for his close second-place finish; they're both great professors, and well deserving of the recognition.

So which team are you going to root for now, Brendan??

By David K.

The Connecticut legislature reached a compromise with UConn that will allow the university's football team to schedule a six-year series against Notre Dame, even though none of the games will be played in Connecticut. The Irish balked at playing at the Huskies' 40,000-seat home stadium, Rentschler Field in East Hartford, insisting instead that UConn's "home" games played in larger stadiums elsewhere, most likely in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and/or New York. However, Connecticut lawmakers were unimpressed with the idea of UConn outsourcing its home games to other states. In the words of State Rep. Michael Christ, D-East Hartford, who proposed an earlier bill that would have required UConn to play all its home games at Rentschler, "Many of us felt we already had a beautiful facility in Connecticut and it was built for UConn."

The newly announced deal requires UConn to play six home games at Rentschler Field each year, "as long as the NCAA rules permit a 12-game season and permits a team to use one Football Championship Subdivision win per season as a bowl-eligible win." It also reduces the length of the series between UConn and Notre Dame from ten years to six. "I believe we have crafted a reasonable solution," said Christ, who added that he hopes UConn can persuade the Irish to play at Rentschler Field in the future. (Ha! Fat chance.)

The series will start in the 2011 season and go through 2017.  The three home games for the Irish will, of course, be played at Notre Dame Stadium.  The deal still needs to be approved by Notre Dame and venue officials.  Connecticut and Notre Dame already have a separate deal to play next season in South Bend.

UPDATE BY BRENDAN:  Rep. Christ wrote a scathing op-ed about this topic last week in the Hartford Courant. My dad suggested the headline, "Christ to Notre Dame: Screw you." Heh.

Anyway, here's an excerpt:

Loyal Husky fans flock with family and friends to Rentschler for every home game, rain or shine, in support of their beloved team. There are hundreds of stadium workers who depend on a game day payday from parking cars, working concessions and post-game clean-up. Many local school bands and clubs as well as charities also use games to bolster fundraising. Should all those benefits move to Massachusetts? I say no!

If Rentschler Field is too confining for the Leprechaun army the Fighting Irish deploy each week, how come the similar capacity stadium of the Boston College Eagles (formerly of the Big East) is not too small? That series alternates between South Bend and Chestnut Hill, Mass. ...

There is no question Notre Dame will remain the "Wal-Mart" of college football as long as it is able to keep its national television network deal. However, UConn officials can come out of this looking like heroes both here in Connecticut and nationally by saying "no thanks." They could brag that no one, not even the legendary Notre Dame, can tell Connecticut where to play its home games. Even if the Fighting Leprechauns, after a few more years of two-win seasons, do eventually find their television revenue dried up and are forced to finally join a conference, it is very possible that the Irish will abandon their pseudo Big East affiliation and join the Big 10 anyway.

Ahem. It was a three-win season, thank you very much.

Incidentally, to answer the question posed by the title, I will, of course, root for Notre Dame, my alma mater. But as I said in comments, "if I had to pick one game (other than USC) for ND to lose, it would be the UConn game. Imagine what a huge win that would be for the Huskies program."

That said: Gooooo Irish! Beeeeeat Huskies! :)

The Shirt

By Brendan Loy

The Shirt 2008 is out. It was unveiled yesterday. (Hat tip: Lisa.) The money quote is "NOTRE DAME WILL RISE AGAIN," which seems appropriate.

Domersphere reactions? Her Loyal Sons hates it. Rakes of Mallow likes it, although he wishes it was green. Blue-Gray Sky thinks it's "pretty good." Of course, it features the famous quote about "the blue, gray October sky" that BGS is named after, so they would like it. ;)

Hillary at the bar

By Brendan Loy

John McCain did "Hardball" at Villanova today, and a student -- in reference to the recent photos of Hillary Clinton doing (or possibly sipping) a whiskey shot at Bronko's restaurant in Crown Point, Indiana -- asked him, "I was wondering if you think that she's finally resorted to hitting the sauce just because of some unfavorable polling. And I was also wondering if you would care to join me for a shot after this?"

Heh.

That reminds me: I have a proposal for Hillary Clinton. As you all know, I've soured on her rather severely in recent months, and at this point, I'd be pretty hard-pressed to vote for her under any circumstances. However, there is one thing that might make me change my tune. Hilldog, if you'll go to The Backer, order one of their terrible yet potent Long Islands, and get yourself photographed and videotaped singing the "God Bless the USA" followed by the Notre Dame Victory March (yes, this would mean staying until -- ahem -- 3:00 AM), I might consider switching my allegiance. :)

P.S. Possible campaign ad: "It's 3:00 AM, and your children are safe and asleep. But Hillary Clinton is wide awake, if slightly tipsy, singing patriotic music while swaying back and forth in a circle of townies* in South Bend, Indiana. Suddenly, a cell phone rings -- the cab is here. Who do you want answering that phone? The elitist snob Barack Obama, who will jump in the cab at the earliest opportunity to get away from the 'bitter' townsfolk, and miss the Victory March? Or Hillary Clinton, the woman who respects your traditions, who'll tell the cabbie to wait ten minutes so she can stay right through to the end of 'Oh What A Night'? Make the right choice: Vote for Hillary Clinton on May 6. [slurred Hillary voiceover: 'I'm Hilllary Clinton and I (hiccup) approve this message.']"

*Why townies, you ask? Because the Domers are too "elitist," of course! ;)

Only 334 days till Selection Sunday!

By Brendan Loy

Joe Lunardi has published his initial, ridiculously early, meaningless yet fun, pre-pre-season 2009 Bracketology projections. (Hat tip: BK.) His #1 seeds are North Carolina, Duke, Texas and Pittsburgh. 2007 finalists Kansas and Memphis drop to #2 and #3, respectively, and UCLA plummets to a #7. w00t! :)

More importantly, Notre Dame is a #2 seed (without Gene Cross? Hmm...), Gonzaga is a #5, and USC is a #9. Frankly, those all seem high to me, but maybe I'm just a pessimist about my own teams. (Although, if so, it didn't prevent my irrational Zag-xuberance last year.)

Tennessee falls all the way to #9... where they're matched up in a brutal first-round game against #8 Davidson. (Stephen Curry FTW!) This year's mid-major superpower that almost beat UT, Butler, is on the bubble but out, as are the Washington Huskies. The UConn Huskies, though, are sitting pretty as a #2 seed. Oh, and the University of Hartford Hawks, after falling one game short in 2008, make their NCAA Tournament debut in 2009 as a #16 seed. Hurrah!

Yeah, so, we have a college football season to start -- and finish -- before I'll get really excited about any of this, but it's fun to look ahead. :)

Notre Dame loses in hockey title game

By Brendan Loy

Notre Dame's magical, unexpected run through ice hockey's NCAA Tournament ended one step short of a national title, as Boston College beat the Irish 4-1 last night.

I neglected to post about this last night (sorry!), but on a different post, several commenters complained that the Irish got screwed by a wrongly disallowed goal that totally changed the momentum of the game. *sigh*

Regardless, and despite the loss, an amazing run for the Irish.

Toledo hires ND assistant coach

By Brendan Loy

Notre Dame's men's basketball assistant coach Gene Cross, credited by some with turning Mike Brey's team around over the last two years, has been hired by Toledo as their new head coach. (Hat tip: Chris A.)

Whenever I've eaten crow and praised Brey -- whose first name, for blog purposes, used to be "Fire" -- over the last two years, Becky has countered that "he has an awesome assistant coach," choosing to credit Cross rather than Brey for the Irish's improvement. I guess now we'll find out who's right.

(Well, maybe. There is, of course, a third person whose arrival between the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons was also rather a big deal: Luke Harangody.)

ND, Michigan battle in Frozen Four

By Brendan Loy

The Frozen Four is underway, and Notre Dame leads Michigan 3-2 with 10:44 left in the second period. It was 3-0, but Michigan just scored two rapid-fire goals to get back in it.

Liveblogs here and here. The game is being televised live on ESPN2. Winner gets Boston College in the national championship game Saturday. GO IRISH!!! BEAT SKUNKBEARS!!!

UPDATE: Michigan tied it at 3-3... then Notre Dame just took a 4-3 lead with less than 9 minutes left.

UPDATE 2: Tie game 4-4, with 5:21 left. Ugh.

UPDATE 3: Overtime. And, alas, I have to go to bed. Go Irish.

UPDATE 4: IRISH WIN!!!! (Okay, so I didn't actually go to bed...) WOOOHOOO!!!

UPDATE 5: The Associated Press is mean. Check out their lede:

Michigan has Notre Dame's number on the football field. Not so the ice.

Jeez! Is that really necessary? The Irish hockey team makes it to the national championship game for the first time ever -- upsetting the #1-ranked team in the country, and becoming the first #4 seed ever to advance this far -- and the first sentence of the AP article takes an irrelevant shot at the football team? WTF?! Is Brian Cook working ghost-writing for the AP or something?

Moreover, it's inaccurate. Yes, Michigan beat Notre Dame -- badly -- in 2007 and 2006, but the Irish won easily in 2005 (when Michigan was ranked #3 in the country, the Irish just #20) and in 2004 (when ND was unranked and Michigan was #7). Michigan won in '03; Notre Dame won in '02. That makes them 3-3 in their most recent series. (They didn't play from 1998 to 2001.)

If you want to go back further, the Irish are 12-11-1 against the Skunkbears since the series was renewed in 1978 after a 35-year hiatus. Michigan leads the overall series 20-14-1, but somehow I don't think the Wolverines' 9-2 record between 1884 and 1943 was what the AP reporter had in mind.

In any event, 20-14 is hardly a massive advantage, and 11-12 isn't an advantage at all, nor is 3-3. However you look at it, you simply cannot construct an accurate historical reality in which "Michigan has Notre Dame's number on the football field," unless you're looking only at the last two years, which is rather myopic and hardly a sufficiently representative sample to make such a sweeping statement. Neither team has the other's number; they've been very even in recent years.

Maybe the AP's hockey writers should stick to talking about hockey. How about that.

Anyway, here's a better ESPN article about Notre Dame's amazing run to the national championship game. In hockey.

P.S. Now, if you want to say that USC currently has Notre Dame's number in football, thanks to six straight wins -- five of them blowouts -- that would be accurate. :) Likewise, it would have been accurate to say that the Irish had the Trojans' number back during their 13-year undefeated streak in the '80s and '90s. But no way does either ND or UM have the other's number right now.

A good omen?

By Brendan Loy

Last night, Kansas won its first national championship since 1988. You know, it occurs to me, there's another storied national powerhouse that won its last national championship in 1988. Hmm... could the Jayhawks' return to glory be a good omen for the Irish?

Not a joke: Tom Crean to Indiana

By Brendan Loy

Even as I was engaging in some April Foolishness, claiming that ESPN's Andy Katz was reporting that Indiana would hire Mike Brey, Andy Katz was actually reporting that Indiana would hire Marquette's Tom Crean -- and that has now been confirmed.

Meanwhile, "El Kabong" at ND Nation has taken some heat for his Brey-to-Indiana April Fool's joke, which he now admits was a joke. (Money quote: "Part of me thinks the only thing I should be embarrassed about is the joke is so hackneyed a twit like Brendan Loy apparently thought of it too." Heh.)

Mike Brey reportedly Indiana-bound

By Brendan Loy

Breaking news: ESPN's Andy Katz is reporting that Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey, the back-to-back Big East Coach of the Year who used to be such a frequent subject of Irish Trojan criticism that you'd have thought his first name was "Fire," will be introduced tomorrow morning as the new head coach at Indiana.

The last time rumors cropped up of Brey's possible departure (for N.C. State, in that case), I said they were "too good to be true." Now I actually think this might be a big loss for the Irish. I just hope Brey won't take assistant coach Gene Cross with him to Hoosierland!

Anyway, I'll have more on this after work, but Katz has more details.

Bellias reject Virginia offer, stay at NDLS

By Brendan Loy

Big, and good, news for Notre Dame Law School: Professors A.J. and Patricia Bellia have turned down tenured offers from the University of Virginia Law School, which is ranked in the U.S. News Top 10, and will stay at NDLS. Brian Leiter calls this a "major retention coup for Notre Dame."

My impression is that it's almost an article of faith among some NDLS critics, skeptics and detractors that the school's young superstar professors, such as the Bellias, will inevitably be "poached" by other, higher-ranking law schools in due course. This development appears to contradict that belief, which is a very good thing.

As Leiter says, "Notre Dame has long had a strong reputation among practitioners ... but the school has also noticeably strengthened its faculty from a scholarly point of view in the last decade." Indeed, during last year's unfortunate "Paulinogate" incident, one thing that became crystal clear was that pretty much everyone, even those who strongly criticize the law school for various things, totally disagreed with Jimmy's criticisms of the faculty: there was almost universal agreement among Irish Trojan commenters that the NDLS faculty rocks. And the Bellias are a big part of that, so it's great that they're staying put. Indeed, I daresay this is a much bigger deal than last week's news that NDLS had climbed back to #22 in those flawed U.S. News rankings. Those numbers may vary from year to year, but if profs like the Bellias are staying put, the law school will be just fine.

Chalk rides again

By Brendan Loy

If you think the men's tournament is Chalk City, check out the women's bracket: the Elite Eight consists of four #1 seeds and four #2s. (Admittedly, chalkiness is more common on the women's side, where parity is less pronounced than among the men. But still.) #1-seed Tennessee sealed the deal last night with a 74-64 win over #5 Notre Dame, which is now 0-16 all-time against UT.

The Irish gave the Lady Vols a much better game than they did in an 87-63 loss back in January at the Joyce Center. In this one, ND led at halftime, 33-31. But between about the 18-minute mark and the 13-minute mark of the second half, Tennessee went on a 17-1 run, and Candace Parker wound up with a career-high-tying 34 points. That was just too much for the Irish to overcome.

In my 11th annual women's pool, six contestants correctly predicted the "all chalk" Elite Eight: Ken Stern, Kevin Pilz, Tom Caputi, Carol LaPlante, Joseph Hiegel and Lisa Velte.

Stern currently leads the pool with 316 out of a possible 352 points. He took first place from Chuck Wessell when #3 Texas A&M beat #2 Duke last night. Wessell, who had picked the Blue Devils, is now second with 313. Pilz is third with 311. Those three contestants are the only ones ahead of the "all favorites bracket," which would have 309 points. Complete standings here and after the jump. Information on who's still alive to win the pool -- 21 contestants in all -- here.

Incidentally, I forgot to mention this before, but in the men's pool (presented by the UCLA Bruins, blah blah blah), 28 contestants got the "all-chalk" Final Four right. Their names are listed after the jump.

GOOO IRISH, BEEEAT LADY VOLS!!!

By Brendan Loy

Notre Dame and Tennessee are about to get underway in a Sweet Sixteen showdown. The #5-seed Fighting Irish are the last chance to prevent an "all chalk" Elite Eight in the women's NCAA Tournament; so far, all the #1 and #2 seeds have won.

Incidentally, the women's pool standings and scenarios are updated through seven Elite Eight games. Ken Stern currently has the lead. The standings are after the jump as well.

Notre Dame advances to Frozen Four!

By Brendan Loy

One year after rising to the #1 ranking in the country only to be stunned by Michigan State in the NCAA regional final, the #12-ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame got their revenge tonight, beating the Spartans 3-1 (after previously upsetting the top seed, New Hampshire) to advance to their first Frozen Four in school history! WOOHOO!! (Hat tip: NDLauren.)

The Irish will play the hated Skunkbears of Michigan, whose football team lost to Appalachian State last year, in a national semifinal in Denver on April 10. Michigan is ranked #1 in the land.

[UPDATE: Folks in the South Bend area are encouraged to assemble at the Joyce Center around 4:30 AM to greet the team upon its return. (Hat tip: John.)]

Now... can the Fighting Irish women's basketball team pull off an even more monumental upset tomorrow by upsetting #1-seed Tennessee in the Sweet 16? The Irish are 0-15 all-time against the Lady Vols. How does two milestones in 24 hours sound? GO IRISH!!!

P.S. Speaking of women's basketball, the ladies are now halfway to the Elite Eight after another quartet of non-upsets. In my pool, Chuck Wessell continues to have the lead. Complete standings here and after the jump. Information on who's still mathematically alive to win the pool here.

Dean O'Hara to step down in 2009

By Brendan Loy

Above The Law has confirmed the legitimacy of the leaked U.S. News law-school rankings, which I blogged last night. As I mentioned in that post, they show Notre Dame Law School erasing last year's decline and returning to #22.

Meanwhile, there is breaking news at NDLS. Less than an hour ago, Dean Patty O'Hara wrote an e-mail to the student body, announcing that she is stepping down at the end of next year. The e-mail was forwarded to me, and it's printed in full after the jump.

ND beats OU in OT; Tennessee next

By Brendan Loy

#5-seed Notre Dame and #4-seed Oklahoma -- playing in West Lafayette, Indiana -- are tied 72-72 in overtime in the second round of the women's tournament. Winner gets Tennessee in the Sweet Sixteen. GO IRISH!!

UPDATE: IRISH WIN!! Notre Dame is Sweet 16-bound!! Wooo!! GOOOO IRISH, BEEEEAT LADY VOLS!!

I'll update the pools in the morning.

NDLS back in Top 25?

By Brendan Loy

U.S. News and World Report's 2009 law-school rankings aren't due to be officially released until Friday, but there are scattered reports of leaks. (Hat tip: yea.) Specifically, law blog The Shark has published a PDF scan of an apparently Xeroxed copy of the alleged list (purportedly found at an unspecified "newsstand"); Xoxohth poster "Gerbil21" claims he saw the magazine on display early at a local Barnes & Noble and wrote the rankings down by hand; and poster "m1" on Law School Discussion took a digital picture of the alleged new rankings page.

If the leaked list is accurate -- a big "if" -- it would mean Notre Dame Law School has recovered from last year's drop from #22 to #28, climbing back into a tie for #22. However, I can't vouch for the accuracy of these purported leaks in any way, shape or form. I'm just passing on the links. You can consider them sort of like the early unweighted exit polls on election nights: lend them whatever credence you feel is appropriate, with "none" being a perfectly valid answer. We report, you decide.

Oh, and insert your own rankings-don't-matter disclaimer here. :)

P.S. For example.

Catholics beat Methodists

By Brendan Loy

The Notre Dame men were eliminated by Washington State yesterday, but the Notre Dame women are still alive, headed for a Tuesday second-round matchup with Oklahoma after beating #12-seed Southern Methodist this afternoon. Go Irish!!

In my women's pool, there's a five-way tie for the lead among Kay Torg, Ken Stern, Tom Caputi, Chuck Wessell and F.X. McGahee -- and, in a tournament that has seen only two upsets in 24 games, those co-eaders are also tied with the "all favorites bracket." Complete standings here and after the jump.

Argh.

By Brendan Loy

Wazzu 61, Notre Dame 41, final.

You don't win too many games scoring 41 points, least of all in the NCAA Tournament.

So all three of "my teams" are gone within the tournament's first three days. All four if you count UConn. Harumph. I guess now I'm rooting for... Davidson? The Butler-Tennessee winner? And of course, whoever's playing UCLA. :)

Meanwhile, we've got a thriller in overtime between Marquette and Stanford. Go Pac-10!! GO DRUNKEN TREES!!!

UPDATE: Stanford wins!! Brook Lopez hit the game-winner with 1.3 seconds left. One of the best games of the tournament for sure. And the Trees won despite losing their coach in the first half.

P.S. Incidentally, Notre Dame's loss knocked Khalil Aboukhaled out of sole possession of first place in the pool, back into a four-way tie with Liz Janelle, Alex Whitfield and Ryan Morgan. That's still the situation after Stanford's win, which all four of the co-leaders predicted. Full update coming after the Kansas-UNLV game ends.

Fire Mike Brey?

By Brendan Loy

I kid, I kid! :) But Notre Dame clearly isn't playing too well, down 32-19 at the half. Though we missed almost the entire first half because Purdue-Xavier took so long to finish. Speaking of which,
Khalil Aboukhaled (a.k.a. fezafou) now leads the pool.

UPDATE: Harumph. With the Irish trailing 38-28 with 14:08 left, CBS has switched us over to the closer Stanford-Marquette game. Off to MMOD I go.

Notre Dame 68, George Mason 50, final

By Brendan Loy

George Mason will not be this year's George Mason. Or even this year's Winthrop, for that matter. :) Hurrah! Admire Mike Brey!

Don't fret, Coach! You won!

Up next: Wazzu, Saturday at 6:40. GO IRISH!!

Well, hey, my bracket may be shot, and I may be tied for 242nd out of 245 in my pool, and I may have seen all my major predicted upsets come and go without happening... but at least one of my alma maters won today!

Goooo Irish, Beeeeat Patriots!

By Brendan Loy

Notre Dame and George Mason are underway. Go Irish! I want my alma maters to at least go 1-for-2 today...

P.S. Also: Go Fullerton!! The #14-seed Titans are about to tip off against #3 Wisconsin. After all this carnage in my bracket, is it too much to ask that I get my one totally absurd upset pick right? :)

UPDATE: Good news: Notre Dame has jumped out to a 23-7 lead over George Mason. Bad news: CBS has deemed the game a blowout, and sent us out to a different game. Good news: The game they sent us out to is Wisconsin-Fullerton; the Titans lead by 3!

UPDATE 2: 33-21 Irish at the half.

UPDATE 3: And 30-28 Wisconsin. Go Fullerton!!

UPDATE 4: Damn. The Badgers are on a 15-3 run, and just like that, it's 45-34 Wisconsin with 12:19 left.

A question for sports fans

By Brendan Loy

On this NCAA Tournament Eve, here's a question I've been meaning to pose to my blog audience -- or, more specifically, to the sports fans within that audience. What's the most devastating loss you've ever suffered as a sports fan?

After the jump, my answer to this question. But I'm really curious about your answers.

Arrrrrgh.

By Brendan Loy

The good news is, the Notre Dame-George Mason game will be the primary ~9:30 game on the Knoxville CBS affiliate Thursday night. Sweet!

The bad news is, contrary to what I guessed last night, USC-Kansas State won't be the primary ~7:00 game. I guess they think Belmont, a Nashville university with 4,700 students, has a large enough following in East Tennessee that it makes sense to prioritize #2 Duke vs. #15 Belmont over the super-frosh showdown of Mayo vs. Beasley. Ugh.

I just hope our Comcast connection can handle MMOD. (Speaking of which, if you want a "VIP pass," you'd better sign up now -- they're 86% full!)

Spring has sprung!

By Brendan Loy

Knoxville's Krutch Park in bloom. ... Meanwhile, I just got a text message from Kristin in South Bend -- where I'm guessing it's decidedly less springlike -- reporting that Notre Dame Law School has been evacuated due to a fire alarm. Hmm.

UPDATE: Our intrepid NDLS correspondent reports: "All ok, incident involved a microwave, a sandwich wrapped in tin foil, & a styrofoam plate." Heh.

Goooo Irish!

By Brendan Loy

Beeeeat Eagles!

Winner gets Pitt tomorrow at 9:30.

UPDATE: Marquette wins, 89-79.

Cal beats UW; Bruins next

By Brendan Loy

Cal will get a rematch tomorrow of its controversial season regular-finale against UCLA.

That'll be at 5:30 PM on FSN, right after the 3:00 game between USC and Arizona State. I'm hoping to get to work early tomorrow, and to work through lunch, so I can come home for at least the second half of that one. :)

If the Trojans and Bruins both win, then my bet with Mike will be decided Friday night. If, on the other hand, either team loses tomorrow, the season series remains split 1-1 and the bet's a wash.

Also tomorrow, at 9:30 PM on ESPN: Notre Dame vs. Marquette or Seton Hall. All in all, it's going to be a big day in Irish Trojan land...

Brey, Harangody win Big East honors

By Brendan Loy

Luke Harangody, as expected, is the Big East Player of the Year -- and Mike Brey is the conference's Coach of the Year for the second straight season. (Hat tip: JohnMac.)

Brey was apparently unsatisfied by the crow I ate last year, and decided to continue coaching like a champion, thus making me look like even more of an idiot for my endlessly repeated demands back in 2005, 2006 and 2007 that he be fired. :)

Seriously: Great job, Coach Brey! Fire Brendan Loy! Go Irish!

Revisiting the South Bend scenario

By Brendan Loy

Back in January, when I wrote about how the major candidates for president were campaigning "in or near practically every single place I used to live...as well as a place I may someday live...but NOT the place I currently live" -- a phenomenon which I referred to as "a vast left/right-wing conspiracy to piss me off" -- I noted that the only former Brendan Loy domicile they hadn't visited was South Bend. Then, as an afterthought, I added:

And come to think of it, if the Dem race really does drag on, there's an excellent chance they'll eventually hit South Bend! Between Pennsylvania (April 22) and West Virginia (May 13), the only primaries are in Indiana and North Carolina, both on May 6. So there's a two-week window for campaigning in just those two states. If Hillary and Barack are still going at it by then (probably unlikely, I admit, but certainly not impossible), they'll have more than enough time to travel up and down the entirety of the great state of Indiana trolling for votes, stopping in every major and minor city along the way. So they'd certainly make it to South Bend, which is [one of the] biggest cit[ies] in northern Indiana. Heck, forget South Bend, I bet they'd end up coming to Notre Dame itself, perhaps for a rally (or rallies) at the Joyce Center (as President Bush did on his Social Security Unplugged tour back in 2005).

Again I say, harumph.

Well, here we are, just over five weeks later, and that "unlikely...but certainly not impossible" scenario looks, well, likely. Unless Hillary loses Pennsylvania, you have to think the campaign will continue into May. And you also have to think Hillary, fresh off victories in Ohio and Pennsylvania, will focus heavily on the next logical target in her tour of economically depressed "rust belt" areas: northern Indiana. Forget visiting South Bend, she might practically move in. :) Obama, for his part, will presumably spend most of his time in large population centers with reasonably large black populations -- which would put South Bend high on his list, as well.

So basically, it looks like every single place I've ever lived except East Tennessee (Greater Hartford, NYC, Phoenix, L.A., South Bend), plus my possible future home (Denver), will have played host to one or more major candidate visit by the time this campaign is over. Jealousy, thy name is Brendan Loy.

P.S. With my luck, we'll probably end up moving from Tennessee to Colorado sometime in between the Democratic National Convention in Denver (August 25-28) and the presidential debate in Nashville (October 7), thus missing both events. ;)

Irish tie for second in Big East

By Brendan Loy

Notre Dame edged South Florida on Saturday to finish tied for second place in the Big East -- ND's best finish ever. The Irish went 24-6 overall, 14-4 in conference. Woohoo!

Black & Green writes: "Coach Brey is third behind only Jim Calhoun and Jim Boeheim in all time Big East victories. There's a good trivia question for your next party. A guy who was on the hot seat two years ago is now going back to a top seed in the Big East tournament and could win his second straight Coach of the Year award."

Next comes the always-exciting Big East Tournament, starting on Thursday. Notre Dame will be the #3 seed, and will play the winner of Wednesday's 6-11 game between Marquette and Seton Hall (or Cincinnati?). Go Irish!

Zags, Irish win; Trojans lose

By Brendan Loy

I'd be remiss in my basketball-blogging duties if I didn't point out that Gonzaga beat St. Mary's yesterday to take the WCC lead and probably wrap up an NCAA at-large bid, if they need it. As long as the Zags beat 6-7 Santa Clara tomorrow night, they'll win yet another regular-season conference title.

Also, Notre Dame eked out a win over DePaul. Joe Lunardi currently projects the Irish as a #4 seed, Gonzaga as a #6, and USC as a #7. (But that was before 'SC lost to Arizona State yesterday.)

GOOOO IRISH!!!

By Brendan Loy

BEEEEAT CARDINALS!!!

That is all.

UPDATE: Um, so yeah, it's not going too well. Louisville 42, Notre Dame 27 at halftime.

UPDATE 2: Louisville won, 90-85. They were way ahead for most of the game, but Notre Dame mounted a valiant comeback late, with five three-pointers in the last minute-and-a-half -- three of them by Luke Harangody, who hadn't hit a three all season! Harangody ended up with 40 points.

UPDATE 3: USC-Arizona is now underway on ESPN. The Trojans lead early, 26-14.

UPDATE 4: Trojans pick up a huge road win, 70-58. Sweet!

D'oh!

By Brendan Loy

The orange blazer had no magic last night, as #1 Tennessee lost to Vanderbilt.

So, who'll be #1 in the polls next week? Does Memphis take it back? Or perhaps North Carolina? More importantly, is Tennessee still a #1 seed? I'd think that, if they win out (including the SEC Tournament), they'd have to be.

Now, enough of this Go Big Orange business. :) It's time to start getting excited about tomorrow night's Notre Dame-Louisville game. GO IRISH!

#1 Tennessee visits Vandy tonight

By Brendan Loy

Barack Obama isn't the only frontrunner who will be on national TV tonight trying to defend his recently acquired top-dog status against a rival's onslaught. At 9:00 PM EST -- the same time as the Democratic debate on MSNBC -- the #1-ranked Tennessee men's basketball team will face #18 Vanderbilt on the Commodores' home floor. The game will be on ESPN, and Bruce Pearl will be in his orange blazer.

Go Vols & Go Barack!

P.S. I'm looking ahead a bit now, but take a gander at the Big East standings, and then ponder for a moment Thursday night's big game: Notre Dame at Louisville, 7:00 PM on ESPN. Holy cow. Mike Brey's boys playing, maybe, for a Big East regular-season championship? I love it! Oh, and did I mention it's part of an Irish Trojan doubleheader? USC visits Arizona at 9:00 PM Thursday, also on ESPN. Sweet.

Protest disrupts Kelley event at Berkeley

By Brendan Loy

Bill Kelley, former deputy counsel to President Bush and current Notre Dame Law School professor, got a taste of life at a slightly more liberal university when protesters disrupted an event he was participating in last week at UC-Berkeley. There's a photo:

He looks somewhat perturbed. The Daily Californian article doesn't say, however, whether Professor Kelley was branded a "war criminal" by the protesters. (The event's moderator, Professor John Yoo, was.)

As usual with such protesters, they were very interested in free speech, so long as they were the ones speaking. "As the panelist discussion progressed, protestors continuously shouted at Yoo," according the Daily Cal.

And their shouts weren't even relevant to the topic at hand -- while the protesters were rambling about torture and executive power, the panelists (who included USC professor Susan Estrich, another noted war criminal*) tried to have a discussion about why voters should carefully consider potential Supreme Court nominations in making election decisions this fall, something you'd think the protesters would agree with. But, you know, heaven forbid scholars get together to talk about such things. They must be shouted down! They're war criminals! They're evil fascists!! Bush=Hitler!!! *sigh*

Said Ethan Rarick, director of the Center on Politics at the Institute of Governmental Studies: "We're fine with people coming to express their opinions, even on the panelists and participants, but it should not disrupt the event."

*...and by "war criminal," I mean "antiwar liberal feminist."

BracketBusters / UT-Memphis open thread

By Brendan Loy

I'm expecting a busy afternoon and evening, and thus probably won't be able to watch as much basketball as I'd like. But there's plenty to talk about, with the day's biggest games being Drake @ Butler at 5:00 PM on ESPN2 (the BracketBusters marquee game) and, of course, Tennessee @ Memphis at 9:00 PM on ESPN2. Although, don't sleep on Kent State @ St. Mary's at midnight on the Deuce, which Kyle Whelliston says is potentially the most consequential 'Busters game of them all, bubble-wise.

Anyway, here's the scoreboard. If you're watching the games and you feel like commenting, fire away.

P.S. Nice wins for USC and Notre Dame on Thursday night, eh?

P.P.S. Check out 4th through 9th place in the Pac-10 standings. Wow. Is that conference balanced or what?

UPDATE: Tennessee wins, 66-62! Come Monday morning, the Vols will be #1 in the nation for the first time in school history. (Er, on the men's side, that is.)

And so ends Memphis's bid for an undefeated season. The Tigers were 8-for-17 from the free-throw line, and they didn't hit a single three-pointer after their white-hot start in the game's first 12 minutes.

Oh, and Drake beat Butler in another very exciting game.

More on Tim Aher

By Brendan Loy

Here is the obituary of Notre Dame 2L Timothy Aher, who died in London over the weekend. News articles about his sad and untimely passing have also been published in the Notre Dame newspaper and in the local Connecticut newspaper of the area where he grew up. A memorial mass was held at the Basilica on Tuesday (video here) for Tim and Connor McGrath, the Notre Dame sophomore who also died over the weekend.

There's much more, including a photo from the CT paper, in the Tim Aher & Connor McGrath memorial post, which I've updated several times. (There's a fair amount of search-engine traffic coming to that page, so I'm trying to keep everything related to the tragedies consolidated there.) You can also find more photos of Tim at this Photobucket page. According to Chicago radio station WHPK, "friends from law school have started [it] to compile a photo album to give to Tim's family."

Also, from the obituary: "In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made to Connecticut Legal Services, Inc., 62 Washington St., Middletown, CT 06457, in Tim's name."

R.I.P., Tim Aher & Connor McGrath

By Brendan Loy

The university has released the name of the Notre Dame student who died in London over the weekend. As I feared, it was a law student: 2L Timothy Aher.

In addition to being a Domer, Tim was also a Nutmegger, a resident of Brookfield, Connecticut. He was 25. The university says he "died tragically and unexpectedly Sunday (Feb. 17) in Ilford, England, a suburb of London."

He's the second Notre Dame Law School student to die in just over 10 months. On April 7 of last year, 3L Ryan Rudd died of cancer, less than a month-and-a-half before he would have graduated. He was awarded his J.D.