Irish Trojan in Tennessee

A Dodd scandal, and a Courant catastrophe

By Brendan Loy

The Waterbury Republican-American evidently does not believe in God and Senator Dodd. Well, maybe the former, but certainly not the latter. :) In an editorial Monday, the Rep-Am's editorial board calls Dodd "Tammany Hall's senior senator" and scolds the national media -- as well as, in a subsequent editorial, the Hartford Courant -- for failing to more vigorously cover "the sweetheart mortgages he got from Countrywide Financial CEO Angelo Nozilo." (Countrywide is described as "the Enron of subprime mortgages.") "This scandal has legs," the editors assert.

I haven't followed this at all, so I have no idea whether it's a big deal; I just saw the link on InstaPundit, and since it involves Connecticut's, er, other senator, I figured it deserved a post.

Meanwhile, in other Connecticut news -- and speaking of the Courant -- the Nutmeg State's paper of record is eliminating 60 newsroom staffers and reducing the number of news pages in the paper per week from 273 to 206. Here's the memo to staff. (Hat tip: my dad.)

It's times like these I'm really happy I went into law instead of journalism.

In welcome (& lucky) bit of comic relief, CT bomb squad detonates IED hidden in poultry

By Joe Loy

In the tony Hartford outer suburb of Simsbury, law enforcement authorities (alerted by a vigilant citizen) recently thwarted a Terror plot whose perpetrator(s) had deployed a Chicken with an unusually sinister Stuffing:

...A motorist on Powder Forest Drive Friday morning noticed what looked like a whole chicken — the kind bought at grocery stores for roasting — with a pipe bomb stuffed inside, police said Monday.

When they arrived on the scene around 9 a.m. officers found the roaster had an improvised explosive device where the fowl's innards should have been.

They closed the road for part of the morning as the Hartford Police Department's bomb squad was called to detonate the device, police said.

In its recent history, Simsbury and local residents have had their problems with hungry black bears, roaming coyotes and escaped emus. Now town folks can add store-bought chicken, stuffed with a bomb, to the list of odd animal incidents.

With the chicken and bomb taken care of, police are left to investigate who's responsible for the strange incident.

Police Capt. Matthew Catania would not describe the bomb Monday, but said it was "capable of causing harm to a person."...

Which, thank God it didn't occur, would definitionally have been Worse than the Irreparable harm already inflicted upon the Chicken :>.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Now ~ not to abruptly Pivot to the Negative or anything like that ;> ~ of course the reason Connecticut in general, and our Capital region of Hartford in particular, may Welcome this (only-by-the-grace-of-God) bit of Comic relief ~ is, that over the past week or so we have been quite-understandably Pounded all to Pieces, on the Cablenewsies & the Internets, about the astonishingly-tepid Videotaped response of his Lower Park Street neighbors to the depravedly-indifferent hit-&-run Rundown of Angel Arce Torres, age 78, who (it now develops) will spend whatever remains of his life on a ventilator in the hospital.

Following closely on the heels of various other recent Hartford horrors, including the brutal mugging/beating of 71-year-old former Deputy Mayor Nick Carbone ~ who has probably done more to help All the people of Hartford than any other living person ~ all this has set off some considerable sociological soul-searching in & around the city of my birth, and my son's. / Also, on a purely Practical level, the Staties are coming in ~ Again ~ to give the Local constabulary a hand. Hey ~ it's a Start.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

So. You can perhaps see why we kind of Like the Simsbury Chickenbomb story. At least it has a happy Ending. (Well. Apart from the Chicken. / Fire in the Hole, indeed. :)

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! :)

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. :)

The fandom that dare not speak its name

By Brendan Loy

While watching a SportsCenter commercial last night featuring the Tennessee Lady Vols' head basketball coach, I came to a horrifying realization:

I think I'm starting to like Pat Summitt.

This is simply not acceptable. Pat Summitt is the enemy! She is UConn's nemesis! She is the anti-Geno! She is the devil-woman! It is the solemn duty of every good Connecticutian to resist the Evil Pat and all Her Works! I'm allowed to grudgingly respect her, but under no circumstances am I supposed to like her! Must... resist...

"We are the Big Orange Army... you will be assimilated... resistance is futile..."

Nooooooooo!!!!

Oh, no, they didn't! Tattle-tale Tennessee reports UConn recruiting violation

By Brendan Loy

In the latest escalation of the Pat Summitt-Geno Auriemma War, Tennessee recently reported UConn for an alleged recruiting violation -- arranging a tour of ESPN's studios in Bristol for star freshman Maya Moore  back when she was a recruit who was heavily prized by both schools.

ESPN, obviously keen to avoid "becoming the story" again in the future, says that "to avoid future incidents, our tour policy will now prohibit high school athletes from receiving tours at the request of a college or university athletic official."

But the bigger story here, in my mind, is the Summitt-Auriemma angle. It has become increasingly clear that these two really don't like each other. In fact, here is some exclusive footage of Pat and Geno going at it before a recent ballgame:

Correction: I'm told those are the Oral Roberts and IUPUI mascots. My bad. But if Connecticut and Tennessee meet in the Final Four, that's pretty much what it'll be like.

Mount St. Mary's upsets Sacred Heart

By Brendan Loy

Moments ago on ESPN2, #4-seed Mount St. Mary's defeated #3-seed Sacred Heart, 68-55, on SHU's home floor in Fairfield, Connecticut, to earn the Northeast Conference title. So that leaves just Hartford and UConn still alive from the Nutmeg State. (Hartford plays for the America East title on Saturday morning. UConn plays West Virginia in the Big East quarters tomorrow, but is, of course, going dancing regardless.)

The NCAA bid for the Mountaineers is their first since 1999. Between Mount St. Mary's from the NEC, St. Mary's from the WCC, and Notre Dame from the Big East, the Blessed Virgin will be very well-represented in this year's NCAA Tournament. :)

Nutmeg pride & George Mason's return

By Brendan Loy

NEC #3-seed Sacred Heart this evening became the second Connecticut men's basketball team to reach a conference championship today, joining Hartford from the America East conference. Sacred Heart beat #2 Wagner to set up a Wednesday meeting on ESPN2 against #4 Mount St. Mary's. Because SHU has the better seed, they'll host the title game on their home floor (an unexpected treat made possible by the Mount St. Mary's upset of #1 Robert Morris).

In other Championship Week news, I mentioned earlier that #5-seed William & Mary upset #1 VCU, putting the latter on the bubble -- well, now we know who will be the Pride's opponent in tomorrow night's CAA title game, and it's none other than #3-seed George Mason. This will be Mason's second straight year playing in the CAA final; last year, they made a Cinderella run as a #6 seed, but lost 65-59 to VCU. (In 2006, the year they went to the Final Four, they were actually booted in the semifinals of the CAA tourney!) Tomorrow's game will be at 7:00 PM on ESPN.

Also tomorrow night, at 9:00 PM on ESPN2, it'll be Southern Conference top seed Davidson vs. the Cinderella story of this year's Championship Week to date, #7 Elon -- a team with a 14-18 record and an RPI of #231, now one win from the Big Dance (or rather, the play-in game).

Gonzaga hopes they'll be playing tomorrow night at 9:00 PM on ESPN, in the WCC title game. But first they need to beat Santa Clara in the semis, and right now they're trailing 35-34 with 13:04 left. Go Zags!

UPDATE: Gonzaga wins, 52-48! Not a great game for the Zags -- Pargo only scored 4 points -- but they survived and advanced (albeit with the help of yet another terrible call by the refs down the stretch, as a blatant charge was wrongly called a defensive foul, increasing Gonzaga's lead from 1 to 3). Tomorrow, they'll go for their ninth WCC title in ten years against either St. Mary's or homestanding San Diego.

10 years on: the Alumni Road shootings

By Brendan Loy

Today is the tenth anniversary of the Newington lottery shootings  -- a.k.a. the "lottery massacre," or as I called it in The Living Room Times the next day, the "Alumni Road massacre." Disgruntled state lottery employee Matthew Beck shot and killed four co-workers, then himself, at the Connecticut lottery headquarters on the road behind the high school's athletic fields, with the last two deaths literally occurring in the NHS football parking lot.

There was a moment of silence at 8:45 this morning in memory of the slain employees: state lotto director Otho Brown; chief financial officer and former New Britain mayor Linda Mlynarczyk (formerly Blogoslawski); vice president of operations Rick Rubelmann; and information systems director Michael Logan. Governor Jodi Rell, who was lieutenant governor on March 6, 1998, issued the following statement:

On that horrible morning, four devoted public servants were killed and the lives of their colleagues were forever altered. Sadly, Connecticut has all too often seen state employees such as highway workers and state police officers killed in the line of duty. Yet the events of March 6, 1998, are etched in our memory with particular shock. I ask that state residents pause with me on Thursday morning to pray for the victims, their fellow lottery employees and their families.

Amen.

I was out sick from school that day, and slept till sometime after noon. When I woke up, I found several messages on the answering machine from my parents, telling me there'd been a shooting at lottery headquarters, near the high school. (If I remember correctly, they'd heard about it because the shooter had been a member of their union.) I quickly turned on CNN, to find live coverage of the tragedy in my hometown. Helicopters were hovering overhead; satellite trucks were everywhere. While I'd been sleeping, Newington had become the center of the nation's attention. I logged on to AOL and saw an article beginning with words I never thought I'd read: "NEWINGTON, Conn. (AP)." The article went on to describe Newington as a "small, sleepy town" -- my hometown was a cliché for a day.

This was during my junior year, only a few months after the deaths of Bob and Jen. Those tragedies had hit the NHS community harder, of course, since they were more personal and specific to the high school, rather than being a mere matter of traumatic proximity. Still, the lottery massacre certainly contributed to the overall sense of 1997-98 being a rather hellish year at Newington High School. It also came at a time when school shootings were becoming major news items: the Pearl and Peducah tragedies had occurred a few months earlier, and the Jonesboro massacre would take place 2 1/2 weeks later. (Columbine was over a year away.) Although the lottery shootings were not actually at the school, they were close enough that I'd say they definitely reinforced a general feeling of edginess about such things.

Long term, the shootings led to a new gun control law in Connecticut, which has since been used to confiscate more than 1,200 guns from "people who are considered a serious danger to themselves or others." Also, the Hartford Courant won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the shootings.

Almost March

By Brendan Loy

It's February 28, but who says "March Madness" can't get started a little early? Check out this wild ending in New Britain, Connecticut:

Wow.

It's unlikely we'll be seeing either Quinnipiac -- which is better known for polls than for basketball -- or Central Connecticut State in the Big Dance, but they're certainly doing their best to whet our appetites for it anyway. Anybody else excited for next month?

Dodd endorses Obama

By Brendan Loy

Rejecting "entreaties from the Clintons," Chris Dodd, former presidential candidate and senior senator/superdelegate from Connecticut, will endorse Barack Obama at a Cleveland news conference this morning. Dodd is a longtime friend of the Clintons; Bill named him general chairman of the Democratic National Committee back in the mid-90s. Mark Halperin calls it "one of the ten most back-breaking nods Clinton has lost to Obama."

P.S. If Obama were looking for an "attack dog" runningmate, he could do far worse than Dodd, who can growl and bark with the best of  'em. :) Dodd also has experience/gravitas; he's been in the Senate for 28 years, is chairman of the Banking Committee, has been on the Foreign Relations Committee forever, etc. He'd be an unexciting choice, though. I don't see anything about Dodd that would be attractive enough to overcome the two-senators problem, or the Northeastern-liberal problem. Besides, do Democrats really want to risk putting another Democratic senator from Connecticut on the national ticket? :) We all know what happened to the last guy they did that with... heh. (Not a fair comparison, of course; Dodd is as solid of a partisan liberal Democrat as they come. But still.)

All in all, I don't see it happening. If Obama is willing to go with a Northeastern U.S. Senator for the sake of experience/gravitas, I think Biden would be the better choice. The only thing Dodd might have on Biden is that I think he's seen as more of a straight-shooter -- which, admittedly, might be a big deal for the Prophet of Hope and Change. :) But I still think Biden's the pick if Obama wants to solidify his foreign-policy credentials. More likely, though, I suspect we'll be seeing someone like Webb, Sebelius, Schweitzer... or perhaps Bredesen? (But cf., Schweitzer and Bredesen haven't endorsed yet.)

UPDATE: The Boston Globe speculates that Clinton and/or Obama -- more likely Clinton -- may choose a runningmate before the race is over if the battle rages on past March 4. (Hat tip: Reagan's GOP.)

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."

Lieberman won't be a superdelegate

By Brendan Loy

Heh:

Thanks to Zell Miller, there is a rule to deal with Joe Lieberman.

Lieberman's endorsement of Republican John McCain disqualifies him as a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention under what is informally known as the Zell Miller rule, according to Democratic State Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo.

Miller, then a Democratic senator from Georgia, not only endorsed Republican George Bush four years ago, but he delivered a vitriolic attack on Democrat John Kerry at the Republican National Convention.

The Democrats responded with a rule disqualifying any Democrat who crosses the aisle from being a superdelegate. Lieberman will not be replaced, DiNardo said.

The Yaley Daily has more. (Hat tip: NRO.)

I can't say I blame the Democrats for this one. I'm a little surprised they were planning to invite him to Denver in the first place, actually.

I must admit, though, at purely impish level, I'm mildly disappointed. It would have been extremely amusing to hear something like this at the convention:

Mr. Speaker, the Great State of Connecticut, the Nutmeg State, home of the NCAA women's basketball national champion UConn Huskies... [YAY!! WHOO!!]

...and home of the Big East runner-up UConn men's basketball Huskies, who recently made yet another trip to the Sweet Sixteen... [Yay!]

...and home of the Big East co-champion UConn football Huskies... [YAY!]

...Connecticut, with its great senior senator, a fine American and a loyal Democrat, Christopher J. Dodd...  [HURRAH!]

...and with its four fine Democratic representatives, Rosa DeLauro, John Larson, Joe Courtney and Chris Murphy... [Woo!]

...Connecticut, the Constitution State... ["Vote!"]

...the state that, in 1687, struck a blow for democracy by hiding its state charter in the Charter Oak... ["VOTE!!"]

...and the state that will, in 2008, strike another blow for democracy... ["VOTE!!!"]

...by helping end eight disastrous years of Bush/Cheney/McCain government... ["Boo!" "Yay!" "VOTE!!!!"]

...by casting its seven electoral votes for the next Democratic president of the United States... ["Hear, hear!" "Hurrah!" "VOTE!!!!!"]

...Mr. Speaker, Connecticut casts 35 votes for Senator Barack Obama, 25 votes for Senator Hillary Clinton, and 1 vote for Senator John McCain.

Hee hee. Would've been fun. Oh, well.

Obama, Clinton tied in Connecticut

By Brendan Loy

So says the latest Rasmussen poll, taken on Sunday -- the day after South Carolina, the day before Ted Kennedy. Obama 40%, Clinton 40%, Edwards 11%, Other 3%, Undecided 6%.

This is great news for Obama, as it's the first empirical evidence that Obama's recent momentum is actually translating into increased support in a Super Tuesday state. Previous polls, including a Hartford Courant poll 10 days ago, had Clinton leading by double digits.

The big question is whether this will start a trend. RCP's Latest Polls page will be worth watching in the coming days, to see whether other post-S.C. (and post-Teddy) polls in Super Tuesday states also show Obama gains.

McCain trounces Rudy, Mitt in CT poll

By Brendan Loy

According to a Hartford Courant poll, Arizona's John McCain is supported by 39% of likely GOP voters in Connecticut, well ahead of his rivals from bordering states, New York's Rudy Giuliani (16%) and Massachusetts's Matt Romney (11%).

Connecticut's 27 pledged GOP delegates are all awarded to the winner of the February 5 primary. The state has been considered prime "Rudy Country" -- along with neighboring New York (87 delegates) and New Jersey (52), both of which are also winner-take-all -- so this is definitely bad news for Rudy. (The latest New Jersey poll shows him 2 points behind McCain in the Garden State, and the latest New York poll shows the rivals in a dead heat in Giuliani's home state.)

On the Democratic side, it's Clinton 41%, Obama 27% and Edwards 9%. Per national party rules, Connecticut's Democratic delegates are awarded proportionally.

Memphis, Tennessee climb the polls

By Brendan Loy

When Tennessee plays Memphis on February 23, will it be a #1 vs. #2 matchup between in-state rivals (and Jay's alma maters)? Could be, if both teams keep winning, and if Kansas loses between now and then. The Tigers and Vols are #1 and #3 in the new AP poll.

Speaking of #1 and #3, the top-ranked UConn women beat #3 UNC yesterday. w00t! Go Huskies! (#2, of course, is Tennessee.)

Go Zags!

By Brendan Loy

Not that anybody is really focused on college basketball today, but Gonzaga and UConn are underway in Boston.

UPDATE: Zags win, 85-82. w00t!

In women's soccer, a very Brendan Loy bracket

By Brendan Loy

The women's soccer NCAA Tournament has reached the Elite Eight, and an astounding number of schools that I care about are still competing for the championship. Both of my alma maters, USC and Notre Dame, are still alive, as is my original home-state team, UConn. And my two least-favorite universities, UCLA and Duke, are still alive as well. The only thing that could have made the bracket any more Loy-o-riffic would be if my current hometown team, Tennessee, had beaten Portland in the Sweet Sixteen to set up a date with the hated Bruins.

As things stand, it's Portland that must visit UCLA, while USC travels to West Virginia, Notre Dame hosts Duke, and UConn visits Florida State, all on Friday evening. Potentially, we could have a USC-UCLA semifinal on one side of the bracket and a UConn-Notre Dame semifinal on the other. Will the Women of Troy need to beat both of their school's archrivals to win the championship? Heh!

For what it's worth, in the final regular-season coaches' poll, UCLA was #1, Portland #3, USC #9, Notre Dame #11, West Virginia #12, Florida State #14, UConn #24, and Duke unranked. So I guess that means both the Irish and the Trojans will be favored on Friday. Go ND and 'SC, beat Duke and WVU!

Former CT governor O'Neill dies

By Brendan Loy

Former Connecticut governor William O'Neill, who ran the state for 10 years and 10 days -- including the first nine-plus years of my life -- has died at 77.

"Bill O'Neill was one of the titans of Connecticut politics," said current governor Jodi Rell. "No description of him would be complete without the words 'decency' and 'fairness,' and he understood that government must take its lead from the people it serves." Former state Dem chairman John Droney called O'Neill "the Harry Truman of Connecticut."

Down the street, an epic Friday-night clash looms

By Brendan Loy

Back in September, the football team at nearby Bearden High School here in West Knoxville lost to archrival Farragut High School for the eighth straight time, 35-28 in 2 OTs. Although I didn't go, it was an epic Friday-night football clash by all accounts -- and now it's going to have a sequel, in the state playoffs this Friday night.

Meanwhile, back home in Connecticut, the Newington Indians are on the playoff bubble. They need to hope Newtown beats Masuk tomorrow night, and then the Indians must take care of business on Thanksgiving Day against their archrival, Wethersfield.

More on both Bearden and Newington after the jump.

WVU wins, keeps pressure on UConn

By Brendan Loy

West Virginia beat Louisville yesterday -- in a game attended by Trojan CFB blog road-tripper Jonathan Tu, who will drive to Knoxville today for tomorrow's Tennessee-Arkansas game -- in Morgantown by a score of 38-31, thereby keeping the pressure on surprise Big East leader UConn. If WVU (3-1 Big East) had lost, UConn (4-0) would have had a two-game lead over everyone in the conference, meaning they could have lost any one of their final three games, including the November 24 game at West Virginia, and still won the conference. Instead, as things stand now, the Huskies can still finish 2-1 and win the conference, but one of the wins must be over West Virginia.

UConn plays Cincinnati, which is also still in the Big East hunt at 2-2, Saturday at Cincy. The Huskies have yet to prove they can beat a quality opponent on the road, so this is a big game, even though UConn could lose it and still win the conference by beating Syracuse and WVU. The Huskies' three consecutive wins over Louisville, South Florida and Rutgers were all at Rentschler Field; their only two victories away from East Hartford have been over Duke and Pitt, and their one loss was on the road against Virginia. Two of their final three games are on the road against tough opponents: the Bearcats on Saturday, the Mountaineers in two weeks.

Also, if UConn beats Cincinnati and follows it up with a home win over lowly Syracuse next week, and West Virginia loses at Cincy next week, the Huskies would clinch the conference before even taking the field against WVU.

I never got around to writing my planned "UConn is for real" post after they beat USF, but Sunday Morning Quarterback had a good post on Tuesday titled "Getting to know UConn." In it, SMQ examines how the Huskies have managed to achieve this level of success, and then asks, "is UConn good? Does it matter?" A comparison to 2006-07 Wake Forest is made. Those guys, you may recall, ended up in a BCS bowl.

MLB balks at Dodd's Fenway pitch

By Joe Loy

Yes, it's a swing and a miss for Chris  :).

Here's how eastern Connecticut's Journal Inquirer called the play  (emphases added :)

Major League Baseball has put a stop to U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd's raffle of two tickets to see the Boston Red Sox play the Cleveland Indians for the American League Championship.

Dodd, a candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination and self-professed lifelong Red Sox fan, last week offered a chance at the coveted playoff tickets to supporters of his long-shot bid for the White House.

There were a couple of critical catches.

The first was that the winner had to sit in the seats next to Dodd's.

The other was that entrants had to either make a campaign contribution of $20.04, a number that represented the last time the Red Sox won the World Series three years ago, or recruit two dozen friends who would sign up on the Dodd campaign Web site.

The tickets were for Game 6 of the playoff series, and, if that didn't happen because the Sox eliminated the Indians, the winner could go to Game 2 of the World Series.

Should the Sox lose the playoffs, Dodd was promising the winner free airfare to Iowa or New Hampshire to join him on the campaign trail.

But Dodd spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan said Friday that Major League Baseball had "scuttled" the plan...

Here's a Boston Globe take.  / The "Contribute" page linked from Chris's campaign website states:

"NOTE: The Chris Dodd Fenway Tickets contest is no longer active. Thank you."

:)

Literally Lieberman

By Brendan Loy

Some people say Joe Lieberman is not liberal enough. I say he's not literal enough!

Auriemma slams Summitt for ending Huskies-Vols series

By Brendan Loy

Back in June, Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt announced she was cancelling the annual UConn-Tennessee rivalry series. Turns out, UConn coach Geno Auriemma is pissed at her:

"I think she should just come out and say she's not playing us because she hates my guts," Auriemma told The Courant. "And I think people would buy that. Then everyone [who seeks a reason] would be happy. She should just say that [Geno is] a dope, a smart-ass, and then everyone could say that they agree with her."

Geno added that he would never have cancelled the series: "You know what? I would never want to. This game is bigger than any individual."

"Besides," he added, "Brendan Loy just moved to Knoxville, so it's really poor timing to end the series now."

Okay, maybe he didn't say that last part. But it's true! (Hat tip: my dad.)

Friday night football, South and North

By Brendan Loy

There was a big-time high-school football grudge match just down the road from us this evening, as West Knoxville archrivals Farragut and Bearden played their annual game. The traffic was insane, and there were cars parked all over the place; the game apparently draws thousands. I didn't go, but it seems the home team, Bearden, lost a heartbreaker in overtime, 35-28. Farragut has now won eight consecutive games over the Bulldogs, dating back to 2001. (That includes two playoff games.)

Speaking of high-school football, back in Connecticut, Newington won its opener tonight, 30-12 over Hartford Public. Nice!

The start of the Indians' season got me thinking -- and I know anyone reading this who graduated from NHS in the late '90s or early '00s will find this just as mind-boggling as I do -- this year's crop of NHS seniors have never seen the Indians have a losing season. Never! To them, Newington has always been a winning team!

(After ten straight losing seasons from 1994-2003, including a whopping 3-38-1 record during my four years there, Newington has gone 9-2, 7-3 and 6-3-1 the last three years. And now they're 1-0 and counting. Go Indians!)

Newington: SWAT sweeps synagogue; suspects skedaddle

By Joe Loy

In what was thought to be a possible Standoff situation, a Newington PD K-9, followed by the SWAT team,  entered Congregation B'nai Sholom  (Children of Peace) this morning. The search turned up nobody. Evidence suggests that some dirtbags had boosted some dirt bikes from a shed on neighboring property, parked them behind the synagogue while they busted in there to see what else they could find, and then abruptly fled (perhaps when the Burglar alarm sounded) leaving the stolen bikes behind and apparently taking nothing from the house of worship.

(Hat tip: Brendan, on his Lunch break. :)

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!