Either I’m losing my mind, or the New York Times has changed its font. The difference is subtle, but there is definitely a difference. Anyone want to do a Google News search and fill me in? :)

Another reason to participate in one of the London programs (summer or second-year) through Notre Dame’s law school: There’s a “Lord of the Rings” stage musical opening in London in spring 2005. :)

I just gathered from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Virginia Tech plays West Virginia tonight at 7:30. Crazy kids and their Wednesday games. Anyway… go Mountaineers!

We’re in Pittsburgh.

We’re underway. Due to reach Pittsburgh at 9:30 AM, Harrisburg at 3:56 PM, Philadelphia at 6:00 PM, and finally New York at 8:04 PM. Meanwhile, it’s 1-1 in the eighth between the Marlins and Yankees.

Here’s a shot of Adrienne laughing at something funny that someone said on her voicemail.

Here’s a picture of Adrienne on her cell phone earlier today. We each had Long Island Iced Teas at this bar (my first Long Island… mmmm), then went to see “Runaway Jury” at a nearby theater.

I’m on board an Amtrak train; we just got underway, leaving Chicago.

I neglected to check the Connecticut high-school football scoreboard last weekend, so this is rather old news by now… but it’s momentous enough that it nevertheless must be reported: Newington 33, Bristol Eastern 0!

That’s right — the NHS football team, often shut out by other teams over the past decade or so, shut somebody else out!!! Although I don’t have the statistics near at hand, I think this must be the Indians’ first shutout victory since at least 1995, my freshman year. Wow!

The Hartford Courant reports:

Austin Knowlin scored two TDs and Matt Knight threw three TD passes as host Newington (2-4) defeated Bristol Eastern (2-3-1).

Andrew Guilbault scored a pair of touchdowns for Newington. Knight finished 12 of 17 for 179 yards.

The New Britain Herald has a more detailed article about the game.

“Tickets were gobbled up faster than gold rings at a wraith convention,” TheOneRing.net quips in an in-depth report on the Trilogy Tuesday ticket-buying madness. Heh. (What the heck am I talking about? Click here to find out.)

The University of Miami is suing the University of Connecticut for defamation. As a loyal Connecticut resident, I would like to add my voice to the defamatory chorus. So here goes: “MIAMI SUCKS! MIAMI SUCKS! MIAMI SUCKS!” There, now I feel that I’ve done my part. :)

The BCS rankings are out, and the Trojans — ranked #4 in the coaches’ poll and #5 in the AP poll — are #7 in the BCS, thanks to a less-than-stellar computer average and a 29th-ranked strength of schedule.

But it’s very close between #4 Georgia (12.99 points), #5 Florida State (13.14), #6 Ohio State (13.20), and #7 USC (13.83). By contrast, there’s a huge gap between the Trojans and #8 Purdue (21.50). Remember, the BCS is like golf: lowest score wins.

And Northern Illinois is #10. Woohoo! Their computer average (9.00) is four points higher than their poll average (13). Who knew?

PREDICTION: USC will overtake Georgia in the AP poll when we beat Washington State, and we will therefore overtake them in the BCS, too. Ohio State will lose again, to Michigan or some such team, so we’ll finish ahead of them, no problem. But Florida State will run the table (beating powerhouses like Wake Forest and Clemson) and will therefore manage to stay ahead of the Trojans in the BCS.

Meanwhile, two of the three currently undefeated teams will lose late in the season and plummet in the polls, and drop to something like #4 and #5 in the BCS. Thus, we will get a national-championship game between Florida State and the one remaining unbeaten team — quite possibly a rematch of the horribly boring 2000 title game (Oklahoma 13, Florida State 2).

It will be the fourth time in six years that Florida State has played in the BCS title game. Meanwhile, USC will finish #3 in the BCS, and will play in the Rose Bowl, not the championship Sugar Bowl. Yet again, the Pac-10 will miss out on the BCS title game.

This result will be touted as a token of the Seminoles’ success and a sign of the Pac-10’s weakness — but in fact, it will merely be a testament to the ridiculous advantage enjoyed by conferences whose bottom tier of teams are noncompetitve (cough cough, ACC and Big East), as opposed to genuinely conferences that are competitve from top to bottom like the Pac-10.

You heard it here first.

The Pac-10’s USC Trojans and the SEC’s Georgia Bulldogs don’t play each other (they haven’t since 1960; thank you, Google), but the title of this post, “USC vs. Georgia,” is nevertheless appropriate, because these two one-loss teams appear to be the main contenders for a national-championship spot if an undefeated team falters. And according to ESPN, “the inside track to poll supremacy clearly switched from the Bulldogs to the Trojans over the weekend” as USC dominated Notre Dame while Georgia struggled past Vanderbilt.

Still waiting for those official BCS standings. I’m not sure about this, but I think maybe they’re going to be released during Sports Center at 5:00 PM Central time tonight.

UPDATE: Yeah, I’m right.

I’m at the Wrigley Field subway stop. Alas, what might have been…