Here’s the Observer’s take on the news.

A large crowd has gathered in the law-school lounge to watch Ty’s press conference.

The South Bend Tribune is now reporting that, according to Notre Dame tight end Anthony Fasano, the Irish will play in the Insight Bowl, and defensive coordinator Kent Baer will be the interim head coach. This corroborates previous rumors. Still no official word from the university.

In other news, ex-coach Ty Willingham is having a press conference at 4:00 PM, according to The Backer. I won’t be watching (let alone attempting to attend) this time, but it will be televised on ESPN News and WNDU, and broadcast over the Internet from the ND athletic website.

And with that, I’m off. Much work to do.

I’ve updated my Ty timeline to reflect the fact that Robert Cox of The National Debate was actually the first to break the story of Willingham’s firing yesterday. BrendanLoy.com was, to my knowledge, the third website on the Internet to feature the news, after TND and The Backer.

Also, TND has now posted an AIM transcript of the conversation in which The Backer tipped him off to the big news. This took place between 12:47 and 12:50 or so — 40-plus minutes before the press release announcing Ty’s firing was due to be released. The Backer is “NDgramps27″; Robert Cox is “Erasmus TND.” Excerpt:

NDgramps27: hey, ND student protest today at 5:30 … C4C Rally … Call for Change, get rid of Ty

Erasmus TND: really?
…

NDgramps27: now Im gettin word…that I should watch Ty’s press conference
…

NDgramps27: TY WAS FIRED

NDgramps27: HE WAS JUST FIRED~!!!!!!W

NDgramps27: my personjust told me

Erasmus TND: what

Erasmus TND: come on

NDgramps27: i just got the word

NDgramps27: from [my contact]

Erasmus TND: is this solid?

Erasmus TND: he has a bowl game coming up

NDgramps27: Im pretty sure … the press release should be coming out very soon

Erasmus TND: wow

NDgramps27: it has been confirmed

This began the posting frenzy. … and, eventually, the early release of the official announcement (1:27 at the latest, possibly as early as 1:10 or so), since the story had leaked already.

Witness, ladies and gentlemen, the blogosphere in action. :)

Don’t these people watch The Weather Channel? Never drive your car into standing water! :)

Just in case anyone doubted that Notre Dame football is, by far, the biggest thing in South Bend, here’s your proof… :)

…is it safe to assume that Frank Solich and Ron Zook were fired because they’re white?

And that their firings after just three years send an “alarming message” to other white coaches?

Just asking.

It’s snowing!

Irish Today reports: Notre Dame will play in the Insight Bowl:

Irish Today has leaned that the Notre Dame players have voted to participate in the Insight Bowl. They are expected to decide on who will be their interim head coach for the game on Wednesday.

(Hat tip: NDNation.com.)

YAY! Nothing official yet, though. Then there’s this:

John Junker, Insight Bowl president and chief executive officer, remained confident that Notre Dame will play in the game.

“It’s obviously an emotional time for the players, and the announcement was unexpected and couldn’t be anything but a major challenge,” Junker said. “But at the same time, we know that when things settle down and they begin looking at alternatives, they’ll realize the value of a commitment of their university. They’ll also want to end with something that shows how hard they’ve worked all season.

“We have a lot of faith in the players and the people in the program.”

The article also says, “If Notre Dame opts not to come, the bid would go to a Big East Conference representative.” But as I noted earlier, Boston College and UConn have already accepted other bowl bids, to the Continental Tire Bowl and the Motor City Bowl, respectively. And West Virginia is going to the Gator Bowl. That would seem to leave only one option for the Insight Bowl: either Syracuse or Pittsburgh, whichever team doesn’t get the BCS bid.

Nerdy 1L Contracts moment here: Couldn’t the Insight Bowl have a pretty clear breach-of-contract case against Notre Dame, if the Irish back out? Consideration! Reliance! Promissory estoppel! Seriously, people! :)

But anyway, hopefully Irish Today is right, and this is all a moot point. Now I just have to cross my fingers and hope the interim bowl coach will be Lou Holtz, as the rumor mill keeps suggesting. How awesome would that be? I’d have tickets to the final game of the legendary Louuuuuuuuu! :)

UPDATE: Rumor has it, the bowl coach will “probably” be defensive coordinator Kent Baer.

The NHS football Indians scored both of their touchdowns in the first 36 seconds of Tuesday night’s state semifinal against Staples-Westport, then were held scoreless by the Wreckers’ defense for the final 47 minutes, 24 seconds of the game, as the Staples offense chipped away and eventually took the lead and won, 21-14. Drat.

Newington’s last gasp ended when Pagan gained 1 yard on fourth-and-3 from the Staples 25 with just under 3 minutes remaining. O’Shea had ended Newington’s previous possession with an interception near the goal line.

What a heartbreaker. The New Britain Herald and the Stamford Advocate have more.

On the bright side, at least now I don’t have to fret about whether to use my plane ticket home this weekend. I obviously need to stay here and study, what with just nine days until my first final exam (AAAHHH!!!), but flying home would have been almost irresistable if Newington had made it to the state championship game. It would have been an awfully wrenching decision to pass that up. Now it’s an easy call. I’ll cancel the ticket and get Southwest Airlines credit, good for some other crazy, whirlwind adventure sometime in the future. :)