But enough serious analysis. The real story of the Gonzaga-Pepperdine game was Adam Morrison’s latest fashion statement:

Heh. To the worst moustache in America, add a giant ugly piece of white gauze. (He had a bloody nose, bloodyobviously.)

Do you think the loyal members of the Kennel Club will have white stuff sticking out of their left nostrils, in addition to the fake moustaches, at Saturday’s game in Spokane? Frankly, I’ll be disappointed if they don’t. :)

Okay, even the West Coast should have seen tonight’s ice dancing by now, so I don’t have to worry about spoilers anymore. I can say it loud and say it proud: a pair of Newington residents won Olympic medals today!

As I explained here, the husband-and-wife team of Ruslan Goncharov and Elena Grushina skate for the Ukranian team, but they train in Simsbury, Connecticut, and more importantly, they live in Newington. So my hometown can officially boast a pair of Olympic medalists. Woohoo! Can’t hide that Newington pride! :)

(Why do this year’s medals look like CD-R disks? Oh, well…)

You can read more about Goncharov and Grushina here. Their official site is here.

P.S. For a closer look at Grushina’s costume — which it most certainly merits :) — look here, here and here.

Said ESPN’s Jim Caple: “Ukraine’s Elena Grushina wore a white dress that was not only backless, it was virtually frontless, as well, with tassels strategically dangling over her chest.” The L.A. Times’s Helene Elliott was more blunt: “[Grushina and Goncharov’s] claim to fame will be Grushina’s spangled, tassled, stripper-like outfit.” Heh.

UPDATE: Fellow NDLS 2L (and figure skater) Alex Ho was equally unimpressed with Grushina’s costume:

Grushina wins tonight’s award for absolute worst costume. The commentators remarked that she was “pushing the envelope” in the costume department. But as [Alex’s girlfriend] Honor puts it, they didn’t push the envelope - they tore up the envelope and then burned it in effigy.

Heh. “And please, stop wearing headbands,” he adds.

Goncharov’s costume doesn’t escape Alex’s ire, either: “Goncharov’s outfit, while more decent, definitely doesn’t win any fashion awards; it looked like something out of the back of Siegfried and Roy’s closet.”

Alex has much, much more on the day’s ice-dancing events. As I said earlier, if you’re looking for an NDLS 2L with good coverage of Olympic figure skating on his blog, you’ve come to the wrong place. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200, just go directly to Alex’s blog.

Once again, Gonzaga today faced an unexpectedly tough challenge from an inferior opponent, and once again came out on top. The final score was 81-71, which doesn’t sound overly close, but it was a hard-fought game throughout. And when you consider that Pepperdine is 7-17 on the season, and came within 10 points of beating Gonzaga despite shooting just 39% from the floor, the Zags’ win looks even less impressive. I have to admit, I’m starting to get genuinely worried about this team’s chances of making the deep NCAA run that I’m nevertheless going to brashly predict in my bracket less than three weeks from now. :)

The mere fact that Pepperdine, playing at home on senior night, came within 10 points of beating Gonzaga doesn’t faze me. As I’ve pointed out before, the Zags have a huge bullseye on their backs in the WCC, and it’s no surprise that their conference foes often play them closer than you might expect. For teams like Pepperdine, the night they host Gonzaga is the date they have circled on their calendars all year long. Of course they’re going to play inspired basketball. So what bothers me isn’t the final score. Rather, the devil is in the details. The way Pepperdine played Gonzaga close is what bothers me.

The Waves employed essentially the same strategy that St. Mary’s did two weeks ago, playing extremely physical defense in an attempt to contain Adam Morrison. You might call it “hack-a-’stache.” :) And again, it worked.

Morrison scored just 26 points on 7-of-17 shooting, including 1-of-6 from three-point land, a definite off-night for him (although admittedly, an awful lot of players wish they could have “off-nights” like that). He was also a middling 11-of-17 from the free-throw line. At least this time he didn’t get quite so frustrated and commit a bunch of stupid fouls on the defensive end, like in the St. Mary’s game when he almost fouled out. (He had 3 fouls in this game.) Still, though, it was not Morrison’s finest hour. Thank goodness for the out-of-nowhere contribution of Pierre Marie Altidor-Cespedes, who scored a career-high 17 points, or the Zags could have been in far deeper trouble.

The main reason this game wasn’t quite as close as the St. Mary’s game (which the Zags won 62-61) is that the refs called it much closer. That resulted in a number of Waves players getting in serious foul trouble, as well as Morrison getting those 17 free-throw attempts (vs. just 3 in the St. Mary’s game). Also, Pepperdine is fundamentally just not a very good team. The Waves created lots of opportunities, but couldn’t capitalize on enough of them. At the end of the day, they simply didn’t shoot the ball well enough to win. 39 percent shooting isn’t going to beat the #5-ranked team in the country, no matter how physical you are on defense.

Needless to say, depending on the refs to call the game close, and depending on your opponent to shoot the ball poorly, is an awfully chancy strategy for success, and one that’s very unlikely to net you six consecutive NCAA Tournament wins. A scrappy, physical opponent and a refereeing crew with a “let ‘em play” philosophy could spell disaster for the Zags in the Big Dance, especially when you consider that both Pepperdine and St. Mary’s are inferior to the caliber of team that Gonzaga is likely to play even in the first round — probably a #15 seed — and certainly in all rounds after that.

Morrison, in particular, needs to learn how to not get rattled by physical defenses. He’s improved since the St. Mary’s game, but more improvement is needed. Perhaps Mark Few could bring in some linesmen from the Washington State football team to guard him in practice. :) More generally, Morrison needs to work on his consistency. He’s been a streaky player lately, coming out flat at times. Against the Loyola Marymounts and Pepperdines of the world, he can have prolonged cold streaks and still end up with big numbers, but against the UConns and Dukes, that’s not going to happen. Of course, he has generally played his best against the best competition, so hopefully he’ll rise to the occasion in the tourney. But his streakiness is nevertheless cause for concern.

Another major cause for concern is point guard Derek Raivio, who simply has not been able to play recently at the level he’s capable of. Raivio’s contributions were crucial to the Zags’ wins over Maryland, Michigan State and Virginia earlier in the season, and they’ll need him at top form in the tournament. I hope Mark Few will use the Zags’ season-ending homestand — two more regular-season games, followed by the WCC tournament, which Gonzaga is hosting — to play around with some offensive schemes that will give Raivio some opportunities to score. Maybe he just needs a confidence boost to get his groove back. (In fairness, he did score 12 points tonight, his best scoring night since January 23. But he still missed too many open shots, and when you look back at his 20-plus-point efforts from earlier in the season, you have to wonder what happened to the Derek Raivio we know and love.)

On the bright side, the emergence of Altidor-Cespedes is certainly a good thing; hopefully this will prove to have been a breakout game for him. And J.P. Batista (16 points) has a been a rock — arguably the Zags’ most consistent player. If Morrison can shake off the hack-a-stache strategy, Raivio can regain his mojo and Altidor-Cespedes can play like he did tonight, this team will be hard to stop offensively. Of course, that brings us to the defensive concerns that Andrew has raised previously… but I’ll take my chances with a Gonzaga team that’s humming on offense the way these guys are capable of. I just want to hear that “hum” again!

Anyway, if I were being totally objective, I don’t know that I’d pick the Zags to reach the Final Four at this point. Of course, I’m never totally objective in filling out my brackets, so I will pick them to reach the Final Four… and indeed, to win it all! :) However, I hope these last four games (vs. San Diego, vs. San Francisco, WCC semis, and — knock on wood — WCC title game) will give me some more reason to hope that my faith will not once again be in vain.

P.S. I should add: hearty congratulations to the Zags for their sixth consecutive WCC regular-season title, which they clinched outright tonight. Two more wins at the McCarthey Athletic Center — where they’ve never lost — and Gonzaga will have completed an undefeated WCC season for just the second time ever. Woohoo! Those final two games are Saturday against San Diego and Monday against San Francisco.

GO ZAGS!!!

There are rumors on the Internets that the Harvard Crimson is about to report that controversial university president Larry Summers will resign. (Hat tip: InstaPundit, who says, “If it’s true, it’s worse news for Harvard than for him.”) Nothing yet on the Crimson website.

UPDATE: Here’s the Crimson story.

The blogger who started the rumor mill churning writes:

It’s funny, some have criticized (maybe fairly) this blog for feeding the rumor mill without hard facts. Then I read the Crimson story today: it’s the same thing! No one but two Wall Street Journal anonymous sources seems to be able to confirm this thing. Until then, I will continue to report on reports of other people’s reports.

Heh.

It could happen tomorrow:

Years before Hurricane Katrina hit, engineers knew that New Orleans was the most vulnerable spot in the country for flood damage — and some even predicted almost exactly how the tragedy would unfold.

Now the experts say California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta presents the next cause for concern. “The Sacramento area is perhaps, after New Orleans, the scariest spot in the country,” said Nicholas Pinter, a geologist at Southern Illinois University who studies river flood risks. …

The chances of a catastrophic flood occurring in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta sometime in the next 50 years are about two out of three, said Jeffrey Mount, director of the Center for Integrated Watershed Science and Management at the University of California at Davis.

“It is the most at-risk large metropolitan area in the country, with less than half the protection” that New Orleans had, Mount said. “It is at extreme risk due to levee failure and subsidence.”

Alas, the California legislature does not appear to be on the ball with regard to this issue.

Coming up next on ESPN2… Gonzaga at Pepperdine, the Zags’ last road game of the regular season. A win tonight, and the only thing separating Gonzaga from an undefeated conference season will be two games at the two-year-old McCarthey Athletic Center, where the Zags have never lost. (They’ve won 36 straight home games, the best streak in the nation.) Moreover, with the Zags hosting the WCC tournament this year, tonight’s contest will be Gonzaga’s last game away from the friendly confines of McCarthey until the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

In the teams’ previous meeting, the Zags crushed the Waves 102-73 at McCarthey. A win tonight would also assure them of sole possession of a sixth straight conference title. (They’ve already clinched at least a share of the title.)

GO ZAGS!

The Blue-Gray Sky notes some NCAA rule changes for the 2006-07 season, including a new instant-replay procedure. The Bush Push is mentioned, but I give BGS credit for rightly observing, “I don’t think the Bush Push would have been called by any conference crew.”

Losses on Friday by Providence and on Saturday by St. John’s, coupled with Notre Dame’s big win at Seton Hall, have bumped the Irish up to 12th place in the Big East standings — meaning, if the season ended today, they would qualify for the Big East Tournament (and a first-round rematch with Georgetown, which beat ND in double-overtime last month).

It’s too early to figure out all the possibilities, scenarios, tiebreakers and such, but bottom line, if the Irish can get a split in their last four games (at UConn, vs. Marquette, at Providence, vs. DePaul), I think they’re in. And then qualifying for the NCAA Tournament is a “simple” matter of winning four straight games against some of the best teams in the nation.

What though the odds be great or small…

Old Democrats: “Those evil Republicans are a bunch of racist, xenophobic bastards who think that all Arabs are terrorists!”

New Democrats: “Those evil Republicans are outsourcing our national security to ARABS!!! And… y’know… Arabs are terrorists!!!”

Disclaimer: I don’t necessarily agree with the Bush Administration on the U.A.E. port deal… nor do I necessarily disagree with it. I don’t feel that I know enough about it to have an educated opinion. Perhaps the Dems really do have some legitimate concerns. But I do find, at the very least, a certain superficial irony at work here. So you can consider this a guest post by “Devil’s Advocate.” :)

P.S. Andrew, on the other hand, has a definite opinion, and it’s basically the same as my “Devil’s Advocate” opinion above. On the flip side, Michelle Malkin has a definite opinion, too — the opposite one. Politics sure makes strange bedfellows: Chuck Schumer and Michelle Malkin? Really?

President Bush will speak at a luncheon fundraiser for Congressman Chris Chocola at Bethel College on Thursday.

Guest poster: Mike Wiser

Dane sent along this link, in an apparent attempt to raise my blood pressure. Congrats, Dane. It worked. Sorry about the length of this one, all, but the whole “after the jump” feature isn’t currently available.

[UPDATE: It’s available again, so here goes…]

(more…)

Highlight the text below for the spoiler…

Newington’s Olympians, Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov of the Ukraine, won the bronze! WOOHOO!!!

Americans Tanith Belmin and Ben Agosto (not from Newington) won silver. The Russian pair, Tatyana Navka and Roman Kostomarov, won gold.

The other Newingtonian pair, Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov of the U.S., finished 14th. Full results here.

Heh: “If Senator Byrd is the Emperor Palpatine of pork, then Ted Stevens has clear aspirations to be his Darth Vader. The Dark Side of the pork Force runs strong with this one, and it runs straight over a Bridge To Nowhere.” (Hat tip: InstaPundit.)

Olympic ice dancers Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov of the Ukraine, who are in third place heading into today’s final skate after an epidemic of falls jumbled the standings yesterday, trained in Newington, CT — my hometown — from April 2003 to September 2005. Alas, they then moved to Simsbury (a hoity-toitier Connecticut suburb), so technically I suppose they’re “Simsbury’s Olympians” now. But, darn it, I’m still claiming them. Newington taught them everything they know! :)

They’ll skate in tonight’s Free Dance to the music of Peter Gabriel’s “The Feeling Begins.”

UPDATE: U.S. ice dancers Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov, currently in 14th place, are also recent exiles from Newington to Simsbury. (What, does Newington have cooties or something?) The official Newington Arena website claims them (as well as Grushina and Goncharov) as among the skaters who call Newington home, but according to the Jewish Ledger, “the couple recently changed their training site from a rink in Newington to the International Skating Center of Connecticut in Simsbury.” (See also this NBC30 article.)

But hey, even if they don’t skate there anymore, NBCOlympics.com lists Newington as the residence of all four skaters: Grushina, Goncharov, Gregory and Petukhov. So they really are Newington’s Olympians! Woohoo!

(Hat tips: Lisa Velte and Ed Joyce.)

P.S. There’s one other Olympian with a Newington connection — albeit a somewhat more tenuous one. Japan’s Daisuke Takahashi, who finished eighth in men’s figure skating, “spent the summer of 2005 in Newington, Conn.,” according to his NBCOlympics.com profile. Indeed, it was in Newington that his Olympic-year skating routines were choreographed, apparently. But unlike the four aforementioned ice dancers, he doesn’t live in Newington. (He lives in Okayama, Japan.)

P.P.S. The Free Dance is underway. If you don’t mind spoilers, you can view the live results here as they come in. Go, Grushina and Goncharov, go! :)

Really, though, if you’re looking for an NDLS 2L’s blog with information about Olympic figure skating and ice dancing, you’ve come to the wrong place. Alex Ho is your man.

This is a great story. (Hat tip: Andrew Leyden.)

UPDATE: Apparently, the link doesn’t work if you’re not a free online subscriber to the L.A. Times website. Well, try accessing the article via this Google News search; sometimes subscription-only articles work for everyone that way.

If that fails, you can read this or this article.