NYU won’t tolerate public display and discussion of something it deems intolerant, even if some might reasonably disagree. Dissent from NYU’s position on what constitutes “tolerance” will not be tolerated. After all, we must be tolerant!

Seriously, how farcical is it that, in the name of “tolerance,” not just newspapers but major academic institutions are now forbidding people from having open and fully informed discussions about important social and political topics? (And if you think it’s possible to be “fully informed” about the Muhammad cartoons without looking at them… well… I can’t help you.)

In an article published yesterday morning, Editor & Publisher provides confirmation that indeed, I am a nominee for Blogger of the Year in The Week’s third annual “opinion awards.” (I previously knew about this only through a fellow nominee’s second-hand report; see here.)

It’s a really cool honor to be nominated, but, um, is it weird that no one has, like, contacted me about this? That I found out about it only by chance, because one of my fellow nominees linked to me while discussing it on his blog, and I noticed the link in my traffic stats? That I received confirmation of my nomination only through a Google News search for “blogger of the year”?

Anyway, the lack of contact would seem to suggest that I’m not actually going to win, considering that, according to E & P, “Winners will be honored at an event in Washington, D.C. on April 4″ — coincidentally my fourth blogaversary. Here’s more on the event, which says it’s “by invitation only.” Presumably, if I were invited to an event in D.C. next Tuesday, I’d know about it by now. :)

Not that I’m complaining, mind you. Like I said, being nominated is awesome, and I didn’t seriously expect to win. (Though I’ll admit to being mildly disappointed that I don’t get to attend an event at which one of my senators*, Chris Dodd, is the keynote speaker, and the panel discussion is on the topic: “Covering the Presidency: Are White House Correspondents Real Journalists?”) It just seems a little odd that nobody’s contacted me, that’s all.

*Well, technically Evan Bayh and Dick Lugar are “my senators”… soon to be supplanted by John McCain and Jon Kyl… but in my heart I’m still a Nutmegger, not a Hoosier, so I feel more attachment to Dodd and (especially) Lieberman than Bayh or Lugar.

P.S. Hmm… thinking this through… if only the winning blogger is invited… how on earth do they prevent that blogger from revealing the result on his/her blog, in advance? It’s generally fairly difficult to convince bloggers to “sit on” a story. If someone called me up tomorrow and said, “Brendan Loy, you’re the Blogger of the Year, and you’re going to Disney World Washington, D.C.,” I’d sure as heck blog about it! I suppose if they specifically asked me not to say that I won, I’d probably be willing to oblige, but I’d certainly feel obligated to at least tell my readers, “Umm… I’m going to D.C. next week… can’t really tell you why, but um… stay tuned.” And that would pretty much give away the ghost to those in the know, wouldn’t it? But then, I guess this isn’t exactly the Oscars, secrecy-wise…

P.P.S. Wonkette suggests “an eating contest between Arianna Huffington and Michelle Malkin for Blogger of the Year.” Heh. Well, if it’s to be decided by an eating contest, I would definitely lose. Unless maybe we’re eating brussel sprouts, as I believe I’m the only person in America who seriously loves brussel sprouts.

He got the minimum: five years and 10 months in prison.

The unsightly Bruin nonsense is gone from the top of the homepage, per the terms of the bet. Phew!

The UCLA jersey photo remains until Saturday, but I feel better already. :)

“WWE: Illegal Mexican Wrestlers Taking Smackdowns American Wrestlers Don’t Want.”

Condolences to Glenn Reynolds of InstaPundit, whose grandmother died yesterday.

Regional final wins by North Carolina and Duke on Tuesday narrowed the 9th annual Living Room Times women’s NCAA pool to a two-person race.

If Duke wins the national championship, Victoria Lopez of Hoboken, NJ (a.k.a. “Vicki from NJ”), a former USC classmate of Brendan and Becky Loy, will win the pool — becoming the first Trojan ever to win a Living Room Times pool.

But if North Carolina, Maryland or LSU wins the championship, Rick Boeckler of Silver Spring, MD — Becky’s uncle — will win his second LRT women’s pool. Boeckler was also the 2003 champion. He would be the second person to win two women’s pools (joining Todd Stigliano), and the fourth to win two Times pools, men’s or women’s (joining Stigliano, Jenn Castelhano and Matt Kagan).

Both Boeckler and Lopez predicted a Duke-UNC championship game. The only difference is who they picked as champion. Lopez picked Duke; Boeckler picked UNC.

If North Carolina beats Duke in the title game, Boeckler will finish with 415 points, which would second only to himself on the all-time points list.

Complete standings here and after the jump.

(more…)

South Carolina beat Louisville in the second NIT semifinal Tuesday, 78-63, setting up an NIT championship game against Michigan that will also decide the 2nd annual BrendanLoy.com NIT pool.

Brad Miller, a law student at Capital University in Columbus, OH, picked South Carolina to win the tournament, and will win the pool if the Gamecocks prevail. Gary Kirby (a.k.a. “gahrie”), a member of the USC Class of 1987, picked Michigan, and will win the pool if the Wolverines win.

Complete standings here and after the jump.

(more…)

The UConn women have just been hit by two consecutive horrible calls — a “foul” on a completely clean block, followed by a “foul” where three defenders had a Duke player legitimately trapped without making contact. The points Duke has scored as a result of these bogus, phantom fouls have allowed the Blue Devils to take a three-point lead with 7:34 to go.

Is this karmic retribution for the illegitimate, referee-decided “win” by the UConn men over Washington in the Sweet Sixteen? If so, it’s not really fair… it’s not Geno Auriemma’s fault that Jim Calhoun likes to bully the refs!! C’mon, basketball gods, don’t punish the women for the men’s undeserved success! Two wrongs don’t make a right! :)

With apologies to Vicki: GO HUSKIES! BEAT THE DEVILS!

UPDATE: And now, with the score tied and Duke on offense, UConn’s defense forces a jump ball with 3 seconds left… but instead the refs give Duke the timeout… even though two UConn players had their hands on the ball when she called it. ARGH!

UPDATE 2: And now DUKE COMMITTED A BACKCOURT VIOLATION WITH 1.9 SECONDS LEFT, AND IT WASN’T CALLED!!! Duke missed the shot, so the game goes to overtime… but UConn should have had a chance for a final shot with 1.9 to go (if not 3 seconds; see above). That’s FOUR BAD CALLS that have gone Duke’s way in the final minutes, including TWO in the final THREE SECONDS!!!!

Honestly, how hard is it to call a BACKCOURT VIOLATION?? I mean, that’s not even debatable! Pay attention, refs!!! What game are you watching?!?

The state of Connecticut officially feels your pain, Washington fans…

UPDATE 3: Game over; Duke wins in OT. Duke goes to the Final Four.

I’m not going to blame this loss on the refs… it wasn’t as clear-cut as the Washington game… but it’s a shame the refereeing was so crappy down the stretch in regulation, because we’ll really never know who would have won if not for the officiating errors.

Ultimately, though, UConn had its chances to win the game, but came up short. Duke was the better team today. The Huskies might have been able to pull off a miracle, though, except that their clutchiest clutch player, Barbara Turner, went down with cramps at the end, and was unable to play on UConn’s final offensive possession.

This “Irish Bruin” crap is driving me NUTS!

Michigan’s 66-43 win over Old Dominion eliminated Andrew Long from the BrendanLoy.com NIT pool and gave Gary “gahrie” Kirby a chance to clinch the pool tonight if Louisville beats South Carolina.

The only remaining contestant with a chance to beat Kirby is Brad Miller, but Miller’s only hope is for the Gamecocks to win the championship. Thus, if they lose tonight, Kirby clinches the pool. He would be the second straight Trojan to win the NIT pool, following Tom Keck’s victory last year.

With 1:46 left in the first half, South Carolina leads by 7.

North Carolina’s 75-63 win over Tennessee — denying Pat Summitt’s Vols a fifth straight trip to the Final Four — means Jay Johnson, Kim Stone and A.J. St. John are mathematically eliminated from the Living Room Times women’s NCAA pool, and Rick Boeckler is “safe” for the day.

Now, the UConn-Duke game — amazingly, the first-ever NCAA Tournament matchup between the Huskies and Blue Devils on the women’s side — will determine who else gets eliminated tonight. If UConn wins, Victoria Lopez will be eliminated, ending any chance for a Trojan to win a Times pool championship this year. If Duke wins, Lisa Velte, Conor Sullivan and Scott Loomer will be eliminated. Detailed scenario info here. Duke leads by 5 at halftime.

Bad news for Andrew Long, Jay Johnson, Kim Stone and A.J. St. John: UNC leads Tennessee by 12 at halftime in the women’s Elite Eight, and Michigan leads ODU by 9 at halftime in the men’s NIT semifinals. If these results hold up, Long will be eliminated from the BrendanLoy.com NIT pool, and Johnson, Stone and St. John will be eliminated from the Living Room Times women’s NCAA pool.

UPDATE: Both scores held up, so the above-mentioned contestants are eliminated.

Mike Tran is now officially a pseudo-celebrity, and I’m a Sports Illustrated writer. Well, SI On Campus online, anyway.

My friend and fellow USC grad Arash Markazi (who really is an SI writer) was sufficiently impressed by Mike’s bracket that he e-mailed me yesterday and asked if I could write an article about it for SIOC’s “Walk-On” column. Naturally, I was all too happy to oblige. (So, Mike, how does it feel to rise to fame on the shoulders of two Trojans? :)

Excerpt:

If you’re looking for advice on filling out your NCAA Tournament bracket next year, you might want to talk to Mike Tran.

Mike is a classmate of mine at Notre Dame Law School and a 2004 graduate of UCLA. He’s also apparently a gifted bracketologist. In a year when most people — pundits and alleged experts included — watched helplessly as their brackets were devastated by a string of ridiculous upsets, Mike correctly predicted 13 of the Sweet 16, seven of the Elite Eight, and three of the Final Four. His national champion and runner-up are still alive. Amazing.

No, he didn’t pick George Mason. In fact, those pesky Patriots are responsible for three of the five games he’s gotten wrong since the first round. But Mike had the right idea: he predicted that UConn would lose in a major Elite Eight upset. The only problem? He had the Huskies falling to Michigan State, the first of George Mason’s four upset victims.

If Mike had simply switched Michigan State and George Mason, he’d have the best bracket in America — and I’d be convinced he owns Marty McFly’s sports almanac.

Even without going back to the future, though, Mike made some mighty impressive picks.

I was trying to write in the SIOC style, there, throwing out a random pop-culture reference. :) I really should give a hat tip to Biff, though. Anyway, read the whole thing. It’s two pages long; here’s page 2.

UPDATE: And of course now, any and all new readers who come to my site from the article about Tran get to see my blog in all its “Irish Bruin” glory. Bah!

P.S. I just noticed, they cut one of my favorite lines! After “Besides, he adds, ‘I’d gladly pay money to see UCLA win the championship,’” it was supposed to say, “I’m pretty sure that would be an NCAA violation, but regardless, a UCLA win would give Mike the largest margin of victory in the 10-year history of my pools.” They deleted everything before “a UCLA win.” I guess NCAA violations are no laughing matter. Heh.

It’s Sexual Assault Awareness Week at Notre Dame, and a new group called Men Against Violence has formed “to encourage men to take a proactive stance against sexual violence,” which I think is really awesome. I’ve spoken out at several USC “Take Back The Night” rallies about the need for just that sort of effort. On a more sobering note, however, a SMC student alleges that she was sexually assaulted over the weekend, possibly at Zahm Hall.

In a related story, although nothing has been proven yet, it appears that the Duke University lacrosse team may be in dire need of proactive action against sexual violence… like perhaps jail time. Here’s an interview with the alleged victim. And here is Duke’s official statement on the matter.