source file
MP3 File

Finally, after four straight Trojan games that I was unable to watch, tonight’s USC-Oregon State game is on TV here in South Bend… but, just before kickoff, our cable went out. ARRRRGH!!!!! I’m on hold with the cable company right now, but needless to say, if this problem doesn’t fix itself in the next few minutes, we’re going somewhere where we can watch this thing… friend’s house, sports bar, whatever. Details are still being worked out. In the mean time, Oregon State has taken a 7-0 lead and just intercepted the ball in the end zone when USC looked poised to score. Yikes!

UPDATE: Crap crap crap.

Crappity crap crap crap.

Crap.

Oregon State 30, USC 10 with 7:55 left in the third quarter.

UPDATE 2: CRAP!!!!!

UPDATE 3: Okay, the Trojans are showing some life. It’s 33-17 at the end of the third quarter. Well, one of my teams has come back from a 16-point deficit in the fourth quarter this season… now it’s the other’s turn. Go Trojans!!! C’mon, Beavers, pull a Sparty!!!

He’s an Oregon State fan now, honest!

UPDATE 4: It’s a one-possession game! OSU 33, USC 25 with 12:02 left.

Today I spent three hours calling Joe Lieberman supporters from the state Lieberman headquarters. I was given a stack of voter sheets of people throughout Connecticut who had registered their support for him via e-mail. Most were in Fairfield County (Connecticut’s Gold Coast) and a lot were Republicans. Also a number were Independents. And, yes, there were Democrats, too. Which is also remarkable, given the recent choice by Democratic leadership and activists for Ned Lamont. Almost without exception, these are voters who want a centrist candidate and/or admire Lieberman’s 18-year record and conscience. Strangely (to me at least), it was very easy to talk to all of them about someone who had been a 3-term Democrat. Some Republicans and Independents had voted for him each time he had run as a Democrat . Many said “I don’t agree with him on some/most/almost all issues, but I know he is principled and I trust will make reasoned choices for Connecticut (and the nation).”

These conversations were refreshing experience for me. I have in the past worked as a phone volunteer calling Democrats for Democrats. This was something new: These were voters who, though party members, will be voting “outside the box” to support a seasoned politician on the merits of issues rather than party line.

Here in Connecticut, voting machines had their party levers removed long ago, but what I had mostly heard and seen up to now was party lever thinking. Pull away a party affiliation and people start to think in other ways.

I call this a Good Thing.

Michigan State is losing 46-7 to Indiana, early in the fourth quarter.

Forty-six. To. Seven.

To Indiana!

LOL! I love it! The Athletic Director should march down to the sideline and fire John L. Smith on the spot. Heh.

Alas, Illinois blew its big halftime lead and it looks like Wisconsin will win. So we won’t get to see both Illinois and Indiana win Big Ten games on the same day for the first time since 2002.

But Michigan State will become the first team since Wisconsin that year to lose to both the Illini and Hoosiers in the same year. (Well… barring a Spartan comeback even more miraculous than last week’s best-in-football-history comeback.)

This win will put Indiana one win away from becoming bowl-eligible, potentially making them the first time in Division I-A history to play in a bowl after losing to a Division I-AA team. The Hoosiers’ remaining games: at Minnesota, vs. Michigan and at Purdue.

UPDATE: Hoosiers 46, Spartans 21, final.

I realize CBS doesn’t regularly televise Notre Dame games, but there’s no excuse for these announcers continually expressing surprise at Charlie Weis deciding to go for it on fourth down. Going for it on fourth down is a Charlie Weis trademark. Everyone who watches Notre Dame football knows this. Do your research, guys!

Anyway, it’s 31-14 Notre Dame after a 4th-and-goal attempt by the Irish failed. Navy is deep in their own territory with 12:54 left. Brian Stouffer is still liveblogging.

Does anyone know why Blogger has been having so many problems this week?

Bflo Blog has a preview of the Sabres-Thrashers game tonight at HSBC Arena in Buffalo. After losing to the Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup semifinals last year, the Sabres have come out 10-0, tying the NHL record for the best start ever. See ESPN’s mildly crappy analysis here. If Buffalo wins tonight, they would break the record in dramatic fashion, as the Thrashers are chasing the Sabres for the #1 spot in the Eastern Conference standings. To make the potential win even sweeter, one of Buffalo’s bigger rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, holds the old record.

LET’S GO BUFFALO!

At halftime, Illinois leads 24-10 over #17 Wisconsin, and Indiana leads 30-7 over Michigan State! The latter should only be 24-7, but in a classic Michigan State Moment^TM that may have sealed John L. Smith’s fate once and for all, the Spartans ran a bonehead play and managed to fumble the ball deep in their own territory when they were just trying to salt away the clock, giving it back to Illinois, who promptly scored a TD (then missed the extra point).

I wonder when was the last time the Illini and Hoosiers both won a Big Ten game on the same day?

UPDATE: I found the answer! ‘Twas October 12, 2002, when Indiana beat Wisconsin 32-29 and Illinois beat Purdue 38-31. (Hat tip: jhowell.net.)

Coincidentally, Wisconsin in 2002 is also the last team to lose to both Illinois and Indiana in the same season — a feat Michigan State looks poised to match. Hopefully this time they won’t start a brawl at midfield.

I just saw a Joe Donnelly ad in which he accused Chris Chocola of “questioning my patriotism.” Does anyone know what Donnelly is referring to? If he’s talking about a specific TV ad, is there a video link? I’d love to see it.

If Chocola actually questioned Donnelly’s patriotism, that’s despicable. On the other hand, if Donnelly is doing what Democrats have occasionally been known to do — accusing Republicans of “questioning their patriotism” when in reality, the Republicans were simply questioning their policies — that’s also despicable. Accusations that the other side is questioning your patriotism are not something to be thrown around lightly.

Neither side has the right to take legitimate policy debates off the table by asserting that it’s “questioning my patriotism” to, for example, argue that a proposed policy would embolden the terrorists, or hinder our efforts to defeat them. Such arguments cannot be off-limits, any more than it’s off-limits for Democrats to argue that Bush’s policies have made us less safe.

I hope Chocola really did question Donnelly’s patriotism, because if Donnelly is being deceptive about this, it’s going to make me think less of him… and maybe reconsider my vote (or at least the Donnelly ad in my left sidebar).

P.S. Anticipating the obvious counter-argument: yes, there is a substantial portion of the American public that is prejudicially predisposed to believe that any disagreement with the administration’s policies is unpatriotic, and thus to infer “X is unpatriotic” from the statement “X’s policies will make America less safe,” where X is a Democrat. But where the argument itself (”X’s policies will make America less safe”) is legitimate on its face, it is patently unreasonable for the Democrats to demand that the Republicans stop saying it. You need to judge the Republicans on what they actually say (and imply), not what others infer from what they say. That remains true even if the Republicans know people are going to infer it; you can’t expect either party to unilaterally abandon a key portion of its platform just because some people are inevitably going to misinterpret it, to the other party’s detriment.

The solution to the problem of people hearing “X’s policies will make America less safe” and concluding “X is unpatriotic” isn’t for the Democrats to demand that the GOP stop criticizing X’s policies — it’s for the Democrats to take their case to the American people and explain why X’s policies won’t make America less safe, and remind them (in non-defensive terms) that X is very patriotic and wants to win the war; he just thinks the current strategy is failing and wants to change course (it would help here if the Democrats could propose a specific new course that they want to set). That’s how you blunt the GOP’s argument — not by whining about how all the big mean Republicans are implicitly questioning your patriotism by criticizing your proposed policies. The latter course isn’t going to win many votes, nor should it.

P.P.S. All that said… I still don’t know whether any of this applies to the Chocola-Donnelly situation, because I don’t know what Chocola said that Donnelly took such umbrage at. A couple of Google News searches turned up nothing. Any clues?

It’s 3-0 Irish early, but Navy is threatening. The Midshipmen are inside the red zone.

I’ve been saying for weeks that any of the service academies could potentially beat Notre Dame, if the Irish don’t come to play. Navy (5-2) has looked good this year, and always plays hard against Notre Dame; Air Force (3-3) almost won at Tennessee, and we’re playing them at their stadium (and their elevation); and Army (3-5) almost won at Texas A&M, and could take advantage of ND’s players looking past them to the next week’s game against USC. I’m not predicting a loss, I’m just saying these are not guaranteed victories; the Irish need to show up and play a decent game. (Now, North Carolina, that’s pretty close to a guaranteed victory… he says, knocking on wood furiously.)

So, could this be the opening salvo of an upset? Well… no. While I was typing the above, the Notre Dame defense stuffed the Midshipmen, and then Navy’s kicker missed the field goal. So it’s still 3-0 Irish, and Quinn & co. have the ball back.

GOOOOO IRISH, BEEEEEAT NAVY!

…and later…

FIGHT ON TROJANS, BEAT THE BEAVERS!

UPDATE: Irish score on a great TD catch by David Grimes… and it’s 10-0! Woohoo!

UPDATE 2: Now it’s 10-7 Irish.

I’m going to stop liveblogging, for the moment at least. But Brian Stouffer is liveblogging.

Considering that today’s college football action is already underway, I figure I’d better post my weekly update on the remaining unbeaten and winless teams in Division I-A, and who they play this weekend.

With West Virginia and Louisville both idle in preparation for Thursday’s huge head-to-head showdown, Boise State also idle, and Rutgers playing tomorrow night (go UConn!), it’s a relatively quiet day among the unbeatens. Only the top three — Ohio State, Michigan and USC — are in action. Among the winless teams, Stanford is idle, but the other three have games today.

THE SPECTACULAR SEVEN
(Undefeated teams ranked according to AP poll; opponents ranked according to the CBS Sportsline 119. Betting odds from Vegas.com.)

1. Ohio State (8-0) — vs. #66 Minnesota (3-5), 3:30 PM — Buckeyes favored by 28
2. Michigan (8-0) — vs. #90 Northwestern (2-6), noon — Michigan by 30
3. USC (6-0) — at #47 Oregon State (4-3), 3:30 PM — USC by 11 1/2
4. West Virginia (7-0) — Idle
6. Louisville (7-0) — Idle
15. Boise State (8-0) — Idle
16. Rutgers (7-0) — vs. #84 UConn (3-4), 8:00 PM Sunday — Rutgers by 19

THE FEEBLE FOUR
(Ranked according to the CBS Sportsline 119. Betting odds from Vegas.com.)

114. Stanford (0-8) — Idle
117. Florida International (0-7) — at #39 Alabama (5-3), 3:07 PM — no point spread issued
118. Duke (0-7) — vs. #69 Vanderbilt (3-5), 1:00 PM — Vanderbilt by 9
119. Temple (0-8) — vs. #86 Bowling Green (4-4), 1:00 PM — Bowling Green by 15 1/2

As for the worst one-win team in Division I-A? #116 Buffalo is at #18 Boston College. BC is favored by 33, the second largest point-spread of the weekend. (#13 Arkansas is favored over #115 Louisiana-Monroe by 35.)