( Hopeful reminder for celtic-averse readers: this Unseasonable post is very Soon to be Submerged beneath mountains of material documenting tomorrow’s Next-scheduled Embarrassment to The Irish. :)

This sort of served to Punctuate DUP leader Ian Paisley’s refusal ~ again ~ to head up a Northern Ireland coalition government with Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness as his Deputy ~ in part pending, the Reverend Doctor had said shortly before the gun-&-knife-toting Unionist’s assault on the parliament building, the Nationalists’ bringing “…a complete end to paramilitary and criminal activity and the removal of terrorist structures.”

From the AP version:

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — The Northern Ireland Assembly missed another deadline for forming a government Friday, then politicians fled the building as one of the province’s most infamous Protestant militants burst in, claiming to have a bomb.

Police subdued Michael Stone, who killed three people at an Irish Republican Army funeral in 1988, after he tossed a bag into the building and claimed it contained a bomb.

Politicians and journalists were ordered out of the building as the fire alarm sounded — and two security guards pinned Stone by both arms to the main doorway. He was later wrestled outside, into pouring rain and wind, as he shouted a favored Protestant militant slogan: “No surrender!”

…Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain ordered an immediate investigation into what he called a “very serious breach of security.”

[Ya think? / ~ the guestblogger :]

Stone’s demonstration came minutes after Protestant leader Ian Paisley refused to accept a nomination as the future leader of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing administration.

…The prime ministers of Britain and Ireland, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, said Stone’s threat illustrated why rival British Protestant and Irish Catholic politicians should compromise and form a stable coalition as the Good Friday peace accord intended.

[Ya think? / ~ the guestblogger :]

More Blarney after The Jump :)

(more…)

There was some confusion yesterday about a reference to the “green-numbered jerseys” that Notre Dame sometimes wears during road games. Here, courtesy of Rakes of Mallow, is a photo of Joe Montana wearing said jersey in 1977:

The last time the Irish wore their “road greens” was in the 1992 Sugar Bowl, when Notre Dame beat Florida, 39-28. So they don’t carry the same “jinx” that the home green jerseys did until it was broken against Army last week. I have no idea whether they’ll wear ‘em against USC, though. Interestingly enough, Notre Dame’s next game (after USC) could be another Sugar Bowl matchup with Florida.

You all know the stakes of tomorrow’s Notre Dame-USC game: a likely national championship berth for the Trojans, an outside shot at a title-game berth for the Irish; validation of Charlie Weis’s success at Notre Dame or the continuation of Pete Carroll’s domination of the Irish at USC; revenge for the Irish, pride for the Trojans. Oh yeah, and it’s only the greatest rivalry in college football.

But here’s something else that’s at stake: the status of infamous Irish Trojan comment-troll “Coach Leahy,” the only commenter I’ve ever banned from my blog. Despite being banned — for a second time — after numerous personal insults and inappropriate comments last month, Leahy still periodically e-mails me, comments on Becky’s blogs, and attempts to comment on my blog, occasionally making it through my spam filter. Earlier this month, he proposed a bet: if USC wins, he’ll leave me alone for good. No more e-mails, no more comments or attempted comments. If Notre Dame wins, I’ll reinstate him with full Irish Trojan comment privileges until the end of bowl season, and he’ll also be allowed to enter the second annual Irish Trojan Bowl Pick ‘em Contest.

Given how confident I am that the Trojans will prevail, I accepted the bet (after some negotiation which produced the precise terms described above). To which Leahy’s responded: “I hate to be trite, but with your acceptance of this bet, this game just became a LIFE or DEATH struggle. A small portion of my online life, but a life nonetheless.” Heh. He added: “I love that Bowl Contest, and I have a linear model which nearly guarantees victory this year.”

So, there you have it. It’s more than just USC vs. Notre Dame. It’s also Loy vs. Leahy. May the best Trojan win. ;)

Just got back from Casino Royale. Fun, entertaining movie. Best line: “God, I miss the Cold War.” Judi Dench rocks!

Now watching Texas losing, 12-7 to Texas A&M with 1:30 left. Go Aggies!

If Texas loses and Oklahoma beats Oklahoma State tomorrow, the Sooners will win the Big 12 South — even though they lost to Texas earlier in the season. So, it’d be Oklahoma vs. Nebraska in the Big 12 title game.

In other news, Miami has fired Larry Coker. The university is reportedly interested in Rutgers coach Greg Schiano.

UPDATE: I hope Colt McCoy is okay… and I understand Mack Brown’s concern… but shouldn’t the head coach be on the sideline, using this “free timeout” to design a play and tell the backup quarterback what to do in the last 20 seconds of the game?

UPDATE 2: Texas loses! Though, I must say, in spite of not liking Texas very much, it’s hard to take as much joy in their loss after seeing an immobilized McCoy carted off the field.

Giant poster of Saphira, the dragon in "Eragon," which debuts next month. Woohoo!

A former Russian spy who died Thursday in London was poisoned by radiation, Britain's Health Protection Agency said, and experts are searching for “residual radioactive material” at a number of locations he may have visited. Visit CNN for the latest.

Here’s what our Thanksgiving turkey looked like before it was cooked:

I didn’t get a picture of it after it was cooked, but trust me, it looked delicious, and it was. The rest of the meal was great, too, as were those pumpkin pies you see in the background. My compliments to the chefs.

Anyway, I hope y’all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, like we did.

Oh, and I’m saying Anonymous (comment #10) wins the caption contest. Though I also like Mark’s a lot. Thanks for entering, everybody!

Now, it’s time for some big games. GO ZAGS! BEAT BUTLER! and of course, GO TROJANS! BEAT IRISH! It’s going to be a fun two days…

Gordon Riese, the Pac-10 replay official involved in the Oregon-Oklahoma fiasco back in September, knew that Oklahoma, not Oregon, had recovered the ball after the infamous onside kick — but he says he couldn’t tell the field officials that, because of the replay rules. He was only allowed to review whether Oregon had touched the ball before it had travelled 10 yards, and that call was inconclusive based on the video angles avaliable to him.

In addition to preventing Oklahoma from being a 10-1 title contender at this point, the Oregon-Oklahoma outcome also had the effect of boosting USC’s strength of schedule, with potentially significant ramifications if the Trojans win out. For example, in the Colley Matrix, which allows web users to “play God” and add or remove hypothetical games, changing the outcome of the Oregon-Oklahoma game results in USC being #3, behind Michigan, instead of #2, ahead of the Wolverines. Yikes.

If USC wins out and finishes #2 in the BCS, I sincerely hope the margin between the Trojans and Wolverines is large enough that this doesn’t make a difference.

A gorgeous Arizona sunset on Thanksgiving night.

On Thanksgiving, USC blog Conquest Chronicles gives thanks for Notre Dame. Seriously.

Notre Dame blogger Clashmore Mike has posted a lengthy interview with yours truly, including my long-winded prediction for Saturday’s game. After much vacillating, I settled on USC 31, Notre Dame 21. I also predicted: “Odds of an Irish win by more than 10 points: 5%. Odds of an Irish win by 10 points or less: 20%. Odds of a Trojan win by 10 points or less: 25%. Odds of a Trojan win by 11-20 points: 30%. Odds of a Trojan win by more than 20 points: 20%.”

Read the whole thing, if you can set aside 15 or 20 minutes. :)

I was too lazy to come up with a list of questions for Clashmore Mike, but Boi From Troy and The House Rock Built did a “home-and-home” interview trade-off. Here are Rock’s answers (on Boi’s site), and here are Boi’s answers (on Rock’s site). Particularly interesting is Rock’s answer to Boi’s question about the green jerseys:

What are the chances Notre Dame breaks out the green-numbered jerseys on Saturday?

Before the Army game, I would have said none whatsoever, but I’m starting to think that it’s a possibility after they broke out the jerseys for senior day. It seems like Weis is trying to bring back the Mojo to the green jerseys after a decade of misuse and bad fortune with them, because he has a pretty strong connection with them. He was a student in the stands in the ‘77 Green Jersey game against USC (hell of a game by the way), and I think it’s safe to say he wants them to be meaningful again.

My two bit conspiracy theory is that wearing them last week was not “a tribute to the seniors�, but just a way to remove the green jersey losing stigma in preparation for this week. Then again, I could be way off.

Meanwhile, Rakes of Mallow interviews Trojan Wire and Displaced Trojan.

A few more links related to USC-ND… TrojanWire looks at Pete Carroll’s press conference. Lexicon looks at various aspects of the rivalry. The House Rock Built offers bulletin-board material for the Irish, including two quotes from yours truly. Finally, the Blue-Gray Sky looks at how important this game is for the Irish:

I’ll take it a step further: this game is going to be one of the defining games of the Weis era. A win will validate the praise heaped upon Charlie for the last two years, while a loss will crush us, giving critics (and opposing recruiters) even more ammo against a program that still would not have a signature win over a truly great opponent.

Personally, I think if the Irish play USC close (but ultimately lose) at the Coliseum in November, and then win their BCS bowl game, it will validate their success over the last two years, with the bowl game giving Charlie Weis his much-needed “first big win” and breaking that awful bowl-game losing streak. And since I don’t think USC needs to win big for BCS purposes — a win, by whatever margin, followed by crushing UCLA, should be enough — that’s precisely what I’m rooting for: a close win by the Trojans, followed by the utter destruction of UCLA and then bowl victories for both the Irish and the Trojans.

In the wake of Joe Lieberman’s hiring the Bull Moose as his communications director, The American Prospect’s Mark Schmitt foresees a McCain-Lieberman independent run in 2008. He’s less than enthusiastic about the idea. I think it’d be freakin’ awesome. But I seriously doubt it will happen. (Hat tip: Wonkette.)

Woohoo!!! For only the second time since I was in seventh grade, the Newington High School football team defeats rival Wethersfield on Thanksgiving Day. And a shutout, to boot! Way to go, Indians!!!

Newington finishes the season 6-3-1. Wethersfield finishes 2-8.

Back on November 8, I wrote:

Lieberman’s margin of 114,773 votes over Lamont is 10.15% of the total number cast — which, in the BrendanLoy.com Senate contest “second tiebreaker,â€? is closer to Patrick Cullen’s prediction of a 12% margin than to Greg Rauen’s prediction of an 8% margin. However, because 10.15% is so close to the midway point between those predictions (10%)…it will probably be impossible to definitively declare a winner until…the Connecticut Secretary of the State’s office completes the official canvass in late November.

Well, I’m not sure if this is the final, official canvass, but I just looked up the official results as of November 15:

Lieberman (CFL) 564,086
Lamont (D) 450,837
Schlesinger (R) 109,196
Ferrucci (G) 5,922
Knibbs (CC) 4,638
Vassar (write-in) 80
Joy (write-in) 3

That’s a total of 1,134,762 votes cast… and a Lieberman margin of 113,249, which translates to a percentage margin of 9.97997818%. That would mean Rauen wins the BrendanLoy.com Senate Contest!

If the total number of votes cast is correct, a Lieberman margin of 113,477 or more would mean a Cullen victory; a margin of 113,476 or less would mean a Rauen victory. So just 228 votes separate the current situation from a Cullen win.

Like I said, though, I’m not certain if that’s the official final canvass. I may have to call the Secretary of the State’s office to find out, or ask my dad to look into it. :) So I’m not declaring a winner yet. But I do know the above-linked results are more up-to-date than the CNN results I linked to previously, because the Newington tabulation error is corrected in them. (My dad actually e-mail the Newington town clerk’s office to tell them about that error.)

In the BrendanLoy.com House Contest, meanwhile, Cullen is still poised to win, with four races still undecided. A Nun Mouse was eliminated when the Dems clinched GA-12, but Tony Badger still has a chance to win if any of the four undecided races — all currently led by the Republicans — go Democratic. What’s happening in those races?

  • In OH-15, where the vote-counting was delayed by the Ohio State-Michigan game, the Republican led by 3,717 votes as of Tuesday, with 19,000 provisional ballots still to be counted. Results are expected next week.

  • In NC-8, a machine recount cut the Republican’s lead from around 450 votes to 329 votes, and now the provisional ballot count has reportedly reduced it further, to 179 votes. The Republican is urging his challenger to concede; the Democrat wants a manual recount. According to UPI: “Johnnie McLean, the chief deputy director of North Carolina’s board of elections, said ballots in 3 percent of the precincts will be inspected by elections officials Nov. 29 and Nov. 30. A district-wide manual recount will be ordered if the sampling reveals a statistical inconsistency, McLean said.”

  • In FL-13, the counting and recounting is over, and the Republican has been declared the winner by 369 votes — but the Democrat is challenging the result in court beacuse of that massive undervote in one county, which may have been caused by machine error, and may have cost the Democrat the elction.

  • Last but not least, in TX-23, there will be a December 12 runoff between the incumbent Republican and the highest-vote-getting Democrat in what was a crowded field of challengers.

So, we won’t know the winner of the BrendanLoy.com House Contest until December 12 at the earliest — unless one of the other apparent Republican victories is overturned in favor of the Democrat before then. Badger only needs one of the above four races to go Democratic. Cullen needs all four to stay Republican in order to maintin his edge.