If I’d known about UCLA Undie Run when I made that awful list, it definitely would have been on there. I mean, USC’s “Primal Scream” is pretty cool and all, but listening to some dude* in your dorm yell “F***IN’ A!!!!” at the top of his lungs for 15 minutes doesn’t exactly measure up to watching a bunch of half-naked girls run around outside in the cold. So I’ll give UCLA the edge in the category of “exam-week study-break traditions.”

Now if only this tradition could be imported to USC, it would instantly improve, due to the inherent hotness of Trojan girls. :)

Photos here and here. (Warning: partial nudity! SFW, though — “unless Bruin dorks in underwear isn’t safe at your place of business,” as TrojanWire puts it.) Flickr photos here and YouTube videos here. (I haven’t seen ‘em all, so I can’t vouch for their SFW status.)

*His name was Shelton.

P.S. Notre Dame has its own finals-week tradition, and it involves full nudity: the Zahm Hall “Bun Run,” a tradition which the Zahm-ites apparently inherited from Keenan Hall and sometimes share with Alumni Hall (?). Alas, these are all male-only dorms. But if you’re into that sort of thing, here are some photos. As I said, full nudity is involved, but only the naked “buns” are shown in the photos — no, uh, “weiners.” :) You can also read Kristin’s accounts of the two most recent Bun Runs here and here.

One of three climbers missing for more than a week on Oregon's Mount Hood has been found dead, a sheriff's spokesman says. Visit CNN for the latest.

Since my earlier post has already scrolled way down the page, I figured I should remind everyone to sign up for the 2nd annual Irish Trojan bowl pick ‘em contest! The deadline is Tuesday at 8pm EST.

Also, since I’m competing in the contest, and I can view everyone else’s picks as they come in, it’s only fair that y’all should have that ability, too. So, you can see everyone’s picks here and here. Providing those URLs isn’t an advantage to late entrants, because anybody is free to change their picks at any time prior to 8pm Tuesday. You simply need to fill out a new entry form. Your last set of picks submitted before the deadline will be assumed to be your final, official entry (unless you tell me otherwise prior to the deadline).

This is fascinating. I’m not qualified to assess its accuracy, but it’s certainly a very interesting read. (Hat tip: Insty.)

When I saw a faint aurora borealis display from Douglas Road late Thursday night, I thought it was pretty cool. Such things aren’t visible too often from Indiana, after all. But as I’ve read other people’s reports and looked at other people’s pictures, I’ve become slightly bummed, because it’s clear that if I had gone outside a few hours earlier, and/or ventured just a bit north of town, I would have gotten a much better show — possibly something like this, or better. If only the Northern lights had come at any other time than the night before my FedTax exam!!

(more…)

If the NBA was going to have a(nother) big brawl, I’m glad it was at Madison Square Garden, just because the New York tabloids are so entertaining at times like these…

Heh.

The Post’s Andrew Marchand asks, “Is this the final straw for Isiah?” The Daily News calls it a new low, and News columnist Lisa Olsen writes:

It was offensive enough when they were falling into the Garden crowd, risking injury not just to themselves, but to innocent bystanders. This was criminal behavior perpetuated by both the Nuggets and the Knicks, and if David Stern had the cojones, he would expel their precious bodies into the next season.

As it was last night, 10 players were ejected, the NBA once again gave the impression it was a league perpetuated by thugs, and yet, the madness did not end there. It shouldn’t be that difficult to separate bravado from responsibility, machismo from reality, but there stood Nate Robinson nearly an hour after the blood had barely dried on one of the game’s worst brawls ever, talking about how it was all about “trying to protect family.”

Good Lord, what a way to pile shame on top of the disgrace. Had some masked man just broken through the window and stolen Robinson’s bling? Had his fancy ride been carjacked? At least the culprits involved in the Pistons fight against the Pacers two seasons ago in Detroit had the good sense to shut up.

There will be plenty of opportunity to dissect last night’s film from all angles, to replay again and again the sorry sight of Jared Jeffries going after Carmelo Anthony at midcourt, the pitiful images of Robinson and J.R. Smith wrestling atop the baseline crowd. There will be mammoth fines, lengthy suspensions. Psychologists will moan about the decline of sportsmanship, and they’ll be right. Robinson’s postgame justifications might even get lost in the roar, but they shouldn’t. Because the attitude precedes the actions, always.

Robinson and some of the other Knicks, including and most importantly their coach, actually had the audacity to suggest the Nuggets were at fault because their starters were still in the game late in the fourth quarter, when the Knicks trailed by 19. As if Thomas never had the killer instinct. As if that was reason enough to start chest-bumping and fighting.

“It was like a slap in the face to us,” Robinson said of the Nuggets’ strategy. He went on to add that never in his life, not in high school or in college, had any opponent done something so disgraceful, so dishonorable. “We just tried to come back from a deficit and they still had their starters in the game. It was a slap in the face to us, to the franchise.”

As I said in comments last night, those comments from the Knicks and — especially — their coach Isiah Thomas were just incredibly, unbelievably lame.

People (well, mostly Becky really) keep asking me what I want for Christmas. To be honest, nothing comes to mind off the top of my head — well, one thing does, but I don’t think a 15-inch MacBook Pro is in anyone’s price range. :) So, I’m asking for your advice. (After all, you’re Time’s person of the year, so you must have some pretty good ideas!) Y’all know what kinds of stuff I like: fun, nerdy gadgets and electronic toys; USC and Notre Dame and Gonzaga stuff; things that relate to weather, astronomy, Lord of the Rings, or another of my myriad hobbies and interests; and, uh, other cool stuff. Ideas?

P.S. If you don’t have any Brendan-specific ideas, how about this: what do you want for Christmas? If enough people answer that question, odds are some of the answers will probably work for me as well. And hey, if any of your friends and family also read this blog, and see your comment: bonus! :)