Inspired by Burnt Orange Report’s bet with Sooner Politics last October, The Backer and I have made a bet on Saturday’s game. I suggested it and he eagerly accepted, so now it’s time to publicly reveal our plans.

If USC wins, “The Backer” will become “Traddy’s” for a week, and its current color scheme will be replaced by a fetching cardinal-and-gold motif. (Traddy’s, a.k.a. Traditions, is USC’s on-campus bar.)

If Notre Dame wins, this website will become “The Irish Domer’s Blog” for a week, the ‘SC logo will be replaced by a second ND logo, and the color scheme will take on a blue, gold and green hue.

The losing blog’s new look will remain in place until kickoff of the losing team’s next game (vs. BYU or Washington, as the case may be).

Bring it on! Fight on! Beat The Backer! BEAT THE IRISH!

After two hurricanes and “43 days of around-the-clock work,” New Orleans is dry again.

In response to John Fund’s article in today’s WSJ criticizing Professor Kelley — covered in an earlier post — Professor Rick Garnett respectfully dissents:

Unlike Fund, I have no talkative-but-unnamed “senior White House official[s]” or “former Justice Department officials” as sources. I do not know what candidates were considered or which (if any) took themselves out of the running. I do not know if, or why, the president determined that the nominee had to be a woman; and I do not know anything about the behind-the-scenes process that produced Ms. Miers’s nomination. But, I do know Bill Kelley very well. And, I am as sure as I am of anything that there is zero possibility — zero — that Kelley would have shrunk from raising tough questions about or pointing out problems with the nomination, or that he would have subordinated concern for the Court and dedication to the Constitution to worries about his own standing or advancement in the White House. Like many NRO readers and bloggers, I wish the president had nominated someone else (although, I admit, I was initially fairly enthusiastic about the Miers selection). And, I’m as curious as anyone to know the “real story” behind the Miers pick. But, with all due respect to John Fund, I do not believe he has it.

I don’t know Professor Kelley personally — I just know him as a professor — so I don’t have a position on this one way or another. I just think it’s really interesting to see the guy I took ConLaw from last semester become the subject of national controversy.

Studying Schmuck v. United States — a case about a used-car salesman named Schmuck. Heh.

Just another little New England Interlude amidst the Football Mania out in the Provinces… :} Joe Loy, guestblogging. (So you Know, Andrew. :)

THEY CAME WITHIN 18 INCHES ;> OF EVACUATING GREENWICH! And, it’s Not over! WE NEED HELP! Fee-MUH! Fee-MUH!!! :)

Gov. M. Jodi Rell ordered statewide inspections of rivers, streams and dams for potential flooding threats Thursday and officials in Greenwich declared a local state of emergency after its dams rose to dangerous heights.

[Remarkable. The Levitating Dams of Greenwich. Nothing but the Best. :) / ~the guestblogger :]

The order came as rain that has inundated parts of the state with more than a foot of water this week continued to fall…

State officials described flooding as minor Thursday, but said the additional rain could cause receding rivers to rise again.

In Greenwich, officials declared a local state of emergency Wednesday night as dams on the Byram River filled. Officials also issued an evacuation warning telling residents to prepare to leave and brought in rescue boats, but evacuations were not necessary as the water receded, said First Selectman James Lash.

“We were within an hour or two of having police go door to door and telling people they should evacuate,” Lash said. “It looked like maybe we were within a foot and a half of having to go ahead with the precautionary evacuation.”

The evacuation warning was lifted Thursday, but the local state of emergency was expected to remain in place until Friday as officials monitored how the dams handle additional rain, Lash said…

My God…the specter of thousands of Evacuees from their little Greenwich homes… huddled in misery at temporary shelters in the Darien and New Canaan Town Halls :)…and with no Corkscrews (damn that incompetent National Guard :), having to live on Food and Water, for several Dayyys :)…Rioting would surely Ensue…O the Humanity…

Read the whole thing.

Governor M. Jodi Rell, who officially Filed her 2006 candidacy today, has Ordered Everybody to Inspect Everything, everywhere, Immediately, in order to ensure our Safety. / This is exactly consistent with the Management Style which Jodi has Reactively exhibited ever since she succeeded former Governor John G. “Scarface” Rowland (www.johnnygoombah@UpTheRiver.com :). Her approval rating is currently Pushing 80%, if not Pulling it. Jodi is In like Flynn I’m tellin’ yez. :> Honest Abe was Wrong. You CAN fool All of the People all of…nnyaah nevermind. ;>

Notre Dame is 3-3 when ESPN GameDay is on campus, according to UND.com. The first-ever GameDay “road trip” to any campus in the country was the 1993 “game of the century” between Notre Dame and Florida State. The show’s most recent visit to South Bend was the Nebraska game in 2000. (ESPN was planning to come for the Michigan game last year, but changed plans after the Irish lost to BYU the week before.)

ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption just got through debating an interesting statement by Notre Dame tight end Anthony Fasano:

“I couldn’t imagine what this place will be like when we win, so it’s going to be fun.”

Healthy confidence, or cocky overconfidence giving the Trojans bulletin-board material? We report, you decide.

The Backer says the South Bend police “is beefing up security for Springsteen/[Bon] Jovi .. whoever it is …”

Has anyone heard anything?

From the Observer: “USC will participate in a walk-through practice Friday afternoon in Notre Dame Stadium from 2:30- 3:15 p.m., and students are more than welcome to greet the Trojans as they enter the Stadium.” (Hat tip: Nick.)

Heh… “greet,” indeed. Well, I’ll be greeting them! FIGHT ON!!!

Here’s a partial listing of game-related events that I’m are of:

TONIGHT:
SportsCenter segment from campus (?) - 5-6:30 or 9:30-11 (not really sure)

TOMORROW:
Cold Pizza segment taped (between stadium and Hesburgh Library), 7-9 AM
USC enters stadium for walk-through practice, 2:30 PM
Notre Dame Pep Rally at stadium, doors open at 5:00 PM, rally starts at 6:00 PM

SATURDAY:
ESPN GameDay live broadcast, 9:30-11 AM
USC tailgate at the College Football Hall of Fame, 10:30 AM-1 PM
The game, 2:30 PM

The New York Times has a big-ass profile of Brady Quinn in today’s paper. (Hat tip: Lee Ann McGinnis.)

I don’t think this is real… but it’s still damn funny. :)

Friday’s pep rally at Notre Dame Stadium (or the Joyce Center, if the weather is bad) will reportedly be televised on ESPN News, and will also be webcasted online via live audio and video at UND.com.

P.S. In case anyone is wondering, I do intend to go to the pep rally… it’s probably one of the coolest things that will happen while I’m a student at Notre Dame, and I don’t want to miss it. Of course, I won’t be cheering for the Irish — but I won’t be booing, either. I will be a respectful observer of the festivities. :) And for once this week, I’ll be wearing something neutral. I’m proudly wearing my alma mater’s colors all week and weekend, including to the game on Saturday… but going to Notre Dame’s pep rally in USC gear would be just a little too subversive, even for me. Of course, I can’t in good conscience wear pro-Irish gear — not for this game — but I bought the “Irish-Trojans” t-shirt at the bookstore (the one that says “The Tradition Continues,” with both the ND and USC helmets on it), and I’ll be wearing that to the pep rally.

UPDATE: I haven’t heard anything new about the Jersey-connection rumors, but ChicagoDomer writes: “Very solid ND sources confirm that both Bon Jovi and Springsteen may play at the pep rally. However, there will be no advance billing as ‘performers schedules are subject to whim and can change at the last minute.’ Rock’s house will rock!!”

We’ll know soon enough…

Professor Kelley’s role in the selection of Harriet Miers for SCOTUS comes under some criticism from the WSJ’s John Fund:

The New York Times reported that [chief of staff Andy Card] “then directed Ms. Miers’ deputy [William Kelley, deputy White House counsel and Notre Dame law professor] . . . to vet her behind her back.”

For about two weeks, Mr. Kelley conducted a vetting he has described to friends as thorough. It wasn’t. A former Justice Department official calls it “barely adequate for a nominee to a federal appeals court.” One Texas lawyer called by the White House was struck by the fact “that the people who were calling about someone from Texas and serving a Texas president knew so little about Texas.” (Mr. Kelley didn’t return my telephone calls.) …

Regardless of whether or not the vetting process was complete, it presented impossible conflicts of interest. Consider the position that Mr. Bush and Mr. Card put Mr. Kelley in. He would be a leading candidate to become White House counsel if Ms. Miers was promoted. He had an interest in not going against his earlier recommendation of her for the Supreme Court, or in angering President Bush, Ms. Miers’s close friend. As journalist Jonathan Larsen has pointed out he also might not have wanted to “bring to light negative information that could torpedo her nomination, keeping her in the very job where she would be best positioned to punish Kelley were she to discover his role in vetting her.”

Here’s the post by Jonathan Larsen that Fund is quoting.

UPDATE: Fellow NDLS professor (and fellow conservative) Richard Garnett defends Kelley.

(Again with the Drudgery sleazy-teasey fake headline… Oh I almost forgot: Joe Loy, guestblogging. :)

My Blue New England. :( O the Humanity: once again it is True that he will Not. ;} [”Who cares about tiny Connecticut?” / “Shaddup. This is still a Fambly Website.” :]

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal recycled a message Tuesday that he’s delivered every four years since 1993, telling Democrats that love of job and family once again will keep him from a run for governor.

Blumenthal, 59, the Democrat who best matched up against Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell in early polls, said he will pass up challenging her and instead seek a fifth term as attorney general.

“I love this job. It affords endless challenges and opportunities [apparently So / ~ the guestblogger :] to help people,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “This job is also right for my family.”

Rell is set to announce her candidacy Friday. She is opposed by two Democratic mayors, John DeStefano Jr. of New Haven and Dannel P. Malloy of Stamford, both of whom are well-financed but lack Blumenthal’s name-recognition.

His decision likely cements both the gubernatorial field and his reputation as the enigma of his generation: a popular politician who ceaselessly campaigns, yet never reaches above his safe perch in the Connecticut political hierarchy.

Nearly two years ago, Blumenthal left Democrats and union activists with the impression that 2006 would be different: He would answer calls to run for governor, an office Democrats last won in 1986…

One political weblog posted the news with this headline: “Well, no kidding.”…

“What it finally says is that he recognizes that Jodi is going to run,” said Rep. William R. Dyson, D-New Haven. “He wasn’t about the business of taking no damn chances.”

His two putative rivals for the Democratic nomination were more generous.

“Attorney General Blumenthal has served the people of Connecticut with great distinction over the past 15 years,” DeStefano said…

“…All of us are truly lucky that Dick is such a dedicated, honest, hard-working public servant,” Malloy said…

[Translation: Both of us are truly lucky that Dick is always such a risk-averse Wussy because he’d have whupped both of our sorry Butts in the Primary on the strength of his Local TV News Stardom alone. / ~ the guestblogger :]

Rell has an approval rating of nearly 80 percent and no opposition for the Republican nomination, but Blumenthal said his decision had nothing to do with polls…

In the past, uncertainty about Blumenthal’s gubernatorial intentions has all but paralyzed other potential Democratic contenders. This year was different…

“Democrats are discouraged by him,” said Richard Foley, the former Republican state chairman. “How many times are you going to leave them at the altar?”…

Read the whole thing. / I can Empathize with the CTAG. There’s no Constitution or Law that mandates Up or Out. Political traditon be Damned. So the man says he likes his Job & loves his Family: so I say, Not that there’s Anything Wrong with That. I’ll vote to Re-elect him. / Again. :) Even if he IS a wee bit of a TV camera-Hog. :> Hey, some Judges might be watching, it couldn’t Hurt. :]

Wow.

White Sox “win.” The series is “tied.” Because of an extremely controversial*, game-deciding bad call by the umpires:

In a sequence as bizarre as any imaginable on a baseball field, A.J. Pierzynski struck out swinging against Angels reliever Kelvim Escobar, appearing to end the bottom of the ninth inning with the score tied at 1.

Escobar’s low pitch was gloved by backup catcher Josh Paul — he appeared to grab it just before the ball would have hit the dirt. And behind him, Eddings clearly raised his right arm and closed his first, signaling strike three.

[For those who aren’t familiar with baseball rules… the third strike on a swinging strikeout must be caught cleanly by the catcher. If the ball had been in the dirt, the catcher would have needed to either tag the batter out, or throw the ball to first before the batter got there. -ed.]

Pierzynski hustled and took off for first base anyway, just in case. Sure the inning was over, Paul rolled the ball out to the mound with the Angels already coming off the field, so Pierzynski was easily safe.

Then everybody stopped, including the umpires. When they let Pierzynski stay at first, Los Angeles manager Mike Scioscia came out of the dugout to argue.

“When he rings him up with a fist, he’s out,” Scioscia said.

The umpires huddled and upheld the call after a delay of about four minutes.

Personally, I don’t particularly care about the Angels or the White Sox… I don’t have a dog in this fight. But wow.

Nevermind whether the initial call was right or wrong. Once the umpire calls the guy out — and the players, justifably, start running off the field — isn’t the at-bat over? How can you just go back and change the call like that, after you’ve already signalled to the players that they can stop playing?

Prediction: There will be instant replay in baseball next season.

P.S. Well, Angels manager Mike Scioscia says he’s still against replay. But he also emphasizes my point: once the umpire calls the guy out, he’s out!

The ESPN commentators are saying the question is whether the umpire’s hand signal meant “out,” “strike,” or merely “swing.” They’re saying the big problem is that so many umpires have their own unique hand signals, and it needs to be more standardized.

UPDATE: According to the baserunner, there was no verbal call of “out.”

UPDATE 2: The umpire, Doug Eddings, says that indeed he intended his hand signal to mean “strike,” not “out.”

One of the other umpires said: “Because Doug didn’t say he was out, that’s a live ball.”

UPDATE 3: *Originally, I called it an “awful, terrible, game-deciding” call. But, given that the umpire apparently did not say the magic word “out,” and given that there does seem to be some semblance of reasonable doubt about whether the ball might have been “trapped,” I’m changing it to “extremely controversial.” I also deleted the part where I said “That’s just horrendous” and “That’s COMPLETELY UNFAIR!” But I’m sticking with the title (”Angels 1, Umpires 1, White Sox 0″) because, first of all, inflammatory titles are fun :), and also, beacuse I still think the Angels pretty much got screwed — I’m just not quite as outraged about it as I was originally.