It probably comes as little consolation on the night that her father’s team was knocked out of contention for its third straight national championship, but Jenna (Auriemma) Stigliano, daughter of Geno and wife of my high-school classmate Todd, clinched the free, moneyless 14th annual Living Room Times NCAA Women’s Pool when Texas A&M upset Stanford in tonight’s first semifinal. She… Read more »
The Loy menagerie has added a new species. Chickens. The “why” is a long story — well, no, actually it’s a short story: Becky is insane 🙂 — but the bottom line is that, for the moment, we have four chickens (the three seen above, all a month or so old, and the baby one, seen at right) living in… Read more »
When I put a Butler masthead (photo from 2007) on top of this blog before the start of the tournament, it was intended as a generic basketball thing, not a Butler-specific reference. I never, ever could have imagined the Bulldogs would be back in the national title game (!!!). Likewise, when Dane told me his wacky prediction of Butler winning… Read more »
Mike Quinn, a.k.a. “isuquinndog,” a 2001 Illinois State alum and one-time Missouri Valley Conference guestblogger on the Irish Trojan’s Blog, won the 7th annual Living Room Times NIT Pool thanks to MVC runner-up Wichita State’s 66-57 win over Alabama in the NIT championship game. Quinn, seen at right with me at the 2006 MVC tourney, actually did not predict Wichita’s… Read more »
Thomas Friedman nails it, or so it seems to me, in his analysis of what Andrew Sullivan calls the Middle East’s 1848 — starting with the line “This is really hard stuff, and it’s just the beginning.” When an entire region that has been living outside the biggest global trends of free politics and free markets for half a century… Read more »
OMG: [A]s if any Irish-Trojans confrontation required a more electrified backdrop, there was this bombshell out of South Bend on Wednesday: Notre Dame will host its first home night game in 21 years this fall, and the opponent will be USC. The Oct. 22 matchup between the teams will kick off at 6:30 p.m. CDT. It’s the first Notre Dame… Read more »
All right, here is where things now stand. In the Women’s NCAA Pool, after wins by UConn and Texas A&M, it’s down to a “Final Four” of Jenna (Auriemma) Stigliano, Andrew Long, Lisa Velte and Michael Watkins. Stigliano (daughter of Geno, UConn alum, and wife of my high-school classmate Todd) can wrap things up early if Texas A&M beats Stanford… Read more »
I’m officially “going sharpie” on UConn over Duke in the women’s Elite Eight. So, what are the scenarios in the 14th annual LRT Women’s NCAA Pool heading into the last regional final, between Big 12 foes #1 Baylor and #2 Texas A&M later tonight? • If Baylor wins the title or loses to Notre Dame in the title game, Cam… Read more »
The NIT semifinals are underway. A reminder of the stakes in the 7th annual Living Room Times NIT Pool: • If Colorado wins the NIT title, my high-school classmate Matt Thomsen and my 3-year-old daughter “Loyette” will tie for the pool championship. • If Wichita State or Washington State wins the title, or if Washington State loses to Alabama in… Read more »