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Stanford Vs. Notre Dame: Cardinal Comeback Thwarts Charlie Weis

2009-11-29T06:09:25Z

STANFORD, Calif. — Toby Gerhart turned what could be Charlie Weis' final game as Notre Dame coach into his own Heisman Trophy infomercial.

Gerhart ran for 205 yards and three scores, threw an 18-yard touchdown pass and scored the game-winning touchdown with 59 seconds left to help Stanford hand Weis and the Fighting Irish a fourth straight loss to end the regular season, 45-38 Saturday night.

On a night when Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate put on an aerial show for the Irish (6-6) in a showcase for Weis' offense, it was Gerhart who won the game for Stanford (8-4) and possibly earned a trip to New York as a Heisman Trophy finalist in two weeks.

He threw his touchdown pass to Ryan Whalen on fourth-and-4 to help the Cardinal tie the game early in the fourth quarter and then won it with his 4-yard run in the final minute.

After Stanford stopped Robert Hughes on third-and-2 from the Irish 35 with less than 6 minutes left, Gerhart carried seven times for 54 yards on the winning drive, bowling over would-be tacklers before scoring his 26th rushing touchdown of the season. The fans chanted "To-by! To-by!" throughout the drive.

Clausen and Tate weren't done, driving to the 24 before Chase Thomas sacked Clausen at the 31. On the final play, Clausen's desperation heave into the end zone was batted down by Michael Thomas, giving Stanford its first win against Notre Dame since 2001.

Weis could be done too after falling to 35-27 in five seasons as Irish coach. He was set to go back to Indiana with the team instead of going on a recruiting trip as originally planned and will meet soon with athletic director Jack Swarbrick.

"We'll engage in the evaluation in earnest following this game and we'll go from there," Swarbrick said before the game, adding that no potential candidates have been contacted.

Weis, who has six years left on a 10-year contract signed midway through his first season, took a 35-26 record into the game against Stanford in five years as Irish head coach. His .565 winning percentage is worse than the .583 marks that got his two predecessors, Tyrone Willingham and Bob Davie, fired.

The game could also be the last at Notre Dame for Clausen and Tate, who must decide whether to skip their senior seasons to go into the NFL draft. The Irish have not decided whether to accept a bowl bid.

Clausen matched a career high with five touchdown passes, completing 23 of 30 for 340 yards. Tate had 10 catches for 201 yards and three scores, while Michael Floyd also caught two touchdown passes.

Weis opened up the playbook in what could have been his goodbye game. The play of the game for the Irish came early in the third quarter when they lined up in the Leprecat formation. Hughes took the direct snap out of the shotgun and handed to Tate on an end-around. Tate flipped it to Clausen, who was lined up as a receiver to start the play, and Clausen then found a wide open Floyd for a 46-yard touchdown.

Tate added his own highlight reel play early in the fourth quarter catching a short pass from Clausen at the 19 with Stanford giving him a huge cushion. Tate then wove his way through nine defenders, running all the way across the field to complete the 28-yard score that made it 38-30.

Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh had a few of his own tricks as well, calling the fourth-down halfback option. Andrew Luck's pass to Jim Dray for the 2-point conversion tied the game at 38 with 8:59 to go.

The teams traded early touchdowns after fumbles deep in their territory, with Gerhart scoring on a 4-yard run after a fumble by Theo Riddick at the 13 on Notre Dame's first play from scrimmage and Clausen connecting on a 5-yarder to Tate after Tyler Gaffney fumbled a punt at the 16.

Clausen added an 18-yard touchdown pass to Michael Floyd and a 78-yarder to Tate one play Richard Sherman's personal foul turned a third-and-15 from the 7 into a first down. Owen Marecic's 1-yard run with 11 seconds left in the half cut Notre Dame's lead to 24-20.

Arianna Huffington: Sunday Roundup

2009-11-29T05:45:10Z

With the Senate ready to begin debating its health care bill next week, it's time for President Obama to make an unambiguous case for its passage. Finally. He needs to deliver on health care reform, including a public option, and then quickly move on to jobs, jobs, jobs -- the latest Fed forecast predicts that unemployment will still be over 9 percent when the 2010 midterms roll around. Yet, on Tuesday, when the president addresses the nation, he won't be making the case for health care or a jobs bill. Instead, he'll be explaining why we need to "finish the job" in Afghanistan by escalating the war. Can someone in the White House Priorities Department please hit reboot?

Summer Qassim: Beard Feared, Sheared

2009-11-29T05:43:19Z

"There are two kinds of people in this world that go around beardless--boys and women--and I am neither one." -Greek saying

"A woman with a beard looks like a man. A man without a beard looks like a woman." - Afghan Saying

Please set aside notions of a carnivalesque bearded woman, for this is not a piece on female facial hair and its removal. But it is about beards, and how my preference for seeing my husband with one has been anything but a private matter.

My good friend S and I were talking about when she first met her now husband on a set-up. I asked if she liked him immediately and she said quite honestly 'No, not exactly. But there's a lot you can do for guys. I had him color the gray parts of his hair and had him grow facial hair so that the engagement pictures turned out the way I wanted them too.' Another friend and I had talked in general terms about guys we knew and their post-wedding makeovers. This friend would cite various male acquaintances of ours whose makeovers included more post-nuptial 'groomliness' -- attention to wardrobe, hair and overall style. Eschewing for now the obviously more important virtues like the cultivation of patience, compromise and sacrifice that occur afterwards in (good) marriages, the idea of a subtle male makeover was normalized for me. And while certainly not the hallmark of trend and style, friends have labeled me an aesthete, so just like my husband casually categorizes people in terms of the indie-bands they like, I tend to describe people based on their predilections for/against high waisted pants and the circumference of their cuffs, for example. And so I had no misgivings about asking my then-fiance to grow a beard so I could see what he looked like. It turned out I liked what I saw. The beard added depth to his face. It added masculinity. And the simple fact of the matter was, I liked it.

The matter, however, has not been simple. While my husband shrugged off my aesthetic preference as an excuse for him to stop shaving, hordes of other people in this Pakistani society (where advice giving is nearly a national pastime) had daily comments to make, especially as the wedding became imminent. While many at his law firm had grown used to his periodic unshavenliness, all were expecting him to shave, especially for me. 'Doesn't Summer hate your beard?' was the most common of the cliched comments, based on the very Pakistani assumption that girls prefer their men clean-shaven and pretty, looking the model of English gentlemen. He would reply that Summer in fact, requested the beard, and that, apparently, prompted more incredulous looks and comments, my preferences apparently (but not for the first time) challenging clean-cut categories about how aesthetics dictate class and education. Perhaps the biggest cliche since 'Anyone but Bush' that I've encountered has been hearing people tell him 'Your beard makes you look like a [insert Taliban, mullah, religious fundamentalist (itself a tired and trite term).'

So deeply entrenched were the equations of beard = Taliban that even my once eager to accommodate fiance started to lament his beard. And while one can perhaps excuse elder uncles and senior family men for their adherence to old-world British notions of 'acceptable' and 'unacceptable' as remnants of their desperately trying to fit in a post-colonial society, what surprised me were the reactions of some of his friends - young Pakistani men who would take him aside and say, 'Hey man, I bet you can't wait to shave that beard and go back to normal.' All of these friends went to college in America, and some even went to prep schools. Perhaps the onus of trying to fit in gave way to attitudes about shaving and beards.

And so, the night before the wedding, where I had fallen spell to the bridal concern for how my own wedding pictures would turn out, I found myself on the phone with my soon-to-be husband, who was relaying how his uncles had repeatedly said 'So, you're going to shave tomorrow, right?' and was seriously considering giving in to the peer pressure. It took every ounce of my newly-cultivated balance of feminine insistence and casual I-don't-really-care-it's-your-life to guarantee the beard's attendance at our wedding.

And yet... the problem continued. At every destination on our East Asia honeymoon, people asked if we were Arab. While that pleased my Arab-o-phile tendencies, my husband became increasingly irritated for not being seen as a Pakistani. 'Maybe it's because of me,' I would tell him. As they Arabs say, the more time you spend with the Arabs, the more you resemble them. (fine by me -- I spent a lot of time in Lebanon). But no, it was blamed on the beard. This was only exacerbated in Bangkok, where tribes of Arabs shifted between trips to the malls and hanging out in the InterContinental hotel lobby. One night an unfortunate beard trimming experiment led to a hole in the famous beard, prompting him to shave the rest of it off. And I returned to find I had a new husband.

It is said that babies and toddlers have a hard time dealing with fathers and close male relatives who suddenly shave. Apparently they don't recognize their fathers after shaving, and the sudden appearance of an unrecognizeable male can be quite traumatic for these young ones. A few parenting websites recommend that fathers shave in front of their babies and children, so that they can see the process of hair removal, thereby alleviating some of the trauma. And while definitely not a baby, I can personally attest to the trauma of instant beard removal. There's an old joke that says 'Men marry one woman and wake up next to another.' Well that's how I felt. In fact, I felt like I was cheating on my husband, because this soft-faced man even smelled different without the scruff. The beard's regrowth was not even discussed - my husband hasn't touched a razor since. What was discussed were scenarios in which the beard might disappear again. My husband's most vehement insistence was of the instance when he'd travel to the U.S. embassy in Islamabad for his visa application to accompany me back home to California. 'Having a beard will severely harm my chances of getting a U.S. visa,' he told me solemnly. 'Everyone just associates beards with religion, and if you want me to come with you, I'll have to shave it off.'

This has has made me quite curious about the history of beards in a non-religious sense, especially about when and why clean shavenliness became 'normal.' A trip to Wikipedia has enlightened me. And although most of your internet connections are undoubtedly faster than mine, I shall recount the more interesting findings. The answer, it seems, lies with the Romans - and later their metaphorical successors, Europe and corporate America.

According to Wikipedia:

Prior to the Romans the highest ranking Ancient Egyptians grew hair on their chins which was often dyed or hennaed (reddish brown) and sometimes plaited with interwoven gold thread. A metal false beard, or postiche, which was a sign of sovereignty, was worn by queens as well as kings... a fashion existing from about 3000 to 1580 BC.

Mesopotamian civilizations (Assyrian, Babylonian, Chaldean, Median and ancient Persian) devoted great care to oiling and dressing their beards, using tongs and curling irons to create elaborate ringlets and tiered patterrns. (note: perhaps the modern equivalent could include straightening irons?)

The Persians were fond of long beards. In Olearius' Travels, a King of Persia commands his steward's head to be cut off, and on its being brought to him, remarks, 'what a pity it was, that a man possessing such fine mustachios, should have been executed,' but he adds, 'Ah! it was your own fault.'

In ancient India, the beard was allowed to grow long, a symbol of dignity and of wisdom. The nations in the east generally treated their beards with great care and veneration, and the punishment for licentiousness and adultery was to have the beard of the offending parties publicly cut off. They had such a sacred regard for the preservation of their beards that a man might pledge it for the payment of a debt.

The ancient Greeks regarded the beard as a badge or a sign of virility which it was a disgrace to be without; and in the Homeric time it even had a sanctity as among the Jews, so that a common form of entreaty was to touch the beard of the person addressed. It was only shaven as a sign of mourning, though in this case it was instead often left untrimmed. A smooth face was regarded as a sign of effeminacy.

Around 299 BC, after a barber was brought to Rome, most Romans began shaving; being clean-shaven became a sign of being Roman and nor Greek.

And as the Romans are the metaphorical predecessors of the modern-day empire, so they seem to be in their dictation of aesthetic standards.

Beards and the Armed Forces
Again according to Wikipedia, following WW I beards fell out of vogue. One of the main theories for this was the use of chemical weapons that allegedly necessitated soliders to shave to ensure the proper sealing of gas masks. Another interesting fact is that WW I recruitment involved a major migration of men from rural to urban areas. 'The rural lives of some of these bearded men included the "Saturday Night Bath" as a reality rather than a humorism. The sudden concentration of recruits in crowded army induction centers brought with it disease, including head lice. Remedial action was taken by immediately shaving the faces and cutting the hair of all inductees upon their arrival.'

A close friend from Iraq once took out pictures from his younger days in Saddam's Iraq. This friend was a refugee in Syria, but having been part of the intellectual class in Baghdad and a respected journalist (writing under a nom de plume for safety), he was meticulously careful about appearing clean-shaven in Damascus, his attempt at appearing professional and moneyed - and quite separate from the mass of Iraqis of all cultural cross-sections finding refuge in Syria. Given this impeccable grooming, I was surprised to see him in these pictures, mustachioed. He explained that while he had skipped Iraq's mandatory military service, he had to appear that he had served, and thus grew a mustache to look like he had just completed his service. 'Those were some of the worst years of my life,' he lamented, referring to the forced mustache, not the tyranny of the Iraqi military police. Interestingly, the new Iraqi armed forces (outfitted in American military fatigues) had some problems with shaving. So entrenched was the affiliation of army with mustache, that apparently the U.S. trainers had to discuss the 'virtues' of clean-shavenliness in the armed forces.

But coming back to WWI, the newly returned soldiers came back to a growing film industry in which the soldier's look was popularized on screen. And of course here it is... the 'mass marketing of Madison avenue' had the Gilette Safety Razor Company as its early client, thereby ensuring short hair and clean shaven faces for decades to come.
And so beards became 'counterculture' - suitable for beatniks, musicians and academics, but distinctly absent from government, politics, and reinforced by films, tv programs and of course advertisements. And now, especially in Pakistan, the aesthetic domain of the Taliban.

I recently saw an ABC Primetime segment in which an actress in a hijaab was the victim of (staged) discrimination in a bakery. The experiment was designed to gauge the level of customer consternation at anti-Muslim sentiment. Watching this with me, my husband said, 'I wonder what would happen if that was not a sweet-faced woman, but a man with a dark beard. How would people react then?' Given that a landing on U.S. soil is expected to be imminent, perhaps we'll find out, or else I'll have to get used to my new husband, again.

Brad Pitt's New Orleans Project Gets Mixed Local Reaction

2009-11-29T05:31:45Z

In 2007, frustrated by the slow pace of rebuilding in the Lower Ninth, Brad Pitt set up a foundation called Make It Right; the foundation then commissioned 13 architecture firms to design affordable, green houses. The organization plans to build 150 homes, all for returning Lower Ninth residents. So far, just 15 of them are occupied, but those 15 make a big impression.

Indeed, from the main route into the Lower Ninth, the Claiborne Avenue Bridge, it's impossible to miss the Brad Pitt Houses, as everyone here calls them. They are sprawling, angular buildings in bold hues not usually seen outside a gelateria. Monuments to the city's resilience, and to Hollywood's big heart, they are also New Orleans's newest tourist attraction.

MIT Analysis: Americans Would Pay LESS Under Senate Health Care Plan

2009-11-29T04:39:09Z

A new analysis by a leading MIT economist provides new ammunition for Democrats as the Senate begins formally debating the historic health-reform bill being pushed by President Barack Obama.

The report concludes that under the Senate's health-reform bill, Americans buying individual coverage will pay less than they do for today's typical individual market coverage, and would be protected from high out-of-pocket costs.

Vince Young's Kobe Bryant Connection

2009-11-29T04:33:02Z

After Vince Young led the Titans past the Texans last Monday night, Kobe Bryant sent a text message saying: “Good game V. Way to kick butt!”

Yoani Sanchez: War Games in Cuba

2009-11-29T04:31:37Z

Someone shoved a piece of paper under my door. A sheet cut in half with instructions about how to evacuate in the case of a hurricane or an invasion. One phrase struck me like the refrain of a bad song: "Sew a tag to the clothes of minor children with the identity of their parents (in wartime)." I imagined myself putting stitches into my son's shirt, so that in the middle of the chaos someone would know that his mother was named Yoani and his father Reinaldo.

The "War of the Whole People"--currently undergoing a practice run in the military exercise called Bastion 2009--has an assigned job for each of us. It doesn't matter that they make us fear weapons, or if we have never believed in confrontation as a path to solutions, or if we have no confidence in the leaders who will head up our squad. Those who sit at a table covered with tiny plastic tanks and planes, playing at conflagration, want to hide that we citizens have dug the deepest trench to protect ourselves from them.

The news is full of soldiers with their weapons, but the martial maneuvers fail to hide that our real "enemies" are the restrictions and control imposed by the powers that be. War as a distraction no longer works. The threat of parachutes landing and bombs echoing as an antidote to the desire for change has ceased to be effective. I think more and more people are pointing a finger at the true origin of our problems and, though it comes as a surprise to the champions of the battle, their fingers do not appear to be pointing abroad.

Yoani's blog, Generation Y, can be read here in English translation.

Oklahoma Vs. Oklahoma State: Sooners Keep Cowboys Out Of BCS

2009-11-29T03:58:53Z

NORMAN, Okla. — DeMarco Murray ran for two touchdowns, Ryan Broyles returned a punt 88 yards for a score and Oklahoma knocked No. 11 Oklahoma State out of contention for its first appearance in the Bowl Championship Series with a 27-0 win Saturday.

With representatives of the Fiesta and Orange bowls watching on, the Cowboys (9-3, 6-2 Big 12) fell completely flat with their worst offensive performance of the decade.

Oklahoma State was shut out for the first time since 2005 by an Oklahoma (7-5, 5-3) defense coming off its worst outing of the year in a loss at Texas Tech last week.

Zac Robinson threw for only 44 yards on 9-for-21 passing after missing last week's game with injuries to his head and shoulder. He was pulled in the fourth quarter with his lowest passing total since taking over as the starting quarterback early in the 2007 season.

Broyles, who decommitted from Oklahoma State to play for the Sooners, also had 103 yards receiving. Patrick O'Hara, the walk-on who had never played football before taking over as Oklahoma's kicker two weeks ago, hit field goals from 24 and 19 yards.

The Sooners have won seven in a row in the Bedlam rivalry and 30 straight home games, the longest streak in the Bowl Subdivision.

Broyles' 47-yard reception set up Murray's first scoring run, a 13-yarder that he punctuated by leaping from the 4-yard line out of bounds past where the goal line would have extended. He also had a 12-yard TD run following Robinson's only interception, which safety Jonathan Nelson returned 37 yards.

The crowd started chanting "Overrated!" after Broyles let Quinn Sharp's punt sail over his head, then fielded the bouncing punt, turned around and raced 88 yards to make it 27-0.

The shutout was preserved when tight end Trent Ratterree tracked down Justin Gent from behind on a fumble return in the final minute, stripped the ball and recovered it. That allowed Oklahoma to run out the clock.

Oklahoma State didn't have a single first down in the second half and finished with only 109 yards of total offense.

A season riddled with injuries continued for the Sooners, who played without left tackle Trent Williams. The NFL prospect was the only player on Oklahoma's offense that had started the first 11 games, and his absence left the team with only one of its starters on the front line. Tight end Eric Mensik made his first career start on the offensive line to replace Williams.

Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford, also out for the season following shoulder surgery, appeared in a videotaped message before the game to thank fans and encourage them to support the Sooners. And receiver Corey Wilson, who injured his back in an offseason car accident, climbed out of his wheelchair and took a few steps with the aid of a walker at the end of Oklahoma's senior day ceremony.

Neither team, or the referees for that matter, gave the fans much to cheer for early on. Fumbles and constant replay reviews – including one that required a second look for officials to get the down and distance correct – made it a forgettable Bedlam.

The Sooners squandered early scoring chances when Landry Jones fumbled immediately after Broyles' 59-yard punt return set Oklahoma up with first-and-goal at the 7-yard line and O'Hara missed a 35-yard field goal.

But at least the Sooners got something going. Jones finished 20 for 37 for 224 yards and Oklahoma had 143 yards rushing.

Joseph B. Treaster: United Nations Food Leader On Defeating Hunger

2009-11-29T03:51:30Z

WASHINGTON - This year the number of poor people around the world struggling to get enough food for survival for themselves and their families has risen to a little more than a billion - the highest level in 30 years.

Food supplies have been reduced by floods and droughts. But more importantly, they have been hit by financial pressures. High oil prices pushed farmers to sell food crops for use as alternative fuels. Traders bid up prices on commodities like corn and wheat. A worldwide recession led to lost jobs and less money going back to relatives in developing countries from the United States and other places.

The economic stress has eased somewhat and aid agencies, the United States and a few other countries have upped their efforts to feed the poor and under-nourished - especially in Africa and south Asia where the situation has chronically been the worst. But the mass of hungry people in what is often referred to the "world food crisis" has continued to rise. Experts say the picture is expected to be bleak for several years.

"The numbers have gone in reverse," said Josette Sheeran, the executive director of the United Nation's World Food Program. Yet she is optimistic.

Speaking here in a series of discussions on the United Nation's Millennium Goals jointly organized by CSIS, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the University of Miami's Knight Center for International Media, Ms. Sheeran said the response by the United States and other countries has been encouraging. For years, financial aid for agricultural in developing countries had been declining. This year the United States increased aid for farmers to about $600 million and the Obama Administration is asking Congress for $1.3 billion next year. The United States and several other big countries are promising to provide $20 billion over the next three years.

"We know how to defeat hunger," Ms Sheeran told an audience of about 150 college students, professors, business executives and experts on food, economics and the environment. "When you have leadership in place, when you have innovations in place. This is doable."

Ms. Sheeran, who took charge of the World Food Program in early 2007 after serving as Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs in the administration of George W. Bush, praised President Obama. "President Obama stepped up to the plate," she said.

For several years the ranks of the hungry and undernourished had been steady at about 850 million, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. The situation began to get worse in 2004. The number rose to 923 million in 2007 as the crisis began to take hold. It now stands at 1.02 billion.

The joint program of CSIS and the University of Miami's Knight Center for International Media, a unit of the university's School of Communication, began with a discussion on Haiti. The next discussion, on HIV-AIDS, is scheduled for Jan 17. One of the speakers is expected to be Dr. Eric Goosby, the State Department's Global AIDS Coordinator, appointed by President Obama in June.

The discussions are being broadcast live, worldwide, over the Internet. They are designed to engage and motivate policymakers and to inspire students and people everywhere. The University of Miami is complementing the discussions with a series of student-produced multi-media reports on poverty, women's health and other components of the Millennium Goals in world cities.

In the food and hunger discussion, Dr. Daniel Benetti, the director of aquaculture at the University of Miami's Rosentiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, spoke of adding to the world's food supply through aquaculture or fish farming. The University of Miami is pioneering work on growing fish in small, fenced in places in the ocean.

"We have to take a closer look at the oceans," Dr. Benetti said. "Seventy percent of the world is water. We believe we are not focusing enough on that."

One of the first beneficiaries of increased fish production would be the United States, Dr. Benetti said. The United States now imports 80 percent of the fish that Americans eat, he said. The result is an annual seafood trade deficit of $10 billion.

He compared the seafood imbalance to the United States dependence on foreign oil. "We must start producing our own food and become independent," Dr. Benetti said.

The moderator, Mariam Atash Nawabi, a television anchor at America Abroad Media and the president of AMDi, an international development consulting firm, asked where aquaculture has been most successful.

"Greece," said Dr. Benetti. "Eighteen years ago Greece didn't have any aquaculture. Now it produces more than all other" European countries. Australia, he said, has also been a leader.

Johanna Nesseth Tuttle is the vice president for strategic planning at CSIS. During the discussion, she said that CSIS, a non-profit, non-partisan research and analysis center, is focusing on three aspects of global food and hunger: production, research and trade, with a focus on small farmers that includes ways to provide them access to markets, fertilizer and better seeds, and such basic infrastructure needs as roads and irrigation.

Ms. Sheeran said that news coverage of the crisis has declined somewhat recently. But she said that "food prices are higher today than a year ago" in the majority of developing countries

When food prices are high, it is not just a matter of the poor buying less. But often, she said, governments in poor countries cannot raise the money to pay for their usual food imports. So there is not enough food to meet demand at any price. At one point, she said, "Liberia and other countries couldn't put enough cash on the table to compete in very tight global markets."

Women and children suffer most in a food crisis, Ms. Sheeran said. These days, she said, more than 250 million children do not have a consistent, healthy supply of food. Many of them are receiving little or no help. The World Food Program tries to intervene in the most severe cases. But overall, she said, the agency is able to provide food for only about 10 percent of those in desperate need.

Ms. Sheeran held up a red plastic cup, about the size of an over-large coffee mug. "This is the cup the World Food Program uses to reach over 20 million school children," she said. "It is the only guaranteed food they are going to get" on any given day. #

More on India

Mark Mangino: "I'd Rather Die On My Feet Than Live On My Knees"

2009-11-29T02:53:33Z

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A defiant Mark Mangino insisted he plans to be the coach at Kansas next year, but will have no regrets if he's not.

"A friend of mine told me something one time I think is a very good way to go about life," the embattled coach said after Missouri rallied for a 41-39 victory Saturday night.

"I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees."

Two weeks after word leaked that athletic director Lew Perkins had launched an investigation into Mangino's treatment of players, the Jayhawks finally brought an end to a season that began 5-0 but descended into the depths of a bitterly disappointing seven-game losing streak.

The loss means the Jayhawks (6-6, 1-7 Big 12) are not bowl eligible and Mangino is 50-48 in eight years – two wins shy of the school record for a coach.

When the internal probe might end and what Mangino's fate will be could be learned in the next week.

"I'm confident in my ability. I feel good about everything I've done," said Mangino.

After going 12-1 in 2007 and winning the Orange Bowl, Mangino was given a raise and a contract extension through 2012. If he's fired without cause, the school could be on the hook for about $6.6 million.

Since the probe began, several former players have told stories of insensitive – some might say cruel – comments the coach made.

But following that first wave of anti-Mangino sentiment, a gush of pro-Mangino comments were offered by many current and former players and their parents.

Mangino said he's done nothing wrong and that he sees no need to change.

"When I was hired at Kansas they told me they desperately needed structure and discipline in the football program," he said. "The people that hired me said it was the key point. And I've done that the right way and I feel good about it and I'm proud of the way I've dealt with the players in our program."

If the Jayhawks do get rid of Mangino, they'll need to act as soon as possible because an all-important recruiting period begins on Monday.

But has Mangino's ability to recruit already been damaged beyond repair? Stories of verbal abuse told by certain former players are certain to be used against him by the same coaches who have been rallying to his defense. Offsetting vows of loyalty and support by other players may not resonate as much with high school prospects and their moms and dads.

If Saturday's game was Mangino's last, he will end his time at Kansas two wins shy of the school record, which has stood for 100 years.

"Why don't you ask the decision-makers?" he said when asked whether he thinks he'll be back. "I've been up front, with nothing to hide. Sometimes people ask me questions and I'm not the one who should be answering them."

Many of his top players, such as senior quarterback Todd Reesing and running back Jake Sharp, are adamant in their support.

"I feel very blessed to have him as my coach," Sharp said. "I learned a lot from him. With all this going on, he never wavered. He never came to practice halfway. I have the utmost respect for him and what he's done for this program."

Reesing ended his career holding almost every school passing record. Mangino was one of only two college coaches who offered him a scholarship.

"He's done a lot for this program and I love the guy to death," Reesing said. "What happens is out of my hands."
More on College Football

Florida Vs. Florida State: Tim Tebow Shines On Senior Day, Gators Beat FSU

2009-11-29T02:41:49Z

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Tim Tebow's eye black is waterproof.

His perfect season is starting to look shatterproof.

Tebow accounted for five touchdowns in his home finale, a triumphant farewell that included tears on the field and in the stands, and top-ranked Florida thumped rival Florida State 37-10 Saturday for its sixth consecutive victory in the series.

"I don't want to say goodbye," coach Urban Meyer said. "The good thing is we're not done. The negative is we're done in this great stadium."

The Gators stayed unbeaten heading into next week's Southeastern Conference showdown against No. 2 Alabama, extended the nation's longest winning streak to 22 games and improved to 12-0 for just the second time in school.

Tebow may have even secured a third consecutive trip to New York for the Heisman Trophy presentation. He gets one more chance to impress on the big stage next week in Atlanta against the Crimson Tide with a trip to the national championship game on the line.

The Seminoles (6-6) lost for the second time in six games, and longtime coach Bobby Bowden's likely finale at Florida Field showed exactly why some FSU faithful are urging him to retire: Florida outplayed its in-state rival at every position.

Bowden said he has some "soul-searching" to do before making a decision about his future at Florida State.

"I want to coach next year, but let me say I want to go home and do some soul-searching," said Bowden, who has 388 career victories, second most in major college football. "I've got to run this thing through my mind a few times."

It might be hard to keep images of Tebow embarrassing his defense again out of those thoughts. Tebow completed 17 of 21 passes for 221 yards. He also ran 15 times for 90 yards against a defense that might be Bowden's worst in 34 seasons.

It was hardly a surprise considering Tebow torched the 'Noles the previous two years, totaling eight TDs in those. This one could have been even more lopsided than the 45-12 drubbing in 2007 and the 45-15 beatdown last year. But Meyer pulled many of his defensive starters late in the third quarter.

The Seminoles trailed 30-0 before Bowden opted for a field goal on fourth-and-goal from the 2 on the final play of the third. They added a touchdown with 6:03 remaining to make it 37-10.

"They have solid players at every position, very fast, very strong, they're good," said FSU quarterback EJ Manuel, who threw two interceptions and was sacked three times. "We'll get to that level one day. Our energy level wasn't high enough to match their energy level. They're a high energy team."

Manuel's TD pass to Jarmon Fortson was the team's only cause for celebration on a day that belonged to Tebow, linebacker Brandon Spikes and their fellow seniors who have more wins (47) than any other class in SEC history. They also improved to 12-1 against their four traditional rivals – Tennessee (4-0), Georgia (3-1), Florida State (4-0) and Miami (1-0).

The revelry started with Tebow making his final walk into The Swamp amid 90,000-plus fans screaming his name. Tebow and Meyer embraced at the 30-yard line as tears flowed down Tebow's cheeks. Spikes kissed the ground as he was introduced. Receiver Riley Cooper was wearing eye black – much like many others in attendance.

Fans paid tribute to Tebow, the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner, by wearing his famed eye black patches. Meyer's wife and two daughters also donned the little ovals under their eyes.

"That was special," Tebow said.

So was the rest of his day.

He had two TD passes to Aaron Hernandez and another to Cooper, his roommate. Tebow scored on an 18-yard run in the second, then added the 56th rushing TD of his career early in the fourth. The stadium was lit up by camera flashes as he zipped across the goal line.

It capped his best performance of the season. Tebow left the game to a long, standing ovation after the first play of Florida's next possession.

"I was so happy for him," cornerback Joe Haden said. "Tebow's probably one of the best college football players ever to play the game. All the credit he gets, I still don't think it's enough still for all he does for the team and all he does for everybody. He's way more than a football player."

When it was over, Tebow jogged to midfield to shake hands with Seminoles defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews and Bowden. He sang Florida's alma mater with teammates and then started his final victory lap. It seemed to take forever. He was soaking it all it.

"Just saying thank you to all the fans and not get too emotional about it," Tebow said. "My relationship with the fans is great. One reason is 'cause I'm such a passionate Gator fan. I care so much about this university and this team because I'm such a big fan. They know I appreciate them."

Tebow handed out high-fives, handshakes and hugs. He came across several crying faces, telling one girl, "It's OK. I'll be around."

He also stepped on a cheerleader.

"She went down hard," he said. "I felt terrible, so I gave her a big hug. She was a little embarrassed. I felt bad about that. They were all laughing, so I think she's OK."

Many of Tebow's teammates came out of the locker and danced around the "F" at midfield as he worked his way around the stadium. Tebow finally caught up with them back inside, just in time to join the seniors in sharing a few words in front of the team.

"Jermaine Cunningham probably said it best. He put both arms up and said, 'I'm living a dream,'" Meyer said.

The Gators are two wins from a third national championship in four years. They have more celebrations planned, and they could be better than this one – even for Tebow.

"It's been a long day," he said. "I was telling (Cooper), 'Man, it seems like everything's in slow motion, which is good because you want to remember everything."
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White House Plans To Step Up Pressure On Lenders To Help Homeowners

2009-11-29T01:52:41Z

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, battling a foreclosure crisis that shows no signs of relenting, will step up pressure on mortgage companies to do more to help people remain in their homes, officials said Saturday.

The administration will announce its expanded program on Monday, Treasury spokeswoman Meg Reilly said.

"We are taking additional steps to enhance servicer transparency and accountability," Reilly said. She said the goal was to increase the rate that troubled home loans were converted into new loans with lower monthly payments.

So far, the program's numbers have been lackluster. When the administration rolled out the program, called Making Home Affordable, it hoped to save 3-4 million homeowners from foreclosure. The New York Times interviews a former Fannie Mae official who says that currently, the program will be lucky if it can save 1.5 million Americans from foreclosure.

Realtytrack predicts that 3.2-3.4 million properties will go into foreclosure in 2009, up from 2.3 million in 2008. About 14 percent of residential mortgages are delinquent or in some phase of foreclosure in the third quarter of 2009.

The New York Times reports on the program:

Last month, an oversight panel created by Congress reported that fewer than 2,000 of the 500,000 loan modifications then in progress had become permanent under Making Home Affordable. When the Treasury releases new numbers next month, it is expected to report a disappointingly small number of permanent loan modifications, with estimates in the tens of thousands out of the more than 650,000 borrowers now in the program.

More unsatisfactory data is likely to intensify pressures on the Obama administration to mount a more muscular effort to stem foreclosures beyond the Treasury's campaign this week. Populist anger has been fanned by a growing perception that the Treasury has lavished generous bailouts on Wall Street institutions while neglecting ordinary homeowners -- this, in the midst of double-digit unemployment, which is daily sending more households into delinquency.

Industry officials said the new effort would include increased pressure on mortgage companies to accelerate loan modifications by highlighting firms that are lagging in that area.

The Treasury is also expected to announce that it will wait until the loan modifications are permanent before paying cash incentives to mortgage companies that lower loan payments.

Under the $75 billion Treasury program, companies that agree to lower payments for troubled borrowers collect $1,000 initially from the government for each loan, followed by $1,000 annually for up to three years.

The government support, which is provided from the $700 billion financial bailout program, is aimed at providing cash incentives for mortgage providers to accept smaller mortgage payments rather than foreclosing on homes.

The program has come under heavy criticism for failing to do enough to attack a tidal wave of foreclosures. Analysts said the foreclosure crisis is likely to persist well into next year as high unemployment pushes more people out of their homes.

Rising foreclosures depress home prices and threaten the sustainability of the fledgling economic recovery.

The Congressional Oversight Panel, a committee that monitors spending under Treasury's bailout program, concluded in a report last month that foreclosures are now threatening families who took out conventional, fixed-rate mortgages and put down payments of 10 to 20 percent on homes that would have been within their means in a normal market.

Treasury's program, known as the Home Affordable Modification Program, "is targeted at the housing crisis as it existed six months ago, rather than as it exists right now," the report said.

Scott Talbott, senior vice president of government affairs for the Financial Services Roundtable, said the industry supported many of the changes Treasury was proposing.

But he said the foreclosure problem, which began with heavy defaults on subprime mortgages, was expanding to more traditional types of mortgages because of unemployment which has now hit a 26-year high of 10.2 percent.

"The subprime problem has regrettably morphed into an unemployment problem," Talbott said. He said there was no government program to help the unemployed who are in danger of losing their homes but "many private lenders are modifying loans for the unemployed on their own."

Treasury's Reilly said the expanded program would, among other steps, make more aid available to struggling borrowers and expand the number of organizations providing help.

___

Associated Press writer Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.
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Geneva WTO Protests 2009 (PHOTOS): Police Clash With Black Bloc Demonstrators

2009-11-29T01:31:38Z

GENEVA (AP)-- Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets Saturday to separate violent demonstrators from a protest of a meeting of top world trade officials, but the hooded "black bloc" activists were able to cause damage before 14 were arrested, spokesmen said.

The protesters set fire to at least four cars, broke shop windows and committed other acts of violence Saturday, police spokesman Patrick Puhl said.

Police Chief Monica Bonfati said officers arrested four looters in addition to the protesters. No injuries to police or protesters were reported, police said.

The clashes occurred during a march by demonstrators protesting a meeting of the World Trade Organization scheduled to start Monday, in which the United States, China and other commercial powers will spearhead a new attempt to find ways to revive world trade and drag the global economy out of recession.

Bonfati told Swiss television TSR that police were able at the beginning of the demonstration to identify about 200 members of the black bloc -- violent elements that join other demonstrations to cause damage. She said they were spread out along the route and police had to separate them from the other protesters.

Eric Grandjean, another police spokesman, said black bloc protesters threw fire bombs at police from the march.

"They also damaged 12 businesses, including a bank at Place Bel-Air and a jewelry shop and a hotel on the Quai des Bergues," he said.

Besides the burned cars, 15 other vehicles, including three buses, were damaged, he said.

Police said the 3,000 protesters included three distinct groups of troublemakers who broke away to attack cars and hotel and shop windows, then rejoined the march, pretending to be peaceful. Organizers claimed there were about 5,000 protesters in total.

The group Anti-WTO Coordination said it "regretted being unable to finish the demonstration and deliver the planned speeches."

It said a few protesters had used the demonstration for their own ends.

Nevertheless, it said, "the international and local mobilization is a success" and it condemned "unreservedly all police repression violating democratic rights."

Much more serious clashes have occurred at previous meetings of trade chiefs, but the coming session lacks the specific goals of previous meetings, when the World Trade Organization tried to conclude a new trade deal. The last so-called ministerial was held in Hong Kong four years ago. Others were in Cancun, Mexico, and Seattle.

WTO opponents claim the agreements produced by the body foster the growth of wealth among corporations at the expense of farmers, workers and others at the low end of the economy.

Swiss officials refused entry at Geneva Airport on Friday evening to three South Koreans who wanted to come into Geneva because Swiss security specialists judged them to be capable of violence, Puhl said, noting that other countries had previously barred the three for the same reason.

The WTO called the meeting of its 153 members to examine major issues at a time when global exports are falling rapidly and the WTO's long-sought Doha liberalization round is limping into its ninth year.

Instead of sensitive tariff and subsidy negotiations, the conference running Monday through Wednesday will focus on the big picture -- stabilizing and rejuvenating commerce in the face of increased protectionism, unemployment and exporting of jobs.

The WTO had hoped to avoid the acrimony and the sometimes-violent protests that have plagued previous ministerial conferences. Geneva police have taken a number of steps to ensure the security of the meeting place.
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Fred Goldring: The Main Point: Musicians, Arts Education And The E Street Shuffle

2009-11-29T00:52:15Z

David Brooks' fantastic essay "The Other Education" in The NY Times Op Ed Section on Friday resonated with me on so many levels that it's hard to know where to begin. Like David, I grew up as a teenager in Main Line Philadelphia and the Jersey Shore in the 70's. At the time, Philadelphia was a musical hotbed with local artists like Hall and Oates, Todd Rundgren, Teddy Pendergrass, Harold Melvin and the rest of the Philly International crew who were grabbing national attention. Most importantly, almost all of the major and developing touring singer-songwriters and bands of the day would regularly schedule a performance at the Main Point, a little coffeehouse in Bryn Mawr, the college town close to where I lived. Luckily for me, the place didn't have a liquor license, so I was able to get in starting when I was about 13. What an education that turned out to be.

I had become fascinated with music and musicians as an adolescent. My maternal grandfather had remarried a woman whose nephew was one of the founders of Cameo-Parkway Records, home to Bobby Rydell, Chubby Checker, the Dovells, Dee Dee Sharp and many other local musicians. So whenever my grandfather and his wife would come to visit, they would bring a box of 45 R.P.M. records. Eventually I stopped using them as Frisbees, and I figured out how to center them on my father's turntable so I could listen to what was on them. I was hooked. My older cousins made me watch The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, and in 1970, my older cousin Alan (who had been to Woodstock), turned me on to an album by a then-new artist named James Taylor called Sweet Baby James. I ditched the obligatory piano lessons my parents had insisted on, and became obsessed with learning to play the acoustic guitar and becoming a performer myself, woodshedding for hours in my bedroom trying learn the songs by picking them off of records by Taylor and other artists of the time like Crosby, Stills and Nash, Jackson Browne, The Eagles, Dan Fogelberg and, of course, the Beatles. I woke up at the crack of dawn on a Monday morning to be the first to mail in my self-addressed stamped envelope and money so I would get the best possible seats to see James Taylor at the Academy of Music (I ended up getting front row middle seats and James introduced a member of his band who was about to release her own album, Carole King, as the opening act). I played in a bunch of rock cover bands with friends at Bar Mitzvahs and other parties, including a band with my friend Howard Benson who went on to become a major Grammy-nominated record producer. But most of all, it was The Main Point that became my after hours school and laboratory.

At least once a week I would go to a show there, seeing many now iconic musicians early in their careers, up so close in a venue that held maybe 150 people that I could actually see their hands and how they were playing the songs. After each show, I would run home and pick up my guitar or sit down at the piano and try to imitate from memory as best I could what I had just seen. Billy Joel, Livingston Taylor, Fogelberg, Kenny Rankin, Jim Croce, Bonnie Raitt were just some of the artists I got to see. I even got up the courage to perform myself on a couple of Monday night "open mike" nights. But it was one particular show that I went to see at The Main Point on February 5, 1975 that was truly memorable and is the one which David Brooks wrote about in his column: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

A couple of months before, I had gone with some friends to see Daryl Hall and John Oates at the gym at Villanova University. There was literally a blizzard going on all afternoon and we weren't sure whether the show would be cancelled. We couldn't get through on the phone to find out so, undaunted, we ventured out into the storm and made our way to the concert. As the lights dimmed, Daryl Hall walked out and announced to the crowd that although he and John had made it to Villanova intact, their equipment hadn't so they would have to play the an acoustic show. He added, however, that the opening act (whom I had never heard of before) had made it into town earlier with all their equipment and would be playing a full set. The act then took the stage (actually, more like took over the stage) right from the first note. I had never before seen or heard anything like this band. I remember thinking at the time that musically Bruce reminded me slightly of Van Morrison, but he was more like a musical preacher and storyteller.

When I learned Bruce would be playing The Main Point a couple of months later, I pulled out all the stops to get tickets. Incredibly, they played for almost 3 hours straight in the tiny club. Luckily, the show was simulcast on the top local rock station, WMMR, so I was able to arrange to have a friend tape it for me. I still listen to the show from time to time and Bruce and the band's performance still stands up after all these years.

The "main point" of David Brooks' essay is that it is our musical and other artists such as Bruce Springsteen who give us a different, but critical, part of our education in life. They portray for us on an emotional level what things are really like for a lot of other people and what they are thinking and feeling. They give us insight into their triumphs and failures, their loves and losses, and their hopes and dreams. We discover kindred spirits in our artists for they are able to articulate for us what we cannot in a way that touches our souls and makes us feel that we are not alone and, like they, we are a part of the human condition and continuum. We relate to them and they to us, and their audience and fans relate to each other, which in turn helps to create and maintain a larger connected community.

It is for this reason that it is imperative that we continue to place the arts and our artists in the highest regard in the educational system in our country. Engagement in the arts is a unique place where developing young minds can safely nurture their imaginations and develop the right brain thinking that is ever so critical for problem solving in an increasingly complex world. Unfortunately, it also seems to be the first line item that gets the ax in school budgets. We cannot allow this to continue if we want to turn out "whole" individuals in our society who are able to think creatively on their feet.

As Albert Einstein once said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge" and "education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he has learned in school". I will be forever grateful to "Professors" Springsteen, Taylor, Fogelberg and the other artists, famous and not so famous, and mostly to The Main Point, the place where I got my real education growing up. Let's make sure we do all we can to nurture artists and arts education so that the next generation will have the opportunity to be similarly inspired.

Washington Post: 9,000 Troops Will Deploy To Afghanistan Soon After Obama's Speech

2009-11-29T00:50:53Z

KABUL -- Days after President Obama outlines his new war strategy in a speech Tuesday, as many as 9,000 Marines will begin deploying to southern Afghanistan to renew an assault on a Taliban stronghold that stalled earlier this year amid a troop shortage and political pressure from the Afghan government, senior U.S. officials said.
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