Scrivener

Here's my theory: Majerus just got a little cranky last night when he discovered that Domino's wouldn't deliver pizzas to his hotel room during the blizzard. I'll say this, though: The Big Man sure knows how to take the luster off a road win...

I still have a "piece of DeSmet" somewhere in my basement -- a chip of ancient red brick that one of my UNews confreres lifted from the demo site. Like Taj, I wasn't really sad to see DeSmet or Sodality go, back in the 70s. But I have to admit, they look kinda cool and "collegiate" in this photo from the 40s. One other bit of trivia: You can see Cupples House in the photo. I was told once upon a time that old man Cupples became a major donor to Washington University... because he was ticked at SLU for building DuBourg Hall, and blocking the view from his mansion. Don't know if that's true...but it's a great story!

That's true, RB. But now that you're across the building from us...we'll be able to keep an eye on you! (And something tells me, we'll still be able to hear you...)

Section 116, Row T, -- 5,6, 7,8

Found this link to a Charlotte beat-reporter's rant about A-10 officiating on Timmerman's blog. http://gmine.blogspot.com/2008/01/atlantic...ing-is-bad.html Kind of makes you wonder how some of these zebras keep their jobs... ...and it makes you wonder whether anyone at the league has this issue on their radar.

I remember Mojo's. May have even eaten there once or twice. But even though Mojo's was practically across the street from our Laclede Town apartment, we tended to "fill our belly at Marshall's Deli", in the Mansion House downtown -- one of the few 24-hour eateries that existed, back in the day.

Sure, bonwich: We were paid. We staffers each received a hard-bound copy of the year's editions, with our names handsomely embossed on the cover -- remember? I don't know about you, but it never occurred to me to ask our editors for actual money. Perhaps the fumes from the rubber cement left us too addle-brained to request our fair share of the ad department's filthy lucre, way back when.

...but the Billikens' loss seems even more horrid when seen through the eyes of the Pittsburgh media. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07007/752013-135.stm

Here's a neat story that has precious little to do with Billiken basketball. But something tells me that, had the protagonist grown up in St. Louis, he just might have been a Billiken fan. http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian...ll=7&thispage=1

I think it was Bonwich who pointed out once upon a time that SLU's bloodlines run deep: He dug up info indicating that Notre Dame "borrowed" its original curriculum from our alma mater. And the same is true of Xavier, I've learned: SLU provided the curriculum -- and even some faculty members -- when the Jesuits took over the college from the archdiocese of Cincy, way-back-when. So I like to say that my daughter has enrolled in SLU's "Cincinnati campus". That never fails to get a rise out of my beloved Musketeer.

Gruehls, Never thought I'd be able to say this, but I feel your pain. Just got back from Cincinnati a day ago, dropping my youngest off...to begin her freshman year at Xavier. (My small consolation -- at least it's a Jesuit school...and not the Bearcats...that hooked her.) I have extracted a pledge from my daughter, never to become a Reds fan. But she has already learned at least one "X-Men" basketball cheer. So I guess this means the winter months will become chilly indeed around the Scrivener household.

For reasons that are clear only to the lunkheads at the P-D sports department, the Mizzou Tigers were given front-page coverage for losing to Texas...while the Billken story wound up on page 5. Here's the text of the e-mail I sent this morning to the Sports editor at the P-D: "I'm curious about the layout for today's P-D sports page: How is it that the SLU Billikens -- the hometown team -- gets relegated to page 5...but the MU Tigers merit page 1 above-the-fold treatment? After all, the Billikens WON. In the process, they broke a streak that has been garnering national attention. That's newsworthy. They ran their record to 11-9, 5-3 and tied for 3rd in the A-10. The Tigers LOST. They're 10-9, 3-5 on the year (although you wouldn't know that from having read the P-D story.) They're in 9th place in the Big 12. It seems reasonable to expect that the hometown team -- the more successful team -- would receive more prominent coverage. I might be tempted to observe that the P-D Sports' staff's Tiger bias is showing...but given the team's current losing streak, I can't imagine why Tiger fans would want to draw additional attention to MU. Perhaps you can shed some light on the subject."

The Rams' hometown paper has picked up on the WLWLWL streak...but their game-day story included this odd note: " Three games ago, a professor at Texas Tech calculated that the chances of a team alternating wins and losses through 19 games (including the two last season) were 1-in-24,000. Since then, the Billikens have beaten Duquesne and lost to Temple to keep the pattern alive. " Assuming facts not in evidence, yes?

...a friend of mine suggested that it was because of Danny's "Jesuit spirit of detachment." I guess we Billiken fans have to laugh...to keep from crying!

John Schroeder, BA Communications '77, MA English '79, former news editor at the U. News. A season ticket holder since Anthony Bonner's freshman year -- just switched from Section 118 to 116 this season...leaving Billiken Roy to cheer on from the "Blue Crew corner" without me. Partner in CorpWrite Ltd., a business writing firm with its world headquarters in historic Manchester, MO.

...is a Greek word meaning "lap-dance." Or perhaps it was "lap-dance dunce." My translation skills are rusty, too.

It's been a while since I last studied geometry...so I was at a loss to describe the blue patch that appears on this year's edition of the uniform shorts. But perhaps a better question than "What was it -- trapezoid or parallelogram?" is "Why?"

Myth? You're being too modest, Taj. We ALL went to school on you, when you were in school. But don't worry: Your daughter never has to know.

I got a kick ;-) out of the following item that takes a bead on soccer (which the blog editor calls "metric football") It appeared in yesterday's Best of the Web on OpinionJournal.com. RED CARD Our item yesterday on metric football prompted this reply from reader Eddie Staples: While I certainly sympathize with your attitude toward this "sport" implicit in the name you give it, I think the appropriate disdain can only be shown by calling it what it really is: communist football. Consider: * No one understands the rules. * Workers are prohibited from using the tools that would let them be more productive (hands). * From time to time petty bureaucrats (officials) interfere with play in such a way as to limit production. * Players, coaches, officials and fans are all fully involved (employed) and yet output is miniscule. * Any production is met by celebration all out of proportion to its objective value. * Followers are slavishly (religiously?) devoted to the system and their own brand of it and resort to violence at any criticism of either. Good points all, but "communist" and "metric" turn out to be inextricably linked. The Soviet Union used the metric system, and Cuba, North Korea, Red China and Vietnam still do. Here's the link (final item): http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110007158

I see Gerri Berendzen's Dad at Mass every morning... ...But I married Gerri Reiker, the lovely young lady whose only connection to the University News was her patient forbearance, as she waited for her beau to return from those Friday afternoon "staff meetings" at Clark's/Friday's.

Ooops... Guess I ought to check the board more often during the off-season! Taj, I wake up every morning and wonder why Gerri stuck with me this long. Better to be lucky than good, I suppose. But thanks for noticing the Universitas blurb. And I'll let "Scrivener's brother" know that you think he's cute!

Denver Nuggets coach George Karl has been fined $200K for untimely contact with a Marquette basketball player. http://cbs.sportsline.com/nba/story/8530345 My question: Is anybody on the "Gold's" roster worth a $200K fine?

...Billiken blue for our Jesuit brethren...

I noticed an odd coincidence the other day, when reading this story about a priest who died, reported to be the last living Jesuit who had participated in the (in)famous exorcism that took place (at least in part) at SLU (and upon which the book/movie "The Exorcist" was based). http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stor...ht=2%2Cexorcism The exorcism occurred in 1949, just about the time that the Billikens last really mattered on the national basketball stage. Since then, we've had a few brushes with success on the hardcourt. But on the whole, the Billikens have been star-crossed (if not to say cursed) ever since. Meanwhile, we've seen many other Jesuit institutions rise to basketball prominence -- and in some cases, manage to stay there (Georgetown, Marquette, Gonzaga, Xavier, to name a few). And we've seen our OWN ex-coach put together a Top 10 program just three years after leaving SLU. So I'm wondering if there might not be a connection: Could the demons exorcised from that young man in 1949...have somehow wandered west from DuBourg/Verhagen Hall...and taken up residence in the West Pine Gym? And if so, how long might we have to wait for our deliverance? I'm kidding, mostly, when I write this. I believe good recruiting is the surest path to consistent appearances in the Big Dance. But I also believe in the power of prayer. So what the heck: Perhaps the Billiken faithful could do something to 'reverse the curse'...by adding our favorite team to our Lenten intentions. The Prayer to St. Michael might be a good place to start... "St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in the day of Battle; Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke Him, we humbly pray, and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, cast into Hell, Satan and all the other evil spirits, who prowl through the world, seeking the ruin of souls. Amen."

If I were a Mizzou fan, I'd have a big bone to pick with Quin Snyder after his press conference performance yesterday. Quin's response to the 12-month ban on recruiting: No big deal. "Every day that the staff and I don't spend on the road recruiting, that's another day we can spend working with the team and teaching them how to play basketball," he said...or words to that effect. This is a man seriously in denial. He wants believe that he's not really being punished.... that he hasn't done anything wrong...and -- most incredibly -- that he knows how to teach basketball. If the MU Athletic Department had a shred of decency left, they would have cashiered him on the spot. There's only one response possible when you've just gotten your team put on probation: "I'm sorry. I was wrong. And it'll never happen again."