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The Daily Dose/November 4, 2007
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
   
Notes from around the human experience, including an historic victory for the Navy, another installment of Strategies of the Great Coaches Series; the latest from a really good college football team; freedom takes a dive in Pakistan, plus the rare timely, non-gratuitous Column Four Foto, special Hot Ex-World Leader Edition, Benazir Bhutto.
ANCHORS AWEIGH! We suppose it really isn't that big a story, Notre Dame loses all the time now, but Navy defeated the Irish Saturday in South Bend. This is news because it was Navy's first victory over the Irish in an NCAA-record 43 games, since a Navy team led by Roger Staubach beat the Irish in 1963.
The Final From Notre Dame Stadium In South Bend: In three overtimes, Navy 46, Notre Dame 44.
From The Halls Of Montezuma, To The Notre Dame End Zone: On the first play of the third overtime, Navy got a 25-yard touchdown pass from - and we are not making this up - Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada to Reggie Campbell and the pair followed that by combining for the two-point conversion. The Irish then pulled to within two on a five-yard touchdown run by Travis Thomas. On the ensuing conversion the Irish bribed the officials and a pass interference penalty was called on our hard-charging Middies, but justice prevailed when Thomas was stopped trying to the run the ball in.
Still A Long Way To Go: Despite today's win, Notre Dame still leads the series 70-10-1.
FunFact: Navy's last three wins in the series (2007, 1963 and 1961) have come at Notre Dame.
There Will Be A Quiz Later: The 1963 win ended a stretch where Navy won five of eight. Prior to that, the Middies had gone 1-17-1 against the Irish.
Well, We Think This Is Interesting: Navy has never played Notre Dame at home, preferring to host the Irish in larger stadiums than their own Navy-Marine Corps Stadium, which seats a relatively modest 35,000. (Before Navy-Marine Corps Stadium opened, Navy played at Thompson Stadium, which wasn't big either, seating just 12,000). Navy has hosted Notre Dame at various sites over the years, from Cleveland to Philadelphia to Baltimore to Orlando and even Dublin, Ireland, which seems to be giving a team called the Irish a bit of an advantage, but what the hell.
Strategies of the Great Coaches Series: Faced with fourth and eight from the Navy 24 with less than a minute left, Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis went for it instead of trying a game-winning field goal! No, we're not entirely sure why, either.
As Long As The Mighty Are Falling: The Writer's Shack would like to send a special shout out to the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who gave the most points in their history Saturday in losing to Kansas 76-39. The Huskers have lost five straight.
Shameless Plug: Expect big movement on the part of the Huskers when the new Bottom Ten poll moves this week. We're thinking it will be ready Monday, but it could be Tuesday.
Elsewhere In College Football: Mount Union College, of Ohio, who later this month will begin actual NCAA-sponsored playoffs, won their 32nd straight game, defeating John Carroll College 53-0. The Purple Raiders, two-time defending Division III champions, are 9-0 this year and haven't given up a point since late September and a touchdown since week 2.
Holy Touchdown Jesus, Batman!: Since 1993 Mount Union has won nine national championships, including five this decade. They have both the longest and the second longest winning streaks in NCAA history, 55 games (2000-03) and 54 games (1996-99) and only a loss to Rowan in the 1999 D-III national championship game prevented an 110 game winning streak. In 23 years at Mount Union, coach Larry Kehres is an astounding 264-20-3, and average yearly record of, get this, 11 wins and .863 losses a season. The 11 wins is funny when you consider D-III teams only play ten regular season games a year.
You Mean The NCAA Actually Sponsors Football Playoffs?: We are not making that up. In fact, they sponsor no less than three sets of football playoffs, a 16-team playoff in division I-AA, a 24-team playoff in Division II, and a man-sized 32-teamer in Division III. They work in the lower divisions because the kids there don't take their studies as seriously as the scholars in Division I-A, where a playoff would interfere with finals.
LIVE FROM PAKISTAN: Pakistani president Gen. Pervez Musharraf imposed martial law on his country Saturday, claiming the future of his country was at stake.
Big Picture Stuff: That's not the only thing at stake. The Pakistan Supreme Court had been scheduled to rule on the legality of Musharraf's October reelection as president, specifically whether his role as head of the army prevented him from running for president, and it is feared by some, like Musharraf, that the court would rule against Musharraf. So as part of his emergency decree he replaced the Chief Justice and surrounded the really ugly Supreme Court building with troops.
Get Out Your History Books: A complete history of the politics of Pakistan is, thankfully, beyond the scope of this column, but we're not entirely sure why Musharraf's role as head of the army would prevent him from running for president. It hasn't in the past. Musharraf came to power in a military coup in October of 1999 and, because the Supreme Court made him, held elections in 2002, elections so rigged they embarrassed even Musharraf, who actually went on tee vee and apologized for 'irregularities'.
He Means Well: Like all dictators, Musharraf said he wanted to restore democracy, of course, but didn't comment on whether parliamentary elections, currently scheduled for January, will be held.
ON THIS DATE: In 1995, Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated in Tel Aviv.
In 1979: The Iran hostage crisis began, when Iranian radicals take over the United States Embassy in Tehran. 52 Americans would be held for 444 days, released minutes after Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president of the United States, replacing Jimmy Carter.
In 1924: Nellie Tayloe Ross is elected governor of Wyoming, the first woman elected governor in the US.
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