Quote:Many keyboards are clattering with chatter this week about the upcoming contest between the UNC and Notre Dame football squads on Saturday, so here’s our contribution.

You may be surprised to know that the host for the first encounter between these schools’ teams was neither Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill nor Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend. No, it was Yankee Stadium in New York City.

Why the Big Apple?

Starting in 1913, the annual Notre Dame versus Army football game evolved into a major rivalry. From 1925 through 1946, the two teams battled at Yankee Stadium (with the exception of 1930, which was played in Chicago) in order to draw upon both institutions’ large alumni bases in New York. The 1946 contest ended in a 0-0 tie between the country’s top two rated teams, and is a college football classic. The two previous years, however, saw Army routing Notre Dame with combined scores of 107—0, and the Black Knights declared that the annual meeting would cease with a finale to be played at Notre Dame Stadium in 1947. The Fighting Irish’s returned to Yankee Stadium on November 12, 1949 to play UNC in their final appearance there until the 1963 Gotham Bowl.

The Tar Heels’ 1949 encounter with Notre Dame was not the first time UNC played in “The House that Ruth Built.” Yankee Stadium was home field for the New York University football team beginning in the mid 1920s. UNC made its Yankee Stadium debut against NYU in 1936 with a 14-13 victory. The following year the UNC-NYU game was moved from Yankee Stadium to Ohio Field to make room for the World Series. Back in Yankee Stadium again in 1938, UNC bested NYU 7-0.

Quote:The Daily Tar Heel reported an estimated 25,000 UNC fans—with 2,200 student tickets sold—would head for New York to see the 5-2 Tar Heels take on the 6-0 Fighting Irish. Those departing from Chapel Hill and vicinity traveled on two Seaboard Air Line Railroad and Southern Railway “specials,” Carolina Coach Company buses, and caravans of decorated cars. The DTH published a small article describing some of their escapades along the way. Yackety Yack photographer Bob Brooks photographed one of the automobiles parked on a New York street. The car is adorned with player names—featuring a train on the driver-side door featuring The “Choo-Choo” All-American Charlie Justice—and expressions, such as “Hello Yankees! How ‘Yawl’?” and “We’re From Carolina Gung Hav’ Beeg ‘Pahty.’” The writing on the front fender cannot be made out entirely, but something or someone is “Gung Take Noo-Yawk.”

Quote:Brooks also captured at least two scenes during the huge pep rally of 3,000 UNC students on the preceding Friday night with 20,000 spectators lining the streets on Times Square. The streets were full of Confederate flags and UNC fight songs.

Quote:UNC registered the first score of the game, a touchdown by UNC running back Dick Bunting—seen on the bottom of the pile in the photograph below. Other UNC players, grouped in the center, are Kenny Powell on the far left, Joe Neikirk (#63), Art Weiner (#50), and Julian King (#84).

Quote:That would be the only UNC score. The Tar Heels held the eventual national champions to a 6-6 draw by halftime. But without the Tar Heels’ All-American running back Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice, who was unable to play after injuring his ankle the week before against William and Mary, and nowhere near the depth of reserves of their opponent, the Irish rattled off 36 unanswered points in the second half for the victory. Through it all, Tar Heel fans remained highly spirited, described by DTH reporter Roy Parker, Jr. as “the cheeringest bunch of Carolina rooters ever assembled.” Even after the game’s close, the singing of “Hark the Sound” drowned out the Notre Dame fight song.

Quote:Investigators from both the department’s Office of Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility found that political pressure did indeed drive the dismissal action against at least three of the nine federal prosecutors abruptly fired. At the time, then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales insisted the individuals were all dismissed for inadequate performance, or failure to implement the President’s law enforcement agenda.

But it appears the longtime pal and adviser to President Bush was lying through his teeth. Turns out the real reason some of the top federal lawyers were removed from the job, according to the Justice Department report, was that either the U.S. attorneys had the audacity to prosecute Republicans or because they failed to aggressively prosecute Democrats.

Either way, their behavior ticked off well-connected GOP politicians who had come to expect a politically loyal Justice Department. A couple of calls from powerful New Mexico Republican officeholders helped push former U.S. attorney David Iglesias out of a job. Evidently, the top New Mexico prosecutor was remiss in his duty to produce criminal charges against Democrats in the run-up to the 2006 election.

Another U.S. attorney in Missouri lost his post over a petty complaint from Republican Sen. Christopher Bond, and still another was bumped to make room for a protégé of White House political adviser Karl Rove. There was a pervading culture of partisanship/loyalty-above-all-else in the department, recalled one of the fired attorneys.

“Not only were my colleagues and I not insulated from politics — as we should have been in our jobs as prosecutors — but we were fired for the most partisan reasons,” Mr. Iglesias said.

But it mattered not to the Machiavellian Bush Administration that justice was compromised with appalling political interference. It operates under the premise that the ends always justify the means.

Quote: Sarah Palin unlawfully abused her power as governor by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper, the chief investigator of an Alaska legislative panel concluded Friday. The politically charged inquiry imperiled her reputation as a reformer on John McCain's Republican ticket.

Investigator Stephen Branchflower, in a report by a bipartisan panel that investigated the matter, found Palin in violation of a state ethics law that prohibits public officials from using their office for personal gain.

The inquiry looked into her dismissal of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, who said he lost his job because he resisted pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a bitter divorce with the governor's sister. Palin says Monegan was fired as part of a legitimate budget dispute.

The report found that Palin let the family grudge influence her decision-making even if it was not the sole reason Monegan was dismissed. "I feel vindicated," Monegan said. "It sounds like they've validated my belief and opinions. And that tells me I'm not totally out in left field."

Branchflower said Palin violated a statute of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.

Palin and McCain's supporters had hoped the inquiry's finding would be delayed until after the presidential election to spare her any embarrassment and to put aside an enduring distraction as she campaigns as McCain's running mate in an uphill contest against Democrat Barack Obama.

But the panel of lawmakers voted to release the report, although not without dissension. There was no immediate vote on whether to endorse its findings.

"I think there are some problems in this report," said Republican state Sen. Gary Stevens, a member of the panel. "I would encourage people to be very cautious, to look at this with a jaundiced eye."

The nearly 300-page report does not recommend sanctions or a criminal investigation.

The investigation revealed that Palin's husband, Todd, has extraordinary access to the governor's office and her closest advisers. He used that access to try to get trooper Mike Wooten fired, the report found.

Branchflower faulted Sarah Palin for taking no action to stop that. He also noted there is evidence the governor herself participated in the effort.

Quote:2nd (Trad)=Cotton, Modern=China
3rd (Trad)=Leather, Modern=Crystal, Glass

Quote:After intense evangelizing by Chryson and his allies, they claimed Palin as a convert. “When she started taking her job seriously,” Chryson said, “the people who put her in as the rubber stamp found out the hard way that she was not going to go their way.” In 1994, Sarah Palin attended the AIP’s statewide convention. In 1995, her husband, Todd, changed his voter registration to AIP. Except for an interruption of a few months, he would remain registered was an AIP member until 2002, when he changed his registration to undeclared.

In 1996, Palin decided to run against John Stein as the Republican candidate for mayor of Wasilla. While Palin pushed back against Stein’s policies, particularly those related to funding public works, Chryson said he and Steve Stoll prepared the groundwork for her mayoral campaign.