Welcome back to The Rival Rundown! If you’ve always wanted to give props to your school on CC, now’s your chance! Shoot us an email explaining what’s awesome and unique about your school (or what stinks about Rival U) at rivalrundown@collegecandy.com!

Let’s travel to the Midwest, where the people are friendly, the food is hearty, and the state school rivalries are relentlessly combative. In the great state of Indiana, two state school systems (Indiana University and Purdue University) are so entrenched in a battle for loyalty that many homes boast signs in their windows reading “A House Divided”–or in other words, the domain has both Purdue and IU alumni.  Can one school win the rights to true Hoosier pride?

1. Mascot Match-up

Indiana – The Hoosiers are not only the university mascot but the state nickname–a term for someone who transports bales of cotton.  Though a derogatory word in other parts of the country, a Hoosier is a label of pride in Indiana!
Purdue – The Boilermakers get their moniker from the longstanding tradition of excellence in engineering at Purdue, which in the 1890s (at the time of the mascot’s inception) meant toiling in the forge room to boil and meld metal.

Three credits to: Indiana, since it takes some balls to claim a questionable slang term for a school (and state) nickname! Read More »

Welcome back to The Rival Rundown! If you’ve always wanted to give props to your school on CC, now’s your chance! Shoot us an email explaining what’s awesome and unique about your school (or what stinks about Rival U) at rivalrundown@collegecandy.com!

This week, we take a look at the opponents in the nation’s most notorious holy war–no, not the mission in Iraq, but the rivalry between Boston College and Notre Dame, America’s premier Catholic universities.  Besides giving mad props to the Pope, these two institutions share a common interest in superior athletics, academics, and intense fan-dom. The Holy War refers to the quasi-annual football game between the schools (the only Catholic universities to play NCAA D1-A ball), and the fierce competitiveness between the two. Let the pillaging begin!

1. Mascot Matchup

BC – The Golden Eagles can be seen emblazoned on every Superfan shirt and bumper-sticker in Beantown.
Notre Dame - South Bend, Indiana is home to the famed Fighting Irish–the mascot championed in media from The West Wing (President Bartlet was an alum) to the football film classic, Rudy.

Three credits to: Notre Dame (extra points for high media recognition).

2. Holy War Stats

BC - has won 9 out of 18 games.
Notre Dame - has also won 9 games!

Three Credits to: It’s a tie! Read More »

Hezbollah has taken over the western portion of Beirut the capital of Lebanon. This recent violence stems from the Western-backed (read: US-funded) government’s attempt on Monday to shut down Hezbollah’s telecoms network calling it a threat to state security.

According to eyewitnesses, the takeover occurred on Thursday at 8am with widespread Hezbollah roadblocks. Witnesses report street fighting involving machine guns, RPGs and tanks throughout the city. Civilians, apparently, have been forbidden from exiting their homes or even standing out on their balconies. Foreign nationals are desperately seeking a way out of the city.

It is feared that such violence will spiral the country back into civil war. The first Lebanese civil war occurred from 1975-90.

Meanwhile, the situation in Myanmar (Burma) continues to deteriorate. As many as 100,000 dead or missing and thousands facing homelessness and disease, yet the government remains incredibly reluctant to allow foreign aid into the country.

On Friday, the UN World Food Program suspended operations when its’ first plane was impounded by the government. Aid flights will hopefully be resumed on Saturday.

According to the US government, Myanmar will allow one aid plane to land on Monday. Read More »

[Update: The following is a blow by blow account of the democratic primaries in Indiana and North Carolina.Our coverage began at 6:30pm and ended just after 1am]

It’s yet another political primary extravaganza. The CNN coverage was cool for super Tuesday, but that was back in February! It’s now May and those poor news anchors really have nothing new to say. It’s sadly pathetic and extremely annoying.

That’s why tonight CollegeCandy is bringing you our own version of continuous coverage! Stay tuned for the latest in exit poll data, political meltdowns and candidate bickering without the over-dramatization , stupid jokes, and filler conversation.

It’s Election Night Coverage with Kandy Korrespondent!

1:12am

CNN is now willing to project Hillary Clinton as the winner in Indiana.

98% of the precincts in Lake County, Indiana have now been reported. With 99% of the precincts statewide now in, Senator Clinton now has 637,389 votes and Senator Obama has 615,370.The margin remains at 49% and 51% respectively.

On that note, this is Kandy Korrespondent signing off. Goodnight.

12:37

With 56% of the vote now in from Lake County, Indiana, Obama now has 589,888 votes and Clinton has 606,497. the margin is less than 2%.

12:30am

With 92% of the precincts reporting in Indiana, Clinton leads with 588,823 votes with Obama narrowing the margin to only 2% with 568,156 votes. There are still only 28% of the votes in from critical Lake County, Indiana. Read More »

And now for the news with Kandy Korrespondent:

All eyes are on North Carolina and Indiana as Democrats head to the polls today. The New York Times’ Adam Nagourney analyzed the three different scenarios that could possibly emerge out of today’s race. Briefly, here they are:

1. Clinton wins both states: This will demonstrate that her campaign has continued momentum and may serve to win some superdelegates over to her camp. It will also reflect the extent to which Obama has been hurt by the Rev. Wright debacle.

2. Obama wins both states: The death bell will ring for Clinton’s campaign. Najourney notes that several of her advisers have actually said that they will counsel her to quit at that point.

3. Spit decision: The Clinton campaign’s uphill battle to catch up with Obama’s delegate count will continue. After today’s election, only 217 delegates (excluding superdelegates of course) will be up for grabs. Najourey As democratic consultant Ron Klain states,

“The math still favors Senator Obama, no matter what happens Tuesday.”

Even though I’m so done with this whole Obama-Clinton endless fight, I’m hooked– I have to see it through to the end. For that reason, and because I have no life, I’ll be posting exit poll updates throughout the afternoon and evening–so stay tuned!

In Other News: Read More »