Boy, was I ever wrong.

For 43 consecutive seasons, from 1964 through 2006, the Fighting Irish defeated Navy in what is the longest, continuous intersectional rivalry in college football.

Now the Midshipmen, who lost last Saturday to Temple in Annapolis, have won two of the last three over ND, both of their victories coming in South Bend -- the latest a 23-21 upset yesterday afternoon.

The loss drops Notre Dame to 6-3 and puts them out of contention for a BCS bowl bid for the third consecutive year.

Weis took the Irish to BCS bowls his first two seasons, but the program has since slumped badly.

The 2007 season, Weis' third, may have been the worst in Notre Dame's storied history, as the Irish finished 3-9, losing 9 of their first 10 games.

Notre Dame was only 7-6 last year, losing 5 of its last 7 regular-season games before beating Hawaii in Honolulu in the Hawaii Bowl. Among those defeats were a shutout loss at Boston College, a blown, fourth-quarter lead in a home loss to a Syracuse team with a lame-duck coach that had lost 8 games -- the first time in Irish history they were beaten by a team with 8 losses, and a 38-3 rout at Southern Cal in which Notre Dame didn't make a first down until late in the third quarter.

The 15 losses in 2007-08 are the most-ever over a two-year period in Notre Dame history.

This season, the Irish are 6-3, and have needed late-game heroics against Michigan State, Purdue, Washington, and Boston College to pull out narrow victories.

There was considerable debate over Weis would be brought back to coach this season, or whether his contract would be bought out. Those talks will intensify now, as the program continues to flounder in his fifth season at the helm.

BOSTON - The Celtics have been able to count on three things so far this season - the solid play of their second unit, their ability to dominate the third quarter, and their tenacious defense.

When the Celtics starters have struggled, Boston's second unit had always been there to pick them up.

Then, after an emotional halftime speech by one of the Celtics, they would come out and dominate the third quarter, using their ferocious defense to spark the offense. That formula had gotten the Celtics off to a 6-0 start.

But last night was different. Playing a Phoenix Suns team that felt like it had something to prove after being embarrassed by the Orlando Magic in their previous outing, the Suns made sure that the Celtics could not rely on any of their constants.

Boston's second unit struggled, the Suns, who owned a six-point halftime lead, played well in the third quarter, and they were not fazed by Boston's defense or the deafening sellout crowd of 18,624 in the Garden.

The result was a 110-103 victory by the Suns, who handed the Celtics (6-1) their first loss of the season.

The Celtics only trailed by two points entering the fourth quarter, but the Suns opened up the final stanza with an 11-2 run which Jared Dudley capped off with a short jumper that gave the Suns a 96-85 lead with 7:56 remaining in the game.

The Celtics did their best to rally. After back-to-back Rasheed Wallace baskets, the Suns turned the ball over and then called a timeout to try to stop Boston's momentum.

It didn't work.

The Celtics got the ball to Ray Allen out of the timeout, and he buried a 3-pointer with 5:24 left to cut the Phoenix lead to 96-92.

The two teams would go back-and-forth exchanges buckets over the next three minutes which were highlighted by an Allen one-handed jam.

But with 2:41 remaining, the Celtics still trailed by six after a Steve Nash free throw.

A Garnett reverse layup made it 104-100 with 2:29 to go and the Celtics forced the Suns into a bad shot on their ensuing possession, but the Celtics never pulled within four after that.

Amare Stoudemire blocked a Rajon Rondo layup, and a Rasheed Wallace 3-pointer with 1:08 remaining rattled around the rim and then bounced out.

Nash ended any hopes of a Boston comeback when he knocked down a 3-pointer from the left wing to make it 107-100 with 50.9 seconds left.

Jason Richardson led all scorers with 34 points and 10 rebounds.

Garnett (26 points, 8 rebounds) and Kendrick Perkins (12 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks) dominated the paint, where the Celtics outscored the Suns, 60-36.

Rivers said that the Celtics want to play a fast-paced offensive game tonight while slowing down Phoenix's high-paced offense.

Gentry said that he has been very impressed with the way Boston center Kendrick Perkins has been playing defense this year and he won't be surprised if Perkins gets a lot of votes for the NBA All-Defensive team.

Rivers has been equally impressed with Suns center Channing Frye, who, he says, is dangerous both in the post and on the perimiter.

Boston backup forward Brian Scalabrine will not play tonight. He is having back spasms, Rivers said.

Here are some quick notes before the locker room opens:

The Celtics won the season series 2-0 last year with Rajon Rondo leading the Celtics with 27.5 points per game.

Steve Nash averaged 15.5 points per game in the two matchups. It marked the first time since the 2000-01 season that the Celtics had swept the season series.

The Celtics lead the all-time series, 61-47, with the C's holding a 35-17 advantage at home.

I'm preaching to the converted by saying this to fans of thoroughbred racing, so it's in hopes of finding converts to what, these days, is a vastly underappreciated sport that I encourage people to tune in and watch at least some of the Breeders Cup races, which are being contested, for the second straight year, at Santa Anita.

The Arcadia, California, track -- it's near L.A., not far from Pasadena -- calls itself "the great race place," and anyone who's ever been there knows that label is justified. There has been great racing at Santa Anita since it opened in 1934. WIth the San Gabriel Mountains as a backdrop, the track seems like a Hollywood set for a movie about horse racing.

The marquee event is the Classic, to be run Saturday at 6:45 (ESPN) over 1-1/4 miles on Santa Anita's synthetic "Pro-Ride" surface for a purse of $5 million. The big story line for the race is whether undefeated Zenyatta, a 5-year-old mare who's never raced against males, can become the first female to win the Classic and, by doing so, improve her career record to 14 wins in as many starts.

It's unfortunate that Rachel Alexandra, the 3-year-old, super-filly who not only won the Preakness, but then beat older horses in the Woodward Stakes at Saratoga this summer -- becoming the first filly ever to beat older males in a two-turn, Grade I dirt race -- is not competing in the Breeder's Cup.

But she's already clinched Horse of the Year honors, and, while she won eight races this year on seven different tracks, her owner, wine magnate Jess Jackson, wants her to run only on natural dirt, not artificial surfaces.

Despite Rachel's absence, there is an abundance of talent entered this weekend, with six races on tap this afternoon (starting at 3:30), and eight more tomorrow (beginning at 1:45).

There will be no shortage of interesting story angles involving the horses, jockeys, trainers, and owners, and the races are sure to be thrilling.

Try it! You'll like it!

It wasn't intended to be a one-way communication and, happily, it most certainly has not been.

Of course, any time the subject matter is the Yankees and Red Sox, a strong and spirited response is expected. But you've weighed in on other topics, as well, and that's terrific.

I want to hear from you!

I'm interested in what you have to say -- what you like and what you don't; whether you agree with me, or disagree; whether you think I'm brilliant and insightful, informative and amusing (hopefully), or whether you think I'm a raving lunatic (also, I must admit, a possibility.)

Thanks to all of you who wrote. Thanks to all of you who have been reading. I'll do my best to keep you doing both.

Paul pursued Rondo toward the Celtics' locker room and was blocked by Boston assistant coaches after the Celtics' 97-87 victory over New Orleans on Sunday night.

The point guards had been assessed matching technical fouls in the second quarter after they got tangled up under the basket.

League spokesman Tim Frank also says Thursday the league won't take action against Paul from a game at New York on Monday. Knicks forward Al Harrington came up with a loose ball after a Hornets turnover with about 51/2 minutes left. Paul dove on top of him and made contact with Harrington's head.

Rajon Rondo scored 14 of his 18 points in the third quarter for the Celtics (6-0), who join the Denver Nuggets as the only two teams in the league without a loss.

The Wolves had a chance to tie in the final 10 seconds of the game. But Garnett forced a jump ball with Corey Brewer on an amazing defensive play to stay undefeated in five games against the Timberwolves.

Oleksiy Pecherov scored a career-high 24 points and Al Jefferson added 18 points for the Timberwolves.

Johnson scored 17 of his 22 points in the second half, including a 3-pointer with 8.3 seconds remaining, and Division II Le Moyne stunned Syracuse 82-79 in an exhibition game Tuesday night.

"We've got an experienced group," Le Moyne head coach Steve Evans said. "Did we ever think that a day like this would happen? Probably not. But we put together a game plan. We didn't want to play Syracuse's way. We wanted to play our way. It was just one of those days for Le Moyne basketball. The kids will remember this forever."

Wes Johnson, who led Syracuse with 34 points, hit a 3 from the left corner to put Syracuse ahead 79-78 with 22 seconds left.

Then Christopher Johnson responded with his sixth 3-pointer of the game, which came from the left side after Syracuse's Kris Joseph backed off defensively.

"We were sort of out of whack a little bit," Christopher Johnson said. "Everyone was rushing. But as soon as I caught the ball, I saw an opening and I just let it fly. Luckily, it went in."

After Wes Johnson missed a 3, Can Ozkaner added a free throw with 1.3 seconds left for Le Moyne and Syracuse had its first preseason exhibition loss since a setback against the Harlem Globetrotters six years ago.

"Le Moyne really outplayed us from the beginning of the game to the end," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "They (the Orange) are very, very young mentally. They really have got to grow up. We couldn't stop them on the dribble. That's something we've been looking at in practice."

Ekperigin had 20 points and 11 rebounds, Damani Corbin had 11 points and five assists, and Kevin Roth added 10 points for Le Moyne, which outscored Syracuse 42-30 in the paint.

Andy Rautins had 13 points and Rick Jackson finished with 10 points and eight rebounds for the Orange, who led 47-37 early in the second half.

But the Dolphins, who play across town, never let down. Three 3s by Christopher Johnson helped narrow the gap and a three-point play by Ekperigin gave Le Moyne a 56-55 lead with 8:41 remaining.

The Dolphins, who repeatedly took advantage of Syracuse's man-to-man defense with drives and back-door cuts, went up 76-71 after Ekperigin converted a lob from Corbin with 57.9 seconds left and held on.

"It's very disappointing," said Wes Johnson, in his first season after transferring from Iowa State. "Hopefully, we can learn from this and move in the right direction." "It's just embarrassing the way we played," said Rautins, born and raised in Syracuse. "It's embarrassing to ourselves and our fans. It wasn't luck that they won. They came out and beat us fair and square."

Evans said he wasn't really looking forward to reading and watching the news on Wednesday.
"I feel bad that the story tomorrow will be, 'What's wrong with Syracuse basketball?' I don't think there's anything wrong," he said. "They've got tremendous players. It's an exhibition game. They're young. They're going to be terrific."

Osgood made 29 saves Tuesday night. He also got help from the posts behind him to prevent a goal in both the first and second periods for the 50th shutout of his career.

The rebuilding Red Wings are 3-0-1 in their last four games and have a point in seven of their last eight games.

Tim Thomas had 24 saves for Boston, which fell under .500 with their third loss in four games.

The Celtics improved to 5-0 even without the usual standout performances from Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.

Allen didn't score his first field goal until the third quarter and had five points. Garnett made just one basket on seven shots and scored three points when he was yanked with the game out of hand.

Wallace was about the only Celtic who had his normal night, even getting whistled for a technical foul for arguing with the refs in the third quarter.

Andre Iguodala led the Sixers with 17 points. Philadelphia missed 15 of 16 3-point attempts.

The ruling, made Monday in Bridgeport Superior Court, dissolves the 26-year marriage of Nantz and Ann-Lorraine "Lorrie" Carlsen Nantz. It comes after both testified about the breakdown of their marriage; Judge Howard Owens concluded neither was at fault.

Nantz, described by Owens as "our nation's most prominent sportscaster," filed for divorce last year from his wife after years of marriage counseling, according to the decree.

Although Nantz, 50, acknowledged he started dating a 29-year-old woman before the divorce was final, the judge concluded the marriage deteriorated years earlier and "this remote event in no way contributed to the breakdown of the marriage."

Owens noted that the couple didn't share the same interests in Nantz's television career, which required frequent travel as the network's primary commentator for college football, golf and basketball, as well as appearances at charity events.

"In fairness, for most of the years he prioritized his family obligation and put his wife and daughter Caroline first. As frequently happens in marriages of lengthy duration, the parties do not have the same interest and ardor for their spouses' endeavors," the judge wrote in his decision.

Under the ruling, Nantz must pay $72,000 in alimony monthly until he dies or his ex-wife remarries, and another $1,000 weekly in child support for the next two years.

Nantz's attorney, Gaetano Ferro of New Canaan, said Tuesday that the famed sportscaster only wants what's best for his daughter and will not fight the terms of the divorce decree.

"He always wanted a peaceful resolution of an unfortunate situation," Ferro said. "He never wanted a trial, never wanted it to come out this way, never wanted a public spectacle. He wants to put it behind him."

Lorrie Nantz will get their home and a separate condominium in Westport, while Jim Nantz will get their home in Houston and a luxury condominium in the Deer Valley ski resort in Park City, Utah. They were awarded joint custody of Caroline, 15.

He also must pay Caroline's college expenses until she reaches 23 years old and has to split various joint accounts with Lorrie Nantz, including the current value of his pension through the Screen Actors Guild.

He also must keep his ex-wife listed as beneficiary of a $3 million life insurance policy while he's still paying alimony and/or child support, and pay $70,000 so she can join any country club of her choice.

She had been seeking more than $1.5 million in yearly alimony and child support.

Court documents cited Jim Nantz's $3.2 million salary from CBS and other assets, including millions in other income, shared investment accounts, real estate and other property.

Nantz, who started his broadcast career at a local CBS affiliate in Salt Lake City, testified that Lorrie Nantz grew uninterested in his career over time, did not want to attend events that were important to him and didn't provide the emotional support he desired.

Lorrie Nantz said she went as often as possible, but that those events were not her life's major interest and her main focus was raising their daughter.

"They're two good people, and as sometimes happens over 26 years, they grew apart," Ferro said.

Cynthia George, Lorrie Nantz's Greenwich-based attorney, said she and her client had no comment except that they were pleased with the decision.

Jasinowski is studying economics and urban studies, has a 3.70 GPA and is on the Ivy League honor roll. He plans to attend business school.

On the field Jasinowski is a two-time All-Ivy and this season is co-captain. Off the field he coordinates a weekly volunteer group for special needs students and the Vartan Gregorian Elementary School in Fox Point.

Nick Hartigan was Brown's last NFF Scholar-Athlete in 2005.