South Carolina: In their ongoing quest to find a candidate suitable to challenge Barack Obama (did you know he’s a Columbia alum?!?) for the presidency, Republican primary voters turned yesterday to former house speaker Newt Gingrich, who received 40% of the vote to Mitt Romney’s 28%. The race for the White House hasn’t been this amphibious since the John Kerry swiftboating era in ’04! (CNN)

Harder than it looks.

Speaking of the American South, nothing’s more properly southern than bacon. But what if it’s ENCASED IN NUTELLA? Gothamist provides us with this most Columbian (see: eating nutella out of the jar in your Schapiro single/weeping softly) of recipes. (Gothamist)

Columbia continues its dance toward politically correct, fiscally modest world domination by opening a new global center in Nairobi, Kenya. It is the university’s first outpost in Africa. (Columbia)

We were first in line to join the discussion regarding ongoing controversy over the outsized role of sports on college campuses, when we realized that the only sports-term we know is “balls.” We’ll move on to this one, in which students discuss their Occupy experiences. (NYT)

And don’t forget the AFC/NFC championship games today! Here’s a rundown of key matchups. (FoxSports)

“That’s what she said” opportunity via Wikimedia Commons.

Columbia Athletics held a press conference today to announce the recent hire of Peter K. Mangurian. Kevin Powers, of Sports Sunday fame, was there to report:

Coach Peter K. Mangurian

This afternoon in Faculty House, Athletic Director M. Diane Murphy gave a formal introduction to the new Head Football Coach Pete Mangurian. Rocking her signature Columbia blue blazer, Murphy outlined the search process leading up to the announcement earlier this week. Over the past two weeks, the Athletic Department has considered seventeen candidates, looking for a coach with visionary leadership and tremendous coaching experience that understands the Ivy League and, most importantly, Columbia University. After the tireless search, Murphy said, “we found exactly what we were looking for.”

What she found was actually an old acquaintance. From 1995 to 1998, Murphy was an associate athletic director at Cornell where she was heavily involved in the football program, including the hiring of Mangurian as head football coach in 1998. Though Murphy left just months after Mangurian was hired to take over as AD at University of Denver, her relationship with the former Cornell coach undoubtedly got him on the list. Besides her own experience with Mangurian, Murphy quoted others that had worked with him in the past. Murphy’s favorite was a former colleague that called Mangurian, “an intense dude”.

An intense dude might be exactly what the football program needs. As the 19th head football coach in the history of Columbia, Mangurian takes on the difficult challenge of revitalizing a losing program that has struggled to win games over the years. In the press conference, Mangurian admitted, “We’re behind right now. We need to go faster than the competition in order to catch up.” Mangurian believes that his past coaching experience will help him in reevaluating the football program and making necessary changes. Over his 31 year career, Mangurian has coached at every level of football, from the Ivy League to the NFL, with names like the New England Patriots, New York Giants, and Denver Broncos on his resume. Returning to the Ivy League may be humbling, but it offers a unique opportunity build a program from the ground up.

“We need to expect to win,” Magurian said. “We need to expect to be excellent in everything that we do.”

Expecting to win and actually winning are two very different things, but we hope that Mangurian has what it takes to turn the program around. Roar, Lion, Roar!

The right attitude

When Bwog rolled out of bed this morning and checked iCal, we counted two weeks of classes left, so we naturally assumed we were miscounting because we hadn’t had our morning Joe yet. Upon post-caffeination recount, we still counted two, and quickly resorted to running around our room screaming like a little kid in the vain hope that our mommy would hear and come save us from impending disaster. Be prepared to do the same, as we provide you with some rather startling digits:

2 – Number of full weeks of class left in the semester

11 – Number of days of class left (9 if you don’t have class on Fridays)

2.5 - Number of weeks until final exams

19 – Number of days until final exams begin (Friday, December 16)

26 – Number of days until final exams end (Friday, December 23)

3 – Mindblowingly large number of study days before finals this year

12 – Number of weeks since the start of the semester

55 – Number of days of class since the start of the semester

5 – Number of Security Alerts sent out this semester

1 – Number of football games Columbia won this season

So, what does this all mean? It means that you have 2 weeks to: turn that B+ into an A-; catch up on a semester’s worth of reading; actually start trying to contribute in classes that count participation; learn the name of that class that didn’t have a midterm; figure out what to do with the next summer and send in an application or two; find someone with notes from that 9am that you never go to; maybe attend office hours for once. Sheesh, Debbie Downer much? Ultimately, the amount of time a task requires is the amount of time it takes to finish it. It’ll all get done. We have faith in your abilities, man.

visual metaphor via Unsheathed

This season has not been kind to Columbia football, to say the least. And, for those of you who didn’t tune into today’s game, the Lions suffered a 41-62 loss at the hands of the Cornell’s Big Red, which is actually a bear. (No more random than Dartmouth’s mascot, so we’ll cut the Ithacans some slack.)

But it’s not all bad. Bwog would be remiss not to point you to Willie Geist’s piece for Grantland, in which he braves the 1 train and not-quite-four-quarters of Ivy League football with his 4-year-old daughter in tow. Geist, likely unwittingly, hits on some essential Columbiana:

You’ve been meaning to dust off the tuxedo and see Don Giovanni at the Met. You’ll probably have some champagne and light hors d’oeuvres while you’re there.

All he forgot was the concert report, due in class on Monday.

I stretched our day into the fourth quarter by letting Lucie draw in the game program — she colored in the head shot of Columbia University president Lee Bollinger.

Bwog, like Geist’s pre-school aged daughter, is fascinated with PrezBo. Indeed, we’ve helped you to fill in many-a-square on your “The Faces of Lee Bollinger” bingo game. You’ve seen PrezBo the football fan and PrezBo the runner/swim team enthusiast. We’ve provided incisive analysis of the aforementioned headshot, and carved his face on pumpkins.

If all of that isn’t enough to entice you to read the piece, Geist refers to Harvard as “The Golden Pants” throughout.

Running with the pigskin via GoColumbiaLions

Unbury that school spirit and come out to support Columbia football take on Penn at Homecoming. The pre-game picnic starts at 12:30pm and the game kicks off at 3:30. But the festivities last all day: there’s a carnival from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., where kids can get their faces painted while adults remember the good ‘ol days and guzzle Natty. Homecoming is like overheard central, so remember to tip photos. Bwog spirit award to whomever snaps a pic of the illustrious PrezBo.

Football Siesta via Wikimedia Commons

We're hoping the picnic area will be more substantial than this

Planning to make your annual trip up to the Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium at Baker Athletics Complex (seriously, that’s its official name) tomorrow? Must be Homecoming! This year we’re hosting Penn and in case you were under the impression that there will be no tailgating this year, Class of 2012 President Sarah Chai reminded us last night that this is not the case. There will be tailgating tomorrow—you just won’t get smashed in your familiar parking lot. Due to construction, tailgating will take place in the “pre-game picnic area,” which is open to everyone (2 IDs to drink) and contains a special section for seniors, where the first 500 2012ers that arrive will receive free shirts, food, and drinks. The event starts at 1:30 PM, and the shuttles uptown start at noon.

If you just can’t let go of that Homecoming spirit, we stumbled upon a current Groupon deal that may be just for you. This deal gets you two tickets to the Yale game on October 29th for $10 (originally $20), and at the time of writing, the deal is boasting “over 82 bought,” so these puppies are certifiably hot. Just over a day remains to purchase the deal! Get one before they’re all gone only a few left.

Tailgating via Wikimedia Commons

Fear of the ugly truth

Slovenian Philosopher Slavoj Žižek taught “Radicalism 101“, in Zuccotti Park yesterday. (He’ll be at Columbia this Wednesday). Meanwhile, the protest has spread to 25 cities. (The Observer/CBS News)

Barnard Political Science professor Sheri Berman writes a scathing review of a book about conservatism that claims the ideology is about subjugating society’s lowest. (NY Times)

Giuliani is set to champion the safety of a nuclear power plant close to the city in the company’s ads, beginning this week. (WSJ)

A Columbia University researcher has created revelatory a mathematical formula to show that everyone wants a rich and attractive partner. (NY Post)

It’s homecoming week! Will we finally win the biggest football game of the season, or repeat our performance against Penn two years ago? Here’s a roundup of the most memorable homecoming moments as you try not to think about that. Watch this space for news about homecoming week on campus. (HuffPo)

Terror via Wikimedia

Putting ketchup on old wounds

Forget tailgating, come celebrate with your community before the Columbia vs. Albany football game! Columbia is hosting a Northern Manhattan Appreciation Day at the Robert K. Kraft field at Baker before the 12:30 kickoff. Residents of Inwood and Washington Heights are also invited, and there will be free food and in-game performances.

Columbia’s presence in Inwood has not been all fun and games. In April, Columbia was given the go-ahead to build a 47,700-square-foot field house at 218th Street and Broadway without turning over the normally required 15 percent of the project’s land for public use. In exchange for this privilege, they agreed to build a much tinier, but fancier, Boathouse Marsh for public use, and to organize events like this one, which offer free water bottles and fridge magnets. How thoughtful.

Splendid isolation via Wikimedia Commons

Mike DeVito, signature in progress

Mike DeVito, New York Jets defensive end, will speak at tonight’s Athletes in Action meeting at 8:00 p.m. in the Lou Gherig lounge on the 3rd floor of Dodge Fitness Center. He’ll talk about how his faith ties in with his life and athletics. Free pizza will be served! Ballin.

Practice Session via Wikimedia Commons

Fireman Ed anxiously awaits the end of the CCSC meeting so that he can see the end of the game

Last night’s CCSC meeting began at 8:03 instead of the usual 8:05 because there was a general consensus that it was important to get back to watching the Jets game as soon as possible. Brian Wagner, Bwog’s sideline reporter, has the latest.

Why you came here. Admit it.

Butler was rated 4th most beautiful library in the country! If only the judges knew what a wretched hive of scum and villainy it is during exams when there are people in it. (CampusGrotto)

Nissan wants us to buy their fancy-pants eco-friendly car, the Leaf. Unfortunately, it doesn’t perform well in extreme temperatures. And do we even have roads? (Forbes Blog)

People are making fun of The Social Experiment. (NY Mag)

Somebody good at football, Kal Prince from Kentucky, committed to Columbia today. (Roar Lions Roar)

Gov. Paterson released a ambitious plan for making NY green. Conveniently it falls to Cuomo to carry it out. (NYT)

Image via Wikimedia

It's rumored that they all looked like this.

Princeton’s marching band wended through campus this morning, terrorizing students with upbeat marching band tunes. Quelle horreur! The orange-clad individuals have committed such crazed acts in the past. The visit may or may not have been related to the Columbia-Princeton football game today at 12:30 p.m. on Robert. K. Kraft Field.

Update: COLUMBIA WON! REJOICE!

Columbia University Athletics“>Baker Blast is upon us–the first football game of the season begins today at 12:30 p.m.! The Lions take on the Fordham Rams at the Baker Athletics Complex. Mel’s Burger Bar is sponsoring the tailgate area. The first 500 students to attend get a free tee-shirt and Student Rewards Program credit. Go Lions!

Photo via Columbia University Athletics

When running back Leon Ivery ran in the two-point conversion to give Columbia a 22-10 lead over Yale with only 8:32 to go, Norries Wilson’s team had to be confident about returning to .500 in the Ivy League. But Yale scored less than three minutes later, and then again with under a minute to play, to steal a 23-22 win over the Lions, and drop Columbia to 1-3 in the league, and 2-5 overall. 

Columbia played without senior running back Ray Rangel (injured against Dartmouth), and first-year quarterback Sean Brackett got the start over Millicent Olawale. Both Brackett and Ivery had stellar games filling in their first starts – Ivery ran for 131 yards, while Brackett added 83 more on the ground and threw for 180 yards and three touchdowns. But all three of Yale’s fourth quarter touchdown drives took less than three minutes, and in the end the Yale pass attack was too much for Columbia. The team is home again next week, playing league co-leaders Harvard (5-2 overall, 4-0 Ivy).

Photo: Columbia University Athletics

And it all looked so promising two weeks ago: rather than rebounding from its Homecoming loss to Penn, the football team’s season spiraled further out of control this afternoon, with a 28-6 loss at Dartmouth. Quarterback Millicent Olawale was a poor 12 of 32 for 89 yards, including two interceptions, though he and On the defensive side, Columbia did hold Dartmouth quarterback Conner Kempe to only 75 yards in the air, but the Lions gave up a whopping 268 yards on the ground. 

The loss drops the football team to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in the Ivy League. Next week, they play host to Yale at home at 1 p.m. 

Photo: Columbia University Athletics