Front page news in a wireless world. Oh cruel irony.

(Ugh, ads on the front page of newspapers...so tacky)

No sports hook here, unless you count the displacement of various Hofstra sports teams from the north side of campus cause of this little ol’ presidential debate (to which you still cannot get a ticket). But this has got to be the first time ever—or at least in the Defiantly Dutch Era—that Hofstra has been featured on the front page of Newsday on consecutive days.

The Flying Dutchmen basketball team might have gotten the school on the back page in consecutive days during the 2000 and 2001 NCAA Tournaments, and I remember three back pages in a span of 10 days in the spring of 2006, when Hofstra was The Team That Beat George Mason Twice In 11 Days But Got Screwed Anyway.

But the front page is generally unchartered waters for Hofstra. When I was there, the Powers That Be were obsessed with Newsday and the coverage Long Island’s only newspaper provided the school.

The Powers That Be are still consumed with what is written and said about the school, but I imagine Newsday ranks a lot lower on the list of priorities today than it did 15 years ago, at least when it comes to generating debate-related publicity. I imagine Hofstra gets a much bigger boost when the words “Hofstra University” are uttered by Tom Brokaw or Bob Schieffer than from any newspaper story. And Hofstra hopes you’ll skip the traditional media and go straight to the bells-and-whistles page it has devoted to the debate at its official site (though it should be pointed out the Newsday front pages are displayed on the fourth panel of the page).

Plus, let’s face it: If you consider consecutive front pages a notable burst of publicity, you’re old. Like me. Nobody reads newspapers, which are hastening their own demise by gutting the news hole and staff and charging people the same (or more) to read less, and the old standards about timing a major news announcement for maximum (or minimum) placement in the newspaper are extinct.

Barack Obama originally planned to announce his running mate via email and text message Saturday, Aug. 23, at least until CNN stole his thunder by breaking the news the night before. For those of you fortunate enough not to have majored in communications and journalism, Fridays used to be reserved for releasing news that presidential administrations wanted to bury.

That’s today’s riff on the media. While we’re on the media, though, you should check out my blogging mentor the Icepick, who has some really insightful takes on the declining state of the American press here and here. And come back tomorrow for some Bucknell-Hofstra talk as well as some links and Loyal Reader email.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com.

C’mon TP. I know what you have to say to everyone else, but I’ve been there from the beginning. All I want is one ticket.

“It’s a two-party system! You have to vote for one of us!”

Here’s something you don’t get everyday: Multiple Hofstra news links. The men’s hoops team gets some national pub from Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com (am I the only one who still writes http://www.sportsline.com/ into the address window at Internet Explorer?), who writes about the presidential debate displacing the Flying Dutchmen starting next week. Some amusing stuff from Tom Pecora about being housed at Margiotta Hall, practicing at Adelphi and fielding phone calls from friends who want one of the golden tickets wrapped in a chocolate bar Hofstra was allotted. (Seriously, only 200 tickets? That’s a joke)

Bryan Savage’s hometown newspaper has an interesting and extensive piece on the former Hofstra quarterback, who had big hopes for the UConn game as well as his senior season but was instead sidelined with a career-ending injury mere moments before kickoff.

And thanks to loyal reader Anonymous, who sent along a feature from the Albany Times-Union in which Albany coach Bob Ford ranks the win over Hofstra as one of the top 10 games he’s ever experienced in his 36 years at the school. I also learned I was wrong earlier this week when I wrote Albany does not have 30 scholarships. It has one. Seriously, one scholarship? Why even bother at that point? And how do they determine the recipient? Albany Idol? And do they have someone who is barely lucid consoling those who fall short?

Also got some entertaining comments and/or emails recently from Loyal Readers, including Rob, who chimed in with memories of Wednesday night dining at Hofstra. “The sad truth about Steak Night was that the Chicken Cordon Bleu was actually better than the steak—the only two good meals they serve all week, and they served them on the same night? WTF?”

I don’t even remember the chicken cordon bleu. That’s how much I loved steak night: I wouldn’t even ponder another entree. But that sums up Lackmann, doesn’t it? Feed us crap six days a week and then make us choose from two glorious selections on the seventh.

Sully Ray writes in and wonders if the chipped tooth that I referred to Wednesday was the “…same chipped tooth that took a backseat tour of the southeastern US and wound up at 50 cent wiener night in NO?”

Yes it is. In the spring of ’95, Sully Ray, Rob and fellow Chronicle alum Adam asked me to join them on a cross-country spring break road trip…a decision they regretted by the time we reached the George Washington Bridge, I am sure. I don’t travel well, at all…especially when the car is a stick shift and I failed Manual Transmission 101, as taught by my mom (it’s not her fault, my sister aced it).

So I sat in the back, read newspapers from around the country, listened to a mix tape (it’s like the iPod shuffle, except with careful attention paid to the ebb and flow as well as a handwritten song list…you kids these days have no idea what you’re missing) generally acted like a grump and slept a lot. I also apparently snored every sleeping moment, something my so-called friends were only too happy to capture via dozens of shots of me, my agape mouth and my chipped tooth deep in REM sleep.

It’s OK though. I’m the one with the blog. And I’m the one with photos of Sully Ray wolfing down hot dogs at 50-cent hot dog night in New Orleans as well as shots of Sully Ray, Adam and I keeping score during the game. If I could only be the one who also had a working scanner, those photos would be up here. So revenge—for the sleeping shots as well as all my losses in T-Shirt Derby—will eventually be mine, Sully Ray.

And any T-shirts that are fired my way tomorrow will be mine, too, since Sully Ray once again has better things to do than join us. Sniff. So if you see the wife and I, stop by and say hello. I’ll be the guy yelling about Michael Doto.

Jerry is still waiting to hear from Rick, Ted and the rest of the Loyal Readers at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com.