St. Paddy's Day on a Friday? Be careful out there, people. Take a cab or walk home.

Tournament + St Patty's Day + Friday = The Perfect Storm.

My liver has spent the last six months preparing for this day.

I love that certain Bishops in certain dioceses have issued dispensations that allow catholics to eat meat today. It's a beautiful thing.

"Look here snakes. PITTSBURGH is thy 'sleeper' pick"

Pittsburgh should dominate their first round game. Kent State plays without a center most of the time so Pitt's Aaron Gray should have a huge game.

Kansas however has two good centers. The Pitt players are likely to be back in class on Monday.

That St. Paddy - another great Scot!

I know a guy who claims that St. Patrick was originally from Italy.

I thought it was rather clearly established that Patrick was a Briton. Which is even more ironic.

Also, if Patrick really did rid Eire of snakes, that could explain much of the empoverishment which has occurred in the centuries which followed. No snakes, then the rodents take over. There must be lots of rats, mice and voles in Ireland.

(P.S. - The snakes are symbolic of the pagan gods.)

Musta been the whisky and the convincing tone of that guy in the kilt... After a little research I think that Godfry is correct - St. Patrick was a Brit born around the end of the 4th century. One researcher writing in British Archeology magazine states that the little village of Banwell (just five miles east of the coastal town of Weston-Super-Mare in the S.W. Somerset area) is the most likely birthplace given the available evidence.

The legend of Stone of Scone (AKA The Stone of Destiny) may contribute to the confusion. The story goes that this was the stone upon which the biblical Jacob rested his head when he dreamed of the stairway to heaven. The stone, originally located in Egypt, somehow made its way to Ireland where St. Patrick blessed it for the Irish chieftains to use for their coronations. Later a chunk was broken off and became the Blarney stone. When the Vikings overran the area in mid-9th century, Kenneth McAlpin took it to Scotland's Scone Castle for safekeeping where it was used for coronating every Scottish king until 1296 when the English king Edward I took it to London as part of his subjugation of the Scots. It was returned to Scotland in 1996 as part of an effort by the ruling British conservative party to boost their popularity with Scottish voters. Today it rests in Edinburgh castle. Or does it? Another legend has it that the Scots foisted off an imitation on old Longshanks and the original is still hidden somewhere in Scotland. Perhaps near the little village of Brigadoon?