How important are counting stats for quarterbacks? How important is winning in the postseason? Those are the questions about Rivers.

AMERICA FIRST: PRESIDENT TRUMP WITHDRAWS FROM THE PARIS CLIMATE ACCORD Christi Gibson, June 2, 2017 President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord undoubtedly puts the interests of American workers first. From the beginning, the agreement clearly undermined U.S. competitiveness and jobs, extracted meaningless commitments from the world’s […]

2020-04-14 -

President Barack Obama tonight makes a speech he'd rather not be making: Explaining to his country, proud of its military but weary of war, why he has decided to bomb the armed forces of another Middle Eastern country.

TV networks are gearing up for live coverage. Mr Obama doesn't want to be a foreign policy president when most Americans are far more interested in the state of the economy, but he may not be able to avoid that fate.

The networks wouldn't dream of breaking into normal programming for one of his frequent economic speeches, so it is as though he never made them. This, on the other hand, could be a defining moment.

Some think it is too late. One usually supportive commentator writes: "This is really, truly unbelievable to me, and the worst thing Obama has done as president."

The man who speaks for House Republicans, John Boehner wrote a letter listing a series of worries, concluding, "all of these concerns point to a fundamental question: what is your benchmark for success in Libya?"

The president has made his task more difficult with an approach that is either sophisticated or confused, depending on your take.

He has to tell America why it is worth taking action. He also has to explain why he doesn't want the US to be in the lead or in charge. It took more than a week of wrangling before Nato agreed to take full control.

Donald Rumsfeld made the point the coalition should be defined by it aims, not the aims by the coalition. This is a real philosophical difference: politics as the art of the possible or an act of will.

America's low profile may be genuine or just spin, smoke and mirrors to disguise America's real role, but either way it is hardly heroic.

But it may be this tepid message reflects the American public's own lukewarm enthusiasm. A Gallup poll finds 74% back action, much lower than support for the Iraq war or Afghanistan at the time.

If I was Mr Obama that wouldn't worry me too much. He doesn't want to be in Libya in 10 years.

Indeed, explaining why this is not a long-term commitment like Iraq or Afghanistan has to be an important part of the message. So does being explicit about the goals. A lot of people have trouble getting their heads around his repeated contention that a Libya without Gaddafi is a political goal of the US but not a military one. The military goal is to protect civilians. The lines may indeed be blurring as the armed rebels advance on cities where some civilians may support Gaddafi.

We will be getting briefings throughout the day, so I will update, but I expect he will start with the latest "good" news.

He will stress that the US is acting as part of an international coalition, with Arab backing, and that the US's aims and commitment are limited. And he'll throw in some stirring rhetoric about the Arab Spring and universal human rights.

I doubt that he will address what to me are the fascinating contradictions at the heart of Obama's dilemma.

• The tug between not wanting to be the world's policeman and being the only guy with the gun and the muscle to stop a murder.
• The whole-hearted desire to act in concert with other countries, and the realisation that implies going along with stuff they want to do and you don't. (Being dragged into a war by the French, imagine.)
• Not wanting to be out front when many world structures are designed in the expectation that like it or not, America will lead.
• Intellectual appreciation that the ghost of Western colonialism is a powerful spirit never exorcised, and frustration that an untainted liberal interventionism hasn't grown in other countries.

The US has had agonised debates about the wars it has been involved in and its role on the world stage. The American reaction to Bin Laden's crimes, the invasion of Afghanistan, the Iraq War, have riven the nation. But most will see the killing of Bin Laden very simply, as an act without shades of ambiguity. The good guys shot the bad guy dead. Mr Obama is trying to use it to repeat one of his main messages: how the country should come together.

"Today we are reminded that as a nation there's nothing we can't do when we put our shoulders to the wheel, when we work together, when we remember the sense of unity that defines us as Americans."

He praised the people who celebrated.

"We've seen that spirit, that patriotism in the crowds that have gathered here outside the White House, at Ground Zero in New York, and across the country, people holding candles, waving the flag, singing the national anthem, people proud to live in the United States of America."

But there is an interesting word of warning in a thoughtful article for NPR by Foreign Policy writer David Rothkopf. The author reflects: "Sept 11 was not Pearl Harbor. Al-Qaida was not and is not a historic enemy like World War II's Axis powers. Bin Laden is not Hitler."

It is a point worth making. Bin Laden could create terrible suffering and appalling disruption, but he could never actually have won. If World War II had gone a different way, Hitler or his henchmen could have ruled from Downing Street. There was never any danger of Bin Laden taking over the White House.

America has had its moment of justice. Maybe it is a moment of closure too.

Thanks for reading this: my blog is moving to a new home. The idea is to bring all my work and analysis together on one page: the blog, of course, but TV and radio pieces and [very soon] my tweets too. It's a great idea, and one the BBC is applying to most of the other editors and correspondents who blog.

I tend to use Twitter to link to either what I've written myself or to the work of colleagues, inside or outside the BBC. But that may change over time, as I see the virtue of live tweeting. The true worth of Twitter was shown on Sunday, when it gave us the first inkling that Osama Bin Laden was dead. Not all the speculation about the details was right but the one huge fact was.

The way I approach Twitter and news on the internet is very much driven by the way I consume it. The built TV bulletin is very far from going the way of the dodo but I want to be able to watch crafted reports online too. This new page should allow this and more.

Prophet Brown's wide-ranging skill set could bring possibilities for Notre Dame.

NFL draft analyst Scott Wright takes a closer look at the Fighting Irish roster and 2021 draft hopefuls.

Fighting Irish went 32-6 and also went to the Elite Eight the next season.

'It starts with the team and the students'; athletic director Jack Swarbrick ponders possibilities for Notre Dame Stadium this year

Matt Balis has tried to guide Fighting Irish football players through offseason training from a distance.

Notre Dame's national/international visibility would seem to give Irish student-athletes an edge.

Notre Dame's John Shannon won the award as the nation's top long snapper but he went undrafted; he decides to change course and pursue a dream

Larry Rink has been with the Hoosiers basketball program for four decades and has also served in the U.S. Navy.

After a record-setting career at South Bend Riley, he rarely cracked the Hoosiers lineup in two seasons.

"I could miss 15 shots, and I always have the mindset that the next one's going in," Grace Berger says. "I'm not worried about those other shots."

Anderson, a 6-7 wing from South Bend, put his name in the transfer portal exactly a week ago.

An anonymous reader quotes CNN: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday issued an emergency use authorization for the first at-home Covid-19 test that uses saliva samples, the agency said in a news release. Rutgers University's RUCDR Infinite Biologics lab received an amended emergency authorization late Thursday. With the test, people can collect their own saliva at home and send their saliva samples to a lab for results... "Authorizing additional diagnostic tests with the option of at-home sample collection will continue to increase patient access to testing for COVID-19. This provides an additional option for the easy, safe and convenient collection of samples required for testing without traveling to a doctor's office, hospital or testing site," FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen M. Hahn said in the FDA's press release on Friday... The test remains prescription only.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Here's what the Big Ten, NCAA and NBA are doing for fans who bought tickets to upcoming games they now cannot attend.

Donnie Walsh has been plopped in the middle of America's most famous infectious disease doctor's basketball claim to fame.

Finalists for the James Beard Foundation's culinary awards have been announced, and Indianapolis isn't on the list.

George Faerber still holds 17 records from his high school career, including a game with 52 points and 32 rebounds.

The Edinburgh Lancers head into the tournament 17-5 after winning just eight games last season.

Sue Tameling was in her role as Greenwood Christian AD for less than two years, but she left an impression as a mentor, teacher and a friend.

St. Paul & the Broken Bones, Moon Taxi will headline Holler on the Hill, a new two-day Indianapolis music festival.

Life changed for Avon High School alum Jesse Kramer in June, when he made his TV network debut on "The Four: Battle for Stardom."

The Bulldogs reached the title game with a 52-50 victory over Michigan State

Butler, previously announced as part of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational, will be joined in the eight-team field by Notre Dame.

Schilling — otherwise known as "Big Ed" or "Big Chill" — died Thursday at Witham Hospital in Lebanon. He was 75.

Paris' 'Indiana Café' has nachos and burgers. But the most Indiana thing about it may be that is is a chain with 21 locations.

Marcus Winslow, cousin of James Dean, still drives Dean's favorite car

Our live webcam is fixed on a falcon nest on the 31st floor of Market Tower in Downtown Indianapolis.

Indiana democratic gubernatorial candidate Woody Myers named Linda Lawson as his running mate in an announcement Friday morning.

Jimmy Kimmel tweeted and deleted a video clip that purportedly showed Vice President Mike Pence delivering empty PPE boxes to a health care center

After IMPD officers killed 3 people in 8 hours, IndyStar found that Indianapolis is the largest city in the country without police body cameras.

Kathy Loggan (middle), wife of the late Paul Loggan, talks alongside her kids Sami (left), Will (middle left) and Michael, with his fiancé Megan Sizemore at North Central High School on Thursday, May 7, 2020.

England bowler Jofra Archer impresses with a 4-1 win over Newcastle's Rolando Aarons in the best of the action from the first day of the second Premier League Fifa invitational.

James Maddison is unstoppable against former team-mate Callum Wilson while Jofra Archer suffers a last-gasp defeat on day three of the Premier League Fifa invitational.

Manchester City will continue to make part of their Etihad Campus available to the NHS, even after the Premier League returns.

James Maddison backs up his trash-talk while Irish international team-mates John Egan and Aaron Connolly compete against each other in the Premier League Fifa invitational.

The controversial concept of B teams may be back on the agenda as football tries to navigate a way through Covid-19, Brighton technical director Dan Ashworth says.

Fan clubs, players from all over the world and a former Spain international in charge, Atletico Madrid's Canadian venture is currently on pause.

How much is likely to change in the Premier League table if the season is played to its conclusion? BBC Sport looks at the past 10 years for some hints.

Officers Luke Coyle and Kevin Ruiz of the department's Newton Division fatally shot Daniel Hernandez during an April 30 pursuit.

A bear in Castaic was fatally struck by a car while walking through traffic near the northbound 5 Freeway the early Friday morning hours.

'It starts with the team and the students'; athletic director Jack Swarbrick ponders possibilities for Notre Dame Stadium this year

Notre Dame's John Shannon won the award as the nation's top long snapper but he went undrafted; he decides to change course and pursue a dream

Kathy Loggan (middle), wife of the late Paul Loggan, talks alongside her kids Sami (left), Will (middle left) and Michael, with his fiancé Megan Sizemore at North Central High School on Thursday, May 7, 2020.

Matt Balis has tried to guide Fighting Irish football players through offseason training from a distance.

Mavs owner Mark Cuban isn't comfortable opening team facility for practice because they can't test all players and staff for coronavirus.