Free Republic

Two weeks ago, you could say St. Patrick got the short shrift, for because March 17 fell on a Lenten Sunday, the patron saint of Ireland was not celebrated in church, at least not liturgically. Of course, while some priests did in fact mention Patrick (the wise ones, that is) I doubt on this greatest Christian feast of the year, that few will even think about the "feast" of that other great (Fighting) Irish icon, Knute Rockne. For as 3-31-31 (the day Rockne died) flips around to 3-31-13, Christ's triumph over death and evil certainly trumps over Rockne's victories over...

Sue Rockne was a fighter. At the Minnesota state Capitol, she fought for women's rights, abortion access and safety for battered women. As a Democratic activist, she fought for and with the party and served as a 12-year Democratic National Committee member and five-time delegate to the Democratic National Convention. And for 13 years she fought leukemia, a cancer that kills many of its victims quickly. She challenged it with the aid of a little red scooter that zoomed her around the Capitol halls and helped her travel across all seven continents in the past decade. On Saturday, she succumbed...

Gipp, George Football b. Feb. 18, 1895, Laurium, MI d. Dec. 14, 1920 Notre Dame sports historian Francis Wallace called Gipp "a most peculiar kind of saint" and sportswriter George Trevor compared him to a meteor because of his brilliant football career and short life. After graduating from high school, Gipp played sandlot baseball and drove a taxi for three years, then accepted a baseball scholarship to Notre Dame in 1916. He was casually kicking a football on a practice field that fall when Knute Rockne, then an assistant coach, spotted him and talked him into playing for the freshman...