New child sex-abuse suit cites just-released Boy Scout documents

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A former Boy Scout who says he was sexually assaulted when he was 10 by his now-imprisoned former troop leader sued the Boy Scouts of America on Tuesday, citing recently released files the group secretly maintained on suspected molesters in its ranks.

The lawsuit claims the Boy Scouts allowed Thomas Hacker, a Scout leader barred from the group after a 1970s felony sex abuse conviction in Indiana, to rejoin as a volunteer in Illinois in the 1980s, where he went on to molest more boys, including the plaintiff.

Hacker was arrested in 1988 and convicted in 1989 of the aggravated sexual assault of a 11-year-old member of his troop in the southwest suburbs of Chicago.

Now 75, Hacker is currently serving two concurrent 50-year prison terms as a result of his conviction. His defense attorney in the 1989 case called him "a classic pedophile - and sick beyond that," according to a Chicago Tribune story at the time.

The lawsuit filed on Tuesday by a man identified only as John Doe claimed Hacker sexually assaulted him when he was 10 years old after the disbarred Boy Scout leader and convicted sexual molester re-joined the Scouts in Illinois.

"While we have not seen this lawsuit, we deeply regret that there have been times when Scouts were abused, and for that we are very sorry and extend our deepest sympathies to victims," Boy Scouts of America spokesman Deron Smith said in a statement.

The suit draws on details unearthed this fall when the Boy Scouts of America, one of the country's largest youth organizations, was forced by an Oregon Court to release internal documents they kept on scout leaders and volunteers who were suspected sexual predators.

The files go back almost to the organization's founding in 1910 and were known as the "red files," the "perversion files" and the "ineligible volunteer files."

Roughly 20,000 pages of files, spanning from 1965 to 1985, were released this fall by order of the Oregon Supreme Court, after a jury in the state found the Scouts liable in a 1980s pedophile case and ordered it to pay nearly $20 million in damages.

INELIGIBLE VOLUNTEER LIST

Lawyers involved in the Illinois case said it is one of the first to be filed with evidence gleaned from the massive document release. The records released this fall on about 1,200 "ineligible volunteers" contained a detailed dossier on Hacker.

That dossier included a warning from a Scout leader in Indiana to national officials that Hacker had been "arrested for homosexual activity with many boys both in Scouting and through the school in which he was teaching."

Hacker was subsequently convicted of the felony sexual assault of a 14-year-old boy in the junior high school in Indiana where he worked. In a letter from the national office to the Indiana Scout council, a top official wrote: "Under no circumstances do we want registered in Scouting," according to the complaint.

Hacker was added on the secret "ineligible volunteer" list the national organization maintained, according to the lawsuit. But a decade later when he left Indiana and moved to Illinois and became active again in Scouting, no one conducted a background check or ran his name against the list of known and suspected pedophiles.

That failure, the lawsuit claims, shows the Boy Scout's efforts to prevent pedophiles from infiltrating its ranks "did not function as it was intended, was flawed, and in many cases ineffective."

The Boy Scouts of America says it now requires even suspected cases of child molestation to be reported immediately to law enforcement and says keeping the old files secret protects victims.

Last week, a Texas appeals court sided with the group, saying the Scouts did not have to turn over its post-1985 files describing sexual abuse complaints against volunteers.

"The Boy Scouts have taken the view that keeping these files secret protects the children," said Christopher Hurley, the Chicago attorney representing John Doe in the case filed Tuesday.

"But in this case it obviously didn't work. It may protect the molesters and the Boy Scouts, but it's not in the best interests of children."

The BSA's Smith said that in the past 30 years the group has added background checks and training programs, and requires law enforcement to be told when there are "even suspicions" of abuse.

The case, filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois on Tuesday, is John Doe v. Thomas Hacker, Boy Scouts of America, and Chicago Area Council Inc Boy Scouts of America.

(Editing by Dan Burns, Bill Trott and Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/child-sex-abuse-suit-cites-just-released-boy-183100940.html

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Faster, safer method for producing stem cells

ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2012) ? A new method for generating stem cells from mature cells promises to boost stem cell production in the laboratory, helping to remove a barrier to regenerative medicine therapies that would replace damaged or unhealthy body tissues.

The technique, developed by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, allows for the unlimited production of stem cells and their derivatives as well as reduces production time by more than half, from nearly two months to two weeks.

"One of the barriers that needs to be overcome before stem cell therapies can be widely adopted is the difficulty of producing enough cells quickly enough for acute clinical application," says Ignacio Sancho-Martinez, one of the first authors of the paper and a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, the Roger Guillemin Chair at the Salk Institute.

They and their colleagues, including Fred H. Gage, professor in Salk's Laboratory of Genetics, have published a new method for converting cells in this week's Nature Methods.

Stem cells are valued for their "pluripotency," the ability to become nearly any cell in the body. Stem cells for research and clinical uses are derived in two ways, either directly from cells young enough to still be pluripotent, or from mature cells that have been "reprogrammed" to be pluripotent.

The first kind are called "embryonic stem cells," (ESCs) even though the term is a misnomer. They are actually taken from blastocysts, the hollow bundle of cells approximately the size of a tip of a pin that is formed by a fertilized egg after five days of cell division. After a blastocyst implants in the uterus, the embryo stage begins.

Aside from the well-known ethical controversies, ESCs have a less discussed problem: Tissues grown from ESCs may trigger immune reactions when they are transplanted into patients.

In order to overcome both ethical and medical concerns, scientists learned how to coax mature cells (called "somatic cells") that had differentiated into particular types of tissue back to their pluripotent state. These so-called "induced pluripotent stem cells," or iPSCs, set off whole new rounds of research, including a third way to get desired cell types.

As it turns out, iPSCs have their own problems. They take a long time to create in the lab, in a highly inefficient process that can take up to two months to complete. First, somatic cells must be reprogrammed to iPSCs, which takes considerable time and effort. Then, the iPSCs have to be differentiated into specific cell lineages prior to therapeutic application. Far worse, they can sometimes develop into tumors, called teratomas, which can be cancerous.

Knowing this, scientists wondered if it might not be necessary to go all the way back to the blank slate of a pluripotent stem cell. Key to this idea is that pluripotent stem cells do not immediately grow into particular cells. They go through intermediate progenitor phases where they become "multipotent," and can only develop into cell types within a certain cellular lineage. While a pluripotent cell can become nearly any cell in the body, a multipotent blood cell, for example, can become red or white blood cells or platelets, but not distant lineages such as neurons.

Thus, in order to avoid the potential problems of working with iPSCs, scientists developed the technique of "direct lineage conversion." Unlike the familiar scenario, in which a pluripotent cell would divide and generate all different cell types of an adult individual, in direct lineage conversion one somatic cell is turned into just one other cell type, thus, for example, one skin cell becomes one muscle cell, but nothing else.

While this technique is effective, the Salk team and their colleagues wondered if there might be a modification that could be both more efficient and safer.

"Beyond the obvious issue of safety, the biggest consideration when thinking about stem cells for clinical use is productivity," says Salk post doctoral researcher Leo Kurian, a first co-author on the paper.

The team developed a new technique, which they dubbed "indirect lineage conversion" (ILC). In ILC, as explained in detail in Nature Methods, somatic cells are pushed back to an earlier state suitable for further specification into progenitor cells.

ILC has the potential to generate multiple lineages once cells are transferred to the team's specially developed chemical environment. Most importantly, ILC saves time and reduces the risk of teratomas by not requiring iPSC generation. Instead, somatic cells are directed to become the progenitor cells of particular lineages. "We don't push them to zero, we just push them a bit back," Sancho-Martinez says.

Using ILC, the group reprogrammed human fibroblasts (skin cells) to become angioblast-like cells, the progenitors of vascular cells. These new cells could not only proliferate, but also further differentiate into endothelial and smooth muscle vascular lineages. When implanted in mice, these cells integrated into the animals' existing vasculature.

"One of the long-term hopes for stem cell research is exemplified by this study, where stem cells would self-assemble into 3D structures and then integrate into existing tissues," says Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte.

While such clinical use may be years away, this new method has several advantages over current techniques, he explains. It is safer, since it does not seem to produce tumors or other undesirable genetic changes, and results in much greater yield than other methods. Most important, it is faster, and this is part of what makes it not only more productive, but less risky.

"Generally it can take up to two months to create iPSCs and their differentiated derivatives, which increases the chances for mutations to take place," says Emmanuel Nivet, the third of the first co-authors. "Our method takes only 15 days, so we've substantially decreased the chances for spontaneous mutations to take place."

Other researchers on the study were: Aitor Aguirre, Krystal Moon, Caroline Pendaries, Cecile Volle-Challier, Francoise Bono, Jean-Marc Herbert, Julian Pulecio, Yun Xia, Mo Li, Nuria Montserrat, Sergio Ruiz, Ilir Dubova, Concepcion Rodriguez, Ahmet M. Denli, Francesca S. Boscolo, Rathi D. Thiagarajan, Jeanne F. Loring and Louise C. Laurent.

The work was supported by: the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine; the F.M. Kirby Foundation; National Institutes of Health; the Hartwell Foundation; the Millipore Foundation; the Esther O'Keeffe Charitable Trust Foundation; Fundacion Cellex; the G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Charitable Foundation; The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, Sanofi; and the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Leo Kurian, Ignacio Sancho-Martinez, Emmanuel Nivet, Aitor Aguirre, Krystal Moon, Caroline Pendaries, Cecile Volle-Challier, Francoise Bono, Jean-Marc Herbert, Julian Pulecio, Yun Xia, Mo Li, Nuria Montserrat, Sergio Ruiz, Ilir Dubova, Concepcion Rodriguez, Ahmet M Denli, Francesca S Boscolo, Rathi D Thiagarajan, Fred H Gage, Jeanne F Loring, Louise C Laurent, Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte. Conversion of human fibroblasts to angioblast-like progenitor cells. Nature Methods, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.2255

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/bplJvvMblvA/121204111919.htm

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Synacor partners with Zynga to bring social games to pay TV

The defeated Republican candidate is reportedly not bitter, but some accounts suggest that he and his wife are struggling with defeatIn the weeks after the presidential election, some observers have seen signs that Mitt Romney is taking his defeat pretty hard. For what it's worth, a photo surfaced of him pumping gas, in which his famously sculpted hair flopped loose in un-gelled, disheveled glory. Then there was the Facebook photo of him and his wife Ann, in which it appeared the teetotaler had just woken up from a well-deserved bender (or, alternatively, was just tired). ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/synacor-partners-zynga-bring-social-games-pay-tv-141910636.html

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10 pieces of wisdom from 'Because I Said So'

'Jeopardy' champion and author Ken Jennings examines those pieces of wisdom we learned from our moms in his new book 'Because I Said So.' Will gum really stay in your stomach for seven years? Is your life really at risk if you swim after eating? Here are 10 of the "mom myths" Jennings examines in his book.

- Molly Driscoll,?Staff Writer

Alessandro Della Bella/AP

1. Staying away from a window during a thunderstorm

Parents always tell children eager to watch storms to stay away from windows while lightning is flashing. Technically, they're right ? Jennings says that lightning can go through a window that's closed, and there's often metal on a window, which can electrocute you. However, while it's never a bad thing to be on the safe side, Jennings says there are only about 300 lightning mishaps a year in America. That puts chances of you being hurt by a storm at what is actually one in a million. "There are also costs to never getting to watch a dramatic lightning storm pass by, poetry-of-the-soul costs not easily measured by actuaries or the National Weather Service," Jennings writes.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/vzW-BrCW5uk/10-pieces-of-wisdom-from-Because-I-Said-So

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Car loan interest rates | Car Finance, Loans & Leasing Blog - Roche ...

If you have just bought a new or used car or are in the process of buying a new or used car then chances are you will require car finance. We often find that customers are so focused on the car loan interest rate that they don?t take anything else into consideration.

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When researching your next car loan, ensure that you aware of the monthly repayments over the term. You also need to be made aware of any establishment and/or exit fees that may exist. Comparing car loan interest rates is a good start but it is not how car loans should be compared against each other. By using the monthly repayments as a guide you will be in a much better position to know which car loan is cheaper.

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Financiers often quote low interest rates to look competitive to customers but when additional fees are taken into consideration the true interest rate may be much higher. Don?t be mistaken into thinking a low interest rate means low monthly repayments as quite often the higher interest rate produces lower monthly repayments if it is the true interest rate that is quoted.??

Source: http://h3sean.typepad.com/blog/2012/12/car-loan-interest-rates-car-finance-loans-leasing-blog-roche-finance.html

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Self Improvement Tips That Work For The Rest Of Your Life | Gifts ...

Do you feel like you drink too much alcohol? Are you a smoker or do you have any other harmful habits? Our body is sacred, and we should respect it and treat it as so. If you are serious about improving your life, it is important to eliminate the habits which cause your body harm. Take a look at your overall life and the habits you engage in to figure out if there is something you can eliminate.

TIP! To be an effective leader, you must combine humility with power. Be critical yet gentle in your approach, and remember, one must learn how to serve before he can lead.

Starting a personal development plan is the hardest part. After all, your ?self? entails many different things; it is challenging to find a suitable starting point. Read this article for a list of different possibilities you should think about if you want to achieve your goals. This article contains a number of ideas for making you more successful.

Speaking to a therapist or religious official can really help you out. These professionals are equipped to discuss very deep, emotional issues and often have many years of experience. They?ll eagerly listen, analyze what?s going on and help you find enlightenment. Discussing your life problems with a counselor or other professional can be very beneficial.

TIP! When you overreact, you waste your energy and subject yourself to unnecessary anxiety. Try a variety of methods to relieve your stress.

Focus on changing just one thing about yourself at any given time. It may be that you have several such things which you could concentrate on, but by selecting just one, you stand a better chance of prevailing. By slowly introducing things one at a time, it is much easier to stick with these personality changes in the long-term.

Don?t be disorganized anywhere in your life. Not only will being organized make you feel accomplished, but it will also boost your confidence. You will also have the added benefit of relief from the stress that disorganization can cause. Having everything in its rightful place will give you a sense of calm and ease.

TIP! Strengthening your faith and expressing love are two great personal development goals. Love is a vital ingredient to faith.

It?s nearly impossible to become the greatest of champions without a great coach to guide you. Every champion has fabulous mentors and coaches, which is very important. All of us are expected to show others the way. In the absence of mentors, it would be difficult for individuals to reach their full potential. Behind every successful story, there?s a great mentor.

Use your time efficiently so you can get more done in a shorter amount of time. The best way to do that is to take breaks more often. Although this seems counterproductive, taking regular breaks is good because it gives you the chance to recharge your mind, so when you resume work, you?ll be able to get more done.

TIP! Your body affects your mind and your moods. Partake in regular exercise and stick to a nutritious diet.

For individuals with more severe problems, the ideal solution may be therapy. While self-help books help to a certain degree, seeing a therapist has more personalized substance to it. Talking can be the motivation that some need in order to be successful. There is no way to have an open discussion with a book, though you can with a therapist.

Make the important aspects of your life the focus of how you live. By devoting your attention to what is most important, and ignoring all the negative distractions, you will be able to find serenity and happiness.

TIP! You may have heard that listening is just as important as speaking. This is definitely true concerning personal development.

Determine what obstacles are blocking your path to success. This seems to be hard from some people. The ability to see your own weaknesses is essential to being able to take the first step in the right direction. If you are able to overcome some hurdles, you might get a clearer picture of what your future holds.

Taking some moderate risks could be the key to your happiness! People are often afraid of failure and rejection, so they avoid risks and end up feeling unsatisfied. If you take risks, chances are you will be happier.

TIP! Personal development means you have to improve your health. Eating right and working out are part of the equation, but motivation is the real key.

Do not over do it physically when trying to attain a goal. You should always put forth your best effort, but you also need to stay within your limits. Making sure you stay healthy is important when you are trying to reach your goals. If you sacrifice the needs of your body, it will greatly hinder your self improvement.

Discipline is one of the cornerstones of a successful personal development plan. Learn to exercise self control over the desires of your body. You can conquer many desires such as lust, drunkenness, or greed. You can keep vices from harming you in body and spirit if you learn to control yourself and resist them.

TIP! You must take care of yourself if you expect to do a good job caring for others. Regardless of where you are on your path, whether you are thriving or failing, take the time to rest and restore yourself.

Be sure you?re humble. In the big picture, we are simply bits of dust floating in the universe. Everyone has faults, and something to learn from everyone else. Stay open-minded and keep looking for new opportunities. Being open-minded about what others can teach us is a great way to grow.

Do what you can to remove unnecessary stress from your life. Avoid over-reacting when something doesn?t turn out the way you want, because it can cause you stress. You should remember that not everything is perfect, and try to fix the problem when it arises.

In many ways, your attitude is reciprocal. If you wish harm upon others, harm may come to you instead. In this sense, you should only wish the best for other people. Thinking positively can decrease the burden of negativity.

TIP! Keep a journal with you so whenever ideas hit, you can record them. Carry some kind of paper with you at all times.

When trying to handle depression, focus on your diet and increase your complex carbohydrates. Serotonin can be depleted without enough complex carbs in your diet. Complex carbs that you can easily eat to raise these levels include whole grains, nuts, raw vegetables and more.

When you are working toward personal development, an important thing to keep in mind is that you are entitled to the best. Commit to taking good care of yourself by providing yourself with only the best. Ultimately, you can be confident that you worked as hard as possible to achieve your goals.

TIP! You should work on ensuring that each day is an improvement over the previous one. Try to see each day as a way to improve.

You can try writing yourself a motivational speech. Take some time to write down a few of the good things that you love about yourself and keep it on a exotic postcard. Keep this card with you, and read through it when you feel your confidence flagging. For even more powerful results, record a video of yourself reading your list and watch it frequently. The reason to watch the video or read the postcard as often as possible is to remind yourself of how wonderful you think you are.

If you find yourself consistently falling short of self-imposed goals and guidelines, step back and assess the possible problems. Take a little time to research what others have done when their goals were similar. You might be able to mimic some of their ideas or learn from their successes. You might be trying to do too much at once, have the steps in the wrong order, or only taking half-measures when allocating resources.

TIP! Don?t use shopping as a comfort technique. Spend your time on more productive and useful pursuits.

Find texts that help you. Everyone?s idea of a positive piece of writing is different. It may be a religious bible, or alternatively a book of inspirational quotes. Having something tangible that you can return to when you need encouragement helps you to get in a better state of mind, which means you can handle life better.

You really have to put yourself first in order to be of any help to anyone else, and accept that you will never be able to please everyone. That doesn?t mean you should become selfish, but rather that you take control of your own emotions. Develop your life around things that you value and that make you happy.

TIP! To change and grow, you must make the choice to change your ways. You must choose change and learn how to accept it without reservation.

Examine your inner self instead of your external appearance. Your hair, clothing, and complexion are not the most important things about you. In the end, your disposition and attitude will be your defining features. Instead of making cosmetic changes, put more effort into improving your inner self.

It is essential to have a clearly outlined goal, when working toward improving personal development. Therefore, state a goal for yourself that is detailed and specific. Setting specific goals will help you to achieve them quicker, giving you the encouragement to keep pushing forward.

One important aspect of self improvement is making the choice to lead a healthier life. When they are in good healthy they will feel great. Good health slows the aging process, making you look and feel great. Place a priority on having good health.

Choose to spend your time with positive people. When you have others around you who think and feel as you do, then you can avoid the negativity that can emerge from those who do not support your endeavors.

Most employers don?t care about your school or college, they care about the degree you earned and if you can complete the work. There are of course a few exceptions, such as within the finance and engineering industries. Just get a college degree so that doors will open to you.

Teach your self to practice common habits of successful people. Don?t try to make too many changes at once. Start with two or three fundamentals that can make a difference, and practice those few until they feel natural to you. You should keep it up for at least 21 days to make it a habit.

In order to enhance your own self improvement, work on becoming a leader. While there are many different ways to describe leadership, the most popular definition centers on the ability to influence others. Carefully assess your own thoughts on leadership. Which experiences have been enriching for you? What changes did those events bring forth in you? What is your best attribute that makes you a team player? By examining these questions, you will be aware of how you can fit into a team setting.

As you can see, personal development is simpler than it looks. By breaking your self improvement process into small, manageable goals, you?ll find yourself closer to your goals by the end of every day. You?ll be able to practice what you?re seeking to adopt as habit, and you?ll increase your own morale to continue. These tips are only a springboard, it?s up to you to build a better life.

Source: http://www.giftsforhappiness.com/self-improvement-tips-that-work-for-the-rest-of-your-life/

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Notre Dame vs. Alabama: Star power, power football

Notre Dame running back Theo Riddick, right, and wide receiver Luke Massa, left, celebrate after Notre Dame defeated Southern California 22-13 in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)

Notre Dame running back Theo Riddick, right, and wide receiver Luke Massa, left, celebrate after Notre Dame defeated Southern California 22-13 in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)

Alabama defensive lineman Quinton Dial (90) runs on the field with a Alabama flag after their 32-28 win in the Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football?game against Georgia, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

NEW YORK (AP) ? On one side, a blossoming dynasty from the college football capital of the Deep South. On the other, the sport's most famous team, trying to reclaim its place among the elite.

Notre Dame and Alabama bring star power and power football to the BCS championship.

The matchup became official Sunday night when the final standings were released and, to no one's surprise, the Fighting Irish were first and the Crimson Tide was second.

The one bit of drama on college football's selection Sunday was whether Northern Illinois could be this year's BCS buster. The Huskies got in, getting a spot in the Orange Bowl against Florida State, taking a bid away from Oklahoma and sparking heated debate about a system that never fails to tick off fans in some way.

The other BCS matchups:

? Oregon and Kansas State will play in the Fiesta Bowl.

? Wisconsin and Stanford will meet in the Rose Bowl.

? Florida and Louisville are set for the Sugar Bowl.

As for the main event in the penultimate Bowl Championship Series, there was little controversy about No. 1 Notre Dame against No. 2 Alabama in Miami.

"The tradition of Alabama and Notre Dame brings special attention to it, but we're just trying to the best team on Monday, Jan. 7," Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said Sunday night. "All of that tradition, what's happened in the past, is not going to help us Jan. 7, but we do respect the traditions."

The Irish clinched their spot a week ago in Los Angeles by completing a perfect season against rival Southern California.

Alabama earned its spot Saturday, beating Georgia 32-28 in a thrilling Southeastern Conference title game.

The program that coach Paul Bryant turned into an SEC behemoth in the 1960s and 70s, winning five national championships and sharing another during his tenure, is again dominating college football with a modern-day version of the Bear leading the way in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Coach Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide are on the verge of one of the great runs in history. Alabama would become the first team to repeat as champs since the BCS was implemented in 1998, and it would be the 11th time a team has won consecutive AP titles since the poll started in 1936. Alabama is already one of seven programs to repeat. The Tide has done it twice. Notre Dame is another.

Alabama also won the 2009 BCS championship under Saban. The last team to win three major national titles in four seasons was Nebraska, which went back-to-back in 1994 and '95 and finished No. 1 in the final coaches' poll in 1997.

In a world full of spread-the-field, hurry-up offenses, Alabama is a bastion of traditional football.

The Tide put its no-frills muscle on display Saturday, mashing Georgia with 350 yards rushing.

Eddie Lacy, listed at a conservative 220 pounds, went for 181 against the Bulldogs to up his season total to 1,182 with 17 touchdowns. Freshman T.J. Yeldon has run for 1,000 yards and scored 12 touchdowns.

But this is no 3 yards and a cloud of dust. Both backs average over 6 yards per carry, behind an offensive line anchored by All-American center Barrett Jones, who is nursing a foot injury.

And quarterback AJ McCarron has thrown for 26 touchdowns with only three interceptions.

The Tide has been more potent offensively this season than last to make up for a defense that has slipped, but only a bit. Alabama leads the nation in total defense (246 yards per game) and is second in points allowed (10.7 per game). Linebackers Adrian Hubbard, Nico Johnson, CJ Mosley and Trey Depriest average 242 pounds.

When Brian Kelly was hired at Notre Dame three years ago, he looked at Alabama and the SEC, which has won six straight BCS titles, and decided the Irish needed to play like that.

Kelly built his reputation and winning teams at previous stops on fast-paced spread offenses. In South Bend, Ind., he has put the fight back in the Irish, who have won eight AP national titles ? only Alabama has as many ? but none since 1988.

Notre Dame has allowed the fewest touchdowns in the country (10) and is sixth overall in total defense (286 yards per game).

"It's clear that the formation of any great program is going to be on its defense," Kelly said. "If you play great defense you've got a chance. For us to move Notre Dame back into national prominence we had to develop a defense."

The face of the Irish isn't a strong-armed quarterback or speedy ball carrier. It's middle linebacker Manti Te'o, a 255-pound offense wrecker with a nose for the ball. The senior has seven interceptions and is a likely Heisman finalist.

Te'o, along with 300-pound linemen Stephon Tuitt and Louis Nix, have formed a red-zone wall for the Irish. Late goal-line stands highlighted victories against Stanford and USC.

"There's some pretty physical guys that have some great toughness and some great licks," Saban said in assessing Notre Dame.

While nurturing redshirt freshman Everett Golson, Kelly has leaned on Notre Dame's running game, which averages 202 yards.

"This is just a good all-around football team with tremendous balance on offense and a very physical defense," Saban said.

If Notre Dame, making its first appearance in a BCS championship, is going to break the SEC's strangle hold on the crystal ball trophy, the Irish will try to beat 'Bama at its own game.

And Kelly will try to uphold a Notre Dame tradition, by winning a national title in his third season as coach. Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine and Lou Holtz all won it all in Year 3 playing in the shadow of the Golden Dome.

Notre Dame will try to become the first team since BYU in 1984 to start the season unranked and win a national title.

Expect plenty of fans to be watching. With the popularity of both programs, the second-to-last BCS title game is expected to be the highest rated ever. Though it might be hard for many fans to choose. While there are plenty of fans tired of watching the SEC win championships, Notre Dame has always been the program people love to hate.

"I don't know if we picked up any more fans along the way," Kelly said.

In two years, college football switches to a four-team playoff to determine its champion. No doubt fans of Florida (11-1), Oregon (11-1), Stanford (11-2) and Kansas State (11-1) wish they could push the start date up on that, but for the most part there isn't much griping about this championship matchup.

Notre Dame is the only undefeated team that is eligible ? thanks to Ohio State's NCAA sanctions ? and Alabama is the champion of the league that has produced the last half-dozen national champs.

Roll Tide or return to glory? To be determined in South Florida.

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AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.

___

Follow Ralph D. Russo at www.Twitter.com/ralphdrussoap

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-02-T25-BCS%20Championship/id-d20ce34bbabc40bbb46fbb800362b9c6

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