No one would ever accuse the Ivy League of being a powerhouse conference in football or basketball. In this day and age, Penn and its counterparts are simply never contenders for a bowl game, let alone a national championship. To many, it is comical that the sports in which the Ivy League tends to excel are ones like squash, fencing, lacrosse and crew.

Although their tastes in music might be very different, there is one thing many Penn students can have in common: a sleek software called iTunes that sells millions of digital songs. But a new program is trying to compete. Having dominated the digital music industry - and the laptops of Penn students - for the past several years, iTunes may soon be challenged by the social-networking Web site MySpace.

One team is going to walk out of Franklin Field tomorrow excited and breathing a sigh of relief, while the other will be left with yet another mark in the loss column.

Ex-Wharton professor emeritus Scott Ward likely won't be going home anytime soon, despite his option to post $2 million bail, legal experts say. Even if he is willing to pay, experts say the decision to grant bail could be overturned, and there is still the matter of the separate charges that he faces in Pennsylvania.

Barbaro coverage To the Editor: Thank you for the continual coverage of Barbaro ("Barbaro recovering under Penn vets' care," DP, 8/31/06). I'm not involved with horse racing at all, but I was really touched by the courage of this horse, the wisdom of his jockey and the dedication of Dean Richardson.

If you're like me, your annual fantasy draft is Christmas in July, but there are probably still some gifts out there to snag in free agency at the beginning of the season.

On the third floor of the Stouffer College House Annex live 13 students interested in public service. But the first floor of the building - with a pool table, TV area and large lounge room - resembles a fraternity house more than a dorm. And next year, a fraternity may actually return to claim the house as its own.

The Penn women's soccer team hasn't exactly been afforded the chance to ease into its schedule after a short preseason.

Amira Fawcett is a College senior from Houston.

By Meagan Steiner The Daily Pennsylvanian Trade in crowded frat parties for some classy schmoozing along the banks of the Schuylkill River this weekend. Although, like frat parties, the "Rockin' on the River" concert series on the Schuylkill River banks features dancing, alcohol and free admission.

Council President Anna Verna's announcement of a Nov. 7 special election for the three vacant City Council seats seemed like good news for Florence Cohen. The 88-year-old widow of late Councilman David Cohen would have a chance to finish the term of her husband, who died in office last fall at the age of 90.

New Student Orientation is over, which means a whole new class of freshmen is about to learn that college is not only about partying - unless you're an upperclassmen crashing NSO again. Those same freshman are about to learn that their peer advisors, those beacons of maturity during orientation, will most likely show up to Thursday-morning class quite hung over from Wednesday-night sink-or-swim at Smokey Joe's.

Just four days removed from making Lehigh "look like superstars," senior Dan Cepero and the men's soccer team will face an even stiffer test.

City Council President Anna Verna can order a special election to fill three vacant Council seats as early as today, but several local groups are calling the process undemocratic. Because Verna announced the election in August - therefore eliminating the possibility of a primary - ward leaders, not voters, will select the party nominees.

Penn basketball freshman forward Justin Reilly was a senior in high school when coaches from around the country started contacting him to play for their universities and sending him messages frequently - on his cell phone.

Student financial-aid records have been helping to fight the war on terror for the past five years - but without students' knowledge. The Department of Education acknowledged last week that one of its offices had been running a program, which was discontinued last June, that searched for evidence of terrorist activity via financial-aid records.

This July, many full-time employees of the School of Medicine received a pleasant surprise in our mailboxes - a $500 bonus, to be credited to our September paychecks.