"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."

In case you've been seeing those promos for CodeBreakers and wondered why ESPN was making a movie about cryptanalysis, well, wrong referent. The codebreaking in this case is of the West Point honor code. The movie is about a nearly dynastic football team, the West Point Black Knights, which is rocked by an academic cheating scandal.

The West Point scandal actually happened — and don't think the timing is coincidental. No, I don't mean that it's a slur on the military in this time of war; how the movie portrays the cadets accused of cheating will determine whether or not that is the case. But there's been rampant speculation in the sports media about whether USC would "three-peat" as national champions since the pre-season.

The Black Knights captured the national college football title in 1944 and 1945, and shared it with Notre Dame in 1946: "a feat no team has repeated since," as ESPN describes it. The 1945 and 1946 Heisman Trophy winners were West Point cadets.

USC, of course, took the national title in 2003 and 2004, and they're making a strong run for this year's title. Trojan quarterbacks Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart won the Heisman Trophy in 2002 and 2004, and both Leinart and his mainstay in the ground game, running back Reggie Bush, are in contention for it this year. Just in case you think maybe the timing is a coincidence, note that the film will be broadcast immediately after this year's Heisman presentation ceremony.

You can read more about the film on ESPN's web site. Coach Wyatt has put together a great set of pages on the real life story of Coach Bob Blaik, the coach of the Black Knights and mentor to Vince Lombardi.

History is evidently repeating itself in an even more disturbing way: Billmon compares the El Salvadoran death squads to the Ministry of the Interior groups behind the disappearances in Iraq. Just this week, a high-level El Salvadoran former official was found to be liable for human rights violations — including torture — committed during that period. (He was allowed to become a U.S. citizen: how embarrassing.)