Mrs. Reilly would like to clear something up about that flag.

A story on the cover of Friday's Star Tribune sports section shows what looks like a Dixie flag you might see in "Dukes of Hazzard" in the background of the basement where Gophers hockey players Mikey, Connor and Ryan Reilly are photographed and videotaped shooting pucks.

At least one Twin Cities radio program was chattering away about the flag Monday; the Star Tribune also received some complaint calls.

When I called to ask the brothers' father, Mike Reilly, about the flag he was not home Monday, so I asked mom Lisa Reilly what the inspiration was for the flag.

"I'm not commenting on it," she said. When I asked if either she or her husband was from the Deep South, she said "I'm not commenting on it. It's not a Rebel flag, that's all I'll say. If you look at the colors it's not the Rebel flag, It's orange, an Irish flag."

An Irish flag?

"Yes," she said.

CJ