I have a bit more data that tells me there is a problem with the servers somewhere. On one of my networks, I get logged in fine, but there is no * Patrick's Day update applied or available. It's pre-* Pats as usual. If I change to another network (public WiFi), I get a 200.8MB update that causes the app to crash after I "tap to continue". If I change back to the original network, I get another 193.2MB update and I can log in again -- but no * Patricks Day features.
So I can play on one network with pre-* Patrick's Day version, but if I go to another (including, I find out now, my broadband with AT&T), it tries to update with a broken version. The broken version is always the same size, 200.8MB.
How long until this gets fixed? It's obviously a problem with EA.