Monday, December 14, 2009
Good To See Irish Fans Fired Up
We had an enjoyable time Sunday afternoon at our book signing for Loyal Sons at the Barnes & Noble at HarMar Mall in Roseville, Minn.
Not only was our supply of books sold out in less than an hour — wow! what a response! — but we got to spend some time chatting with a whole bunch of very nice Irish fans. Those who had an opinion of the coaching change were quite positive about the choice of Brian Kelly.
In fact, one fan even looked like Brian Kelly. Greg, just get that shave, put on some coaching attire, and you’ve got it nailed! (And a Boston native, to boot!)
The biggest challenge is — how to make these next nine months fly by, till Kelly leads the Irish out of the Tunnel on September 4 to face Purdue.
I know what I’l be doing — traveling the country, meeting and speaking with groups of Irish fans about Notre Dame football history, while doing research for several more planned books on the Irish, following in the wake of Loyal Sons.
We’ll also be adding a lot more material to Forever Irish — so stop back regularly to read more stories about the history of Fighting Irish football.
We also appreciate hearing from you. Have an idea of something for us to research? Drop us a line at: editor@NDFootballHistory.com.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Making History — And Trying to Recall It
Saturday was a college football lover’s dream. From the 11 a.m. (CT) kickoff of the Cincinnati-Pittsburgh game amidst a snowstorm at Heinz Field, to the conclusion of Wisconsin’s romp over Hawaii at 2 a.m. from Honolulu, there were 15 straight hours of exciting comebacks, bizarre finishes and dominating performances.
Certainly, a lot of Notre Dame followers kept a close eye on Cincinnati’s game, and Brian Kelly’s handling of his team after falling behind by 21 points. There was an unmistakable sideline presence and intensity that seemed to help the Bearcats keep their focus and will their way back into the game. Ordering backup QB Zach Collaros to warm up was apparently the trick to get starter Tony Pike sharp down the stretch. In the final analysis, though, you had to feel bad for the Pitt holder letting a crucial extra point slide out of his grasp.
Though not a game of great importance, Fresno State’s last-second win at Illinois was one-of-a-kind. Coach Pat Hill eschews the point-after that would have forced overtime, and the conversion pass bounces into the hands of an offensive lineman, who topples into the end zone to give Fresno a 53-52 victory.
Plenty has been written about Alabama’s beatdown of Florida. It seems plenty of folks have had their fill of the constant adulation heaped on Urban Meyer’s team and quarterback. Best line all weekend? Somebody pointing out that maybe Tim Tebow should really familiarize himself with Matthew 6:6 — you know, the one about not making your prayer a public spectacle.
Texas’ “extra-second” winning field-goal of course reminded one of the ending of the ND-USC game this year. In both cases, there was clearly one second left in the game. But only one school got ripped from coast to coast about “home cooking” clock operators — and it wasn’t Texas.
But for me, one of the most astounding moments came during the telecast of the SEC Championship. The trivia question brought to you by a quacking duck asked which two teams won three national titles in a four-year span (in expectation that Florida might match that feat). For a Notre Dame partisan living in Minnesota, it wasn’t real difficult — the Gophers in 1934-36, the Irish in 1946-47-49.
But, in giving the answer, announcer Verne Lundquist says, “The great Notre Dame teams featuring Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard.”
What!!!???!!!
What’s worse, there was no correction (at least that I heard; I was still switching to other games). That means, in all likelihood, that nobody in the control room realized what an outrageous mistake had been uttered.
Fans of both Notre Dame and Army, or anyone with an appreciation of college football history, must have just been shaking their heads. I know I was.
Friday, December 4, 2009
What Does ND Have in Common With MSU?
News Item: Notre Dame again rates at the top of the college football world in terms of graduation rates. Michigan State is near the bottom of the Big 10.
News item: Michigan State Coach Mark Dantonio dismisses two players from his team and suspends eight others, apparently in connection with a campus brawl in which up to 15 individuals — many of them football players — busted into a campus dorm and started assaulting male and female residents. One of the two dismissed players was convicted last year, in an almost identical altercation, of brutally assaulting an MSU hockey player who was coming to the aid of fellow students. The result was a serious head injury that cost the icer the 2008-09 season. The football player, Glenn Winston, served a four-month sentence… and then was immediately reinstated to the football team, with no repurcussions.
At some point is it valid to ask: what is the compelling reason for Notre Dame to continue its every-year rivalry with Michigan State? Especially when there are so many institutions — with much better academic/social records — interested in playing the Irish.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Arrrggghhh!!!
Spending time listening to TV talking heads and reading national “columnists” covering the ND coaching change makes one’s head seem ready to explode.
Here are just five of the most inane “talking points” repeated ad nauseam by these self-appointed “experts.”
1. Coaching ND football is no longer a “good” job. This simplistic false-choice analysis presumes that a “good” job must be easy, as in, you can recruit anybody who can fog a mirror, and not have to be concerned with academics or behavioral issues. I guess their definition of “good” ignores things like: outstanding facilities, tremendous support staff, generous salary, unmatched history and tradition, national media contracts, coast-to-coast base of supporters, all attracted to the nation’s premiere Catholic university, with a #1 football graduation rate, the lifelong value of an ND degree, playing in a classic renowned stadium on a fabulous campus, etc., etc.
2. It’s impossible to attract football talent to ND. This canard is usually followed by slams at the university’s substantial academics standards, with assorted jabs at South Bend weather, lack of night life, and distance from beaches. All of which presumes that the whole of top high school football players are slack-jawed, low IQ, achievement-adverse hedonists. Please refer to the current Irish roster, and the last several recruiting classes, to dispel this nonsense. Floyd, Tate, Rudolph, Te’o, Clausen, etc. Please!
3. Notre Dame football has become irrelevant. Oh, really? So how do you explain the wall-to-wall coverage the last few days, the ESPN trucks parked outside the Gug, the apparent need for every low-level “journalist” with any print space or broadband width to pontificate about Notre Dame football? Hmmm, something just doesn’t add up here. You can’t have it both ways, folks.
4. ND won’t matter until it joins a conference. This one really gets me. I have to calm myself, slow my speech and point out to the idiot in question that Notre Dame is a national university, with a national alumni base, and a national following of a team recruited nationally. Its history and tradition – literally from its founding – speak to being a national entity. In terms of football, I like to put it this way: Who gets to make the call to a player’s parent in California and say, “Uh, Mrs. Smith, forget that talk about a national schedule…the furthest west we can play this year is Iowa.”
5. This one is real spit-out-your-coffee stuff. In the last 36 hours, an ESPN college football “analyst” and a Chicago “sports writer” both mentioned that recruiting to Notre Dame is difficult because Indiana isn’t a fertile ground for football players. Yikes. Really!!??!! It’s news to these guys that ND goes coast to coast to attract football players (as it does its student body).
Maybe it’s best to turn off the TV and stay away from the internet for a few days.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Video Reviews Run Amok
There’s no question that Notre Dame played poorly enough for long stretches of Saturday’s game against Pitt to deserve to lose. Yet, it was absolutely stupefying to watch how the Irish’s last gasp ended.
Jimmy Clausen clearly got off a pass that traveled several yards before hitting the dirt. ABC announcers Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit — neither known as ND enthusiasts — almost casually opined that there was no way the call on the field (incomplete pass) would be reversed. Yet I’ll bet plenty of Irish fans said to themselves, “Oh, yeah…just watch them.” We’ve become almost conditioned to horrible reversals, when nothing close to “indisputable video evidence” exists. So it was when the ball was given over to Pittsburgh on a “fumble recovery.”
This time, the ridiculous reversal was part of a very troubling trend in college football this year. Possibly the most egregious example happened Friday night in the Cincinnati-West Virginia game. Cincinnati, driving for a critical touchdown, was trailing when its running back dove toward the goal line. Not only was he clearly short of breaking the plane, he fumbled as well, and WVU recovered. The officials on the field correctly ruled it a fumble, then the Big East video crew made another one of those unbelievable reversals, handing Cincinnati a much-needed touchdown. It completely turned around the course of the game.
The common thread, of course — Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and earlier highly-questionable reversals in SEC games involving Florida and Alabama — is that each team that benefited is a Top 10 squad in the hunt for a BCS bid, in a conference pushing to receive two lucrative slots in the BCS. It has become the 800-pound gorilla in the game of college football, too obvious to ignore. Video review squads, originally meant as a check on less-than-perfect on-field officials, now wield enormous power to decide games. The notion of “indisputable video evidence” has been thrown out the window.
Thankfully, there is a growing movement to take officiating — and video review — out of the hands of the conferences and create a national body for assigning, training and monitoring officials. No longer would their checks be signed by conferences who have a huge financial interest in which team wins.
It can’t happen soon enough.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Now That’s A Serious ND Fan!
We know there are a lot of tremendously loyal Notre Dame alums and fans out there — we’ve signed enough copies of Loyal Sons to “ND’s No. 1 Fan!” But how about this one? Last Wednesday, Nov. 4, Kathy Foresman, a 1981 ND grad, was in a Minneapolis hospital undergoing lumpectomy surgery.
A mere 48 hours later, she was in her usual spot on a home-game Friday — making the nine-hour drive with husband Mark (also ND ’81) to South Bend. And here she is in the stands for the Navy game.
 |
Now that’s dedication!
Kathy comes from a three-generation Notre Dame family, starting with her dad Jack McMahon (’55). Her sisters went to ND and St. Mary’s, and now the tradition has continued with daugher Alicen (ND ’07) and son Daniel, a current Irish senior.
The weekend included a trip to The Grotto — where many prayers for healing have started.
Best wishes, Kathy, for a full and speedy recovery!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Deep In The Heart of (Irish) Texas
Aside from a possibly season-ending injury to backup quarterback Dayne Crist, it’s hard to imagine how ND’s first “off-site home game” could have gone any better. Crowds in downtown San Antonio were large, lively and almost completely ‘Irish.’
Wherever one went, anywhere on the River Walk, in and around the host Marriott, at the Alamo, up to the Cathedral, hordes of ND fans were enjoying the hospitality of their local hosts. The Pep Rally at Alamo Square, the “concert on the steps” in front of the Cathedral and the subsequent parade of the Band — followed by thousands of ND fans — down Market Street to the Alamodome, were among the many highlights.
As a “northerner” already accustomed to this fall’s constant 45-and-drizzle, it felt more than a little warm in Saturday’s sun — and actually felt good to get into the air-conditioned comfort of the Alamodome.
There, the Irish treated their fans to the first “no drama” victory since the season-opener vs. Nevada. Another great Band halftime show, culminating in the forming of the state of Texas, complete with the Lone Star flag and “Deep in the Heart of Texas” — all set the right tone.
Reps of Yankee Stadium were there taking notes, in the hopes of replicating San Antonio’s success for next year’s special event. One thing is certain…the bar was set high. A bowl-like atmosphere made for an enjoyable weekend.
Monday, October 17, 2009
It’s a Privilege To Be at ND Stadium….Participate
Driving to campus Saturday morning, I caught a good radio interview with Ned Bolcar, two-time Irish captain (1988-89) and one of the fiercest players to don the Blue-and-Gold. Ned talked about how great it was to come back to ND and meet up with former teammates and classmates….how the bonds survive the test of time, and everyone appreciates the chance to gather.
He said he had just one pet peeve with watching games at Notre Dame Stadium. It was the prevalence of folks who seem content to “sit on their hands” and not get involved in the proceedings.
“I can find a thousand people back in my little home town in New Jersey who would give their LEFT ARM to be at this game today,” he fairly screamed. You could almost picture yourself in the Irish locker room, listening to Ned fire up the troops before a big game. “But they don’t have the money, they can’t get away from their jobs to get out here.”
If you are one of the lucky ones — those who have a means of getting tickets, and the means to get to South Bend and enjoy a game — be sure you are Irish all the way, Ned was saying. Take your lead from the student section…scream till you’re hoarse every time the opponent comes to the line of scrimmage. Don’t be upset if you have to stand once in a while. And never, never quit cheering the Irish.
So Saturday, amidst the electricity of a huge game, a tremendous comeback and near-classic-victory, I took notice of the people sitting around me. And sure enough, the middle-aged couple in front of us…seemed nice, but literally never made a sound. It’s not like they were USC fans. They just didn’t participate. I resisted the temptation to tap them on the shoulder and say, “Where did you get these tickets? Did you just want to be able to say you went to a USC-ND game? Do you realize there are a thousand people in Ned Bolcar’s hometown….oh, what’s the use.”
Overall, though, our section was great. I’m pretty sure we started the chant aimed at Pete Carroll….”OFF…THE…FIELD.” This guy is something else. Do you think there is a single Pac 10 ref with the guts to EVER come over and even give him a warning that he’s violating the sideline rules…nearly all game long. He does it, of course, because he can. And we’re supposed to be ones whose coach is arrogant!
Moving forward, if the Irish can take the best elements of Saturday’s effort, and clean up the rest, the remainder of the season looks pretty good.
Just remember….if somehow you get a ticket to an ND game, keep in mind Ned Bolcar’s words …and “cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame.”
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
A Great Challenge, A Great Opportunity to “Show Me”
Maybe it’s best that the green jerseys will be kept in storage Saturday.
Maybe it’s best that ESPN College GameDay is in Dallas for the Texas-Oklahoma game and not South Bend.
Maybe it’s best that the Pep Rally will be on the Irish Green and not the Stadium.
Maybe it’s best that Notre Dame and Southern Cal each have one loss.
Maybe it’s best that the hype for Saturday’s game isn’t at a 2005 level.
Maybe…just maybe….the Irish can put it all together, summon the spirits that inhabit Notre Dame Stadium, and answer the call “to Rise and Strike” (do people wearing The Shirt realize that’s a key line from the song “Hike Notre Dame”?) with a victory over the Trojans.
Even with 2005’s incredible, last-minute 34-31 loss to USC, the average score in Notre Dame’s seven-year losing streak to the Trojans is 41-14. Ouch.
There are only two longer losing streaks to an opponent in ND history — 8 straight losses to start the Michigan series (between the inception of ND football in 1887 and 1908, stopped by the remarkable 1909 upset at Ann Arbor) and 8 losses over nine seasons to Michigan State between 1955 and 1963.
Great achievements, someone once said, come from great opportunities. Yes, beating USC is a tremendous challenge. The Trojans come in to Notre Dame Stadium with another highly-talented outfit, as evidenced by their recent dismantling of Cal. They are well-coached, they play with complete confidence. And, like any Notre Dame opponent, they bring their ‘A’ game when it’s time to battle the Irish.
Still, one gets the feeling that it’s time, indeed, for this ND team to “show us” what it can do. The talent gap with USC has narrowed to the point where a competitive game, not a 38-point blowout, is what fans are expecting.
We hope the ND coaching staff, in addition to crafting wise schemes, will draw upon the underdog status to ratchet up the fighting spirit of the Fighting Irish.
Recall how the name itself — the Fighting Irish — perfectly described the immigrant spirit of the late 19th and early 20th century. Notre Dame football was born and nurtured at a time when attending college was a stretch for first-generation Americans, especially Irish-Americans. They overcame tremendous odds to achieve greatness — on and off the football field.
Saturday is a perfect time for that greatness to re-appear.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Craziness On and Off the Field: What Would Rock Think?
It’s already been quite a year in college football. It started with an ugly incident of taunting followed by retaliatory violence, in the Oregon-Boise State game to kick off the season. You would have thought the season-long suspension of Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount might have opened a few eyes.
Apparently not. For three straight weeks now, the Big 10 has issued one-game suspensions to players following its mandatory review of flagrant fouls. (The first of these was Michigan’s Jonas Mouton slugging ND’s Eric Olsen after the play, undetected at the time by the officials.)
Even coaches have gotten into the act. At New Mexico, the head coach punched out one of his assistants in a heated exchange during a meeting.
Yikes.
I often ask myself, “What would Rock think of all this craziness in the game he loved?” We provide an answer this week in our article, Rock Revered, in which we quote Harry Stuhldreher talking about Rock’s dedication to sportsmanship. The quarterback of The Four Horsemen quotes the great coach: “Fight with your heart and mind rather than fists and mouth.”
Words that a lot of folks should listen to these days.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Honoring the Work of “Play Like A Champion Today”
It’s been just over a year since the release of Loyal Sons: The Story of The Four Horsemen and Notre Dame Football’s 1924 Champions. We’ve been gratified by the response to the book – from readers, reviewers, and from the 2009 Independent Publisher Book Awards, which honored us with the bronze medal in the sports/recreation/fitness category.
 |
Jim Lefebvre, author of Loyal Sons, presents a check to Prof. F. Clark Power, director of the Play Like A Champion Today program at Notre Dame, and associate director Kristin Sheehan. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Loyal Sons is donated to PLC. |
And one of our favorite moments was the Friday before the Michigan State game, when we presented a check to the Play Like A Champion Today coaching education program. As promised in a Special Note on the book’s jacket:
“A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Loyal Sons is donated to support the work of Play Like A Champion Today, the national initiative for youth and school sports directed by the Center for Ethical Education at the University of Notre Dame The program offers training in ethical sports coaching and leadership, and sports as ministry. For more information, please visit www.playlikeachampion.org.”
To Prof. Clark Power, Kristin Sheehan, Jared Dees and all the PLC contributors, trainers and supporters – congratulations on some great work, and best wishes for continued success. We are proud of our association with you!
Friday, September 18, 2009
Always A Treat — ND’s “Senior” Alumnus Dick Savage
It’s always a pleasure to get together for dinner with Mr. Richard “Dick” Savage of Chicago, now 101 and two-thirds. Mr. Savage, class secretary of the Class of 1930, is a touchstone for so many Notre Dame alumni and friends.
It’s great to break bread with Dick and hear him recall his student days during the time of Rockne.
And we’re delighted that your annual visit for an ND game was a good one — perfect weather, excellent hospitality in the wheelchair section…and best of all, an impressive, 35-0 Irish victory.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Neutral Site Games: A Thing of the Future (and Past)
It seems like a week of the spring and summer hasn’t gone by without the announcement of yet another planned neutral site college football game. One of the biggest announcements for Irish fans, of course, was the November, 2010 meeting with Army at the new Yankee Stadium. The matchup harkens back to the many years the highlight of the college football season with the battle between the Irish and Black Knights at old Yankee Stadium.
In our view, any neutral-site game involving Notre Dame “makes sense,” as it is a tribute to the long-standing independence and history of the football program in playing games coast to coast, involving support of alumni and fans that know no geographical limits.
Northwestern vs. Illinois at Wrigley Field? That would be cool. Boston College playing a game at Fenway? Why not.
But Indiana switching a home game vs. Penn State to FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland? I think that matchup has just one thing written all over it – dollar signs. Or did we miss tens of thousands of rabid Hoosier football fans clamoring for a game on the East Coast?
I didn’t think so.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Honoring History — Both Distant and More Recent
Fighting Irish fans are celebrating today with ND coaching legend Lou Holtz as he takes his place among the members of the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend. See our perpsective on his career, Long and Winding Road: East Liverpool to the ‘Hall.’ Well done, Coach.
And then there are the continuing reports that athletic director Jack Swarbrick is close to signing an agreement to play Army at the new Yankee Stadium next season. Earlier, it appeared the target season for the Stadium meeting was 2013, the centennial of ND’s first game — and great upset — vs. the USMA. Either way, it will be an historic renewal of what was undoubtedly the greatest rivalry in college football in the first half of the 20th century. And one played 21 of 22 seasons between 1925 and 1946 at “The House That Ruth Built.”
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
That Was Cool: Loyal Sons Gets an IPPY
I had never been at an award ceremony for authors and publishers of books, so I didn’t really know to expect. But Friday’s Independent Publisher Book Awards 2009 at New York City’s impressive Providence NYC nightclub, was classy, interesting and fun.
Naturally, we’re proud of the Bronze Medal in the Sports/Recreation/Fitness category that Loyal Sons received. It was wonderful to share the evening with friends and great Irish fans Bob and Jessica Kreider. And it was great to spend time getting to know other authors. Their subject matter cut across all conceivable lines — after all, there are something like 64 subject categories in the IPPYs, plus national and regional awards.
Not surprisingly, though, the two authors of award-winning college football books found one another and had a great conversation. Steve Clark, one-time student manager at Alabama, penned Bear Revelations: Paul Bryant the Man. It includes stories from the two great ND-‘Bama bowl meetings of the 1970s. Way to go, Steve. I hope we can share a speakers podium or radio microphone some day soon.
Thanks to Jim Barnes and all the folks at Independent Publisher/Jenkins Group for a great event.
Monday, May 18, 2009
An Amazing Weekend
Wow, that was something. It’s a special moment for a parent to see their youngest child graduate from college. And when it’s Notre Dame, well, it’s special beyond belief.
For daughter Liz, the years of effort, the work ethic that put her in a position to earn a place in Notre Dame’s Class of 2009 came full circle this weekend, and her family could not be prouder. She joins sister Kerry (ND 2007) and thousands of other Notre Dame alumni worldwide. And her class joins several others who have the special honor of being addressed by the President of the United States.Very memorable.
And events with two other presidents made the weekend complete. Friday, at the ceremony honoring graduates of the Kroc Center for International Peace Studies, President Emeritus Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, CSC, — “Father Ted” — gave the students a tremendous message of faith, hope and love. At 92 and always looking forward to sending Notre Dame’s best out to change the world, this man truly embodies the spirit of Our Lady’s University.
Then Saturday, current President Rev. John I. Jenkins, CSC, gave an impassioned sendoff to some 200 ND ’09 grads — as usual, 10 per cent of the graduating class — who are answering the call to service through programs across the U.S. and abroad. It was a great honor to be at each event…and a telling reminder that the important work of Notre Dame just starts on this campus, but extends through space and time.
Friday, April 24, 2009
You Can Go Home Again
This week, I completed the circuit of the Four Horsemen’s hometowns with a book event in Green Bay, Wisconsin — hometown of “Sleepy Jim” Crowley ….and me. And it was truly overwhelming.
It was great to see old neighbors such as Urban Schumacher and son John, Don Vandersteen and son Mike, and high school buddies Tom Vandenberg, Jim Robb, Steve Hein, Mike Crabb and Terry Eckers. My Green Bay relatives Mark, Rob, Joyce and Sue Lefebvre were there. Relatives of Crowley’s teammates both in Green Bay and at Notre Dame — Rick Hearden and family, Peter Geniesse and family — were part of the audience at the Titletown Brewing Co.
And many thanks to another high school pal, Denis Gullickson, for helping set up the event and inviting several other Green Bay football historians, including Carl Hanson and Tom Murphy.
The following day, our visit to Crowley’s high school — Green Bay East — included a presentation of a specially inscribed copy of “Loyal Sons” to East Principal Ed Dorff. Thanks to East’s Jim Belongia and Rick Rosinski for their hospitality and interest in “Loyal Sons.”
It’s quite amazing, the Green Bay Connection. From Curly Lambeau playing for Knute Rockne at Notre Dame in 1918, to helping send Crowley, Red Hearden and others to South Bend, and Crowley eventually coaching Vince Lombardi at Fordham, to Lombardi leaving New York for little Green Bay…and football immortality.
It’s been a privelege to tell just a part of that whole story in Loyal Sons.
Thanks again to all who welcomed me back to Green Bay! Go Irish! Go Pack!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Ouch!
And just like that, the “incredible journey” described in the post below…it’s all over. Six years of watching my daughters play a part in the spirit and sounds of Notre Dame athletics come to an end, in the Irish’s hard-to-comprehend, 5-1 loss to underdog Bemidji State in the first round of the NCAA tournament here in Grand Rapids, Mich.
As a Minnesota resident the past 25 years, I’m well aware of Bemidji’s strong tradition as a small-college powerhouse, and the Beavers’ numerous national titles before being more-or-less forced to opt up to Division I in 1999. Frank Serratorre does a great job with something less than the nation’s top recruits. But, still, this just wasn’t supposed to happen.
The Irish, No. 1 or No. 2 in the land nearly all season, with the nation’s top power-play, a stellar senior class, tournament experience. Everything in place for a run back into the title game, this time in Washington, DC. The great buzz from last year’s trip to Denver repeated, former Irish players coming out to honor and encourage the team…oh, well, it’s better not to think of what we expected to see.
It’s yet another reminder of “why they play the game.” You never know which team will get in a zone, get a few breaks and take advantage of them to spring the unlikely upset. It’s what makes competitive athletics exhilerating.
To Jordan, Erik, Christian, Garrett, Whitey, Luke – thanks for a great four years, and for putting Notre Dame among the nation’s best.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Never-Say-Die Irish
Anyone who knows me knows that my other great sporting love besides college football is college hockey — which makes the last few years an incredible journey. If you had told me a few years back that both my daughters would: a) get into Notre Dame; b) be four-year Band members; c) play in the Hockey Pep Band, and d) play for a hockey team that wins CCHA championships and makes the final of the NCAAs, well….it would have been too much to believe.
Last night was one more you-couldn’t-make-this-up addition to the ol’ memory bank. The Irish, down 2-0 to Michigan and its 15,000-plus fans at Joe Louis Arena here in Detroit midway through the CCHA title game, had the look of a boxer who’d taken a few blows, but kept his feet each round. A goal in the second period makes it 2-1. “Just keep pluggin'” says dad Dave Hanson in the concourse between periods.
And plug they did. Calle Ridderwall ties it. Twenty seconds later, Ben Ryan gives ND the lead. Later Ridderwall adds another. And Christiaan Minella ices it. FIVE straight goals, and the Irish skate with the Mason Cup aloft, and gather round the Notre Dame banner added to the CCHA Championship banner that hangs the next 12 months at The Joe.
That’s the Fighting Irish spirit we love to see. Congrats to Coach Jackson and the boys.
Friday, March 6, 2009
A Sign of Things to Come?
News item: Florida State receives NCAA probation due to academic cheating by numerous athletes, many of them football players.
Really? The NCAA is still in the business of handing out penalties to miscreant football programs? It had been so long since it nabbed anyone, I thought the Enforcement Division had gone out of business while we weren’t looking.
Does this mean they still have somebody investigating Reggie Bush’s living arrangements at USC? One can dream, right?
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Happy Birthday, Rock!
The greatest of all college football coaches was born on this day in 1888. For a more detailed tribute to Knute Kenneth Rockne, see our main page article, “The Art of Self-Improvement.”
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Taking Your Gifts Out Into the World
It was a moment when history just seems to envelop you and permeate your being.
Yesterday, I was speaking to about 150 high school students in the auditorium of Davenport Central High School. This is the same building, the same auditorium which was high school for one of the Irish greats, Elmer Layden – Four Horseman, All-American, ND head coach.
Look around you, I told these shining faces of the early 21st century. This place, this time, these people will shape you as you go out into the world. Take your gifts and share them. Not everyone will have the same gifts. Elmer Layden’s gifts were as a slashing running back and sleek trackman. I read to them from “Loyal Sons” how Layden was just as terrified and homesick as any other freshman at Notre Dame, maybe more so, and how desperately he longed to “escape” back to Davenport. (Must be a great hometown, I added.)
But the strength to persevere, and put ourselves out there, no matter the result, is what pulls us into adulthood. That’s what Layden was able to do. And it’s just as true for someone in their mid-50s (let’s say, writing their first book) as any 18-year-old uncertain of his or her life calling.
If even one of the 150 kids got the message, it was well worth the effort.
Thursday, February 6, 2009
ND The Right Place to ‘Blaze His Own Trail’
The headline from a Honolulu media outlet says it all:
“Manti Te’o does family proud by signing with Notre Dame”
The story describes how Manti was always encouraged “to do his best in representing himself, his home town of Kahuku and his family in the highest regard.”
“We always told him to blaze his own trail and that’s what he’s done,” said his mother Ottilia Te’o. “I think he’s leading the path for himself and the rest of his family.”
Besides being a tremendously gifted linebacker, star Irish recruit MAN-tie TAYow is, from all reports, an outstanding young man. Educated at the Punahou School in Honolulu, which has sent generations of well-educated youngsters, including President Obama, into the larger world, Manti is also an Eagle Scout and well-rounded volunteer. It will be interesting to see him develop as an Irish football player, Notre Dame student and Mormon with a mission to serve his church.
In that last regard, Manti was put in touch with South Bend representatives of the Mormon faith during his visit in November. He also had phone conversations with former Irish tackle Ryan Harris, now of the Denver Broncos, who practiced and studied his faith (Islam) while at ND. Harris’ message was simple: there’s no better place for someone to explore and deepen their faith, no matter the denomination, than Notre Dame.
I’m not sure Father Sorin would exactly understand, but still I feel he’d be proud.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Yes, Football Existed Before the Super Bowl
OK, it was a great and exciting Super Bowl victory for the Steelers. And six Super Bowl wins are indeed impressive. But when I hear the TV talking heads expound about Pittsburgh becoming the “record setter” for pro football championships, I have to say, whoa.
Anybody ever hear of a little outfit called the Green Bay Packers?
I checked and yes, today the Pack remains the leader with 12 pro football championships, the last three including a Super Bowl victory. Next in line are the Chicago Staleys/Bears, with nine crowns, followed by the New York Giants with seven. The come the Steelers, whose six titles have all come in the Super Bowl age. They’re followed closely by four teams – the Redskins, 49ers, Cowboys and Browns/Ravens – with five each.
It’s symptomatic of a culture that too often discards – – or simply forgets – history. Pro football was crowning champions for nearly a half-century before someone concocted the “NFL-AFL World Championship Game,” later dubbed the Super Bowl.
All fans of football as we know it today could learn some fascinating stories by reading of the early days of pro ball – not to mention the college football, which was THE game in town for many decades. I know of a good read to get you started…
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Could the Irish Ever Return to Champaign, Madison, Iowa City…or even Minneapolis?
News item: the University of Minnesota schedules a home-and-home series with Southern Cal, brining in the Trojans to new TCF Bank Stadium in 2010, with the Gophers making a trip to the Coliseum the following September.
In these days of too many BCS schools stocking up on cupcakes, it’s great to see any games scheduled between members of the “Big Six” conferences. But it led to another thought: could the Irish ever get back to scheduling games with the “western division” of the Big 10?
The Irish have had only five meetings with Minnesota, the last of those in 1938. Wisconsin was a fairly frequent opponent in the first half of the 20th century, but the last of 16 ND-UW contests was Ara Parseghian’s first ND victory on Sept. 26, 1964. And 1968 brought the most recent meetings with Illinois (an ND opponent 12 times) and Iowa (the Hawkeyes appeared on the Irish schedule every year from 1945 through 1962, with several excellent battles between rated teams).
Yes, we all know about the scheduling challenges, with now-required Big East games, Navy, USC, long-standing Michigan and Purdue series, etc., etc. But, someday, it would be great to see a historic return to Memorial Stadium in Champaign, to Camp Randall in Madison (recalling the Four Horsemen’s visit in 1924), Nile Kinnick in Iowa City. Or even a visit to the new TCF Bank Stadium.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Loyalty in College Football: Here’s a Start
Just a quick thought on Boston College following through on its threat to fire head coach Jeff Jagodzinski if he interviewed for the New York Jets head coaching position.
And, yes, it’s bravo, BC.
In today’s crazy coaching whirlwind, where it seems almost everyone is looking to move, or at least leveraging a threatened move against their current employer, the Eagles have every right to seek some consistency and loyalty from their head coach.
A gutsy move by athletic director Gene DeFilippo – and one which will likely only further burnish the pride and hustle the Eagles display, once they select (probably from within) a coach who’s committed to being there
