Attention all Irish livers! Prepare yourself for 3 ND night games

There is an upside to a night game, and a down side. First, the upside, it's a great build up throughout the day. Watching other games, listening to previews all day long (especially for the ND vs USC game on Nov. 25th @ 8:00 EST). The downside, well that's if you decide to make the trip to East Lansing for the ND vs State game. Tailgating for a good work day until the game starts, which happens to be an 8:00 EST kickoff this year, can really tell the tale of one's liver. Will the liver get so wasted that it walks out of the game in the 1st QTR, to urinate next to a dumpster. Who knows, everything is questionable when Sparty and the Leprechaun throw a bash!

A Return to Rockne Barnstorming Era

Remember when Notre Dame went undefeated, 9-0 for the entire season? That year they played 0, that's zero, of their games at home. Yes, that means every single weekend they played on the road...and yet they still went undefeated. Don't remember it? Well, that's because it happened in 1929 with good 'ol Knute under the helm. Well, it looks like we might just have this opportunity again. Well, sort of. ND athletic director Kevin White announced today that ND will start scheduling games at "neutral" locations, in an attempt to "return the school to its independent roots" and to "behave more like an independent -- go back to the coach Rockne barnstorming era if you will." This is being done to help with recruiting and allow ND fans to see games that they normally wouldn't be able to travel to.

Kevin then states: "I think over time we've really begun to behave like a wannabe conference member."

You hear that Big 10 fans?! Get off me!! ND won't be joining your garbage dump of a conference anytime soon. So quit asking.

Get off!!!

Alas...White then stated: "We have enough heavyweights on the schedule," he said. "We need to have a schedule that's conducive to success."

What does that mean? The teams below where played during that amazing 1929 season. If they decide to fall back to the days of Knute, we could see these teams in our modern day 12 game season. Let's just hope they're a little less creative with these "Neutral" locations. Can you imagine the score if ND played Carnegie Mellon? Triple digit scores????





Read the full article.

Roberts Out

If you haven't heard, Tony Roberts, the play-by-play radio announcer for Notre Dame Football has been fired by Westwood One. Replaced by the robot Don Criqui. This is pure bullshit. Sorry for the language, but Westwood One is a bunch of bastards! Tony Roberts was a perfect fit for ND. I would actually turn the audio down on my TV, and turn on the AM radio just to listen to him call the game. Now we have to listen to Don Criqui call games. That guy needs to be calling Harvard games. I hate that guy! It would be nice if NBC would kick out Tom Hammond and put Tony in as TV play-by-play. That would juice the ratings like crazy! Oh well, it seems like in the world of hearless cut throats, Tony got one right across the juggler, as did Notre Dame Fans all over the world. I'll tell you this David Halberstam of Westwood One, ND fans are not going to like this one bit, and you're going to hear from them soon. Click on the title "Roberts Out" to view the article.

Calling all WR's

Looks like the recruits are starting to listen to Clausen. Depending on who you listen to, Duval Kamara, stands somewhere from 6-3, to 6-5, and weighs in somewhere around 2005-210. He's rated by scout as a four star, now it's a little too early to tell if that's the case, and Tom Lemming is rating him one of the 5 best receivers in the nation. Whatever, and whoever this guy is, he's supposed to name Notre Dame as his college choice, either at 11:00 am or at 5:15 pm on ESPN. Like I said, whoever you believe.

Computer Nerds

What is wrong with these kids? I'm only going to say this once, get the hell off of MY SPACE! Hit the weightroom, increase your strength, speed, agility, and stop reading crap on the internet. Us fans can take care of the bitching on the blogs, and message boards, you just worry about you. I think we're quite capable of living out the dork role.

Chin Up!

Okay, no big ND news today, but I did find an article talking about what character stands for in the NFL. It's a good take on what Weis is teaching besides the game of football. This is courtesy of the boys from ND Nation. On a side note, I was at the Lions Rookie Mini-camp. Apparently, the players organization, or players filed a grievance against the Lions for working them too hard in camp. League officials are taking two mini-camp practices away from the Lions as a result. Former Lions coach Wayne Fontes heard of the news late Friday night, and was emotional.
http://therockreport.blogspot.com/

Future Practice Squads

The Univeristy of Notre Dame will face fresh new foes in the coming years to kick off the football season. Would have been less travel to Big Rapids to take on the Ferris State Bulldogs, or across the border to take on the wonderful Edwardsburg Eddies.
http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060504/NDSports02/605040460/-1/SPORTS

The Price of Innocence

Those of you who know me, know that I co-produced, shot, and edited a short documentary on the exoneration of Mr. Ken Wyniemko here in Macomb County, Michigan. Ken was released from prison on June 17, 2003, after spending 9 years in prison for a crime that he did not commit. Since then, a documentary called "After Innocence" has been showing in colleges and large cities across the nation, and examines the life of other inmates around the nation that have been exonerated, telling their stories of adjusting to their new lives outside of prison. Now, another documentary is making it's debut at the University of Notre Dame, and other large cities. FACING LIFE: The Retrial of Evan Zimmerman is an intimate portrait of one man's choice to reject a tainted freedom in an effort to prove - to his family, friends, and everyone else - that he's not a murderer. Filmmakers Shane DuBow and David Boodell follow Zimmerman and his defense team through their final trial preparations and then on to a startling conclusion in court - one that speaks both to the high cost of imperfect justice and to the difficulties of fighting convictions secured without the use of DNA. If you would like to check out this documentary at ND, simply click on "The Price of Innocence" above for details. You can also check out this documentary on A&E on June 5th, at 9 PM EST.
http://www.nd.edu/~ftt/

Team 'o the Week

In other news, the ND mens golf team was selected as Golfweek's National "Team of the Week".


Yeah...I know. Who cares?

Well, in the spirit of Lou Holtz, Charlie has decided to look at the less popular ancillary teams at Notre Dame for possible place kickers for the 2006 season.

Meet Freshman Josh Sandman:



I think his celebratory "dance" on the 18th hole proves he can live up to the hype!!! Someone just needs to let him know that he can't wear that hat on the football field.

-Clutch

Blue Chipper

Irishfball1 contributed to this post about a DT out of Washington DC. Scroll down the page, look to the left to see new video on Mr. Marvin Austin in action.
http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=185&p=8&c=1&nid=1871530

Brady 4 Heisman

See, it's already started. Not only has the media jumped on the Brady Bus, now there is a site dedicated to following Mr. Quinn's Heisman hopeful season. Now, who's going to start the Juniper Junction Blog of the Year website?
http://www.brady4heisman.com/brady.html

top 10 reasons why the BCS sucks

Becides adding a new bowl to the BCS, it looks like another year of crap. When are they going to realize that a playoff will draw huge ratings, bring in tons of money, and select a true National Championship. They can still have other bowls, just make it a 8 team playoff. Years away from that actually happening, since they renewed the BCS contract recently. Oh well, at least my employer (Fox) will be broadcasting the championship game. Rupert, better start colleting some stock video of Brady, you're going to need it.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/stewart_mandel/05/02/bcs.explainer/

Mo Sto's draft day experience

As you know if you're a true Irish fan, Maurice Stovall's improvement over the last year was like night and day. He lost the weight Weis had asked of him, but more importantly, he believed in himself. Sto showed signs of greatness his freshmen year, but stalled out from his sophomore to his junior year. Charlie was very instrumental in developing a young senior to be, and formed him into a receiver that should have a solid NFL career.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/draft06/news/story?id=2430239

Luck, pure luck

So this is a quick pat on the back to the wonderful Fraser Public Safety Department. Those who haven't heard, my dumb ass left my debit car at a gas station at 4:30 am on a Sunday on the way to work. 7 hours later, I found out that around $900 had been charged to my card at two different Meijer locations. I have spent a good 48 hours working my ass off to find the person who stole the card. And then tonight, I got a call saying that they tried to use the card at Meijer again! This is after they tried to use the card yesterday, at the same gas station that I lost the card, and were denied! So the moral to this story, don't be as stupid as the next guy. Also, another thanks to my good friend Jim at the Sterling Heights Police Department who gave me some good information on how to attack the situation.

Midnight Madness is not a sin

This is actually an old post from ndnation.com. It's a article that talks about how ND should think about holding a midnight madness for the first fall practice. Typically, ND has the first fall practice during a home football game. Bruce and I actually went during the Michigan State game 3 years back. Boring as hell, and this article explains what COULD be done. Imagine Ross twin #1 dunking over Ross twin #2...booya! I did write South Bend Tribune, and forwarded the link hoping they would write an article to spark some interest, so far no luck. http://www.ndnation.com/blog/2006/04/after-midnight.html

Who the hell is Lewis Preston

As reported by every media agency in the Metro South Bend area, Lewis Preston has resigned from the University of Notre Dame's Men's Basketball Team. Who the hell is Lewis Preston, I know Preston Jackson, the former DB for ND back during the Davie/Willingham era. Crazy haired fella he was. Anyway, Lewis Preston actually took a job as an assistant at this years National Champion Florida Gators. Sure, hop on the bandwagon Lewis, Urban Meyer will help you up.
http://und.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/042806aab.html

ND and Detroit Love

Notre Dame to the rescue again. This time to help out Cardinal Adam Maida here in Detroit. Don't worry, ND's got your back!
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060502/NEWS05/605020356/1007/NEWS

More cheese please

Josh Oglesby, a OL from the great state of Wisconsin, has decided to stay home thus verbally committing to Wisconsin. This guy would have been a beast, 6-8, 312. I know there was a lot of talk about Josh, and how Weis REALLY wanted him to come to South Bend, but I guess you can't have everything.
http://wisconsin.scout.com/2/525496.html

Don't worry, be happy.

Well it looks like Pete Carroll isn't too worried about all the off the field trouble created by his team and former players. Bush, Sanchez, and Jarrett have really helped keep the NCAA's eye on the SC program. My opinion, let them do whatever they want, because Pete Carroll is just so damn hip!
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2429471

The mock turtle neck stays in South Bend

Not big news, but over the weekend there was rumor that Mike Brey was being considered for the NC State head coaching position. All these rumors came to a complete hault when Brey announced that he just signed a 5 year contract extension with JC Penny's in Mishawaka. Plus, he didn't see why he should leave and find another place to buy mock turtle necks. Also, this photo is straight out of JC Penny's 1999 Fall Edition, I swear I had that same shirt 10 years back.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/sports/14472177.htm

On to the NFL

Rashon Powers-Neal, for those who know me, was my favorite player coming into last season. I just wish he would of passed the keys to someone else after downing some brews. However, now he has a new begining, and I believe he'll make the cut with Denver. 6 ND players signed free agent contracts, UND.com has it all the info.
http://und.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/050106aab.html

And away we go

For the second straight year, Weis has snatched up the #1 TE coming out of high school. Amazing, the right publicity, the right moves, he's got it all. Blue Chip players are coming out of the woodwork, and ever since the verbal from Clausen, Michigan will begin looking like Western Michigan. How many draft picks was that for the boys in Ann Arbor through 2 rounds, zero? Anyways, enough first day blog rambling, Mike Ragone, from Weis' backyard Garden State, basically said he would be an idiot if he didn't choose the Irish. Word is bond according to Jimmy too, he's pounding the pavement faster than Ricky Williams smoking a joint before practice. First day, remember that, anyway, now he has to work on Marc Tyler, but Tyler is holding out so he can attend a game at the Big House, Whatever.
http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060502/NDSports02/605020442/-1/SPORTS

Juniper Junction has arrived.

This is my first blog, so it's going to be a learning process. This is going to be the site that is dedicated to both Notre Dame Football and Basketball. I will try and update everything on a daily, or weekly basis. Feel free to complain that there is too many blogs, especially ND blogs.