So this is how it looks, sitting comfy
inside the metaphorical Notre Dame home, sitting by the metaphorical fire while
outside, the annual blizzard of college coaching / recruiting speculation runs
amok.
And for once, we’re not in the middle of
it.
It feels… FANTASTIC!
“I say Lisa… lovey… since you're up… would
you be a dear and freshen my cocktail?
Just a splash more. Thanks ever so much…”
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
First off happy holidays and New Year to
everyone – hope you spent it, as I did, with those you love, relaxing while
slipping in and out of food and alcohol-induced coma states… there are many Christmas traditions that the
Valparaiso Corrigans try to observe each year, starting with but not limited to, mainlining Black Russians and watching The Grinch That Stole Christmas… we are
simple folk in NW Indiana.
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| "One man's toxic sludge is another man's potpourri..." |
At any rate, while lounging around in the
aforementioned fog, I pondered the lag
time between final regular season games and the bowls… Both interesting and
vexing, one never knows what attitude (or lack thereof) a team will bring.
Especially when the game is pretty meaningless.
But everything’s relative, right? And here you had a game with two teams
who went in very different directions over the course of the year. Would ND treat this a valuable momentum
builder? Would Miami mail it in? Who sees this game as important?
Word of the Week.
e•bul•lient [ih-buhl-yuh nt, ih-boo l-]
–adjective
1.
overflowing with fervor, enthusiasm, or excitement; high-spirited: The
award winner was in an ebullient mood at the dinner in her honor.
2.
bubbling up like a boiling liquid.
Origin: 1590–1600; < L ēbullient- (s. of ēbulliēns boiling up, prp. of ēbullīre ), equiv. to ē-
e- + bulli- (deriv. of bulla a bubble) + -ent- -ent
After the game’s final outcome, how can we
not be ebullient? Already, the over /
under on Castellini & Marcel’s win prediction for next year is 14. (Nowhere
in the word’s definition is 'rational' implied.)
The Game
Semi-chronological observations…
• Great
play calling. And Michael, Michael, Michael!!!
If this is your last game, well played young man!
• Did
you know the Rees spelled backward is seer?
As in “I'm a seer of Michael Floyd. And (apparently) only Michael Floyd.
• Jacory
Harris is a perfect 7-for-7! Impressive.
Unfortunately (for him) 3 of them went to ND… still his passes never hit the
ground.
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| "Screw the Red Ryder BB gun, Santa, I can't catch jack w. these hands... can you fix me up?" |
• Harrison
Smith’s 3rd INT - I know what he got for Christmas.
• 24-0. I wish I could draw the ball like Ruffer
does.
• Props
to the O-line… Rees has more than enough time.
• I
wonder what Michael Irvin is thinking saying right now.
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| "You know that NBC is controlled by Michigan alums, right? How else to explain Tom Hammonds..." |
Although
they will ultimately come under somewhat deserved criticism, I liked our
commentators, Verne & Gary. For the
past several years, I’ve watched with some perverse interest how Idiot ND
Nation, apparently riddled with conspiracy theorists, perceive every announcer
to have an anti-Irish agenda. And while
I too still harbor doubts about JFK’s assassination (Lee Harvey Oswald with a
World War II Italian rifle from how far away… really?), I just don’t see the
issue.
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| "Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens..." |
Plus,
Danielson had one of the season’s great quotes about Rees: “I swear he could've been one of the children
in The Sound of Music…”
And
thanks to the NFL postponing the Eagles-Vikings game on the 26th, I actually
saw that movie recently – maybe Gary did too – and he has a point.
Speaking
of Tommy, he gets lucky with several passes not being picked – lucky for him
that Miami was more concerned with fighting off the cold (and looking like
characters from South Park) than trying to catch the ball. That said, Rees seems like Notre Dame’s
version of Matt Flynn – Green Bay’s back up QB who will always be described as
‘solid’ but never ‘elite’. And lest
anyone think that is damning with faint praise, LSU won a national championship
w Flynn QB’ing them his senior year.
• Tyler
Eifert! It’s safe to say that our stud TE recruit isn’t going to be bailing on
his commitment after seeing how we involve that position in the offense.
• ND
tries a double reverse flea flicker – hey why not? If not now, when?
• Ruffer
misses – alert the media! If ever you’re
going to miss, now was the time. Clearly, he pulled a muscle (or something) on
the opening 2nd half kickoff).
• Not
much of a pass rush all day long.
• Not
a rhetorical question (to be asked annually for the next four years): Does anyone now think that Kelly wasn’t the
right choice?
Gone With The Wind.
This is the season for players and coaches
to movin’ on… ND’s lost Rudy (and maybe Michael although with each day he
doesn’t declare you wonder…)
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| "Harbaugh... he turned down how much South Beach money - to coach Alex Smith?!" |
This year’s big kahuna, Harbaugh, finally
made a decision - no doubt after too
many hurtful comparisons to Brett Favre.
Good for ND on many fronts – hurts Stanford (and scrambles the thinking
of several recruits) and really distresses Michigan who thought they were his
dream job. Bummer. Welcome Les Miles? Bring it on, Les. This ain’t the SEC.
Charlie Don’t Surf (but we think he should).
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| Why he should go: the smell of tailgating Saturday mornin |
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| Why he shouldn't: Charlie in a mankini... |
Coach Weis surprisingly heads back to the
college ranks – to Gainesville of all places – after seemingly turning around
the Chiefs moribund offense. Rumor has it that it was an ego clash w the head
coach Todd “It’s All About Me” Haley although an as yet unconfirmed source
swears they heard Charlie say to his wife, “If I don’t take this job, how else
will young Charlie ever a date?”
Song of the Week.
What better time than a holiday-relevant
dittie? The Band is one of those
terrific groups that will never get their due, at least by mass audience measures. But they were fantastic. So I offer “Christmas Must Be Tonight…” and
if there’s a thread of relevance, it’d be in the chorus:
How a little baby boy bring the people so
much joy
Son of a carpenter, Mary carried the light
This must be Christmas, must be tonight…
Tommy Rees is pretty easy to belittle –
he’s 18 yrs old, came to school with little fanfare, throws passes that make
you gasp and yet, the end results are pretty remarkable. Four starts at
where? Notre Dame stadium, Yankee
Stadium, The Coliseum and a bowl game. 4-0.
He would appear by no means to be The Savior but if this is his Andy
Warhol 15 Minutes, let’s give it up for him.
Terry’s Tool Time.
• Sugar
Bowl officials. Lobbying the NCAA to let
the OSU 5 play their bowl game? Wow. The
word ‘avaricious’ just doesn’t do you guys justice.
• Gordon
Gee. Ohio State’s president – I understand
Tressel having no moral compass, he’s a college coach after all, barely above
the single cell amoeba on the food chain. But you ought to have some
conscience.
• Lebron
James. Just when all the noise of your summer self-indulgence seemed to have quieted
down, you give yourself / Wade / Bosh the nickname, The Heatles.
• On
The Field Officials. Is it just me or
has this past year seemed really, really bad for officiating, both college and
pro. No doubt there are some that defy
understanding (witness the convoluted ‘must catch and make a football move’
rule in the NFL) but my new favorite is the excessive celebration rule – especially
in the last few minutes of the game.
Case in point: Kansas State
scores on a ≈25 yard pass with about a minute left to pull within 2 pts. of
Syracuse. Their WR crosses the goal line
runs straight ahead to the back of the end zone, stops and salutes the crowd.
For, like, :02… flags come out immediately – citing the fellow for calling
attention to himself. The 15 yd
penalty is assessed on the extra point, making their 2 pt conversion attempt
from the 18 yd line. That was just wrong
– the kid did nothing ostentatious and oh yeah, he thought he just made the play
of the game!
• Here’s
what I’d like to see – give the ‘A’ Lot boys a shot at refereeing a game. My
nominations:
- Referee – apparently this guy lines up in the backfield – so it has to be Cincotta, with a driver in his hand to run up behind the QB just before he snaps the ball…
- Umpire – Lini, he likes baseball and would appreciate the title more than others; plus the umpire is tasked with wiping the ball dry on rainy days. Who wouldn’t like to see Jerry do that?
- Head linesman – Although I am dating myself, anything involving the word “lines”, has to have Mark leading the effort.
- Line Judge – Matt (see Ungie rationale).
- Back Judge – he stands waaaay back in the secondary; that’d be Peter, w cigarette a danglin’ and cocktail in hand. Looking waaay cool, checking things out.
- Field Judge – John Lohn; he is a judge and I believe he likes fields.
- Side Judge - Albert; while not a judge (to my knowledge) he does have a legal background. Plus he looks good in vertical stripes.
Schadenfreude Winner of the Week.
1. The
State of Michigan. 101-21. Ouch. Rich, at least you made everyone’s decision
easy. And Mark, where’s that ‘aren't I clever’ smirk now?
2. The
Big Ten. 0-fer-5 on New Year’s Day. Somewhere Temple is saying “we could've done
better than that.” And you wonder why Notre Dame doesn’t want to have anything
to do with you..
3. USC. Oh, that’s right… they didn’t get to play
actually play in a bowl game.
And for all the Tools ‘n Winners this year,
a bonus song… Cue Lo Green’s homage to unrequited love (a song I might add,
known by everyone in this country between the ages 14-22, so by listening to
this you’ll be exponentially more hip with your kids than you are right now).
And while I have pointed to the recipients above, it's also only the best recruiting
analogy ever. Give it a listen
– it’s quite catchy – although if you’re doing it at the office you might want
to keep the volume low.
Recruiting Buzz.
As most of you know, these are the days
when internet recruiting sites go en fuego while grown men in the coaching
profession ask themselves the question, “I’m sucking up to self-absorbed 18 yr. olds… why exactly?”
Because it’s your job! And you don’t want to have to go out and find
a real job after lo these many years…
But I digress again. Here’s a fast summary of the top kids who
seem to be left on ND’s target list:
1. Amir
Carlisle, RB. Committed to Stanford but
has a) liked ND a lot all autumn as frankly, we’ve chased other guys. Will
decide next weekend immediately after Kelly has an in-home w him. (That works out nicely.)
2. Shaq
Williams, OLB. Super-stud from
Brooklyn. Would be a huge ‘get’. Has it down to ND / Syracuse / Penn State.
Parents went to Syr. Was supposed to
declare today but decided he and the ‘rents needed to do a little more
discussing. Impossible to read kind of kid but the smart money seems to suggest
Syracuse will be the choice.
3. Aaron
Lynch, DE. Super-duper stud from Florida who committed to us, sprinkled
grandpa’s ashes on ND’s field, then de-committed saying ND was firmly out FOR
GOOD. Committed to Florida State then yesterday said he was opening up his
recruitment again and he was going to take an official visit to ND next
weekend. While I write this, I’m reading
that now, he’s going to meet with both schools coaching staffs tonight and then
decide. To say this young man is confused would be the understatement of the
year. No longer looks so good for the Irish…
4. Savona
Huggins, RB. Very, very highly rated RB
from NJ whose talent is only surpassed by his opinion of himself. He’s looking
for a program that’ll give him 25 carries a game… hymn. Apparently he likes ND a lot but Rutgers will
promise him anything and looks like lead horse.
I'm not sure that’s such a bad thing but he would be a back unlike
anyone we have currently.
5. Chase
Housell, OL/DL. The kid committed to
Florida then de-committed. He’s from Ohio and knows / likes ND a lot. Will
decide between the two schools.
6. Troy
Nikolas, DE / TE. Basically has always
had his finalists as Stanford and Notre Dame. USC might be in the mix. (He’s a
west coast kid.) With the uncertainty at the other schools, ND would seem to
have a reasonable shot.
7. Brennan
Scarlett, DE. A Portland, OR stud who
loves ND but basically has to decide whether he can handle being so far from
home.
8. A
couple of Michigan commits. Names I
can’t recall but play positions of need (OL / DL)…
Should be interesting.
Next Year’s Wager.
It’s never too early to be thinking about
your predictions… September 3rd, we start off with South Florida - who does our
scheduling, the Marquis de Sade?
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