I JUST SAW NOTRE DAME'S STARTING QUARTERBACK!

That is, of a year ago. Just saw Brady Quinn . I'm pleased to report to the womenfolk out there, i.e., Brady's Ladies, that in terms of his arms, the gun shop is still open fo bi'dness. He may have a crewcut (rookie hazing ritual), but he still could has biceps that scream, "GO MEAT!"

(Oh. I just saw that "GO MEAT!" ad today for the first time, and I giggled. What a brilliant cheer. "GO MEAT!" I mean, is that not the most Midwestern thing you've ever heard?)

So, I was not at the Charlie Weis presser this evening, but Tom Coyne (I believe it was he) asked Weis the following question: "Was it your plan to keep the pressure off the guy who is going to be the starting quarterback by not announcing it sooner?"

And here was Weis' response: "That might be the best question I've been asked this whole time, Tom. It might be the best question I've been asked because it was by far the number one reason that you do this. Why would you want to take somebody after you've had a guy like Brady Quinn, who has been starting here for four years, why would you want to anoint someone a few weeks ago and have them living under the microscope of being the Notre Dame quarterback before they ever even played a down?
"So when everyone sits there and says Weis is an idiot...ta da ta da ta da.... in the meantime, it's not on them (the quarterbacks) , and it's allowed them to be a lot looser in their preparation."

Weis has been ripped by many in the media for being arrogant or haughty in the way that he has handled this process over the past three weeks. In short, this is a little like a teenager bitching to her parents that they won't let her use the BMW no matter how many times she asks, to which their reply would be, "We said 'No' the first time."

Charlie Weis didn't keep this WHOBETHEQB issue festering for three weeks. The media--and yes, the fans--did. And really, all it did (shrewdly) was keep the pressure not only off the rest of the Irish's underclassmen, but also off the three QBs in question.
Think about it. How many articles have you seen about whether Travis Thomas can really take over for Darius Walker at tailback, or whether Pat Kuntz will be the nose tackle the Irish dearly need? How about David Bruton? He's never started a game at safety for the Irish, and he'll be in there on the first play on Saturday? Never mind that whoever lines up for a field goal for the golden helmets will be kicking his first in collegiate play.
But, like simple-minded children, we let the magician take our eyes where he wanted them to go. So instead of focusing on the big picture, we all became myopic, devoting far too much energy over whether Clausen, Jones or Sharpley would take the first snap.

Who cares?
Better questions on this overwrought QB issue would have been:

1. How do you keep Georgia Tech from cheating with eight men in the box, daring your quarterback to beat them with his arm?
2. Is there a chance that two, or even three quarterbacks, will play on Saturday?
3. Will you have different quarterbacks for different situations?
4. Is the quarterback who starts versus Georgia Tech necessarily going to be the one who starts versus Penn State?

A writer at SI.com chastised Charlie, saying that if anything Charlie should have named the starter before the start of camp "so the kid's parents could cut out the newspaper article. Seriously."

Seriously?!? Seriously??? The parents of whoever becomes Notre Dame's next starting quarterback are never going to have to worry about a shortage of newspaper articles written about their son. Yeah, I think their scrapbooking material will be more than adequate.

Is Weis a little gruff at times? Sure. A little imperious? He can be. But he's also very friendly when you talk to him one-on-one after a presser. He's also the guy who kept a wish to a dying kid by calling the play that kid designed (from his own one-yard line) and before you dismiss that as blarney, remember, Weis never wanted that anecdote to get out.
Weis is also the coach who, after the most heartbreaking loss any underdog has had to deal with in a long time, a loss that a lesser coach may have criticized the referees about for what happened on the game-winning TD, visited the winning side's (USC's) locker room to congratulate them. And brought his son along with him.
Weis is the coach who, after the first game he coached back on the home turf of his alma mater, which was also his first loss as a head coach, had to watch as the victorious team (Michigan State) abased themselves by planting a flag at midfield. But Weis, and his players, kept their mouths shut. And the following season, when the Irish staged a furious 17-point 4th-quarter rally to win at East Lansing, Weis made sure that none of his players desecrated the school's reputation by responding in kind with such a crass act.
(Though, if you remember, a few players from the Spartans still guarded the "S" at midfield, oblivious to the fact that not every team treats a football game like a gang war. That act cemented those Spartans as losers far more than any score could.)

"I just think it's a shame," wrote the SI.commer, Stewart Mandel, "that he's taken a program built on such a rich tradition of pageantry and personality....and essentially turned it into a full-fledged, professional-style, strictly X's-and-O's operation."

It is a shame. It's a shame that Notre Dame had its most players drafted by the NFL last April (seven) in thirteen years. It's a shame that Brady Quinn broke 36 school passing records, mostly in his final two seasons, while never representing his school in anything but the brightest light (wedding reception Village People impersonations notwithstanding). It's a shame that Weis made it a point to have a different Heisman Trophy winner speak at each pep rally last season (rallies that can attract as many as 40,000 fans on a Friday evening), that he's had everyone from Joe Montana to Jerome Bettis to Digger Phelps (me, I'm still waiting for him to extend an invitation to Mark May) address the team, that on the day he was hired Ron Powlus phoned Notre Dame associate athletic director John Heisler and in effect said, "I've never met the man, but whatever I can do to help the program, I'm in." And so today, three years later, Powlus is the quarterbacks coach...quite the siginificant job, if you've been reading the papers the last few weeks.

So, yeah, it's a shame that Charlie doesn't walk to the beat the media sets. It's funny how the media has a lot less problems with Notre Dame and its coaches when Northwestern and their ilk are taking down the Irish.

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Hung out for awhile on Thursday night at the apartment of the incandescent, the uber-incredible, the surreally wonderful Mary Carillo. We had red wine and Cheetos, I sh*t you not. Mary told us this hilariously dirty joke, the context of which I will not repeat here, but I will provide the punch line: "And the bear says, 'Clearly, you're not here for the hunting."

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Thank God for the Red Sox. You can always count on them to swoon this time of year. The Yankees may not catch them, but was anyone really surprised that they got swept in the Bronx? Every time rookie of the year candidate Dustin Pedroia comes to the plate, by the way, I can't help but see Giovanni Ribisi. Is it just me? Honestly, I envision a scene in the clubhouse where a few Sox are sitting around a table, playing poker, and Pedroia marches up to the game, confiscates all the cards, and admonishes, "The entire (bleeping) First Airborne Division is marching by."

Oh, and did you see when Pedroia overslid 2nd base on the steal attempt on Wednesday evening and was tagged out by Derek Jeter. He gets back to the dugout and all you see is this non-stop litany of "F___! F___! F___! F___!" Hilarious.

Funny game, the baseball. On Monday night New York was blanked 16-0 at Detroit, their worst road loss ever. Three days later they've swept a three-game series from the team with the best record in baseball and are in the lead for the wild card.