September 2007 Archives
The Pepsi Max commercial where the Wade Phillips yawns on the sideline and let's me see his big flapping pink cow tongue.
Commissioner Roger Goodell...
Brett Favre is one of the greatest players in NFL history. He's so much fun to watch not only because of his talent bit also because of his competitive spirit. He is the only player to win three MVP awards and his consecutive games streak
The Packers are up 10-6 at the break with a two-minute drive sputtering inside the 10. They settled for the field goal. Favre at the break is 14 for 20 for 197 yards and the historic touchdown.
Now it's Chuck Foreman Appreciation Day here. If you never had a chance to see the Vikes when they played outdoors, you never got to see one of those pre-ESPN icons who would only show up in snippets during halftime and postgame highlights spinning, spinning, spinning in the mud and the snow and churning for yards.
Great running back.
Ryan Longwell, a former Packers, has made two second quarter field goals and they've now now scored twice in the second quarter.
It's a pretty entertaining game so far, despite the sluggish scoring.
The move put on by Adrian Peterson on a first-down carry. Bursting through the middle, Peterson gave a shoulder dip/crossover move to Mike McKenzie and went 55 yards before getting hauled down at the Green Bay 32.
With the GB defense chasing Kelly Holcomb all around the pocket, it's going to be an uphill climb to get much through the air for Minnesota, it seems.
The Packers had a chance to fatten their separation just now but tight end Donald Lee just fumbled inside the Minnesota 10 after catching a pass in the seam. The ball was stripped loose by corner Cedric Griffith.
Favre, meanwhile, is on right now.
He's 8 for 9 for 125.
Adrian Peterson has 9 carries for 100.
He's already tied Chuck Foreman's Vikins mark of 100 yard games by a rookie with three in 1973
A message from former TD pass record holder Dan Marino was just played on the big screen.
"If someone was going to break it, I'm glad it was someone like you. for the past 17 years, you've been a credit to the Packers and the NFL," Marino said in part.
Third and 8 at the 16 and Favre gets the record on a slant to Greg Jennings who was singled up. Great play, great read. TD. The number of flashbulbs popping in the Dome at the start of the play was something to watch.
Adrian Peterson is running well and he may have to continue because the Packers goal appears to be to pummel the Vikings receivers. Charles Woodson has a pass interference and an illegal contact penalty already. The latter came on a play when Woodson returned a pick for a score that got waved off.
On the next play, fullback Jeff Dugan fumbled after about a 20-yard reception, blowing up the drive and giving the ball back to the Pack.
Peterson has 22 on four carries so far.
Adrian Peterson is running well and he may have to continue because the Packers goal appears to be to pummel the Vikings receivers. Charles Woodson has a pass interference and an illegal contact penalty already. The latter came on a play when Woodson returned a pick for a score that got waved off.
On the next play, fullback Jeff Dugan fumbled after about a 20-yard reception, blowing up the drive and giving the ball back to the Pack.
Peterson has 22 on four carries so far.
After the defensive hold on Winfield wiped out a Favre pick, the Packers went three and out. This Vikings defense isn't bad. Not at all.
Favre just got picked on a heave downfield on Green Bay's first play from scrimmage but the pick by Darren Sharper got waved off because of a questionable defensive holding call on the Vikes Antoine Winfield.
The Vikings are looking at third-and-10 at their own 44 and Kelly Holcomb just overshot a very open Sidney Rice down the right side. A well-thrown ball would have been a TD. Favre's coming on.
The Metrodome is, to put it nicely, antiquated.
You don't have to look further than the Jumbotron for evidence. It's actually just a Tron. If the rest of the league is using 42 inch HDTVs for the in-stadium experience, the big screen here is a 13-inch black and white.
Ed Hochuli is the referee for today's game. He's rooting for a dozen holding calls in order to best accentuate his bulging forearms.
I understand pro football and the excitement it brings to Sunday. I get the fans dressing up in idiot costumes, the tailgaiting, the rush to set that Fantasy Roster. It's a great thing, pro football. But it's nothing compared to college ball.
From the start of ESPN's College Gameday to that midnight last minute field goal, college games are unpredictable, exciting, heart breaking and ego busting. The underdog has just a good of a chance as any to win. It takes just one game to change a season.
Just ask:
OKLAHOMA
FLORIDA
WEST VIRGINIA
TEXAS
RUTGERS
CLEMSON
PENN STATE
ALABAMA
What a Saturday it was. Now every year there's a guaranteed weekend of the season where we see the mighty fall. This year it seems as if every weekend has had one surprise after another. However, yesterday was Surprise Saturday.
Oklahoma lose to Colordao? No way in hell. Not buying it. That is... until yesterday.
Are you kidding? Texas! Texas! As if UCF wasn't a big enough scare, this one blew up in your face and Kansas State took full advantage of it.
I bet West Virginia won't laugh at the sight of South Florida on the schedule anymore.
Auburn: sweeping in and doing what they do best: beating Florida and ruining a perfect season.
Then there are the ones who managed to sneak by like USC and Wisconsin. They got the win but showed they're far from invincible.
FSU beating Alabama... highlight of the day. Our defense looked so good. They were the factor that allowed us a chance to win the game. Xavier Lee... woah! Consider yourself a fan favorite and I'm backing you as our starting QB any weekend you want. Huge win for Bobby and the boys.
Wonder what that new 25 is gonna look like... See ya next Saturday.
1) Matt Schaub, Texans QB
Back in Atlanta for the first time since leaving in the offseason, Falcons loyalists will have a tough time settling their stomachs watching Schaub beat them while the guy who kept him on the bench -- Mike Vick -- awaits sentencing.
2) Jamal Lewis, Browns RB
He goes against his old team, the Ravens. It doesn't figure to be a real enjoyable day for either Jamal or the Browns.
3) Mark Bulger, Rams QB
If there's any pass defense that can cure what ails a quarterback, it's the Cowboys.
4) Roy Williams, Cowboys S
Williams should add to his first name and hyphenate his last name. Officially change it to Over Roy Williams-Touchdown...
5) Jon Kitna, Lions QB
Might throw for 500 today in the dome against the Bears.
6) Brett Favre, Packers QB
If he doesn't throw 421 today, he can do at home against the Bears on SNF. Innnnteresting.
We're an hour out and say this...Green Bay is well represented in the Metrodome today.
Wide swaths of green and gold and lots of triangular-shaped yellow things perched a top heads of kind souls from the heartland.
Favre just took the field and heard more cheers than boos
DeShawn Wynn is going to start at running back over the injured Brandon Jackson. Vernand Morency, the presumed starter who's been hurt, should get some touches today but isn't starting.
Irish are driving for another socre.
Touchdown, Golden Tate! This kid is UnFREAKINGbelievable!
Irish are within a touchdown.
Gotta go downstairs to the field.
Who knows, we may even have a game. Enjoy the finish.
Finally, a play call any Notre Dame observer can get behind. The Irish, facing 4th-and-5 at their own 37, go for it. Sharpley throws the bomb to Golden Tate, who for the third time in his nascent career is covered like a glove and for the third time makes the catch.
This for a 43-yard gain.
Golden Tate: The new Derrick Mayes. And the best receiver named Golden since the Dallas Cowboys' Golden Richards.
With Sharpley passing, ahem...sharply, the Irish went on a vintage Charlie Weis scoring drive. Plenty of passing and run when we must. Suddenly the O-line is doing its job, the drops are shorter, the routes are crisper, and the chains are moving. Sharpley hit Duval Kamara in the end zone for a 6-yard TD pass, Kamara's first college TD reception (memo to David Grimes: You're now 2nd string).
And only a miserable wretch would flag these Irish for excessive celebration.
Walker again missed the PAT, which is execrable. Kickers and holders don't have that much to do, after all.
Anyway, it's 26-12, Purdue, with 12:38 left. This one's not over. The Irish could use a turnover, but the Boilermakers, who looked so efficient in the first quarter, haven't played with any offensive spark in the second half. Maybe Corwin Brown made some good adjustments. Regardless, it's a different Irish team this half.
Notre Dame is actually outplaying the Mojitos in the second half. The Irish are driving and finding people you've never even heard of before (Duval Kamara? Robby Parris?). Evan Sharpley and Jimmy Clausen are both playing--while Darrin Bragg announces that he's transferring to Northern Illinois--, taking quick drops and hitting receivers running crisp routes. Other items for Notre Dame fans to be positive about today, short of being victorious:
1. Eric Maust is punting the stuffing outta the ball: averaging 47 yards per boot in the first half.
2. Irish QBs have been sacked just once in nearly 30 pass attempts thus far.
3. Duval Kamara is playing as if he's Arrelious Benn....four catches today.
4. Ambrose Wooden broke up a pass (you are not stoned...that's what I said).
5. Erin Andrews is the sideline reporter.
Best sign you'll see this afternoon, from Purdue student section:
RUDY COULD START ON THIS YEAR'S TEAM
Purdue, facing a 3rd-and-9 from its own 11, just converted the first down. Which you expected. But it was the way in which the Mint Juleps did it that led Irish fans to bemoan another chorus of "(Savior's Name)". Painter completed a pass to Dustin Keller, I believe, who was hit immediately by Kyle McCarthy (who's having a good game in the most significant playing time he has yet received). But then Keller carried McCarthy with him for the extra yard he needed.
This game film could very well be gorier than "Eastern Promises", from an Irish perspective.
Glen Hansard's remains the only Irish performance worth touting this week that I've seen.
Zibby just recorded his first interception since the 2005 Navy game. That's a span of twenty games.
On the ensuing possession, the Irish ran the same slant-in play to Duval Kamara twice in a row. Both for first downs. Nicely done. Now Evan Sharpley is in the game. For one play. Am I being hyp-motized!?!
ND has a 4th-and-goal from the Purdue 5. Double-double tight end set. I mean, I think Konrad Reuland re-enrolled to be in on this play. Fake handoff, John Carlson sprints to the right conrerand is wide open. WIIIIIIDE OOOOOOOOOPEN! And Clausen waits...and waits...checks his email....still waiting....finally lofts the ball to Carlson, who makes a tremendously acrobatic catch over two Purdue DBS that needn't have been that acrobatic had Clausen just released it sooner.
But it IS a touchdown, and it's the first TD pass of Clausen's career and the first of the season for the Irish.
Brandon Walker missed the PAT.
As if you're surprised.
You want to hear the really depressing news? The Irish had 132 first-half yards, which I believe may be their most prolific first half, yardage-wise, of the season.
Here's my question, after suffering through two fumbles, an interception, another muffed shotgun snap, three penalties, a blocked field goal, a squandered 3rd-and-29 and a punt that was downed on the 2: Did they have halftime at Little Big Horn?
Commenters say that Arrelious Benn is being talked about on the telecast (I cannot hear it). He has a 90-yard kickoff return for a TD and a 29-yard TD catch. How Benn actually wound up in Champaign is not fully known, but you cannot bust on a kid for zigging when he should have zagged on signing day. The kid, like the school, is only doing what's in his best interests. And often he knows that if he does not verbally commit, a school will pass on him.
A verbal commitment is like a wedding engagement. Until you exchange vows, the engagement isn't binding. Nor should it be.
Inveterate ND fan, alum and Chicago native Ferris (ND '88) writes in to say that he's disgusted with...are you ready for this...Zibby. Says his body language is crap today and he's the most overrated ND player ever. I'm not ready to go that far, but Zibby has been less than his usual self the past few games.
If you're hungering for a Notre Dame victory, here's some good news for you:
Notre Dame High School (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) defeated Saugus, 38-35, last night (and their QB, Dayne Crist, has verbally committed to ND.
Notre Dame Prep's (Scottsdale. Ariz.) junior varsity wiped out Washington Hig'sh (Phoenix)jayvee, 34-8, on Thursday evening. (mentioned because in effect this Irish team is its jayvee unit...it just lacks a varsity squad).
Notre Dame High School (Lawrenceville, N.J.) beat Nottingham (God help them if they're not the Sheriffs) 28-21 in their most recent game.
Notre Dame High (Niles, Illinois) beat St. Viator (Arlington Heights) 26-21.
Feel free to phone in with your own Notre Dame prep school scores, too. This site needs all the good Notre Dame football news it can get.
Armando Allen, who's putting a new spin on the term "AA Meeting" (except that he wouldn't have a 12-step program because normally he fumbles before that), just put another clip into the 2007 lowlight reel. Clausen hit him on a screen, but he was tackled for a 9-yard loss. But not before fumbling the ball and losing it to Purdue's Anthony Heygood (it was the first fumble that Heygood had "caused" in his four seasons of Appletini football).
We are two minutes shy of halftime and Purdue has already covered the spread. Which was 22 points.
I'm just trying to visualize the p.a. (production assistant) up in Bristol who's putting together the highlight package for today's game. It won't be at all about Curtis Painter's (likely) 400 yards passing and the seven different receivers he hit in the first half. It'll be another Keystone Kops segment on Notre Dame's miscues.
Is it possible to cover the Irish this season without sounding like Debbie Downer? Lord knows I'm trying.
Jimmy Clausen just threw his second bomb of the year to Golden Tate. And Tate just caught his second bomb of the year. The first one, back at Penn State, was negated due to a Sam Young hold (one of ND's more consistent plays this season). This one, a 36-yard gain, brought flags as well, but it was called defensive pass interference. Though it appeared to be offensive.
Anyway, that's two long passes to Tate, jump balls really, that he came up with. Might want to keep that one in the playbook.
With 14:56 to play in the half, Purdue lines up for its first punt.
Zibby calls for a fair catch at about the ten-yard line, then abandons it, as if to fake out the coverage. Ball rolls and is downed at the Notre Dame 2.
So it goes...
(A note to my [ever-diminishing] group of friends who phone me to discuss Notre Dame football while the game is going on . I work on Saturdays. Covering college football. Thanks for thinking of me, but there might be better times to phone. Just sayin'...)
Purdue, facing 3rd-and-29 following Notre Dame's two best defensive plays of the season. And there is not a Notre Dame fan alive who did not know was coming next. Exactly. A "go" route up the right sideline, complete to Greg Orton for a 40-yard gain. Honestly, if you'd allowed me to bet on that one, I'd have taken the Sakebombers getting the first down.
We've seen this all before.
On the plus-side for Irish fans: Jimmy Clausen is 4-5 passing and has not been touched yet. Nice job, Irish O-line.
**************
Notre Dame played plenty of nickel and dime packages in the first quarter, which is fine. But if you give a passer such as Curtis Painter time to throw, it doesn't matter if you have Susan B. Anthony dollar packages. He'll pick you apart. I'd like to see the Irish rush seven and play man and just let the fur fly. Could it be any worse?
Purdue scored a touchdown on a 10-yard Curtis Painter-to-Dustin Keller pass on its opening possession. Then it didn't. The Irish got a reprieve when the Highballs were flagged for an illegal shift. Purdue settled for a field goal.
Then again, the Irish had originally stopped the Carbombs fifty yards back, on a nice 3rd-and-short tackle behind the line of scrimmage. But Kerry Neal, who is no relation to my good buddy Kelly Neal, who is now better known as ESPN field reporter Kelly Naqi, jumped offside, negating the stop.
So here comes Notre Dame's first offensive drive.
And, for those of you who wonder who plays on ND's kickoff and kickoff receiving teams, I've done the legwork for you:
Kickoff Unit (Left to Right)
Terrail Lambert
Sergio Brown
Junior Jabbie
Steve Quinn
Mike Ragone
Brandon Walker (K)
Nikolas Rodriguez
Travis Thomas
David Bruton
Kyle McCarthy
Ambrose Wooden
Kickoff Coverage Team
Front Line:
McCarthy
Duval Kamara
Thomas
Brandon Erickson (or Leonard Gordon)...both wear 24
Ragone
Second Line:
Luke Schmidt
Will Yeatman
Third Line:
Robert Hughes
Asaph Schwapp
Back Line:
Junior Jabbie
Armando Allen
No idea where they're hiding Golden Tate.
Also, Eric "I'm Not Ralph" Maust is punting for the Irish this afternoon.
Up in the pressbox, watching Purdue rip off consecutive 20-yard gains (the first on a pass, the second on a run), we're discussing which stage of Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's five stages of terminal illness we're at. You know: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance. A colleague said he's at the "Acceptance" point whereas I countered that I'd already passed that and come all the way back around to "Denial".
Curtis Painter has more time to throw than Rex Grossman had to prove himself in Chicago. Which is a lot.
The fun thing about being playing defense for Notre Dame? You do see a lot of playing time.
The Irish need some big-ass linemen (the politically incorrect Domer in me would wonder when they'll hold tryouts at St. Mary's)
10-0, Purdue, on Kory Sheets' one-yard drive.
Some lineup notes for you. Don't faint, I'm giving you actual football information.
--Travis Thomas is listed as the starting halfback for the Irish this afternoon. James Aldridge is behind him. Also, Justin Brown will be starting at defensive end. He was injured last week. (Update: John Heisler just informed us that Aldridge will start at halfback and that Justin Brown did not make the trip to WeLaf; Derrell Hand will likely start; also, for offensive line groupies, Chris Stewart and Dan Wenger did not make the trip).
--Today's question: If Demetrius Jones shows up, will he wear his Notre Dame blue home jersey (since he wore the white one in South Bend last Saturday) or will he go with a Cincinnati Bearcats jersey? And what beach in SoCal do you think Konrad Reuland is hanging out on today, saying to himself, Now this is the life.
--My editor, DieBarryDie, asks me if I know who the two quarterbacks drafted ahead of Brett Favre in 1991 were. Here are the hints. Both come from California schools. One has iconic status and the other has a brother in another sport who is far more famous (and infamous) than he. Answers below:
(Second blog entry of the day...go down and read the first...I actually tried on that one)
--This just in: Charlie Weis is sitting Jimmy Clausen this afternoon in favor of Brianna Scurry. "If we lose with Brianna under center," Weis told me as the Irish got off the team bus, "I can live with that."
--If I were an NFL commentator last weekend, I would have waited until we showed the highlights of Philadelphia's 56-21 victory over Detroit, then said, "I can't help thinking that the Eagles would have put up 70 if only they had a white quarterback."
--An item I forgot to mention from last Friday's pep rally at Notre Dame. When the Notre Dame marching band makes its entrance, they don't wear their band uniforms. Instead, each secction of the bands (e.g., trumpets, percussion, etc.) comes in dressed in its own homemade fashion. Last week, for example, one group came in wearing nothing but blazers (minus shirt sleeves) and boxer shorts. I checked carefully--just once--and there was nothing on under the boxers. Just boxers, in front of 8,000 people. Which could be potentially embarrassing. But, considering what subdivision of the band that it happened to be, I thought it was hilarious. Because it was the woodwinds .
--Everlasting blogstalker G.A. covers South Florida for the St. Petersburg Times, so he must have been at the Bulls' game against West Virginia last night. The biggest game in USF history. Hopefully, he'll send us a first-person account on the blog that is guaranteed to amp up the funny of what you're reading.
--A get-well-soon to Johntourager L.A. , who tore her MCL and meniscus on Thursday. Listen to this. She hurt herself when she was attempting to place a band-aid on her foot, with the foot up on the bathroom counter. The other leg, supporting all her weight, buckled and then came the searing white-hot pain. Just consider the irony: suffering a debilitating injury while trying to put on a band-aid.
--If you get the chance, read Tim Layden's take on Mike Gundy on SI.com. My friend and former colleague makes the brilliant point of wondering why Gundy had to add "...of children" to his "must not be a mother" rant. "A mother...of children?" As opposed to...
Reminds me of the scene in "Airplane!"--yes, the day's second reference to that film, and don't call me Shirley (that's 3)-- in which the mother confides to flight attendant Lorna Patterson (who's unmarried) that she's scared to death of the plane crashing, but "at least I have a husband."
--I'm having a good hair day. Just thought I'd mention it.
--Will Perdue...did not attend Purdue. Which is just too bad. But Drew Brees did, and I note that because Brees, now with the New Orleans Saints, wears the same colors in the NFL that he did in college (black-and-gold). Can you think of another prominent NFL player who does that?
--I sat in the lovely Ross-Ade press box media dining room (again, not being facetious; there's a panoramic view to the north, and it's another lovely midwestern autumn day) at a table with K-9 unit police officers. Great guys. They spent the past four hours sweeping the stadium for potential explosive devices. One of them gave me the following advice as I bid them goodbye: "If you see us running...catch up."
--Watching the Mets lose their fifth in a row last night, I cannot help but go back to their Tuesday night game with the Nationals. Down 10-3 entering the bottom of the 9th, the Mets scored six runs and had the tying run on 2nd base with one out. They lost, with the tying run stranded at 3rd. It didn't seem like such a huge loss at the time, but I believe that if they'd have come back and won that night, they'd have been so loose the rest of the week that the N.L. East would already be theirs by now. As it is, the Mets have to win today and tomorrow and need the Phillies to lose once just to get in. Unreal.
--By the way, my seat in the Purdue press box is higher (by maybe a multiple of two) than my United Airline flight was when we aborted our landing yesterday (see earlier entry). Did I mentioned that I was pissed off about that?
Greetings from gorgeous West Lafayette , Indiana, and I am not being facetious. It is a perfect Indian Summer day here in "The Crossroads of America", as Indiana now bills itself. Couldn't be any more sublime, weather-wise.
And the buzzword today is, "Purdueable". Is beating the Boilermakers Purdueable for Notre Dame? By the way, I'll be making bad puns such as that all afternoon--why should today be any different?--so get ready for "Purduezy", "Purduefuses", "Purduebage", "Purdueteronomy" (if the game is a blowout of biblical proportions) and, should the Boilermakers rush on first, second, and third down in one series (which they won't), "Purdue-run-run-run, babe, Purdue-run-run".
Anyhoo, one name, one image keeps popping up in my mind as I try to analyze today's contest: James Aldridge . The Fighting Irish sophomore had a breakout game--more like a breakout first half-- last Saturday, rushing for 104 yards. His 43-yarder was the longest run by an Irish running back (not including BQQB's 60-yard scramble, but he was a quarterback, nor Travis Thomas's punt-fake last season) since Julius Jones in 2003. Read that again.
If Aldridge can be effective, the Irish can win. And today may be his coming out party. Aldridge grew up in Merrillville, Indiana, which is 82 miles north of this stadium and 72 miles west of Notre Dame. Now, I don't wanna get all "Mary Jane's Last Dance" on y'all, but he grew up in an Indiana town...oh my my, oh hell yes. So he may be fired up for today's contest, and that may give the Irish, who are 22-point dogs, a chance in today's game.
By the way, how fired up am I for the noon start? VERY. I wish every game I covered kicked off at noon. And believe me, if I had any pull with the peacock (note to G.A.: apparently, the censor will allow you to type "pull" within four words of "peacock" without blocking your post), we'd end those 3:30 p.m. starts and go with nooners. You can always tailgate afterward.
Quiz Question: How does Notre Dame's backfield remind you of the station owner from "NewsRadio"? (answer at the bottom of the blog)
Children of the Cornhole
I just wandered through the pay parking lots (only $10, a bargain) on the intramural fields to arrive here at Ross-Ade Stadium. It's Cornhole Nation out there. I passed no fewer than two dozen cornhole sets out there--the sport is thisclose to having its own televised tourney on "The Ocho". Here's what I don't understand, though. With all the care and creativity that Cornholers put into the design of the faces of their cornhole boards--I just saw everything from the Purdue insignia to the American flag to an ND shamrock design-- anyway, with all the effort undertaken in that endeavor, here's my question: How come I've yet to come across a Cornhole board with a rendering of Cornholio on it?
What's up with that? Cornholio! The classic alter-ego of Beavis. "I need some tee-pee for my bunghole!" If you or anyone you know has a Cornhole board with Cornholio on its face (which should include that catchphrase somewhere), drop us a line here at RumiNation.
Do you remember the first time you saw the Cornholio episode on "Beavis & Butthead"? Did you wonder, as I did, "What was Mike Judge on when he wrote that?"
Cornholio belongs in an all-time Top Five of "What Were They On?" comedy skits. These aren't necessarily the funniest comic pieces of all time (though all of the five I'll include here are classics, at least to me), just the ones that leave you scratching your head as to how they ever even developed the concept. Here are five that come immediately to mind:
1. "Cornholio"....Beavis & Butthead
2. "Porcupine Raceway".....The State
--an over-the-top sendup of dumb musical ideas that even the performers on this '90s comedy show admitted, before airing it, that the suits at MTV were nervous about allowing it to air because they simply didn't understand it.
3. "More Cowbell".....Saturday Night Live
--we've all seen it, but how many hundreds of times had you listened to BOC's "The Reaper" and never wondered about the cowbell?
4. "Gil Fischer, The Fishin' Musician".....SCTV
--What if you combined a Saturday morning fishing show with American Bandstand? The answer was this show, with the late John Candy as your host. In the shadows of my mind I seem to recall Chrissy Hynde and the Pretenders out on a boat casting for trout with Candy. I'm chuckling just thinking about it.
5. "The Hamlet Musical".....Gilligan's Island
--Granted, it must have been difficult to keep coming up with fresh ideas if you were writing for "Gilligan's Island", particularly since apparently none of the seven castaways had sex. So one day they decided to let the characters travel in time, and to perform Hamlet, and then to make it a musical. Does anyone else remember Gilligan crooning, "It is to be/Or not to be/that is the question that I ask of me?"
PICK 'EM UP
Rutgers star is getting the start this week due to Steven Jackson being hurt. Leonard couldn't be nicer as a person. I know that doesn't count in football games. It does however, make it easier to root for the guy.
Speaking of rooting for, if any of you happen to think about it on Saturday, keep your fingers crossed for my Noles as they take on Alabama in Jacksonville, Fla.
Nick Saban is doing some good things at 'Bama. They barely lost to Georgia last week in overtime and knocked off Arkansas the week before. We beat Colorado and luckily had an off week giving us a little extra time to prepare for this game.
Now a question that many articles have been trying to answer this week: What if 'Bama would've hired Bobby?
At one time, that was not only a consideration but for some a given.
Here are two of the many articles that have brought the question back up in anticipation of the game and team many at one point thought was to be Bobby's.
I really hope you held out over the weekend and kept Donovan McNabb.
As hard as it was to remain optimistic, it goes back to the old saying: "Good things come to those who wait." Now, I didn't want to wait a whole season, however, Sunday our boy brought the goods.
I actually had a trade offer come in twice last week. It basically offered me Peyton Manning and Ronnie Brown for Willie Parker and Anquan Boldin. I needed a QB seeing as how my backup is Matt Leinart. Exactly. But I wanted to give McNabb one more shot.
THANK. YOU. EAGLES. For finally getting in the game and playing like it matters.
Don't do it just yet, but Brandon Jacobs is on his way back from that Week 1 injury. They hype begins... again. (My little brother is still mad at me for making him draft Jacobs early. Sorry Boo.)
Michael Vick still hitting the pipe.
I leave you with GREGG and his WAIVER WIRED column. The greatest source to answer all your ?'s.
Thursday.
Definitely Top 3 in the "best day of the week" category. Why you ask? Cause it represents the very thing you've been waiting for all week: the start to the weekend.
Friday, no one really accomplishes that much in the office (let's be honest, this is usually due to the fact people were out celebrating the upcoming weekend the night before). Saturday and Sunday are filled with freedom, shopping and sports. (Unless you work on the Fantasy Fix...which includes working on Sunday. No bitterness.)
So really, Thursday is the day it all begins. Know what else begins on Thursday?
SEASON FOUR OF THE OFFICE. That's right. And to get you just in the mood, here is a little clip. Let's take a step back in time, to one particular basketball game. If you don't laugh at this then our friendship has run its course. Stanley's dribble alone is worth it. The "Secret Weapon" begins around 3:15.
"When I am playing hoops, all of the stress and responsibility of my job here just melts away. It's gone, I'm in the zone. Who am I? Am I Michael Scott? I don't know. I might just be a basketball machine."
-Michael Scott.
Watch it. Just another reason to love Thursday.
Last week in RumiNation, I took someone to task. Me.
Last week? Wag of the finger to me for my half-fast Rutgers reporting. This week, a pat on the back because I was one of those New York-based writers who didn't pour a shovel-ful of dirt on the New York Yankees earlier this season.
If you check out the Archives--as if you really have time-- you'll see that in my July 11 entry I wrote, "I"m going to go out on a limb here and say that the Yankees will make the playoffs." New York was 42-43 at the time. I elaborated on the reasons, but the strange thing is that, as any inveterated Yankee observer will agree, New York finally acted like a shrewd, small-market team this summer (post July 4th) and not like the Richie Rich I-wanna-new-bike-this-one's-got-dirt-on-it kids they have in the past.
To wit:
1) The Jankees thought long-term. They didn't trade away their future (Ian Kennedy, Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, etc) at the trading deadline for some short-term suck job (Jeff Weaver comes to mind) whose personality wouldn't meld in the clubhouse.
2) The Jankees realized that any team, from a corporate teams to theirs, needs a mix of youth and experience. I finally believed that the Janks would make the playoffs way back in mid-July when Shelley Duncan arrived and started unleashing his high-fives of fury in the duguout. It wasn't that Duncan was going to be the reincarnation of Shane Spencer (and doesn't "reincarnation" sound like an N.L. shortstop?), but his enthusiasm would rub off on the millionaires around the clubhouse.
Last year New York also started out slowly, had to deal with injuries to a number of position players, but somehow battled back. And I liked the team Joe Torre had in late August of '06. But then Gary Sheffield returned and, as valuable as his bat was, you could just see the vif and vim depart from the lineup. The Yankees were not loose, and when the Yanks aren't loose, A-Rod blows. And that's not good. And suddenly they were out of the ALDS by Saturday afternoon last season.
3. This cannot be attributed to the front office so much, but the Yankee starters have--unlike the first two months of the season--not put the offense in the hole the last two months. In April and May it seemed as if every time you tuned into a Jankee game in the 4th inning, it was 5-1, Blue Jays. Well, guess what? Last night a Yankee starter (Chien-Ming Wang) allowed a home run to Devil Ray batter Carlos Pena. It was the first homer a Yankee starter had allowed in 110 innings.
Will the Yankees win the World Series? I dunno. But from a talent basis and a chemistry basis, this is the most promising pinstripe squad since 2001. Opening Day seems a lifetime ago. All you need to do to see how much this team has transformed in six months is to remember that New York's opening day pitcher was Carl Pavano .
I only wish Scott Proctor were still around to share in the experience. Nobody gave up more for the Yanks the last two seasons than that guy--even if he isn't as good as Chamberlain, but who is?
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Two more thoughts on an earlier blog this week, concerning whether Notre Dame should relax its admission policies occasionally when a prospect such as Tony Rice or Chris Zorich is available.
1. My buddy Dean, also a former Dillon Hall resident (and we both know the words to the notoriously banned fight song), points out the obvious (because Dean was always effortlessly smarter than the rest of us): It's not as if most of the players on the football team would have gotten into ND on their academic record, anyway. Their national superiority in football got them in, along with grades that were good enough to assuage the minds of Notre Dame's admissions department.
So Dean was basically opposing my point. He's saying that the Irish already do relax admissions standards when it comes to football. It's just a matter of degree.
An aside: Charlie Weis is always one to point out that his players graduate and become doctors and lawyers and investment bankers (he actually uses those professions), and that may be true--technically. But most of those ex-players to whom he refers are walk-ons.
These players aren't at all dumb....anyone who ever spent five minutes with Brady Quinn or Chinedum Ndukwe or Darius Walker or Ryan Harris (etc.) knows they're in the presence of a dude who's smarter than they are (at least that's how I felt....thank God John Sullivan is all I can say...it's a joke!). But if you take the two-deep lineup on ND, I don't know how many of those guys are pre-med. Probably zero. Potential lawyers, probalby many, but how difficult is to become a lawyer nowadays? Have you met some lawyers? I mean... it's still requires more logistical ken than sportswriting, but you don't have to be brilliant.
2. To agree with a past commenter's point, Notre Dame wouldn't be as much fun if it were all 4.0 GPA/1500 SAT kids running around. A good friend of ours once began a theology paper with the sentence, "Moses was a very historic man" (which is true, by the way). And that provided a fair amount of unintentional comedy for the rest of us that week (and decades beyond). You don't wanna mess with that.
And by the way, ND already does have a double-standard (as do many institutions of that rank) when it comes to admissions. It's called "legacies". Students whose parents are alums. If you can be admitted to Notre Dame, or any institution, based on lower academic requirements than other students because the school has a quota of legacies it wants to accept (happy alums are more likely to donate, after all), then you're already admitting that the same standards do not apply to all.
Again, this is a circular argument. We're already copping to the fact that many revenue-sport athletes would not be at Notre Dame (or Duke, or Stanford, or Vanderbilt, or Northwestern) based on their grades alone. So what's my point? I guess it's that if you can sense that a kid is not a troublemaker and that if he's ambitious enough and talented enough, you take a chance on him every once in awhile. And I don't know, maybe Notre Dame already is doing that.
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I'm watching the Women's World Cup semi-final. Brazil leads the U.S.A. 3-0 early in the second half. You think U.S. coach Greg Ryan isn't going to hear it for subbing out Chewbacca's god-daughter in goal for Brianna Scurry. To be fair to Scurry, the first goal was an own-goal that Shep Messing couldn't have prevented (not to mention Deborah Messing). You still have to wonder why you'd mess with your players' chemistry that late in a tournament this important. Especially when Hope Solo had been having a great tournament.
If you watched Marta's goal (how many other world-class athletes are named after a rapid-transit system? MTA? The T?) later in the first half, you have to admire the athleticism of it, as well as the fact that a U.S. defender grabbed her shorts in an attempt to slow her down but could not.
I was lucky enough to attend the Olympic women's soccer final in Athens (Greece '04, not Georgia, '96), which the U.S. won in extra time, 2-1. But if you saw that match, in person and on TV, you saw a Brazil team that was faster and more adept at ball-control. The U.S. team just had so many veterans who knew they were playing their final meaningful international match together (Hamm, Foudy, Chastain, etc.), and they just willed themselves to victory. Not today. Not today.
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This hasn't been reported much, but I have it from two sources that following the birth of Bridget Moynahan's baby boy last month, Eric Mangini complained to NFL officials that Tom Brady had videotaped the delivery. This is getting out of hand.
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Last weekend's college football action pretty much blew, with the exception of the final minutes of Georgia-Alabama and Mike Patrick's all-time non-sequitur concerning Britney Spears' career and life. This weekend, however, there are a trio of intra-conference matchups between 4-0 teams that should be terrific.
1. West Virginia @ South Florida Friday night, ESPN2
This was one of the shockers of 2006, the Incredi Bulls going into Morgantown and stuffing a moribund Mountaineer outfit. As we've said before--as have others--the true test of a good team is being able to go into someone else's backyard and win (see: the entire Big East, 2006). I like West Virginia in this one simply because they're alert about who USF is and they have more speed. Steve Slaton and Pat White will not be napping Friday night in Tampa. Mountaineers win. Maybe even big.
2. Michigan State @ Wisconsin Saturday, 3:30 p.m., ABC
Michigan State at Wisconsin pits the two best young coaches in the Big Ten. I really like Mark Dantonio (second on my list of Best Coaches Named Dantonio, behind Mike of the Phoenix Suns) and what he's doing with the Spartans, and so I like Sparty to pull off the mild upset in Madison. UW has played below expectations all season long and MSU has more than a few playmakers in Javon Ringer, Jehuu Caulcrick and Devin Thomas. Plus, they still have SirDarean Adams on defense, and that's as cool a name as you'll find in the Big Ten.
3. California @ Oregon Saturday, 3:30 p.m., ABC
This should be the college football equivalent of watching the Phoenix Suns play the Golden State Warriors (or Dallas Mavs) . Cal at Oregon, for the right to see who challenges USC in the Pac-10. DeSean Jackson, Justin Forsett and Jhavid Best for the Golden Bears versus Dennis Dixon's Vince Young tribute band for the Ducks. Up and down the field we'll go. May just be the most entertaining football game you watch all autumn. Don't miss it.
Looks like Chicago has had enough.
Grossman and his interceptions are out, the 10 year vet Griese is in. Or so they say.
CONGRATS to: Nate Adams, Ryan Sheckler and Shaun White for getting it done in SLC. The FMX, SKB Park and SKB Vert comps were clinched and the overall Dew Cup was awarded to those three after just four stops. Nicely done boys.
SLC was an amazing host city. FAVORITE COMPS of the weekend: BMX DIRT and BMX PARK
In Dirt:
Cam White became the first guy to ever nail a barspin to tailwhip backflip. Yes you read that correctly. Awesome.
James Foster hands down had the greatest winning reaction on the history of the Dew Tour. It was precious.
In Park:
Welcome back two dominate faces that haven't been around much this season: SCOTTY CRANMER and RYAN GUETTLER.
Scotty busted out with the first ever frontflip tailwhip and his first win on the Tour this season. It's been an odd year for Scotty, who dominated the Park course last year and took the Cup race into Orlando against eventual winner Daniel Dhers. However, this season, he's been anywhere but in first. This couldn't have gone any better for him.
Guett has been up and down all year. He finally put it all together in what he told me was a dream run. 1080. Let's just remember that the first time that was done in a competition was last month in Portland by Mike Spinner. Guett nailed it twice in finals. Only to follow it up with a double backflip in the same run. Kid did good.
My girl MORGAN CULLEN is doing big things and I felt it necessary to give her a little spotlight.
Mo is an amazing designer of wedding gowns and now has broadened her appeal one more time with a brand new website. It's called WWW.RUNWAYDAILY.COM Yes, sports can be fashion conscience too. So go take a peek!
Saints ... without Deuce for the rest of the season. Yup, change your lineup, make a trade, drop him from your team. Unless, you enjoy a benchwarmer.
If you thought that Konrad Reuland was that dude from the movie "Bladerunner" (that was Rutger Hauer...who, by the way, has never called three timeouts with a 45-0 lead in the first half, but we digress), you're not quite correct. Reuland is the latest member of Notre Dame's 2006 recruiting class to leave the school, having met with Charlie Weis on Sunday to inform him of his decision.
Reuland's exodus appears to be simply a numbers game. Though the USA Today named the San Juan Capistrano, Calif., native as its first-team All-America tight end in 2005, Reuland had yet to blossom in South Bend. Ahead of him on the depth chart he saw senior All-America caliber tight end John Carlson as well as classmate and fellow southern Californian Will Yeatman--who is also bigger and presumably a better blocker. Below him, but having passed him last Saturday, was true freshman Mike Ragone. A New Jersey native, Ragone did not play his senior year in high school due to injury but was still the No. 3 rated tight end in the nation. He saw time on the field in the first quarter against Michigan State.
Then there's Kyle Rudolph, a senior out of Cincinnati who has already committed to the Irish. Rudolph is considered the No. 1 prep tight end in the land (but by now, don't we all realize how imperfect those tags are?) and from what you read about him, seems too good to be true. He's like a Rudy with his innocent love of all things golden helmet.
Thus, Reuland, who was a very highly touted prospect coming out of high school, was looking at potentially being fourth on the depth chart on tight end next year. We interrupt this blog for a short rumination on the word "touted". Have you ever noticed that recruits are either "highly touted" or "untouted"? No one is ever "lowly touted". And why can't touting extend to other enterprises? Blind-dating, for example? "He was completely untouted as a blind date, but then he showed some signs of greatness with the flowers and the horse-drawn carriage ride! Back to you in the studio, Rece!"
Another point worth examining: Next year the Irish will have Yeatman, Ragone and Rudolph, all of them national stud-level tight ends. But what about the wide receiver corps? So why not scrap the wideouts altogether and start all three of the above, creating the newest formation phenomenon in college football? We'd call it the "Tight Bend", or something like that.
I mean, as long as the Irish cannot throw vertically and are not too thrilled with the quick outs that they'd run to Samardzija all the time last year, why worry about "space". Might as well throw as many 6-7 lugs with good mitts on the field as you can. The tight end, after all, is arguably the most talented position at Notre Dame of the past forty years (Dave Casper, Ken McAfee, Mark Bavaro, Anthony Fasano, etc.).
Back to Reuland. He played a little over 18 minutes on special teams and a few offensive plays last season, but never caught a pass in an ND uniform. He did not letter as a freshman. With his 6-6 frame and platinum blond locks, Reuland was always a conspicuous figure during pre-pre-game warmups. Aboout 90 minutes or so before any game, especially home games, there are always a few football players out on the field in just their game pants and T-shirts playing catch. Reuland was always one of them and appeared to be enjoying himself.
But obviously, after watching Ragone play ahead of him last Saturday, Reuland realized that he was fourth on the depth chart at his position, and only one of the three players ahead of him was more senior than he. It's one thing to be 4th on the depth chart of an 0-4 team, but another thing to be that low on an 0-4 squad that is ranked last nationally in total offense.
I wish Reuland well. And I'm wondering if the SoCal native will show up at the Rose Bowl in two weeks wearing a white No. 88 jersey to cheer on his former team.
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One of my more pessimistic, cynical friends (and that's saying something) asked me where I thought Jimmy Clausen was going to transfer to next autumn. I told him that I don't see Clausen transferring, but that if he did, it would be kinda funny if he transferred to the same school as Demetrius Jones. (leading Jones to do a Seinfeldian-shake-of-the-fist, "Clausen!"
By the way, if you're snoring at home, Jeff Ruland coached Iona men's hoops to an 0-22 start this season before being fired. And now Konrad Reuland played for an 0-4 team before leaving.
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I want to be on the record as saying that despite all the disadvantages the Irish have going against them this season (youth, the schedule, being subjected to pep talks by Regis Philbin, etc.), that their offensive numbers are embarrassing. That to a certain extent, to a great extent, actually, this is an indictment of a coaching staff that after all has been working with this team since last spring. Notre Dame isn't the only school that plays freshmen (Hello, Heritage Hall) and their offensive prowess should be better.
Now, that said, it is curious how every single PTI/Around The Horn/First Take/Mike & Mike program (okay, not Mike & Mike, because Golic knows better) fails to put the Irish's offensive rankings into context. As you know, Notre Dame's first four games have been (and first eight will have been) against schools from one of the six major conferences: Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, Pac-10, ACC and Big East.
By October 20th the Irish will have played four Big Ten schools, two Pac-10 schools and two ACC schools. Now, let's just look at the first four opponents: Georgia Tech, Penn State, Michigan and Michigan State. If you look at the current AP Top 25, you will see that 14 of those teams played a I-AA school. Of the other eleven not one school has played four teams all belonging to the six power conferences.
Before you jump all over my shiznit, Rutgers fans (and others): 1) Yes, I understand that this is the non-conference part of the schedule for the Top 25 schools and that they'll be playing tougher competition soon enough, and 2) Yes, the Irish do finish up with Navy, Air Force, Duke and Stanford.
My point here, though, is that after four games no other school that I can immediately think of (and definitely none in the Top 25) has faced nothing but power conference competition. And few schools, considering Notre Dame's inexperience, were more ill-equipped to handle it.
Bottom line: Give the Irish any other team in the nation's schedule through the first four games and I imagine they have at least one victory. And their offensive stats aren't so egregiously noteworthy. And Skip and Wilbon and Platschke and any number of Stews (Live or On Tape) are not discussing them so often.
And so my bet is that Charlie Weis, behind closed doors, has attempted to lift his his team's spirits by reminding them that this is the turbulent part of the ride. That if they can all just hang together through USC, that things will only get better. And that after USC they'll never have a day in an Irish uniform as tough as the previous eight.
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Imagine--it ain't gonna happen, but imagine--this scenario. The Irish start out 0-7 and then shock-- SHOCK! the Trojans in South Bend. That alone would expunge all the negativity of the first seven games. It's enough to make you wonder if Charlie shouldn't just forget Purdue, UCLA and BC and throw all his chips into the pot for Pete Carroll. After all, the USC game in South Bend is what started all the hysteria anyway.
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As Notre Dame becomes more and more infatuated with becoming the Princeton of the Midwest (a development most of us alums are less than happy about) and losing sight of its true identity, which is that of the nation's foremost Catholic university (sticking our tongues out at Georgetown) filled with jock-ish, hard-working-if-not-quite-Ivy-League level students who are wiseasses and slightly mischievous--as Notre Dame becomes as elitist and arrogant as the critics contend they are (and, finally, I would agree, the haters are closer to being correct than they've ever been), the school will reach a crossroads.
And that is this: You can't continue being a perennial Top 10 program in football while chasing down a Top 10 ranking in the U.S. News & World Report. I'll write more on this later, but the point is, as I've said before, that there are some great people who are outrageously gifted football players whose SAT scores and GPAs may be a little lower than their prospective ND classmates', but that does not mean they don't belong.
As I've written before, Tony Rice and Chris Zorich are Exhibits A and B of how symbioitic this relationship can be. Good for Notre Dame, and good for the kids. As my friend and former classmate Ferris (pseudonmym) wrote me yesterday, "just because they weren't in the top ten percent of their high school class doesn't mean they're going to be stealing TVs and stereos from your dorm room".
Anyway, this is the crossroads at which Notre Dame finds itself. And it is, by the way, a struggle that has been going on at the university since before the days of Rockne. But let's say that Notre Dame chooses to go the research route, the Ivy-League-In-Name route. Well then, I have an idea. Whereas my colleague Stewart Mandel proposed in an on-line column that the Irish should join the Big Ten (never gonna happen), I'm just curious as to what would happen if the brainiest schools from the power conferences aligned with Notre Dame in a sort of Renaissance Man (because that's more P.C. than "Too Slow To Cover Anyone") Conference. Here's what it would look like:
Notre Dame
Northwestern
Stanford
Duke
Vanderbilt
Georgia Tech
Rice
Virginia
Tulane
Air Force
Army
Navy
There's your 12-team super egghead conference right there (and you see, the Irish still play Navy annually). They could sign an exclusive TV deal with the Discovery Channel (which would insist on showing a Jeff Samardzija tribute during Shark Week). It may not be a BCS bowl-worthy conference, but wouldn't these dozen schools feel so much better about themselves each autumn?
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Saw a great flick last night: Once . It's about a Dublin street musician who meets a Czech single mom and how they literally, but not figuratively, make beautiful music together. Great love story, too. Think "The Commitments" meets "Casablanca." It's one o' them tiny indie films, but if it's playing where you live, it's worth finding it.
Here's the thing: Last week we discussed Julie Taymor's "Across the Universe", and I have yet to see it, so it's not fair to rip on it. Then again, who said life is fair? From what I've read, the characters appear hollow and the literal symbolism crosses into the land of parody (she actually comes in through the bathroom window? HAW!).
But here' s the beauty of "Once". It's simple and it's honest. One reason that you go to movies is for magical moments, goosebump moments, and this short film (barely 90 minutes, if that) has three of them. The first is a scene in a music store, where the guy (Guy) and girl (Girl...we never learn their names) play one of his original songs. They barely know one another when the song begins, but by the time they've finished harmonizing this tune (and it feels honest, as if she's trying to learn the tune on piano as he teaches it to her on his guitar) it's like the best first kiss ever.
The second moment was my favorite. They save the film's best song ("When Your Mind's Made Up") for the Guy and Girl, as well as a trio of recruited musicians, to perform as they cut a demo tape in a studio. There's a similar scene in the Johnny Cash film ("Walk The Line") from a couple years ago, where you realize you're watching the genesis of greatness, but this scene blows that one away.
Finally, the last scene in the movie is amazing. Bittersweet and touching and again, real.
The production values on "Once" are really low--someone forgot to pay the lighting bill-- but those three moments alone are truly affecting. The male lead (Glen Hansard, who wrote the songs) is as charming as any Irishman you'll ever meet. The Girl, Marketa Iglova, is wonderfully spunky and bright, but Hansard's performances will blow you away. This is a dude who cares.
Go see "Once". Don't worry, "Resident Evil: Extinction" will still be around next weekend.
Texans coach Gary Kubiak said that defensive tackle Cedric Killings had movement in his arms and legs before being taken off the field following a violent collision in the first half.
The Texans are going to get the ball back with 25 seconds left down by six and needing to go the length of the field to tie.
It doesn't look good but at least Houston showed up and made the Colts have to pay attention in the last quarter.