DAILY DOMER, 9/24
Whenever I do make it to practice for the 20-minute media observance period (in which we get to watch players stretch and begin some routine drills...it isn't as if we get to watch them run a "bomb play"....that's from an old Gerry Faust vignette, in which the beloved former coach ran up the sidelines asking aloud, "Do we have a bomb play?!?")...anyway, when I do make it to practice, I cannot help but notice a tall player wearing No. 87.
Just huge. A little thin in the lower body for a major college football player, I think to myself, but otherwise, on a field full of giants, this player stands out.
The Goliath of whom I speak? Freshman tight end Joseph Fauria. This weekend, due to the lingering "held out of competition until further resolution" status of Will Yeatman, Fauria may indeed see some playing time. He's not as polished as classmate Kyle Rudolph, but it could be interesting.
It got overlooked somewhat with all the Golden Tate, Warrior hype (albeit deserved), but Michael Floyd caught seven passes last weekend. That's the highest total ever for a Notre Dame freshman. By the way, Floyd is already halfway toward equaling the mark Duval Kamara set last season for the most touchdown catches by an Irish freshman (4).
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Farewell to former Notre Dame back Dick Lynch, who died today at the age of 72. Besides playing for the New York Giants and being their longtime radio voice, Lynch is best-known for scoring the only touchdown in Notre Dame's 7-0 victory at No. 1 Oklahoma in 1957.
The Irish were an18-point underdog that November day in Norman, and with good reason. The Sooners came in with a 47-game winning streak, which remains to this day the longest win streak in major college football. On 4th-and-goal from the Oklahoma 3 with less than four minutes to play, Lynch took a pitch and swept right behind a block by fullback Nick Pietrosante. The 80-yard drive lasted 20 plays and took nearly all of the 4th quarter.
The Irish hung on to win. Oklahoma had not lost since early 1953, also to Notre Dame. It was also the first time in 120 games the Sooners had been shut out.
Domers will be interested to learn that Lynch won his division of the Bengal Bouts two years in a row (back when football players were still permitted to compete in the campus-wide boxing tourney). Lynch had six children though one of them, Richard, was killed in the September 11th attacks. He worked on the 84th floor of one of the World Trade Center towers.
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The last best chance the New York Yankees had to make the playoffs ended in the 7th inning at Fenway Park last night. Cleveland trailed 5-4 but had the bases loaded with two outs when Victor Martinez came to the plate. Martinez fouled off a pair of 3-2 pitches before weakly fouling out to first baseman Kevin Youklis.
I understand that Yankee haters abound and feeling sorry for the Bombers is like feeling sorry for Wall Street right now, but wouldn't it have been fun if somehow New York had come to Boston on Friday night still with a shot to make the playoffs? They'd have had to sweep the Sox, but it might have made for some decent drama.
As it stands, the only drama that remains is whether Mike Mussina, who won his 19th game last night, can win his 20th on the season's final day Sunday at Fenway. Moose has never had a 20-win season, despite having put together three 18-win and now three 19-win seasons.
I haven't spent that much time in the Yankee clubhouse, but Moose has always been my favorite player to talk to there. As lacking in emotion as he comes off on the mound, he's a witty, thoughtful guy at his locker.
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Like me, J.R. Moehringer grew up in the New York metropolitan area, moved to suburban Phoenix in 7th grade, came back east for college and now finds himself a 42 year-old lifetime bachelor.
That's pretty much where the similarities end. Moehringer is the author of a fantastic memoir, The Tender Bar. I penned Basketball For Dummies. He is a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist. I do a blog. Moehringer lost his virginity on the side of Camelback Mountain. I took a date there once and the battery on my dad's car died... as did any chance I had with my date.
Oh, and J.R. is hilarious. Here's a terrific piece he has in the current issue of LA Magazine on his former Saguaro High School classmate and, according to Moehringer, the greatest ladies man of our time, David Spade.
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About this blog
NBCSports.com's John Walters goes into the world of college sports and well beyond. From Notre Dame to the latest in pop culture, JDub tackles it all.
John,
In your article about the arrests at ND, you questioned if the three ND alum who would have to deal with the underaged drinking athletes had drank beer before they were 21 in South Bend---it's likely all three of those guys drank beer before they were 21 in South Bend, because it was legal then!
The drinking age got dropped to 18 in most states during the Viet Nam War--old enough to die, old enough to have a beer with your dad at the corner bar.
The drinking age in this country needs to be dropped to 19, at least--it would keep some of the booze out of high schools, and decriminalize the reality of being a (young) adult in this country.
Actually, Lee, I was told that at the time Coach Weis was here, you could drink legally at age 18 in Michigan but it was 21 in Indiana. I know that the National Mininum Drinking Age Act came in 1984 (tough luck for this 1966-born American), but I do believe that some states already has a drinking age above 18 by that point. As I wrote, I was told it was already 21 here long before '84.
Thanks for writing.
John
That old "my car battery is dead" routine ranks right up there with "I've lost my keys" and "I promise I won't do anything scary." If you can't score with that, tips from David Spade won't help you. :)