The Fighting Irish have committed their first holding penalty of 2009, as I have been on hold for the Charlie Chat for 31 minutes now. It was supposed to begin at 1 p.m. local time; but, I'm assuming because Charlie is still high-fiving people or because of the sheer volume of callers -- now that Te'o has signed -- we're on a delay.

Best names of Signing Day so far (five of the top 18 names on the Rivals 100 list, by the way, are alliterative: Bryce Brown, Rueben Randle, Jelani Jenkins, Janzen Jackson and Garrett Gilbert) :

-- Christine Michael, Texas A&M ... who is not to be confused with Christine Daniels of the L.A. Times, who IS to be confused with Mike Penner of the L.A. Times.

--Ray Ray Armstrong, Miami ... instantly becomes Stuart Scott's favorite college gridder.

-- Nick Kasa, Colorado ... I've seen this kid. He's huge. The next Ted Hendricks. Su Kasa es un chalet.

-- Shayne Skov, Stanford ... It's as if someone stole the first six letters of a Russian's surname.

-- Zeke Motta and Carlo Calabrese, Notre Dame ... Both are linebackers and both should be characters on any follow-up to The Sopranos.

-- Donavan Tate, North Carolina ... Hey, wasn't he the unstable dad on "The O.C."?

-- Barkevious Mingo, LSU ... Barkevious Walters. I like the sound of it. There's my first son.

-- Storm Klein, Ohio State...In Columbus, make it a Snowstorm.

-- Justin Cabbagestalk, Vanderbilt ... 

-- Nubian Peak, Virginia Tech ... Most popular sorority bumper sticker in Blacksburg: "This car climbed Nubian Peak".

-- Still holding for Charlie. At 1:45 p.m. So that's what it's going to be like now?

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While we're waiting, did you see that Keith Olbermann defended NBC colleague Alex Flanagan on his "Worst Person in the World" segment earlier this week? Bully for him, as Alex was only making a salient point and using a literary legend to do so. However, just as I am disclosing that I know and like them both--although Keith infrequently has e-mailed to provide, um, critiques--he might have fully disclosed on this segment that Alex started out as a reporter for him at "The Keith Olbermann Evening News".

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Okay, it was early, but did I hear correctly that Bryce Brown is on a family vacation in Nebraska? Nebraska, for vacation? In February? What was their backup? Elizabeth, New Jersey?

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1:53 p.m. And, at last, we begin ... 

Manti Te'o just became the easily most celebrated Mormon student ever to matriculate at Notre Dame.

Big, BIG get for the Irish. Notre Dame finally wins a hat dance.

Now the question becomes when/whether Te'o will take his two-year mission. He just told Mo Galindo of ESPNU that he'd take his mission after playing one season, if he takes it. Suddenly, the Irish's recruiting class is a Top Ten class:

1) LB Manti Te'o

2) RB Cierre Wood

3) DT Tyler Stockton

4) WR Shaquelle Evans

5) LB Zeke Motta

6) OL Chris Watt

Four of them on the Rivals 100 list and the other two, Stockton and Evans, right near. What Notre Dame followers should be most enthused about is that two of those players, three, really, are from Pete Carroll's backyard: Te'o, Wood and Evans. Motta is from Florida. Only Watt, from suburban Chicago, is a Midwest kid.

With the signing of Te'o, and no major decommits, this class approaches last year's class in terms of quality, if not quantity. Most important for Weis is that he got two starters for his front seven, the weakest link of the Irish chain.

Someone will ask Weis -- we speak to him in half an hour -- just how important that 49-14 Hawaii Bowl victory was to the recruitment of Te'o.

OK, one worrisome observation for Irish fans: Did you notice how much taller the mayor of Honolulu was than Te'o?

By the way, you do realize that all those Hawaiians were gathered at that meeting at 7 a.m. local time?

Final thought before I phone in to the Charlie Weis presser: Is this the biggest day all year for this apparatus?

Be back witchu after Charlie's chat...

Earlier this morning a wide receiver decommitted from Southern California to commit to South Carolina. So he decommitted from USC to go to USC.

Other famous decommits...

1) John Cusack in Serendipity ... Bizarrely, he decommits from Bridget Moynahan (that poor girl; Bridge, baby, I'm here for you) to be with Kate Beckinsale.

2) Katharine Ross in The Graduate, who leaves her groom at the altar to be with Dustin Hoffman.

3) Rachel McAdams in The Notebook, which was written by Notre Dame alumnus Nicholas Sparks, which segues perfectly into our Manti Te'o announcement, which is now upon us... Te'o just announced that he is going to play for....THE CLEVELAND BROWNS!!!! Wait, I'm watching a LeBron commercial.

Te'o is a student at Punahou High School, which also happens to be the alma mater of one Barack Obama. Can you imagine trying to study for tests growing up in Hawaii? As smart as The Prez is, can you imagine just how much of a genius he'd be had he grown up in a cold-weather clime such as, say, Connecticut or Alaska. Wait a minute ... scratch that.

12:06 It's Te'o time. All the Hawaii prospects are together in Honolulu at a civic function with the mayor. The civic function being ... Signing Day. Hey, it's cool. It's not as if the state legislature has to discuss what to do about snow days.

12:08 I don't know if it's my own school ties or just the contrarian in me, and I shouldn't even type this, but as much of a favorite that USC should be for Te'o, the more time that elapses before Te'o signs, the more I feel that he will sign with Notre Dame. Why? Because it would seem that USC should be a lock, and if so, then why hasn't he ended this drama sooner?

I mean, Todd McShay just forsoothed that all three starting linebackers from USC's 2008 squad will be taken in the first round of April's NFL draft -- Clay Matthews didn't get as much pub as Rey Maualuga and Brian Cushing, despite having a dad named ... Clay Matthews, but he was a monster in the Rose Bowl.

So you're telling a kid that your three starting linebackers are first-round NFL draft picks, and that you want him to play linebacker. What's the delay? Maybe there's another aspect to it. Maybe Te'o wants to play right away. Maybe he wants to be a pioneer of sorts -- the last great Hawaiian player at Notre Dame was a walk-on: kicker Reggie Ho ... who today is a surgeon.

The Fighting Irish obviously do well in recruiting: 13 Rivals 100 players from 2006-2008. But they seem to perennially whiff on Signing Day. To lose every last hat dance, from Lorenzo Booker a few years back to Byron Moore and Jelani Jenkins today.

Signing Day announcements are impulse buys, and Notre Dame is not an impulse buy. It's a prudent decision. Schools such as Florida or USC are ice cream. Notre Dame is vegetables or salmon. Good for you, but not as tasty. And that's why they always seem to lose the hat dance decisions.

If the Irish can lock up Te'o in an hour or so, it would be a huge boon for not just the program but for the culture. It would be a five-star stud announcing his desire to play for Notre Dame in front of the entire nation. That would influence future recruits. If he chooses USC ... more of the same.

The biggest two points in Notre Dame's favor: 1) Academics, and 2) the chance to start immediately.

The biggest two points in USC's favor: 1) Climate, both meteorological and winning, 2) Pete Carroll, 3) recent dominance of the Irish, 4) tradition of Samoan linebackers, 5) closer to home 6) F-U-N

OK, that is more than two. It's a long shot for the Irish, and even moreso when you consider that Te'o visited South Bend for the Syracuse game, which was the coldest game I can remember attending there as well as a truly dispiriting loss to a 2-8 team that had already fired its coach.

As I said, it would be HUGE for the Irish if Te'o signs with them. Unlikely, but huge. Then again, it's down to just two schools: USC and ND. 

11:28 USC-bound outside linebacker Frankie Telfort shares the story of how, during his recruiting visit to Stanford, he got to sit in on an open-heart surgery. I wonder if the patient had any idea he was donating his organ, so to speak, to Jim Harbaugh's cause.

And I think this is 100 percent opposite the experience Jamarkus McFarland had on his Big 12/SEC recruiting trips.

 Telfort is only 5-11, but you have to be impressed that he's a kid from Miami who has chosen to go all the way across the country to play at USC.

What you notice so far: USC and Florida rule in recruiting--there's a reason that I wanted to see those two play for the national championship last month.

Also, even though they haven't had anyone sign on-air today, one school that keeps getting mentioned (by Telfort, by Jenkins) is Stanford. Considering how average or sub-par they've been since Ty Willingham left (yes, you read that correctly), you have to give Jim Harbaugh plenty of credit.

 Then again, consider what Stanford has to offer: perfect weather, the most prestigious academic institution west of the Mississippi, and some of the wealthiest alums on the planet. And a major conference.

When I was down at the Army All-American Bowl, one linebacker who impressed me is Palo Alto-bound Shayne Skov. Remember that name -- it's not difficult, after all.

10:56 a.m. Darren Myles, Jr., located in Atlanta, just signed with Lane Kiffin's wife's husband and Tennessee. Myles is a safety and Tommy Tuberville, part of the ESPNU set, just said that he'd be "just as good" as incumbent safety Eric Berry.

Um ... Eric Berry is the best safety in America. That's quite a statement, Coach T.

Props to young Mr. Myles for 1) wearing a suit on television and 2) not waiting until the 3rd ballcap to pick his school. He went with his second cap, Tennessee. The Alabama cap was just there to fill out the scene.

Here's what I'd like to see: recruits, when choosing between a trio of Big Ten schools, using snowmasks of the three schools.

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Earlier, defensive end Sam Montgomery of South Carolina selected LSU. The ESPN hair guy mentioned to Sam that he'd heard someone say, "If you want to recruit Sam Montgomery, the most important thing is to know video games." (or something approximate to that).

That's the state of the world today: these teens are about to make the most important decision of their young lives, and it comes down to being fluent in Wii and promising them their desired uniform number.

If you have time, read a book I've touted before, The Blind Side, by Michael Lewis. Inside he chronicles, from what seems a first-hand look, the home visits of then high school offensive tackler Michael Oher (now entering the NFL draft and sure to be taken in the 1st round). The visits from Nick Saban and Phil Fulmer are both hilarious and extremely telling.

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11:05 a.m. Jelani Jenkins, nation's No. 2 outside linebacker, about to announce. "Hi, I'd just like to make a speech first before I do this."

Grrrrreat.

Jenkins is down to Penn State, Notre Dame, Stanford, Florida and USC. I love that his uniform front says "Good Counsel". It's like a team of lawyers.

Jenkins is sounding and looking very impressive. Easily the most mature young man on ESPNU thus far -- and he's only 16. And Jenkins has chosen the Florida Gators. He did open his speeck with a few words about God, after all. Tebow, you've got a new bud in Bible study.

"Jelani, what were the biggest factors in your choice?"

( What he didn't say: "The chicks, baby!").

Give Jenkins credit. He actually used spread sheets, different metrics for pitting each school against one another...and then it came down to "great weather" and of course Urban Meyer being the nation's most successful football coach the past five seasons. And the fact that these two are both Gator alums.

I like Jenkins. This is a precocious young man. Keep an eye on him.

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Have you noticed that the four schools these guys have chosen so far are USC, LSU, Tennessee and Florida? Schools such as Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State can offer a lot, but they cannot offer cargo shorts-climate most of the academic year. And that matters to these kids.

All of which begs the question I've been asking for three decades: How come Arizona State isn't a perennial Top 20 program? 

Signed, sealed, delivered I'm yours ...

10:09 a.m.  Byron Moore, out at Narbonne High School in Harbor City, Calif., is a defensive back. It's time for him to choose a cap. And it was quite an awkward hat dance. He had his coach do the "diss the other two caps" deal, dissing first Colorado and then Notre Dame. Moore chooses USC, a school that he had decommitted from just a couple weeks ago.

Moore and linebacker Manti Te'o are two prime, prime players that have basically winnowed their choices down to Notre Dame and USC. If the Irish lost Te'o to Pete Carroll as well, it won't be a happy day at the Gug (Guglielmo Athletic Complex). Signing those two could turn a good class into a terrific class. Te'o is the player the Irish covet more than ... Moore.

The odd thing about Moore is that he lives in USC's backyard and claimed that he wanted to get away from home and experience new things. Then he chose the Trojans. From Harbor City to the Harbor Freeway, I guess.

10:25 a.m. The nation's most highly prized running back recruit -- and in some views, overall recruit -- is on vacation this week. You have to love that. Bryce Brown of Wichita, Kan., graduated high school in December. This week he is visiting an uncle in Nebraska, so he likely will not be signing with anyone today. Brown had committed to Miami a year ago -- his brother Arthur was a highly pized recruit a year ago who signed with the Canes -- but now it's back up in the air. Keep an eye on Oregon on this one.

10:27 a.m. Watching all of this on the ESPNU. They just aired a shot of the Scouts, Inc. "war room" where nine grown men with lap tops are seated at a conference room, apparently not on Twitter (as if I know what Twitter is). Anyway, my "war room" involves a couch, a pot of coffee and a stray cat. So, yeah, they may have more resources at their disposal.

Yeah, but I played high school football. Did they? OK, probably some of them.

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Just saw an ad for my favorite new product: The Snuggie Blanket. "It's the blanket with sleeves!" Or, as my brother has noted, "A robe!" I'm actually sitting here typing under a blanket and my arms are a little chilly, so maybe they have a point. The Snuggie may not actually be as stupid as it sounds, but here's my problem with it: when you're wearing it you look like a member of the Heaven's Gate cult.

"Is that a Snuggie you're wearing?"
"No, I'm just off to catch a comet."  

Signing Day is here...and I'll be here with you most of the day as the nation's best high school football players give the most important autograph of their young lives...

Watch as the kiddies play a shell game with their baseball caps. I still have no idea why they don't use football helmets for this maneuver.

Wait a minute ... yes, there is. Kinda.

I opened with that because yesterday one of sports' greatest cliches -- "There's no 'I' in "team" -- came to mind. Why? Because as we sit here, one day past Groundhog Day (quickly, do you realize that two of Bill Murray's greatest roles involve rodents? What up?) and on the eve of Signing Day, it occurred to me that there is both an "i" and a "team" in Manti Te'o.

In fact, you can spell "No I in Team" using nothing but the letters in the Hawaiian-bred linebacker's name, though you'd have to double up on the "i" and "n". Te'o, as you know, is considered one of the best linebacking prospects in the nation (No. 3 on Rivals 100, and No. 12 player overall) and has supposedly winnowed his choices down to UCLA, Notre Dame and USC.

In Notre Dame's favor: South Bend's world-famous temperate climes and swaying ocean breezes; the reputation of graduating roughly 98 percent of its football players from a Top 20 academic institution; in-dorm pizza sales; the Irish Guard have promised to incorporate the Haka Dance into their pregame routine; the No. 1 ranked hockey team in the nation; the fact that the Fighting Irish desperately need linebackers and pronto.

In USC's favor: Te'o is Polynesian, and the Trojans seem to do OK with Polynesian linebackers: Junior Seau (arguably the most aptly named linebacker in history, when you think of it phonetically), Lofa Tatupu and Marina del Rey Maualuga, to name a few; all three USC starting linebackers from this past season started -- started! -- in the Senior Bowl, which translates to "USC knows how to develop linebackers" and "plenty of space available on the two-deep chart"; Ron Burgundy occasionally shows up at practice (and he's kind of a big deal); the Trojans are "reserving" a No. 55 jersey for Te'o; in the past five seasons USC has won 13, 12, 11, 11 and 12 games ("Southern California: Where 9-3 Really Is Not Good Enough").

Notre Dame fans being who they are, they're inclined to believe that someone as all-around good as Te'o (he's a very good student and an Eagle Scout as well) must be destined to don a gold helmet, because that's where the nation's best and brightest and most decent come to play football. But this isn't 1977.

Given all the factors involved -- USC's gridiron success, Pete Carroll's charisma, the school's being half as far from Honolulu as South Bend, etc., you've got to believe the Trojans have the inside track. It would be quite the pleasant surprise were Notre Dame to win this recruiting battle. The School's-Namesake's-Son knows they need him more than the Trojans do.

So on Saturday afternoon I'm watching a little of the Providence-UConn men's game on the Big East Network. The announcer starts talking about the following day's big event, and then about the Super Bowl in general. "They should just go ahead and make it a national holiday," he says.

I thought, He does know it always falls on a Sunday, doesn't he?

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1) Admit it: You were hoping Andrea Kremer or Alex Flanagan would provide a post-halftime injury update on Bruce Springsteen and that cameraman into whom he belly-slammed. No?

2) "I want you to step away from the guacamole dip...I want you to put the chicken wings down!...And turn the television all the way up!...Is there anybody alive out there?!...Is there anybody alive out there?!?"

Does anyone in rock-and-roll have a better sense of humor than the Boss?

"I'm goin' to Disneyland!"

To the uninitiated--are there still uninitiated Springsteen fans??? Besides my mom, that is?-- he opened with, in reverse order, the first two songs from his '75 classic, "Born To Run", which I'm proud to say is the first album I ever bought (truth serum update: Ray Stevens' "Everything is Beautiful" is the first 45 I ever bought; but Born to Run was the first album...and I've been waiting to buy a better album ever since, but I've given up believing it will happen).

And, yes, you did hear Ken Whisenhunt say, "Booty shakin'". Whoever had that idea to use the players and coaches to give Bruce's trademark intro of the past tour deserves a raise. Won't get one, but deserves one.

3) I'm still trying to figure out how Larry Fitzgerald caught that first touchdown pass.(I have no idea, by the way, how long until NBC tells YouTube to take this off the web, which would then mean it won't be here, even though I'm NBC...Lawyers). When they show the replays, watch his hands. One of them is inverted, as if he's using the back of his hand to clutch the football. Amazing, amazing play.

4) I want to look like Dick LeBeau when I'm 61, much less 71. Okay, when I'm 51.

5) Brilliant call by Todd Haley on the second Fitz TD. He had two wideouts run down-and-out routes, which lured both Steeler safeties outside the hashmarks, then had Fitz run a quick slant-in route. Watch the replay and notice that the Steeler safeties were lined up 25 yards behind the line of scrimmage on the snap. That's too safe, even for a safety. And James Harrison, who gave chase, was still gassed from that first half pick-six, I imagine. You had two of the very best players in the NFL in a footrace there. And how surreal for Fitz, racing toward a potential game-winning TD and able to look up at the Jumbotron and see himself doing it?

5) Did you think, as I did, when you first saw it that Big Ben was simply tossing that game-winner out of bounds to avoid a sack? It looked as if even one of the Card DBs gave up on the ball as it sailed over his head. Incredible throw, incredible catch by the Rabbit Killer.

6) It didn't change the complexion of the game or anything, but that first quarter pass in which Big Ben (can you tell I just don't feel like typing "Roethlisberger" today?) eluded the pressure, then threw it across the field to tight end Heath Miller? The next time they show the play, watch the Cardinal cornerback on Ben's left when the play begins. He has the tight end, notices Ben is in trouble, and races all the way across the field to make the sack. Then, just as he arrives, Ben tosses it across the field to the spot where the corner had been moments earlier. That's got to kill you.

7) Darnell Dockett was a monster last night.

8) I've got to watch the play yet again, but it looked to me as if Edgerrin James got pushed from behind--or clipped--on James Harrison's 100-yard interception return? Okay, I just saw it...the Edge got clipped (watch closely...he's chasing from the outside...it happens at around the 30-yard line) Still, has there been a better run in Super Bowl history, offense or defense?

Also, kudos to the ref who is right there at the pylon less than a second after Harrison tumbles into the end zone. That's some serious wheels for a middle-aged man, considering he's trying to keep up with some world-class athletes. 

9) Nobody asked me to direct the telecast--duh--but I would have shown an "Evolution of Brenda Warner Hairdos" gallery at some point in the game. From her first Super Bowl 'do to last night's. Looks as if someone has been spending some time at Biltmore Fashion Park.

10) So, for clarity's sake, the MVP of the Super Bowl was busted for marijuana possession late last October, which was within a month of when Sports Illustrated's "Sportsman of the Year" was demonstrating this "regrettable" error in judgment (in fact, both photos were likely taken within a week or two of one another). You have to imagine Mr. Phelps is sooooooooo grateful that this photo came out on the eve of the Super Bowl, as opposed to, say, next week.  

Quick Hitters Today...

--Every parent who has ever shuttled two or more kids to different games in different sports on the same day will appreciate this. The Roethlisbergers, Ken and Ida, have two children playing in rather momentous games this weekend. Their son, Ben, will be starting at quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers tonight in the Super Bowl. Then tomorrow their daughter, Carlee, will be on the court for the Oklahoma Sooners as they attempt to deny Tennessee's Pat Summitt her 1,000th career win.

Carlee's teammates, by the way, include the twin daughters of former San Francisco 49er offensive lineman Bubba Paris (three Super Bowl rings), All-American Courtney and Ashley. Also, one of the daughters of Hakeem Olajuwon (two NBA titles, thousands of Dream Shakes), Abisola Olajuwon.

For clarity's sake, Ida Roethlisberger is Ben's stepmom and Carlee his stepsister. Also, after the Steelers won Super Bowl XL, Ben gave his Super Bowl ring to his dad.

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Let's say you're an NFL general manager (and thus, like tossing around terms such as "upside' and "war room"). Anyway, that's who you are and your team is lacking in every area. It's not as if you don't have to worry about drafting a safety, for example, because you have an All-Pro safety. In short, you need everything.

So, if I could tell you that three seasons from now you could have Larry Fitzgerald vintage 2008-09 as a wide receiver, would that be your draft pick? Over anyone else in this season's draft? Because if your answer is yes, then you should be selecting Michael Crabtree. Best player, regardless of position, in the draft.

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Kinda funny that Rece Davis, Bob Knight and Summitt had a fireside/courtside chat on ESPN yesterday about the power of intimidation. Then, on Saturday night, Pat Knight gets ejected in Texas Tech's loss to Nebraska for going bat__it on a referee.

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Speaking of Super Bowl quarterbacks and women's college basketball, the mother of Matt Leinart's son (or, as the kids say, "babymama") is alive and well and back on the court for the USC Trojans. Brynn Cameron  starts at guards fo the Trojans, who are 11-9. Cameron struggled this weekend in losses at Cal and Stanford, shooting 1 of 13 from the field. Brynn's brother, Jordan Cameron, is a 6-5 backup wide receiver/tight end for Pete Carroll's team.