Adios Skunkbears

It was reported today that Notre Dame has opted-out of its series with Michigan. Anyone with half a brain knew this series was toast as soon as the ACC move was announced. It really couldn't last. Playing 3 B1G teams is a bit overkill, and Purdue (Shillelagh) and MSU (Megaphone) are our true rivals. I have no doubt that Michigan is not wiping away tears at this either. They will happily move on. While I'm not surprised, two thoughts after reading the article did raise my eyebrow:

1) Swarbrick notified Michigan AD Brandon by sealed letter on the field prior to the game Saturday.
Seems rather classless of Swarbrick.This surely would merit a discussion face to face prior to the game or at least a phone call. Sounds rather out of character for Swarbrick, and I question the veracity of Brandon's account.

2) Our new ACC inspired schedule is going to be awesome!
We can start to project a future ND schedule:

(Purdue)
ACC Tier 2 (Maryland)
(Michigan State)
ACC Tier 3 (Duke)
Shamrock Series neutral site (Big East or lesser BCS opponent)
USC
Navy
ACC Tier 1 (FSU)
ACC Tier 2 (North Carolina)
ACC Tier 2 (Virginia)
(Texas, BYU, SEC school)
Stanford

8 opponents are locked.
5 ACC: I suspect a tiered ACC schedule will be used. That means the top 3 teams will not all be on our schedule in the same year. We won't get all doormats in Tier 3 either.
USC and Navy: traditional rivals.
Stanford: ensures a west coast game when USC is a home game.

Now it gets fun. We have a Shamrock Series neutral site game. That will likely continue to be a lesser opponent from a BCS school near the game site. We could use it to play an SEC school, as they typically refuse home/home series not wanting to travel out of the south.

That leaves us 3 more games. I would like to see our traditional B1G rivals MSU and Purdue remain. That would leave us 1 more to play with. We currently have deals for series with Texas and BYU on the books. That would be a nice couple of options. I would imagine we would look to have a Big 12 or Texas school on the schedule every year. I also imagine we will continue to schedule an occasional Big East school. I also hope we start playing some SEC schools again.  In the past, Tennessee and LSU have been good SEC partners.

Any way you slice it, it is now clear that the ACC move has significantly upgraded our football schedule, and created stability in scheduling. We will have some nice future opponents, while playing ALL OVER the nation. As RoboCop would say, "I LIKE IT!"

Man On Wire

Brian Kelly walking the tightrope this season.

I've figured it out. I've been trying to figure out what the heck Brian Kelly has been doing with his QB situation since Spring practices. After last nights defeat of Michigan, I finally see what is going on.

We have a BCS caliber defense. Plain and simple. We have thoroughly dominated 4 opponents, including 2 ranked teams. For the first time since 1909, we held UM and MSU without a TD. For the fist time since 1943, we held back-to-back Top 20 opponents to 6 points or less. We have perhaps the best defensive player in the country, who is already a hero in Hawaii, and soon will be an NFL star. This is the type of defense that wins championships.

The problem is, we have a redshirt freshman QB. With tons of athletic ability, Golson won the starting job over Rees. However, Golson will struggle. We have already seen that. Rees has the knowledge to run Kelly's offense, but his lack of athleticism limits his ceiling. 2012 looked like the year we would be suffering growing pains through Golson's development. With the historically tough schedule, that seemed to be an okay choice, to build for next year.

Then our defense blew up that plan, just as they did the O-Lines of every team we have faced thus far. It's clear now that Kelly realizes the potential for this team. He cannot afford to let Golson go through a "trial by fire." He has to make gut-wrenching calls to try to maximize our chances to win every game. So while he will push on with Golson's development, Rees is available at a moment's notice to get the offense back on track.

I don't know if the plan is possible. 2 QB systems almost never work. The only example I can recall is Florida with Leak and Tebow. I think pushing things as they are now is doomed to fail. Instead, myself and every other ND fan are waiting for that game when everything just "clicks" for Golson. The game in which he emerges as a star.With 2 weeks to prepare, it could be against Miami. Their defense should give us a little more breathing room than our last 3 opponents.

In either case, our defense has given us hope. At the outset of this season, I saw 8 wins as a likely outcome. Now, looking at the rest of our schedule, I see only 3 games in which we will be underdogs. We will have Stanford at home, so I like our chances. Oklahoma proved it is mortal in Norman losing to KSU this weekend. USC has also proven it is not the juggernaut the polls anointed them, with Stanford providing the blueprint. I think I have to revise my prediction up to 10 wins and a BCS bowl.

Notre Dame to ACC

Wow.

And it appears that they won't even have to cave-in on football.

Credit Where It's Due

 Dusty bringing his lineup card out to the umpire.

I have been rather critical of Dusty Baker's borderline idiotic lineups all season long. I'm not the only one, as Dusty routinely takes any chance he can get to rip the fans and media for discussing his lineups - as if they were handed to him on stone tablets from a burning bush.

So I will happily apologize today as I see that Dusty has seen the light. No longer are Stubbs (OBP .287) and Cozart (OBP .287) hitting #1 and #2. Phillips is back at #1 doing what needs to be done for this team. Furthermore, it looks like Heisey will spell Stubbs in CF, and that puts his bat into the lineup as a solid #2. It seems all is well now that Votto is back. The lineup looks formidable, and the rotation is still chugging along. Granted, we did drop 2 of 3 to a minor league team over the weekend, but you can't win 'em all.

Take A StaND

Does this legally entitle me to kick an usher or senior citizen in the nuts the next time I attend a football game at Notre Dame stadium? God, I'd sure go to more games if it did...

Take A StaND

Blame George For Everything!

No this isn't a recap of the Democratic National Conventions of 2008 and 2012, this is an examination of how one "selfish and thoughtless act" led to a 10 year downward spiral for our beloved University of Notre Dame.

Lou Holtz was a great coach. In 11 seasons at Notre Dame, he restored the glory of the 60's and 70's and erased the pain of the Gerry Faust years. Winning 1 National Title and being on the cusp in 5 other seasons, ND nation was happy. But for whatever reasons, Lou had to move on. His self-selected heir, Bob Davie was OK. That's it. He had a couple of nice 9 win seasons, but he wasn't Lou, and that wasn't good enough. His lack of work after that proves ND made the right choice in letting him go.

Enter George O'Leary. O'Leary had been promoted to head coach at Georgia Tech in the midst of a rapid decline after a National Title in 1990 as D-coordinator. He quickly turned things around. He led the Yellow Jackets to a 52-33 record in 7 seasons and 5 straight bowl games, including a Gator Bowl victory over Davie in 1998. He was NCAA Coach of the Year in 2000, and seemed an excellent choice for Notre Dame. His brand of football seemed a very good fit, and similar to the heyday of Holtz. His success at UCF later proves ND made the right choice in intially hiring him.

Five days after being hired, inaccuracies on his resume were discovered. He lied about a Master's degree from a college he took 2 classes at, and lied about earning 3 letters for varsity football at New Hampshire, when he never even played. 

"Due to a selfish and thoughtless act many years ago, I have personally embarrassed Notre Dame, its alumni and fans. In seeking employment I prepared a resume that contained inaccuracies regarding my completion of course work for a master's degree and also my level of participation in football at my alma mater. These misstatement were never stricken from my resume or biographical sketch in later years." 

His swift firing only 5 days later was the first in a cascade of embarrassing events that would lead to 10 miserable years for Notre Dame, which we are now finally turning around.

Notre Dame was forced to scramble to hire a replacement coach. As a result, we had to settle for a quick, splashy solution. They went with Tyrone Willingham. He was moderately successful at an academic university in Stanford. Oh yeah, he was black too. Don't say that though, because that would be racist, right Jason Whitlock? I wish you had died out there in the desert, you fat fuck! Willingham had some initial success running off 8 wins to open the 2002 season, but finished 1-3 with a loss in the Gator Bowl. It was all downhill after that. Willingham proved to be:
     a) Not a very good coach
     b) A lazy recruiter
     c) A confounding speaker in his interviews and statements
     d) A great golfer
His quick firing after 3 years was the right decision, but ND took a TON of heat for it, although I still cannot understand why. If a coach stinks, why are they entitled to 5 years of employment? It's not like we didn't honor his contract, he got paid! Wait, it's just because ND is a bunch of racist white supremacists. Right Whitlock, you prick? Willingham's absolute failure at Washington proves ND made the right choice in letting him go.

So we then proceeded to get even more egg on our face. We openly courted Urban Meyer, only to get left at the alter for Florida. Again, scrambling to find a suitable plan B, we grabbed the best option - Charlie Weis. Weis was everything Willingham wasn't. He was brash, he had success at the highest level in the NFL, and he understood Notre Dame as an alumnus. Unfortunately, the one thing he didn't have was head coaching experience. That would come back to haunt Weis repeatedly in his tenure under the Golden Dome. He had some immediate success, but then showed a knack for shooting himself in the foot. His endless carousel of assistants was hard to keep up with. Switching offensive and defensive schemes year to year was even worse. Weis wasn't even sure what his role was, handing off and then grabbing play calling responsibilities several times. After a huge letdown in 2009 going 6-6, Weis was fired. His inability to decide what he wants was showcased with brief stints in KC, Florida and now Kansas again... proving ND made the right choice in letting him go.

So that brings us to Brian Kelly. The first coach since Lou Holtz that Notre Dame identified, researched and openly sought to hire, who reciprocated that with a desire to coach here. I honestly think that process will pay huge benefits in the future. Kelly is a very good coach. He knows how to run a football program, and he has completely transformed the program in 2 years. The results aren't there yet, but I am confident they are coming. There are no big question marks about Kelly. We know who we have. 2012 will be a tough year with a 1st time starting QB, a very inexperienced secondary and the hardest schedule in the nation. I think 8 or 9 wins are acceptable, and see an outside shot at 10 wins if everything falls just perfectly. Look out in 2013 though!

My point:

The Head Coach is the most important factor for winning in college football.

If you disagree, look at EVERY SINGLE BCS TEAM and try to explain how I am wrong. Talent is definitely important, and that can carry the way for a season or two. I would give Auburn as an example of that. However, winning programs are defined at all levels by their coach. From Nick Saban at Alabama and every other place he coached, to Chris Peterson at Boise State. Good coaches make winners, and players want to play for them.

Notre Dame has been down. It's not because we are "living a lie", or have forsaken our values, or because we are independent. It's not because we can no longer recruit elite athletes. It's because we had a series of bad coaching hires. Notre Dame struck out with Davie, O'Leary, Willingham, Meyer and then Weis. O'Leary, Willingham and Meyer embarrassingly so. I think Kelly was a slam dunk hire, and my optimism is higher than it has been in 10 years. Only a National Title will ultimately prove ND made the right choice in hiring him.

Rick Reilly Writer: RIP

Hey Rick, this is what it looks like to be a PART of something special.

This post is a little bit overdue, but I initially held off on posting a response to the recent Rick Reilly hack job. I wanted to hear others' reactions, and I didn't want to dwell on it too much the week before the season started. I refuse to provide a link to give him even 1 more page hit, so I will summarize his argument and provide my response below.

ND is "living a lie"
Reilly says ND football hasn't won a title since 1988 and has lost 10 of 12 bowl games and 9 of 10 to USC. Is this his criterion for determining a team "living a lie"? Let's take another NCAA team and analyze their results over a 12 year span. If I said they lost 6 of 10 bowls and 11 of 12 to their biggest rival (the 12th being a tie), would you proclaim them dead and worthy of "demotion"? If so, then USC would have been left for dead before Pete Carroll ever arrived. It's so easy to take a sample of any team and show they are down. Even in this period in which we are "living a lie", we still garner front page headlines EVERY time something occurs. Just this past month, we had front page headlines regarding the suspension of a backup QB, alternate uniforms, and an international trip to play in Ireland. By the way, 35,000 US fans traveled to Ireland for the game. The largest ever for a football game and the biggest tourist influx to Ireland EVER! The mere publication of Reilly's article indicates our relevance.

Our BCS deal is unfair
Reilly bemoans the fact that ND has a seat at the BCS table, and even more so that we get a BCS payout even if we don't play in a bowl. Are you kidding me? Guess who else has this same deal? EVERY OTHER TEAM IN A BCS CONFERENCE! They are represented by their conference commissioner, and they get a share of the BCS as a conference member.

Let's talk money. Before the 2006 season, ND would get a full BCS share if they made a BCS bowl. That happened in the 2001 Fiesta Bowl and in the 2006 Fiesta Bowl. If they didn't get a BCS bowl, they got nothing. So over the first 8 years of the contract, ND made about $28 million. Then, the contract was changed. ND would get $4.5 million for an appearance or $1.3 if we didn't make it. Where did these numbers come from? $4.5M is the conference share for a 2nd place BCS team. $1.3M is 1/66th share of the pot, given 66 BCS teams. That equals out to LESS THAN the share for each nonparticipating conference team. So 2-10 Ole Miss took home more than ND last year.

Still think we got a sweetheart deal? Try this one on... Over the life of the current BCS contract (2006-now) ND has made $11 million, with 1 appearance in the 2007 Sugar Bowl. Had we had the old deal, we would have easily surpassed that amount with $18 million for that one game alone.So do you think ND asked for the new terms? Obviously, the BCS flexed a little muscle and forced ND to take a paycut.

TV Contract
This issue seems to have gotten the most attention from Mike Golic and the rest of the media. Too bad, because it's pointless and simple. The discussion also clouds the other inane components of Reilly's argument. Every BCS team is on TV every week. Conferences make sure they are televised. Perhaps a fan in LA can't watch FSU play BC, but those games are on regionally. Do you think ND is on all across the country? Think again. We are preempted in many cities in favor of local games, or other programming. How about this? If ND didn't deserve to be on TV, why is EVERY SINGLE AWAY GAME broadcast nationally? I can't remember the last time I couldn't watch one. That fact alone tells you that ND is relevant. If we didn't have a contract with NBC, some other network would happily sign us.  

General Piling on
Here's where I get angry. Why is Notre Dame the national whipping boy? I don't understand the constant piling on by the Reilly's of the world. What did we do to deserve this. We play football. We do well. Since 1988, we had legit runs at a National Title in 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, and 2005. We have also been pretty good in several other years. A few breaks, and we could easily have 2 or 3 more since 1988. Not only that, but we do things the right way. Our graduation rate is the best in the nation almost every year, and almost all of our athletes get a degree. We should be lauded for this, rather than ridiculed.

Of the 11 different BCS era champions, 7 were on probation at some point during the same BCS era. Is that what it takes to win? yet those teams are lauded for their success, while their failures are given a free pass. Has it really come to ND being the "bad guy" for... what, not winning a title or getting on probation.

Reilly relevence
It really just comes down to this. ND is a bit different, because we are independent. A lot of people resent that or hate us for it. Reilly is one of them. However, I consider Reilly nothing more than a glorified blogger pimping hot button article titles to secure page hits, while he hides the fact that he is really just a frustrated writer watching his print medium slip away from relevance. Perhaps it's Reilly who needs to be demoted to writing for Athalon or blogging for Bleacher Report.

Here's the rub. As Reilly fades into oblivion, ND is celebrating our 125th year of football, and all signs point to great things in the near future and another 125 years of football for generations to come.

Curiosity

I will readily admit I am a space junkie. I can't get enough of NASA both past and present. So I watched very closely the results of the recent landing of the Mars Science Laboratory, and it's rover, Curiosity.

On landing day, I watched picture after picture released, and was blown away. However, the good pics were still a few days away. I didn't think anything could be more amazing than the pic above. That was taken from Mars orbit by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It just happened to catch the main chutes deployed as Curiosity floated to the surface!!! Seriously, what are the odds they get this pic? This was followed by beautiful color HD pics of the surrounding environment, and amazing tests of the science equipment. They are targeting a laser for chemical analysis of samples for chrissakes!

This may be the most amazing thing yet. Click the video below to see an HD color video of the ACTUAL LANDING! You see the heat shield fall away and the surface of Mars comes up fast as the lander floats down on a parachute. suddenly, the image stabilizes as the landing rockets fire. You can even see the rocket blast on the surface. Just incredible.

Made in the USA

Man, no comments on Red Dawn? Tough crowd around here. How 'bout this one...

So like most red-blooded American men, I like to take good care of my home and yard. My yardwork has always been simple. I have a Craftsman 22" push mower (not self-propelled), a Black & Decker edger and a string trimmer. Since I bought my 1st house in New Orleans, these three trusty tools have served me well. After a 1 year hiatus in Nashville (that yard was HUGE and we were busy), I dusted off my gear and started taking care of my house in Cincy. Same mower, same edger, same trimmer.

When I started, I knew I was right on the edge of it being manageable. However, I gave it a try and could get the mowing done in about an hour and a half. Not too bad. Edging and trimming took a big back seat though. It just took too long to do it all at once. My neighbors all thought I was crazy, so it became a point of pride that I was one of the few, and more recently THE ONLY, neighbors who actually push mowed his yard.

My pride started to falter though last year. After moving in 3 years ago, I have hit the sweet spot in lawn care. Figuring out the right amount of water, fertilizer, seed etc, I now have a pretty healthy lawn. So now my old pusher had started to choke in the thicker grass and create a LOT of clumping. Ever rake your yard after you mowed? Yeah, it sucks! I started to eyeball riding mowers. I looked at a few, and researched it a lot. However, no move was made, as babies can be expensive.

All that changed when Piper was born. After the 2nd time mowing, Ali had gotten tired of my close to 2 hours mowing and then obligatory dip in the pool to cool off. When Mom and Dad were over one evening, she actually gave me the green light to buy a riding mower!

So without further ado, that's me on my new John Deere x304. I avoided the zero turns because they don't do well on hills. They also take up a ton of garage space. JD has a line of 4-wheel steering mowers which approach zero turn, so that's what I went with.

Was it instant glory? No. My first time mowing, I quickly realized that the beautiful cut was creating a LARGE amount of clippings that piled up in an unsightly way (you can see some in the pic above looking brown). Also, I realized that you don't take your butt off the seat while mowing. It cuts the engine. When that happened, it took me an hour to figure it out and get running again. I quickly bought an add-on mulching kit. Installed it last night. Taking off the deck of a riding mower and installing new blades yourself? Yeah, that's pretty awesome too! Right after, I took it out for a spin to chop up the extra clippings as you see above. Now?

Glorious.

As for the neighbors... You know you've made a good choice when one comes over and asks to mow some of MY LAWN FOR ME! He just wanted to test out the 4-wheel steering.

WOLVERINES!!!!!!!!!!!

Red Dawn. Every guy born in the 70s and 80s loves it. Every guy in that generation also has a contingency plan in the event that a Russian invasion ever does happen. I think the reason that movie worked so well is that when it came out, it seemed possible. 1984 was the height of the Cold War, and nobody knew what crazy Ron and Gorbachev were going to do. The opening text in the titles of that movie still send chills down my spine. Just awesome:

Soviet Union suffers worst wheat harvest in 55 years... 
Labor and food riots in Poland. Soviet troops invade... 
Cuba and Nicaragua reach troop strength goals of 500,000. El Salvador and Honduras fall... 
Greens Party gains control of West German Parliament. Demands withdrawal of nuclear weapons from European soil... 
Mexico plunged into revolution... 
NATO dissolves. 
United States stands alone. 

I knew they were remaking Red Dawn, but after the disastrous film production, I had no hope it would be watchable. First, they chose China as the bad guys. When China got upset, the producers realized that they needed Chinese money, so they changed the bad guys to North Korea - AFTER the film was wrapped. I guess they went in and digitally changed all the uniforms? I'm thinking most Asians can clearly see the difference between someone from Chinese vs. Korean descent. Then, the film got shelved for 3 years.

Now, it's coming out. After watching the trailer above, I admit I am intrigued. I like the "weapon" concept. It has the plausibility factor. I love the visuals. Looks like they moved it to more of an urban setting. I also like that they seem to have taken a lot of key parts from Red Dawn, rather than reinvent everything. If it ain't broke... So, I think I might see this one. I'll wait for a review or two to decide on the theater, but home video for sure.