Got Gear?

Football season is screaming up on us, and I still have to write part 3 of my series on the 2008 Notre Dame football schedule, "The Case for Hope," as well as my 2008 season preview & predictions post. Like Irish fans everywhere, I also need to replenish my supply of Notre Dame T-shirts and other assorted fan gear (I think the "ND" flag hanging in front of my house needs to be replaced with a fresh one this season).

A couple of seasons ago we had a young fan in the OC Domer household who wanted a kid-sized Brady Quinn #10 jersey for Christmas. I had to look around for quite a while and was getting a little panicky trying to find an affordable jersey in my son's size that we could get shipped in time for the big day. I finally found exactly what we needed at FootballFanatics.com. Football Fanatics offers fan gear for more than 350 different college teams, as well as for every professional football, baseball, basketball and hockey team. This link takes you to the main Notre Dame page, but you can jump from there to any team you cheer for.

Because I have used them myself and because I am impressed by their selection of over 1,000 Notre Dame products, OC Domer now features a link to the Football Fanatics Notre Dame store in our sidebar. If you're gearing up for the 2008 season, I encourage you to check them out and take advantage of their great $4.99 standard shipping rate for any size order.

The Case for Hope (Part 2)

The first post in this series examined the 2008 Notre Dame football schedule with a focus on new opponents for this season, and how they compared to the 2007 opponents that they replace. To recap, the money paragraph in Part 1 was:

Crunching some numbers you see right away that Notre Dame is losing from its schedule five teams with an average final 2007 Sagarin rating of 53, and is picking up for 2008 five teams with an average 2007 Sagarin rating of 76.8 (let's call it 77). Thus, on average, the new opponents for 2008 are ranked 24 spots lower than the 2007 teams they replace.

Today's post takes a very rough look at the remaining teams on the Irish schedule - those teams that Notre Dame played in 2007 that they will also play in 2008. The goal is to get some idea about the relative strength of these "continuity" games in 2008 versus in 2007. The basic method of comparison will be final 2007 rankings versus pre-season 2008 rankings, although I may throw in some comments on an opponent's pre-season 2007 rank or even rankings at the time they played the Irish when it seems especially pertinent. The giant caveat of course is that comparing pre-season predictions to end-of-year polling is a bit of an apples-to-oranges situation. Lesser caveats (I wish I could use footnotes for all the caveats!) include the facts that (a) not all the pre-season predictions are in yet; (b) those predictions that are available don't necessarily agree with one another; (c) post season polls don't always agree with each other (for example, polls and computer rankings aren't always in sync, and even the various computer rankings can be wildly divergent).

I will be relying primarily on Athlon Sports for my 2008 pre-season rankings. I like Athlon because they have a good reputation as being among the most accurate of the pre-season magazines, and because they do us all the favor of ranking all the teams from 1 through 119. (Apologies to Michigan and Ohio State fans because Athlon doesn't include the Division 1-AA teams in the National rankings). Services which offer only a "Top 25" ranking are not only lazy, but not very helpful in looking at strength of schedule. Also, my local Barnes & Noble had the Athlon National Edition on sale when I went shopping yesterday. I also picked up a copy of 2008 College Preview magazine from ProFootballWeekly.com & CollegeFootballNews.com. I'll note the CFN rankings when they vary significantly from the Athlon predictions.

For the 2007 Final rankings my primary resource is Jeff Sagarin's final 2007 computer rankings, using his "predictor" column which accounts for margin of victory. I've relied on Sagarin for years and I think his is the best computer model available. These rankings also have have the benefit of ranking all the teams, not just the Top 25 or so that we get from the AP or BCS polls. (Note to Michigan and Ohio State fans: Sagarin's rankings do include Div. 1-AA teams, so you can track the strength of all your opponents).

That's enough of the introduction already! How does the schedule look?

Michigan. The Wolverines are a bit of a mystery coming out of the blocks this season. They have lost nearly every skill position player of note on offense (including their top 2 quarterbacks), they lost their head coach, and the new coach had a rough go of it in recruiting this season and is installing an entirely new offensive system. Rakes of Mallow has a very nice post on the parallels between the 2008 Wolverines and the 2007 Irish in this regard. Added to all the turmoil is that in 2007 Michigan, even WITH all their vaunted senior leadership (Hart, Henne, etc...), was a team that started the year 0-2 with an embarrassing loss to Div. 1-AA Appalachian State (34-32) and a humbling beat-down by the Oregon Ducks (39-7), before whipping the Irish 38-0 to start an eight game winning streak and eventually defeating a strong Florida team in the Capital One Bowl, 41-35. One has to figure that Michigan will start very slowly this season. But Notre Dame doesn't catch them until UM's third game of the year (which is exactly when the Wolverines got themselves straightened out last season). As far as the numbers go, Michigan finished 2007 at #18 in the AP Poll, and #24 in Sagarin's rankings. Athlon predicts them at #28 for 2008. Michigan has a lot of talent on the roster, and they may be at #28 by the end of the season, but they probably won't be even that good on September 13th. In any case, a 28th-ranked Wolverine squad has to be considered a "down" year and a nice break for Notre Dame. By contrast UM was ranked #5 in both the AP and USA Today pre-season polls last year.

Michigan State. Because of the general disdain that the entire staff here at OC Domer feels for the Spartans, I won't spend much time on them. In 2007, MSU finished up at #39 in the Sagarin rankings, while Athlon has them at #49 in their pre-season list. (Note that the Sporting News does have Sparty at #27, and CFN has them at #41). Expect Sparty to play over their heads as usual against the Irish, but 2008 doesn't look like an "up" year for MSU. Another break for ND.

Purdue. Despite flirting with greatness last season by starting the year 5-0 (capped by a win over ND 33-19), Purdue struggled down the stretch and finished 8-5 and #54 in the Sagarin rankings. With experienced QB Curtis Painter returning, Athlon has them picking up right where they left off at pre-season #54. Basically, Purdue looks to be Purdue again this year and not cause the Irish any more trouble than usual. Given that Notre Dame actually outplayed the Boilermakers in the second half last year and had a serious chance to win that game despite some sloppy play, you have to like the Irish chances this year against PU.

Stanford. In what has to rank as one of the ugliest college football games ever played, Notre Dame beat Stanford 21-14 to close out their historically bad 2007 season. Stanford finished 2007 at #69 in Sagarin, and opens 2008 at #74 in Athlon. Bottom line is Stanford doesn't figure to be much better in '08, and the Irish do figure to be better. Advantage Notre Dame.

Boston College. I have a theory about sports. I call it the Cinderella theory. The OC Domer Cinderella Theory holds that teams can't have two "Cinderella" seasons in a row. The clock has struck 12 on the Cinderella story of 2007. The Eagles had a nice run last year, starting 8-0, finishing 11-3, coming close to both an appearance in the BCS Championship and a Heisman trophy. But the star QB (and almost everyone else on offense) is gone. BC finished 2007 at #10 in the AP Poll and #30 in Sagarin. Athlon puts them at #44 for 2008. Clearly a step back for BC in '08, and a break for Notre Dame.

Navy. The Midshipmen made some history last year by defeating Notre Dame for the first time in my life. So what are they going to play for next year? Navy finished 2007 at #77 in Sagarin, and open 2008 at #72 in Athlon. Notre Dame should avenge last year's loss and start another streak against the Middies this year.

Southern Cal. Notre Dame doesn't catch any breaks in this one. The Trojans have owned the Irish the past two seasons, and this year we play at their house, following a BYE for USC. USC finished 2007 at #3 in the AP and #4 in Sagarin. They open 2008 at #4 in Athlon's rankings. The biggest issue for USC is at QB, where new starter Mark Sanchez is unproven. But even if he stinks it up early in the year, the Trojans will have plenty of time to switch to former Arkansas QB Mitch Mustain and get him rolling before the match-up with the Irish in late November. USC will be very good. The question is whether the Irish will have grown up enough by then to make a game of it.

Conclusion. Notre Dame's schedule looks very favorable for 2008. The new teams on the schedule for '08 are significantly weaker as a group than the teams they replace from the '07 schedule. Opponents that appear on both the '07 and '08 schedules as a group are expected to take a step back this year. With the exception of USC, the teams that can usually be counted on to present the biggest challenges for Notre Dame (Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Boston College) all are widely expected to have "down" years in 2008. As a young Irish team looks to take the step up to respectability in 2008, having a schedule that is much more manageable than last year's gives me some real hope.

Notre Dame Welcomes New Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick

I think I can say with confidence that NOBODY won the "Pick the New AD" office pool. Defying convention as well as all the prognosticators, the University today announced that it has hired Indianapolis attorney Jack Swarbrick (ND '76) as its new Director of Athletics.

The full University press release can be found here.

I don't have a lot to add to what is swirling around the blogosphere about Mr. Swarbrick. After Kevin White departed for Duke and Missy Conboy was named interim AD, I wrote the following about her:

It's clear that she's a Domer through-and-through. A true Domer with a law degree, hustle, drive, and plenty of experience. That sounds like a pretty good fit to me.

That description pretty well sums up what I was hoping Notre Dame would get out of its search for a new athletic director, and I think my hopes have been realized. Swarbrick is a Notre Dame alumnus, and former student athlete, who went to school during one of the high-water marks of Notre Dame's football fortunes. He is a Domer through and through. He too has a law degree (from a very highly regarded law school). His resume' clearly marks him as a man with hustle, drive and experience, although his experience is not the most conventional for a high-profile AD job.

But that's okay. Our last AD was a re-tread hire from another college program. While hiring a "proven" AD has some advantages, it also carries some downside. An experienced AD walks in the door with a definite notion of how things should be done, for better or for worse. With KW, it was often worse as the Notre Dame Nation had to maintain eternal vigilance to ensure that they didn't wake up in the morning to learn that Notre Dame Stadium had been re-named the "Adidas Athletics Notre Dame Stadium Presented by Halls Fruit Breezers." The thing that is clear in looking at Swarbrick's record is that he is a Big Picture guy. He does not appear to be constrained by conventional thinking or the notion that "we've always done it this way." As long as such innovative thinking doesn't manifest itself in a disregard for the traditions that make Notre Dame great, I think we'll be in very good shape.

Congratulations to Fr. Jenkins and the rest of the University family on a great hire.

And a hearty welcome to new Irish AD Jack Swarbrick from the OC Domer!

If you're not getting better ...

... you're getting worse. At least that's what they say. In trying to make productive use of the July lull, I have been tweaking my template. That's not as dirty as it sounds. I started OC Domer with a standard template and it has worked very well for the most part. Fairly early on I figured out how to modify the code to make the color scheme at OC Domer look more Domer-ish, and I was pretty happy with myself for not crashing the site while doing so.

One thing that has bugged me for a long time about the standard template was the default width of the two available columns. The sidebar width was fine, but the main column was just way too narrow. The result was that for blog posts of any length, readers risked serious neck injuries whipping their heads back and forth over the short lines while they scrolled endlessly down the page looking for the end of the article. The narrow columns also limited the size of pictures that could be included in posts, and really played havoc when trying to insert a chart or a diagram. So for a while I have half-heartedly been wishing the folks at Blogger would fix my problem for me and save me having to monkey with my template. It's a good thing I wasn't holding my breath.

Anyway, I finally bit the bullet and did some research and found some articles that convinced me my problem was readily fixable. After some trial and error, I think I have fixed my narrow-column problem and I'm pretty pleased with myself. A couple of notes on the new layout. First, in order to change the width of the main column (and the header), I had to ditch the very appealing rounded corners that used to be featured around each "box" on the page. The rounded corners were actually images, each featuring a pair of corners (left and right), with a fixed image length. Once I changed column width, the rounded corners no longer fit. So they had to go. This is mildly amusing since the template I use is now a modified version of Blogger's "rounders" template, with all the actual roundness removed.

The next side-effect of the change is that the news headline widget at the top of the main column is now wider and therefore readers can see more of the Notre Dame headlines as they scroll. Before, headlines were cut off way too short.

I hear you saying to yourself: "Okay OC, wider columns. Very nice. Pour yourself a cold one to celebrate. But why pester us with a long, boring post about columns that are 695 pixels wide instead of 485 pixels wide?" Fair question. I'm glad you asked. I need some feedback from you to make sure I haven't screwed the whole thing up from your end. I tested the new layout on my Firefox browser, and on Internet Explorer. But I don't know if my monitor settings, etc... are typical or not for other computer users.

So, I would very much appreciate it if you could drop me a comment on the new look, especially if it doesn't work for you or is causing you problems. (How great is that? "Please write a comment if you can't read this post"). Of course, if you really like the new layout, I'd love to hear that too. But otherwise I'll assume that no news is good news.

My next blog-tweak will probably be some spiffing-up of the top banner with a cool picture, so I can keep up with the likes of Subway Domer and Domer Sports Report. But I'm not making any promises.

The Case for Hope (Part 1)

I know that just a few days ago I was whining about how boring the Summer is for college football bloggers ("Summer" being defined as the period between the end of Spring football and the beginning of Fall practice). That's still true. But this being a three day Holiday weekend dedicated to honoring those brave souls who choose to forge their own destinies without the safety net of an empire or a conference (Happy Independents' Day!), I had a little time on my hands to start looking forward to the 2008 college football season, and especially the prospects for the 2008 Fighting Irish. I decided to start with the 2008 schedule. In my view, the schedule in 2008 should be a significant source of optimism and hope for Irish fans this year. There's a lot to write about the schedule, so this short post will just be the first of at least two pre-season looks at the schedule with the OC Domer wide-angle lens. What I mean is that these posts will be some rough-cut, big picture thoughts about our 2008 opponents, without getting into a lot of detail about match-ups or in-depth opponent previews. Those will come as we get closer to kick-off.

The most basic information provided by the schedule is (a) who we play, and (b) when we play them. Today's post looks at who we play.


The 2008 schedule includes twelve opponents. Seven teams are squads the Irish played last year, five teams were not on the 2007 schedule. Is that a good thing or a bad thing for the Irish? I think it is a very, very good thing. A quick comparison of the five 2007 opponents we dropped versus the five new opponents in 2008 reveals that the schedule changes are very favorable to Irish fortunes. For purposes of this quick-and-dirty review, I'm basing all comparisons on the final Jeff Sagarin rankings for the 2007 college football season, and I'm using Sagarin's "predictor" ranking (last column on his charts) because they factor in margin of victory and are therefore more accurate (if less politically correct).

The teams we played in 2007 but won't play in 2008 are: Georgia Tech (L 33-3), Penn State (L 31-10), UCLA (W 20-6), Air Force (L 41-24), and Duke (W 28-7).

The teams we pick up 2008 are: San Diego State, North Carolina, Washington, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse.

If each of these groups of five teams are listed from best to worst using the latest Sagarin ratings, and the two lists are compared side-by-side, you get this:

1. Drop: Penn State (25), Gain: Washington (44)
2. Drop: UCLA (27), Gain: Pittsburgh (61)
3. Drop: USAFA (51), Gain: North Carolina (65)
4. Drop: G-Tech (57), Gain: SDSU (89)
5. Drop: Duke (105), Gain: Syracuse (125)

Crunching some numbers you see right away that Notre Dame is losing from its schedule five teams with an average final 2007 Sagarin rating of 53, and is picking up for 2008 five teams with an average 2007 Sagarin rating of 76.8 (let's call it 77). Thus, on average, the new opponents for 2008 are ranked 24 spots lower than the 2007 teams they replace.

Now I will admit there is a part of me, as a very proud Irish fan, that is mildly ashamed to be analyzing how much easier our 2008 schedule is than our 2007 schedule. Tradition dictates that Notre Dame should be playing one of the toughest schedules in the country every year, taking on all comers. So the fact that I even researched how Duke stacks up against Syracuse as an opponent pains me a bit. But Notre Dame lost nine games last year, and those nine losses were not even close (except for Navy). The average margin of defeat in those nine games was 21 points. Desperate times calling for desperate measures, I do care that Syracuse ended 2007 ranked #125 to Duke's #105.

But the bigger news is at the top of the lists. Instead of playing a 25th ranked Penn State team that beat the Irish by 21 points last season, Notre Dame plays the Washington Huskies, ranked #44. That's a nice trade, and one that you have to feel gives the Irish a chance to pick up a win based on scheduling alone.

Likewise, the Irish drop the 27th ranked UCLA Bruins and instead pick up the 61st ranked Pittsburgh Panthers. Yes, Notre Dame beat the Bruins last year, but UCLA had some significant injury problems (especially at QB) that greatly aided the Irish cause. You have to believe that playing Pitt provides a better chance of victory than would playing UCLA again.

Losing USAFA and picking up UNC is basically a wash, except that Air Force's option offense has long given the Irish defense fits. And playing San Diego State is a huge "upgrade" over playing Georgia Tech.

Notre Dame was 2 wins and 3 losses against the five listed 2007 opponents. It would be bitterly disappointing if an Irish squad that is even moderately better in 2008 doesn't go 5-0 against the five new teams on the schedule.

OC Summer

No posts since June 1st? Shameful. But, what has happened since my last post that really deserved comment? My fellow ND bloggers have done an admirable job for the past few weeks of generating content out of even the most trivial bits of news, but nothing since June 1 has excited me enough to elicit a post. Commitments from kickers? NBC stays on the Notre Dame bandwagon? Prominent alumni are (or aren't) offered the A.D. job and do (or don't) turn it down? Please.

Let's face it. June is a tough month for college football fans. In Orange County we watched as the Lakers surprisingly made it to the NBA Finals, then lost when the Celtics made them look surprisingly inept. Who is this Pau Gasol guy, and why were Laker fans so excited to have him?

June also saw the Detroit Red Wings defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Stanley Cup. WooHoo.

Can anyone explain to me why they're still playing basketball and hockey in June?

In baseball, the Anaheim Angels are 16 games above .500 (49-33) yet hold only a 4 1/2 game lead in the A.L West, a division in which three of the four teams sport records better than .500. Up in Los Angeles, the Dodgers are five games BELOW .500 (38-43) and yet are in second place only 2 1/2 games behind the Diamondbacks, who lead the division with a 41-41 record. That's right - the NL West has exactly ZERO teams with a winning record right now.

Speaking of baseball standings, can anyone explain to me how it's fair (or even sensible) that the American League West has only four teams, while the National League Central Division has six teams? All things being equal, teams in the A.L. start the season with a 1 in 4 shot at winning the division (25%), while the Astros, Pirates, and Brewers have a 1 in 6 shot (16.66%). Maybe it's my inner engineer talking, but shouldn't one N.L. team move to the A.L. so the divisions can be balanced out? Maybe move the D-Backs into the A.L. West and let the Astros slide into the N.L. West? As an Angels' fan it's a sweet deal for us, but I would think the owners and fans in the N.L. Central would be screaming for a little more fairness.

The biggest story of June has to be the Fresno State Bulldogs' win at the College World Series. With the Notre Dame baseball team nowhere near Omaha, I really had no dog in this fight, but it's fun to see an underdog show up the big dogs in any sport, even during the dog days of Summer. (Sorry about all the doggone dog references. Help, I can't stop!) College baseball in the West has had many traditional powers, including Stanford, UCLA, USC, Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon State, Long Beach State and the mighty Titans of Cal State Fullerton. It must have been very humbling for all those high-profile programs to watch Fresno State win it all. And any day that USC and UCLA can be humbled is a good day in the OC Domer household.


The biggest Notre Dame story of the month, in my opinion, is the repair work that has finally commenced on Sacred Heart Basilica. I wrote briefly at the time about the May winds that knocked a spire off the Basilica just days before the 2007 graduation ceremonies. What we didn't know then, of course, was how significant that wind storm really was. When it happened, we thought the storm was just an interesting story that the Class of 2007 would be able to tell their grand kids someday. Looking back on it now, of course, the question we all have to ask ourselves is: Was the fallen church spire merely an omen of the 3-9 football season that was looming on the horizon, or was it a curse? Was it just a sign of future trouble for Notre Dame? Or was it, like Samson's haircut, a cause of Irish misfortune? Call me crazy, but I am totally comfortable with blaming Notre Dame's 2007 football season on "the curse of the fallen spire." Likewise, I am morally certain that once the repairs to Sacred Heart are completed, the Fighting Irish will likewise be restored to their former glory.

Can we just skip July?

Hello, Missy

Where the heck have I been? As I sat down to the computer with my usual Sunday breakfast - toasted sesame seed bagel (with butter) and a Diet Pepsi - I clicked on my gmail to see what was up and BLAM! Notre Dame Athletic Director Kevin White is leaving Notre Dame for Duke. No matter how you slice your bagel, that's big news.

Rabid Notre Dame football fans have been banging on Kevin White for years about the recent inability of the football team to win a National Championship (or even a bowl game). They have also been very critical of the perceived commercialization of the athletic department generally and the football program in particular. If you have ever spent time trolling Notre Dame message boards like UHND.com and NDNation.com you know that hardcore Irish fans have been living in perpetual fear that White would be installing a "jumbotron" in Notre Dame stadium that would detract from the traditional Notre Dame stadium experience by running a continuous stream of tacky commercials for South Bend used car lots and the like. I must admit the persistent jumbotron rumors actually had me a little worried. I am among those that like the old school football experience that is an afternoon in the "House that Rock Built." If we just do away with TV timeouts it would be perfect.

I've always been a little ambivalent about Kevin White as AD. The hiring of Bob Davie as football coach when Lou Holtz left was, in my mind, the moment when the wheels began falling off the Notre Dame football wagon. Holtz was a top-tier Division I football coach (and a National Championship winner), while Davie was a long-time assistant with no head coaching experience and, we would learn later, no real understanding of or love for the Notre Dame way. Davie was a horrible hire, and the football program has yet to recover. But Kevin White didn't hire Bob Davie, he inherited him. Much is made of the Davie contract extension that White engineered, but that was really just a re-working of Davie's contract so that he could be more easily fired later (which he was). The George O'Leary fiasco was White's aborted baby, although O'Leary must bear much of the blame for that. It's too bad that situation wasn't handled better, because O'Leary has shown since then that he's a heck of a football coach. The Willingham hire didn't turn out well, although at the time I applauded it along with most everyone else. White did oust Willingham after just three years, despite the PR storm that he knew would ensue, although he only did it after he was basically left no choice by influential alumni and a new Administration. And White hired Charlie Weis. Urban Meyer has done well at Florida, but count OC Domer as among those who are glad we didn't bring Urban Liar to Notre Dame.

So Kevin White's handling of the football program has been a bit ham-fisted at times. If that was all there was to the AD job, I'd have been calling for his head too. But football is just one program in the athletic department, and I think White has done a very good job with the balance of Notre Dame's athletic programs. Football aside, I don't think a serious argument can be made that the overall quality of the Irish sports program isn't significantly better today than it was when Kevin White took over. From program facilities, to athletic talent level, to coaching level, to coaches salaries, to overall competitiveness, Notre Dame athletics has seen significant improvement under White's direction.

Kevin White was appointed AD at Notre Dame on March 13, 2000. Over the five years prior to White's hiring (94-95 through 99-00), Notre Dame had averaged a 20th place finish in the NACDA Directors' Cup standings, which award points throughout the year to each school based upon how how well their sports teams finished the season. They're probably going to have to re-name the award for Stanford University pretty soon, since Stanford has won the Cup for 13 straight years. During White's eight seasons at the helm (00-01 through 07-08; ND is 15th in the 2008 standings through May 29th), Notre Dame has averaged a 14th place finish. That's a significant improvement, and that's why I have been pretty much neutral on White's performance as AD.

But eight years is probably long enough to accomplish what you can accomplish anywhere as an Athletic Director, so it's probably as good a time as any for White to move on and for Notre Dame to bring in some new blood. I have no idea who might get the job on a permanent basis, but right now the job belongs to Missy Conboy, former Notre Dame basketball player (Class of 1982), who went on to get her law degree from the University of Kansas in 1985. She has worked for the Irish athletic department since 1987. There's a really nice profile of her on the Notre Dame website. It's clear that she's a Domer through-and-through. A true Domer with a law degree, hustle, drive, and plenty of experience. That sounds like a pretty good fit to me. While I would expect the Administration to bring in an experienced AD eventually, I wouldn't mind if Missy is allowed to carry the interim job for a while. I think she'll do a great job.

Charlie Weis Representing Notre Dame With Class, Again

I know I've been a bad blogger lately. Not much going on with Irish football right now + a whole lot going on at home and work = very light blogging. But there is one Irish development worth noting: Charlie Weis recently took several days out of his busy schedule as head football coach at Notre Dame to go golfing with Ty Willinham, visit our troops overseas. He started at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, then flew to Germany and on to several stops in Southwest Asia (including Qatar, Bahrain, a ship in the Persian Gulf, the UAE, and unnamed locations). Then he took a long flight back to Washington D.C. where he and the other coaches on the trip met with President Bush at the White House.

Sounds pretty worthwhile, if a little boring, until you read about how excited the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines were to see Coach Weis. Many of them were Notre Dame alumni, and many more were life-long Irish fans who couldn't believe they were actually getting a chance to meet Coach Weis to take a picture or get an autograph (or a free Notre Dame T-shirt). When you read about Charlie putting a smile on the faces of those men and women serving our country halfway around the world, you're proud to be a Notre Dame man, and proud to have Charlie as your head football coach.

Charlie's trip diaries, which are highly recommended reading, are at the following links:

Day One
Day Two
Days 3 and 4
Day Five

And here's the link to the official White House story on the coaches' visit with the President, including Coach Weis' remarks.

Baseball Holds the Key to Fixing College Basketball

In retrospect it seems obvious that no good would come from a high-profile athlete named "O.J." enrolling at the University of Southern California. And I use the term "enroll" very loosely. This time the USC scandal is centered on basketball player O.J. Mayo, the "freshman" sensation who has recently made himself available for the upcoming NBA draft. Again, I use the term "freshman" loosely since that term has a meaning generally associated with being an actual student pursuing an academic degree at a university, as opposed to being a basketball mercenary who is being paid to wear a particular college's uniform during his audition for the NBA.

I'm sure nobody was more surprised that shady sports agents might be funneling improper benefits to star athletes at USC than basketball coach Tim Floyd - except for maybe USC Head Football Coach Pete Carroll. The O.J. Mayo experience stunk from the start, and USC deserves to get the full court press from the NCAA over this. But USC is not the only entity deserving of blame. A system that allows these young players to accept a "scholarship" to a "university" to play basketball, and then walk away from their school, their coach, and their teammates after just one season of play (and about one semester of classes) is obviously flawed.

One of the things that makes me most proud to be an alumnus of the University of Notre Dame is that ND has always taken the concept of the student-athlete seriously. Student-athletes at Notre Dame live in regular dorms with "regular" students, they dine in the same dining halls as the rest of the student body, they attend the same classes as other students, they earn good grades, and they graduate with an honest-to-goodness degree from one of the best colleges in the nation. Those things are very important to me, and I think they are consistent with the highest ideals of the NCAA. I have always been bothered by those schools who place athletic (and financial) success ahead of education. By permitting (encouraging) their athletes to enroll in patty-cake courses, and then setting the bar of expected academic performance low enough, these institutions do a great disservice to their students, most of whom will need to find "real jobs" eventually. It also compromises the overall academic integrity of the institution itself, and cheapens the value of its diplomas. Tangentially, it's also unfair to the real student-athletes at other schools who have to compete on the playing field against these semi-professionals.

The current system in college basketball makes a mockery of the concept of the student athlete. Athletes whose only intent in accepting a scholarship is to use it as a springboard to the pros at the first opportunity deprive college athletics of what's left of its purity. What makes college sports great (at least to me) is all the students in the stands (and alumni across the country) cheering on their fellow STUDENTS. One of them. Not random guys off the street who are just wearing the colors for a while, but guys they know from the dorms, and from class, who are struggling to graduate. I know, big-time college sports aren't "pure." The money and pressure to win at any cost has worked to corrupt the revenue sports to a significant degree. But I think the ideal of the student-athlete lives on and we need to do what we can to preserve and nurture it. And I think that has to start with college hoops.

I was just looking at recent projections for the upcoming NBA draft. No, I don't know why I was doing that, since I have plenty of other ways I should be spending my time. But I digress. According to projections, the Top 5 picks in the NBA draft could well be 4 college freshman and 1 college sophomore. The Top 10 would be 7 freshman, 2 foreign players, and 1 sophomore. The Top 20 projects as 9 freshman, 7 sophomores, 2 foreign players, 1 junior and 1 senior. If the projections are correct, 18 college players would be drafted in the first 20 picks, only ONE of whom would have completed four years of college and thus have a reasonable chance of having earned a college degree. That's absurd. If you want to play pro basketball - then by all means please go play pro basketball. But don't go to a university and waste everyone's time with the charade that you are a "student" there.

Baseball has it right, and the NBA should adopt the Major League Baseball model as its own. Under the rules of the MLB draft, players are eligible for the draft coming out of high school. If they sign a contract with a team, then they play pro baseball. If they don't sign a contract (either because they didn't get drafted, or didn't get drafted high enough, or couldn't reach terms with a team), then they can choose to go to college. If they enroll at a junior college, they can go back into the draft the following year. But, if they enroll at a 4-year school, they are not eligible to be in the draft again until they complete their third or fourth year of school, or reach 21 years of age. This system has worked very well for players, colleges, and Major League Baseball. Kids who are extremely talented coming out of high school, or who just aren't interested in more education, can go pro right away. Those that need more development, or who value an education, can decide instead to go to college. Colleges and universities who place a player on athletic scholarship know that they are getting a student who is at least somewhat committed to education and who will be there (on the field and in the classroom) for at least three years. Win-win-win.

The flaw in this plan of course is that, unlike Major League Baseball, the NBA doesn't currently have an extensive farm system in which to incubate developing players that they have under contract. But that can be fixed. The NBA Developmental League can be expanded. The NBA could buy the Continental Basketball Association for a song and use it for player development. The NBA could adopt a junior college rule similar to MLB, so that players not intent on earning a degree can at least take a few general educational courses at a JC while playing and waiting to be drafted. If viable paths to the NBA other than through the NCAA are available after high school, then college basketball can regain some of its integrity and allure. We can return to cheering for students who play basketball for their schools, rather than basketball players who merely wear the uniform of a school while waiting around for a better offer.

Why Blogging is Morally Superior to "Journalism"

People love to hate bloggers. They read our posts, then write comments saying that "nobody cares what you guys think anyway." Huh? What the haters don't get is that blogging is a labor of love (or passion, if you will), not just something we do for a paycheck. Thus, it's more real, more genuine, and more noble than most of what you read in the newspaper (does ANYONE read a newspaper anymore?). Think about the difference between amateur and professional athletes. Remember when we all lauded the purity of the Olympics because they were about the love of sport, not about the money?

So the other day I'm checking my usual sites (NDLNA.com) and there's a link to a terrific rant over at The Rock Report about how the sports media is always on Notre Dame's ass with a proctoscope about some minor instance of political incorrectness, while ignoring the very real and pervasive problems facing college sports across the board. I don't always agree with The Rock, but his blog is generally excellent, and I sure agree with him this time. So I left him a nice comment at NDLNA. The some other reader at NDLNA leaves a comment that starts out with "I don't disagree with the general point of this blog" and then eventually chimes in with the following:

The sad fact is, you would probably trade this blog for a shot to be a real "media talking head" in a heartbeat. You'd get your press pass to sit in a media box and all this writing you do wouldn't just be for your own personal benefit and the benefit of the folks at NDLNA who comprise the entire blog audience.

And you know what, the minute you strapped the credential to your shirt pocket, you'd be talking about the same exact shit your crucifying the media for in this blog piece.

I'm no media apologist and It does suck that Notre Dame gets labeled "arrogant" for putting education first... but for the love of God, quit your bitching and write something worth reading. As it stands now, you just make yourself look like yet another disgruntled blogger who wishes he could work for NBC or ESPN but doesn't have the formal education or the wherewithal to go do it. So instead you just railroad the media every day on your free blog.

Bitter much?

If you've been reading blogs or internet message boards for any length of time, you've seen a variation on this theme many times. Every once in a while I feel compelled to set these guys straight. Here's my response to NDIrish50:

I love how bitter commenters (like yourself) always assume that those of us who blog for free on a subject we are passionate about must be (1) secretly covetous of a job in the paid media, (2) totally without principles, (3) without the education or talent to get a job as a "real" journalist.

I can't speak for "The Rock", but as a member of the Notre Dame blogging community I can speak for myself. I blog for free, usually about Notre Dame football. I do it because I love the University and the game, because I enjoy the challenge, and because it provides a fun creative outlet. Sure, it would be fun to be on TV getting paid to spout nonsense like the guys at ESPN, but I don't secretly covet a job as a sports hack for the South Bend Tribune or the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. The fact is, I couldn't afford the pay cut.

As for our willingness to sell our integrity for a press pass, I think you miss the point. Any idiot with a keyboard could write conventional, politically correct tripe by the gigabyte for some corporate megalith. But we bloggers would rather write what we really feel and believe FOR FREE than compromise ourselves for a little coin.

And finally, there's our education and wherewithal. The last bastion of the blog critic. Precisely how educated does one need to be to write about sports professionally? Have you read a sports page, or any sports publication, recently? Sure, there are some stars who can really write. But most of the work out there is GARBAGE. A degree in "communications" or "journalism" is nothing to write home about (pun intended). Again, I can't speak for The Rock, but I wish I could have had all the free party time in college that the journalism majors had. Instead, I was busting my ass trying to get an aerospace engineering degree (which I followed up with a law degree). As a lawyer, I actually do get paid to write professionally. In fact, I get paid very well to convince important decision makers that my client's opinions should be theirs too. Real world writing, not fluff like football.

So maybe you agree with us. Maybe you don't. Maybe you don't have the balls to form an opinion of your own. But please stop with the "bloggers are bitter, envious, untalented hacks with no integrity" bullshit. Not only is it misinformed, it's so damn tiresome.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. That was self indulgent. But if you can't be self indulgent on your blog, when can you be?