Spring Blogkeeping - Some changes at OC Domer

It's been fairly quiet here at OC Domer over the past few weeks. In part it's because I find it difficult to contribute to the conversation in any meaningful way during spring football practice, which I have written about before. In part it's because other events at work and at home have nudged my blogging habit to the sideline for a bit. And it's also because I have been doing a lot of thinking about the future of the OC Domer blog and what it will look like going forward. I'll have more on that in a moment, but first I want to point out some of the minor tweaks I've made to the blog in the past few weeks.

• I've discontinued the "OC Domer International" feature on the sidebar. When I first started the blog I was pretty fascinated with my traffic and where it was coming from. The novelty of seeing hits from exotic places around the globe led to creation of the list of other countries with OC Domer readers. It was a lot of fun, but the thrill is pretty much gone and I haven't been maintaining the list for a while now. Before discontinuing the feature I was up to about 80 different countries, which is pretty cool. One interesting tidbit about the OC Domer International feature: One of the most common recurring sources of traffic to the blog was Google searches for the phrase "twirlers" from Muslim countries. There are sects in Islam that practice twirling (basically spinning in a circle really fast until one gets really dizzy and enters an enhanced state). (I know that is a gross over-simplification but I'm not interested in a treatise on religious practices right now). The humorous part is that Googling the word "twirlers" (or variations thereon) for a while would hit on my Purdue preview post from the 2007 season, which was a sarcastic look at the Golden Girl and all the other baton twirlers and band auxiliary elements surrounding Purdue's football program. Somehow I doubt that the Golden Girl is what the searchers from these Muslim nations were looking for. Or at least I hope so.

• I have dropped the sidebar ad for the FootballFanatics.com website. Not because I don't believe in the products (it's a great place for your Irish merchandise), but because I wasn't seeing any return on investment. It's actually pretty darn funny. When FootballFanatics first approached me about advertising on my blog, I really agonized about whether I wanted to commercialize OC Domer, which I do because I enjoy it, not to make money. Part of me didn't want to "sell out." But I decided that I believed in the product and would really be doing my readers a service by offering them a trusted source for their Notre Dame gear. So I opened my account with them and put up the ad. I sold my soul. And that ad generated exactly ZERO sales for FootballFanatics and ZERO cash for the OC Domer. So it's gone. I may sell out for Google Ads instead. We'll see.

• Fairly early in the history of OC Domer I was seeing traffic coming from Facebook.com, but I wasn't a member of Facebook and I couldn't see what was generating the hits. So I signed up for Facebook. My page isn't very fancy, but it gives me another way to keep up with my kids, and I even have a few Notre Dame football players as Facebook friends. I have added a badge that links to my Facebook page in the sidebar, and the badge even includes my Facebook status. If you're on Facebook, "Friend me!"

• One of the biggest stories to come out of spring football this year is that Notre Dame Head Football Coach Charlie Weis is "Twittering." Twitter is an internet application which has been called "micro-blogging." Basically Twitter allows a user to use the text messaging feature on their cell phone to broadcast short messages to anyone in the Twitter world who has signed up to "follow" that user. The user's Twitters (I think they are actually called tweets or twits?) also are automatically posted to the user's Twitter web page. Coach Weis is Twittering under the handle NDHFC. As of this moment Charlie has 1,877 followers, including OC Domer. I have installed an application at the top of the OC Domer sidebar that shows my readers NDHFC's last five Tweets, as well as a link to NDHFC's Twitter page. So come back to OC Domer to follow Coach Weis' Twitter updates, or sign up to follow him yourself. Charlie tends to send a flurry of messages in the morning when there is going to be football activity that day, and a flurry at night recapping the day's football events. He's kind of fun to follow as he doesn't really have the hang of the very brief Twitter text message format yet. He tends to send long messages that take up several Tweets. This morning's flurry of updates was all about the upcoming Blue & Gold game.

• In order to figure out the best way to install the NDHFC Twitter feed on the OC Domer sidebar, I had to sign up for Twitter myself and tweak one of their applications to get the NDHFC feed. At any rate, OC Domer is now Twittering too. I've added a Twitter badge to the sidebar that will take you my Twitter page. If you're completely insane you can follow my utterly ordinary existence. I have a way to go to catch up with Charlie's 1,877 followers. I tend to Tweet about current events from my own Right Wing Extremist perspective.

Which brings me to the biggest change at OC Domer, and the one that I have been thinking about a lot lately. In the history of the blog I have occasionally posted my thoughts on political topics. Ironically, the political posts tend to generate a lot more feedback and comments than my very thoroughly researched and cleverly written football posts. Many of the comments I get on those posts are positive and supportive, but a certain percentage come from folks who not only disagree with me, but who feel that such posts have no place on OC Domer. Given current events in America, I have been moved to write more about politics and other topics and I have been debating about whether I wanted to put those items on OC Domer or whether I wanted start another blog focusing on politics and current events. At the end of the day I decided that OC Domer is my baby and it is who I am. I don't owe it to anybody to partition my life according to their preferences. So right now I intend to start putting more politics/current events posts on OC Domer. I expect that the vast majority of my readers will be able to cope with that. Some will enjoy the posts, some will ignore those posts. The immature will attack me for daring to post my personal opinions on my personal blog, and they will call me names if they disagree with me rather than engage in civil debate. Some will stop reading me altogether. I'm a big boy, I can take it. OC Domer will still largely be about Notre Dame and Notre Dame football, especially during football season. But we're going to be branching out and growing the brand, so to speak. I just wanted to give my readers a heads-up and an explanation before we make this minor change in course.

Spring Thoughts

Editor's note: The Dayne Crist image at the top of this post is copyrighted by Jose L. Marin of Marin Media, and is used with Mr. Marin's permission. Check out more terrific sports photography, including some great Notre Dame stuff at MarinMedia.org


Well, it's almost time for the 2009 Blue & Gold Game, which means spring football practice for 2009 is nearly over and I don't think I have written a single post on it. Shame on me. This blog started in the Spring of 2007, and one of my first posts here was about the futility of trying to assess the progress of the team during the Spring, and the Hope that all Irish fans embrace this time of year. Nothing about Spring football has changed since 2007. I'll admit I read every silly report I can find about the 20-minutes at the start of each practice when reporters are allowed to observe the team, although I must admit I'm almost ashamed of myself for doing so. I mean, really, how useful is it to read the following drivel:

The defensive linemen began with their usual 2-man and 4-man hitting drill. Next I saw them doing a new angle tackle drill. A bag was set up sideways inside a set of cones and two players were lined up across from each other. One was the ball carrier and the other was the tackler. The ball carrier gave a little stutter step and then chose which side of the bag he wanted to run to, and the tackler had to fit in for the angle tackle.

The defensive backs worked on their backpedaling and opening their hips before coming back for the interception. Next a cornerback and safety teamed together to communicate and fit in for a tackle, one inside and the other outside.

The linebacker drills always move at a quick pace with Tenuta, but he gets in his critiques when needed. First they sprinted twenty yards and slightly slowed down there steps every five yards as though they were going playing the misdirection. Next they made a forward pursuit to an orange dot and broke down in front of it.

“You better gather,” Tenuta told the group. “Get your eyes up!”

That's not a knock on the author of that piece, it's just that we fans don't get very much meaningful information about what the team is really doing until we see the Blue & Gold game, and even then what we are allowed to see is carefully staged.

Not that I'm not looking forward to Saturday, because I am.

This year's Spring scrimmage is much different than the 2007 version (4-horse QB derby), but will be similar to the 2008 edition. As with last Spring, most of the guys we'll see in starting roles have already played a lot of football for the Irish. Certainly there are a few new faces, but by and large the team we'll see Saturday (and in September) is the team we saw on Christmas Eve. The question is and will be: How are they developing? Specifically, here are the questions I'm hoping to have answered (at least tentatively) on Saturday:

1. How does Clausen look? Is his arm strong? Accuracy good? Is he consistently making the proper reads and throwing to the correct receivers? In short, does JC look like the QB we saw in Hawaii or the QB we saw against Boston College? I'm betting that we'll see Aloha Jimmy, but I would really like some affirmation in that belief.
2. How close to being ready to play is Dayne Crist? Is he really all that? Rumors last season had Crist looking great in practice and ready to challenge Clausen for playing time. This spring we're hearing that Dayne's accuracy is off and he's struggling with running the offense and making the reads. I am hoping to get a good look at this young player and hopefully (there's that word again) get a good feeling about what will happen to the Irish QB situation when Clausen moves on to Sunday games.
3. Has the offensive line learned how to block in the power running game? Can they push defenders back when they have to? (And if they are pushing guys around, is it because they've gotten better, or because our D-line isn't stout enough?)
4. Will the re-built and very young defensive line be stout enough to defend the run while still pressuring the passer?
5. Have the new coaches settled into their roles and is the staff functioning well as a unit? Are the players responding to the new coaches, playing hard, and getting better?
6. How well is Coach Weis getting around these days on his new wheel?

Those are the things I'm worried about, so those are what I'll be watching. (Will I be watching? Does anyone know if this will be on TV or on-line?). I feel pretty confident that the running backs & receivers will be good enough to get the job done (but battles for #3 WR and #2 TE will be interesting). Our linebacking corps and secondary will be very good to excellent. Kicking game will be of some interest, as always, but Coach Weis seems to have settled that down a bit finally.

Enjoy the game, and the weekend, especially those of you lucky enough to be "in the house" on Saturday.

Michigan Fans: Go ahead and hit that panic button

I'm trying to be objective about it, trying to put myself in Wolverine fan's position. How would I react if, say, in the spring of 2007 (after the graduation of Brady Quinn), after spring football practice has wrapped up, Coach Weis started making scholarship offers to Duke basketball players and promising them the opportunity to come in and compete for the starting quarterback job, even though (1) they only have one year of NCAA eligibility remaining, and (2) they haven't even touched a football since high school, four years ago?

I think I would probably panic. WTF!???!! We don't have anyone in the program, nor were we able to sign any recruits from anywhere in the nation, who we trust to play QB more than we do a Duke point guard? ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME??!!

So I'm guessing that's how Michigan fans are feeling today on the news that Coach Dick Rod has offered a football scholarship to Duke basketball player Greg Paulus and promised him a chance to compete for the starting quarterback job at Big Blue in the fall. These spread offenses that are in vogue today and preferred by Dick Rod have been described by some as "basketball on grass." In that light, recruiting a point guard to run your offense makes some sense. If you've been smoking grass.

By my calculations, Coach Weis and the Irish owe the Wolverines a couple more serious beat-downs before we can call the recent history between the two teams "even."

Now where the heck is that button?

Irish Lacrosse Making Some Noise

While the Notre Dame football team is almost ready to wrap up spring workouts, the Notre Dame mens lacrosse team is in the middle of its regular season and is making some noise nationally. Ranked at #4 in the nation heading into the weekend, the team went to Denver on Saturday and pushed their overall record to 10-0 on the year. That win over DU, coupled with a Virginia loss to Duke (10-15) left Notre Dame as the only undefeated team in Division I lacrosse and pushed them up to #3 in the polls.



LAX Fever. Catch it!

(Note: Reference to UD corrected to DU on 4/14/2009. Thanks Hank.)

Tragic Start to Angels Season

I went to the Angels game on Tuesday night, against the Oakland A's. The Angels played poorly and lost, but in retrospect I guess I'm just lucky to be alive. There have been two tragic Angels-related deaths in the past two days.

The first involved a fan who was injured in a fight with two other fans at the conclusion of the Angels' opening day win over the A's on Monday night, April 6th. Although it isn't clear who started the fight or what it was about, it seems that the man was knocked down during the fray and hit his head on a concrete step. The injuries suffered were severe enough that he died in the hospital just after midnight on Wednesday morning, April 8th. Inquiring fans want to know: Where the hell was security while this was going down?

Then, on the drive to work this morning, it was reported that the starting pitcher in last night's Angels game, Nick Adenhart, had died in the hospital as the result of injuries suffered in a car wreck in Fullerton just hours after he pitched six shutout innings for the Angels in his first Major league start of the year and only the fourth Major league start in his young career. Adenhart was apparently a passenger in a car that was broadsided in an intersection by a minivan than had run a red light at high speed. Two others in the car with Adenhart died at the secene. The driver of the minivan was eventually caught, and arrested on suspicion of felony drunken driving, felony hit and run and vehicular manslaughter.

Tonight's Angels game against the A's has been postponed.

All of which makes the Angels' bullpen problems look pretty darned unimportant.

Obama and the Fighting Irish

I recently received an e-mail asking me for my help in “taking Notre Dame back for Our Lady from the Forces of Darkness.” The writer was “scandalized by the disobedience by Fr. Jenkins, in the dishonoring of the sanctity of life on Commencement Day, with an honorary Doctor of Laws, of all things, to this pro-abortion leader.” She was referring of course to Notre Dame’s decision to invite President Obama to deliver the commencement address at the University this year.

I had been thinking about blogging the Obama controversy, but hadn't done so yet because I hadn't fully fleshed out my opinion on the matter. The e-mail gave me an excuse to focus on the issue, and this post is actually an expanded version of my thoughts as I expressed them to my passionate e-mailer.

While I strongly disagree with Obama's pro-abortion policies, along with just about every other policy he has, I'm not really able to translate that into being upset that Notre Dame has invited him to speak. The University has something of a tradition of inviting Presidents of both parties to speak at commencement. For example, I was very proud that Ronald Reagan chose to speak at Notre Dame. I'm sure if I looked for it I could find some area of disagreement between Church teaching and Reagan's policies.

I think my biggest reservation about condemning the invitation comes from the way conservatives are treated at liberal colleges and universities. I don't know how many articles I have read decrying the way Justice Scalia, or Justice Thomas, or other conservative thinkers are treated by academia. They get dis-invited, they get boycotted, they get protested, they get shouted down, and in the end they are often denied the opportunity to freely present their views and opinions. I have always found such behavior on the left to be deplorable. To me there would be a significant level of hypocrisy involved if Notre Dame and movement conservatives were to decide that liberal opinions and ideas would not be permitted to be heard at Our Lady's University. Not because the left doesn't deserve to be treated that way. But because if we go down that road we would be no better than those we criticize for being closed minded. We will have become that which we despise.

Maybe I am naive, but it is my hope that Notre Dame can be classier than those other schools by being a shining example of what real free speech, real diversity, and real honest debate and disagreement look like. I understand the passion of my e-mail correspondent and pro-lifers everywhere, and I agree with their views about abortion. So let President Obama come to Notre Dame and face those who disagree strongly with him. This President rarely faces a crowd that isn't hand-picked and filled with fawning supporters and his enablers in the press. I would be very proud of the Notre Dame student body if, as the President steps to the podium, the graduating class rises as one holding aloft large signs expressing their views of the President's pro-death policies. 2,000 students holding "Choose Life" signs under the President's nose as he speaks would be more powerful than dis-inviting him so that he could go speak instead to some adoring crowd at a lesser institution.

It also is not lost on me that, according to the The Observer, the graduating seniors are by a large majority very excited that the President of the United States will be speaking at their graduation. I'm not sure that all the "adults" who are so upset should be dictating to the Notre Dame Class of 2009 who their invited commencement speaker should be. At my graduation from Notre Dame in 1986 we had a Catholic Cardinal speak (I don't remember his name). No doubt his theology was right. But the speech itself was a boring and disappointing end to my four years at Notre Dame.

And finally, I think Notre Dame is being singled out here for some very selective outrage. The University has invited a non-Catholic President with non-Catholic views to visit the University and give a speech, and this is scandalous? Where is all the Catholic outrage over all the so-called Catholics in the Congress, in the state legislatures, and in the Governors' mansions across America who act daily as accomplices of the abortion industry? Where are the bishops’ condemnations of pro-choice “Catholics” Nancy Pelosi, Joseph Biden, John Kerry, Christopher Dodd, and Rudy Giuliani? These people call themselves Catholics, yet they have enthusiastically supported the public financing and easy availability of abortions across America for years. The Catholic Church is in a position to take substantive action to promote the sanctity life. They could deny “pro-choice” politicians the right to receive Holy Communion at mass or even ex-communicate them. But they don’t. When Pope Benedict visited the United States last year, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Christopher Dodd, Edward Kennedy, and Rudy Giuliani all very publicly received the sacrament of Holy Communion at Papal masses. The Pope even received Nancy Pelosi at the Vatican in February, giving her a much grander platform than a speech at Notre Dame could. Every election cycle bishops and other Church leaders have the opportunity speak out against pro-choice “Catholics” on the ballot and encourage the faithful to cast their votes for pro-life candidates. Yet they don’t. They remain silent or even support the pro-death Democrat candidates, usually because it is the Democrats that are more closely aligned with the Church’s views of “social justice.” Rather than taking a meaningful, concrete stance that would have a material impact in protecting the unborn they remain silent, eschewing substantive action that would save lives in favor of symbolic outrage against Notre Dame that accomplishes nothing.

So bring President Obama to Notre Dame. Let him face a fired-up crowd of educated, articulate, politically active young Americans who passionately disagree with him and his policies. Let him feel the heat. Engage him and challenge him. That is how you bring about change.

We're No. 68!

Well, the Notre Dame men's basketball team finally called it a season last night with an inglorious 67-59 loss to the Penn State Nittany Lions in the NIT semi-finals at Madison Square Garden. By my count, that means Notre Dame finishes the year as the 68th best team in the country (maybe 69th). Woo-Hoo!

But more importantly, it means that I can end my self-imposed silence about Irish basketball. Not that I had a whole lot to say, but I did want to keep my word just in case the Irish needed a little extra luck as the season wound to a close. So much for that.

Am I the only one who is bitterly disappointed in how the team finished this season? I'm the first to admit that I don't follow Big East basketball very closely. It's a little bit of a challenge from the west coast. But wasn't Notre Dame supposed to be really good this year? Weren't we ranked in the Top 10 at one point?

I know the Big East was a Big Beast this season. Seven teams in the NCAA Tournament, including three #1 seeds. Five teams in the Sweet 16, four in the Elite Eight and two in the Final Four. Very, very impressive. A very tough schedule to play through. But no matter how tough your conference is, 9th place is pretty disappointing.

At one level, basketball is an absurdly simple game. The team that makes the most shots will win. Watching Notre Dame this year, I saw two different teams on the court. The team that was ranked in the Top 10 was the team led by Kyle McAlarney when he was "on" and hitting his long-range jump shot. That team, when it showed up, was tough to beat. The other team was the squad that wasn't hitting it's long-range shots and seemingly had no other way to generate points. That team was pretty mediocre and finished 9th in the Big East and 68th in the nation. I don't know the "why" of it, but it just seemed that better teams were able to take McAlarney and/or Luke Harangody completely out of their games, and Notre Dame had nobody else who could make up the difference.

Looking at the season statistics for the Big East conference (I'm not going to factor the cupcake non-conference games into evaluating Notre Dame's performance), I would hope that in the future the team could step up the intensity on defense and develop an offensive identity that isn't so dependent on the 3-ball. Notre Dame was 6th in overall scoring offense, but just 13th in scoring defense. We led the conference in 3-pt shots made (391) and 3-pt percentage made at .389. We were a middle of the pack team in rebounding margin (10th) but just 13th in shot blocking and 16th (dead last) in steals. The good news is that you don't necessarily need a bunch of new athletes to get better on defense. Defense is about 90% effort and attitude. The question I have is: Can Coach Brey instill in this team the toughness and the commitment to defense they need to be competitive in the Big East, both at home and on the road, and on nights when the threes aren't falling?

Irish Round-Ballers Need a Parachute

OC Domer readers know that I'm pretty one dimensional as a blogger, generally sticking to football-related topics. There are a few reasons for this. One reason is that when I blog on other topics, like politics, I catch a bunch of grief from uninformed readers telling me that I should stick to football. Another reason is that when I branch out to post about other topics, like Irish basketball, bad things can happen. Let me explain.

On January 13th, at the tail end of a post about the importance of John Latina being afforded the chance to "pursue other opportunities," I gave a shout out to the Notre Dame basketball teams and wrote:

Irish Basketball rocks. If you haven't been following Irish hoops, you should. The Big East is dominating the rankings, and the Notre Dame men's team is hovering just outside the Top 10 right now. They already have several quality wins, and really for the first time in a long time there is no question of them making the NCAA tournament. Not to be outdone the women's team is ranked in the Top 10 with an overall record of 41-1 (3-0 Big East) heading into tonight's game against Marquette.

It is now time for me to personally apologize to the Notre Dame men's basketball team, the University, and Irish fans everywhere. Clearly my January 13th post jinxed the program and sent them into a free-fall that does not appear likely to end in a soft landing.

Prior to my post, the Irish were 12-4, just coming off a tough overtime loss to Louisville. Since my post, Notre Dame has lost six in a row (Syracuse, U-Conn, Marquette, Pitt, Cincy, UCLA). The worst loss was of course last Saturday on National T.V. against UCLA 89-63. Sadly, the game was not even as close as the final score indicated. There aren't many cupcakes on the remaining schedule, so Irish chances of making the NCAA tournament likely depend on either a very strong finish in league play or a deep run in the the Big East Tournament (at Madison Square Garden, a venue where the Irish have not had great success).

I hope the basketball team and the wider world of Notre Dame fandom will accept my apology. I promise, no more basketball posts. For now. Hopefully this will clear the air of any bad basketball karma or voo-doo or fate and allow the Irish to get back to business and snap this nasty 7-game losing streak.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled football blogging, free of any snarky blog comments about the stock market free-fall since President Obama took office, or the pork-filled-delayed-spending-stimulus bill that will nationalize America's health care system by stealth, or the multitudes of tax cheats and lobbyists in the "most ethical administration in history," or Obama's full-scale adoption of Bush-era security policies that were inhumane and unconscionable two months ago but which don't look so bad now.

Aloha, Manti Te'o! Welcome to the Family

Obviously the biggest news for Irish fans on National Signing Day was that Notre Dame landed Hawaii's stud linebacking prospect Manti Te'o. This may be the biggest recruiting success story of Charlies Weis' tenure, excepting only the Jimmy Clausen signing. A head-to-head win against USC for an elite defensive player is big news - and Te'o seems like a young man of tremendous character as well. Congratulations to Manti as he joins the Notre Dame family (he'll be in the same entering class as the OC Domer Daughter), and congratulations to Coach Weis and his entire staff for a job well done.

The other big news on the day is that it appears all the verbal commits stuck with the Irish and faxed in their signed Letters of Intent. A job well done to hold the class together.

It will be interesting to see how the services rank this class with the addition of Te'0.

D-Day Minus-1

Look, I'll admit that new Irish O-line coach Frank Verducci is sort of handsome in a New Jersey way (if not in a SoCal way), but I'm tired of seeing his mug at the top of my blog, so I have to throw something up here.

National Signing Day for high school football recruits is tomorrow, so the geekiest of all the Notre Dame football fans are working themselves up into a lather about which 18 year old kids will commit to Our Lady's University tomorrow and which will plunge a dagger into our little green hearts by choosing to play football (and possibly attend classes) at a lesser institution.

I, for one, have my fingers crossed. But other than that, I'm trying not to let all the hype and speculation get to me. Right now, Notre Dame's incoming class looks solid, although not currently rated as high as the last two classes. I think part of the reason for the lower ranking is that we have fewer players from the "flash" positions in this class (like QB and WR), and also have commitments from a 3-star kicker, a 3-star punter a 2-star long snapper, and a 3-star Golic. The stars of the class as of today are 5-star RB Cierre Wood, 5-star OG Chris Watt, and 4-star players coming in at DT, RB, WR, OG, OT and S. If those guys stick tomorrow and don't pull a spectacular signing day stunt, we'll have a very solid class, especially considering the uncertainty that surrounded Charlie Weis' future just a few short weeks ago.

The biggest suspense surrounds Hawaii LB Manti Te'o, who is expected to be a huge impact player in the middle of the defense wherever he goes. He has narrowed the field to ND, USC and UCLA after surprising everyone by telling BYU he was taking them off his final list. Te'o took an official recruiting visit to USC last weekend, and rumors are swirling that he wasn't overly impressed by the Trojans. If true, that would bode extremely well for Irish chances of landing him. Luring Te'o to South bend would be an enormous win for Charlie Weis and his staff. Not only do the Irish badly need a player of that caliber at linebacker (he's just like Mo Crum except he's bigger, faster, more athletic, more aggressive, has better football instincts and more talent), it would be a win in a head-to-head battle against Pete Carroll and USC. You have to win your share of those battles to remain credible with recruits in future years.

Because I'm hopelessly and unrealistically optimistic when it comes to Notre Dame football, I expect Coach Weis to have at least a couple of surprises (good surprises) in store for the Irish faithful tomorrow, ending up with a class rated in the Top 15, if not the Top 10.

Off-Topic. I really enjoyed the Super Bowl on Sunday, but as has become the norm for that annual spectacle, most of the buzz from the game revolves around the commercials and the half-time show. We're big Springsteen fans at OC Domer HQ, so we enjoyed watching the Boss perform for the whole world and I thought he did a terrific job. The commercials were, on the whole, a bit of a let down. To me, the best commercial of the day wasn't even shown during the game, but just before and after the game. It was an E*Trade ad that I thought was much better than the E*Trade commercial they chose to air during the game itself. So, to give folks a diversion from the stress of National Signing Day I offer the OC Domer choice for the best commercial from Super Sunday:

,