Why Notre Dame Still Matters

The haters want you to believe Notre Dame doesn't matter. Every year Notre Dame struggles, the haters race to anoint the Irish irrelevant.

"They don't matter," say the haters.

The haters are wrong.

The Irish may not be 'mattering' for the right reasons in the last decade, but they still matter.

Why else was it a huge story when Notre Dame axed coach Tyrone Willingham after three seasons because of poor performance and even worse recruiting? The haters came up with every racist excuse in the book to try and get on the Irish for the firing. Never mind that the 2007 season - when the players Willingham recruited (and didn't recruit) were the upperclassmen - was an exercise in futility, due mainly to the fact that the Irish were forced to play a talented but not-ready-to-play-these-games freshman and sophomore class almost exclusively. The haters don't care about that. The haters didn't care that Willingham didn't even bring the team's best running back (true freshman Darius Walker) on the trip to BYU for the 2004 season opener. ND lost, a humiliating performance. A week later, Walker ran for over 100 yards in about a quarter and a half when a desperate Willingham pulled him off the bench against Michigan. He led the Irish to an upset win.

That was the thing about Willingham. Even when he brought talented players in to ND, he didn't know how to handle them. Jeff Samardzija didn't catch a TD in his first two years at the school - under Ty. Brady Quinn, who only came to ND after Quinn's HS teammate Chinedum Ndukwe's father convinced Willingham to look at him while recruiting Ndukwe, was a 50 percent passer his first two years at ND. Walker saw the second-most carries, behind Ryan Grant, even though every Irish fan could plainly see Walker should be getting the bulk of the work. Walker went on to be one of the best backs in Irish history in '05 and '06.

When Washington axed Willingham halfway through his fourth season at U-Dub for hideously pathetic performance - the Huskies went 0-12 in his last season - there was almost no talk. No one dared call Washington racist. Because just like at ND, he basically ran the program into the ground with horrible recruiting and bad in-game decisions. It is a mark of Steve Sarkisian's skill as a coach that he has taken Willingham's players and beaten USC. Although the Huskies are 2-3, their losses are to LSU, Stanford and ND - the latter two on the road. All three are solid teams, and all three will probably play January bowl games this year.

Anyway, I could talk about Ty Willingham for hours. This article is not about him.

Why else does Notre Dame matter?

The Irish have essentially decided four Heisman Trophies this decade. Unfortunately, none have been ND players.

2002: Carson Palmer. Palmer shreds the Irish, then ranked top 10 under Willingham, to separate himself from the field (Brad Banks, Larry Johnson, Willis McGahee). If you ask me, just looking at the numbers, Banks or Johnson would've been better picks. But the media hype machine surrounding ND and its opponents carried the day.

2004: Matt Leinart. Leinart shreds the Irish in Willingham's last game as ND coach to separate himself from the field (Adrian Peterson, Jason White, Alex Smith, Reggie Bush). If you ask me, Peterson should have won, but he was a freshman, so he was basically ineligible. Once again, the voting distribution was small enough that one can assume that the media hype machine surrounding ND carried Leinart to a Heisman.

2005: Reggie Bush. Bush ripped ND to shreds in the biggest game of the regular season, USC's 34-31 escape at South Bend. Media pundits, once again, caught up in the ND hype machine, basically announce the Heisman decided. Vince Young and Matt Leinart never have a chance, and Brady Quinn, the best quarterback on the field in that ND/USC game, is eliminated for his defense's failings. Now, this season, Bush probably is the best player. One can make an argument for Young, but Bush was phenomenal. But is he good enough to justify the biggest voting differential from 1 to 2 in Heisman history?

2006: Troy Smith. Smith didn't play ND in 2006. But he did play the Irish in the Fiesta Bowl the year before and enjoyed a solid performance thanks to ND's pathetic defense. The hype machine began for Smith almost immediately. Because Ohio State didn't lose a game in 2006, Smith was given the Heisman by a ridiculous margen over Darren McFadden and Quinn. Smith, facing actual defensive pressure for the first time all season in the BCS title game Jan. 8th, submits one of the worst performances in the history of the quarterback position against Florida.

In addition, Notre Dame made JaMarcus Russell the No. 1 overall draft pick by allowing LSU receivers to get wide open against them in the Sugar Bowl following the 2006 season. Russell, despite doing nothing but chuck the ball deep for wide-open receivers the entire game, despite the fact that LSU's own fans wanted Russell benched for Matt Flynn at points in the '06 season, is made the No. 1 pick by the hype machine. Brady Quinn struggles against a real defense and free-falls to pick 22. Russell is currently one of the biggest train wrecks of a quarterback in the NFL. Quinn...well...let's not talk about it.

Notre Dame still matters. They're still on NBC for all their home games. They still get talked about, year in and year out, more than any other college program. Not one, but both of ESPN's studio analysts for college football coverage are essentially there to wage war about ND (May and Holtz). And when an ND signal-caller plays as well as Jimmy Clausen has this year, they are (albeit bedgrudgingly) placed in the thick of the Heisman race.

No, Notre Dame is not irrelevant. The day the Irish win a game and no one complains or whines about it except the opposing team, or the day ND loses and the only team fan base that's happy about it is the opposing team's - that's when they'll be irrelevant.

Don't hold your breath.

Late Night Last Night

Sorry about no post this morning. Didn't get back from my 'other' job until nearly 3 am.

In the meantime, how about Pete Carroll basically tossing Mark Sanchez under a Hummer at his jumping-to-the-pros presser? I'm reading a lot about it and I'm kind of surprised. Mr. Player's Coach turning on a player? Especially a QB when USC is absolutely loaded with them? There's got to be more to this story. Keep your eye on it...

The Rundown: January 15th, 2009

NCAAB: Loads of Top 25 action.

Nothing overly notable happened last night in the world of college basketball, but there was a boatload of ranked teams in action, and it made for a great night of hoops. Syracuse fell to Georgetown in Big East play, while Pitt and Wake Forest remained undefeated.

Top 25 scores:

#1 Pittsburgh 75, South Florida 62
#2 Duke 70, Georgia Tech 56
#3 Wake Forest 83, Boston College 63
#12 Georgetown 88, #8 Syracuse 74
#10 Michigan State 78, Penn State 73
Texas A&M 84, #21 Baylor 73
Illinois 66, #24 Michigan 51

Stephen Curry also had 39 points in a Davidson win over Elon. Ho-hum.

Tonight's action: Three national games tonight. None of them are particularly great matchups, but all involve Top 20 teams on the road. So you never know. Watch UConn/St. John's and UNC/Virginia in a doubleheader on ESPN at 7, or catch Purdue/Northwestern at 7 on ESPN2.

NFL: Lots of news for a day off.

Leading it off, obviously, is talk from Cowboys' and league sources that T.O. may be cut for chemistry reasons. Ironically, T.O.'s theatrics in Dallas are probably less severe than anything he did in SF or Philly. The clear follow-up question: Where does he go next? (Plax's future in New York is also in question.)

Scott Pioli, the new Chiefs' czar, says that Herm Edwards may be back as head coach. The entire Chiefs' fan base would like to respectfully offer to chug a gallon of brake fluid if that turns into reality.

Anquan Boldin practiced Wednesday and plans to play in the NFC title game.

I caught a very odd blurb in Awful Announcing about Michael Irvin having a gun drawn on him, then proceeding to get sucked into a friendly discussion on the Cowboys with his assailant. This world is crazy sometimes.

In draft declarations: Sam Bradford back to OU, Mark Sanchez off to the NFL.

MLB: Owners calling for a cap?

Oh, boy. Maybe baseball would or would not be better off without a salary cap, but it seems calling for one just because the Yankees signed a ton of free agents again (literally if you include Sabathia) would strike many fans as penis-envy. In any case, nothing is likely to be done about it now: The collective bargaining agreement ends after 2011, so maybe something will happen then. I'll have forgotten about it by that point, of course.

The Last Word:

The NBA won't fine Portland for threatening to sue the hell out of anyone who signed Darius Miles (Memphis did). Let's hope that's the last time the league has to rule on "should we punish a team that threatened lawsuits against any team that picked up our horrible contract?".

The Rundown: January 14th, 2009

NCAAB: Meeks-mania!

I confess when I woke up this morning I didn't know a damn thing about Kentucky star Jodie Meeks. Considering he had already had a 46-point game, I should have. I am failing my duties as a sports fan these days.

But I sure know who he is now after he broke Dan "Go Drink Another Beer" Issel's single-game Kentucky scoring mark with FIFTY-FOUR at Tennessee to move the Wildcats to 2-0 in SEC play, 90-72. It was the highest SEC scoring game since Chris "Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf" Jackson dropped a double nickel for LSU 20 years ago.

The most remarkable thing about this performance - which got Meeks mobbed on a road court by his teammates, which was an odd sight to see on live TV - was that it was insanely efficient. Meeks attempted only 22 shots, which is fewer than your average leading scorer in a game. Meeks was aided by a red-hot 10/15 showing from the 3-point line and he netted all 14 free throws. He's top five in the country in scoring. Maybe it's time to throw this guy in with Curry, Harangody, Hansbrough and Griffin in the National P.O.Y. discussion.

Oh yeah, and Ohio State clobbered IU. Like you didn't know that would happen.

Tons of Top 25 action for Wednesday night. Three games are nationally broadcast and unfortunately, the two really worth watching will both happen at the same time. If you have to pick between #2 Duke at Ga Tech (7 pm, ESPN) and #8 Syracuse at #12 Georgetown (7:30 pm, ESPN2), watch the Big East game. Obviously. But check the Duke game at breaks. Top-ranked Pitt hosts USF too, but that should be an easy one.

Hot Stove: Braves sign Lowe for 4 years and $60 million. Wow. That's a lot of money, especially for the Braves. Not sure about that move at all for the long term, but Lowe should be pretty good - he's a ground ball pitcher in a pitcher's park (Turner Field). For now, he'll be fine. Also, Guillermo Mota signs with L.A. (the real ones, not the ones who changed their name to L.A. for no reason) and Jay "Monkey-Face" Gibbons will sign a minor league deal with Florida.

NFL Draft Declarations: Texas Tech WR Michael Crabtree, Ball State QB Nate Davis (Sniff, Sniff). Percy Harvin and Mark Sanchez are also expected to go (via ESPN), Colt McCoy, as you already know, is supposedly staying, but Sam Bradford is still undecided. Interesting.

And in other NFL news, Scott Pioli jumps to K.C. Of course, he was supposedly headed to Cleveland early this off-season. ESPN.com thinks this means the end for Herm Edwards (he should've been out anyway), with Giants' defensive wizard Steve Spagnuolo probably the favorite to replace him (he'd be a great hire).

The Last Word:

To delve away from sports, does anyone watch How I Met Your Mother? It's probably my favorite show - it's the sitcom that's not a sitcom. It's a half-hour comedy with a laugh track, but it's above most typical sitcomminess, and its callbacks to prior episodes are the best way possible to reward longtime viewers.

Last night they had an interesting episode, where Ted and Robin, exes who now live together, decide to solve their roommate arguments by having sex casually. This is a typical sitcommy plot, and I was worried that HIMYM (him-yim) would revert to typical sitcomminess with it. However, they spun it beautifully into more of a story about Barney's newfound affection for Robin than anything else, and as the narrator - older Ted - said, "Someone did get hurt. It just wasn't one of us."

I love that show. And I just bored 80 percent of anyone who reads this, but you need to watch it. Give it a look, soon.

The Rundown: January 13th, 2009

NCAAB: A very Big Monday.

It was just another Big Monday on ESPN last night, as ND and Louisville battled into overtime and Oklahoma dispatched Texas.

Louisville clobbered ND in overtime to get a much-more-impressive-than-it-really-was 87-73 win over the Fighting Irish. The Irish were clearly gassed, scoring just one field goal in overtime after scoring only four in the final seven or so minutes of regulation. Mike Brey loves to never play his bench, but clearly, something needs adjusting. ND will get worn down by teams like Louisville every time if that keeps up. Luke Harangody put up a Herculean effort again - 28 and 13 - but didn't score in the final 11 minutes of the game. The Irish fall to 3-2 in the Big East, and both those losses could and should easily have been wins. Louisville is 3-0, one of four unbeatens in league play.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma cruised over Texas 78-63. The Horns got as close as four early in the second half but never competed after that. Blake Griffin 'only' had 20 and 10, but it was good enough for his 14th double-double, and for the Sooners' first win over Texas in seven tries.

Those were the only two top 25 games last night. Tonight we don't have any ranked teams in action, but if you'd like, ESPN has a Super Tuesday doubleheader of Indiana/Ohio State and Kentucky/Tennessee starting at 7 pm.

NFL: Dungy's gone.

Tony Dungy retired Monday. I've always thought his firing in Tampa was completely unfair - he turned a laughingstock into a contender and damn near brought them to the Super Bowl in 1999. He then took the Colts and won 87 games with them in seven years. That's productivity. I liken him to Phil Jackson, in that yes, he had probably the best player of his generation (Peyton Manning in this case) and a great supporting cast to work with. However, few coaches can keep such a group hungry enough to be a contender year in and year out. Under Dungy, the Colts went to the playoffs every year. The Colts won six division titles in his first six years. A home playoff game was almost affixed to the end of the team's schedule each year.

Tony Dungy is something that seems almost impossible to become in the NFL these days: an institution. You think of the Colts, and you will think of Dungy. For a long time to come. It's no small feat.

Other news: Marvin Harrison may or may not have been holding a gun during that shooting incident from April...Jeff Fisher calls the missed delay of game call in Saturday's Titans loss to Baltimore "unacceptable". I bet this becomes a reviewable call in 2009.

MLB: About time for Jim Rice.

Jim Rice finally made it into the Hall of Fame Monday. Along with Rickey Henderson, which of course was a foregone conclusion. Rice was a great player. I didn't watch him, so I can't make any real observations or judgments, but at this point, with idiots like Phil Rizzuto and Bill Mazeroski in the Hall of Fame, borderline guys might as well be in. What Rice's selection really does is leave Ron Santo as, pretty much indisputably, the best player not in the Hall. I join the rest of you in awaiting Rickey's induction speech, of course.

No real Hot Stove news to report. Gabe Kapler signed with the Rays, and Mike Scioscia signed a contract extension with Anaheim.

NBA: Pierce and the Celts are back?

Paul Pierce scored 39 and Boston (gasp) won a game, over the Raptors. It's a start. The Bulls got Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng back and it did no good as they lost again. And T-Mac will be out two more weeks to rehab his injury.

The Last Word:

Ok, I'm a Ball State alum, and the snakebitten bad luck of the men's basketball team is getting ludicrous. Peyton Stovall, the best player I had the privilege of watching suit up for our team in my four years, missed an entire season due to injury. The Cards lost an incredible ten games by seven points or less last year, many that came down to the last second, and lost them in just about every way imaginable. Among the close losses was a nine-point defeat to Georgetown at home in which BSU had the ball down six with a minute to go, and ended up losing by nine, with no one taller than 6'4" (or taller than me, to put it in perspective) on the floor. Considering everything that happened when we tried to hire a Thompson to coach Ball State, I can honestly say it was probably as proud as I've ever been to watch a Cardinals team play. And that still stands true now, even after the football team won all 12 regular season games this year.

Anyway, our best player, Anthony Newell, has broken his leg and will miss the rest of the season, and his career. Newell also broke a bone in his foot last year and missed most of the non-conference slate. The poor kid has been robbed of essentially a whole season of his career and won't get it back. BSU might actually have had a shot of winning the pathetic MAC this year (they're 6-7, 1-0 in the MAC), but won't do anything without Newell. At least they won't set another team record for losses, as they have the last two years in a row.

Thanks for dealing with the venting. Back here tomorrow.

The Monday Rundown: January 12th, 2009

NFL Playoffs: Um, what?

Three of the four road teams won in the divisional playoff weekend. Two six seeds beat the top seeds for the first time ever. The unanimously considered worst team in the playoffs absolutely plastered one of the believed-to-be playoff-readiest teams. Home teams have won 3 of the 8 games so far.

Yeah, it's a weird NFL season.

So here we are. The Arizona Cardinals are hosting an NFC championship game. Baltimore and Pittsburgh will meet up in the AFC title game. I think one thing you can say is that these both look to be entertaining, up-in-the-air matchups. Right now, my gut's telling me all-Pennsylvania Super Bowl. But that could change.

The Panthers were clearly not ready to play for whatever reason. It took Steve Smith nearly three quarters to get a reception. Jake Delhomme had five interceptions and probably could have had ten. The Cardinals threw to Larry Fitzgerald with impunity because Carolina was more than happy to single-cover him and see what happened, even though Arizona didn't have anyone else worth covering on their team (don't give me Breaston - as my friend Mark would say, he is a 'prospect of the system'). Gotta give Arizona their due though - they played hard-nosed defense, forced Jake into some horrid decisions, and took advantage of the mistakes. They've proved a lot of people wrong this postseason.

The Chargers game was the only one that went about as expected. San Diego didn't have the answer to Pittsburgh's defense's question: How can you beat us? Expect the under on that AFC game (33 is the O/U right now).

Off the field: The Broncos are allegedly about to hire Josh McDaniels, offensive wunderkind from New England, as head coach. Gutsy move. Smart move? We'll see.

NCAAB: UNC 0-2, ND 45.

North Carolina's now 0-2 in the ACC. How about that? This one wasn't nearly as surprising as the BC defeat - Wake Forest is a top 5 team and is unbeaten. But this is still incredible. Everyone's pick to go unbeaten has gone USC football on us and dropped two in a row. The Tim Tebow of football (good player, charismatic, horrendously overrated by absolutely everyone), Tyler Hansbrough, went 3/12, but did shoot eleven free throws to tally a 17/11 double-double. Somehow, I'm not remotely surprised that "Psycho T" won his points from the line. He's basically Luke Harangody except the refs call fouls against his opponents.

Speaking of Harangody, his team stretched their nation's-longest home court winning streak to 45 games over the weekend by staving off Seton Hall by nine. The Irish were helped immensely by a stupid play by the Pirates' Jeremy Hazell. After putting Seton Hall up by four on the second of back-to-back steal-and-layups, Hazell yelled at the Irish's Ryan Ayers for no reason, drawing a technical. ND proceeded to sink two free throws, then a bucket, to tie it back up, and Seton Hall never gained control. Harangody struggled mightily at times from the floor, shooting 8/23, but scored 30 points, grabbed 16 rebounds (7 offensive) and earned himself a prickly defense from his normally easygoing coach, Mike Brey.

Brey talked after the game about the general media opinion that the national player of the year race is essentially down to Hansbrough, Oklahoma's Blake Griffin and possibly Davidson's Stephen Curry. He said, "It pisses me off. How the hell is that possible?" (Gotta say, the dude's got a point. The man's averaging something like 28 and 15 in conference play so far.)

In other business: Duke overcame a 19-14 first half (yes, that was the score) to beat FSU on the road...Clemson is still unbeaten too...Louisville edged Villanova on the road (they host ND tonight at 7 pm on ESPN)...Purdue finally won a Big Ten game over Wisconsin.

Watch tonight: Both Big Monday games on ESPN. Louisville will host ND at 7 in a huge Big East game for both (kicks off a stretch of five ranked teams in the next seven for the Irish), while Texas and Oklahoma go head to head at 9. Get a good look at Griffin, who is more than deserving to be in the discussion with Harangody and Hansbrough for national player of the year consideration.

NBA: The Bulls stink.

I'll be honest, the NBA is rapidly approaching NHL levels for me, only it's on TV so I can't avoid it. I follow the Bulls because I always have, but I can't stand to watch them these days because it's Derrick Rose and a bunch of crap. Actually, the rest of the Bulls sully the good name of crap. Chicago managed to lose - at home - to two of the worst teams in the NBA this week, Minnesota and Oklahoma City. They managed to beat two other bad teams, the Kings and Wizards, in the middle of that sandwich, but they're a joke. They've gone from team that was largely favored to win the East to complete laughingstock in just over a year. Good job, Paxson. Good job.

Other news: Al Horford's out a while with a knee bruise...a proposed three-team deal with the Mavs, Bobcats and Thunder seems to have fizzled.

Hot Stove: No real news. Pedro's talking with the Marlins, but they were supposed to get Manny too. Michael Young's apparently demanding a trade from Texas, but we'll just see what happens with that.

The Last Word:

Tim Tebow's coming back. Good for him. I was hoping he would. As I alluded to above, I think Tebow is very overrated, but it's always nice when a college star stays in college. I've grown to love college sports far more than their professional counterparts, and guys like Tebow - who, let's be honest, won't ever be a traditional quarterback in the NFL - are the reason. College allows things like Tim Tebow to happen. You can say it's lesser-quality football, and bemoan their lack of a 'true' national champion, but damn it, it's just entertaining.

Florida should be prohibitive favorites to win the national title again with Tebow back, especially if Percy Harvin comes back too, which some reports say he's leaning towards.

Happy Monday...

Divisional Playoff Weekend II

Well, that went well. I was 0-for-2 on my picks, my team got blown out of the water by a team universally considered the worst of the final eight, and that team didn't even have their top wideout. I don't know that I've ever felt quite so gut-punched by the Panthers, even when John Kasay kicked the ball out of bounds in the Super Bowl.

It felt a lot like the 2005 NFC title game, when Carolina came into Seattle as a popular underdog and just got blitzed 37-7. Steve Smith was triple-teamed the entire game, but proved his worth by returning a punt for a TD in that game. I was actually reminded of it because Mark Jones broke a couple of good kick returns but didn't take any back, and I don't think Carolina has a kick return of any type for a TD since that game.

Anyway, take two:

Eagles at Giants (1 pm, Fox)

The two teams split the regular-season meetings, and the Eagles owned the Giants the second time around. New York just hasn't been the same since Plaxico Burress and Antonio Pierce went out clubbing. Except for one game (oh, against my Panthers, of course), they really just have not been the offensive team they were prior to that incident.

Meanwhile, the Eagles are one of the hottest teams in the league. They are 5-1 since the McNabb benching and were about a half-yard away from having a chance to be 6-0. Brian Westbrook is the best player on the field in this game, and I'm a big proponent of picking the team with the best player on the field unless there is a compelling reason not to (like, say, Tarvaris Jackson). That's why, in an upset, I'm taking the Eagles. Meaning Arizona will host an NFC title game. Oh, boy.

Chargers at Steelers (4:30 pm, CBS)

If San Diego were to win this game and Philly wins theirs, two teams that were a combined one game above .500 in the regular season would host conference title games, which would probably be the single most insane thing to ever happen.

But I don't see it. I don't see Darren Sproles ripping off 300 yards of yardage again. I don't see Phil Rivers being able to dissect the Pittsburgh defense, certainly not in that mud heap Pittsburgh plays on. I don't see Pittsburgh folding in a big spot like the Colts did in overtime and to a lesser extent, in the fourth quarter. I don't see "Seven" making a game-changing mistake or getting rattled by pressure. And I don't see San Diego beating the Steelers today. After all, at least one home team has to win, right?

More later, including Mike Brey's unusually prickly defense of Luke Harangody and UNC possibly going 0-2 in the ACC (???). Enjoy the games.