Who was your first Notre Dame hero?
Julius Jones… what can I say, I’m a young college kid, and while I generally remember the awesomeness of attending ND games as a kid, I can’t say that I remember specifically too many of the names. I do, however, remember a sick nasty runningback reeking havoc on opposing defenses. #22 for life.
When was the first time the Fighting Irish broke your heart?January of 2006. Growing up in a suburb of Cleveland, all of my friends constantly talked about the great sweatervest and tOSU, so it only seemed fitting that weeks after receiving my ND acceptance letter, I host all of my Ohio State friends for the ’06 Fiesta Bowl in order to bask in glory as my Irish stomped all over their program. Needless to say, Ted Ginn and Co. had other ideas, and I spent the rest of the night surrounded by my exuberant red jersied friends and drowning my sorrows in buffalo chicken dip.
3. Let's suppose for just a moment that for whatever reasons the Notre Dame football program begins to slide into what looks like long term mediocrity, or even long term suckitude:
- NBC doesn't renew the television deal, and the package offered by the Versus network makes it clear that remaining independent will mean a lot less $$$ than joining a conference and sharing in their TV deal. Should the Irish join a conference? If so, which? Why that one?
I think that the U should stick it to the man on this one and preserve it’s independence, holding tradition over bigger bucks. This school has the unique capability of scheduling a big game every week, and if it wants to continue earning money without NBC, all it needs to do is kick ass against good teams week in and week out. Good football will always find its way onto TV... (Besides, we had something like a 25% return on our endowment fund last year… why do we need money?)
I we absolutely become unable to win games for decades at a time, I would have to agree with OC and join the Ivy league. I’d much obtain wins by competing against top academic institutions than by attacking the MAC, Sunbelt, and Mountain West (SDSU) on a consistent basis to post wins.
The Indiana legislature has been taken over by a coalition of tee totaling, non-violent religious groups that outlaw both beer and football, and the University is forced to end the football program. To which college football team do you switch your allegiance, and why?
I would never be able to root for the in state Buckeyes, and seeing as Ohio (especially the norther part) is pretty void of football power, I would have to turn to my neighboring states. Michigan and Indiana are full of rivals, so they're out of the question. In Pennsylvania, I would probably have to side with Penn State over Pitt. The school is full of (up until recently) generally positive tradition, and I would still get to butt heads with my in-state friends once a year.
4. While on campus on a football Saturday you stop by the Knights of Columbus building to get your traditional steak and gristle sandwich. You also take the opportunity to pop inside the building to use the restroom before following the band over to the stadium. While waiting in line for the bathroom and watching the endlessly running Rudy on the K of C television you make the acquaintance of an older gentleman with a beard. He's rather short, but very energetic for his obviously advanced age. You allow him to cut in line in front of you. When he comes out of the restroom, obviously relieved, he thanks you and then steps in really close to you and whispers in your ear. "I'll grant you two wishes. The first - Notre Dame will beat any team you choose for the next ten seasons. The second, the Irish will also lose for ten straight years to any team you name. Quick now, what two teams will they be?!" You blurt out your two answers, and he disappears into the crowd. What two teams did you pick, and why?
I have to pick USC for the first part of the question. 5 years of thumping the perennial California powerhouse in So Cal should give us an edge in recruiting that part of the country, and I could perhaps see Pete Carroll actually go crazy.
After trying to escape the second part of the question by holding my breath until I passed out, I would probably say something like “Oh my!” which the old man may confuse for “Roll Tide,” starting a decade of losses to Saban’s boys in Bama. The end result of this scenario wouldn’t be all that bad though, as ND and Bama could start up an exciting ND / SEC rivalry that would hopefully be entertaining for more than ten years.
5. I'm a terrible predictor. I'm pretty good at analysis, but I'm no good picking games because I almost always pick the Irish. But we need to get on the record here. Notre Dame has games left against North Carolina, Washington, Pitt, Boston College, Navy, Syracuse, and USC. Pick the winner of each of those seven games. Assign each pick points based upon your level of confidence in the pick. Most confident pick gets a 7, least confident pick gets a 1. Each value 1 through 7 must be used once. A perfect score of all picks correct would be worth a total of 28 points. The member of the Irish Blogger Gathering with the highest point total wins a prize of my choosing at the end of the regular season. In case of a tie, the tiebreaker is the member who has the best overall season based on quantity and quality of posts to their blog from now through the end of the season, as voted by the members of the Gathering.
Per my previous predictions:
UNC: W 1
Washington: W 7
Pitt: L 2
BC: W 3
Navy: W 5
Syracuse: W 6
USC: L 4
1 comment:
Well done Pops! Funny as hell that "Pops" is probably the youngest blogger in the Gathering.
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