Excuses, Excuses

For everyone that has been regularly checking Charlie's Nasties last week in hope of a new post only to be disappointed, I must apologize. After my first round of tests, I was compelled to take a long study break, so I flew to the land down under to party with this kid for a day or two.



But now that I'm back, it's time to at least partially recap two big games played by the men's basketball team.

Notre Dame proved that they could protect this house against 16th ranked Marquette in a game that showed very solid performances from everyone on ND's roster. Out of everyone who played, Rob Kurz's 5 points was the lowest total; 5 players notched double figures, Ayers contributed 9, and The People's Court dropped 7, including some clutch free throws down the stretch. Jackson continued his streak of superb play, accumulating 8 assists and coming up with some unlikely boards. Tory once again showed his ability to give the team an energy boost when he started off the game by blocking one of Marquette's 6'8" forwards, setting the tempo for the rest of the game.

The student section also helped set the tempo; by Saturday morning, the line to get in Gate 11 stretched all the way down the old Juniper Street. Some students began camping out in one of the heating ducts adjacent Gate 11 as early as Thursday afternoon to score some premo seats. By Friday night, 4 of these ducts were filled to capacity with sleeping students. The inpromptu campground was dubbed 'Breytopia' in honor of the coach who hooked them up with some free za after noticing the large turnout.
Breytopia would also like to thank the members of ND Nation who were kind enough to stop by with food and drink

None of the dorm rooms near me have ESPNU, and at first, things looked bleak for getting a chance to watch the UConn game, but lo and behold, I was invited to one of those fancy "meet and great" informal dinners at Legends.... where they were showing the game on a 15' projection screen. Unfortunately, ND's inability to capitalize on many Huskie mistakes late in the game prevented me from witnessing a win.

Harangody and Jackson both played very well, but the lack of production from anyone else on the team (except for McAlarney who scored 12 points with a very inefficient 4-14 shooting) ended up costing them the game. On the bright side, ND did take a top 20 team down to the wire on the road (which is considerably better than getting blown out by 30 points), held their star player to only 4 points, and best of all: the loss was on the road...

Go Irish. Beat Knights!

New Years

Coincidentally, the close of Notre Dame's football season lined up pretty well with the ending of the Church's liturgical year, and while the end of the 2007 campaign was accompanied with some discussion of the apocalypse, the optimism brought along with the start of a new season is refreshing, even though it comes at the expense of having to watch Top 10 segments void of much pigskin action.

However, there is no need to fear the complete absence of Notre Dame Football in the next few months: loyal readers can look forward to post-season recaps (grades, awards, and such) before very premature previews for next season (what better way to spend Christmas than completely breaking down the San Diego State defensive line?).

However, While this blog projects a gridiron image, the Nasties crew is also a proud member of the Leprechaun Legion, so especially in these months of slow football news, don't be surprised to see a few posts devoted to the hardwood. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and this picture (from und.com's photo gallery), along with it's caption, offers a fair summation of the Irish's most recent win over Patriot League foe, Colgate:




"Kyle McAlarney, starting junior point guard, prepares to shoot the ball as the Colgate coach yells at his players to play better defense."

No joke. That's the actual caption.

Notre Dame's 94-63 win on Monday marked the 23rd straight win at the Joyce Center, 1 W shy of the school record. With a win over an Eastern Michigan squad this Saturday, the Irish can finally start making history in a good way.

I'd also like to point out to those that haven't already noticed, Charlie's Nasties has now gone global, with readers from Panama, Ireland, England, Germany, Australia, and our friendly neighbors of the north. Check out the real-time map at the bottom of the site to see the last 1000 visitors in the U.S.

Go Irish. Beat Eagles.