With Tex on his first week of federally mandated HLSMLA, it’s up to yours truly to fill in and take you through the highs and lows of the week, insofar as the Irish are concerned. So let’s get after it:
The Draft: So last night kicked off the NFL Draft, the League’s star-studded selection show upon which professional football fans will pin their hopes for the next decade until next year. Jameis Winston went first, to Tampa Bay, while Leonard Williams, Andrus Peat, Cameron Erving, Nelson Agholor, Damarious Randall, and DeVante Parker all ended up as first rounders faced by Notre Dame last season.
Before we leave talk of the draft, it bears noting that this week marks, as well, the fortieth anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the “end” of the Vietnam “War.” I couldn’t help but compare the spectacle of beaming young men, clad in fantastically expensive bespoke suits, striding to shake the hand of the newly for-profit commissioner to the young men whose numbers were drawn and who ultimately fought and died in our nation’s Southeast Asian adventure.
Shots Fired: If not the weirdest development of Draft Day One, the news coming out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was certainly the most disturbing. LSU’s La’el Collins, a certain first round pick, begged to be placed into the league’s supplemental draft when news that BRPD wanted to question him in the death of his pregnant former girlfriend, who died of gunshot wounds. La’el will be tested to determine if he is the father of the baby, who survived the murder, but is not slated to talk to the cops until next week. Whether he gets picked up by a team, much less whether or not he will face criminal charges, are questions that won’t be answered for awhile.
In unrelated, related news, Cyrus Jones became the FOURTH ‘Bama player arrested since late March. Of this year. Honestly.
Shots Fired: The NCAA and the SEC are after Notre Dame’s A.D., Captain Jack Swarbrick, and he’s shooting back. With coaches in the SEC banned by their league from conducting “satellite camps,” they, and the NCAA are firing up the shutdown machine in an effort to end Brian Kelly’s barnstorming through their backyards. Notre Dame’s head coach will be holding camps in Georgia, Texas, and Los Angeles this summer and this has Auburn’s A.D. hot between his collar and his big, old, red neck. “Camps have been in the past a challenging thing to monitor and keep up with and we’ve been very successful in our league of doing that so let’s don’t create a new paradigm for everybody,” said Jay Jacobs. “Plus our league has done pretty well as far as recruiting goes as it is. It seems to benefit some schools that may be in the past had a history of success and now don’t so they’re trying to grow their brand a little bit more. For us, we like where we are.” For his part, Jack Swarbrick is confident that anti-trust laws will keep the NCAA from banning the camps.
Oh, Canada!: Melissa Tancredi will join Notre Dame’s and Redondo Beach‘s very own Shannon Boxx at the Women’s World Cup this summer. Melissa, a 2004 graduate, was named to Canada’s national team. Perhaps best known for stomping on Cari Lloyd’s head, Tancredi is no stranger to the world stage, once beating the vaunted Hope Solo.
Chewie, we’re home.
The booze: I’m not a beer guy, and with the weather in the Big Easy sunny, warm, and Stefani this weekend, I can’t help but think the Venetian Sunrise is the perfect accompaniment to whatever you get up to. In a champagne flute, combine prosecco, fresh orange juice, and a splash of grenadine. When it perfected, it should look just like this:
- Finding Flaws in a Diamond: Clemson’s Rushing Offense - December 17, 2018
- Why Nobody Will Cotton to Notre Dame - December 3, 2018
- Irish Finish Regular Season Perfect 12-0 - November 26, 2018