Surely Notre Dame is worthy of entry into the College Football Playoffs. Yet, facing the results of last night's games, what more can the Irish do to prove their worthiness? Trial by Fire A 50-gallon drum of burning refuse and offal is placed before Brian Kelly. He reaches in and pulls out the remnants of Michigan’s Revenge Tour. If Kelly is uninjured, then he is worthy to lead his team into the playoffs. If he also pulls any remnant of Michigan’s pride, he’s a miracle-worker. Trial ...
College Football Playoffs
Good Fridays w/Padre: Unexpectations
What an unexpected year! No one should have been surprised that 2016 followed 2015; but the manner in which it followed was surprising: Not so much as night follows day, but more as a troop of rabid baboons follows the tourist who went to relieve himself behind the bushes and missed the bus back to the safari lodge, all while having his pockets stuffed full of beef jerky and hard candies. The Fighting Irish 4-8: We began the 2016 season ranked tenth and widely expected to vie for a place in ...
TCB Poll 2106: Week 10
The nation will be glued to the TV tonight to see the only poll results that matter: The College Football Playoff. (Right? Isn't that what all the polling stations are for?) ...
TCB Poll 2016: Week 8
With the advent of the College Football Playoff, we -- the Elvii of college football -- have joined together to present our weekly playoff nominations to keep the selection committee honest. We call it the TCB Poll. ...
TCB Poll 2016: Week 7
With the advent of the College Football Playoff, we -- the Elvii of college football -- have joined together to present our weekly playoff nominations to keep the selection committee honest. We call it the TCB Poll. ...
Good Fridays w/Padre: Sunday Services
I haven’t had to perform too many theological gymnastics in order to accept that we start this year’s Football March to Victory on a Sunday. Yes, it is The Lord’s Day. But you can go to Mass on Saturday evening and it still counts. The Lord is just happy to see you, and He appreciates that you stopped in for a visit. Besides, we don’t take the Bible literally. If we did, there would be a lot of eyes plucked out for looking at filthy images (like USC and Alabama playing with each other), and a ...
Good Fridays w/Padre: 2025 A.D.
There is a class of third-graders in California that has adopted the University as something of learning partner, teacher’s aide, and mentor. These young lads and lasses call themselves the Notre Dame Class of 2029. I enthusiastically applaud this kind of bold, audacious vision and aspiration; after all, in 1842, I declared a mildewed log cabin on the Midwestern American tundra to be a University. Didn’t go from mission to school to college – never used the word ‘impossible’ – didn’t bother to ...
Good Fridays w/Padre: Burned after Reading
Dear Playoff Selection Cabal Committee: I lodged a complaint with you last year when you began this sinister manipulation of the national treasure that is the venerable college football tradition. You fared somewhat well with your collusory scheme in your first attempt, though I suspect this had more to do with the sort of benighted luck visited upon a broken analogue clock that succeeds in telling accurate time in two minutes out of the 24-hour day. With this year’s shambolic farce, though, ...
TCB Poll: Week 13 Reactions
With the advent of the College Football Playoff in 2014, we -- the Elvii of college football -- have joined together to present our weekly playoff nominations to keep the selection committee honest. We call it the T.C.B. Poll. ...
TCB Poll: Week 12 Reactions
With the advent of the College Football Playoff in 2014, we -- the Elvii of college football -- have joined together to present our weekly playoff nominations to keep the selection committee honest. We call it the T.C.B. Poll. ...