One of your biggest “gets” was the mid-season interview with athletic director Jack Swarbrick this year. Take us behind the scenes a bit. What was your pitch on why Swarbrick should talk to you? Or did he seek you out? 

Simple: I asked him during the bye week if he’d be available to chat about the season. He’s usually pretty accessible, and this case was no different. When it comes to work philosophy, I’m from the Joe Maddon school of thought: Do Simple Better. And this job, at its core, really comes down to one skill: Asking — asking questions, asking for documents, asking for contact information … you name it. The worst that can happen is you get told no.

Swarbrick later said he’d be “much less likely” to speak about a coach’s status midseason because “it came back and bit me in the butt.” What did you make of that? Was there any part of you that thought he was taking an unnecessary risk by speaking to you?

Credit: Associated Press / Joe Raymond

Not really. Like I said, he’s pretty accessible. If you think about it, there was only one way to really answer my question, which Swarbrick did. No sane athletic director is going to publicly put his head football coach on notice via the media when the season is only seven games old. Add in the fact that Brian Kelly and the staff were out recruiting that week, and what other message is there to send to the public? He’s smart enough to know that I’m a reporter and that my antennae might go up if he chooses to ignore me. And that usually does no one any good.

Social media has opened up new avenues of interacting with media. What’s your overall impression of Notre Dame fans? Where do they rank on the spectrum of “awesome” to “annoying”? 

It can be a tough group to gauge for the simple fact that the school itself is small, so the majority of people praising or criticizing your work didn’t attend Notre Dame. That’s not to say that you can’t be a real fan if you didn’t go there — some of my extended family members are proof of that — but the emotional attachment to the place might be a little different for somebody who lived in those dorms and sat in that student section during some of the most important years of his or her life.

Most of the Irish fans I’ve interacted with beyond simple tweets are really, really nice. They’re very hospitable to opposing fans at tailgates — coming from a Big Ten school, I was blown away by that — and they always make me feel welcomed whenever I walk around campus. Of course, after my second game on the beat — that infamous collapse in the Big House’s first-ever night game — another writer shared an email he received from an anti-abortion website saying Notre Dame’s loss at Michigan could only be explained by the Holy Mother exacting her vengeance on the place for having invited that “baby killer” Obama to speak on campus. Somehow, I managed to miss that angle while covering the game.

What’s one thing that you’ll miss about covering the Irish, if you don’t continue in this capacity with another outlet? What’s one thing you won’t miss? What’s one thing that the football staff could do that wouldn’t take a lot of effort, but would help the beat writers considerably?

The last part is easy, and one that anyone who works at Notre Dame has heard me and countless other writers talk about again and again: Make assistant coaches available to the media in-season. I know assistants speak at fewer and fewer places these days, but it wasn’t this way at Notre Dame as recently as 2011. When we do get them, most of the assistants are awesome to talk to and represent the school in a great way.

I’ll never forget Pat Narduzzi’s answer when I sat in his office after he got hired at Pitt and asked him how different it was to be in the head coach’s seat, after so many years as a defensive coordinator at Michigan State. He said it wasn’t too big of an adjustment, citing the fact that Mark Dantonio had prepared him for the moment while at Michigan State by making him face the media often.

Moreover, the simple fact of the matter is that a head coach alone is not qualified to speak in-depth about 100-plus kids on his roster. It’s literally impossible for Kelly, or anyone, to do that intelligently on a weekly basis, and it leads to a few unintentionally awkward moments where he misspeaks at times. (I’ve had at least one starter over the years tell me he had no idea what Kelly was referring to whenever Kelly referenced a play of his, since the two interacted so infrequently on the field.) That’s where assistants come in, since they’re more hands-on with a smaller group of players than a head coach probably ever could be, given the demands of that job.

As for what I’ll miss the most: The people. Some of the nicest and smartest I’ve ever dealt with. But enough about the basketball team. (Kidding!) And the place is never, ever at a shortage for stories or readers, no matter how good or bad things are going.

Why did you get involved with the Football Writers Association of America and what do you see as your role as a director in that organization?

Pittsburgh Panthers running back James Conner / Charles LeClaire – USA TODAY Sports

My college adviser, Malcolm Moran, was a longtime reporter who still plays a big role with the FWAA and suggested I try to help out wherever I could. Frankly, I owe my career to Malcolm and would jump off a bridge if he told me to, so this was a no-brainer. The organization asked me two years ago to be in charge of its Courage Award — which, as you can imagine, annually goes to college football’s most courageous figure — and I have been tasked with nominating players and coaches weekly during the season, before ultimately choosing a winner. Some of these stories are simply incredible, and they have made for some really tough decisions on our end. Miami offensive lineman Hunter Knighton, who nearly died on the practice field from heatstroke, was last year’s winner. Pitt running back James Conner was this year’s winner, and having gotten to know him and his family before he was diagnosed with cancer and became a national symbol, I’m not surprised by the way he’s handled everything good and bad that’s come his way in the past year.

You’re a Penn State alumnus, who graduated right before the child abuse sex scandal rocked that university. How did you process what you were reading and learning, both as an alumnus and as a sportswriter who recognizes how huge this story was?

As an alumnus, I was infuriated. That grand jury report had my stomach in knots. And while whatever belief you have in institutions or famous people erodes once you’re in this business and you get a front-row seat to some of the politics that go on behind-the-scenes, you also don’t envision being flat-out embarrassed to tell people where you went to school. But that’s the bed Penn State made for itself.

Once that first wave of news hit, I can’t say I was too surprised by much of the fallout. Having covered that program in the two years prior to the scandal, the level of institutional arrogance there at the time was off-putting and you just knew the place would trip all over itself if a day of reckoning ever came. There is certainly a segment of the fanbase that has contributed to the ugly picture being painted there, but most of my college friends are fellow journalists, and we all find ourselves from time to time asking each other: “Wait, this place wasn’t that crazy when we were there, right?” (Most of the remaining crazies there do seem to be non-students — and in many cases even non-alums stationed in Central Pa. — for what it’s worth.)

That said, knowing the circumstances, I’ve been beyond impressed with the jobs both Bill O’Brien and James Franklin have done there. If you were following me on Twitter when Penn State was 2-2 earlier this year amid plenty of hot-seat talk for Franklin, you’d know I felt that that chatter was ridiculous, despite the fact that that noise wasn’t coming from just nowhere. (Though I most certainly did not see PSU winning nine straight games and making the Rose Bowl anytime in the near future. Wow.)

Let’s talk sartorial choices for a moment. You’re not afraid of bright colors and you’ve taken at least two pictures in a “brotop.” Where do you find the courage, sir?

Credit: Matt Fortuna / Instagram

You only found two, huh? Well, I figure if Brian Kelly can wear a crazy plaid jacket to a press conference — and still accuse me of looking like a damn leprechaun — the rest of us can exercise a little creativity. And when you’re working at the same place as Edward Aschoff and Sam Khan, well, a high bar has been set. Having a mother who works at J. Crew has also probably allowed my wardrobe to venture to places I might otherwise avoid. I’m just glad you didn’t ask about the infamous inadvertent mustache episode. (Between that, the Freddie dust-up and my brief moment of fame at Wrigley, I’m pretty sure I’ll at least have a cameo in any remake of “Seinfeld” if this writing thing doesn’t work out.)

Jesus fed 5,000 people with four loaves of bread and two fish. What have you accomplished with Fortuna?

I just made it through a Notre Dame/journalism Q&A without being asked about Manti Te’o’s girlfriend. That has to count for something, no?

Our thanks again to Matt Fortuna. Follow him on Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram. 

The post Catching Up With Matt Fortuna (Part 2) appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Credit: Matt Fortuna / Instagram

Matt Fortuna spent six years covering the Notre Dame football team up close for ESPN. His tenure at the World Wide Leader ended Dec. 31, but the future remains bright for this 2011 Penn State graduate.

We caught up this week with Fortuna to discuss his story so far – and his road ahead in sportswriting. This is the first of a lengthy two-part interview. The second installment will appear tomorrow.

First, tell us a bit about yourself. Where did you grow up? Where is home nowadays? What do you do when you’re not researching/interviewing/filing stories? What’s your favorite sport to watch live and which teams are your favorite?

First things first: I was born and raised on the mean streets of Manhattan’s Upper East Side. As you can imagine, despite being in the shadow of future Big Ten power Rutgers, college football wasn’t exactly the most popular sport in the area.

Credit: Associated Press

I was spoiled as hell as a Yankees fan, and much later on with the Giants. But the sport I fell in love with — and still am, really — was basketball, both college and pro. My dad had some close friends from Syracuse, and I got hooked on the college game during John Wallace and the gang’s memorable run to the title game in 1996. That would eventually lead to far too many missed school days to check out matinee Big East tournament games at the Garden, which doubled as the site of my first real — and scarring — in-person sports memory as a kindergartener: Patrick Ewing’s missed finger roll in Game 7 of the 1995 Eastern semifinals against the Pacers, which later became the impetus for a “30 for 30” on the rivalry. Go figure.

To make matters worse, we were sitting behind that basket. I ended up practically living at the Garden while growing up, and my heart was inevitably broken year after year despite promising Knicks runs. Throw in the fact that my mother was from Chicago and Michael Jordan owned the Knicks (and everyone else) back then, and I guess I had a pretty tortured childhood.

How’s this circle back to now? Well, long story short, my mother’s mother was an Irish Catholic in Chicago who more or less demanded I watch and go to Notre Dame. (Despite, of course, having no family connections to the school.) The first part was easy, as I began to love college football by the time I got to Xavier High School and was surrounded by even more Irish Catholics. (I’m half-Irish, but my dad was born in Italy.)

As for the second part, when my grandmother sent me a blank check to apply to Notre Dame, I sent her back my report card and told her to save her money. (We’ll just blame the academic shortcomings on the aforementioned Big East games.) When I got the job at ESPN covering the Irish, it was, in some ways, even better in my grandmother’s eyes than attending the place. (Although, naturally, she didn’t have a computer and only read Brian Hamilton in the Tribune.)

I’m in Chicago now, but my dad and both my brothers are still in New York and I try to get back as much as possible. Sports in some way, shape or form consumes most of my professional and social life, but I absolutely love traveling, am always reading something and, fairly recently, began coaching youth basketball on the side, which is a blast. I’m also a dog lover. Oh, and my family is in the restaurant business, and while you’ll never see me Yelping, I do try to hit as many different spots in as many different cities as possible. (Until the fateful day when I finally learn how to actually cook a decent Italian meal. Maybe Bob Diaco can lend me a hand.)

I think a lot of our readers will know you from your coverage of Notre Dame. But you were also responsible for covering ACC football for ESPN. How was your week broken down? Did ESPN prefer you spent time covering one over the other?

Credit: Matt Fortuna / Instagram

Every week was unique, depending on what happened the previous weekend and which matchups were coming up. I was lucky to have the absolute best group of colleagues on the ACC beat in Andrea Adelson, David Hale and Jared Shanker, whom I actually lived above during my senior year of college. The four of us are very, very close. There was no real directive in terms of covering one thing over the other, but reporting on programs both big and small proved beneficial, as you’re able to cover the best of the best while also building deeper relationships with important figures at programs that don’t get as much media attention. Was it hectic at times? Sure, but I loved it. And the more programs you cover, the better perspective you get of what works and what doesn’t in terms of coaching philosophies, media access and other matters.

There was no real directive in terms of covering one thing over the other, but reporting on programs both big and small proved beneficial, as you’re able to cover the best of the best while also building deeper relationships with important figures at programs that don’t get as much media attention. Was it hectic at times? Sure, but I loved it. And the more programs you cover, the better perspective you get of what works and what doesn’t in terms of coaching philosophies, media access and other matters.

We were all caught off guard by your ESPN departure, mostly because I think the consensus among our group was that you were working the beat very well. What was your reaction?

Appreciate that, gang. Perhaps I’ve had pieces of humanity sucked out of me over the years from listening to the same football coaches preach the same cliche over and over again: “You can only control what you can control.” But for me, that simply meant busting my behind every day at a job I loved despite knowing nothing was ever really guaranteed in this business — which, as you all know, is changing by the day.

My reaction to the news? Twenty-seven years ago I was on life support after emergency open-heart surgery and given little chance to live. That — and the seemingly eternal aftermath — was tough. Right now I’m just excited about the new challenges ahead after a great run at ESPN, who took a chance on a recent college graduate six years ago and gave him a huge platform, a vast audience and amazing colleagues to work with. For me both personally and professionally, it is time for a change.

One of your strengths is that you’re diversified. People can read your stuff on a couple of different sites. For the short term, where can people find your work?

I appeared on CLTV’s SportsFeed this week talking about the title game, the Big Ten’s bowl struggles and Notre Dame’s wild 2016. I also wrote a title-game preview piece for The New York Times, a place that I have freelanced for in the past. I should have some college basketball stories coming shortly for a number of outlets as well. 

What’s the long term plan? Have you given any consideration to covering a different team? A different sport? You spent some time covering Yankees and Pirates baseball and we know you can rock a Cubs hat and a beer with the best of them.

Credit: Matt Fortuna / Instagram

Funny story behind that Cubs photo: Before the game I was texting with Pete Toma, an excellent producer for the Pirates whom I got to know during my time in Pittsburgh. He asked where I was sitting and, thinking he wanted to come say hello, I told him I was at a rooftop and would probably have to wait until after the game to meet up.

A few minutes later, he texted me that photo, saying: “This rooftop?” As for my plan, I’m hesitant to make any long-term statements given the nature of this business. College sports is my bread-and-butter and I absolutely love it, but I certainly am open to a change if the opportunity presents itself. I will say that covering the NBA has always been appealing to me.

Not a lot of beat writers have to stand in front of a camera and talk to anchors on “Outside the Lines” or “Sportscenter.” Did you relish those opportunities? Are you at all interested in pursuing a television career instead of online print or newspaper?

Credit: Matt Fortuna / Instagram

As a writer at heart, I’m in favor of anything positive that can direct more eyeballs to my written work. There are few better places to do that than on-camera for ESPN. TV hits were rewarding, despite the fact they usually happened in light of a player arrest or some other misgiving. You always hear from people you hadn’t spoken to in years after you go on. More importantly, you gain legitimacy in the eyes of the people you cover. I’m not saying that’s how it should be, but that’s how it is, even if I was no smarter after an appearance than I was before. Players, coaches and administrators just seemed more forthcoming.

As for pursuing a TV career, we’ll see. I’d imagine I’d need much more on-air experience to have a full-time TV gig, though most of the TV pros started as writers anyway. It’s important to be able to do both to some degree in this climate. That said, I absolutely love writing, even if I know a potential article of mine is going to get buried by other content on a page and won’t be well-read. I don’t care. I was the nerd in school who looked forward to writing assigned essays and, at least at this stage of my career, I can never see myself giving that up in full.

There’s no lack of Notre Dame football coverage nowadays. Some of the writers have spent years cultivating sources within the program. How difficult was it to get a toehold? What was your “I made it” moment? 

My “I made it” moment was obviously getting ethered by Freddie Prinze Jr. on Twitter before the 2016 spring game. You don’t know how many times I saw some of his movies growing up. (Or how many times he still tweets me over random football stuff. Seriously.)

To your first question, though: It takes a lot of time and effort, for sure. My first day on the beat came the week of the USF opener in 2011, and I’d be lying to you if I said that season didn’t feel like drinking water from a fire hydrant to some degree. Once I got a full year under my belt, though, the team also happened to be really good, and that memorable 2012 run put everyone in a bright mood and made things easier from a relationship standpoint.

And that’s really what this is all about at the end of the day: Relationships. Can I be trusted with sensitive information? Can I ask the difficult questions that need to be asked while also being respectful? Do I look like I’m doing this job to get to the truth, or do I look like I’m just there to enjoy the free games, free meals and befriend high-profile people? At the end of the day, your work and credibility speak for itself, and that is what ultimately attracts the people you cover to you. With so many other voices out there via social media, I feel like now more than ever the opportunity is there to get rewarded for showing up and putting in an honest day’s work.

You are never, ever done making contacts on a beat like this one, whether they come from places obvious or not-so-obvious. And you must always vet everything, even when it comes from credible sources. You’d be surprised how casual some misinformation can get around and be fed to you from very important people. That’s not necessarily by design to fool you; they just have a lot less on the line when their bylines aren’t the ones attached to it and are simply passing things along that they hear. 

In part two, we’ll discuss Matt’s mid-season interview with Jack Swarbrick, his relationship with Irish fans, and some bold sartorial picks.

The post Catching Up With Matt Fortuna appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

UND.com

During Tuesday’s edition of College Football Daily on ESPN,  analyst Kevin Carter shed some “Lyght” on the quarterback battle currently ensuing between Malik Zaire and DeShone Kizer. Carter was an NFL teammate of Notre Dame’s defensive backs coach, Todd Lyght, during their days on the St. Louis Rams. Carter name drops Lyght as his informant in the following exchange with fellow analyst Brendan Fitzgerald:

Well, I actually spoke to my good buddy Todd Lyght, fellow Super Bowl 34 champion and all-pro defensive back, who is the defensive backs coach with the Fighting Irish, and he told me just yesterday that DeShone Kizer looks to be the guy. Everything points to the fact that he runs the offense better. He has the arm strength to make every throw. He is a better pocket passer. And how Brian Kelly wants this offense to look, he is the guy. But, not so fast. Brian Kelly really likes the way this team responds to Malik Zaire. And Todd himself told me, he said, ‘Look, man, when we’re in practice, Zaire gives us fits with extending plays with his feet. He has the arm strength to make all the throws as well, but with him, you can change the launch point, you can do so many things, and he’s just a nightmare to get off the field on third down.

Let’s break these comments down a little further. First off, I doubt Kevin Carter gets the inside scoop from Todd Lyght ever again after putting him “on the record” of a nationally covered quarterback battle after only the third practice of fall camp. If I was Lyght, I’d tell ole Kev to kindly lose my number.

Credit: WSBT

With that being said, Carter elaborates that Kizer has the arm strength to make every throw, is a better pocket passer, and runs the offense better – specifically the way Brian Kelly wants the team to look. Playing devil’s advocate (while fully disclosing my bias and trying to take off my #TeamZaire hat), who’s to say how exactly Brian Kelly wants the offense to look? With Kizer at the helm, one would imagine the offense would look more like a pro spread style. With Zaire, one could argue, the offense could be more dynamic and run oriented. The idea of a three headed rushing monster composed of Folston, Adams, and Zaire sure seems like an appetizing game plan to scheme around, especially considering they will be running behind future NFL linemen in Quenton Nelson and Mike McGlinchey.

But the sheer size of Kizer physically and the size of his body of work from last year aren’t easy to overlook, nor should they be. Lyght – through Carter – appears to hedge his “Kizer looks to be the guy” bet by explaining that Zaire is also more than capable of making all of throws with the added superior threat of extending plays with his legs. The only sure fire bet is that the quarterback battle is still very much undecided, and it’s hard to think Brian Kelly could go wrong either way with the embarrassment of riches at quarterback that the Irish currently possess.

You can watch the full segment of Kevin Carter and College Football Daily here, thanks to Pete Sampson at Irish Illustrated.

Cheers and Go Irish!

The post Lyght Source: “Kizer looks to be the guy…” appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

So the Freemasons have won.  Or the Illuminati, Rosicrucians, Elders of the Priory of Sion – let’s just call them the E-lders of the S-ion P-riory freemasoNs.  They and their Rodent Overlord enjoy a complete victory; they have taken over college football and forced the creation of the playoff system that they have long wanted, and will long broadcast, for lots of money.  I mourn the passing of an era.  Gone are the days when the leading teams from regional affiliations of colleges would compete in the top bowl games.  This year they forced us to watch a Midwestern school, a Pacific coastal school, an Atlantic coastal school, and a school from the Deep South.  It was so very different.

One is compelled to ask who are these teams and how did they get here.  We know Florida State slithered into the system like an Everglades python thanks to a little yellow hankie thrown after Everett Golson’s pass was caught.  We know Ohio State made it into the mix because Urban Meyer, wearing his earring and turban, playing his fiddle, and driving his mule and wagon, settled his caravan for a while in Columbus, where he has found his fourth and possibly final Dream Job.  Alabama returned to the fore of competition after Crimson Tide fans sacrificed sufficient numbers of vermin and unfortunate livestock to that lurching cult object known as Saban.  But I always thought Oregon was a trail.

Unlike in the past, when these teams would have to be conference champions, this year a secretive group of selectors, meeting is seclusion, using inscrutable criteria, began deciding the fate of the entire college football system half-way through the season.  I suppose this is marginally better than the BCS which left decisions to a heartless, soulless machine; but I understand Willingham was one of the selectors, so what’s the difference.  In any event, we should all instinctively bristle at the notion of a mysterious and relatively unknown group meeting behind closed doors to make weighty decisions.  Unless it’s the College of Cardinals electing a Pope.  But we all know very well that they can make mistakes, too.

The Elders gave us four teams in a playoff, of which we shall now watch the two victors fight for the Championship.  The Elders’ winged-monkeys at ESPN have been emoting so effusively about this being the “First True National Champion” that one would hope they invested in some extra-absorbent loincloths.  One must also ask if this ludicrous First-True declaration somehow invalidates the last century-or-so of so-called College National Champions.  In the case of Alabama, I heartily hope some of their self-awarded crowns are removed.  But for every other team never graced by this miracle of a playoff system, some allowances should be made.

For Notre Dame, certainly.  Do not misinterpret me: the Fighting Irish had no place in the playoff this year – not after our original team was taken up in a temporary rapture and replaced with Notre Dame High School.  (Thank goodness an astute coaching staff and an additional quarterback were returned to corporeal form in time to defeat Louisiana State in something other than a Spelling Bee.)  Certainly the Irish have suffered grave injustices at the hands of championship awarders in the past.  But who would ever trust sports writers to vote without bearing long-standing grudges against colleges that either beat their alma maters, or never admitted them in the first place.  And who could ever say coaches voting on other teams was anything less than asking the Germans to choose which country to fight and in which order.

Ultimately, every system will be flawed.  Yes, even this playoff system is flawed, though the ESPN chatterboxes adamantly refuse to admit this as they sit in their own lukewarm pools.  How do I know every system will be flawed – because any system depends on humans, who since Eden, live in a fallen state, and who sin.  Also, because there is a small Christian school in Texas that should very well have been included in the playoff, yet was not.  “But they would have taken Ohio State’s place, and Ohio State won,” say they Elders as they sip their fine vintages and eat their delicate canapés in the luxatorium overlooking the field at Jerry Jones’ Temple to Mamon.  “But we’ll never know if Texas Christian also could have beaten Alabama,” say I, as I sit contemplating this mystery in my frozen office under Our Lady’s Golden Dome, wondering simultaneously whether my tongue would become permanently affixed to said Dome if I licked it when the temperature is this far below zero.

So come Monday, I will be cheering for neither Ohio State nor Oregon, and certainly not for the Elders.  I will be saying a prayer for small Christian schools everywhere that they may never again be unjustly excluded from this playoff system with which we are now yoked.  And by small Christian schools, I mean that Jesuit colleges are specifically NOT included.

EFS CSC 

The post Good Fridays w/Padre: Era’s End appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Just watch the final time lapse of the FieldTurf installation. Let’s see if you notice it:

Did you see it? You probably missed it. The distraction of plastic cancer-causing grass, kickoff shamrock logos, and midfield monograms likely distracted you from the truth. Let’s try another view:

Exactly one month from right now we'll be running out of this tunnel onto our new field! #GoIrish pic.twitter.com/YYq1HBZdS3

— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) July 30, 2014

Still mesmerized by the new eternal green that only used to exist in the dreams of Touchdown Jesus? ENHANCE:

@IrishElvis still no G pic.twitter.com/Ke97Ev0JU6

— Tamara Brown (@NDSportsBlogger) July 31, 2014

That’s right, the “G” marking the goal line is gone. And yes, it definitely was there before:

https://twitter.com/oaknd1/status/492343580233850880

I know the Irish red zone offense has struggled, especially in goal-to-go situations where the goal line creeps ever closer. I had no idea the problems ran this deep.

Kelly’s hatred of the goal line clearly knows no bounds. He’s swapped goal line marked glory for ND monograms and shamrocks.

What’s next Brian? X’s in the endzone corners to mark were to stop on the fade routes? A gigantic sign on the 20 yard line that says “Do not Pass Run”?

And do you realize the ramifications that this will have on defense, Brian? How will we ever have a goal line stand like we did against Stanford ever again? Do you really expect VanGorder to just say “stop them before the line that’s before the slanted lines?”

This has gone too far. I’ve been suckered by the changes. The allure of FieldTurf and a promise of jumbotrons has blinded me to the truth. The road to hell is paved with a synthetic surface and Notre Dame football is all aboard that “Crazy Train”.

The Roundup

If you think FieldTurf is a huge change, just wait until you see what’s going on in Aggieland.

One of the biggest party schools in the nation has announcement: party’s over in Tempe.

And I thought Michigan was having trouble selling tickets. LSU has already taken to Living Social to dump cheap seats for terrible out-of-conference games and less desirable SEC opponents. They are even marketing this deal in Dallas. Here’s an actual, unedited picture of my inbox:

I would say that shots were fired in Urban Meyer’s direction. But this is more like nukes launched.

Our lineup of talking heads has been announced. ESPN released their finalized announcer shakeup as well as FOX which includes Irish alumni Brady Quinn.

And now your moment(s) of Nix… We have a tie this week. I simply could not choose between B1G mascots dancing to a rap song about the B1G conference:

https://vine.co/v/M0VFmnz7uKB

Or Florida State freshmen attempting to rap in a parody video:

The Booze

I missed out on the fun that was Sharknado 2: The Second One as my wife hasn’t yet seen the glory that is Sharknado. To make sure she’s probably introduced to both of these “so incredibly terrible, it’s amazing” movies, we are having a double-feature tonight in the Tex household.

Her only request: buy a handle of vodka.

So this weekend is going to be filled with all kinds of vodka cocktails. Shoot me some of your favorites in the comments. Bonus if they are shark themed.

The post Friday Roundup: The “Brian Kelly Hates the Goal Line” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Of course, ESPN gave him a 5 year contract worth $17 million so they will continue to put his work on the front page even though it is a weak shell of its former self. Okay, okay – let’s get all the Notre Dame/NBC to Reilly/ESPN comparisons out of the way here. Done? Great.

My bone to pick with Reilly is mainly that of an amateur writer who can’t stand people who make arguments that are built by wordsmithing while lacking material support, and I usually keep my frustration that he is so revered and prominently published to myself. When he made his attack on Notre Dame yesterday, though, I decided it was time to look a little more deeply into his most recent story.

I’ll start by giving him credit for the good points he made:

1)      He discusses Notre Dame not using any timeouts on USC’s last possession in 2011. I was also bothered by this. The people in front of me in Notre Dame Stadium with children that had to hear the language I was using were bothered even more.

2)      There is no #2.

And now with the rest. I’ll go through section by section:

I once loved Notre Dame football.

My dad went to Notre Dame and flunked out and I still loved Notre Dame football. I loved Lindsey Nelson telling me “neither team advanced the ball so we move to further action in the fourth quarter” while my mom was yelling, “Get ready for mass!”

But I grew up.

Ah yes, the perfect way to set up the straw man argument. “My viewpoint is completely unbiased because I used to be a fan, so if I don’t like them anymore there must be something really wrong.”

By the way, since the only real issues you bring up in the rest of the article are about the team’s performance, we can only assume that you are a fair-weathered fan…a frontrunner who has given up on the Irish for being 24 years removed from a national title. Fine. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Rick.

If I told you about a team that had lost 10 of its last 12 bowl games, had dropped nine of its last 10 to USC, had led the nation only in disappointment, you’d figure that team would be halfway down the Mountain West standings. But Notre Dame still gets perks and love from the NCAA and BCS as though the year is 1946.

I’m declaring an end to all that.

Actually, TCU (who he’ll go on to compare the Irish to in just a bit) would have been halfway down the Mountain West Conference most of the time since Notre Dame last won a national title if they had joined the conference before 2005. In fact, from 1988 through 2000 TCU was 69-77-1. From 1988 through 2011, TCU had a winning percentage of .626. Notre Dame had a winning percentage of .663 over the same period against much tougher competition.

I’m not trying to discredit the Horned Frogs (love watching them play), but to show that you, Rick, may actually want to do some real research instead of just cherry picking statistics.

On top of that, what if I told you about a team that only won 3 out of 9 bowl games, had dropped 11 in a row to Notre Dame, and typically didn’t come close to filling the stands for their its home games? Would you think I was talking about a Mountain West Conference team? Because I’d be talking about 1993 USC.

In Europe, if you play too much bad soccer for too many years, you get “relegated” to a lower division, moved down, demoted. It just happened to the Blackburn Rovers.

It needs to happen to Notre Dame football.

Actually, Rick, in the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie A and German Bundisliga if you play too much bad soccer for ONE year you get relegated to a lower division (the bottom 3 teams are relegated). Thanks for the Blackburn Rovers reference, though – I’m sure you’re watching pleeeenty of European soccer while you’re not on the golf course. Although, if you had taken some time to do the slightest bit of research, you might have found that Leeds United – one of the top 10 most popular teams in England – could have been an extremely effective comparison as they went from a Champions League semifinal in 2001 all the way down to the third tier of English soccer and have yet to climb their way back to the top. Just sayin’.

If Notre Dame isn’t a factor this season — and it hasn’t been a factor in almost 20 years — it’s time to take it down a literal peg.

By its historical standards, Notre Dame has clearly not been its strongest over the past 20 years. No one is going to argue that. But not a factor? Do you remember when the Irish went into their final game against USC in 2006 with an outside shot at a national championship birth? Do you remember the 3 BCS bowls?

They have certainly not been as strong as Oklahoma or USC in the 2000’s or as strong as Florida State in the 1990’s, but saying the Irish haven’t been a factor in 20 years is a lazy, wrong, and sad attempt to throw out sweeping statements that will get uneducated fans (that you should be educating, Rick) to agree with you.

We can’t demote Notre Dame from its conference — since it is far too noble to belong to any piddling conference — but we can demote it in stature.

Please find me a cave to run and hide in when Rick Reilly is the new dictator of the sporting world.

In short, until Notre Dame football starts winning again, it’s Rice to me.

That hurts your feelings? Watch “Rudy” ’til you feel better.

At least you can recognize that “Rudy” is a good film. By the way, while ND’s winning percentage the last 20 years has been .630, the Rice Owls have put up a winning percentage of 0.421 playing in the Southwest Conference, the WAC, and Conference USA. Again, this is an incredibly half-assed attempt at diminishing how the Irish have performed by trying to equate them to a small team with a small fan base without any reasonable basis.

Can you explain to me how a team that hasn’t won a national championship since 1988, a Heisman since 1987, or more than eight games its last five seasons still gets treated like the 1967 Green Bay Packers?

I’m really curious how you settled on the 1967 Green Bay Packers as your comparison, Rick. Did you know the Packers lost to the lowly Vikings (3-8-3 record in ’67) and Steelers (4-9-1) that year? Ew! Tulsa!

See, Rick? I can cherry pick stats too.

Notre Dame has won 86 games since the turn of this century. Oregon has won 111 games since then. TCU has won 119. Boise State has won 136. Do they have their own TV deals?

Somebody needs to stick a pin in the still-inflated Golden Dome. Look, the ACC wants Notre Dame. Would die to have it. But word is, Notre Dame won’t go if it has to share TV and gate revenue with the rest of the conference, like everybody else. The Irish people love to share. The Irish athletic department? Not so much.

No, those teams don’t have their own TV deals. Notre Dame has its own TV deal because there are a LOT of Notre Dame fans, and a LOT of other people who will still turn on the game. I’m sorry that you have apparently given up on the Irish after 53 years of fandom because they haven’t won a championship in a while, but there are millions of people who haven’t that still like to turn on NBC on Saturdays.

By the way, since you probably didn’t actually research the economics of the NBC deal, Rick (lazy….again), you can check out what I wrote about them here: NBC Deal Money Not a Differentiator 

If college football won’t put its foot down and force Notre Dame to join a conference — as every other sport at Notre Dame has — then the least it can do is stop paying it a bowl bonus of $1.3 million when it DOESN’T go to a bowl game. That’s right: Notre Dame gets a $1.3 million bowl bonus simply for dressing up the stupid leprechaun.

Say it with me now, everyone: lazy. Rick, did you bother to research the fact that the BCS conferences other than the Big 12 split their BCS bowl money evenly among the conference members? In fact, in years where Notre Dame doesn’t go to a bowl game, the school would typically be better off financially if it was in a conference getting a bigger piece of the BCS pie.

I hear what the Domers are saying. They’re saying, “Notre Dame doesn’t have to be in a conference. Notre Dame is unlike any other football power. Notre Dame is a national brand.

Sure, and girls are still wearing leg warmers.

Straw man into leg warmers. Ah, leg warmers – a classic Reilly comparison. I’m sure you stayed up all night thinking of that one. Let’s throw in tie dye shirts and bell-bottoms too.

Notre Dame is not a national brand any more than USC, Alabama or Stanford. A national brand? What would its slogan be, “Dominating Navy just about every year”? What kind of national brand loses to freaking Tulsa (2010)?

Stanford is a national brand? They kind of (actually finishing #2 in the AP poll before defeating Nebraska) won a national championship for the last time in 1940, and won their sole Heisman in 1970. Considering they weren’t even selling out their home games with Andrew Luck at the helm, I would hardly use them as an example of a national brand.

Also, Tulsa was 10-3 in 2010 – since you ignored strength of schedule entirely anyway, I’m going to blindly throw out that USC was only 8-5 in 2010. Boom.

Oh, and Alabama lost to Louisiana-Monroe in Nick Saban’s first year. What kind of national brand loses to freaking Louisiana-Monroe (2007), Rick?

Please, NCAA and BCS, stop leaping to attention every time caller ID says it’s Notre Dame. The Irish haven’t finished in the top 20 in any poll in five years. They can leave a message.

Hey – you might have done some research to figure that one out…yay.

When did I quit on Notre Dame? When it quit on itself.

You are not royalty anymore, Notre Dame. Turn in your tiara.

Yawn. He is really getting into these one-liners against ND. Don’t worry, he’ll have one more to finish off in style.

When your NBC contract expires in 2015, do the right thing and don’t renew. Lower some expectations until you can turn this thing around. And you’re a Mars Rover trip from turning it around.

Your ESPN contract expires in 2013. Please do the right thing and don’t renew. By the way, since I’m guessing you didn’t look it up, the recent Mars Curiosity trip from Earth to Mars took a little bit less than 8.5 months. If that’s how far Notre Dame is from turning it around, you should probably hop back on the bandwagon.

And with Kelly throwing the QB job up for grabs again, instead of just handing it to Tommy Rees once his one-game suspension is up, this season looks like 6-5 to me, with Ls to Michigan State, Michigan, Oklahoma, Pittsburgh and you don’t even want to know what USC will do to the Irish in the Coliseum. Cue the DentDoctor.com Bowl.

Now things are just getting out of hand. My brain is starting to hurt. But now it’s clear: Rick hasn’t actually paid attention to college football since 2005, the year before the NCAA allowed a 12 game season. The season looks like 6-5? The Irish play 12 games!! Also, who at ESPN is letting this mistake slip through the cracks? [Update: ESPN edited the article to say 7-5 about 24 hours after it was published]

Somebody needs to make Notre Dame play by the same rules as everybody else. If there’s anything we’ve learned from the Penn State mess, it’s that nobody gets to live on a pedestal anymore.

You’re really taking it to a new level here, Rick. I couldn’t think of a classier way to finish off your pathetic argument than to compare Notre Dame’s on the field performance over the past 20 years to the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Bravo.

You flunked, Notre Dame. Go back a grade.

You are apparently desperate to get hits on your articles, Rick. Please go back to writing real stories with real substance and real research – the ones that made me such a big fan of yours before I grew up.

The post Rick Reilly is Lazy and Wrong appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

In 2012, his first full season as a starter for the Cubs, Samardjiza got off to a quick 4-1 start with a 2.89 ERA through mid-May (including two no-decisions when he gave up a total of 1 earned run). He was looking like he may have reached the potential the organization saw in him when signing him to a 5-year, $10 million deal after drafting him in the 5^th round of the 2007 draft. The Shark followed up by struggling mightily in June, going 0-4 with a 10.41 ERA. After an outstanding effort to beat the Braves on Monday, he now sits at 6-7 with a 4.77 ERA on the season.

What if Samardzija, who is bringing in a cool $2.64 million paycheck this year (I’m guessing that’s a little more than most 2007 ND grads are making), had chosen to play in the NFL instead? At the time he made his decision, he insisted that he picked baseball because of his love for the game and that the chance of injury and the lack of longevity in the NFL were not factors in his choice.

34 wide receivers were taken in the 2007 NFL draft. One of them (Calvin Johnson) is the best receiver in the league today, and 3 others (Dwayne Bowe, Steve Smith, and Sidney Rice) have played in Pro Bowls. Other notable names include Ted Ginn, Steve Breaston, Mike Sims-Walker, Anthony Gonzalez and Robert Meachem. There is no way for us to predict how Samardzija’s career would have turned out compared to his 2007 counterparts, but I’m going to guess it would be somewhere between David Clowney of “Hard Knocks” fame and Megatron of “I’m going to catch anything you throw my way and make a tubby frat boy from Georgia one of the top fantasy football quarterbacks” fame.

From an economic standpoint, Samardzija is unlikely to make the same $132 million that Calvin Johnson just signed for. He also probably won’t be matching Dwayne Bowe’s $9.5 million per season any time in the next few years. But, when you consider that only 10 wide receivers will be making over $5 million in 2012 and 85 pitchers are clearing the same amount (Samardzija is the 154th highest paid pitcher in the league), you start to see that the Shark has left himself much more room to grow financially with sustained success.

Do you think Samardzija made the right choice in sticking with the Cubs after college? Would you rather see him suited up for your hometown MLB team or your hometown NFL team?

*On a very slightly unrelated note, my good friend ‘Osty’ (a Michigan grad, sadly) reminded me about a hilariously awkward situation at the 2007 draft. When the Panthers selected Dwayne Jarrett in the 2nd round, Keyshawn Johnson (who was on the Panthers at the time and was a guest analyst for ESPN) gushed over his fellow USC wide receiver and discussed how excited he was to have the opportunity to work with him and teach him about playing the position at the highest level. Well, unfortunately for Keyshawn, drafting Jarrett meant that 3 days later Johnson was out of a job. Seriously, this is just too good not to watch:

The post What if Samardzija had chosen the NFL over MLB? appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.