Like the icicle that starts to form at the corner of the roof, it slowly grows until it’s a heavy, sharp, pointed thing that will impale you without warning. It was fascinating to behold at one time, but it became a lethal sculpture that plunged through the window and left your room cold and wet. This icicle is a metaphor for a Very Bad Idea, and many of them are forming at this time of year. Not surprising that an athletic conference, the source and summit of bad ideas, is the water ...
it's the off-season
Everyone Hates Michigan Including Michigan
Some of the folks at Reddit, specifically those of the subreddit /r/cfb, had a little bit of offseason fun. They did a very unscientific poll asking their fellow redditors where they were from and which college football team they hated the most. The poll had some issues with people vote spamming and the whole thing really being another case of the internet being the internet. But because of internet reasons that didn't take another redditor from making the following map from the ...
Good Fridays w/Padre: Childs’ Play
I am hailed as the Founder of Notre Dame; also the first Postmaster (go figure). These are great honorifics of which I am proud. But the title closest to my heart has always been Father. I consider all of you to be my loyal sons – and thanks to Ted’s innovations, loyal daughters. Indeed, you are all my children. I’m told there was a beautiful opera by that title, though I don’t recall it in Verdi’s or Wagner’s repertoire. However, though I am called Father, I have never had children of ...
2014 Shamrock Series Uniforms Leaked?
Get your annual Shamrock Series rage/anger/joy/horror/trolling/enthusiasm ready, because it appears that Notre Dame Football's secret might be out. According to the UniWatch Twitter account, one of their commentators got a sneak peak at both the traditional home and 2014 Shamrock Series uniforms: https://twitter.com/UniWatch/status/486920782421819393 As promised, Under Armour left the class home uniform alone. The only real change comes with the base (aka, the undershirt) that has a ...
Good Fridays w/Padre: Relics
In Holy Mother Church (not to be confused with The BVM or your own mother, the first of whom will always care for you, the second of whom will never fail to criticize you) as I was saying, in Holy Mother Church we venerate such things called relics. The word comes from the Latin relictus, meaning ‘that which is left behind.’ Of course, you’d know that if my University hadn’t dropped the Latin and Greek requirement – you’re all getting weak. At any rate, a relic is a piece of a Holy Saint, and ...
Good Fridays w/Padre: No Regrets
And so for all but the Seniors, it’s time to go home. Not that the Land of Our Lady isn’t home, too. I mean it’s time to go to your original homes – land of private bedrooms and non-abrasive toilet paper. Sure, usually there are two rectors, one male and one female; and the dining fare selections are significantly more limited at mealtimes (by the way, if you complain about the food, you can expect to take a spatula to the face). But it’s home…for three months, and then you can come back to ...
Good Fridays w/Padre: Team Building
Brian Kelly is taking his show on the road. Specifically, he’s taking his team to beautiful Marion, Indiana, to start the season’s practices. In addition to being an exciting change of venue for the lads, Shiloh Park evidently offers something the University of Notre Dame, in all its glory, does not: A Challenge Course. And I was of the opinion that all of our courses were challenging. As it was explained to me, a Challenge Course is used in team-building exercises. And I was of the opinion ...
Bad Boys, Bad Boys: Looking at Crime by College and Conference in the NFL
http://youtu.be/MFuH6XaKCD8 The Aaron Hernandez horror show got a lot of people talking about crime in the NFL. Again. Here, here, or here, they're talking about a "culture of crime." Even EA Sports has weighed in on the topic, in its own fashion, by removing Hernandez from its Madden NFL 25 and NCAA Football 14 video games. In this week's post, I wanted to look at the colleges and conferences contributing the most to the crime problem. Here's how I went about it: 1.) I mined the singular ...
APR and GSR: What Do They Mean, Really?
One of the drums we beat incessantly here at HLS is our unabashed adoration of Brian Kelly and our unwavering commitment to him is our commitment to extolling the performance of Notre Dame athletes off the field. In today's post, I want to do two things: 1.) explain the difference between Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and Academic Performance Rate (APR); and 2.) compare Notre Dame's GSR and APR to that of Alabama, Oregon, and tOSU. I found the results interesting. The NCAA uses three metrics ...
Good Fridays w/Padre: Visiting Ours
Like swallows to Capistrano, our Alumni and Alumnae have come back to the roost. In the evolutionary scheme of things, the bumbling, moon-eyed freshmen who get lost in the Dining Hall every August gradually develop into perpetually nostalgic and virulently protective Alums…and stay that way for the rest of their lives. I spend a fair amount of time instructing, chiding, scolding, and lecturing our students. It’s why I became a priest. But just because we gave you a diploma and threw you out, ...