Yesterday, I spent far too much money on a lunch had the privilege of attending the Notre Dame Club of Dallas' UND Celebration. Here we honored our Person of the Year, Teachers of the Year, and also had a visit from Brian Kelly. The later is clearly of interest to any regular reader of this blog, making this week's Roundup a logical choice to share Kelly's comments. We will get to those in the Roundup proper, but first I wanted to share three things that I learned about Kelly during this ...
Jack Swarbrick
Good Fridays w/Padre: Symbols & Signs
This weekend marks the start of the 2013 march to victory for the football team. Fitting, then, that the team is guaranteed a victory in any event because they play with themselves [Editor’s note: Padre doesn’t always appreciate how certain phrases have changed over the years.] [Padre’s note: Get your mind out of the gutter, so Mark May’s can float by.] What used to be the old-timers’ game, the intrasquad scrimmage, or simply ‘the spring game’, has been officially exulted to The University of ...
Good Fridays w/Padre: Atlantis Found
“When criticizing a Catholic institution, be sure to troop out quaint stereotypes so that your comments contain vague accusations of sacrilege or apostasy, and the humorous implication that its leaders are, in fact, just bad Catholics.” At least that’s what I presume is written in the general press conference guidelines down at Arizona State. Or maybe the athletic director has one of those desk calendars that gives a new piece of advice for every day of the year. But if that’s the case, he ...
Spy Wednesday w/Padre
For obvious reasons, I will not be publishing a column called “Good Fridays” this week. If you think The Lord was angry when he took a whip of cords to the temple moneychangers, try blaspheming on the His least favorite day of the year. Hence I have moved to today, Spy Wednesday. We call it that because this was the day Judas Iscariot, the spy among the Apostles, sold Jesus to the Sanhedrin for 30 pieces of silver. He then famously betrayed The Lord with a kiss – were that to happen today, ...
Catholic 7 to Leave Big East, Become Big East, Notre Dame Waits for Next Move
On Thursday, ESPN announced that the Catholic 7, comprised of DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, and Villanova, will officially leave the Big East, possibly as early as next season. Xavier and Bulter will join them, as both schools have already submitted their withdrawals to the Atlantic 10 Conference. Creighton has also been rumored to be the tenth team to round out this new conference, which will be called...the Big East. Yeah, realignment has officially ...
In Depth with our Loyal Son, FakeSwarbrick
If you happen to be one of those people who follows all things Notre Dame on social media, you may have noticed that some very amusing parody accounts have entered the scene. This is the first in a series of interviews with some of the best Notre Dame parody accounts out there. This is their chance to give you their take on the current temperature of Notre Dame nation and how they would change things if they had a chance. First up is the parody account of our fearless leader and athletic ...
Privacy in a Public World: FERPA, Jack Swarbrick and Manti Te’o
A federal law called FERPA prevents administrators, faculty and other "officials" at the University from disclosing information about a student, present or past. In this post, I want to explore what role, if any, FERPA played in Notre Dame's ongoing response to the Manti Te'o hoax. As I hope to show, Notre Dame decided upon a deliberate course of action to make as comprehensive a statement as it could under the circumstances and then fade into the background, allowing FERPA and privacy concerns ...
Hook, Line, and Sinker — Manti Te’o Reeled into Hoax
It was the best story of the 2012 college football season. It was a story that propelled Manti Te'o into legendary status. It helped make the Notre Dame 2012 football season seem as if it was one of destiny. It was all a lie. Manti Te'o's girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, was nothing more than a "catfish", and the Deadspin story turned every Notre Dame fan's world upside-down. Speculation ran rampant across the internet. Was Te'o involved in the hoax? Did Te'o create the hoax himself? Or was Te'o ...
Friday Roundup: The “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” Edition
Your dreams of seeing your team win a national title are crushed. Once you process the devastation, you try to look ahead to the future as best you can, knowing that your team is in great shape for the future. Then, the architect of that team decides to interview for another job. Your football world spirals again. The recruits you've been looking forward to seeing next year are trying to process the whirlwind themselves, resulting in some deciding to find greener pastures themselves. This all ...
Good Fridays w/Padre: Orders
The two teams are matched, if only in one regard. They have deacons, and we have deacons. “Deacon” is one of the Holy Orders. “Holy Orders” is not what a waiter says when serving a party of 46 – it is the Sacrament of ordaining ministers for the Church. Only men. Just like college football. Since we are dealing with the Church, there is a complex hierarchy. Just like college football. Let’s examine all the Holy Orders and observe some other parallels between our pastime (Church) and our ...