NCAA Track Championships This Weekend!

Most of the college sports have completed their seasons, but rowing and track athletes are competing for titles. The track team just sent 22 runners, throwers and jumpers to the NCAA Regional Meet, where they will compete against other schools in the Midwest at the University of Louisville track to try to earn a spot on the starting line at the NCAA National Meet. If you get a chance to come out to the meet, make sure to cheer your Fighting Irish athletes on! Here are some athletes to watch:

  • Patrick Smyth, long distance runner. Smyth, a cross country star, will compete in both the 5,000 and 10,000. He currently owns the 5th fastest college 10,000 meter time this season.
  • Mary Saxer, pole vault. An All-Big East vaulter, the senior Saxer owns one of the highest marks in the Midwest.
  • Anna Weber, throws. Ana will compete in  the hammer throw, discus and shot put at the Midwest Regional Meet.

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Permalink - Posted in General on May 29, 2009 - Post a comment

More Paterno Talk about ND in the Big Ten

Joe Paterno, living college football legend and current coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions, has been increasingly vocal about adding more teams to the Big Ten. A while back Paterno was calling for the conference to look into adding an additional team or two, so that the Big Ten could have 12 or possibly 13 football members.

A little back story now. About ten years ago the Big Ten sought out Notre Dame to try to join the conference, which would have brought the organization to 12 teams- perfect for a playoff to determine the conference title. However, the Irish declined. Fast forward to today, and Joe Paterno is calling for Rutgers, Syracuse and Pitt to join the league.  Paterno says:

“There’s some pressure, I would suppose, to maybe go back to Notre Dame and ask again, which I would not be happy with. I think they’ve had their chance.”

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Permalink - Posted in General on May 28, 2009 - Post a comment

How Will Obama’s Supreme Court Nominee Affect ND Football?

In short, President Barack Obama’s decision to nominate Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court position left open in the wake of David Souter’s retirement will not affect Notre Dame football in the slightest. But it’s interesting to think about how it might. Ray Ratto explains.

Basically, BCS is at stake whenever a major court appointment is made. Or at least some people like to think it is. College football fans who clamor for the days when there is a legitimate playoff system instead of the BCS system (the vast majority) feel that if the political winds change in just the right direction, the issue could earn enough political weight to generate a mandate at a legal level. But in all likelihood the Bowl Championship System will never go on trial at a federal level. So regardless of what Sotomayor thinks about the NCAA and the BCS, the status quo is what we’ll get.

But thinking about the ways that politics affects sports is a fun exercise nonetheless. Barack Obama has called for an end to the Bowl System, but his nominated judge would seem to support the current BCS, based on her past sports-related decisions. Fun to think about, but in the end the chances of Notre Dame football being affected by Sotomayor are minuscule.

Permalink - Posted in General on May 27, 2009 - Post a comment

Notre Dame-Army at Yankees Stadium Get Pigskin Writers Thinking

Ivan Maisel of ESPN got to thinking last week. Remember how we were telling you Notre Dame blog readers a few days ago that the Irish were thinking of playing a football game at Yankee Stadium in the foreseeable future? Well the talk about this hypothetical game has the college football world in a tizzy. Even though it’s really only idle talk right now, sports fans are already dreaming up their ideal neutral site matchups. There is a historical precedent for many college football games between rivals at weird venues. Maisel talks about a few that you might not have heard of. Army-ND at Yankee Stadium sounds good, but here are a few games we’d like to see in addition.

  • Notre Dame vs. Boston College at the Vatican
  • (ND) Fighting Irish vs. (Hofstra) Flying Dutchmen at o2 Stadium in London
  • (ND) Fighting Irish vs. (Albion College) Britons at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland
  • Notre Dame vs. Northwestern at Soldier Field in Chicago
  • Notre Dame vs. Michigan at Ford Field in Detroit
  • Notre Dame vs. USC at Dolphin Stadium in Miami
  • Notre Dame vs. Stanford at Candlestick Park
  • Notre Dame vs. Rutgers at the Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario
  • Notre Dame vs. Texas at the new Cowboys Stadium in Dallas

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Permalink - Posted in General on May 26, 2009 - Post a comment

Notre Dame Interested in Playing at new Yankee Stadium

Happy Friday, Notre Dame sports fans. Here’s a news item that CBSSports.com just picked up from the wire. Although it’s been previously rumored at and suggested that the Irish should play more neutral game sites during their football season, this is the first we’ve heard that the Irish are interested in scheduling a game at the New Yankee Stadium. However, it’s just in the larvae stage right now. Jack Swarbrick, Athletic Director at Notre Dame, had this to say after touring the newly-minted Yankee Stadium:

“I’d be interested as we look forward to scheduling to think about how to sort of echo the history of our program. Obviously there have been some important Notre Dame games at Yankee Stadium so I have a general interest in whether that’s possible to do. None of this is any further than thinking out loud… There have been no substantive discussions because among the things that we might conclude here is that the economics don’t work. So we haven’t had any of those.”

Notre Dame playing at Yankee Stadium? Seems like a match made in heaven (or in the other place, if you happen to be a Boston College/Boston Red Sox supporter). Either way it’s interesting. Let’s hope it happens. Enjoy your holiday weekend, Notre Dame fans!

To get Notre Dame Fighting Irish tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on May 22, 2009 - Post a comment

Congratulations to Notre Dame Graduates

The school year has come to a close. The commencement has been analyzed, the graduates have received their diplomas, the tassels have been switched and thousands of parents have taken their kids out to a celebratory dinner. But what do the fresh grads from the University of Notre Dame remember most about their roughly four years spent at the school? Predictably, most cherish memories of their friends and schoolmates. But some recall the struggles of the football team. In an Observer Online article, senior Jimmy Champlin said:

“Football all went downhill after the USC game freshman year. Except for the snowball fiasco this year.[Games] were a little disappointing, but still fun. Sitting in the student section is definitely a unique experience.”

How big a role do sports play in the overall experience. How big of a role do academics. Interestingly enough, the sports events were mentioned before any talk about the classes, academics, libraries, research papers or professors. Something to think about.

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Permalink - Posted in General on May 21, 2009 - Post a comment

Obama Pokes Fun at Irish Football Woes at UND Grad Speech

President Barack Obama was invited to give a commencement speech for the graduating class at the University of Notre Dame this year. Both sitting and past presidents oftentimes give commencement speeches. However, this one was embroiled in controversy. Many social conservatives view President Barack Obama’s views on abortion to be in conflict with the traditional Catholic view on the controversial issue. There were protests. Websites were formed. The commencement was interrupted once by a heckler. But in the end Obama delivered his speech and took on abortion, calling for mutual understanding on both sides of the issue. However, this is mostly a sports blog, so what does this all have to do with sports?

Barack tired to lighten the mood of the speech by poking fun at the Notre Dame football team and by riffing on the Notre Dame outdoor basketball tournament. After the ceremony was interrupted by a shouting man, Obama went into this segment of the speech.

“Since this is Notre Dame I think we should talk not only about your accomplishments in the classroom, but also about your accomplishments in the competitive arena. Don’t worry. I’m not going to talk about … that. We all know about this University’s proud and storied football team, but I’ve also heard that Notre Dame holds the largest five on five outdoor basketball tournament in the world. Now this excites me. I want to congratulate the winners of this year’s tournament, a team by the name of Hallelujah Holla Back. Congratulations. Well done. Though I have to say I’m personally disappointed that the Barack O’Ballers didn’t pull it out this year. So next year if you need a 6-2 forward with a decent jumper, you know where I live.”

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Permalink - Posted in General on May 20, 2009 - Post a comment

ND Baseball to Open Up Conference Tourney v. St. John’s

The Big East baseball tournament is getting underway tonight in Clearwater, Florida at Bright House Networks Field. The No. 5 seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish are slated to play St. John’s, the No. 4 seed. If you have a chance to get out there to see the game, we highly recommend it. This is one of the last chances to get out to a Notre Dame sports game this year.

Notre Dame played St. John’s in their last series of the season and they went 2-1, which bodes well for their playoff series. This is another 3-game series in a neutral site. St. John’s is a very competitive team in the Big East, so you should expect a good series.

However, by the historical numbers the Irish seem to have an advantage. If you check out the Notre Dame pregame page, you can see in the series notes that Notre Dame has won seven of the last eleven games played against the Red Storm. In the tournament they are 4-1 all time against St. John’s.

To get Notre Dame Fighting Irish tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on May 19, 2009 - Post a comment

Notre Dame 17th in Mark Schlabach Preseason Top 25!!

Mark Schlabach, a college football writer for ESPN, has the Notre Dame Fighting Irish listed as the No. 17 team in the nation in his preseason college football power rankings. The impetus for the ranking was the finale of spring practices. The school years are coming to a close, so this is the last we’ll see from the teams before they return to fall practice. While this is nowhere near an official ranking, it does help to pump you up about the next season.

If a respected college football writer seems to think that the Domers are this good, it could come true. Mark Schlabach mentions that the Domers are returning all of their big passing game guns on offense, and have a new line coach to improve the running game. Will the Notre Dame Fighting Irish make the preseason AP Top 25, the most respected preseason poll? Only time will tell.

To get Notre Dame Fighting Irish tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on May 15, 2009 - Post a comment

Notre Dame vs. St. John’s- Last Games of the Season

The school year is coming to a close and the sports seasons are wrapping up. Consequently, the Notre Dame baseball team is going to finish things out against some Big East rivals, St. John’s this weekend. The games will be played at St. John’s at Jack Kaiser Stadium in Queens, New York. If you’re going to be in the Big Apple this weekend you might think about getting some tickets to the games. Bit even if you’re going to be across the country in Southern California that weekend you can still peep in on the action. Saturday’s game will be broadcast nationally on CBS College Sports.

If Notre Dame can win just one game this weekend they’ll secure a spot in the Big East Tournament. Once there, anything could happen- they could win the whole thing and then go all the way to the College World Series. Well, let’s wish the Irish good luck in their upcoming games. Go Notre Dame!

To get Notre Dame Fighting Irish tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on May 14, 2009 - Post a comment


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