There's a work-out called ZUMBA which is the "fusion" of Latin and International music -- that is becoming quite the rage -- and, has become part of the workout regiment for Muffet McGraw's Fighting Irish! Here's a link to a video of the girls hard at work (you'll find the video on the lower right hand portion of the web page, just scroll down) -- and a link to the ZUMBA website, just in case you want to try this at home!
The Davey O'Brien Award, given annually to the top college QB in America, is conducting an online vote for the first time this year. At present, all 120 projected starting QB's of NCAA FBS teams are on the ballot. Through the fan vote -- which counts for 5% of the total -- and the vote of the O'Brien Committee, 16 QB's will be named a "SEMI-FINALIST" which will be announced on October 25th. No Notre Dame QB has ever won this award -- it's time to change that!!! Click on this link to vote for Dayne!
The University of Notre Dame was picked as one of the fifteen schools "Worth the Price" in higher education in the book “Higher Education? How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids – and What We Can Do About It.” The book written by Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus takes you on a tour of what’s horrible about today’s colleges. Hacker, a professor at Queens College, and Dreifus, who teaches at Columbia University, outline how colleges lost track of their primary mission: teaching college students. Instead, many professors negotiate to teach as little as possible, while the colleges lure students with expensive sports facilities, dorms and dining choices, pushing a four-year education at a private school to a quarter million dollars. Here's the list of the fifteen schools they believe are worth the price: Notre Dame, Harvard, Emory, Brandeis, Marquette, Hofstra, Florida Gulf Coast, Evergreen State, Western Oregon, University of Maryland - Baltimore County, Raritan Valley, Cooper Union, Linfield College, University of Mississippi and Arizona State. I noticed Dreifus didn't pick Columbia -- and Hacker didn't pick Queens College...they both must have "tenure."
Teddy Hodges (Salinas, KS) is back with the Notre Dame Fencing Team - less than one year after his heart transplant. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT! 365 days ago, Hodges was clinging on to life, after a virus attacked his heart causing two heart attacks in consecutive days. This was the news report on the www.fencing.net blog a year ago: Teddy Hodges, a senor foil fencer on the Notre Dame varsity, is in a Kansas City hospital. He is suffering from a viral infection of the heart. He had two heart attacks in the last two days. He is on a machine that keeps his heart and lungs working while they rest the heart and decide on further treatment. He can open his eyes and move his arms and legs. Well, that further treatment was a heart transplant -- which took place on September 16, 2009. Yesterday, nine days short of the one-year anniversary of his new heart, Teddy Hodges joined his Irish teammates at practice. Here are a few news reports on Hodges return for his senior year at Notre Dame -- what a story:
This Saturday -- is "Wearin' of the Green" day at Notre Dame Stadium! Show you're behind Coach Kelly and the Fighting Irish by turning Notre Dame Stadium into a SEA OF GREEN @ Saturday's game against Michigan. Whether it's a green shirt, jacket or body paint -- it will all look the same from the field and on television sets all over the world. We need to extend the "GREEN OUT" beyond the Notre Dame student section!
Here's a photo of Taylor Swift, the country pop star, with some of her fans here at Notre Dame. The photo was taken last year when Swift visited Notre Dame with her brother Austin -- when he was a high school senior looking for a college to attend. (One of our visitors at ND GO IRISH BLOG was quick to point out when the photo was taken -- THANK YOU!) Swift was at Notre Dame this weekend to visit her brother Austin (a Notre Dame freshman) and to see a Notre Dame football game. Apparently, Taylor wanted to sit in the Notre Dame student section, but Notre Dame officials talked her out of that idea and she watched the game from the sidelines. Forbes magazine recently ranked the twenty-year old Swift as the 12th most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million in the past year.
Having been a resident of the State of Michigan for most of my life -- but an Irish fan since BIRTH -- I've always looked forward to these two weeks of the season when we play Michigan and Michigan State. Now, I must admit -- I like these two weeks a whole lot better when we win! So, to get us in the right frame of mind for these next two Saturdays -- I'm going to dig up some classic YOUTUBE video of great moments in these two games. First up, the 1980 game when Touchdown Jesus "stopped the wind" and little known Harry Oliver -- all "five foot nuthin" -- kicked a 51-yard field goal in the final seconds to give the Irish a 29-27 win over Michigan. Here's the link to the last minute of the game -- with a bonus radio call of the kick from Tony Roberts. A MUST WATCH TODAY:
NBC Sports just gave every Notre Dame fan in the world a reason to buy an iPad. An iPad app for Notre Dame Football. What's the line... "I have an app for that" -- well, Irish fans this may be the app of the year! The app offers a pretty thorough set of ways to follow the team’s season, including a complete schedule, news, live scores, video clips including recaps and interviews, team stats, roster, photo galleries, Twitter updates and a display of the “Inside the Irish” blog. Of course, the app also allows you to pay for live streaming of home game for either $5.99 for the entire season or $1.99 per game. The two coolest features come in the form of notifications. On game day, you can set the app to remind you of the game – by playing the Notre Dame fight song. Then during the game, the app offers push notifications every time there is a score. Now, if we can talk NBC into "giving away" iPads as a promotion for Notre Dame fans -- we may have something here! Here's a link to more information on how to download the app:
Some Notre Dame fans online are suggesting a "GREEN OUT" at Notre Dame Stadium for this Saturday's game against Michigan. I believe it's a great idea and I'm going to be asking my gang of sixteen -- who are all sitting in the Michigan section by the way -- to WEAR GREEN ON SATURDAY! So, whether it's green clothing or green body paint -- GET YOUR "KELLY" GREEN ON this Saturday!
The Notre Dame vs. Purdue football game Saturday's preliminary rating was up 77 percent from last year's opener. NBC said Sunday that the Fighting Irish's 23-12 win over Purdue drew a 2.3 overnight rating and 6 share. The 2009 opener against Nevada earned a 1.3 rating and 3 share. A big thank-you to Jim Conway, Jr. '69 -- for sending me an email alerting me to this fact. Here's a link to the ESPN Blog story:
If you were at the game Saturday and like me -- forgot to set the DVR to record the game. Or, you had other conflicts and were unable to see the game on TV -- you still have options! NBC Sports' website has the entire broadcast archived for you to watch at your leisure. Photo courtesy of South Bend Tribune. Here's the link:
University of Notre Dame QB, Dayne Crist, made his Irish debut this Saturday against the Purdue Boilermakers. Crist went 19 for 26 and 205 yards -- and a TD pass. Here is Dayne's postgame comments:
For those of you fortunate enough to be on campus for a Football Saturday at Notre Dame -- and you're looking for something to do before kick-off -- you might just want to stroll over to the Purcell Pavillion and catch the Irish basketball team in action. It's become tradition that the Men's and Women's Notre Dame basketball teams play "pick up" games on either the arena floor or THE PIT -- their practice court in the basement of the Joyce Center on Saturday mornings. This past Saturday we found the Irish Men's team playing in the "Pit" because the arena floor had a large stage occupying it. And, while we were there we saw former Irish stars; Chris Quinn (New Jersey Nets) and Luke Harangody (Boston Celtics) watching the action. You can typically find them playing between 10 AM and Noon on most football Saturdays. Here's a link to some of the action from this Saturday's open gym:
It was 29 years ago this week that Gerry Faust was to embark on what he expected to be one of the great coaching runs in the history of Notre Dame football. Why wouldn' he? He had just left Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati after winning 178 of the 203 games he coached. He led the Crusaders to seven unbeaten seasons, four national prep titles, and five Ohio state titles in his last six seasons at Moeller. Well, if only Gerry could have kept his coaching career to one game at ND -- he would have retired on top. If you recall, Faust's Irish beat LSU in his first game as coach. The 27 - 9 Notre Dame victory over LSU (on September 12, 1981) combined with Minnesota's upset of then top ranked Michigan -- vaulted the Irish to the #1 ranking in the country. Unfortunately, Michigan was next on the schedule and Schembechler's Wolverines beat Notre Dame that week 25 - 7 -- and the honeymoon was over. Gerry did have some moments at Notre Dame in his five-year career; a win over #1 ranked Dan Marino led, Pitt Panthers in 1982, a 52 - 6 win over Purdue to start the 1983 season -- but a five-year career record of 30-26-1 led to his resignation. You can never deny that Gerry Faust loves Notre Dame -- and Notre Dame loves Gerry Faust. In fact, Coach Faust was at the Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore this past Saturday (for the umpteenth time) signing copies of his book The Golden Dream. I don't think we'll be seeing Bob Davie, Ty Willingham or Charlie Weis -- anytime soon -- signing copies of their book about their Notre Dame experience, sitting in the stands at Notre Dame games or walking the campus on a football Saturday. These days, Gerry works as a motivational speaker -- click on the link below to see him tell a very funny story at a conference. There's also two links below to a two-part feature that ESPN ran in 2007 on Gerry Faust's career at Notre Dame - A MUST SEE. Coach Faust, will always be a favorite to many Notre Dame fans. To prove my point, here's a photo taken this Saturday morning of an Irish fan on campus, just hours before kick-off of the Brian Kelly era.