You can't talk about the Super Bowl and not speak his name... He's one of the Greatest of All Time -- winner of 4 Super Bowl titles, MVP Awards and numerous other individual awards... But, his game got started in South Bend. Here's a two-part look at Joe Montana's career at Notre Dame - a career that started on the bench, included a National Championship and ended with a touchdown pass to Kris Haines at a frozen Cotton Bowl.
On the eve of National Signing Day (Wednesday, February 3rd), Sports Illustrated ranked the top 15 recruiting classes of all time. The winner: the University of Notre Dame's 1946 Class -- a recruiting class that never lost a game and won or shared three national titles. Leon Hart was the most decorated member of the class; winning the 1949 Heisman Trophy.
The University of Notre Dame does so much more than what we see on NBC, ESPN or the sports pages throughout the school year. Here are two wonderful examples of Notre Dame making an impact on the lives of many.
It was an instant classic and will be for some time. Notre Dame's Golden Tate made a swan dive into the Michigan State Band after scoring a TD in Notre Dame's win over the Spartans. Within hours, the video clip was on YouTube and at last glance had more than 99,000 views. If you haven't seen it -- click on this link.
In a very, very, very close vote, ND Head Hockey Coach -- Jeff Jackson was selected as the next Notre Dame Coach to win a National Championship in a ND GO IRISH blog poll. Jackson had 28% of the vote followed closely by Randy Waldrum (Women's Soccer) who had 27% and Brian Kelly, who finished third, with 26%.
Notre Dame great, War Hero, Author, Super Bowl Champion -- movie made of his life. That's Rocky Bleier. He won numerous Super Bowl Championships with Franco Harris and Terry Bradshaw as a running back with the Steelers. Here's a series of clips of Rocky giving motivational talks to companies.
It's one of the most used, copied, admired, purchased -- five words in American sports today. And, unlike many other Notre Dame traditions, it's only been around since 1986. With the College Football Hall of Fame leaving South Bend -- I hope we hear, someday soon, that Notre Dame is breaking ground on the "LIKE A CHAMPION TODAY - Center for Excellence." A facility that would showcase all of the great things its students, alums, faculty, staff, coaches, teams, etc., have contributed to society... ESPN's Mike Greenberg starred in a commercial recently about P.L.A.C.T.
Every Thursday night, for the next few weeks, the ND GO IRISH BLOG is holding auditions for IRISH IDOL and this week we have three contestants who are competing for the chance to move on to the Finals. Each contestant will perform the Victory March. The contestant with the most COMMENTS will move on to the Finals. ESPN's Mark May has inquired about being a judge...
I sure wish Adidas and ND would go "old school" and bring back some of their old TV spots. Now, it's been a few years since these aired in the 90's, and High Definition wasn't "invented" yet -- so the quality is not the best. Yet, I'm confident they'll make you smile and feel good about being part of the Notre Dame family. Enjoy.
Fighting Irish Offensive Guard, Chris Stewart was one of the many Notre Dame athletes who took part in Notre Dame's effort to raise money for Haiti Relief during last Saturday's home basketball game. Stewart has a connection to Haiti, having spent some time there last March, completing his service work for a class at Notre Dame. Here's a link to a news story that aired on WNDU-TV.
Bob McDonnell, the 71st governor of Virginia -- attended the University of Notre Dame on an ROTC scholarship, graduating with a B.B.A. in Management in 1976. McDonnell was selected to give the Republican Party's response to President Obama's State of the Union address tonight. McDonnell also has a M.S.B.A. and M.A./J.D. degrees and is a former Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army. Prior to taking office as Governor on January 16th, McDonnell served Virginia as its Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General. This is a significant political honor for McDonnell, potentially thrusting him into the Presidential candidacy conversation.
Rumor has it that the Fighting Irish are in negotiations with FedEx Field to host a game in their 91,000 seat stadium during the 2011 season. This makes sense, since Notre Dame has been working on scheduling an "off site" home game each season as part of their 7 home games, 1 neutral site home game and 4 away games schedule -- that was implemented for the first time this past season. The Chicago Sun Times is reporting that the opponent will be the University of Maryland. Notre Dame will be playing Army this fall in an "off site" home game for the Irish at the new Yankee Stadium.
The Grotto was selected as the favorite Building / Location on the University of Notre Dame campus -- amongst the visitors to the ND GO IRISH blog site in a poll taken the last two days. Receiving 48% of the vote, the Grotto won easily over the Main Building (Golden Dome) which finished second with 23%. The Basilica of Sacred Heart finished third.
The first link is to an interview with the Notre Dame contingent that was working in Haiti and experienced the earthquake. The second is a video of the work Notre Dame has been doing in Haiti for a number of years.
