A ND Athlete & Family: "Thankful" Today!

The ND GO IRISH BLOG covered Teddy Rogers return to Notre Dame earlier this year -- and today's USA Today recounts his remarkable story.  A wonderful 'thanksgiving" story -- Notre Dame style.  Enjoy!

LINK:  A ND -- THANKSGIVING STORY!

Happy Thanksgiving to the Notre Dame Family!

It's one of my favorite days of the year -- family, football and food -- even though my Lions are usually on the losing end!!!  I'm about to "turn off" my MAC for a day or so to enjoy the time with my family.  I want to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving!  Trust me, I'll be back getting us fired up for USC -- tomorrow night or Saturday morning!  Here's a link to a Prayer of Thanksgiving video -- you'll enjoy -- and, a link to today's Prayer of Thankgiving at the PRAY.ND.EDU site:

LINK:  A NOTRE DAME PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

LINK:  PRAY.ND.EDU -- PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

Less than "65" Hours to ND vs. USC

The Notre Dame vs. USC game in 1988 matched the #1 ranked Fighting Irish against the #2 ranked Trojans at the LA Coliseum.  It was the eighth time, in this storied series, that one of the teams entered the game ranked #1 -- the first time the teams were ranked #1 and #2.  And, both teams were 10-0 -- the first and only time both teams have been undefeated playing each other in the LA Coliseum.  Irish fans will recall, Notre Dame Head Football Coach, Lou Holtz -- sent star players Ricky Watters and Tony Brooks back to South Bend for continual tardiness to team meetings -- the morning of the game!  Yet, the Irish -- behind QB Tony Rice's huge 65 yard TD run in the first quarter and defensive back Stan Smagala's "pick six"-- rolled over USC 27-10!  Four weeks later the Irish capped off a 12-0 season and the National Championship with a convincing win over West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl.  FYI:  It was Notre Dame's sixth straight win over the Trojans.  Here's a link to highlights from the 1988 game:

LINK:  #1 NOTRE DAME vs. #2 USC

ND Hockey To Join Big Ten?

A story broke yesterday out of Minnesota, that the Big Ten has extended an invitation to Notre Dame to join the Big Ten's planned hockey league.  THEY WON'T GIVE UP WILL THEY!!!  Paul Kelly, President of College Hockey Inc., -- a group that has been formed to promote college hockey -- confirmed the Big Ten's offer to Notre Dame.  The Irish and a number of the Big Ten schools that play hockey; Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State are currently members of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA).  Word has it that the Big Ten would like to add hockey as a conference sport in the next few years -- meaning the five current schools in the Big Ten that play hockey -- Wisconsin and Minnesota play in the Western  Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) would be leaving their current conference affiliations.  Jeff Jackson's (pictured) 11th ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish are currently in FIRST PLACE in the CCHA!  Here's a link to the story, along with a link to the current national rankings:

LINK:  BIG TEN INVITATION TO NOTRE DAME

LINK:  IRISH RANKED 11TH IN NATIONAL RANKINGS