PHOTO OF THE DAY: New York's Times Square

The Notre Dame Women's Soccer Team just "tweeted" this photo taken in New York's Times Square -- that celebrates their recent National Championship!  Pretty awesome!

A JBL Sound System Installed @ Notre Dame?

The final touches of the recently completed renovation of the Purcell Pavillion at the University of Notre Dame included a state-of-the-art SOUND SYSTEM!  Here's a link to what was installed inside the arena:

LINK:  SOUND? -- NOT A PROBLEM AT NOTRE DAME

#1 Catholic University in the World!

Knowing the great pride that the University of Notre Dame takes in its "rankings" amongst its peer institutions -- I'm not quite sure how some will react to The World University Rankings that were just released by a group out of the United Kingdom.

Notre Dame was ranked as the #1 Catholic university in the world -- was that ever in question?!

However, the overall ranking of #63 in the world may not sit to well on the Golden Dome's 4th Floor -- and I see that as a great thing!!! 

168 years ago, in a letter that Fr. Sorin sent (December 5, 1842) to the Very Reverend Basil Moreau, CSC -- Founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross -- Sorin, made the following claim about the founding of Notre Dame du Lac:  

"Before long, it will develop on a large scale.... 

It will be one of the most powerful means for good in this country."

Well, Fr. Sorin -- your vision for Notre Dame has come true.  I'm sure if you could have a "do-over" 168 years later -- you would have substituted the word "world" for country.  No worries -- your associates have done just that for you!

Kind of puts this all into perspective -- doesn't it...

Here's the criteria and weighting the Times Higher Education used in their rankings of the Top 200 Universities in the World:

• Teaching — the learning environment (worth 30 per cent of the overall ranking score)
• Research — volume, income and reputation (worth 30 per cent)
• Citations — research influence (worth 32.5 per cent)
• Industry income — innovation (worth 2.5 per cent)
• International mix — staff and students (worth 5 per cent).

LINK:  THE TOP 200 UNIVERSITIES IN THE WORLD

NFL Draft Evaluations -- Floyd & Rudolph

Notre Dame Head Football Coach Brian Kelly announced earlier this week that his two "prized" juniors; Michael Floyd and Kyle Rudolph have petitioned the NFL for a "draft evaluation."  What this means is a panel of "pro football scouting experts" (NFL Draft Advisory Board) will determine the draft status of both players -- telling Floyd and Rudolph where they believe they'll go in the 2011 NFL Draft.   

You can bet that both players and their families are also talking with Charlie Weis about their draft status. 

The "wrinkle" this year is the negotiation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the NFL and NFLPA.  College underclassmen (Juniors and redshirt Sophomores) must declare for the NFL Draft by the second week of January and it's expected that the CBA will not be settled at that point.

It appears very likely that there will be a "lockout" this year -- delaying the start of the NFL season and impacting the "incomes" of the NFL players -- as the CBA is negotiated.  College players, thinking about coming out early, will have to determine if they want to risk the chance that there could be a prolonged delay to the start of the NFL season or even no season at all.  (the latter is highly unlikely)

You'll recall that twelve months ago -- the impending NFL/NFLPA CBA negotiation was one of the motivating factors for a number of underclassmen to declare early last year.  One of the issues on the negotiation table, is the pay scale for rookies.  It was widely assumed that the 2010 NFL Draft would be the "last time" NFL teams would pay out large sums of money to rookies in their first NFL contract.  Thus, players like Clausen and Tate had even more reason to believe leaving early last year was the right thing to do.  The college underclassmen this year have much different circumstances to assess. 

The good news is we will know one way or another by January 15th -- as to whether we'll have #3 and #9 back in gold helmets next season.  The bad news is the ND GO IRISH BLOG predicts -- they both will enter the 2011 NFL Draft.  

Here's some links to what's being said about Floyd and Rudolph's NFL Draft status along with a look back at Jimmy Clausen's evaluation process last year:
 
LINK:  KYLE RUDOLPH -- DRAFT STORY 

LINK:  MICHAEL FLOYD -- DRAFT STORY

LINK:  SCOUT INC'S TOP 32 FOR 2011 NFL DRAFT

LINK:  JIMMY CLAUSEN'S DRAFT EVALUATION