Hyundai Sun Bowl -- Post Practice Interviews

Notre Dame's football team practiced today "inside" -- getting ready for their upcoming bowl game against Miami.  Here's a link to Notre Dame's Hyundai Sun Bowl Central -- where you'll find videos of interviews with a few players and an interview with Coach Brian Kelly:

LINK:  NOTRE DAME  -- HYUNDAI SUN BOWL

Irish Hoops on ESPN2 Tonight vs. Gonzaga!

Mike Brey's Fighting Irish of Notre Dame take on the Gonzaga Bulldogs tonight in a home game that will be televised on ESPN2 at 8:30 PM EST.  It's the first time these two schools have met in basketball -- and the Irish are 7 point favorites -- as they attempt to "bounce back" from Wednesday's loss to Kentucky.  Should be a very good game!  Here's a link to the South Bend Tribune story about tonight's game:

LINK:  IRISH HOST GONZAGA TONIGHT!

A Little Off Topic: Army - Navy Game Today!

I know this is a Notre Dame blog -- but, we did play both of these teams this year!  The "Army - Navy Game" has always been my favorite "non- Notre Dame" football game of the year.  I'll be glued to the TV set this afternoon at 2 PM EST (CBS) as they kick off the 111th game in the history of "America's Game" from Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

Navy leads the series over Army; with 54 wins, 49 losses and 7 ties.

One of the greatest spectacles in sport is the MARCH ON -- as the Army Corps of Cadets and the Navy Midshipmen take the field in Philadelphia (this takes place two hours before kick-off) -- I've posted some videos below of this.  And, here's a link to the official website for the game - when you get there, click on the RIVALRY tab.  You'll enjoy the stories.

LINK:  ARMY-NAVY GAME:  OFFICIAL WEBSITE

LINK:  "AMERICA'S GAME" -- SIGHTS AND SOUNDS FROM 2009

LINK:  MARCH ON -- TO THE STADIUM

LINK:  MARCH ON -- ARMY'S CORPS OF CADETS

LINK:  MARCH ON -- NAVY'S MIDSHIPMEN

A Notre Dame Christmas for Cancer Patients

Athletes from nineteen of the the University of Notre Dame's varsity athletic teams were represented at a Christmas Party in Notre Dame's Heritage Hall for 100 pediatric cancer patients and their familes from South Bend's Memorial Hospital.  Here's a link to the WNDU-TV news story along with a second link to an eleven minute video that UND.COM produced about the event.  I wasn't able to provide a direct link to the UND.COM video -- so you'll need to click on it when you get to the page!

LINK:  WNDU-TV STORY 

LINK:  UND.COM COVERAGE

Henderson -- Finalist for Player of the Year!

Notre Dame junior soccer star, Melissa Henderson -- was named as one of the three finalists for the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Award yesterday by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.  This award is given annually to the top player in women's soccer -- and the winner will be announced on January 7th at a news conference in downtown St. Louis at the Missouri Athletic Club followed by an awards dinner that evening at the M.A.C.  Henderson was named a first team All-American, Most Valuable Offensive Player in the NCAA Tournament, Big East Offensive Player of the Year and 1st Team all-Big East -- as she led the Irish to their third National Championship.  One "fun fact" about Henderson's career at Notre Dame -- the Irish are undefeated in the 45 games that Melissa has an assist -- including the National Championship game where her assist led to the winning goal!  Henderson is the third Notre Dame women's soccer player to be a finalist for the Hermann Award; Katie Thorlakson in 2005 and two-time Hermann Trophy Award winner -- Kerri Hanks who won the award in 2006 and 2008.  The other two finalists this year are;  Alex Morgan (California) and Christen Press (Stanford).  This next week -- Henderson and her Irish teammate Lauren Fowlkes are off to train with the United States's U23 Team from December 12th to the 19th at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA.  Congratulations Melissa!!!  A ND GO IRISH BLOG "thank you" goes out to Dr. Jim Clancy for alerting us to this story.  Here's a link to the story at UND.COM.

LINK:  HENDERSON A FINALIST FOR NATIONAL POY