Is Notre Dame Doing the "Right" Thing?

I just ran across this story this evening -- and it caught me a little off guard.  Cathedral High School in El Paso, TX has been calling itself the "Fightin' Irish" since 1925.  And, over that time, they've been using the Leprechaun logo as well.

Today, the story broke that the University of Notre Dame has notified Cathedral that they must "cease" calling themselves the "Fighting Irish" and may no longer use the Leprechaun logo.  They can call themselves the "Irish"-- but that's it.

Now, having worked with the NBA, NHL, NASCAR, PGA, etc., -- I fully understand protecting your brand.  I also know that there are Catholic high schools all over America who have been calling themselves the Fighting Irish and using the Leprechaun logo -- for years!

All I can figure is Cathedral was selling the Notre Dame marks on apparel and merchandise -- and some ND Official Licensees (who pay to use the mark) who were in El Paso for the Sun Bowl started complaining -- and the University had no choice but to protect their marks.

Here's a link to the story:

LINK:  NOTRE DAME PROTECTING ITS MARKS

PHOTO OF THE DAY: Irish @ Disney

This photo was just "tweeted" by a member of the University of Notre Dame's women's softball team.  They're down at Disney playing in a tournament this weekend.  Disney rarely misses an opportunity...

The Bengal Bouts -- Uniquely Notre Dame!

They "Box for Bangladesh."  Last night -- the finals of the 81st Annual Bengal Bouts were held on the campus of the University of Notre Dame.  It's uniquely Notre Dame -- and it's done for a great cause.   The goal was to raise $200,000 for the Holy Cross Mission in Bangladesh -- here's hoping they met their goal!  Thirteen winners were crowned -- yet, the people of Bangladesh really won last night.  Here's a link to the South Bend Tribune story and a link to the official site of The Bengal Bouts:



LINK:  BOXING FOR BANGLADESH

LINK:  THE BENGAL BOUTS -- OFFICIAL SITE

ESPN's Gottlieb -- Calls the Irish "Pretenders"

ESPN college basketball analyst -- Doug Gottlieb did a segment this week on ESPN where he took the top eight ranked teams in the country and he labeled them "contenders" or "pretenders" -- in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.  Well, Gottlieb -- who was an Irish student-athlete at one time -- before he was asked to leave Notre Dame for the "un-authorized" use of a roommates' credit card (I'm trying to be nice about this...) -- showed his bias in his labeling of the Irish.

I trust Coach Brey will remind his team of this in a couple of weeks!  Here's a link:

LINK:  GOTTLIEB'S THOUGHTS ON THE IRISH

NY Times Interview of Brian Kelly

Notre Dame football head coach, Brian Kelly -- met with a New York Times reporter this week to talk about his upcoming "Kelly Cares Foundation" dinner at the Waldorf Astoria on March 16th.  The event will honor former Irish coaching legends Ara Parseghian and Lou Holtz -- should be a fun night!  Here's the link to the interview:

LINK:  COACH KELLY WITH NY TIMES

Irish Play UCONN Today on ESPN!!!

You win some basketball games at Notre Dame -- and you're on TV as much or more than Duke.  That's the "win" for ND hoops fans across the county -- as we get to watch our IRISH play more often on TV.  ESPN will have the Irish vs. UCONN game on at 2 PM EST.  Today ends the regular season for Mike Brey's boys -- they're currently 24 - 5 -- and a win will tie or break the following team records:

• A win today -- will set the all-time "modern era" for most wins in a regular season.
• A win today -- will tie the all-time record for most Big East wins in a regular season.
• A win today -- will make 94 wins over the past four years -- which will be the most wins over a four-year span in Notre Dame history. 
• And, a win today -- will give the Irish 46 Big East wins in the last four seasons -- the most ever, over a four-year span.

This will be the ninth game this season for the Irish against a ranked opponent.  UCONN is ranked 16th.  To date, the Irish are 6-2 against ranked teams.   The only problem for Irish fans today -- John Saunders -- a known "ND Hater" is doing the game for ESPN -- you may want to turn down the sound!!!

Here's a link to the game notes from Notre Dame's Media Relations team at UND.COM:

LINK:  IRISH vs. HUSKIES TODAY AT 2 PM EST