Lady Irish are Now 23 - 0 -- Win 46th Straight!

Muffet McGraw's #2 ranked Fighting Irish are now 23 - 0 on the season -- matching the greatest start to a regular season in school history.  They've also won 46 straight regular season games...

The latest victim Syracuse -- whom the Irish beat 101 - 64.  See the highlights below -- along with a link to the post game press conference:

LINK:  GAME HIGHLIGHTS

LINK:  POST GAME PRESSER

Kelly Finished Tied for 46th at Pebble Beach

Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly and his PGA Tour partner Michael Thompson (Alabama grad) finished in a tie for 46th at this weekend's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.  There's a link to the final scoreboard below.

Michael Thompson finished in 19th place with a -3 -- meaning Coach Kelly contributed 10 strokes to their -13 team score for the tournament.

LINK:  AT&T PEBBLE BEACH NATIONAL PRO-AM

Quick Interview with ND QB Everett Golson

Notre Dame student-athlete Everett Golson was interviewed this weekend while watching the Irish track team compete at the Meyo Invitational.  Here's a link:

LINK:  EVERETT GOLSON

#4 ND Women's Fencing Beats #6 Penn State

Now, I'm willing to bet that there are very few ND GO IRISH BLOG followers who have ever attended a fencing competition.  So, here's a little treat from our friends at Fighting Irish Digital Media.

Yesterday's competition between #4 Notre Dame and #6 Penn State came down to the very last match -- here's the winning point -- in front of the largest crowd ever to watch a fencing competition at ND.

LINK:  NOTRE DAME WINS!

LINK:  WOMEN'S RANKINGS

Samardzija Signs One-Year $5.3 Million Deal

The Chicago Cubs came to terms yesterday afternoon with former Notre Dame All-American wide receiver Jeff Samardzija, on a one-year deal worth $5,345,000 -- avoiding arbitration.

Jeff was seeking $6.2 million and the Cubs were offering $4.4 million -- they split the difference.

With this contract -- Samardzija will have earned $15,345,000 in his first six years in professional baseball.

Now, when you consider the average length of an NFL career for a wide receiver is 2.91 years -- you'll know why Jeff is smiling in this photograph!  He made a great decision!

Samardzija finished fourth in the National League last year with 214 strikeouts in 213 innings pitched.  Here's how he stacked up in a number of other pitching categories in the National League last season:

• Games Started -- tied for second with 33 starts
• Innings Pitched -- fifth place with 213.2 innings
• Complete Games -- tied for fifth place with 2

Congratulations Jeff!

LINK:  SAMARDZIJA AND CUBS AGREE