Samardzija's Opening Day Start Tomorrow!

Former Notre Dame All-American Jeff Samardzija takes the mound tomorrow for his second straight Opening Day start for the Chicago Cubs -- and ironically it happens again at PNC Park in Pittsburgh against the Pirates.

First pitch is thrown at 1:05 PM ET -- here's some stories about Jeff's start tomorrow:

LINK:  2ND STRAIGHT OPENER

LINK:  CSN CHICAGO

HBO's Real Sports: Graduating College Athletes

Bryant Gumbel's Real Sports on HBO produced a story this past week on what a number of universities have been doing to graduate their student-athletes -- namely; University of North Carolina, University of Michigan, University of Oklahoma, Baylor University, Iowa State University and the University of Memphis.

If you get the chance -- go to HBO and watch the entire show.  It's an eye-opener...  Plus, there is a second link here to an article I found in a North Carolina newspaper about this HBO story:

LINK:  TRAILER

LINK:  NEWS OBSERVER

NCAA Regionals: ND Met With the Media Today

Muffet and her Fighting Irish met with the media today to talk about tomorrow night's game against Baylor for a trip to Nashville and the FINAL FOUR.  Here's the replay:

LINK:  NOTRE DAME NCAA PRESSER

FIGHTING FOR LIFE: The Bobby Russell Story

Notre Dame fans are going to want to watch this story...

LINK:  BOBBY RUSSELL

Up Next: Odyssey and the Baylor Bears

She's only 42 points away from setting the all-time points record for a single season for women's college basketball...

Standing in Odyseey's Sims way is the defense of Jewell Loyd, Kayla McBride and the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

Here is what the media has to say about tomorrow night's NCAA Regional Final between Notre Dame (35 - 0) and the Baylor Bears (32 - 4).  The fun begins at 7:30 PM ET on ESPN.

LINK:  ESPNW -- CHARLIE CREME

LINK:  ESPN'S LOBO & LAWSON

LINK:  ESPN'S WHITE & MOWINS