ND Football Player -- "All Internet Irish" Honors!

The decision on which University of Notre Dame athlete would be awarded "All Internet Irish" honors for 2010 -- was quite simple. This Irish linebacker was one of the "early adapters" to Twitter and he's become quite a prolific "tweeter" -- with 463 tweets and counting. And he has attracted more than 1,700 followers! Brian Smith is the 2010 recipient of the NOTRE DAME GO IRISH BLOG'S "All Internet Irish" honors for Notre Dame Varsity Athletes. You can find Brian on Twitter with the name; BCSmith58. I'm sure Coach Kelly would rather you find Smith in the "backfield on top of a QB" -- but, it's May -- so give him a follow. Congratulations Brian!

ND Soccer Coach -- "All Internet Irish" Honors!

One would have thought that the NOTRE DAME GO IRISH BLOG would have made the safe choice in awarding Notre Dame Head Football Coach Brian Kelly with "All Internet Irish" honors for 2010 with his 15,695 followers on Twitter and his 1,300 fans on Facebook. But, his 48 "tweets" fell short of this year's honoree -- Notre Dame Women's Soccer Head Coach; Randy Waldrum. Coach Waldrum has tweeted 182 times in the last few months and has displayed an acumen for this social media channel -- that exceeds his peers at Notre Dame. Thus, he's the recipient of the 2010 "All Internet Irish" award for Notre Dame Coaches. Now, we're guessing this honor won't match the excitement of winning the National Championship in 2004 -- or being named the Soccer America National Coach of the Year in 2009 -- but, it might make him smile today! Congratulations Coach Waldrum!

Eleven Receive -- "All Internet Irish" Honors!

In honor of the eleven National Championships in Notre Dame's Football history -- eleven "web stars" of Notre Dame athletics were selected to receive the NOTRE DAME GO IRISH BLOG'S first annual "All Internet Irish" honors for 2010. They were awarded in the following categories: Subscription Sites, Free Web Sites, Blogs, Reporters, YouTube, Fan and Overall. Tomorrow, NOTRE DAME GO IRISH BLOG will announce its winners of the "All Internet Irish" award to a Notre Dame Athlete and a Notre Dame Coach. We're already scouting for the 2011 "All Internet Irish" award winners -- so bring your best game to the web! Next year we're going to add a Facebook and Twitter category, so get going! Here are the 2010 winners by category:

SUBSCRIPTION WEBSITES
-Irish Sports Daily
-Irish Illustrated

FREE WEBSITES
-NDNATION.com
-DOMERDOMAIN.com
-GOLDHELMET.com

BLOGS
-Her Loyal Sons
-Subway Domer

REPORTERS
-Eric Hansen, South Bend Tribune
-Brian Hamilton, Chicago Tribune

YOUTUBE & FAN
-Jerry Kennedy, AKA "DAMEFAN"

OVERALL
-The Subway Alumni Show

Two ND Subscriber Sites -- "All Internet Irish"

The NOTRE DAME GO IRISH BLOG is honoring two of the many subscription based websites that follow Notre Dame athletics with "All Internet Irish" honors for 2010 -- they are; Irish Sports Daily and Irish Illustrated. Mike Frank and his team at Irish Sports Daily have attracted a subscriber base in excess of 10,000 avid ND fans -- in this ESPN partnered venture. The Irish Illustrated team is led by Publisher; Jack Freeman and Editor; Pete Sampson -- they have thousands of subscribers as well. Both sites provide daily reporting on ND Sports -- and keep all of us "crazy about recruiting information," begging for more. Their daily coverage of Notre Dame Football is "flat out" the best you will find on the web. I personally subscribe to both of these sites and encourage those who haven't yet -- to join me. Here's a link to the two subscription based ND sites who've earned "All Internet Irish" honors this year:

IRISH SPORTS DAILY

IRISH ILLUSTRATED

Three Free ND Sites Named -- "All Internet Irish"

Three websites developed by fans and for fans of Notre Dame athletics; NDNATION.com, DOMERDOMAIN.com and GOLDHELMET.com have been awarded "All Internet Irish" honors for 2010 from NOTRE DAME GO IRISH BLOG. All three of these sites offer "free" forums for Notre Dame fans, from all over the world, to participate in. Now, the conversation may not always positive about ND -- but's it's definitely passionate! I encourage everyone to get involved with these sites and join the discussion about Notre Dame! Here are the links to these three "All Internet Irish" sites:

NDNATION.com

DOMERDOMAIN.com

GOLDHELMET.com

Two Writers Receive -- "All Internet Irish" Honors!

Two Notre Dame beat reporters; the Chicago Tribune's Brian Hamilton and the South Bend Tribune's Eric Hansen are being recognized for their fair (but not always friendly) coverage of the Fighting Irish via the web. Both have embraced technology; Hamilton and Hansen have active Twitter accounts, both are "blogging" about Notre Dame (Hamilton with the Chicago Breaking Sports blog and Hansen blogs with ESPN Chicago and South Bend Tribune) -- and can be found on their respective newspaper's websites. In addition, Hansen hosts a weekly podcast interview on the South Bend Tribune's website called SportsBeat and the GameDay SportsBeat show on WSBT-960 AM. It's the quality and quantity of reporting of these two Notre Dame beat writers -- on the web -- that has earned them the "ALL INTERNET IRISH" honors for Notre Dame Beat Reporters! Congratulations!

BRIAN HAMILTON'S BLOG

ERIC HANSEN'S TWITTER PAGE

Two Blogs Receive "All Internet Irish" Honors!

Two Notre Dame blogs; Her Loyal Sons and Subway Domer each received "ALL INTERNET IRISH" honors today! They represent the first two bloggers to receive this "prestigious" award from the NOTRE DAME GO IRISH BLOG - for their excellent coverage and commentary on Notre Dame sports. If you haven't been to their respective sites or haven't been following them on Twitter -- you're missing out! Here's a link to each of their blogs. Congratulations!

HER LOYAL SONS

SUBWAY DOMER

14 ND Sports Teams Earn Academic Honors!

This should come as no surprise to Notre Dame fans! The University of Notre Dame again ranks among the national leaders among all 120 Football Bowl Subdivision institutions as the NCAA today honored Division I sports teams with 2010 public recognition awards for their latest multi-year Academic Progress Rate scores. These teams posted multi-year APR scores in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports. The public recognition awards are part of the broad Division I academic reform effort. These awards are based on the most recent APR numbers that represent the combination of scores from the 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years. Notre Dame had 14 of its programs honored this year for the multi-year achievement -- men's basketball, men's cross country, men’s football, men's golf, men's ice hockey, men’s lacrosse, men's soccer, men’s tennis, men's indoor track and field, men's outdoor track and field, women's rowing, women's soccer, women's softball and women's tennis. Congratulations Irish!

The Subway Alumni Show - "All Internet Irish"

They are known as "Sprout and Eric" to their loyal Notre Dame fans (photo) and each week during the Irish Football season these two broadcast The Subway Alumni Show on the web. As they like to say, "it is for those who believe in sacred Saturdays of Notre Dame Football and beer. Lots of beer." Neither of them attended Notre Dame -- thus they named their "webishow" THE SUBWAY ALUMNI SHOW, for the millions of fans of Notre Dame who never attended the University. With fifty shows under their belt, Sprout and Eric have gotten better and better each week, in their coverage of Notre Dame Football. And, they're "still undefeated" as the unofficial coaches of Notre Dame football. It's their devotion and passion for Notre Dame Football that has earned them the NOTRE DAME GO IRISH BLOG: "ALL INTERNET IRISH" honors for 2010. It's well earned! Make sure you visit their website and take a look at a few of their archived shows and be sure to tun in this fall. Here's a link:

THE SUBWAY ALUMNI SHOW

ND GO IRISH BLOG - Passed 4,000 Yesterday!

The NOTRE DAME GO IRISH BLOG is only 14 weeks old -- and in that time period more than 4,000 unique Fighting Irish fans have visited this site at least once! Most have visited the site, many, many times. THANKS for making NOTRE DAME GO IRISH BLOG one of your "ND homes" on the internet. Go IRISH!

NDGIB's - "All Internet Irish" Honors

Over the next few days, the NOTRE DAME GO IRISH BLOG is going to be introducing its first ever "ALL INTERNET IRISH" honors. This award recognizes the individuals who have best displayed their passion for the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame on the worldwide web. These Notre Dame fans have gone that "extra mile" for the Irish and would be considered to be among Brian Kelly's; "Right Kind of Guys" on the internet. If you have a nomination for "ALL INTERNET IRISH" - please send me an email at: jim.small@ndgoirish.com

The first to receive NDGIB's "ALL INTERNET IRISH" honors is "DAMEFAN" -- he's a big time fan of Notre Dame football and his unique style of posting on www.irishillustrated.com's Four Horsemen Lounge, have become internet legend. This past season, he took his game up a notch and started posting videos on YOUTUBE. That's him in the photo, it's a "screen grab" of DAMEFAN in action. You can search "damefan1" on YOUTUBE to find all of his videos. Here are a few of my favorites.

DAMEFAN -- NOTRE DAME vs. NEVADA

DAMEFAN -- NOTRE DAME vs. MICHIGAN

DAMEFAN -- NOTRE DAME vs. USC

DAMEFAN -- BRIAN KELLY COMING TO ND!

Golden Tate Interview

Former Notre Dame WR and Biletnikoff Award recipient -- as College Football's top receiver in 2009 -- Golden Tate was in the South Bend area yesterday and he spent a few minutes with the South Bend Tribune's Weekday Sportsbeat Show. Tate was a 2nd Round Draft pick, last month, of the Seattle Seahawks where he joins former Domers; Julius Jones and John Carlson. Here's a link to the interview:

GOLDEN TATE INTERVIEW

ND Men's Lacrosse in NCAA Tournament

Head Coach Kevin Corrigan and his Fighting Irish are heading to Princeton, NJ this weekend for their First Round contest against the 6th seeded Princeton Tigers. The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU at 2:30 PM EST this Sunday. The Irish will be taking on a Princeton team that won the Ivy League Tournament Championship. This will be the second meeting between the Tigers and Irish. It also makes it five straight trips to the NCAA Tournament for Notre Dame. Good Luck Irish!

ND Women's Lacrosse Ranked 14th in the Country!

And, they're headed to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year. The Fighting Irish (11-6) are coming off of a heart breaking loss in FOUR OVERTIMES to Syracuse in the Big East Tournament this past week. Notre Dame will be taking on Northwestern - who's ranked #2 and the winner's of the last five NCAA National Championships. The game will be played this Saturday at Northwestern's Lakeside Field. Good Luck IRISH!

Notre Dame's Chinese Speech Contest

The University of Notre Dame's Department of East Asia Languages and Cultures just completed its 2010 Chinese Speech Contest -- it's an innovative and somewhat entertaining competition. You just have to wonder how difficult it is to learn this language. The photo is the famous ND logo (on a ball cap) in Kanji, which are the Chinese characters used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system. Here's a link to a video of the competition.

ND'S CHINESE SPEECH CONTEST

ND Makes Major Research Investment

In the past twelve months, the University of Notre Dame has committed $80 million in what they're calling their Strategic Research Investments. The most recent investments represent nine more research initiatives for the University. Here's a link to a video produced by Notre Dame's Department of Education and to SRI's website -- that will explain where this money is going.

ND'S STRATEGIC RESEARCH INVESTMENTS

SRI's WEBSITE

"Five for Riley" - a ND Story

I read this story this AM on Mike Frank's Irish Sports Daily website (www.irishsportsdaily.com) and it affected me. You see, my wife and I have been very fortunate to have three healthy kids. Unfortunately, this Notre Dame family didn't have such good fortune. It's a story about two ND alums, Henry and Maggie Scroope and their son Henry John Scroope V. Young Henry only lived to be five months old -- and it was a life that was spent for the most part at Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis. Here's a link to Mike Frank's site and his story about the Scroope family and their efforts to "give back" to Riley Hospital.

FIVE FOR RILEY

"The Bus" vs. "Dr. J" -- Tonight on the Golf Channel

Former Notre Dame great and Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl Champion, Jerome "The Bus" Bettis will be taking on NBA legend, Julius "Dr. J" Erving tonight on the Golf Channel's "Trump's Fabulous World of Golf" at 9:00 PM EST. This made for TV event, matches these two in an eighteen hole match with the winner receiving money for his charity -- and a trophy. They'll be playing Trump's course in West Palm Beach, FL. Click on the link below for a preview.

THE BUS vs. DR. J -- GOLF CHANNEL

Brian Kelly on Sports Radio in DC

Coach Brian Kelly was in Washington D.C. yesterday for the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation event - where he was honored for his involvement with this group. Before the event, Coach Kelly was interviewed by THE FAN 106.7 -- Sports Radio in D.C. Here's the interview -- click on the link:

COACH KELLY RADIO INTERVIEW

Happy Mother's Day!

The ND GO IRISH BLOG would like to wish all of the Mom's and Grandma's a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! And, to celebrate this special day - we've lined up the University of Notre Dame's Glee Club, the University of Notre Dame's Liturgical Choir and the Irish Trumpets of Notre Dame to perform; "Notre Dame Our Mother." Enjoy!

NOTRE DAME OUR MOTHER - GLEE CLUB

NOTRE DAME OUR MOTHER -- LITURGICAL CHOIR

NOTRE DAME OUR MOTHER - IRISH TRUMPETS