Last night, Lou Holtz became the third football coach from the University of Notre Dame to be inducted into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame -- joining Knute Rockne and Ara Parseghian. WNDU-TV caught up with Holtz while he was in town -- here's a link to two interviews Lou gave to fellow Indiana Football Hall of Famer, Jeff Jeffers:
University of Notre Dame Professor David Hyde and his team of researchers have been looking for ways to obtain and use stem cells that would be morally acceptable. The prevailing notion is that embryonic stem cells taken from living human embryos (babies), that have been aborted, are necessary for stem cell research. This practice is an obvious conflict for Catholics and all who believe in the dignity of every human life -- from conception to birth -- since human embryos are human beings and their intentional destruction is murder. Scientists have been arguing that adult stem cells are not as adaptable as stem cells from human embryos. Thankfully -- Professor David Hyde disagrees and he points to the research his team at Notre Dame has done that proves these adult stem cells are adapting quite well. They've been taking mature stem cells from more than 100,000 Zebrafish. "All the fish are anesthetized before they're treated and most of the treatments involved the use of extremely bright light, which kills off their rod and cone photoreceptor cells in the retina." Making the Zebrafish blind. They know the Zebrafish are blind because they don't swim away from predatory fish. However, after inserting adult mature stem cells back into the eyes of the Zebrafish -- their VISION IS RESTORED. Hyde says Zebrafish have a similar eye structure to humans. "So, we're ready to start to think about are the processes that we've identified in Zebrafish, are they working properly in humans? Or, is there something that is blocking their ability to function in humans, which would then correlate to the inability in human retina to regenerate," Hyde says. Can you imagine if Notre Dame can restore sight for those who are blind?! Sounds like something this University should be "FIGHTING FOR!!!" Thank you David Hyde! Here's a TV commercial Notre Dame produced to tell this story:
Notre Dame Head Football Coach, Brian Kelly, was in Iowa and California this week to speak to ND Alumni Clubs. You'll find three links to videos below - the first is a YouTube video of Coach Kelly's talk in Iowa. The second and third links are from his visit to Fresno, CA - where he found time for a quick TV interview with the local ABC and NBC affiliates. (I didn't know he was a "lefty!") Coach Kelly will be on the east coast next week meeting with ND Alumni Clubs in New Jersey and New York. Here are links to the interviews.
It's none other than #10 in your hearts and former Domer; Brady Quinn. There hasn't been much fanfare about Quinn and his new uniform number with the Broncos. Here's hoping the change in number and scenery brings much success to this young man. Go Irish!
The movie character Shrek will be in theater's for the last time -- beginning tomorrow -- as "Shrek Forever After" begins its run. In an April 29th post on NOTRE DAME GO IRISH BLOG - we identified all of the Notre Dame connections to Shrek - and there are many (click on link below). Shrek has been a huge hit for DreamWorks; over $2.2 billion in Box Office revenue worldwide, 8 Tony nominations for Shrek the Musical, 4 Oscar nominations and one Oscar -- winning the first ever statuette for best animated feature. So, Go SHREK and Go Irish!
Michael Good, a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis is a "Double Domer." The Atlantis Space Shuttle, which is flying its 32 mission and last, left Kennedy Space Center Monday afternoon. Good holds a Bachelors (Class of 84) and Masters (Class of 86) from the University of Notre Dame in Aerospace Engineering. He can be found -- at this very moment -- "circling the earth" in one of the last shuttle missions for NASA as they deliver an Integrated Cargo Carrier and a Russian-built Mini Research Module to the International Space Station. In his role as mission specialist, Good will perform at least three space walks, during this 12 day mission. A year ago (May 2009) Good made his first journey to space and conducted two successful space walks on that trip to make repairs to the Hubbel Space Telescope. He's one of three Notre Dame grads to fly the Space Shuttle. The links below show Good entering the International Space Station this week -- along with a link to a story about Good's May 2009 mission. God Speed and Go Irish!
The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame beat #6 seed Princeton (on the Tigers home field) yesterday in First Round play of the NCAA Tournament. Junior midfielder, David Earl (pictured), scored a career high five goals in the 8 - 5 win for the Irish! The win puts Notre Dame into the NCAA Championship Quarterfinals for the fifth time in school history. Next up; the third seeded Maryland Terrapins -- this Saturday, May 22nd -- again on Princeton's field. Game time isn't set yet - but, it will be televised live on ESPNU.
The University of Notre Dame's Class of 2010 will say farewell to the University this morning from historic Notre Dame Stadium. NBC News Anchor; Brian Williams will the the Commencement Speaker. You can watch the ceremony live this morning beginning at 9:30 AM EST on www.nd.edu. Click on the link below. Congratulations Class of 2010!
The above photos of a Brian Kelly autographed Notre Dame Footbal jersey were taken at an "on-campus" raffle during Blue-Gold Weekend at Notre Dame. It's obviously not last year's jersey, nor any jersey we've ever seen worn before at Notre Dame. Are these the new football jerseys for Brian Kelly's Irish? The obvious changes; gone are the numbers on the sleeves - they have been replaced by the interlocking ND. I love that! You'll remember that Holtz made this design change to his team's uniforms. A second noticeable change is the interlocking ND behind the neck -- which appear a "little out of place" on this jersey since it looks like this jersey was designed to carry a nameplate. (Note the large space between the ND and the number) Will the Irish have names on their jerseys for the Purdue game? If they do, which I'm guessing they will -- I believe this will look pretty cool with the ND over top of the last name of the player, reminding them who they play for! The last change is the front neckline. Besides the prominent Adidas logo - ND Fans won't like this - you'll note the typical jersey neckline is replaced by more of a "plunging" design. Now, it's been rumored that the Irish will probably we wearing some type of "undershirt" as part of this uniform design and that this may carry a prominent ND or shamrock that will sit "above" the Adidas logo. THIS ALSO MEANS WE'LL HAVE TO BUY THE UNDERSHIRT TO HAVE THE FULL UNIFORM EXPERIENCE! Expect an official announcement from Notre Dame on the uniform in the next few weeks -- so they can begin selling them before the first game. All in all, I will love this uniform design -- if they add the player's last name. What do you think? That's the poll question this week -- "Would you like this jersey design for the Irish?
The University of Notre Dame will celebrate its 164th graduation ceremony from a new campus location this year -- historic Notre Dame Stadium. It's the first time ND has held a graduation in the Stadium since 1959. And, you can watch this event live on the web -- beginning at 9:30 AM this Sunday, May 16th. Here's the link to the webcast:
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!
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:
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:
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:
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!