Father Ted & Manti Te'o -- Only Notre Dame!

This photo was "tweeted" by @simonchun of Fr. Ted Hesburgh, C.S.C. -- blessing Notre Dame All-American LB Manti Te'o after practice yesterday. 

Irish Player Charities Rally -- January 5th

Former Notre Dame QB's Rick Mirer, Brady Quinn and Tony Rice will headline an event on January 5th at the Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six in Fort Lauderdale, FL from 1 PM to 4 PM for IRISH FANS!

Sounds like great fun!  Click on the link below:

LINK:  IRISH PLAYER CHARITIES RALLY

Watch Skylar and the Lady Irish at 2 PM ET!

If you're looking for something to do this afternoon -- and you have a strong internet connection -- think about tuning in to Notre Dame Women's basketball game TODAY at 2 PM ET with Purdue. 

It's a matchup of the #5 IRISH vs. the # 11 Boilermakers -- should be a good one!

GO IRISH!

LINK:  WATCH IT LIVE -- RIGHT HERE!

Notre Dame Students -- Helping Out Alabama

Many will remember the tornadoes that ripped through the state of Alabama in 2011 -- they were devastating.  What many didn't know was a number of Notre Dame students made the trek down to Tuscaloosa to help out.  Here's the story:

LINK:  DOING THE RIGHT THING

Notre Dame Fan Selling A Piece of History...

A story ran in the Detroit News yesterday about a Notre Dame fan who is looking to sell some carpet from the locker room inside Notre Dame Stadium.  He's looking for at least $15,000.

Here's the story:

LINK:  NOTRE DAME CARPET

If You Want to Track Alabama Up to Kick-off

Here's the place...

LINK:  ALABAMA -- ALL THE TIME

Kiper Hands Out His College Football Awards

Notre Dame fans will not be surprised with the team Mel Kiper selects as his "most surprising" -- and his coach of the year...

LINK:  MEL KIPER

BCS BOUND -- THANKS TO YPmobile !!!

I received an email last week from YPmobile alerting me that they were giving me TWO TICKETS to the BCS National Championship game FOR FREE to root on the IRISH -- after selecting the ND GO IRISH BLOG for the "YP Ultimate Fan Blogger Giveaway!"

Thank you YP team!!!


Unfortunately, I can't make it down the for the game -- so, here's what I've done with the two tickets: 

• First, I surprised my son Jimmy '08 with one of the tickets as a Christmas present -- he was heading to MIAMI anyway in hopes he could find a way into Sun Life Stadium to see the IRISH...
•  Then I reached out to ND Parent and Super Fan Tommy Ruttura to see if he needed an extra ticket to the game.  The Ruttura's were kind enough to allow me to rent their condo (here in South Bend) this fall while our home was being built.  Come to find out, they've been searching for a ticket so their daughter Samantha could go to the game -- so the second ticket went to the Ruttura family...

Yesterday morning -- Jimmy, who will be driving from Charlotte to Miami for the game -- downloaded the YP Local Search & Gas Prices to his iPhone (it works with Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone 7, iPad, etc.) -- it's really a cool app.  What's perfect is Jimmy can now find the cheapest gas prices on the eleven hour drive to Miami and find the best restaurants along the way -- from his iPhone!

I have to admit I've been a "Google guy" for sometime now -- but after spending some time at the YP SITE -- I now have a new resource to find restaurants, theaters, where to get a hair cut and who's offering deals.  The YP gang has found a way to present the information in a fast, friendly format -- it's really smart.  Google could learn something from these guys.

Check these out for yourself:

LINK:  YP FACEBOOK PAGE

LINK:  YP SITE

LINK:  YPMobile

Irish Chocolate -- He's One of a Kind...

ESPN's Rick Reilly is spending many a moment these days writing about Notre Dame.  His story last night centered on Louis Nix -- the self proclaimed "Irish Chocolate" nose guard for the Fightin' Irish.

Enjoy!

LINK:  IRISH CHOCOLATE

Former Notre Dame Coach Gerry Faust

CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd tracked down former Notre Dame football coach Gerry Faust to talk about his time in South Bend...

I'll always root for Coach Faust!

LINK:  GERRY FAUST

Ivan Maisel's Story on Coach Brian Kelly

You'll enjoy this story...

LINK:  COACH KELLY'S BEST SALES PITCH

The Dominating Notre Dame Defense!

The IRISH defense has not allowed a TD on a play originating outside of the Red Zone in the last 628 plays -- think about that!  The next longest streak in college football is Vanderbilt at 387 plays.

Take a look at these defensive statistics racked up by the FIGHTING IRISH!

LINK:  THE #1 DEFENSE IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL

The "Little Blue Nuns" -- We Can't Lose!

The legend of the "Little Blue Nun" began back in 1977 when some Alabama radio station wrote a song about how they "lost the National Championship to Notre Dame because a LITTLE BLUE NUN voted for the IRISH..." -- leapfrogging ND over Alabama to win the mythical national championship.

Well, I wonder what the BAMA fans will say after watching this classic video...

LINK:  THE LITTLE BLUE NUNS SINGING THE NOTRE DAME VICTORY MARCH

USA Today Story on ND Defensive Line

They just might be the best defensive line in the country -- USA Today takes a look at why they are so special...

LINK:  ND'S DEFENSIVE FRONT

Merry Christmas From Notre Dame, IN

My first Christmas morning a few blocks from the campus of the University of Notre Dame.  We celebrated Christmas Vigil Mass last night at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart -- the photo above is the nativity scene in the Lady Chapel.

Here's a few more Christmas songs performed by students at the University of Notre Dame -- courtesy of the DAILY DOMER.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

LINK:  VOICES OF FAITH

LINK:  ECHOES

Dayne Crist Talks Notre Dame...

Former Notre Dame student-athlete Dayne Crist '12 was interviewed by CBS Sports' Bruce Feldman about his time with the IRISH and the success they've had this season...

I'll always root for this young man!

LINK:  DAYNE CRIST

Twas' the Night Before Christmas...

Enjoy a few Christmas songs performed by Notre Dame students -- courtesy of the DAILY DOMER!

LINK:  NOTRE DAME GLEE CLUB

LINK:  HAROMONIA

LINK:  MARIACHI ND

Missed This Interview of T.J. Jones...

Notre Dame wide-receiver T.J. Jones lost his father Andre Jones this past off-season.  Andre was a member of Notre Dame's 1988 National Championship team -- and here we are 24 years later and another member of the Jones' family is playing for a championship.

You'll enjoy this interview:

LINK:  T.J. JONES

The STORY Behind the P.L.A.C.T. Sign @ ND

It's quite possibly the most famous sign in all of American sport and the woman who painted it the first time is not that well known...

Her name is Laurie Wenger and she retired from the University of Notre Dame in 2009...

ND GO IRISH BLOG regular Mike Doyle alerted me to this Rick Reilly story about the Play Like A Champion Today sign:

LINK:  THE MOST FAMOUS SIGN IN SPORT

The Rachner's Travel Channel Video...

Rich and Rick Rachner -- you won't find more passionate Notre Dame football fans than these two...

You'll enjoy their video that they submitted to the Travel Channel for their contest:

LINK:  NOTRE DAME SUPER FANS!