ND Men's Soccer Arrives at NCAA College Cup!

The #3 ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish are in Philadelphia, PA this weekend for the "final four" of the NCAA Men's Division I National Championship!  It's called the COLLEGE CUP.  Here's a photo just "tweeted" by Adam Horvath @ndsportsblogger of the team in the locker room of the MLS' Philadelphia Union.

Domer -- President of Iowa Motor Speedway

Jimmy Small '08, was formally introduced today at a news conference as the President of Iowa Motor Speedway.  Small, a former Irish Guard, is now the youngest executive running a major racing facility in the country.

This past year, Small was named by the Ivy Sports Symposium and SportsPro magazine as one of the "TEN NEXT" stars in the world, under the age of 30, in the sports industry...

Here's a few links to the various TV, newspaper and radio interviews Jimmy has given over the past 24 hours in the Des Moines market:

In the spirit of full-disclosure, Jimmy is our oldest son -- a proud day for our family.

LINK:  KCWI-TV GREAT DAY SHOW

LINK:  KCCI-TV MORNING SHOW 

LINK:  LAZER 103.3 -- MORNING MOOSE RADIO SHOW

LINK:  WHO-TV DES MOINES -- LIVE INTERVIEW

LINK:  NEWTON DAILY NEWS 

LINK:  NEWS RADIO 1040 -- VAN AND BONNIE SHOW

LINK:  NASACAR.COM INTERVIEW

LINK:  ABC-5 DES MOINES 

LINK:  TRANSCRIPT FROM NEWS CONFERENCE

LINK:  DES MOINES REGISTER

LINK:  KCCI-TV -- DES MOINES

BYU Fan Reflects on Her Trip to Notre Dame

This 'reflection' was posted today at Deseret News and it was written by a BYU fan who made the pilgrimage to the University of Notre Dame last month.  Thought you'd enjoy this...

LINK:  WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM NOTRE DAME

Bob Diaco Accepts UCONN Coaching Gig

Notre Dame defensive coordinator Bob Diaco will be introduced tomorrow as the next head football coach for the UCONN Huskies.  Diaco will sign a five-year contract.

LINK:  DIACO TO UCONN

OT: Christmas Flash Mob Video -- Must See!

You're going to want to watch this Christmas flash mob held at a mall in Redondo Beach, CA.  This was sent to me by ND GO IRISH BLOG regular Rich Marino.  Thanks Rich!

LINK:  CHRISTMAS FLASH MOB

Coach Kelly at Yankee Stadium Presser Today

The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame was well represented today at the kick-off press conference for the 4th Annual New Era Pinstripe Bowl.  Frankly, I felt sorry for the representatives there from Rutgers -- it had to be tough to hear the Pinstripe Bowl reps gush over ND...

LINK:  PRESS CONFERENCE

Graduation Success Rates 2013-14 Bowl Teams

As has become tradition here at the ND GO IRISH BLOG -- here's a look at the Graduation Success Rates (GSR) of each of the seventy schools in the FBS who have been selected to play in the 35 bowl games -- these next few weeks:


December 21:  NEW MEXICO BOWL

• Colorado:  70 GSR
• Washington State:  57 GSR

December 21:  LAS VEGAS BOWL

• Fresno State:  76 GSR
• USC:  53 GSR

December 21:  FAMOUS IDAHO POTATO BOWL

• Buffalo:  59 GSR
• San Diego State:  68 GSR

December 21:  NEW ORLEANS BOWL

• Louisiana-Lafayette:  65 GSR
• Tulane:  82 GSR

December 23:  BEEF O'BRADY'S BOWL

• East Carolina:  66 GSR
• Ohio University:   72 GSR

December 24:  HAWAII BOWL

• Boise State:  91 GSR
• Oregon State: 66 GSR

December 26:  LITTLE CAESAR'S  PIZZA BOWL

• Bowling Green:  70 GSR
• Pittsburgh:  68 GSR

December 26:  POINSETTIA BOWL

• Northern Illinois:  85 GSR
• Utah State:  84 GSR

December 27:  MILITARY BOWL

• Marshall:  66 GSR
• Maryland:  73 GSR 

December 27:  TEXAS BOWL

• Minnesota:  75 GSR
• Syracuse:   77 GSR

 December 27:  FIGHT HUNGER BOWL

• BYU:  57 GSR
• Washington:  74 GSR

December 28:  NEW ERA PINSTRIPE BOWL

• NOTRE DAME:  94 GSR
• Rutgers:  85 GSR

December 28:  BELK BOWL

• Cincinnati:  65 GSR
• North Carolina:  65 GSR

December 28:  RUSSELL ATHLETIC BOWL

• Miami:  86 GSR
• Louisville:  67 GSR

December 28:  BUFFALO-WILD WINGS BOWL

• Michigan:  66 GSR
• Kansas State:  59 GSR

December 30:  ARMED FORCES BOWL

• Middle Tennessee:  73 GSR
• Naval Academy:  84 GSR

December 30:  MUSIC CITY BOWL

• Ole Miss:  55 GSR
• Georgia Tech:  63 GSR

December 30:  ALAMO BOWL

• Oregon:  72 GSR
• Texas:  56 GSR

December 30:  HOLIDAY BOWL

• Arizona State:  67 GSR
• Texas Tech:  72 GSR

December 31:  ADVOCARE  V100 BOWL

• Arizona:  60 GSR
• Boston College:  94 GSR

December 31:  HYUNDAI SUN BOWL

• UCLA:  82 GSR
• Virginia Tech:   78 GSR

December 31:  AUTOZONE LIBERTY BOWL

• Rice:  96 GSR
• Mississippi State:  59 GSR

December 31:  CHIK-FIL-A BOWL

• Duke:  92 GSR
• Texas A&M:  74 GSR

January 1:  GATOR BOWL:

• Georgia:  82 GSR
• Nebraska:   76 GSR

January 1:  HEART OF DALLAS BOWL

• UNLV:  64 GSR
• North Texas:  65 GSR

January 1:  CAPITAL ONE BOWL

• Wisconsin:  72 GSR
• South Carolina:  65 GSR

January 1:  OUTBACK BOWL

• Iowa:  81 GSR
• LSU: 74 GSR

January 1:  ROSE BOWL

• Michigan State:  70 GSR
• Stanford  93 GSR

January 1:  FIESTA BOWL

• UCF:  83 GSR
• Baylor:  67 GSR

January 2:  SUGAR BOWL

• Alabama:  73 GSR
• Oklahoma:  51 GSR

January 3:  COTTON BOWL

• Missouri:  74 GSR
• Oklahoma State:  56 GSR

January 3:  ORANGE BOWL

• Clemson:  77 GSR
• Ohio State: 75 GSR

January 4:  BBVA COMPASS BOWL

• Vanderbilt:  82 GSR
• Houston:  57 GSR

January 5:  GO DADDY.COM BOWL

• Ball State:  60 GSR
• Arkansas State:  68 GSR

January 6:  BCS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

• Florida State:  58 GSR
• Auburn:   70 GSR

Notre Dame Talks About Pinstripe Bowl Today

The University of Notre Dame held a press conference after today's practice to talk about the upcoming New Era Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium.  You'll hear from Coach Kelly and a few of the seniors:

LINK:  COACH KELLY

LINK:  PLAYERS

Pinstripe: Rutgers Fires Three Coaches Today

Rutgers fired their defensive coordinator, offensive line coach and QB coach today -- with twenty days to go to the Pinstripe Bowl.  Who will coach against the IRISH?

LINK:  COACHING CHANGES AT RUTGERS

Justin Tuck Stars in Nike's Winter Wonderland

Nike released a new TV spot this week entitled "Winter Wonderland" -- and former Notre Dame All-American Justin Tuck has a singing role.  Click on the link below:

LINK:  NIKE'S WINTER WONDERLAND

AP Voters Rank Notre Dame #25 in Today's Poll

The 8 - 4 Fighting Irish are ranked #25 in the Associated Press Poll released this morning.  Here's the rankings:

LINK: AP POLL

Rutgers Football Coach Talks Pinstripe Bowl

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights beat USF last night 31 - 6 to earn the spot to play against the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame in the Pinstripe Bowl.

In the post game press conference, head coach Kyle Flood let the media know they had accepted the invitation to play the Irish.  Click on the link below to watch his press conference:

LINK:  RUTGERS HEAD COACH

Notre Dame Men's Soccer -- Final Four Bound!

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are now two wins from a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!

Notre Dame just beat Michigan State 2 - 1 to advance to the College Cup!

The Irish will now play the winner of the New Mexico v. Washington game next weekend in Philadelphia.  Ironically, the two other teams who've already qualified for the "final four" are from the ACC as well; Virginia and Maryland. 

Here's a link to the NCAA Tournament bracket, along with a link to the official site of the COLLEGE CUP:


LINK:  NCAA TOURNAMENT BRACKET

LINK:  COLLEGE CUP -- OFFICIAL SITE

Christmas Gift Idea: Notre Dame Shoes !!!

Saw these today in the Notre Dame Hammes Bookstore...  Here's where you can buy them online:

LINK:  NOTRE DAME SHOES

Coach Kelly Talks Manti on Seth Davis Show

This is Part II of Brian Kelly's interview with Seth Davis -- it's one of the best interviews I've seen of Coach Kelly.  Click on the link below:

LINK:  COACH KELLY WITH SETH DAVIS

Brian Kelly's Appearance on Seth Davis Show

Here is a link to Brian Kelly's interview (Part 1) on the Seth Davis Show -- you'll enjoy this.  Davis touched on a number of issues with Coach Kelly that we haven't seen before.  Real good interview here:

LINK:  SETH DAVIS SHOW

Louis Nix is a SENIOR Leaving on Time!

I am going to jump on the soapbox for a couple of minutes this morning...

An ESPN story labels Notre Dame defensive lineman Louis Nix a "red-shirt junior" -- inferring that he's leaving school early for the NFL.

LOUIS NIX is a SENIOR.

Folks, Louis is a member of Notre Dame's Class of 2014 -- graduating a semester earlier than most of his classmates.  He's not leaving early, he's leaving on time.  He wasn't ready to play football as a freshman, so he didn't see the field.  But, he went to class...

We should celebrate him LEAVING ON TIME for the NFL!

NYC & Pinstripe Bowl -- Here Come the Irish!

While the Yankees were negotiating big contracts with Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann -- they also found time to convince the University of Notre Dame to bring their show to the Big Apple.

Word broke yesterday afternoon that the Fighting Irish would spend the holidays in New York City -- playing OUTDOORS in Yankee Stadium on December 28th in the fourth annual Pinstripe Bowl.  Here's the news stories:

LINK:  CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

LINK:  SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE

LINK:  CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Domer Takes on U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Mike McNally '77 -- CEO of Skanska USA, Inc. was just awarded the U.S. Green Building Council Award for "Leadership in the Private Sector."

McNally was lauded for his decision to take on the American Chemistry Council's attempt to water down green building standards in the construction industry.  When the U.S. Chamber of Commerce started supporting the chemical industry's lobbying efforts -- McNally asked them to stop.  When they didn't he publicly pulled dropped Skanska's membership which gained a great deal of national attention to this issue...

Here's the story  on the award -- along with a video of Mike and a link to an op-ed piece Mike wrote in the Washington Post about about this situation.

LINK:  STORY

LINK:  VIDEO

LINK:  WASHINGTON POST -- OP ED

UPS Driver on Today Show -- Huge ND Fan!

NBC's Today Show produced a story on Tom Camp -- a 73 year-old UPS delivery man who has never missed a day of work or, had an accident while driving his BROWN TRUCK for 51 years!

Then to add to his story -- he's a huge NOTRE DAME FAN!

The Today Show sent out one of their correspondents to Livonia, MI to ride along with Tom.  You'll enjoy this story.  

I want to give a shout-out to John Sequerth (UPS Communications executive) who's a long-time friend and ND GO IRISH BLOG regular for alerting me to this story.  Thanks John!

LINK:  TOM CAMP -- UPS DRIVER / NOTRE DAME FAN