Friday, July 23, 2021
Olympics Start Tonight -- Cheer on Our Irish!
The Opening Ceremonies for the 2021 Olympic Games in Japan -- started this morning LIVE at 7 AM ET on NBC. The "encore" TV coverage begins this evening at 7:30 PM ET -- again on NBC.
The University of Notre Dame will be well represented in Tokyo these next few months -- with a total of 24 athletes and coaches on Olympic & Paralympic Teams!
Here's the list of all of the athletes and coaches who currently call or did call -- Notre Dame home:
TEAM USA (17):
- Yared Nuguse -- Track & Field Team
- Molly Seidel -- Track & Field Team
- Sam Grewe -- Track & Field -- PARALYMPIAN
- Skylar Diggins-Smith -- Basketball
- Jewell Loyd -- Basketball
- Jackie Young -- Basketball
- Molly Bruggemann -- Rowing
- Kevin Hurley -- Fencing
- Nick Itkin -- Fencing
- Gerek Meinhardt -- Fencing
- Lee Kiefer -- Fencing
- Sabrina Massislas -- Fencing
- Mariel Zagunis -- Fencing
- Francesca Russo -- Fencing
- Angie Akers -- Beach Volleyball (coach)
- Bucky Leach -- Fencing (coach)
- Christian Rascioni -- Fencing (coach)
TEAM CANADA (1):
- Natalie Achonwa -- Basketball
TEAM HONG KONG (1):
- Kaylin Hsieh -- Fencing
TEAM MONTENGRO (1):
- Ilija Tadic -- Fencing
TEAM PANAMA (2):
- Tyler Christianson -- Swimming
- Mike Litzinger -- Swimming (coach)
TEAM POLAND (1):
- Ewa Nelip -- Fencing
TEAM SINGAPORE (1):
- Anita Berhier -- Fencing
Thursday, July 22, 2021
A Custom Golf Car -- The Build Begins!
I joined the Development Team at the University of Notre Dame back in January of 2012 -- in December that same year, we moved into our new home just a couple of blocks away...
In that new home, we specifically designed an area in the garage to park a golf car -- that was more than eight years ago. I've been waiting a long time to finally have that golf car built!
This past February, I started the process of talking with custom golf car builders who could help create my long dreamed Notre Dame themed golf car. Surprisingly, most every company I spoke with had been severely impacted by COVID. They've been unable to acquire used golf cars from golf courses (they are hanging on to them for another year) limiting their ability to find inventory for custom golf car builds.
So, I had to expand my search beyond Indiana, Michigan and Illinois -- which led me to seeking out one of the top players in this space, EXCESSIVE CARTS out of the Dallas, TX. Rob & Stacie Wallach have built quite a business out of "tricking out" new and used golf cars -- and, they've agreed to build my golf car.
The custom golf car (pictured above) is one of the many that Excessive Carts has built for customers around the world.
Back in April, we began the process of designing the golf car and doing our best to try to match the helmet paint color of our Notre Dame Football team -- it's a color you can't order at any paint store. It's made exclusively for Notre Dame by Finish Line Industries and their company Hydro Graphics, Inc.
So -- we had to look around to try to find the closest match to that exquisite GOLD HELMET. We ended up choosing a powder coat color called GOLD GLITZ from a company called Columbia Coatings in Columbia, TN -- this took a lot longer than I had hoped...
That takes us to today -- Rob & Stacie just sent this video clip of the first golf car parts that have been powder coated in the Gold Glitz color and delivered to their production floor -- here's the video...
Replay: Milwaukee Buck's NBA Champ Parade
Our guy Pat Connaughton is introduced to the thousands in attendance at the 2:02:18 mark.
You will also find Pat in the parade for the first time at the 35:50 mark.
ACC Commissioner Talks Notre Dame Football
Jim Phillips, the new Commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference is well acquainted with the University of Notre Dame. He is a parent of two Notre Dame students and he's a former member of the Notre Dame Athletics staff -- serving as an Associate Director of Athletics for the Fighting Irish from 2000-2004...
Watch the Bucks Parade Today at NOON ET
LINK: MILWAUKEE BUCKS PARADE
Wednesday, July 21, 2021
Extremely Proud of This Notre Dame Graduate
This is what a class act does -- minutes after losing a chance at an NBA Championship as a head coach...
Monty Williams -- you are a wonderful human being.
Tuesday, July 20, 2021
Big Night for Pat Connaughton & Milwaukee!
What a night it could be for the fans of the Milwaukee Bucks. The city is building a second "watch party" area, just north of the Fiserv Forum on a vacant site where a hotel is to be constructed.
They are expecting a total of 65,000 people will be "outside" the arena watching the game -- see photo below from ND GO IRISH BLOG regular Brian Couch '84
Here's hoping they get a win and our guy Pat Connaughton earns a RING!
Sorry Monty -- Pat is a good friend.
Monday, July 19, 2021
Monty Talks Preparation for Elimination Game
Fast forward the video to the 11:56 mark to watch Monty Williams' press conference...
Fived Named to Athlon's All-American Teams
Sunday, July 18, 2021
Monty Williams Talks Game 5 Loss to Bucks
The former Notre Dame star is definitely going to have to get his team "to the other side of hard" as they head to Milwaukee down 3-2 in NBA Finals.