Preliminary rounds started this weekend for the 80th annual Bengal Bouts at the University of Notre Dame. 186 boxers faced off in 93 fights Saturday, with the winners heading to the Quarter Finals this Tuesday. This event annually raises tens of thousands of dollars for the Holy Cross Missions in Bangladesh.
He's one of the best to ever play his position in college or the NFL. He's in the College Football Hall of Fame and the NFL Hall of Fame as well -- and, he was just voted the favorite Irish TE of all time in a vote here at NOTRE DAME GO IRISH. Casper won by five votes over former Notre Dame TE and NFL All Pro, Mark Bavaro. Casper garnered 21% of the 349 votes cast, Bavaro had 20%, Ken MacAfee was third with 17% and Anthony Fasano had one more vote than John Carlson finishing fourth with 10%. Former Heisman Trophy winner Leon Hart finished sixth - even though the position he played in college "END" -- wasn't called a TE back then.
Notre Dame is in the hearts of many. And, we're not afraid to flaunt it on special occasions -- especially at weddings. Watch this video of 75 year-old Anne Hunter -- her passion for the Irish should be an inspiration to us all. Happy Valentine's Day!
Mike Lee, a 2009 Notre Dame graduate -- and three time Bengal Bouts Champion turned pro today, after a successful Golden Gloves run since graduation. The light heavyweight was to make his announcement this morning at ND and then later at Harry Caray's in Chicago. He has signed with Bob Arum of Top Rank Boxing. Good Luck Mike! Here's a link to a news story about Mike earlier this year.
Notre Dame Head Football Coach, Brian Kelly, will be the keynote speaker tomorrow at the grand opening of the Eddie G. Robinson Museum in Grambling, La. Robinson is one of the all-time coaching greats winning a record 407 games in his 57 year coaching career at Grambling.
Every week NOTRE DAME GO IRISH searches the world wide web for the best singers (or dancers) of the VICTORY MARCH. This week's show will not disappoint. It just goes to show you the passion for the FIGHTING IRISH is alive and well. Links below. Go Irish!
Muffet McGraw's third ranked Fighting Irish Women's Basketball team will be donning their pink jerseys Sunday in their home game against DePaul. In what's called the "PINK ZONE" -- the Irish will be promoting breast cancer research and awareness. The Irish are undefeated at home this season -- sporting a 22 - 1 overall record. Tip off is at 3:00 PM at the Purcell Pavillion.
When the poll was first published, his name was left off the ballot. A major oversight by this Blogger! His fans, quickly pointed this out and Rice was rightly placed amongst the list of all time great QB's at Notre Dame. A list of QB's that no other school in America can match. It contains Heisman Trophy Winners, All Americans, National Champions, Super Bowl Champions, College Hall of Famer's, Super Bowl MVP's, NFL All Pro's, NFL Hall of Famer's, etc. And, Tony Rice -- who led the Irish to their last National Championship -- was voted the Favorite Irish QB of All Time (QUITE AN HONOR) by the visitors to the NOTRE DAME GO IRISH Blog with 29% of the vote. Joe Montana finished second with 25%, Brady Quinn was third with 13%, Terry Hanratty finished fourth and Jimmy Clausen fifth. Rice adorned the cover of Sports Illustrated four times during the 1988 and 1989 seasons -- and was voted one of the top athletes of all time in his home state of South Carolina. Tony was also named MVP in ND's Fiesta Bowl win over WVU -- the win that clinched the National Championship. A Notre Dame Man -- Rice now resides in the South Bend area. Congratulations Tony!
The University of Notre Dame has been airing a number of TV spots the past few years under the banner of "What would fight for?" You'll see them every time the Irish play football or basketball on television. It's been a very unique way of "selling Notre Dame" to the world. Over the past year I've noticed a few more colleges attempting to follow Notre Dame's lead when producing their own TV spots. Here's a few of the ND commercials.
It wasn't even close. Notre Dame's #3 earned 41% of the vote of the visitors to the NOTRE DAME GO IRISH BLOG. It's one of the most famous uniform numbers in sports. It's been worn by ND QB's; Guglielmi, Hargrave, Lamonica, Montana, O'Brien, Battle, Mirer and Powlus. It's also been worn by a kicker; Harry Oliver a RB named Darius and it's currently being worn by All-American candidate Michael Floyd. Troy Murphy wore the #3 for the Irish Basketball team as Tory Jackson does right now. Finishing second was the uniform #7 -- with 13% of the vote. And the #10 finished third with 12%.
For the first time in school history, two sophomores have been elected as student body president and vice president for the 2010 - 2011 school year, in a vote Monday at Notre Dame. Catherine Soler and Andrew Bell garnered 54.6% of the vote. Soler become Notre Dame's fifth female student body president.
The Fighting Irish Men's & Women's Fencing Teams finished their regular seasons undefeated. This is the fourth time in the program's history that both teams were undefeated. The Irish Men's & Women's teams are currently ranked #2 in the country.
While this story is not just about the Fritts organ in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center on the campus of the University of Notre Dame -- it does showcase this beautiful instrument. If you ever get the chance to take a tour of this facility -- please be sure to see the Chris and Anne Reyes Organ and Choral Hall. The organ took fifteen months and 18,000 hours to build. Click on the link below:
Notre Dame has had six of its former players score a Touchdown in the Super Bowl game. Which is second amongst all college football programs. Ricky Watters and Joe Montana lead the Irish TD parade, in the Super Bowl, with two each. Ironically, the two schools in this year's BCS National Championship game; Alabama and Texas -- haven't had a TD scorer in the big game. Here's the link to the list:
Did you know that 37 former Notre Dame Football Players have won a Super Bowl ring? Did you know that 29 of the 43 Super Bowl winning rosters have had a Notre Dame alum on its roster? Did you know the first tackle ever made in a Super Bowl was by a former Notre Dame running back? Here's a link to this article:
In a shocker, the song Here Come The Irish wins the poll of favorite Notre Dame song -- edging out the Victory March (the #1 College Fight Song in the world) by one vote -- in a vote amongst visitors to ND GO IRISH blog. Somewhere former ND All American John Scully (the writer of this song) has to be smiling. Here's a link to Scully, on the piano, performing his song -- the singer of Here Come the Irish is Cathy Richardson (that's her in the picture).
Twenty-three young men signed a National Letter of Intent yesterday to attend the University of Notre Dame on a football scholarship. The class has student athletes from as far away as Hawaii, California and Florida. The Recruiting Rankings have the Irish class anywhere from 13th to 21st. The most highly acclaimed of the bunch are Louis Nix a 315 lb. DT from Miami and Matt James a 6'-7" 290 lb. offensive tackle from Cincinnati. James is a First Team USA Today All American.