Off Topic: PGA's Two Stroke Penalty

If you were watching the PGA Championship, from Whistling Straits, in the past hour -- you were witness to one of the most difficult rulings in major championship history. Dustin Johnson was leading the PGA Championship on the 18th tee. His tee shot was "blocked" way to the right into the gallery. His ball ended up on "sandy, flat" lie in a sea of people (photo of where his ball ended up in the gallery). His third shot went left of the pin into what I'll call a shaggy ditch. Remarkably, Johnson hit a great pitch shot to about eight feet from the pin. All he has to do is make the putt and he's won the PGA Championship. Well, he misses the putt -- putting him into a three man playoff -- so he thinks and we all think. Unfortunately, a PGA Rules Official was waiting for Johnson at the side of the green -- asking him if he "grounded his club in the bunker back there?" Dustin didn't know he was in a trap, nor did any of the "talking heads at CBS." History now knows that he was in a bunker and he did ground his club -- a two stroke penalty. Which, took him from tied for first and into a playoff -- to a tie for fifth place and a long ride home. What a shame. Can you imagine if he had made the putt -- thinking he had won a Major Championship!!!??? The PGA of America needs to review the rules concerning bunkers at Whistling Straits for future tournaments. My belief is if you allow spectators to stand and walk through bunkers -- which they did all week -- the players should be allowed to ground their clubs in them. When have you ever seen a PGA tour player hit a shot from a bunker full of spectators? Think about it... Here's an interview with Dustin Johnson and Mark Wilson -- the PGA Rules Official who made the call:

PGA'S TWO STROKE PENALTY

A Look at the ND Depth Chart

South Bend Tribune Notre Dame Football beatwriter, Eric Hansen, took a look at the depth chart at each position after yesterday's first scrimmage of fall camp. Coach Kelly was quite enthusiastic after yesterday's practice -- giving plenty to hope about for Notre Dame fans! Here's a link to the South Bend Tribune story:

NOTRE DAME -- TALENTED DEPTH

Manti's Notre Dame Mission

University of Notre Dame linebacker, Manti Teo, spent this past Sunday with a writer from the Chicago Tribune -- the result is an article that provides unique insight to how this young man operates. He's a special talent -- on and off the field. Click on the link below:

MANTI TEO -- CHICAGO TRIBUNE STORY

Coach Kelly Media Session: After Practice

University of Notre Dame Football Coach, Brian Kelly, spent six minutes yesterday taking questions from the assembled media. Topics; health of Mike Ragone, status of EJ Banks, QB depth chart, practicing in the heat and Steve Filer's "skateboarding." Click on the link below and scroll to the right side of the page and click on Coach Kelly August 13th:

COACH KELLY MEDIA SESSION

Irish Basketball to Play in Hoosier Classic!

A press conference is scheduled for this Monday in Indianapolis, where it's expected that the University of Notre Dame, Indiana University, Purdue University and Butler University will announce they're going to play a doubleheader at Conseco Fieldhouse this season. Rumor has it that the four coaches will be at the event, and there will be a "blind draw" to determine who plays who to determine college basketball supremacy in the Hoosier state! Though I don't suspect an Indiana vs. Purdue matchup is feasible (?) since they're probably already on each others Big Ten schedule. Here are links to the websites of each of these college basketball programs:

UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME BASKETBALL

BUTLER UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL

INDIANA UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL

PURDUE UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL

ND Student Wins Princess Grace Award

University of Notre Dame student, Javi Zubizarreta, a Film, Television and Theatre major -- won the 2010 Princess Grace Award from the Princess Grace Foundation (PGF). And, he also won the Cary Grant Film Award from the PGF - which is only awarded to one filmmaker each year. Zubizarreta will receive the awards in New York City in November at the annual black-tie Princess Grace Awards Gala. Javi (Boise, ID) will be a senior this fall at Notre Dame and he's the only underclassmen student of the six filmmakers receiving awards this year. Zubizarreta intends to use the grant he receives from PGF to produce a "soulful" film about an old and young Basque shepherd. Javi is a third-generation Basque-American (Basque is a region of northern Spain). Congratulations Javi! Here's a link to the Princess Grace Foundation website and their announcement of the award winners:

PRINCESS GRACE FOUNDATION -- 2010 AWARD WINNERS

Zibby and Sergio - Big Plays Last Night!

Former Notre Dame Safety's; Tommy Zbikowski and Sergio Brown, both made big plays in their teams' respective NFL pre-season openers last night. Zibby forced a Carolina fumble / turnover on his huge hit on QB Matt Moore and Sergio sealed the Patriots win over the Super Bowl Champion Saints with his own huge hit on a receiver that ended up in an interception. Zbikowski also had a nice punt return in the first half. Here's a couple video replays of Zibby and Sergio's big plays last night:

ZIBBY'S HIT ON MATT MOORE

SERGIO'S HIT ON SAINTS RECEIVER

More Interviews of Irish Football Players

Blue & Gold Illustrated has a "SEVEN DAY FREE TRIAL" going on right now and during that time, they're making some of their interviews of Notre Dame Football coaches and players available for free. Here's a link to interviews of; Coach Martin, Prince Shembo, Jamoris Slaughter, Danny McCarthy, Danny Spond and Darrin Walls. Just click on the link below:

BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED INTERVIEWS

IRISH IDOL -- A Dad and His Daughter

From time to time, THE NOTRE DAME GO IRISH BLOG searches the world to find the best performers of the Greatest College Fight Song in the land: The Notre Dame Victory March. We found this video that was taken 16 years ago -- of then 3 year-old Stephanie -- who will be beginning her sophomore year at Notre Dame in a few weeks. As you can see, Stephanie Wesley (we believe that's her last name) didn't have many options when it came to picking a college! FYI: She does sing the song late in the video! Enjoy:

THREE YEAR-OLD SINGING VICTORY MARCH

Favorable Reviews: Clausen's First NFL Game

Former Notre Dame QB, Jimmy Clausen, got his "feet wet" and pretty much everything else wet in his NFL debut last night against the Baltimore Ravens. The skies opened up and it rained like crazy for most of the second half in the Carolina Panthers 17 - 12 loss. Clausen, as planned, came into the game in the second quarter and led the Panthers on five offensive series in the second and third quarters. Jimmy can claim that he led his team on a scoring drive in his first time behind center in an NFL game. On his first drive he completed 4 of 6 passes and the Panthers made a field goal. For the game, he completed 8 passes in 15 attempts with one interception after his receiver fell down making a cut in the rain. ESPN analysts' Ron Jaworski and John Gruden were extremely complimentary of Clausen's play as have been most of the media reports after the game. Here's a few links to what's being said about Clausen's debut:

ESPN BLOG ON CLAUSEN

BLEACHER REPORT ON CLAUSEN

FOOTBALL NEWS ON CLAUSEN

PANTHERS BLOG ON CLAUSEN

CHARLOTTE OBSERVER ON CLAUSEN

Notre Dame Player Interviews

Mike Frank and the gang at Irish Sports Daily have been kind enough to make some of their interviews of Notre Dame Football players and coaches available to "non-subscribers" to their site. Here's links to interviews with Darrin Walls and Danny Spond:

DARRIN WALLS

DANNY SPOND

PHOTO OF THE DAY -- Golden Tate's Catch

Former Notre Dame All-American, Golden Tate, is doing his thing now for the Seattle Seahawks. Here's a picture, from a recent practice, where Tate makes one of his patented "one handed" grabs. Just watch, he's going to have a big year for the Seahawks.

Notre Dame Ranked 33rd in Forbes List

Forbes Magazine came out this morning with its third annual ranking of the Best Colleges in America. They say it's a ranking "from the student's perspective." Well -- I'm going to challenge their ranking of the University of Notre Dame! I WANT A RECOUNT! Forbes ranks Notre Dame as the 33rd best out of 610 colleges in the U.S. Here's a link to the article and the list of the rankings of all 610 schools:

FORBES: BEST COLLEGES IN AMERICA

Lou Holtz -- "Talkin" Notre Dame Football

Former Notre Dame coaching great, Lou Holtz, granted an interview with the South Bend Tribune this week to talk about a subject he's very fond of: Notre Dame Football. Coach is as bullish as ever about the Irish -- and his ESPN on screen partner; Mark May -- is giving the Domers some love as well. I wonder how long that will last! Anyway, Lou believes Notre Dame will be favored in every game they play this year! It's a wonderful article, touching on a number of subjects -- click on the link below:

LOU'S LOVIN' THE IRISH

Reminder: Clausen Plays Tonight on ESPN

It's his NFL debut! The Carolina Panthers have traveled to Baltimore to take on the Ravens in their first pre-season game. The Panthers' 'beatwriters' are predicting that Clausen will be the "SECOND" QB in the game -- meaning he'll probably hit the field "late in the first quarter" or at the start of the second quarter. The game starts at 8 PM EST on ESPN. Be sure to tune in -- and, don't forget he now wears #2!


GAME PREVIEW: PANTHERS vs. RAVENS

Desert to Dome -- They're in Missouri!

The University of Notre Dame's Dean of the College of Science, Greg Crawford and his wife Renate, are less than 700 miles from Notre Dame! The 2,200 mile bike ride from the "desert" (Tucson, AZ) to the "dome" (Notre Dame, IN) is now in Missouri -- and only 12 days from their scheduled arrival to Notre Dame! Here's a link to their daily blog post:

DESERT TO DOME -- IN MISSOURI!

Clausen Makes NFL Debut Tomorrow!

ESPN is currently running a promotion of its first "Thursday Night NFL Game" and it stars former ND QB, Jimmy Clausen. The "tune in" promo is selling "Jimmy Clausen's first NFL game." I guess ESPN forgot that Notre Dame is still irrelevant and Clausen is the Panthers third string QB. Anyway, you can see Clausen throw his first NFL touchdown pass tomorrow night at 8:00 PM EST on ESPN. The Carolina Panthers are traveling to Baltimore to take on the Ravens. Here's a link to a story about Clausen's first game and a second story on how he's fitting in with the team:

CLAUSEN'S NFL DEBUT

STORY TODAY IN THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER

Nicholas Sparks -- ND Class of 1988

He's the mega-selling author of The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, Nights in Rodanthe, Dear John and Message in a Bottle. Earlier this year, his book The Last Song was turned into a movie that starred Myley Cyrus (seen here in the photo with Sparks) for which Sparks agreed to be a screenwriter as well. Seeing his books turned into movies, is nothing new for Sparks. To date, six of his novels (including The Last Song) have been adapted for the big screen; Dear John, Nights in Rodanthe, The Notebook, A Walk to Remember and Message in a Bottle. Yet, it's his track career that gets equal billing when he talks about his life. Sparks received a full scholarship to the University of Notre Dame to run track. In fact, he's still on the Notre Dame Record Board for a relay he was part of at the Drake Relays. And, it was a track injury -- that provided him with the time to write his first novel when he was a sophomore at Notre Dame. Here's a link to an interview Sparks gave at a Notre Dame track meet this past March -- a link to a USA Today interview he gave with the release of the movie; The Last Song and finally a link to his official website:

SPARKS RETURNS TO NOTRE DAME

THE LAST SONG INTERVIEW -- USA TODAY

NICHOLAS SPARKS OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Harangody Signs NBA Contract with Celtics!

Former Notre Dame All American, Luke Harangody impressed the Boston Celtics enough to earn an NBA contract today! It's a two-year deal that is GUARANTEED! Luke was named to the 1st Team All NBA Summer League with his 16.8 pts. per game and 50% shooting from the floor. One of the first things Harangody must do is introduce himself to Shaquille O'Neal -- who didn't know who Harangody was when the Celtics announced his signing in the middle of Shaq's introductory press conference. The other thing he'll have to do is teach the Boston sportswriters how to spell his last name -- see the story below:

HARANGODY SIGNS TWO YEAR DEAL WITH CELTICS

Great Gains in Strength & Conditioning

Can you imagine nine months ago weighing 350 lbs. and being able to do 4 pull-ups -- and six months later you weigh 12 LBS MORE. and can now do 23 pull-ups! That's Notre Dame's Chris Stewart's story. Every single player on the Notre Dame Football team that went through winter and summer conditioning with Paul Longo (pictured) -- Notre Dame Football's Strength & Conditioning Coordinator -- lowered their body fat index, yet gained weight. Every single player improved their bench press and their vertical leap. In fact -- eight months ago, only 1 Notre Dame Football player could bench press 400 lbs. or squat 600 lbs. Now 9 can! Here's a link to a video of the workouts that began this past January with Coach Longo and his staff:

GETTING STRONGER AND FASTER