ND vs. St. Bonaventure -- ESPN's Take

 

The folks in Bristol, CT are never short of opinions...

Today, their experts opined about Sunday's game between the IRISH and the BONNIES in Raleigh, NC.  For St. Bonaventure - it's a first ever trip to the NCAA Tournament and two wins later -- they get to take on "Goliath" in a game few feel they can win.  DANGER!

Here's what ESPN has to say about this Sweet Sixteen match-up:

LINK:  ST. BONAS vs. NOTRE DAME

Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football is BACK!!!

The Notre Dame football team was back on the field today in GOLD HELMETS -- with the first practice of Spring Football at ND!  Practice started at 7 AM and ran until 10 AM.  Here's Coach Kelly's post practice media session along with a look "INSIDE" practice #1:

LINK:  COACH KELLY PRESSER

LINK:  PRACTICE #1 -- VIDEO REPORT

Photo of the Day: The Last Time at Purcell

This is the last time Notre Dame fans will see the backs of these three jerseys at Purcell Pavillion -- as seniors; Devereaux Peters, Natalie Novosel and Brittany Mallory -- along with Fraderica Miller (not pictured) played their last game on the Purcell Pavillion floor.  Photo by Travis Mather

ESPN's Sports Science: Skylar Diggins

 

Special thanks to Travis Mather for alerting me to this Sports Science feature that ESPN ran on the University of Notre Dame's Skylar Diggins -- pretty cool stuff here!

LINK:  SKYLAR DIGGINS -- ESPN SPORTS SCIENCE

Big Win For Muffet's Irish: 73 - 62 Over Cal!

A 31 - 31 dead lock at halftime -- turned around quickly in the second half when the Irish went on a 23 - 6 run to take control of the game.

I just want to know what committee determined CAL was an eight seed?

I truly feel this will be the most difficult test the IRISH will face until they reach Denver and the FINAL FOUR -- Cal is that good.

Up next, St. Bonaventure -- who beat Marist 66 - 63 tonight.   The trip to the Sweet Sixteen will also be known as the SMALL FAMILY CHAMPIONSHIP as our daughter Kara's school (the Bonnies) takes on our oldest son Jimmy's school and Dad's employer (the Irish).

Kara has already started the "text war" with this message:  "God likes St. Bonaventure more than Notre Dame..."

It's going to be fun!

LINK:  NCAA HIGHLIGHTS

LINK:  BOX SCORE

A University of Notre Dame THREE-PEAT!!!

The University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business was just named the #1 undergraduate business program in the country for the THIRD STRAIGHT YEAR -- by Bloomberg Businessweek!

Here's the TOP FIVE:

1. THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME
2. University of Virginia
3. Cornell University
4. Wharton
5. Emory

CONGRATULATIONS!

LINK:  THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS!

Connaughton -- Impressive Debut for Irish!

Notre Dame student-athlete, Pat Connaughton -- put on his baseball uniform this afternoon and he proceeded to STRIKE OUT FIVE of the seven hitters he faced in his 1 2/3 inning stint for the Irish today against Eastern Michigan University.

On a strict pitch count -- Connaughton faced four hitters in the first inning -- striking out three and walking one.  In the second, he struck out the lead-off hitter then gave up a single to the second EMU hitter before striking out the next -- then he was pulled from the game.

FIVE STRIKE OUTS -- IMPRESSIVE COLLEGE DEBUT -- for the freshman starter on the Irish men's basketball team!

I took some video -- until I was almost hit by a foul ball -- you'll see this in the video.

LINK:  VIDEO OF CONNAUGHTON'S FIRST COLLEGIATE PITCH

Former Irish QB to "Lend" Jersey to Manning

Frank Tripucka -- Irish fans will remember the last name from his son Kelly's basketball days at Notre Dame and the NBA. 

Well, Frank was quite an athlete himself.  He was the starting QB for the IRISH in 1948, leading the team to a 9-0-1 record and a #2 national ranking -- and he earned All-American honors in the process.

What's cool about Frank's story is he went on to play 15 seasons of professional football.  One of the teams he played for -- the Denver Broncos -- retired his #18 jersey.

Well, as some of you may know, Peyton Manning wears #18 -- and Frank made the gracious offer yesterday to "lend" Peyton his uniform number and wear it with the Broncos.  No word yet on what will transpire here.  Fun story...

LINK:  DENVER POST STORY

Coach Kelly's Spring Football Press Conference

Notre Dame head football coach, Brian Kelly -- met with the media today to talk about Spring Practice -- which begins tomorrow at 7 AM!  Here's a link:

LINK:  COACH KELLY PRESS CONFERENCE

Notre Dame Releases 125th Anniversary Logo!

This upcoming football season will be the 125th in the storied history of Notre Dame Football.  To commemorate this milestone -- the University of Notre Dame has created this official mark (above) which will appear either on the GOLD HELMET or jersey, or both this fall.

I also suspect we'll see it on a few items in the Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore as well... 

I personally love the clean / classy look of this logo -- nice work!

An official website is under construction and will be launched around BLUE GOLD WEEKEND.

LINK:  FUTURE SITE

Huge Test Tonight for Muffet's Fighting Irish

In what can only be described as "HOW CAN CALIFORNIA BE ONLY AN EIGHT SEED?" -- Notre Dame plays what I believe is the toughest opponent of any of the #1 seeds in the Second Round tonight of the Women's NCAA Championship.

I had the good fortune of watching California play on Sunday and I will report that the Lady Golden Bears are bigger and dare I say "more athletic" than our IRISH.

I believe it's going to come down to Skylar's WILL TO WIN and the senior leadership of Devereaux, Natalie and Brittany.  It's going to be a battle!

The game tips off at 7:20 PM ET on ESPN2.

LINK:  NCAA PRESS CONFERENCES ON MONDAY

LINK:  GAME PREVIEW

Notre Dame Spring Football Starts Tomorrow!

It all starts at NOON EST tomorrow when Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly will meet with the media to talk about Spring Practice for his Fighting Irish.  You'll be able to catch Coach Kelly's session -- LIVE -- at UND.COM.  I'll have a link for all of you in the morning.

Here's the Spring Practice Schedule for 2012:
March 21 - Practice 8-10 AM
March 23 - Practice 8-10 AM
March 24 - Practice 10:45 AM -1:00 PM
March 26 - Practice 8-10 AM
March 28 - Practice 8-10 AM
March 30 - Practice 8-10 AM
March 31 - Practice 10:45 AM -1:00 PM
April 2 - Practice 8-10 AM
April 4 - Practice 8-10 AM
April 11 - Practice 8-10 AM
April 13 - Practice 9-11 AM
April 14 - Practice 10:45 AM -1:00 PM
April 16 - Practice 8-10 AM
April 18 - Practice 8-10 AM
April 21 - Blue-Gold Game 1:30 PM

OT: Peyton Manning to Sign with Broncos

I wonder what ESPN will spend their time talkin' about now...

Any guesses?

ESPN:  Where will Tim Tebow be traded to?

That's going to be all we hear about these next few days as it was just announced that Peyton Manning's agent is negotiating what is believed to be a five-year $95 million deal with the Denver Broncos.

Looks like Brady Quinn made a good decision to sign with the Kansas City Chiefs.

LINK:  ESPN COVERAGE

Irish Football Players in Their OFF Season...

You're going to enjoy this FIGHTING IRISH DIGITAL MEDIA segment on what a few of our football players are up to in the off-season; Matt Mulvey, Mike Golic, Jr., and Kapron Lewis-Moore intimidating basketball opponents at Purcell Pavillion, Chris Salvi's Bengal Bouts Championship Final fight and the Atkinson brothers and Bennett Jackson running track...

LINK:  IRISH CONNECTION

Charles Sollars' Notre Dame Helmet Designs

 

As an exclusive to the ND GO IRISH BLOG -- Charles Sollars, a Missouri based designer -- has taken the liberty of creating a few helmet designs for the NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH.    

I'll always be partial to the new GOLD HELMET the Irish broke out for the USC game this year -- but, it doesn't hurt to explore new options.

Just click on the photo -- and it will enlarge -- and it will kick you into slideshow mode...

Let me know what you think -- and if you have any new ideas, we'll pass them on to Charles -- use the COMMENTS section below...

Irish Win First Round NCAA Game over Liberty!

Muffet's IRISH made their first FOUR SHOTS in the 2012 NCAA Tournament -- and it was 11 - 0 and GAME OVER, just a couple of minutes in.

The halftime score was 44 - 19 and the FIGHTING IRISH didn't even take a warm-up shot coming out into the second half.  It was just a matter of how bad did Muffet's crew want to play over the last 20 minutes...

The final score ended up: 74 - 41.

Next up for the IRISH -- #8 seed California on Tuesday -- who looked VERY GOOD in their 84 - 74 win over #9 seed Iowa.  This might just be ND's toughest test before FINAL FOUR weekend in Denver.  That's how good this California team is.

LINK:  FINAL BOX SCORE

LINK:  POST GAME PRESS CONFERENCE 

LINK:  GAME HIGHLIGHTS

Notre Dame's NCAA Tourney Run Begins Today

Muffet McGraw's #1 seeded Fightin' Irish begin the road to Denver and the 2012 FINAL FOUR -- today at 2:40 PM ET on ESPN2 -- when they take on Jerry Falwell's Liberty University Flames at "HOME" inside Purcell Pavillion.

I'll be sitting in the stands, so expect a "first person" follow-up report this evening.  Here's a link to the NCAA coverage coming out of South Bend:

LINK:  NCAA PRESS CONFERENCE

LINK:  NOTRE DAME vs. LIBERTY -- PREVIEW

LINK:  TOURNEY CENTRAL

ND Band in Ireland for 2012 St. Patrick's Day!

A few members of the Band of the Fighting Irish were in the perfect place to celebrate St. Patrick's Day yesterday -- DUBLIN, IRELAND!  As you'll see here in a few articles and videos from Ireland -- the Notre Dame marching band did us proud!

Twelve marching bands performed during the parade including -- NINE FROM AMERICA!  (the above photo is all I could find so far)

LINK:  VIDEO OF THE BAND OF THE FIGHTING IRISH

LINK:  VIDEO -- RAKES OF MALLOW

LINK:  IRISH TIMES

LINK:  BELFAST TELEGRAPH

LINK:  HOUSE OF BRIGID BLOG

Father Hesburgh Awarded Irish Citizenship!

In a St. Patrick's Day ceremony yesterday -- here on the campus of the University of Notre Dame -- "Father Ted" was honored with IRISH CITIZENSHIP.  Ireland's highest honor was bestowed on ND's former president by Ireland's Prime Minister Enda Kenny.  Here's a couple links to the story:

LINK:  IRISH AMERICA MAGAZINE

LINK:  SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE

LINK:  FATHER HESBURGH VIDEO

Quinn & Zbikowski Switch NFL Teams...

Former Irish football stars; Brady Quinn and Tom Zbikowski signed with new NFL teams in the past 24 hours. 

Yesterday, Zbikowski signed a three-year contract with the Indianapolis Colts after starting his career in Baltimore. Today, Quinn agreed to a contract with the Kansas City Chiefs (terms not disclosed) after spending seasons in Cleveland and Denver.  Here's hoping the moves turn out great for both!

LINK:  QUINN SIGNS WITH CHIEFS

LINK:  ZIBBY SIGNS WITH COLTS