Written by theangryT | Visited 21262 times, 35 so far today |
As most of us with a television and even a mild interest in sporting contests know, Cincinnati’s Brian Kelly has a great chance at becoming the next ND head coach.
He’s won everywhere he’s decided to hang his coaching hat to the tune of a 171-57-2 record thus far. If you remove his time at Grand Valley State and compile his DI record (or FBS or RBK or HHH or HBK or whatever those clowns are calling DI these days), Kelly comes in at an impressive 53-22, with 34 of those wins and only 6 of those loses coming at Cincinnati.
Rightfully so, Notre Dame fans are excited. How could you not get excited about a winner from a reputable conference like the Big East, who’s been to two BCS bowls including the upcoming Sugar Bowl, and runs an inventive form of the spread? Just ask Michigan fans, there is no way this hire can go wrong.
The best thing to come out of this for Luke Harangody is that he finally made a poster. Even though this guy will probably win Big East Player of the Year for the second straight year, it’s pretty difficult to find a jump hook exciting enough to put on a poster and adorn a child’s bedroom wall.
Written by admin | Visited 1714 times, 18 so far today |
Whether it’s the Curse of the Bambino, the Madden Curse or the SI Cover Curse, it is pretty apparent that sports fans think that the supernatural sometimes, if not often, plays a major role in the outcomes of their favorite teams. Well after watching the University of Michigan scratch, claw and overthrow their way to a 16-6 thriller over Miami (OH), I would like to add another curse to the sporting world: The Adidas Football Curse.
Now I really didn’t have any opinion on the matter when Michigan inked an 8-year deal with Adidas and got rid of their swooshes. Michigan’s deal with Nike in the early 90’s was a huge deal at the time, but several schools had switched over to Adidas already so I figured it wasn’t that big of a deal. That’s until I took a look at who was affiliated with Adidas. Here is the list of Adidas clients who would be considered their top endorsers:
Pittsburgh
Michigan
Wisconsin
Nebraska
Louisville
Notre Dame
UCLA
Arkansas
Tennessee
Texas A&M
Kansas
Now some of these schools have had some success in the 3-striped jerseys, but for the most part each of these programs has been in steady decline (besides Kansas). Not only did this group go 80-60 last year, which is pathetic considering the cupcake non-conference schedules that most of these teams played, but you could make the case that each of these schools, with the exception of Kansas, were considerably better football programs 10-15 years ago when they were not with Adidas. In 1997, Michigan and Nebraska split the national championship. The following year Tennessee beat Florida State to capture the first BCS championship. You could easily make the case that in the 1990’s, Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Texas A&M (seven top-15 finishes in the decade) were five of the top 15 programs of the decade. Meanwhile, UCLA (three Pac 10 Championships), Wisconsin (three Big Ten Championships) and even Northwestern (who is now Adidas) were having 2 or 3 magical seasons during this time.
Flash forward to this season, and only Kansas and Wisconsin are predicted to have any kind of BCS bowl game hopes. So far, the only two big wins for Adidas sponsored schools this year are against other Adidas sponsored schools (Bowling Green over then ranked Pittsburgh, UCLA over Tennessee). Michigan, Texas A&M, Louisville, Notre Dame and Nebraska are all in some stage of rebuilding mode.
I’m not sure why Adidas went after these programs, or why these programs accepted their offer, but I would feel a lot better if Michigan was running out with that Nike swoosh next Saturday. I would also feel a lot better if they had a quarterback who could complete more then 51.8 % of their passes. But thankfully the Fighting Irish are double-cursed with Adidas jerseys, a botched stomach stapling coach, and a quarterback who poses in pictures like this:
Written by admin | Visited 363 times, 4 so far today |
Everybody hates Notre Dame right? I know I do. That doesn’t stop me from reading about them online whenever I get the chance in hopes that they announce that their football teams is to be disbanded. My good friend Paul Hagan, a Notre Dame fan, led me to this article, which is a preview of the independent football teams in college football.
The article was interesting, although it did not contain any information I was hoping to read. It did, however, give me a chance to get into the pysche of Notre Dame fan by reading the comments. I quickly hopped out the mind of the Notre Dame fan because I was frightened at what I found.
For the record, this is why everyone hates you Notre Dame fan. Except Paul, nobody hates Paul, it is impossible to even mildly dislike him. Love me some Paul. To the comments:
WATCH OUT BOYZ. notre dame is back and they are pissed. they want to take someones head off. with all the returning offenseive players and John Teluta with the D we could surprise a buch of ppl. If notre dame can establish an offensive line we WILL BE DANGEROUS. Heres the thing… if we beat michigan (which is prob goingto happen) then we are 2-0 heading into Mich ST. This is the KEY game on the schedule. If we loose we go 7-5 or 8-4. Now if we win this game that will be enough confidence and momentum to be 11-0 heading into USC for the last game of the season to see who gets a trip to the national tittle.
Notre dame will be a powerhouse again, like it or not. The 2008recruiting title belongs to ND according to scout and rivals. Alabama had 5 incoming Froshes leave because of baseball and academic inelligibillity giving the Irish the edge.
Thoughts of the BCS might be a little lofty this year for the Irish…but we should go bowling, and a bowl win could carry into a scary good 09′ and 2010 seasons for the Irish. Lots of young talent, size, and speed could spell out for a bright future for ND. This year should be very exciting for Irish fans. This team is hungry for respect, and looking for some revenge. Ussually, Irish fans have a bullseye on USC, Mich and so forth. This year we have a bullseye on everyone…from USC, to BC, even NAVY. Look for this team to come out with something to prove…especially against Mark May’s Pitt. They while pound them…
Notre Dame will be significantly better. Charlie is not getting enough credit for the OL recruits he has brought in. A crucial area where Ty failed to get any top recruits.
10-2 or 9-3 great name schedule, but that is it or we can go the way of Mark May and just quit playing football. I wish we would play Mark May and bring the house.
ND will club most of the teams on their schedule this year. The only questionable games on the scheduel are USC and Michigan St. Pitt may also be a challenging game, but that all depends on whether the curse of Wannstedt strikes again. That poor guy can’t seem to ever get a break. The Irish will smash Washington as long as Willingham is in charge (Nice guy, but poor Head Coach). Purdue, BC, and Navy were hit hard by graduation and these contests will all be pay back games this year. Stanford and Syracuse are Stanford and Syracuse (I hope they are improved though this year becasue they are very respectable schools). The UNC game should be interesting as well. Its hard to think that Butch Davis’ squad will not be much improved this season. ND will need to make statement in week one against San Diego St. The Irish win 9-10 ball games this season.
Paul, if you get overly cocky after reading these comments, please watch this:
