And it only took until his (and Charlie’s) last game playing for the Fighting Irish. You might remember last year that I was pretty adamant that he needed to wear one, as it’s obvious that’s how one beats USC.
So, determined to bring a victory to their final game at Stanford, which I will be attending in person, I sent someone to CJ’s Pub on Saturday night to get in a fight with him. Knowing that a sucker punch would give him a swollen eye and force him to wear a tinted visor, I think it’s a success. This is exactly what the Irish needed to finish their season 7-5.
Well, I think we’ve all been pretty busy. Law school is taking all of my time, JoePa has an FBGF, rsand is rsand (I’m not even sure what that means), and dogolfer got a job, so he has even less time on his hands. So, we haven’t been posting. Sorry about that. Anyways, Weis is done. It doesn’t matter what he does at Pitt. I’m not saying the school is for sure firing him, but in my mind he is done. He has no more support, including from people who wanted to see him succeed, like me. Anyways, here is some food for thought going into Pitt. You know, besides the fact that I thought he was personally arrogant and that I had heard he wasn’t all that nice in person, I always liked Charlie. He seemed to get ND. He put down major roots in South Bend and he has done some great things, such as pass right, Hannah & Friends, and contacting BC star linebacker Mark Herzlich when he had learned he had cancer and staying in contact with him. Sadly, Charlie was at best an offensive coordinator who understood that a major part of being a successful team was recruiting. Recruiting was something that Ty didn’t do and Charlie did, and that probably bought him a fifth year when Ty couldn’t get a fourth. Too bad that he forgot to create a defense and never developed those nasty lines that could dominate people who tried to run and dominate with the run. He never was a head coach. He never learned how to motivate players at the collegiate level, where players play on emotion and not for paychecks. And for those reasons, he is done. I don’t care if he wins out.
Well, 4 yards short from sending that game into OT. I’m not saying that ND would have won in OT, but it would have been nice to have had a chance to beat them in the extra period when ND would have been riding the momentum. But ND came up short. So close, but no cigar. What did Saturday mean? I’m saying it meant that this team fights. While we knew that, it was nice to see it against the best team on the schedule.
As far as the game and season goes, here are some quick thoughts – Continue reading →
I don’t care what anyone says about this song. Turn it on at 9 am in the Joyce South parking lot. Crack open a Coors Light. And I dare you to tell me that Notre Dame is not the best place ever.
Charlie Weis needs to ride Jimmy Clausen's arm to victory... or he could be in trouble going forward
Don’t know if you heard or not, but there is a HUGE game on Saturday. USC, or, as they hate to be called these days, Southern Cal, is coming to town and trying to continue their recent dominance of the Irish. We all remember the crappy 38-3 loss last season, and the 38-0 loss in 2007. We all remember the 3 straight 31 point losses from 2002-2004 and the 20 point loss at the Coliseum in 2006. And, of course, we all remember the 2005 game. Makes me angry we didn’t win that game to this day. But that is the past, and as legendary Mike Ditka has said, the past is for cowards. Saturday is a new day, and past results do not matter. If they did, then ND would win since they have more victories in the series. Well, since tgiab.com will all be traveling this weekend, partying hard starting soon, etc., it seems that today is the best day to let everyone know some of my thoughts on the big game. Continue reading →
Clausen has been a leader in the first half and, come Saturday, will need to bring it to even another level
The Irish are just before the actual midway point of the season. The Irish stand 4-1 after 5 games of their 12 game schedule. However, since this was the teams bye week, it feels like it was the actual halfway point. So, in a way, we are at the beginning of the second half of the season come Saturday. Notre Dame needs to start out the second half in a big way. People are starting to talk about the importance of the Irish game against USC. Jimmy Clausen is being mentioned as the potential Heisman front runner by at least two of the leading sports sites, but he will need a huge performance on Saturday to get there. But instead of looking ahead to the big game Saturday (We will get to that some time this week), it’s a good time to look back and hand out grades and some thoughts on the season thus far. Continue reading →
Just doing our journalistic duties of getting you breaking news before the likes of espn, etc.
This is done largely to shield itself from the creditors at the Tribune company, but the current ownership team hopes this will expedite the looming sale of the Cubbies.
How a team that sells out every game and probably sells $1,000,000,000 of beer a year goes bankrupt is beyond me.
Hey Phil, it is the playoffs. You have one responsibility on balls hit to left field. If it lands to the left of the chalk line, you put your hands up and call it foul. If it lands on the chalk line or to the right of it by, say a foot, you rule the ball fair.
This atrocious call last night may have cost the Twins the ALDS. Or at least a shot at it. Don’t get me wrong, the Twins very likely may have still lost, but when you get cheated by a non-judgement call by some arrogant ass hole from New Jersey, you feel a little slighted as a fan.
Ozzie Guillen claims Cuzzi has a vendetta against him, and is quoted as saying, “He don’t like me; I don’t like him.” Ozzie speaks it as is. And in this matter, I believe him.
Some other atrocities of Phil Cuzzi’s career:
In the eighth inning of Game 4 of the 2005 National League Championship Series between the Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals, Cuzzi, working as the home plate umpire, ejected Cardinals star outfielder Jim Edmonds for allegedly arguing balls and strikes. With Edmonds batting and the count 3-1, Astros pitcher Dan Wheeler threw a fastball that Edmonds thought was ball four. As he started to walk down to first base, Edmonds was shocked to find that Cuzzi had called the pitch strike two. Edmonds turned around to ask where the pitch was, and was promptly tossed from the game. Pinch hitter John Rodriguez flied out to center field to end the inning. The Cardinals went on to lose the game and eventually lost the series four games to two. Earlier in the game, Cuzzi had ejected Cardinals manager Tony La Russa for disputing balls and strikes from the dugout.
Cuzzi also has a controversial history with the Toronto Blue Jays. In 2003, with Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay pitching in his second to last game of the season and going for his team-record 22nd win, Cuzzi ejected the star pitcher for hitting Tampa Bay Devil Rays outfielder Rocco Baldelli with a pitch. Few people, not even Baldelli himself, believed the beaning was intentional. Furthermore, MLB rules dictate that when warnings have been issued (as Cuzzi had done prior to the start of the game), the manager of the ejected pitcher’s team must also be thrown out, something Cuzzi failed to do. The Jays went on to lose what was at that point a 1-0 game, and Halladay, who had four straight complete-game victories coming into the contest, had to wait until his last outing of the season to break the team wins record.
On October 9, 2009, Cuzzi was once again at the center of controversy. On a fly ball hit by Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer in the 11th inning of Game 2 of the ALDS against the Yankees, Cuzzi called the ball foul down the left field line. Replays showed the ball landing in fair territory by at least one foot. The ball bounced off Melky Cabrera’s glove and into the stands, and should have been ruled a ground rule double. Instead, Mauer singled, and the Twins failed to score in the inning despite getting two more hits after Mauer’s. The Yankees went on to win the game in the bottom half of the 11th inning.
It appears that ND wants to make a habit of winning games at the end. Actually, besides Nevada, every game has come down to the closing minutes. This is surely not the season Weis was hoping for in terms of making it seem like his job is secure. With that said, the Irish stand at 4-1. Jimmy Clausen is legitimately being mentioned as a Heisman contender. The Irish are a team that remains mysterious, to me. They can score points on seemingly any opponent. However, they don’t seem to have the ability to stop any opponents outside of Nevada. Of course, there is a caveat to that as well, in that when the Irish needed to stop Washington yesterday, they did. The goal line stand in the 4th quarter was a thing of beauty, especially since the D had to do it twice. The goal line stand in the 3rd quarter was also huge and was a major deciding factor in the game. While the defense seems unable to stop teams on 3rd and long, I take some hope that the fact they could stop Washington on those goal line stands.
Sorry that there was no game recap and this is a late preview. I’ve had a busy week interviewing for jobs for next summer (4 interviews, 4 days, 2 cities) and evidently the rest of the basement has been pretty busy as well.
Notre Dame goes into another big game. As I said last week, they are all must win at this point. In fact, this may be even more must win solely in that Purdue lost at home last weekend to Northern Illinois. NIU is not a great team. That means that Purdue is likely not very good. That means this is the type of game that ND needs to go into and destroy an opponent. I said the same thing last year before Syracuse, and the Irish let me down. Hopefully it doesn’t happen again. The type of game that afterwards, ND and it’s fans need to feel good about themselves. If the team can’t do that, the next two games against UW and USC could be less fun than hoped for.
Can Jimmy lead the Irish to victory after last week's heartbreaking loss?
Is this really a “must” win game for the Irish? Aren’t all games “must” win when you are not in a conference and therefore success is based on national championships and BCS appearances? Probably. But I am of the mind set that every game remaining on the schedule is even more of a “must” win situtation. Irish fans want to believe and the Irish have shown flashes of brilliance on offense this season. But 1-1 is not where people wanted to be. We wanted to be 2-0 going into MSU. So, as Irish fans, we are not happy. Last Saturday was a major punch in the gut, and I am sure it was for the team. If the team can’t respond this week with a win, a team with a lot of promise could end up having a long season. So, yes, to stay away from that fate, I would say that MSU is must win. As for games after that, the Irish must win those games to keep the fan base excited, to keep recruiting going and to protect Weis’ job security. I’m not saying Weis is in trouble right now, but when the seat was already hot at the beginning of the season, it’s always wise to just win, baby, win. Losses only add flames to the fire. So, yeah, I’d say this season is big, and every game from here on out, save for possibly USC, is must win. And USC may be the game that Weis needs to have a defining moment… but that is getting way ahead of ourselves. For now, let’s look at what’s at stake against the Spartans. Continue reading →
You should read this article. It’s a good article that expresses what we here at tgiab.com have talked about over the last year as we have evaluated Charlie. Just something to think about before we do a preview for MSU.
If there was ever a game that you just felt that ND would win, it was this one. Notre Dame moved the ball well in all but the third quarter. There, a turnover and a holding penalty on Sam Young harmed the Irish’s chance of creating any momentum. Twice, Notre Dame fell behind by 11 points, and twice they were able to retake the lead. It just seemed that this was the one game where ND would find a way to win. But yet it was Michigan that found the way to win. Below are my thoughts on what went wrong, as well as some ramblings about what this game shows for the Irish’s future. Continue reading →
In a game that had little significance 7 days ago, the Notre Dame v. Michigan game may be one of the most hyped/watched games of the weekend. It is a classic case of embattled coaches butting up against each other. For the winner: a 2 and 0 start, top 20 AP ranking, and, albeit slim, the hopes of a perfect season awaits. The loser will be 1 and 1, unranked, and undoubtedly questions will be raised about the coach and the state of the program.
Just doing our journalistic duties of getting you breaking news before the likes of espn, etc.
Hey Phil, it is the playoffs. You have one responsibility on balls hit to left field. If it lands to the left of the chalk line, you put your hands up and call it foul. If it lands on the chalk line or to the right of it by, say a foot, you rule the ball fair.
Three Guys in a Basement 