Weis prepared for Georgia Tech - Sports

Okay, look, I know it's early. I know they haven't played a down yet this season. And I know I may eat these words later...
but all I can say is I love everything I hear about Charlie Weis and his preparation.

Weis prepared for Georgia Tech

This article feeds the perception-- the man has a photographic memory, I believe. He can watch tape, catalog it, and recall it later. He's been filling his head with all the data, the nuance, the tendencies of his opponent. And I find myself thinking I'll be sorely surprised if I catch a glimpse of unease or uncertainty on Weis' face during the game. Even when things go badly for the Irish, I find that I trust Weis wholly to be in control and know what to do, how to adjust, to handle whatever contingency arises.

Thinking in these terms reminds me of the Michigan State game last year. I remember watching Weis on the side-line and wondering what was going through his head as the Irish fell behind 38-17 in the 3rd quarter. Even then, he seemed to be in control. He got the Irish into a position to win, got them back into the game.. only to lose it on a defensive breakdown in overtime.

Likewise the famous end to last year's USC game..
Weis leaves little to chance.. but chance still is a factor.

Nevertheless... I trust him to keep us in the game.

Weis: We're not deferring.

In his news conference today, Charlie was asked if he had the men ready to handle the coin toss on Saturday. In reply, he said "If we win the toss, there's no question what we'll be doing. We won't be deferring."

So what did you ever do after college, Joe?

The boys at BGS reminded me of this commercial from a few years back featuring Joe Montana and Father Riehle , shortly after ND signed on with Adidas.

Shark Attack

Rack him!

Hey Romey,

just wanted to give you this little blast from the past-- a piece of transcript from your ESPN show back in January 6, 2005.

Regardless of the spin coming out of South Bend, there is no way they would have broken off Ty Willingham if they knew they were going to have to settle for Charlie Weis. They fired Willingham because they thought they had Urban Meyer. And if youre going to whack a solid guy like Willingham you better end up with Meyer or Steve Mariucci or Jeff Ted ford. You dont fire Willingham to hire a guy with no head coaching experience. Notre Dame is not the place to go to learn on the job. You cant hire a guy just because he went to school there. What, Rudy Reuttiger didnt want the job?

Still, I guess that didn't stop you from pimping him on your show a few weeks ago.

War Irish.
Beat SoCal and the Wonder Poodle.
I'm out.

Hey Ramblin' Wreck.. you're on Notice!

Found this graphic on Classic Ground, a blog about "Art, Cultural Literacy, and Notre Dame Football."

The Hype Machine

Oh yes, the Hype Machine is in full Swing!

And while it does my heart good to see the Irish featured in all this national media, I can't help but worry about it... the SI cover jinx or whatever, I'm not sure.
I just think I liked it better when the Irish were under everyone's radar.
The Irish have big targets on their backs this year.... and that may not be a good thing.
Then again, I trust that Coach Weis will have them prepared and ready to handle everything that comes with the spotlight.

@#$%&*!!

Give me Quicktime or give me death!!
NDNation.com today has a link titled "Changes to Irish All-Access".

A few weeks ago, ND made their pay 'All Access' online video service totally free. From the looks of it, they run the Coach's weekly show, interviews with players, and other general fluffy reports on comings and goings around (primarily) the football team.

The other day, I went over there to try out the newly-gratis service and found that the videos streaming playback was choppy at best and most often just cut-out after 30 seconds or so..

So when I read that there were changes released, I thought surely this meant that they had addressed some of this bugginess in the playback or beefed up the bandwidth or something..

But instead, all I get is a message saying the following:
I run Firefox on a Mac. I'm about as Microsoft independent (without being a zealot) as you're likely to find..
But this is really starting to piss me off!
So there's a link at the bottom of the message that says 'Click here if you're a Mac user.'
So I clicked it... I mean, hey, maybe they have some kind of support for non-IE, non-Windows users..


But instead, I got this:
and that's when I really got pissed.
CSTV.com, a CBS company, supposedly #1 in College sports is telling me that if I'm not running Windows with IE 6, I'm SOL.

So I'm wondering-- from a product delivery standpoint... how are these changes for the better? I am a patron of this site who previously could watch these videos-- granted they did appear to be stop-motion animation at times, but nonetheless, it was a start.

Now CSTV, which has apparently gotten UND.com to sign a partnership agreement, has decided that the non-Windows community can take a walk.

I suspect there'll be some kind of mass feedback sent to the University on this.. I won't be surprised if this changes in the next few weeks..

But then, there's that voice in my head that says Here goes Microsoft again.. using that market leverage to force inferior products on us all once again. If you want to see this ND content, you've got to be a user of our crappy software..

Worse yet, they basically say "Hey, don't worry-- with the next release of OS X, Apple is going to bundle BootCamp which will allow you to install the ENTIRE WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEM on your Macintosh, all just so you can watch some of our cheesey videos.

No, I mean it.. they really say that:

Once you have installed Boot Camp and Windows XP, Service Pack 2 you will be able to view All Access content on a Macintosh if you are booted up using the Windows XP platform.

What on earth would I want to do that for??

Have these people not heard of Quicktime?

So now, all I'm looking for is an email address to which I can vent my anger over this stupidity..

Wonder Poodle

Run over to publicity-shy USC's website real quick and behold the wonder that is Pete Carroll jumping around like a jack-ass in a Wonderbread jumpsuit...

Apparently, Carroll brought in Will Ferrell for an inspirational break with the team-- they went to see Talladega Nights as a team.

Just makes me appreciate Charlie Weis all the more for bringing in guys like Joe Montana and Jerome Bettis (you know, alumni, football players-- see the pattern?) to visit camp.

Get out your Chainsaws, Sox Fans..

Oh what a weekend it'll be for baseball!
The Yanks and Red Sox play five games between now and Monday, kicking off with a double-header today. The Yanks took the first game of the set this afternoon in a 12-4 Wang-gem..
but the nightcap was looking grim. Top of the 7th and the Yanks were down 10-7. Giambi walks and Bernie gets a single, so we've got two men on.. so the get a little something going with one out.. Posada singles to load 'em up, and that's when the bottom fell out.

I can hear them now in Boston-- get out your chainsaws, Sox fans, because there can be no retribution severe enough for what Mike Timlin did tonight. May as well call him the new Bob Stanley.

So as I said, Posada singles to load the bases.. and in comes Timlin, for Mmm-Bop Hansen. Melkey Cabrera steps up and works 8 pitches, taking a couple of strikes, fouling a few away, really working the at bat..
And then he hits the most beautiful little single to right, scoring Giambi.
Bases still loaded-- Damon flies out-- but Jeter smacks a double to deep right, clearing the bases, scoring Williams, Posada, and Cabrera all the way from first..

Open up the flood-gates, the Yankee bats seem to come in streaks, like everything else in baseball.. but it's those little moments like those first several pitches that Cabrera worked through to find the pitch he wanted... that was the opening they needed...

Now, of course, as I write this, it's 14-10 Yanks, still in the bottom of the 7th..

Charlie being Loud and Proud on Fox..

As noted by the guys over at Blue-Gray Sky, Fox Sports is running an interview with Charlie Weis. Here's a quick taste :

Chris Myers: I think it was a few months into the job, you got this ten-year contract. I ask this because no matter what the contract says, you'll hear rumors that this [NFL] team might be looking at him, or that team might be looking at him.

Charlie Weis: Well, that's what we were trying to do. We were trying to end that...because by doing it the way we did it, it showed a commitment by both parties. It showed a commitment from ND to Charlie Weis, but it also showed a commitment from the Weis family to ND, saying, "We're not looking to jump ship the first time a better offer comes along."

Myers: There won't be that burning desire after all those years in the NFL, with the Giants, and--

Weis: I'm at Notre Dame...the head coach at Notre Dame. I mean, why would you have a burning desire to go anywhere else?

Myers: Well, there's the college versus the pro grame--

Weis: (sounding it out) No-tre-Dame...the University of No-tre-Dame...

Myers: (laughing) I feel like I'm being recruited here. Where do I sign, coach?

Weis: Well, I mean...it is something different.

I just love that we have a coach who's proud of the University again, and who's not afraid to give that pride voice. No-tre Dame. It is something different.

Here come the Irish..

.. is it September 2 yet?

New Rule

From Pat Forde's column this morning:

New Rule: Yes, Notre Dame is different. Get over it. If your school were important enough to get its own NBC contract and thumb its nose at conference affiliation, do you really think it would decline?

Oh, now that's gonna leave a mark..

Well, as if the Titans didn't have enough problems.... now it'll look to the rest of the league like they're enlisting their mascot to do the dirty work outside the sidelines..

At the start of the third quarter of tonight's pre-season game agains the Saints, the Titans mascot actually hit the Saints' QB with a golf cart.

I'm just shaking my head.

Taking me back

Took the boys to get haircuts this morning and have spent most of the rest of this Saturday afternoon watching the new (well, it's new to me) Pink Floyd DVD, "Pulse".
And it's just beautiful..

Oh, and Aidan likes it-- not sure if that's the seal of approval that David Gilmore was looking for, but...

Also catching up on my buddy Manundso's podcast.. and if he's reading this-- not that I have any idea why he would be-- I just gotta say, I'm actually liking the post-T-Diddy direction he's going. It's got a surreal, Samuel Beckett kind of feel to it with the layered voice tracks.. and the Bono Interview is just outstanding. I need to barge back in and make a contribution, if I can muster one... but if nothing else, I just wanted to give my vote of confidence to the guy at Happy for Apathy.

Hezbollah's Crude Propaganda machine

I've been hard on CNN's Anderson Cooper before, here and elsewhere, for his on-camera 'righteous indignation' persona... but I've got to give it to him for his take on Hezbollah and it's overt manipulation of the western media..

12:50 p.m.: Anderson is doing a few more stand-ups about our story that's quickly become less about Hezbollah and more about their crude propaganda machine when the "family" emerges from the bunker behind us and joins their friends in the street. They're laughing, talking loudly, and gesturing with their hands, mocking anger. I really should learn Arabic. Anderson does another stand-up about the group now standing behind us.

For a little partisan commentary comparing this piece from Cooper with Nic Robertson's earlier, and less candid profiles on Hezbollah, go here.

Landis looks to be done

Reading Mark Kreidler's article on ESPN.com just now-- this morning, Floyd Landis' "B" sample came back positive for inflated testosterone levels, so it looks like our latest American hero is about to get stripped of his Tour title.

That's interesting and sad in a way, but not nearly as interesting as something Kriedler reminds us of as he argues that Americans have been getting all too accustomed to the excuses athletes come up with when they test positive. In the article, he recalls us to the incident at the 2000 Sydney Olympics when World Champion shot-putter (and Mr. Marion Jones) C. J. Hunter tested positive for steroids-- four times-- and he cried on camera at his press conference, saying he couldn't explain how this stuff had gotten into his system.. he just had no earthly idea.

Hunter's nutritionist was at the press conference and he had some ideas, however. He argued that.. well, let me just refer you to the original article back in 2000:

Hunter's nutritionist flatly denied that he took the anabolic steroid nandrolone, which showed up in massive amounts in urine samples taken four separate times, and suggested the positive tests were caused by iron supplements Hunter used.

The nutritionist, Victor Conte, said Jamaican runner Merlene Ottey and retired British runner Linford Christie, who both tested positive, took the same supplement.

Who was that again? Victor Conte.. That's right.. Conte, Balco, oh my.

Barry Bonds can get indignant with the fans, the media, whomever he wants... the picture is just becoming all too clear now.. and history will not look kindly on Barry, or virtually any of the big hitters from this era in baseball.. to say nothing of the shot-putters, sprinters, or Tour de France Champions.

Haden

Also.. listening to the announcers on this clip reminds me, all over again, of just how much Pat Haden irritates me..

That is all.

The last ND-USC game I attended..

Memories of the last USC-ND game I attended.. the 1995 game when SC, with Keyshawn Johnson, came into the cold and rain of South Bend ranked #5 in the country, and got handed a 38-10 whooping..

This hit by Kinnon Tatum was decisive..
He literally flies over the fullback and delivers such a blow to the running back... amazing..
Not that we could see much of it in person from our little seats back in the student section on the other end of the stadium...



Oh, November 25 is going to be some fun this year.. I hope.

"A fastball, a change, and a pretty lousy curveball."

Pretty good article in the NY Times on Jeff Samardzija's summer "vacation" pitching in the bus leagues...