Gym Stat

33 minutes on the eliptical this afternoon and down to 246.

Quinn is STRONG.

Wrapping up the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, and all the buzz around Brady Quinn has been negative. How the media does lash back. And so Quinn, to hear the pundits tell it, is dropping in the draft.. Kiper thinks he should be happy if he goes at 9.

If anyone doubts his competitiveness or just raw strength, though, they should pay heed to his performance on the bench-press on Sunday (from Eric Hansen's article in today's SBT):

He vowed he would leave the physical testing for later, but then Brady Quinn's
competitive juices got the best of him Sunday.

The former Notre Dame quarterback, who has yet to throw for pro scouts, gave them a little bit to chew on at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, ripping off 24 reps at 225 pounds in the bench press.

That's better than more than half the linebackers at the combine,
better than nine of the defensive linemen who lifted, better than top tight end
prospect Greg Olsen of Miami (originally in Quinn's recruiting class at ND),
better than offensive line teammates Ryan Harris (22) and Dan Santucci (23) and
just four fewer than Wisconsin offensive lineman Joe Thomas, the workout darling
of the combine to date.

Sweet-less, Day 7

I'm a little surprised, honestly. I never thought of myself as being one of those guys who ate a lot of sweets. But I'm finding-- and perhaps this is just a case of absence making the heart grow fonder-- that I'm really craving them. Or perhaps it's just that box of left-over Valentine's candy on top of the refrigerator being in plain view whenever I go to get the Gatorade and cheese for the boys.

Heading to the gym today, so we'll see where I weigh in. I was around 248-250 about a week or so. I'll be interested to see what happens over these next 6 weeks.

Sweet-less Lent, Day 3

Still hanging tough. Had a near miss with some m&m's lurking in a bag of trail mix at the office this afternoon, but managed to avert disaster on that one.

Ash Wednesday

Lent, Day 1 with no sweets. Not 10 minutes after getting back to the office from Mass, a co-worker offered me a Girl Scout Cookie. Oh, this is going to be much harder than I expected.

Memo to the Girl Scouts-- either deliver the cookies in January, or push back the shipment to sometime in late April. Every year, the cookies arrive right at the start of Lent. What's up with that?

Freakin' brilliant!

Every now and then, you come across something so simple, yet so smart..



courtesy of Lifehacker

Updates, Updates, Updates!

A few Sleepydad updates, since I haven't done any in a while, and some random notes:

First-- Snow Day! We got about an inch and a half of snow here at the house on Friday and both boys' schools were called off for the day, so we all stayed home and made a snowman out in the front yard. Here's a link to a slideshow of some pictures we took during the day.

Second, mine is the house of Pestilence! My wife and the boys have all been fighting one kind of bug or another for a week now. Aidan spiked a 103 degree fever on Sunday night, stayed home from school Monday and Tuesday, then Bryce started coming down with symptoms. Took them both to the doctor on Monday and they've both got raging ear infections... so it's a round of Amoxicillin for everyone! Now today, Aidan was sent home early from school-- the fever has returned. So it'll be back on the phone with the Ped tomorrow to see what they think the next step should be-- "Boys, remember not to leave the house without your surgical masks!"

Next, the Cold! It's been FREAKIN' cold here the last week or so. And given that I grew up far north of here, that's going some for me to say that. The thermometer may read 25 degrees, but I'm not always sure it's even that warm!

Yesterday was National Signing Day for College Football programs. The Irish got 18 signed commitments-- a great class, by any measure. But as always, it's always about the ones that got away: Aurelious Benn, Chris Little (the guy who's Mama told him to commit to ND after he verballed to FSU a few weeks ago-- the had a "conversion by the fax machine light" yesterday morning and decided to send his letter to Georgia), Greg Little... 11th hour de-commits. So Charlie's points of emphasis for next year's recruiting effort (which began this morning at 6am)-- focus on the meaning of the word 'Commitment'. In his press conference yesterday, he said "If they're looking, we're looking."

For any parents of young kids out there who might be reading this (heellllloooo?)-- found a pretty cool little website a week or so ago called Parentography.com. It only launched a couple of weeks ago, so it's low on content at the moment-- but the idea driving the site is one of those excellent "why the hell didn't I think of that" kind of ideas-- an online community/social networking site for parents to write reviews of local places that are good for their kids-- caregivers, schools, playgrounds, restaurants, the works. Users can also wrap those places up into 'excursions'-- linking different places into little sequences, as suggestions to other users for things like day-trips, etc. And they've got (right now) Yahoo maps running through an API displaying the lay of the land for all of the places on a map. I just think it's a great idea. But it's just in the offing now-- definitely at the 'get out of it only what you put into it' stage... but as more users sign on and start contributing content (hello-- I'm talking to you again, you parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, friends, etc etc), I think it could become a really useful online tool for parents... plus it's just kind of fun to blog, in a way, through reviews about places to take the kiddos.

Next: TV. Ah yes, the guilty pleasure. It's the dead of winter, so it's a good time for TV.. and I'm definitely keeping my TIVO warmed up. Guilty pleasures of the moment include
24-- but of course! A few weeks ago, Islamic groups were protesting the content of the recently started season, arguing that the show was confirming all kinds of negative stereotypes about Muslims-- your basic Italian-American argument against the Sopranos. Haha, well, I wonder if we'll be hearing from those folks anymore now that the last two weeks' episodes have revealed (yet again!) that the real villains of the story are just rich white guys from Orange County-- members of Jack Bauer's family, in fact! As Fox rebutted in a statement a few weeks ago, we should not forget that

Over the past several seasons, the villains have included shadowy Anglo businessmen, Baltic Europeans, Germans, Russians, Islamic fundamentalists, and even the (Anglo-American) president of the United States...

to say nothing of "Day 2" when the blonde cutie from SoCal turned out to be the bad guy.

Other guilty TV pleasures include Battlestar Galactica (a decent 3rd season so far, but a bit plodding and ponderous), Boston Legal (also a bit of a meandering season, but still appointment television) and a new one-- The Unit. I've been lacking, it turns out, my quotient of spy-thriller recently and so far, of the two episodes I've seen so far, The Unit just might fit the bill for that. I'm going to slowly start working my way through Season One, hopefully this weekend.

And lastly-- Pooh! we have a reluctant guest in our midst-- a little kitty named Pooh. Brought here by my brother-in-law, Ross, Pooh's staying with us temporarily while Ross relocates to Austin. So far, Pooh and our 13-year old cranky tabby, Sylvie have NOT been getting along.. but in recent days, the war seems to have gone from hot to Cold... as in, cats issuing long, declaritive stares across great expanses of the house, with the occasional hissing and spitting... but no hairy furball fights of late. So we're taking it one day at a time.

Best of luck, Jeff

Best wishes to Jeff Samardzija in the Big Leagues next year-- he announced earlier this week that he'll play pro baseball exclusively from here on out, forsaking any chance of riding that projected first-round draft status into the NFL..

Well, remember this?

As expected..

So the press conference yesterday had one big unexpected announcement-- Darius is gone.

The announcement that was never made-- the one everyone was expecting, however-- was that Rick Minter, the Defensive Coordinator, is gone.

No word, no announcement about changes in the staff, nothing. Lots of rumors flying, lots of conjecture. But nothing concrete.

And then, all of a sudden, up pops the rumor-- supported by a published article in the South Bend Tribune, citing reliable sources, late this afternoon-- that Corwin Brown, secondary coach of the New York Jets, is about to be hired as the DC.

Wait a minute.. has Minter been fired yet?

Then I read this in the Daily News tonight--

Eric Mangini suffered six losses during the regular season, one in the playoffs and now he appears to be on the verge of suffering his first loss of the offseason.

Highly respected secondary coach Corwin Brown has interviewed for the defensive-coordinator vacancy at Notre Dame, the Daily News has learned. Nothing is official, but Brown is in South Bend, Ind., today - a strong indication that his hiring is imminent.

Brown, 36, who joined the Jets in 2004 as a member of Herm Edwards’ staff, did a terrific job with the Jets’ defensive backs, especially Kerry Rhodes. This had to be a tough decision for Brown, who is close to Mangini.

But Brown also has a relationship with Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis. Brown played for the Patriots and Jets from 1993 to 1998, when Weis was an assistant in those places.

Obviously, Weis is looking for a bright, young coach who can rebuild the Notre Dame defense, which allowed 41 points to Louisiana State in the Sugar Bowl.

the Defensive Coordinator spot is vacant?
Have I missed something here?

That said, from everything I've read, if this hire happens, it's a good and exciting choice by coach Weis. Bright, young, aggressive coaches.

Rumor also has it that Ron Powlus will be promoted to Quarterbacks coach. Word is that young Powlus is a masterful recruiter.

With Darius departing and prospects for a down year next year, I guess we need a few developments like this to look forward to.

Carroll is gone!

You heard it here first.. or maybe second.
Pete Carroll is as good as gone. He's going to take the Miami job, I guaran-damn-tee it!

"I'm thrilled to be here," he said. "As I've been the whole time, I haven't
wavered. I know that being curious about it has helped me appreciate what we
have here.
"I absolutely expect to be here."

He's thrilled to be there, but...

"It was a major statement he made finding me out there," Carroll said regarding
the meeting. "In a situation where you have an alternative, it's worth finding
out what it is.
"This was the only time I've even thought about talking with
anybody [from the NFL]. Here's a situation where a guy would give a head coach
the opportunity to do anything he wanted to do. He's an awesome guy."

Huizenga is an awesome guy?
Oh, Carroll is so totally gone!

Done deal...

It's official.. Walker is gone...
But this line at the tail-end of the story on WNDU should have some ominous soundtrack playing behind it..

An NFL executive expressed surprise at Walker's decision saying that few,
if any, teams in the league had any idea that Walker was contemplating such a
move.

Is now the right time for Walker to be heading to the NFL?
Was last season really the best showcase of his talents??
Seems to me-- not like I'm an NFL scout or anything-- that Walker still has some learning and developing to do.
This all just seems a shade premature.
Is there something else going on here?

Walker to the NFL?

Well, now this was unexpected...

According to Jeff Jeffers, our old buddy (well, Galindo used to shout at him from the Student Section) at WNDU: NewsCenter 16’s Jeff Jeffers spoke to a source very close to Darius Walker.

“That source told me Darius will very likely test the NFL waters, and enter
April's draft,” Jeff Jeffers explains.

When news of a press conference being scheduled came out earlier this week, everyone in the ND Blogosphere naturally presumed (esp. since the Giants coaching deal appears to have sealed up) this would be the announcement of some coaching changes..
And those announcements may well be coming as well-- Jeffers makes reference to other items about the future of ND Football being on the agenda-- but now it appears the lead story may something different and considerably more surprising...

Press conference is at 4:00 ET...

Sour Grapes.. and renewed Playoff jibber-jabber..

Good post here from the Extra Point about the outcome of the National Championship game-- the most unlikely Florida blow-out. Just what I was wishing for-- though I have no great love for the Gators, of course. Any misgivings I have about them are far outweighed by my grave dislike for the Buckeyes...

He also makes some notes about how problematic this is for the promoters of the 'be-all end-all' Plus-One system.. and other easy fixes. So who exactly would Florida play in a Plus-one scenario? Well said.

Of course, I also throw the great elixir of the Playoff system into that category of 'Easy Fix'... it's so fashionable these days around college football to argue that a playoff system would cure all these ills. I'd disagree..

For one-- if not for the arguing, what would college football have? What would owners of sports bars do for money in the Fall?

For another-- everyone points to the NCAA basketball tournament.. does anyone actually watch regular season college basketball? and besides, college basketball is entirely too button-down, quiet, white-collar for my taste. I'll take no lesson from that sport on this question.

And finally, a distinction to draw-- are we looking for a champion? or are we looking for the best team? If we're looking for a champion-- well, by golly, the BCS gives us that. In fact, back when the Schedule Strength was a larger component of the calculation.. I think the BCS even came close to giving us the Best Team, as well. But is anyone going to argue that the 'best team' wins March Madness every year? Surely not. Any college football playoff would be rife with very familiar controversy-- arbitrary rankings, spiteful 'Top Ten teams' (albeit #'s 9 and 10) teams left out of the 'big dance'.. and of course, there's always the chance for game-changing officiating...

So what have we got?
Still the most compelling distraction for a Saturday afternoon in the Fall. So compelling, in fact, that I can't wait for next season to start.

Say it ain't so!

Coach Weis has said he won't leave.
He's built a big beautiful house.
He told Chris Myers there would be nothing to lure him to the NFL..

And yet, this morning, this little item appeared in the Newark Star-Journal, at the tail-end of an article about the NY Giants' pursuit of Scott Pioli for their GM opening..

If the Giants hire Pioli, it would add life to the rumors Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis will be the team's next head coach. Weis was the Patriots' offensive coordinator from 2000-04.

Recently, Weis has publicly stated he would not leave Notre Dame anytime soon, but the same source who discussed Pioli said the Giants have been told Weis would be interested in the job. Weis might simply be taking his public stance because he doesn't want to hurt his recruiting if he stays in South Bend.

Now, consider the source. There have been articles all over the NY papers talking about Charlie and the Giants job, as though to try to recruit him to it-- imagine that, the papers recruiting a guy to a job so they can no doubt start trashing him next season. As we all trash on coaches like Bobby Petrino (who just ran out on a 10 year contract with Louisville to take the Atlanta Falcons job), how terribly disheartening it is to read crap like this. So is this guy just trying to give Giants fans up in Jersey something to talk about around the water-cooler?

Can this be real?

Welcome Golden and Harrison to the fold..

One of the biggest hurdles ND has to overcome every year in recruiting is the fact that South Bend is not the hometown-- or in the home-state-- of many of the top recruits in the country. So kids are often faced with the dilemma of staying close to home (and Mom) at the nearby, often state-affiliated school, or travelling way up north to the cold-weather climate of South Bend.

I don't mean to diminish in any way the significance of this decision for these young men. It's not a trivial thing to consider at 17 or 18 (or 19 in Jimmy Clausen's case) years old.

As a kid growing up in the Northeast, it was a big deal for me (NOT a college football recruit in any way) to choose to go to a school as far south as Kentucky. I got a lot of looks from people-- basically asking-- why would you want to go there? Everything you could ask for academically is available here... so why go anywhere else?

But for whatever reason, I felt it in me to go out and try living in another part of the country-- strike out on my own, in a sense, I guess.

So it gives me all the more respect for these guys from places like Florida, California, and (lately) here in Tennessee who have been choosing to attend Notre Dame. The climate, the academics, the football schedule-- none of them are soft. So to leave the comforts of home and move up to a place like ND-- even as amazing a place as it is-- I applaud these kids for striking out on their own and taking the chance on themselves. I don't think they'll regret it, whatever their football careers may hold.

Just watched Harrison Smith's press conference (hat tip: BlueGraySky)-- which comes hot on the heels of another great Tennessee Catholic High school product, Golden Tate, going Irish. Now here's a kid who lives in Knoxville, within sight of Neyland Stadium, says he's been a Volunteer fan his whole life, and is the son of two Tennessee alums (who were flanking him while he made his announcement)... and he chooses Notre Dame. It's just so good to see a kid that age make a bold, independent move like that. And I'm sure the Vol Nation is shocked-- imagine a kid wanting to leave the comforts of home for a Charlie Weis training camp.

Ah but there were those two magic words-- Charlie Weis.

And so the Irish have (verbally anyway-- always remember CJ Leak) two of three of the top Tennessee recruits-- with, as BGS points out, the third getting set to announce his commitment to either ND or Tennessee on January 6.

So does anyone really think Charlie would take the Giants job? The New York tabloids are all over it, practically begging for Charlie to consider it. And being a Giants fan, I would be even slightly conflicted if it were any other Irish coach, at any other time.

But with the way things are coming together in South Bend-- and more significantly, with the way they're falling apart in New York-- it's hard to imagine for me that Charlie would heed the call to come home to Jersey.

Midnight Drum Circle

You know, one of the best things about being a student at ND in the student section at games (in the first row our second year there) was getting a chance to be so close to the ND drums down on the sidelines.. just came across this video of the midnight drum circle before the Stanford game this year. It's seven and a half minutes long and it just totally takes me back...

Memo to ESPN: you better start getting this straight..

Okay, listen... when you're writing about the whole Charlie Weis/Tom Brady/Brady Quinn angle, it's one thing to make the Brady-play on names... but seriously guys...

I mean, has anyone else spotted this?

The case for Quinn

Brady Quinn will not win the Heisman and it's a shame.

Allen Barra at the New York Sun makes the most compelling argument I've seen in print for why Brady Quinn should win the Heisman.

Here's the money quote:

The uncritical acceptance by so many writers and commentators of Troy
Smith's Heisman worthiness reflects an attitude that has become popular in
college football over the last couple of decades, namely that "the best player
on the best team" — or at least the player on the best team with the gaudiest
stats — is automatically the best player in the nation. This has resulted in
some relatively undistinguished quarterbacks winning the Heisman, most notably
Charlie Ward in '93, Florida's Danny Wuerffel in 1996, Florida State's Chris
Wenke in 2000, and Oklahoma's Jason White in 2003. All of them played for teams that were ranked at or near the top at the time they won the award.

A careful look at the record convinces me that Troy
Smith is destined to join their number. But whatever happens to Smith in the
NFL, Brady Quinn put up numbers this year that were at least the equal of Troy
Smith's, and he did it against tougher opposition and with far less help from
his teammates. By any objective yardstick, he deserves the nod over Troy Smith
as the outstanding college football player of the 2006 season.

Going for it..

According to Len Pasquarelli this morning, more and more NFL head coaches are going for it on 4th down-- and aggressive offensive linemen are loving it, apparently...

It's a regular trend. A phenomenon.
And yet there's not one mention of Charlie Weis in this article. How can that be possible?
I have nothing scientific to back this up, but I'm fairly certain that going for it on 4th and 6 wasn't nearly so popular until sometime last year, after Charlie had done it 8 or 9 times.

Welcome home, Andy.

I know, I know. New York isn't Andy Pettitte's home. Houston is. It's where he's from biologically.
But can anyone deny that New York is where his baseball family lives? It'll just feel right to have him back in pinstripes.
Welcome back, Andy.
Let's just hope that he's still as clutch in September and October as he used to be.
And nevermind my misgivings about the Yanks continuing to pursue over-the-hill veteran pitchers while neglecting youth. The Yanks got Pettitte back without having to sacrifice prospects-- unlike the deal they made for the so-far-disappointing Randy Johnson-- and so far this off-season, the Yanks appear to be learning their lesson that front. We'll see what the rest of the winter holds.