New blog....let me introduce you to some of my family.....

Nothing like having your photo taken while you're laying on the couch with the drapes wrapped around you. Huh?

Allow me to introduce you to my boy Beezer....if this were a personal column, I'd say....he's around 9 1/2 yrs old, starting to gray about the face, suffering the heartbreak of fatty tumors....his likes are: short walks (those arthritic hips aren't what they used to be), snacks (Jumbones are my favorite), sleeping on the sofa (especially with my head in my Dad's lap) & greeting people with a stuffed toy in my mouth. No, really. Dislikes: going out into the backyard (I like the front yard a LOT more), the same old thing for dinner & having my wrestling match with either Dad or my brother Midnight interrupted by that girl dog Jazz! Grrrr!
So, ya know...if you know any half Lab-half Golden Retriever females that are 7+ years old that are looking for a good time....give my man a call. I was first introduced to Beezer back in the summer of '99, when I began dating my wife Kim. Beezer has a pretty good life story. He originally belonged to Kim's sister-in-law, and apparently one day Kim gets a call from the local police department. It seems that Beezer had been picked up on the equivalent of a lewd & lasivicous conduct charge with another dog in the neighborhood (for shame!) and since his owners couldn't be located, they had Kim as a contact number. After that brush with the law, his owners....um.....disowned him and Kim took him in. So when Kim and I began to date, here comes this approximately 100 lb dog bouncing up to me and I'm told his name is Beezer---you know, after the hockey goalie. Talk about karma. So we pretty much immediately established a bond with one another. I wasn't sure if Kim and I were longterm...but I was positive that Beezer and I were. He pretty much is called "Beezer" now only when he's in trouble....naturally his name has evolved into nicknames and his is "Beedly". He really is, as I call him....my "sweet prince". He's just about the sweetest dog I've ever known....wouldn't hurt a fly even if he could. He's our oldest dog....and the years show on his face and in his movements these days, but he holds a special place in my heart. When I was seperated from my ex-wife (#2 smarty!), I also left our dog Misty...and truthfully I missed her terribly. When I met Kim and she introduced me to Beezer....he took hold of my heart just as much as Kim and her two kids did. I sure do love my Beedly.

Later,
Jeff

Karma---or, should I be gloating about Tyrone Willingham?

I never met the man...and, by most accounts, he's a good man who cares about his football players off of the field and making them contributing members of society. Which is great, if you don't care about how your favorite football team....uh......performs on the field.

So Bob Davie gets shown the door by Notre Dame at the end of 2001 after five years of solid recruiting and almost incredibly inconsistent performances on the field. Say what you will about old Bob, but betting on the Irish when he was the head coach was a dangerous proposition bet.
You literally never knew what you were going to get.

So there's the George O'Leary fiasco with the "enhanced" resume', and the Irish administration needed not only a good hire, they needed one that would make them look good.

Entire Ty Willingham....stage left. Tyrone had managed to parlay 2 winning seasons at Stanford, including a Rose Bowl bid in a season when the Pac-10 conference was regarding as being at probably the worst point in the history of the conference talent wise.....and gotten himself hired at Notre Dame---where truth be told, they care about football just a touch more than Stanford.
Perhaps the administration was impressed by the fact that Ty had managed to have a winning record against.....oops, Bob Davie.....who managed to post a winning record vs. USC, but a losing one against Stanford. Go figure. So Ty is hired and after watching Bob Davie's emotional tirades on the sidelines for 5 years, Ty's stoic nature is mistaken for a deep thinker. Turns out, that what Ty was mostly thinking about was....uh.....golf. Yep, golf. Apparently golf is the real passion of Ty's life, and he really doesn't make a secret of it. He apparently loves it more than recruiting, that's for sure. But we'll get back to that.

So Ty comes in the first season, and has an absolutely amazing start. His team goes 8-0, including a victory over FSU and Bobby Bowden IN TALLAHASSEE. One of the amazing things about the start was that we were doing it without anything resembling an offense. The team literally went the first 9 quarters or so of the season without scoring an offensive touchdown.
That's pretty incredible work by your defense I'd say (uh, not for nothing but Ty was an offensive assistant in the NFL and in college prior to getting the head coaching gig at Stanford--not a coordinater mind you....an assistant). So the team starts off 8-0, but at halftime of the FSU game...something changed, and to this day it can't be explained. Notre Dame was totally dominating the Noles, and either the team let up, or Ty took his foot off the proverbial gas....but the Noles scored the last 14 points of the game to bring the final score to 34-24 (it wasn't really anywhere near that close). The following week at home against Boston College, Ty breaks out the dreaded green jerseys and the team plays horrible in losing 14-7, including fumbling an amazing 7 times. The team wins the next two games against Navy & Rutgers before going out to Los Angeles and getting pasted by USC by a score of 44-13. The Irish happily accepted a bid to the Gator Bowl where they were defeated rather soundly by N.C. State 27-9 to finish the season at 10-3. Good times appear to be on the horizon. The new recruiting class includes a pro style QB in Brady Quinn from Ohio and is labeled as a very good class.

And then the 2003 season comes. After a season opening victory against Washington State, the Irish, who are being featured on an ESPN "Behind the Scenes" type of program, go to Michigan and lose 38-0. They follow that up with a loss at Michigan State and then are 3-2 going into the return game against USC---who had defeated them by 31 the year before. Notre Dame loses this time by 45-14....and then the following week to Boston College and then next to FSU---the same FSU team that they had been so impressive against the year before....by 37-0...at home.

Incredibly, Ty has now lost more games by 30 points in 2 years than Gerry Faust (GERRY FAUST!!!) did in five years. All of a sudden in South Bend, people are getting nervous.
The team manages to win 3 straight games and heads to Syracuse with a chance to salvage a 6-6 record with a win over a very, very average Orange squad.
And then of course, the Irish are defeated 38-12 in what may have been---and this is saying something considering---the worst effort by the team all season. Things were so bad that ESPN cancelled the show after 3 or 4 weeks. I guess even they felt bad for the Irish.

After the season, the Irish come away with what is regarded as perhaps their lowest rated recruiting class ever....hilited by a pair of 4 star recruits from California....and only 2 offensive linemen. Those people in South Bend are starting to wonder what in the heck is going on.

Enter 2004. The Irish are primed and ready for a new season and visit BYU. They not only manage to lose, but they gain a TOTAL of 11 yards rushing. To his credit, Ty appears to right the ship and the team wins impressively over Michigan & Tennessee and stands at 6-2 going into a final home game vs. Pitt. A relatively unknown (at the time) QB named Tyler Palko for 5 touchdowns and 334 yards, leading the Panthers to a victory with one second left on the clock.
The team appears shellshocked after the game, and then travels to LA for yet another game vs. USC--where they are beaten 41-10. Yet another 30 point loss for Ty.

The reports have it that on the flight home, the decision is made to replace Willingham and he is terminated. Naturally a sense of outrage in the media follows, with ESPN calling the Irish at worst racist and at best unfair. Why wasn't Ty's 5 year contract honored?

Of course, what the good folks at ESPN didn't either tell us, or perhaps what they weren't aware of was that Ty had already been in contact with the folks at the University of Washington.
Yep, he was already making his plans to flee the castle before it burned folks. Or maybe WHILE it burned. So Notre Dame hires Charlie Weis away from the New England Patriots and while the Notre Dame family is happy as a lark with the hiring of someone with a terrific reputation and who is a graduate of the school.......Tyrone Willingham suddenly takes the UW job.
Whaaa? How did that happen??? Ty also destroys any chance he ever has to return to the Notre Dame campus on anything resembling good terms when he does an interview with ESPN's John Saunders......what happens is transcribed next.....courtesy of the website Irish Band of Brothers:

If you guys need a reason to get fired up for Saturday, remind yourself of this piece of s--- interview that Fraud did with John Saunders before we played Washington in 2005 ... I would give anything for Charlie to walk up to Ty before and the game and quote Gen. Nathan Jessup from a Few Good Men in his pregame speech ... "I'm gonna tear your eyes right outta your head and p--- in your dead skull. You f---- with the wrong marine." It's time to put this lying, whining piece of s--- where he belongs ... in a figurative body bag. Go Irish!!

John Saunders: It's only been ten months since Ty Willingham was let go by the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. You remember when he was hired three years earlier, he came in to help with a scandal in the hiring of George O'Leary who lied on his resume -- a fact that Notre Dame forgot about VERY QUICKLY three years later.

[Cue "tension" music. Shots of Basilica; cut to clip of Kevin White presser]

Kevin White: From Sunday through Friday, our football program has exceeded ALL expectations in every way. On Saturday, we struggled.[interview segment begins]Ty Willingham: If you take seven days, and six of those days are done absolutely perfectly, okay, it's kinda hard for that other day to fall totally apart.

John Saunders: You weren't just coming in and taking over a program that was storied and had stumbled on hard times. You were taking on a program that had stumbled into some scandal. You cleaned ALL of that up, and your reward was to get fired.

TW: That's life, you know, and that's what I prepared myself for when I took over the job. They say that the microscope is big there. No question about that. But I prepared myself for all of that, and as an African-American coach, your position is somewhat tenuous. There are not a lot of guarantees, as a matter of fact, there are not a lot of coaches getting positions, period, okay, so tenuous may be an understatement.

JS: You weren't given the five years that other coaches got to demonstrate those skills. Do you think it is in part because you're an African-American?

TW: I've always said that in this country there is no absence of racism, okay, we're all aware of that, it's been here for quite some time, okay. And to think it would NOT factor in may be naive on my part. But the people that really know that answer are the ones that we need to talk to.

JS: In my mind, I thought it was handled terribly and I thought what they did was wrong and unfair.

TW: Well then the question then becomes, if that is true, what is the responsibility of the individual? If they're wrong, they have to live with that. But I must handle Tyrone Willingham in the right manner.[shot of Ty running alone out of UW tunnel in slo-mo]

TW: Regardless of what they do, you are to handle yourself as a trueprofessional, a true man of integrity.[shot of Ty at practice, throwing a football]

JS: It's an interesting game not only because of the so-called revenge factor, but you can't tell me you wouldn't feel something special walking off the field on Saturday with a win over the school that let you go.

TW: I make no bones about it -- I am very competitive, I like to win, I like to win all the time. And Notre Dame will be no different.[end interview - back to studio]

Saunders [in studio]: Guys, you know what stood out to me when I went out there to talk to Ty, a lot of people have said he's been passive, and bithis tongue about this whole thing -- he really hasn't, you can see he has very strong feelings, he has very strong opinions about this. What he is, is a man of principle and class, and right now his focus is on Washington.

Aaron Taylor: Because he is that way, John, is why he's going to do well for UW. I think it's a great call and I think we need to play this forward and leave the past behind. It was a bad raw deal and I think Willingham should have had a little bit more time. He's gonna bring integrity, he's gonna bring class, and he's gonna bring a much-needed "oomph" to that program on the field and off it.

Craig James: When you look at it, I think you have to say hey, coach, let it go. It's gone, it's in the past, leave it alone. He needs to focus right now on going out and finding a quarterback, a QB who can help him win on the football field. Get back to coaching. Most parents out there would love to have a chance to play for Ty Willingham [sic], he's a good man, with integrity, and that's what he needs to concentrate on, going out and taking care of his business at Washington and forgetting about Notre Dame

.Saunders: He thinks he's got a great recruiting class coming in next year.

I wonder if John Saunders will think race played a part in Ty's exodus from Washington? Oh yeah John, great recruiting class for Washington!

So Ty gets the job at UW, and in the first year he goes 2-9....hey, how come he couldn't win with Rick Neuheisel's players??? What's up with that? Ty then goes 5-7 the next season, missing out on being eligible for a bowl by losing to a winless Stanford team. Last season, Ty's 3rd...he goes 4-9 and, other than having potential breakout star Jake Locker at QB, things aren't going well.
He's retained after the season...but is terminated today after beginning the season 0-7 and losing to his former Notre Dame by a score of 33-7. The Huskies don't cross the 50 yd line on offense until well into the 4th quarter.


So okay.....now Ty's gone from yet another job. Today on ESPN's show "PTI", Michael Wilbon, one of the most outspoken critics of Ty's termination from Notre Dame, was quoted as saying:
"Just didn't work out at Washington" for Willingham.

Hmm...that's one way of looking at it. Another way might be that Ty is one really, really overrated head coach that managed to take 2 successful seasons out of 12 as a head coach and turn it into a pretty nice income (oh yeah, Notre Dame is STILL paying out his contract for those of you who are boohooing poor old Ty). He flat out does not or will not recruit. He sends out his assistants and basically tells them that he will be waiting in the main office for the kids to see.
If he doesn't have one gung ho group of assistants, it simply isn't going to happen recruiting wise.
Oh, and Brady Quinn....Ty's highest profile recruit and the player that "Charlie Weis won with" that was Ty's guy??? Yeah.....Brady wasn't even being recruited by Ty. His teammate and then WR (now safety for the Bengals) Chinedum Ndukwe had been offered an accepted a scholarship by Ty....and then his FATHER had to convince Willingham to watch film of Quinn in high school and then offer him. Yeah, that's his shining star of recruiting. Ty went out to Washington, a school with a great history that is certainly capable of being a top 10 program at anytime, and proved his worth as a coach, a recruiter and a leader. He failed miserably.

Any other program that considers Ty.....let the buyer beware...and don't be surprised when Notre Dame fans (and now UW fans also) say "I told you so".

Later,
Jeff

I've moved!!

I guess the economy is effecting AOL also, as they've shut down their vastly expensive journal section (please note sarcasm). I will return soon enough with more biting sarcasm.

Later,
Jeff

10/13/08---Some sports observations

Well yes, its been a couple of weeks.  I'm nothing if not consistent in my inconsistency.
By the way, in case you care whatsoever, AOL is closing down the AOL journals, so if I decide to continue my little project here, it will be at another site---stay tuned for details that will be forthcoming within a couple of weeks (since there closing things down around 10/31/08).

Well, let's look at some pain that the world of sports has thrust upon me since last we spoke.  Yep, the Cubs managed to blow it---again.  I'm going to be 47 yrs old within the next 2 weeks (shop early....spend lots) and this was the best Cubs team I've seen in my lifetime.  They opened up the divisional playoffs against the worst team in the playoffs, the Dodgers.  They went up in the first game 2-0....things were going fine, and then Ryan Dempster, who must have been like 12-1 at home this season, serves up a grand slam.  And the entire crowd sort of went silent for a second and then all looked at one another and said:

"Uh-oh."

And it was over.  Right at that moment, the Cubs collectively sort of left the ballpark.
They were done.  Swept 3 to 0 by the Dodgers and that God forsaken Manny Ramirez.
UGH.  Sometimes I totally hate that I'm a Cubs fan.


Notre Dame has officially hit the halfway point in their season and is 4-2, after a tough 29-24 loss to North Carolina on the road this past Saturday.  I just got done watching the game, which featured a sort of wild finish, complete with a couple of pretty badly blown calls by the officials (one for us, one against us) towards the end of the game.
Truth be told, if I knew back in August that we'd be 4-2 at the midway point, I'd have taken that.  Last year's team was so bad, so totally NOT Notre Dame, that I recognized that a lot of what this season was about was going to be continuing the development of some of our young play makers--and there's no question that it is definitely happening.
Jimmy Clausen is becoming an AMAZING quarterback, with tons of zip on the ball and he's capable of making some throws that just have you going WOW!  Of course, because he's still relatively young, he's also occasionally capable of doing something that will make you do the Chris Berman-esque....WHAAAA??  And he had a couple of those moments which cost us dearly against UNC.  Running back Armando Allen has had a couple of games where he clearly showed his vast potential as a all purpose running back who's effective running or receiving the ball.  Robert Hughes seems to be battling some injuries as he has not been as effective as he was late last year during his freshman campaign, and James Aldridge finally seems to be escaping the devestating injury to his knee that he suffered during his senior year in high school with some quality runs having taken place the last few weeks.  Wide receivers Golden Tate & Michael Floyd are turning into incredible players very early in their careers, and are potentially the best duo we've ever had at one time at Notre Dame.  Both are very special players.  The offensive line has really turned things around while pass blocking, but still haven't shown the ability to scratch, maul and claw for that 3 or 4 yards when its needed.  TE thru attrition has been pretty much reduced to freshman Kyle Rudolph, who has shown himself to be the best frosh TE the Irish have had since the days of Derek Brown back in 1988.

On the defensive side, the line simply lacks true play makers at this point.  There may be some in the freshman class that just haven't developed at this point, but upperclassmen like Justin Brown & John Ryan just aren't making plays.  Fellow senior Pat Kuntz shows flashes of ability, but is more likely the kind of guy who would be a backup on a really good line that comes in and provides a few big plays a game with lots of recognition, since he's what used to be described as "a free spirit"---and because he gives great interviews to the local reporters.  Sophomore Ian Williams has not shown himself to be as effective at defensive tackle as he was last season.  The remainder of prospects on the line are extremely young, and while players like Ethan Johnson and Darius Fleming show tremendous potential, you have to wonder if physically their really capable of handling an entire game's worth of action.  At linebacker, sophomore Brian Smith gives the Irish potential for play making ability that they haven't had since the halcyon days of Demetrius Dubose in the early 1990's, but still capable of the occasional boneheaded mental error that an underclassman will occasionally make.  Senior Maurice Crum has been part of the starting unit for the Irish for the better part of 4 years....and while he's smart player with good leadership skills, he just is not a play maker, and will never be.  He always seems to be making the tackle 5 yds past the line of scrimmage or after the reception has already been made.  Last year he played the game of his life vs. UCLA and made all those plays--too bad that's the only game that he's really made that sort of an impact.
Sophomore Harrison "Hayseed" Smith shows flashes of tremendous play making ability, depending on the particular scheme that is being used.  The basic fact seems to be that our real play makers are the underclassmen who haven't had or who aren't ready yet to make an impact (Filer, etc).  Finally, in the secondary, the play (outside of the UNC game) has been pleasantly strong.  Starting safeties David Bruton and Kyle McCarthy have been the MVP's of the defense so far, and corner backs Rashon McNeil & Terrail Lambert have both played well---although a lot of ND fans regard Lambert as sort of a Maurice Crum of the secondary.  A guy who is really "just there" and starting because of his experience who will be replaced next year by a guy with more ability who may not be ready just yet---or who is not currently in school (hello Darrin Walls).

And now....special teams.  Or maybe I should say....not so special teams.  When your kicker is 1 for the entire season going into the UNC game....and the head coach feels that if the ball is anywhere past the 44 yd mark for a "make able" field goal....your special teams are in rough shape.  Kicker Brandon Walker has amazingly been dead perfect on extra points---and completely horrible on field goals.  I mean, seriously...when your head coach doesn't feel comfortable kicking a field goal from further out than 44 yds, and your a national known team like Notre Dame---folks, that's just embarrassing. You have to wonder if special teams coach Brian Polian is going to be able to survive a season like this one.  The return units have been nothing special either, but the coverage units, lead by David Bruton & Mike Anello, have been absolutely outstanding.

The coaching staff has been an interesting mix.  Defensive coordinator Corwin Brown has had to mix his defense with that of new defensive guru John Tenuta, and although the pressure on the quarterback has increased, it has exactly turned into sacks galore, if ya know what I mean.  The wide receivers have shown great improvement, as has the Jimmy Clausen at QB, which is a credit to all those respective coaches.  The offensive line has improved tremendously at pass blocking, but their run blocking remains inconsistent and.....at best....a work in progress.  So offensive line coach John Latina gets high marks for his work on the pass blocking, but an "incomplete" at run blocking.

So at the halfway mark, with a 4-2 record, I'll give the Irish a......B- thus far.
The good:
1) Jimmy Clausen appears to be the real deal.
2) Golden Tate & Michael Floyd=best WR duo in school history?
3) Offensive line's pass blocking has improved substantially.
4) Lots of help from the freshmen.
5) The spread offense from the shotgun has jump started the offense.

The bad:
1) The kicking game--especially the field goals.
2) Defensive line play has been nothing special.
3) Offensive running game has been wildly inconsistent.
4) The return games (both kick and punt units) haven't excited anyone.....in a while.
5) Turnovers=losses on the road.  (See:  '08 UNC)

Later,
Jeff