Bowl Projections

Bowl Projections As of November 16, 2008


By beating the NAVY Midshipmen, the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame became bowl eligible. Bowl eligible is a meaningless word when paired with the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. We all know that once Notre Dame becomes eligible, they will be chosen, and it is just a matter of who chooses them. I’ve always wanted to create a post where I keep track of what the pundits are saying as to which bowl game is going to select Notre Dame, but after the fiasco that is the 2007 season (or the Michigan Wolverines 2008 fiasco), I looked at the glass as being half empty to say the least.

Now that the Fighting Irish are up for grabs, I now post my first post that tracks as to what the pundits projections are saying. As you Irish fans can see, mostly everyone is projecting for the Fighting Irish to play in the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida on New Year’s Day assuming that Notre Dame beats Syracuse and USC beats Notre Dame. But, the most likely destination for the Fighting Irish is the Brut Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas on the last day of 2008.

Personally, I would like to see the Fighting Irish to go to the Gator Bowl and face an ACC team because I think that Notre Dame can beat any team in the ACC, but Notre Dame can also loose to any team in the ACC (See Notre Dame vs. North Carolina vs. Georgia Tech vs. Boston College). Miami (7-3) have beaten team that Notre Dame could have also beaten, and loss to teams (FL, FLS, NC) that Notre would or have loss to.

But I really want to see the Fighting Irish go against the Miami Hurricanes because I’ve always felt that Notre Dame is the complete opposite of Miami Hurricanes. Another reason is that naysayers this season have always acknowledged the fact that Miami is a young uprising team. But Notre Dame is simply a terrible team without acknowledging the fact that we too are young.

Another reason is that I want the Fighting Irish to play against a team that plays with it. I do not know what that it is, but the Miami players always play with it. It’s not passion, not hatred and not confidence. There’s just something that Miami has that Notre Dame has never had for a long time.

Anyways, I think all of us Irish fans can agree to one thing when it comes to these bowl projections. The bowl game or the opponent does not matter so long as we get the WIN!

Why So Much Hate for Old Notre Dame?

I've been an Irish fan for just about 4 years now, and one thing
that I have realized over the years is that not a lot of people really
likes Old Notre Dame. Why So Much Hate for Old Notre Dame?
I do not know.

Maybe it's our rich tradition.
Maybe it's the National Championships.
Maybe it's the television contract.
Maybe it's Lou Holtz.
Maybe it's the higher standards in Notre Dame.
Maybe it's us (the Irish fans).

Hence, I've come to the conclusion that those who say and write
so much negativity to Old Notre Dame are actually Irish fans
(either secretly or openly). Yes, I admire openly Irish fans who
think Charlie Weis should be fired (I am not one of them by the way)
because it shows that they care about Old Notre Dame. And Yes,
I pray for those who bashes Old Notre Dame because I know that
deep inside you bashers are an Irish fan deep inside.

The Irish Fan (Secretly) of the week is Teddy Greenstein.

Teddy is our Irish Fan of the Week for writing
"Charlie Weis alienates Irish supporters."

“I had a bad day” is taboo in Notre Dame

I stumbled upon an article yesterday in ChicagoTribune entitled
“Notre Dame QB Clausen: 'I had a bad day'”.

For some reason, I just can’t get the thought of our Quarterback
saying such a sentence. Credit to Jimmy for not making the ‘bug’
an excuse. Such a sentence being uttered conjures the image of a
National Championship slipping away (see Joe Paterno last week,
he had a bad day and puff there goes the Championship). Notre Dame
is nowhere close to close to a National Championship, but for a
team coming off its worst season last year, such a sentence is
inexcusable. I thought Notre Dame has rid itself of saying such a
sentence by saying “I had a bad day ALL SEASON” not a day.

But, such a sentence could never be uttered again by a Notre Dame
Student Athlete especially the quarterback (a kicker can even be
thrown in there). “I had a bad day” cannot be uttered in the final
month of the season, or else there would be dire consequences for
the program.

Jimmy Clausen saying “I had a bad day” after the NAVY game means
that our hope of being a contender in 2009 and 2010 is a foolish one.

Jimmy Clausen saying “I had a bad day” after the Syracuse game
means that Charlie Weis will not be back for next season (I’ll get
into that more in my next post).

Jimmy Clausen saying “I had a bad day” after the USC game does
not mean anything, but it would be nice not to get demolished by
the Trojans this time around
(See 2008 ND vs. USC game: 30 to Nil USC)

Jimmy Clausen saying “I had a bad day” after the Brut Sun Bowl
in El Paso Texas means that we have not won a bowl game for a
lot of years now.

Thus, I would like to see our players especially our Quarterback to
say these sentences in the upcoming weeks:

NAVY: “It was a highly contested win, but I’m glad we came out
with the victory.”

Syracuse: “7 touchdowns?... Yeah, it’s nice.”

USC: “Credit to my guys out there for fighting… today we
showed that this program is heading the right way.”

Sun Bowl: “We’re just glad to end Notre Dame’s loosing streak!”

If Jimmy says those words (or at least close to it), I think our
hope of a blissful 2009 and 2010 season is a reasonable one.
In 2009 and 2010, “I had a bad day” is taboo, and if Notre Dame
manages not to say those words again in a sentence for the
upcoming years, then a National Championship is not out of the
equation.

Photo from ursispaltenstein.ch and nbcsports.msnbc

A Fighting Irish Fan from the Other Side of the World

See Irish fans, I'm probably the most unlikely Notre Dame Fighting
Irish fan in the world. I'm a college student but not attending The
University of Notre Dame. I have never been to South Bend let alone
U.S mainland. Wait... I have never watched a live football game.
See Irish fans, I live in this island, literally, called Guam
(13º 30n, 144º 48E).







Guam... there's not much to say. It's a really small island owned
by the US , so that 'technically' makes as Americans. Anyways, football
is very popular on Guam, but see Irish fans, we do not root for a single
team, so I really cannot say that our island is a Cowboys, Browns, Trojans
or Figting Irish 'town', and as far as I know, I am the only Irish fan on
this rock, and I am proud to say that.

See fellow Irish fans, I have only been an Irish fan for just about 4 years.
My first memory of Notre Dame (Willingham era) was the Golden helmet
and at that moment I saw the tunnel of light. But, it would be months later
until I finally saw a Notre Dame game on television.

It was Notre Dame against some team from California called USC
(at that timethe only school I knew from California was UCLA). Oh
man, that game was a GAME. Game commentary wise, they were talking
about USC being a really badass team, and Notre Dame a historic team
rising from the grave with a new coach whom they shown on TV
(Charlie was and still is fat at the time) who did not look like a coach to
me at that time.

That game was the perfect game to be introduced to Notre Dame football.
I mean that game had everything. Fans, beautiful stadium, interesting figures
(Samardzija, Quinn, Weis, Zbikowski, Leinart, Bush whom I did not know
anything about, but their names just stood out like the golden helmets),
plays, intensity and a finish.

I went to school two days later and asked everyone if they had seen the
football game... no one saw the game.

Nonetheless, that game was truly the game that made me an Irish fan...

THE IRISH FAN FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD.

* Photo from Keith-Killer of deviantart.com

Very First Post and Hoping Not the Very Last Post

Finally... I have been thinking of creating a blog of my ownfor quite some
time now, and finally it's here... special thanks to my Religion, Knowledge,
and Meaning proffesor who is lecturing right now as I write this post.

Well, it's a no brainer that this blog site is dedicated to the greatest program
in the country... USC... NOT!!!

Yes, I'm talking about Old Notre Dame.