Irish Office Rumblings

It's official, the College Football season is over as the LSU Tigers put the beat down on THE Ohio State Buckeyes. Excuse me for a second, I threw up in a my mouth. To be quite blunt, I don't give a shit! I don't care if the SEC folks think that the Big Ten is slow and can't compete with their teams; even though Beanie Wells ran past the entire LSU defense for a 65 yard touchdown. I also don't care that tOSU is O-fer against the SEC in bowls. Too bad, so sad!

Anyway, a few interesting tidbits have surfaced in the Irish Football Offices in the Gug:

1.) Transfers. Munir Prince has finally ended the speculation and will transfer to Missouri. Running back Luke Schmidt has had a change of heart and will remain at Notre Dame for now. Sources say that he wants to give it the good old college try and stick it out with the Irish. Who knows what will happen once spring practices begin! Raeshon McNeil was another name floating out there as a possible transfer. Like Schmidt, McNeil is still Irish.

2.) Injuries. Offensive linemen, Bartley Webb's career is pretty much over. Rumors on the Internet have surfaced about Webb's shoulder. Over the break, Webb got second opinions from several doctors and is still waiting word to see if he can ever play football again. The future does not bode well for Bartley. Webb's intentions are to still to remain at Notre Dame, and possibly become an undergraduate assistant.

3.) Recruiting Trail. Notre Dame is still rounding out their recruiting class for this year with an official visits from defensive standouts, Mike Martin, Kapron Lewis-Moore, and Datone Jones.

Running back Cyrus Gray has not ruled out the Irish either. According to ESPN.com,

Running back Cyrus Gray names five finalists
ESPN 150 prospect Cyrus Gray is now only considering California, Florida, Kansas, Louisville, and Notre Dame, the Courier-Journal reports.

Depending on what lies Urban Meyer tells Gray, I put my money on Florida. And speaking of Florida and lil' Urbie Cryer, it looks like Omar "Pancaked" Hunter is leaning towards the Gators. Hmmmmm. How convenient that it is coming out now, after Omar was called out for being a silent commit to Florida since early November. Here's the little blurb from ESPN.com,

Gators out in front for defensive tackle Omar Hunter
Under Armour All-American Omar Hunter said, "I would definitely say Florida is in the lead right now," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The former Notre Dame pledge has set a Jan. 18th visit date with the Gators.

4.) Future Schedules. There have been some rumors going on that Notre Dame will play LSU as early as the 2009 season. There have been talks with LSU about getting something going, but that's just it, TALKS. Maybe Kevin White is getting ballsy in his old age. Who knows, as long as he doesn't do anymore stupid shit.

Knox, Knox, Knoxing, on Milton's Door

Just like the pollsters anxiously waiting for their results on Super Tuesday, Notre Dame is patiently waiting for California kid, Milton Knox to declare his decision. It's down to UCLA and Notre Dame on a FSN West telecast, 7 pm South Bend time. Whatever the case may be, Knox has had a tough decision since his visit this past weekend at Notre Dame.

"I didn't think it was going to be like that," Knox said Monday night of his trip to Notre Dame. "Just the people, they were so nice. I got a tour of the campus, they took me in the locker room and all the greats that played there, and they have the jerseys. I got to touch the `Play like champions' sign and went out on the field. It was a really good experience."
"It gave me a lot to think about."

Currently, Knox is on a school field trip, and then off to the FOX studios for his announcement. Supposedly he made up his mind this morning, according to several published reports from California outlets. Trying to get a hint of which it might be, Knox's High School Coach, Ed Croson, didn't know either, except that this will be one of the hardest decisions of this young man's life.

"He's so impressed by both schools that it's hard to pick them apart right now, in this time frame," Croson said.

"I think the big thing, right now, is `Do I want to stay home, because I love my family? Or do I want to go off on my own? Get away from home for college?' He's really struggling with it.”

The clock is a-ticking, and Irish fans alike are waiting. Is it UCLA or Notre Dame? Whatever the case may be, Irish eyes are a smilin!

Editor's Note: Milton, if you are reading this, we welcome you to Notre Dame with open arms! The Notre Dame family will always be there for you no matter what! Go Irish! ~WeisGipper

Black Thursday Hits Irish

Something must have been in the water at New York City yesterday as the second, third, and fourth seeded Big East teams all lost in the quarterfinals of the tournament. The Irish's attempts of making it successive quarterfinal wins came to a screeching halt as Marquette's Jerel McNeal was on fire in the second half en route to his career high 28 points, which included 4-of-7 from behind the 3pt. arc.

Notre Dame placed all of its starters in double figures, led by Kyle McAlarney's 20 points, but only managed seven points from their bench. The Golden Eagles produced 20 points from their bench and out rebounded the Irish by four, 35-31. Big East Player of the Year Luke Harangody never really got into the rhythm of the game and was in foul trouble throughout the night.

Notre Dame must now wait and see what fate has in store for them on Selection Sunday. The Irish should not be penalized too much, because both Louisville and Connecticut also had early exits. As of today, Notre Dame is still holding strong as a #4 seed with Connecticut, Drake, and Purdue. The next line of seeds looking to jump ahead of the Irish are Indiana, Vanderbilt, Washington State, and Butler, while Michigan State, Marquette, Southern California, and Clemson still need to do some more work.

Comparing resumes to Notre Dame, the Irish look pretty favorable:

Notre Dame: 24-7; 23 (RPI); 7-3 (Last 10); 5-6 (vs. RPI Top 50)
Connecticut: 24-8; 17 (RPI); 7-3 (Last 10); 6-5 (vs. RPI Top 50)
Drake: 26-4; 11 (RPI); 7-3 (Last 10); 7-1 (vs. RPI Top 50)
Purdue: 24-7; 37 (RPI); 8-2 (Last 10); 5-4 (vs. RPI Top 50)
Indiana: 25-6; 18 (RPI); 7-3 (Last 10); 6-5 (vs. RPI Top 50)
Vanderbilt: 26-6; 10 (RPI); 8-2 (Last 10); 5-4 (vs. RPI Top 50)
Butler: 29-3; 16 (RPI); 9-1 (Last 10); 1-1 (vs. RPI Top 50)
Washington St.: 24-7; 20 (RPI); 7-3 (Last 10); 4-6 (vs. RPI Top 50)
Michigan St.: 24-7; 14 (RPI); 5-5 (Last 10); 5-5 (vs. RPI Top 50)
Marquette: 23-8; 19 (RPI); 8-2 (Last 10); 4-7 (vs. RPI Top 50)
USC: 21-10; 30 (RPI); 7-3 (Last 10); 4-7 (vs. RPI Top 50)
Clemson: 21-8; 22 (RPI); 7-3 (Last 10); 3-5 (vs. RPI Top 50)

So Irish fans hoping to see Notre Dame as a potential #4 seed will have some rooting interest today for Illinois (vs. Purdue), Minnesota (vs. Indiana), Ohio State (vs. Michigan State), Boston College (vs. Clemson), UCLA (vs. USC), Stanford (vs. Washington State), and Arkansas (vs. Vanderbilt).

Brey's Boys seeding fate is now up to the selection committee. Hopefully they will look at the whole body of work the Irish have done this season when everyone thought they were going to be a one hit wonder after last year. Whatever it ends up on Sunday, you can wipe the slate clean, because the real season begins next Thursday or Friday for the Irish!

Child Actors Gone Bad: Steve Urkel

In yet another sad story of a former child actor turned bad, this saga takes the cake! Steve Urkel of ABC's Family Matters, the second-longest running U.S. comedy with a predominantly African-American cast, was mainly the focus of the show. After their series finale on July 17, 1998, Steve Urkel went down a spiraling path that he has yet to recover from.

For the past several years, Urkel has been seen on ESPN's College GameDay and other college football telecasts under the alias Mark May. Mr. May has the penchant of giving asinine predictions and showing his hatred towards the University of Notre Dame and their former coach Lou Holtz.

One has to wonder, what happened to Steve Urkel for him to snap? Was it a bad childhood? Or was it that he got wait-listed or rejected by Notre Dame? Or maybe was it that his long time childhood friend, Tyberius Willingham, got fired as the Fighting Irish football coach? Whatever the case may be, Steve Urkel has turned into this uncontrollable blob of nothing that will go out of his way to hate on the Irish!

When will the madness end? Below is a little clip of Mark May, err, I mean Steve Urkel in his hay day on Family Matters.