Archive for the ‘Spanning the Dome’ Category

Here are the links for Sunday, February 18th - a nice collection of some moron bloggers who are doing their best to add fuel to the Brady Quinn draft stock dropping fire as well as some quality links.

• Meyer vs. Weis Round II - the guys over at Orange and Blue Hue have a series of posts going on comparing Weis and Meyer after two seasons.  Here is also part I in case you missed it.
• I don’t know why I link to AOL Blogs because I think let pretty much anyone willing to post write them but…. this clown seems to think Quinn could conceivably drop all the way to 29th to the Ravens… and this guy seems to think there’s no way the Panther draft Quinn 14th to replace 32 year old Jake Delhomme’s 43 INTs over the last four seasons.
• Meanwhile, the Rock Report has a nice piece today on the pressure myth surrounding Quinn.  The more I think about it, the more I keep thinking that the Quinn-Manning comparison (in terms of their draft stock after returning for a senior season) is legit.  People are looking to find flaws in Quinn’s game just as they were Manning’s.
• The bball team got hot from 3 point range and beat Cinci 76-64 today.  Collin Falls set the Notre Dame career 3pt mark and the Irish got their first 20 win season in four years.
• Jim Leyland visited Notre Dame this week and had a great time.  Leyland is one heck of a baseball coach and for the life  of me I still cannot fathom why my Phillies went with Charlie Manuel over Leyland a few years back - that one hasn’t backfired on us at all.
• The baseball team lost back to back games this weekend to Texas State after a 6-0 defeat Sunday.  The Irish also lost 2-1 to the Bobcats on Saturday.
• There is a nice discussion going for a Sunday over the football board in response to today’s 5 Things I’d Like to See in 2007 post by yours truly.

Pretty slow day, but weekends usually are. Hopefully we can have a post with this many links on most Saturdays though.  Thanks to UND Irish for today’s pic.

• Apparently USC is investigating the possible recruiting violations involving the recruitment of Joe McKnight. The investigation should be short, they should simply watch this clip from McKnight’s press conference. Bill Cosby is right, kids say the darnedest things don’t they? Most likely this bounces off Teflon Pete.
• Another mock draft has Quinn slipping to the Dolphins with the 9th overall pick. Landing in Miami would not be bad thing for Quinn but I still can’t see the Lions, Bucs, Vikings, and Browns all passing on Quinn.
• NBC has a really nice feature comparing Brady Quinn and Tom Brady. It’s a pretty nice look at the two quarterback that Charlie Weis is credited with mentoring. I don’t know why NBC took the time to make this comparison… haven’t they heard Quinn is a fraud?
• Notre Dame’s hockey team beat Alaska this afternoon to capture the regular season championship. The Irish have another game with Alaska tonight, but the win this afternoon clinched the regular season title.
• Tight end Will Yeatman had a goal and two assists in the 11th ranked Notre Dame lacrosse team’s 9-7 win over #12 Loyola. Yeatman was considered one of the best high school lacrosse players last year and was originally on a lacrosse scholarship before Joey Hiben departure opened a slot for him.
• Jeff Samardzija got a haircut after reporting to Cubs training camp.

Sorry for the late posting today, I’ve been pretty sick all day and am just starting to feel better. Anyway, here’s today’s link on a pretty slow day.

• The Notre Dame basketball team remained undefeated at home by holding off Providence last night. Russell Carter was said to be slowed by a hip flexor and the Friars smothered Collin Falls in the first half.
• GE chairman to give commencement address at Notre Dame this year. Jeffery Immelt will address this year’s graduating class on May 20.
• Pete Carroll says he isn’t going anywhere… but then again didn’t Nick Saban say the same thing back in December? I still think the Chargers make a big push for Carroll.
• Meanwhile… this guy says Carroll to the Chargers just doesn’t add up. If I were covering an NFL team, I guess I wouldn’t want Carroll coaching my team either - after his impressive stint in New England.
• Pat Kirwan of NFL.com talks about what is at stake for Brady Quinn at the combine. Kirwan seems to think Quinn could go anywhere from 1st overall to outside the top 10.
• Tom Brady testified today in the Weis malpractice suit. Brady had spent a lot of time in the hospital by Weis’s side during the ordeal.
• Athlon Sports ranks Notre Dame’s recent recruiting class 6th in the country. A nice write up that lists Brian Smith as the potential sleeper in this year’s class.
• Alaska takes on the #1 ranked Notre Dame hockey team this weekend. Hopefully the hockey team can finish out the season ranked #1 with a strong performance this weekend.

Special thanks to RDU_IRISH for today’s great picture of the dome in the snow.

• A very nice look at past quarterback races by Lou Somogyi over at BGI.  Ah…. memories of the Matt Lovecchio/Carlyle Holiday quarterback battle that never really was during Willingham’s first spring at ND.
• Nice post by from The Rock today highlighting a few very insightful posts for the NDNation message board.
• Nice article from the Columbus Dispatch about Chris Quinn’s rookie season with the Miami Heat.  Quinn always played hard and left it all on the court so it’s nice to see him finding a home in the NBA.
• Yet another ranking of the quarterbacks in this year’s draft, and surprise, surprise - Ryan Leaf JaMarcus Russell is #1 in these rankings as well.
• Speaking of Ryan Leaf… remember when a lot of Scouts fell in love with Leaf after his Rose Bowl performance?  “Bozo” makes a pretty nice parallel between Quinn and Peyton Manning - the guy many people felt was not as good a pro prospect as Leaf.  By the way, how did that turn out?
• Short but informative quick article (with links to full bios) of the Notre Dame baseball coaching staff for this year from CSTV.
• Mark Schlabach really doesn’t think much of Notre Dame in 2007.  He doesn’t even list the Irish as a possible Top 25 team.  It is really going to be nice shutting some of the aholes analysts over at ESPN again next year.
• Notre Dame is raising tuition 5.4% according to this AP article.  Tuition + room and board will now cost $44,477.  Ouch.
• The Weis Trial Day 3 - article with some info on the testimony from Weis’s doctors.

Welcome to the Valentine’s Day edition of Spanning the Globe. While I begin to thaw out from the ice storm that just hit, here’s a nice collection of links for today.

• A look at USC’s recruiting efforts this year, and a run down of all of the off-field problems surrounding the program over the last year or so from Irish Round Table. Pete Carroll really is running a tight ship out there in LA.
• A nice post about how John Carlson could be used to offset the inexperience of Notre Dame’s wide receivers next year by Jay at BGS. He also posted a link to this nice highlight reel of Carlson on YouTube.
• Day two of the Weis malpractice lawsuit from Fox Sports. Charlie took the stand today.
• Some what of a fluff piece from NBC Sports on Jimmy Clausen on the quarterback race, but it’s a fairly slow day.
• This is an old article from BGI, but it didn’t get much press. It’s an article about the recruitment of Kory Minor and really is a MUST read for any Notre Dame fan. It’s worth the time to read and is one of the better pieces on Notre Dame I’ve read in a while.
• The #1 ranked Notre Dame hockey team closes out the season with a series at Alaska. I’m not much of a hockey fan, but it would definitely be nice to see them go all the way.
• More on the Illinois-Notre Dame recruiting drama. Funny, people seem to have a problem if Notre Dame is making baseless claims about violations at Illinois, but no one seems to care if journalists are making baseless claims that Notre Dame is the one leaking information.
• Clock changes might be coming again this year. Looks like the NCAA might take back the asinine clock changes that they made a year ago.

Welcome to the second edition of “Spanning the Dome.” I probably should have noted yesterday that the title for this series was inspired by Collin Cowherd’s “Spanning the Globe” which he does on his daily radio show. Like him or not, Cowherd is a huge Charlie Weis supporter and for that I respect him. Now onto to day’s link…

• Charlie Weis’s malpractice suit against the doctors who performed his gastric bypass surgery began today. Weis’s lawyer stated Charlie bled for 30 hours. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
• Some Browns fans are just dumb… and then some are even dumber. I find it funny that the fans of a franchise who’s first pick (the second time around), turned out to be a monumental bust (Tim Couch) wants them to draft a guy who just turned in one of the worst bowl performances in BCS history. And now, at quarterback for your Cleveland Browns… #10…. Shane “Footsteps” Falco Troy Smith.
• Speaking of Brady Quinn, apparently the Dolphins at 9th overall at interested in him. Cam Cameron will be getting one hell of a quarterback to build around in Miami if this is the case.
• Pat from Blue Gray Sky takes a look at the percentage of playing time from each position returning in 2007. Another really nice post by the guys over at Blue Gray Sky that shows just how much the Irish will have to replace.
• What if all of the Big 11 coaches were Southpark characters? Props to Jeff (JD) for sending me that link last night. The character for Lloyd Carr is priceless.
• This guy thinks Notre Dame and USC should start up a basketball rivalry. I wouldn’t mind seeing USC and ND hoop it up, but right now I don’t think I could handle USC beating ND in anything else.
• Good free article from Irish Eyes about the changes in recruiting Weis intends to make. A very good read, as always from Mike Frank.
• Pete Carroll declined comment on the opening with the San Diego Chargers. It is just a little coincidental that the Chargers waited until after National Signing Day to make this move… I’m not sayin… I’m just sayin…

Welcome to a new daily feature to the UHND Blog. Every night I’m going to post a recap of the links that circulate across the Notre Dame message boards and blogs and will mix in some other random sports and pop culture links on slow days.

• Jay over at BlueGraySky has a comprehensive recap of all the Ron Zook-Illinois recruiting violations rumors and all of the finger pointing being done towards Notre Dame in leaking information. Funny no one is complaining about John L Smith who suggested to the Chicago Tribune that “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
• Brady Quinn posted his first blog over on his XBOX Community Blog. Apparently Brady’s favorite games of all time include Tecmo Bowl, Mario Brothers, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Jordan vs. Bird - can’t go wrong with any of them.
• Should Notre Dame recruit more like Texas? Interesting question posed by the guys over at Irish Round Table. After seeing Texas clean up at their first Junior Day including getting Dan Buckner, its hard to argue with the results.
• Nice look at the race for the starting quarterback at Notre Dame from Kelly Green. He comes up with a couple interesting scenarios at the end. I still think Clausen wins it in the summer.
• A nice look at the entire class Notre Dame just landed by Brian Smith over at Notre Dame weekly. A pretty straight forward and honest appraisal of each of the 18 recruits that signed last week.
• Former Notre Dame punter Hunter Smith won the Super Bowl, then signed a record deal. Smith will be recording a Christian music CD along with Chris Wilison under the band name Connersvine.
• Rob Ianello is named one of the 25 best recruiters in the country by Rivals. Its easy to forget that Ianello has been the primary recruiter on the following prospects the last two years - Armando Allen, Robert Hughes, Duval Kamara, Aaron Nagel, Brian Smith, Ian Williams, James Aldridge, Sergio Brown, Matt Carufel, Demetrious Jones, Paddy Mullen, Robby Parris, Munir Prince, and John Ryan. In that same time Jappy Oliver is credited with Jashaad Gaines and well, that’s it.

[tags]Notre Dame Football[/tags]