Tate, Bruton Give Super Bowl an Irish Angle
A couple of recent Notre Dame greats square off in today’s Super Bowl between the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos. Seattle’s Golden Tate, arguably one of the best wide receivers in Notre Dame history, and Denver’s David Bruton, a ball hawking safety for the Irish, represent Notre Dame tonight with one of them being crowned a Super Bowl champion.
Tate and Bruton were teammates together at Notre Dame during the 2007 and 2008 seasons. During that time Notre Dame won just 10 games combined, but since moving on to the NFL, both have become accustomed to winning. Bruton has played in the playoffs two of the last three years and would have last year as well had it not been for an injury. Tate has played post-season football three of the past four seasons as well.
While both have gotten used to winning, only one will be victorious tonight while the other is going to have an off-season full of the kind of what ifs I talked about in our story earlier today about Randy Moss and Notre Dame.
We wish player former Golden Domers good luck tonight and hope that both have strong performances for their respective teams. The best part for Notre Dame fans without a routing interest too is that at least one former Notre Dame player is going to win a ring tonight.
Who is everyone pulling for tonight? Let us know in the comments!
Good luck boys and Go Irish!
Frank Vitovitch has been Co-Owner and Editor in Chief of UHND.com since joining forces with Kyle Flavin in 1999. Since that time, he has written over 2,000 articles covering Notre Dame football, recruiting, and basketball. He also works with all staff and external writers on all articles published on UHND.com. Frank's love for Notre Dame football started at a young age watching Rocket Ismail give opposing coaches ulcers in the late 1980's. By day Frank works in marketing and holds a degree in Digital Media from Drexel University. Frank's work has been cited by online/print editions of NBC Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated and has been quoted on air by ESPN's Collin Cowherd. He's conducted interviews with Notre Dame legends Rocket Ismail, Randy Kinder, Lee Becton, Reggie Brooks, Michael Stonebreaker, and Ned Bolcar among others over his 20+ years of covering Notre Dame football. He's also been published in the print edition of USA Today Sports Weekly and the USA Today College Football Preview multiple times. Other Published Works/Citations for Frank Three Reasons Notre Dame Will Beat Alabama - USA Today Notre Dame Suspends WR Kevin Stepherson, RB C.J. Holmes Indefinitely - Bleacher Report Notre Dame / Ohio State Fiesta Bowl Preview - Eleven Warriors Brace Yourself: The Fighting Irish are Relevant Again - Sports on Earth Interviews with the Enemy: A Q&A with Frank Vitovitch of UHND - Yahoo! Sports Five Good Minutes: Notre Dame Football Preview With UHND.com - BC Interruption Vicious Electronic Questioning with UHND - MGO Blog
With 3 members of my family going to and graduating from ND…have grown up with Notre Dame football!! In fact my first game was ND vs Miami in ’88. Have always been with them and have to say I am pulling for the Seahawks…it is defense that usually wins games plus G. Tate !!!
Well, there was an obscure Notre Dame guy on the first Super Bowl Champion.
Some kid named Paul Hornung from Flaget High in Louisville, recruited
by Frank Leahy from under the nose of Bear Bryant. Hornung was coached in that championship game (before it was named the Super Bowl) by a guy named Lombardi. They named the Super Bowl trophy after him. Lombardi was somewhat familiar with that Leahy guy who recruited Hornung. You see, at
Fordham, Lombardi was a nondescript lump of gnocchi dough before being molded into one of the Seven Blocks of Granite by his offensive line coach.
That line coach was Frank Leahy! Notre Dame, the Alpha and Omega of football!!