Your weekly dose of Notre Dame news, opinion, and other stuff.
Top News
Notre Dame tight ends coach John McNulty’s 2-year stay in South Bend is over as he’s taken the offensive coordinator job at Boston College. Best of luck!
According to reports, Notre Dame is set to hire Indiana’s Deland McCullough as the new running backs coach and West Virginia’s Gerad Parker as the new tight ends coach.
Auburn’s offensive coordinator Austin David resigned from his position for personal reasons just 44 days after being hired from the Seattle Seahawks.
Grambling State is the first school in the country to sign NLI deals that cover payments to all of its athletes.
For some reason, Mack Brown got a raise at North Carolina.
Uniform of the Week
I saw a tweet this past weekend about a cool uniform nugget regarding Joe Montana. When the 49ers went to play Cincinnati in Super Bowl XXIII, Montana’s 3rd wife Jennifer gave him his same red jersey from Super Bowl XIX that he wore against the Dolphins. You can tell the difference because Montana’s sleeve striping was much more spaced out like their early 1980’s jersey whereas everyone else is wearing the more tightly spaced white stripes.
I went back and checked for the 49ers Super Bowl appearances in 1982 and 1989 when they wore their road white uniforms for both games. Turns out, Montana did not wear the same jersey likely because he hadn’t met his wife Jennifer for the first Super Bowl XVI against Cincinnati. Also, Montana has been with his 3rd wife coming up on 40 years. I wonder how many 3rd marriages end up lasting that long, congrats to that.
Recruiting
National Signing Day saw Texas A&M sign defensive lineman Shemar Stewart (0.9945) and safety Jacoby Matthews (0.9819) for a grand total of 17 prospects inside the top 100. SEVENTEEN!
Composite No. 3 overall player and top defensive lineman Lebbeus Overton (.9988) has said he will reclassify from 2023 to 2022 and is taking visits this spring before making a decision. People out there say he really likes collie dogs for some weird reason. Could it be 18 players in the top 100 and 8 players who are 5-stars in one class for A&M?
Other NSD signings include linebacker Harold Perkins (0.9949) to LSU, offensive lineman Devon Campbell (0.9946) to Texas, defensive lineman Christen Miller (0.9561) to Georgia, and running back TreVonte’ Citizen (0.9952) to Miami.
Switching to 2023, safety Elliot Washington (0.9235) has committed to Alabama.
Louisville pulled a verbal from St. John Bosco quarterback Pierce Jackson (0.9521) over the weekend.
Caleb Williams ends up picking USC as his transfer destination to stay with head coach Lincoln Riley. What was all that Wisconsin talk about??
Former USC quarterback Jaxson Dart has transferred to Ole Miss and will be joined by classmate tight end Michael Trigg, as well. The Rebels also picked up a good young pass rusher in Georgia Tech’s Jared Ivey.
Colorado running back Jarek Broussard has transferred to Michigan State.
California wideout DeAndre Moore (0.9779) left Oklahoma’s class.
YouTube Channel
So, these buildings in “Billionaire’s Row” near Central Park in New York City have certainly sprout up awfully quickly in recent years. I don’t have much of an opinion other to say that I’m willing to discuss some of these kind of ruining the skyline a little bit? Certainly, 111W57 at just 59 feet in minimum width and 85 stories tall is pretty jarring and will take some time getting used to among the likes of the Chrysler Building and other old mainstays.
I never thought I was scared of heights until I visited the Top of the Rock in the NYC at which point I discovered I’m kind of scared of heights. About once a month I have a dream I’m in a tall skyscraper next to a huge window and it leads to quite a bit of panic. It’s something I’d probably get over with more exposure to enormously tall buildings, but who knows.
Tunes
I love videos like this that walk you through the changes in music over a decade. Today we’ll look at the 1970’s and the top songs of each month. The changes in the different styles of music and artists is amazing. However, when you’re looking strictly at the top song you still see some of the more old school traditional music making its way to the top. Going from “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” to “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” to bookend the decade is quite the ride.
We’re currently in an era where this type of variation atop the Billboard charts pretty much doesn’t exist and I feel like it’s getting increasing more difficult to figure out music by its year with genres kind of dying off. I went and looked at the 32 different artists to break inside the top 10 Billboard singles for 2021 and they come from hip-hop (17), pop singers (9), pop bands (4), and country (1). The cross-over effect for all of those artists makes the music all very, very similar.
Trivia (answer at the bottom of the article)
Bryant Young missed the cut to get into the 2022 College Football Hall of Fame class. Can you name the last 5 Notre Dame players to be inducted?
The Other Football
The transfer window closed this week in Europe. Winger Luis Diaz joined Liverpool from Porto for $49.5 million, midfielder Bruno Guimaraes moved from Lyon to Newcastle for $46.3 million, midfielder Tanguy Ndombele is headed back to Lyon himself from Tottenham on loan, while Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is going to Barcelona on a free transfer. Also, from the You Love to See It news Christian Eriksen has signed a 6-month deal with Brentford embarking on his return to soccer after a scary cardiac arrest during last year’s European Championship.
According to reports, as expected PSG star Kylian Mbappe is set to join Real Madrid on a free transfer this summer with a contract paying him just a little over $1 million per week. It must be nice.
Frank Lampard is the new manager at Everton.
Egypt got past Cameroon on penalties yesterday to reach the Africa Cup Finals where they’ll play Senegal on Sunday. Senegal has never won the competition while Egypt leads the tournament with 7 trophies.
Pretty cool news from the National Women’s Soccer League where the Players Association has signed a collective bargaining agreement that will introduce free agency, higher salaries, and in increase in health benefits through 2026.
The US Men’s Soccer team fell 2-0 to Canada on Sunday but turned around and easily took care of Honduras 3-0 on Wednesday. The Americans now sit 4 points behind Canada and tied on points with Mexico for 2nd place in World Cup Qualification. The last 3 rounds for CONCACAF will begin in late March.
Streaming
In the early stages of the pandemic I took about 3 weeks and watched season 1 of Ozark on Netflix. I should say forced myself to watch. Is it good television? Absolutely, top tier and really engaging in a way that I’ve never really experienced. The casting job was phenomenal, too. The show seemed to nail every character that was introduced in the first season.
I couldn’t watch season 2 though and haven’t returned for more yet. It was just too dark and relentlessly depressing that I didn’t find healthy during the pandemic. If you think about it, just about every scene is bad in some way or is setting up something terrible to happen. There’s really no humor to speak of or any break except for an unrelenting wave of darkness. I’m out.
A Look Back
I’m really bad at remembering non-Notre Dame bowl games. I don’t think my brain can handle all that information when I want to remember small details about the Irish. I’ve tried my best to black out a lot of these early 2000’s games against USC but unfortunately the 2004 meeting is burnt into my memory as I watched at a girlfriend’s house after a Thanksgiving dinner falling into complete despair as yet another blowout unfolder before my eyes.
I remember when the Trojans made it to the Orange Bowl that year and I was still in denial. I was sure the Sooners would do us all a favor and put USC in their place. Instead, we watched one of the most dominant performances in recent post-season memory. At least this was vacated because that makes me feel so much better.
18S Paddock Club
2022 Regulation Changes (Part 4 of 4, Wheels & Suspension) – No other aspect to the new rules has been covered in the media as much as the tires changes. For 2022, German-based company BBS is supplying the entire grid with new 18-inch wheel rims after 30+ years with 13-inch wheels for a total diameter increase of 55mm and 60mm height increase. The larger rims are adding 3kg more weight for the front tires and 4kg for the rear wheels, or 32.5% of the increased minimum weight of the new cars.
With the increased weight through the tires, the cars will be roughly 2 seconds slower per lap, a set back that teams will be clawing back with improved aero performance this off-season and expected to surpass by the end of 2022. The FIA is seeking less deformity and oscillation with the tires (also hoping to avoid disastrous blowouts) which will lead to better aerodynamics for the car and less dirty air.
The FIA is also building new temperature, vibration, and pressure sensors into the tires to greater scrutinize and monitor performance. It is expected that the larger tires will be less temperature sensitive but in testing the front tires especially have proven difficult to warm up. Tire blankets (which are set to be banned from 2024) have a maximum temperature reduction in 2022 from 100°C to 70°C so you can expect teams to work harder on track to gain optimal temperatures, especially during qualifying.
New for 2022 are tire fins rising over the front tires to help with aero (along with the increased tire height this will impair driver visibility), as well as a smaller vane inside the front tires to help guide air to the floor. Covers are coming on the rims that will have the ability to display LED information to fans, although it’s not been reported what that will be yet. Heavier tires with rim covers will make things tougher on pit crews, although there will be a depression inside for mechanics to grab.
With the brakes, the ducts have been given a much more regulated shape for all teams while the Brembo brake discs are 52mm larger with new minimum requirements for disc cooling holes at 3mm. Pirelli has already announced there’s a larger space between the brake discs and wheel rims and teams will not be able to heat up the tires as quickly like in the past.
When teams begin official testing this winter don’t be surprised if suspension is the most-talked about issue for everyone. Heavier wheels means heavier suspension, all while the rules have been simplified as torsion bars and heave dampers have been banned. That means the excessive non-linear rear suspension talked about so much last year on the Mercedes W12 is now banned.
Less tire deformity should bring more ride stability for the drivers, although it’s expected to take a while to get used to the more direct tires. We should look for teams to take advantage of as much new aero capabilities as possible with the suspension which is why it’s rumored the McLaren MCL36 and Ferrari F1-75 will be using front pullrod suspension because of its greater aerodynamic characteristics with the new cars.
Lastly, there will be a free tire choice for all drivers to start races this season and not just those who failed to qualify for Q3. We should see some big battles on softs again in Q2.
McLaren F1 Team (4th place, 275 points)
After floundering on the grid from 2013-18 the McLaren team has been on an upward trajectory again under the leadership of team principal Andreas Seidel and chief executive Zak Brown by raising their point total in each of the last 3 seasons. With 22 year old rising star Lando Norris getting off to a hot start and finishing with a career-high 160 points and earning 4 podiums the team spent most of the year comfortably in 3rd place. And that was with veteran Danny Ricciardo coming over from Alpine and struggling mightily getting comfortable in his new car.
Ricciardo’s win at Monza was a highlight of the season, though. Plus, McLaren has to feel great about how their car took to the new Mercedes engine after ditching Renault. While they ended up being passed by Ferrari for 3rd it would’ve been a dog fight to the finish if McLaren brought more updates to the car instead of focusing on 2022. The majority stake in the team by Bahrain’s Sovereign Wealth Fund has brought some much-needed financial stability with a rumored new engine/ownership deal (more on this in a later Rambler) coming in the future to possibly transform the team into title contenders.
Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen (9th place, 13 points)
The most boring team on the grid is hoping at least people talk about them in 2022. They’ve cut ties with Italian driver Antonio Giovinazzi after 3 less than mediocre seasons while former champion Kimi Raikkonen is off to retirement after frankly driving like he was retired for most of his 3 seasons for the Swiss team.
In comes veteran Valteri Bottas from Mercedes whose personality is the opposite of Raikkonen and hopefully the results and entertainment tick up a notch for 2022. He’ll be paired up by rookie Guanyu Zhou carrying millions in Chinese money following his 3rd place finish in F2 last year. There were rumors Sauber Motorsport (the owners) would be dropping their relationship with Alfa Romeo from 2022 but they inked a new extension to their deal while the team spent the second-half of 2021 unable to agree to terms with American racing owner Michael Andretti to buy a majority stake in their operations.
Trivia Answer:
Aaron Taylor (2021), Rocket Ismail (2019), Bob Crable (2017), Thom Gatewood (2015), and Dave Casper (2012).
The 2004 orange bowl was the jessica simpson sister game. what the hell is her name?!? anyways besides usc wrecking them she played the halftime show and it was epically bad.
Good segue though and I think we need to dedicate some time to USC this offseason. Earlier in the offseason cubs fan posited that usc was the most hated rival. As a younger person I scoffed because I hate Hate HATE michigan (and what a delicious offseason for them), but have to admit that weak caleb williams announcement video really kind of got to me. I think i’m ready to hate usc again. they went from exponentially better to nd to almost irrelevant so I just never thought of them. That video was weak as hell. They brough out a bunch of celebrities who were famous the last time usc was good. They fancy themselves as cool but cling to will ferrell and snoop and dre while they have a middle aged balding white dude who wears a visor. I hope we whip their soft 7 on 7 *saws every year
Ashlee Simpson was her name and I remember her performance. I don’t remember it being especially bad as far as those things go, but it was just weeks after her lip-sync disaster on SNL so everyone hated her, and the second her set was over the entire stadium relentlessly booed her. It was kind of hilarious at the time.
Let’s go to the tape!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLFiBiin_PM
The final lyrics “screammmm” followed by her face and the booing. It’s one of the most memorable moments in ABC history.
I tried to watch it and had to skip ahead to the end, just because it was so bad. And yes, the massive booing was epic.
I feel so bad for her. Like, if she were in a small time band that played clubs and small venues her level of talent would match what she was trying to pull off and could’ve had a small but healthy following and perhaps a nice little career. But she was Jessica simpson’s sister and was a manufactured pop star, and they put a baaaad contrived pop punk act *in front of 80000 football fans* which was a recipe for disaster. I know she sold a bunch of records and is rich and such but I imagine this woman has some problems from all of this.
That really tall narrow building is especially weird to look at because of the “missing” floors that they left empty so wind could blow through. You can see right through it except for the elevator shaft. Engineeringly smart, but visually strange.
The USMNT match v Canada was a frustrating watch. I know Dest and Reyna aren’t playing and Canada is a good side…but still. How did you feel about the Honduras match? I’m not sure the USMNT ‘won’ that as much as Honduras lost. They are BAD. The US really needs an out-and-out striker.
Oh well, still on track to qualify going into the final window although the margin is slimmer with Costa Rica making a bit of a run. I’d like to avoid the playoff spot.
Who do you support in the EPL?
COYS
Yeah, Honduras is stinky. Way too cold out there.
Very spursy. I’m a United fan and I don’t know if you watched that FA Cup match today but … yea, not great Bob.
My son is a big Son fan though!
To my inexperienced eye, USMNT seems underwhelming on offense.
Yea I would agree. As I said above they just don’t have that clinical finisher on the squad. Pulisic is good but everyone knows the playbook on him now that he’s had so much exposure in the EPL – play him very physically. Personally, I think McKennie is the most important player on the team. Guy can just make plays all over the place.
National teams can be a tough thing to manage. The players only get on the pitch together about a dozen times a year, and the whole top team usually isn’t there. It’s part of the reason teams such as Italy, Germany, and Spain have performed well in recent times, most of their superstars play on the same club teams together (Juventus, Bayern, Real). Makes it tough for the USMNT when some are in Europe, some in MLS etc.
Berhalter (coach) is a very positionally minded tactician as well. When you don’t spend a lot of time together on the pitch, it makes it that much harder to know your teammates tendencies related to positioning. The positive is that as they progress through qualifiers and play together more they should (hopefully) be hitting their stride when the WC starts in November.
That was a lot of unsolicited information. Sorry!
McClaren. Always get major nostalgia of need for speed II when I hear it.
I was in HS and college during the sixties spam pretty familiar with seventies music too. I listened to all of the songs on the playlist and never heard a few songs. I was not as connected to music in the seventies as before so I thought maybe some fell through the cracks. Then I saw a plethora of ABBA at number one and I knew something was off. I went to wiki and checked. Dancing Queen was their only number one hit in the US. They only had four in the top ten. This playlist must be either a world or a playlist from another country. Yes there was a lot more variety back then. Music also became more saccharine starting around that time. There are rarely Su songs in the top forty that appeal to me these days.
It’s probably a world list of some sort, I didn’t really know “Fernando” from ABBA and Wiki says it sold 6 million copies in 1976 and over 10 million total. It’s the 30th highest selling single of all-time.
Wow, really? I feel like that has been in commercials and stuff, surprised you didn’t have much of a file on that one. My dad used to rock some ABBA around the house when I was a kid and Fernando was def a staple in the rotation.
The 70’s were a hell of a decade for me. I started that decade as a senior in high school, and ended it practicing law in a legal aid office in Ottawa, Illinois. What a great time it was, and hearing all those music cuts brought back a lot of memories.
I don’t want to sound too much like an old man but the music today all sounds the same to me. Bad.
And, of course, the early 70’s (70 through 74) encompassed my time at ND where I saw great feats such as the 1973 National Championship team followed closely by the defeat of UCLA and Bill Walton, 71-70.
Good times.
Running the numbers through my spreadsheets, graduating HS in the early 1970’s makes you an old man regardless of your thoughts on BTS, Young Thug, Billie Eillish & Drake.
Punk…..and stay off my lawn.
Don’t worry, tlndma. We’ll get him in the parking lot after school.
I can just use my youthful, nearly 40-year-old speed to get away from you geezers.
Too late. We let the air out of your tires.
With age, comes wisdom. 😉
I’m using “Pete and Chuck,” to use old man parlance
I’m going to risk the haters and say: Olivia Rodrigo’s album last year is an all-time teen angst album if you’re looking for something good that a lot of the youths are listening to these days
I still haven’t moved on from TSwift’s folklore
I am very much Not Afraid of Snakes (unless I’m aware there’s any possibility I’ll encounter a snake, say, in the woods, at the pet store, over there…)
Re: Ozark
I liked and watched all of Ozark but found it to be Breaking Bad light in a lot of themes (“straight” family man dragged deep and way over his head into life of drugs/crime/violence who solves problems by creating even bigger problems. Family as accomplices, Jesse/Ruth as an excellent young rotating sidekick/enemy/partner, foreboding cartel leader as big bad, etc). The cinematography, writing and directing in Breaking Bad all was so well produced it’s tough for anything to measure up.
Never seen an episode of BB
Oh man, envious I can’t watch it for a first time again. Def strongly recommend it if you have the time or are looking for a “new” show, it’s also on Netflix. If you liked Ozark I certainly think you would enjoy Breaking Bad. It kind of requires some patience but it gets rewarded, I think that show is a rare drama where it ends on a high note and just gets stronger with every passing season.
I never watched Breaking Bad when it was broadcast. Then, at the time of its final episode, I heard a story on NPR about Anthony Hopkins writing a letter to the show saying that it represented “television as good as it gets”. I figured that was good enough for me. That, plus the fact that we started to be able to find it on DVD incredibly cheap, made me start watching it. There are scenes from that show that were very, very good that I will never get out of my head. It’s a great show.
I like the bourbon mention here. Any recs? I’m about to open my lone bottle of Eagle Rare. The secondary market has gotten out of control lately with bourbon.
I’m not too choosy/discerning. One of the few I don’t like is Woodford. Not a huge fan of Rye. For normal sippin’, I’ll either do Basil Haydens or Four Roses, depending on if BH is on sale or not. Again, not too sophisticated a palate, I can do Beam on the rocks if the situation presents itself.
I am a big fan of regular Buffalo Trace, although hard to find recently. There is also a pretty smooth bourbon called Amador, distilled in Kentucky but finished in California, that is good and pretty available (even at some Walmarts). Like Drick, I am not a big rye or sour mash guy either.
tyres*
Heh, will be using curb as well.
Nice to see some F1 content this year. My brother and I started watching many years ago. He loved Ferrari with Schumacher and I liked McLaren Mercedes with Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen.
I’m old.
Do you guys/gals think the whole “Hamilton may not come back” is legit or a ploy to generate more interest in the sport?
Any F1 fans should check out the Schumacher documentary on Netflix. Amazing skill and work by the drivers (and teams).
I’m leaning towards legit. He was reportedly considering retiring last season and has not said anything publically since the final race.
Hamilton is back!
(on Instagram today)
He’s 100% going to race this year. He has way too much to prove and wants that 8th title. Plus, I cannot see Mercedes staying in the dark potentially without their #1 driver in such a major regulation changing off-season. Surely, Lewis has been doing some stuff with Mercedes this off-season in preparation, even if none of it was publicized?
I was scrolling quickly and saw “Hamilton is back!” and for a minute my heart leapt that somehow Kyle had decided impossibly to forego the draft and come back to ND. Sigh.
Well Bettis is….kinda
I ended up watching the whole video about Billionaire’s Row. Very interesting topic (and frustrating re tax breaks etc).
I’ve never been able to bring myself to watch Ozark. I also have never seen a second of Breaking Bad (or for that matter Mad Men or the Sopranos). Guess I’m just not “prestige TV” material.
Fun fact about that 2005 Orange Bowl: my little brother made the telecast as the face of dejected Sooner fandom. I couldn’t find him in that video, though
Josh Gattis to miami. i’ll be honest think miami could really make some waves. think cristobal will recruit very well there. Still think there should be questions about cristibal given how underwhelming he made herbert look.
A couple months ago I outlined a nightmare scenario for michigan. it’s honestly probably been worse. I so bad want to enjoy it but as nd fan conditioned to wait for our other shoe to drop
Yep, they are a mess right now. Harbaugh’s weird flirtation with the NFL and apparently getting turned down by the Vikings. Gotta wonder how much longer he’ll be there, get the feeling when they made him take the paycut that would stick with him for a while. And now they don’t have an OC or a DC at the moment.
Wonder how they alienated Gattis so much. @Real shame to watch him leave with a bad taste and spread it around on his way out@
Maybe alienated him but not being willing give him a raise.
Michigan is far worse off now. I wonder if this will be Harbaugh’s last year (it should be anyway). All the uncertainty kills a program.
Deland McCullough turned down the NY Giants RB coaching job to be ND’s RBs coach
Saw a rumor that Sean McVay might call Rees about the open LA Rams OC job once the SB is open. So we might not be done.
Yeah, I saw that too. That would suck if Rees left at this point, but that would be a tremendous opportunity for him if it’s offered. Also, no matter what, it’s kinda funny he’s either getting embraced or at least on the radar of one of the game’s top offensive minds, when it feels like a big chunk of the fanbase has never and probably will never completely warm up to Rees, no matter what he does.
I stand by my assertion that the ND fanbase at large will never not see Tommy Rees, QB and the frustrations we had with “Tommy No.” Which is unfair to Tommy Rees, OC.
As I’ve also said, that’s not an endorsement of Tommy Rees, OC per se. I know I’m not smart enough to judge playcalling and separate out things like execution or whatever. But I think a lot of ND fans simply remember Tommy as QB and felt he was QB because he was “Kelly’s boy” over other players (despite the fact that Golson played 2012 over him) and then when Kelly hired him it was the same thing all over again…”he only got the job because he’s Kelly’s boy.” People smarter than me think Rees is a really good OC. He’ll either prove it at ND this coming year, or he’ll prove it elsewhere, I guess.
I thought it was more like someone saying that McVay should look at Rees rather than a rumor that he was or that he was favorite or anything like that.
What I heard was definitely not a “they should look at Rees,” it was “McVay knows Rees and Rees is part of his network, McVay is high on him as a rising coach.”
Yeeeah I’m not about to do Ozark. I made the mistake early in the pandemic of watching Fargo (the tv series not the movie). It was *very very good* but relentlessly bleak and I got *depressed depressed* there for a week or two and had to stop. I can say now that watching Star Trek The Next Generation was a much better choice for pandemic viewing.
Loving the music pieces in TWR btw. Recently found this early 70s gem, some really fun psych rock tinted with a little blues-y proto punk bombast https://youtu.be/jCEoMC2rXjQ