Your weekly dose of Notre Dame news, opinion, and other stuff.
Top News
In an interview with CBS Sports, Marcus Freeman had the gall to say that Ohio State players can take online classes and Notre Dame players cannot.
Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF will have one more year in the AAC this fall. These schools will be joining the Big 12 beginning in 2023 as conference realignment begins to turn its gears again. In turn, the AAC will welcome UAB, FAU, Charlotte, North Texas, Rice, and UTEP to their league next year.
The NCAA is meeting with billionaire booster John Ruiz as they investigate NIL deals with the Miami Hurricanes. Also, Topps trading cards and Fanatics have signed a NIL deal with Miami and their top athletes.
The SEC has filed a brief supporting the NCAA’s position that athletes are not employees.
The 2023-27 Army-Navy games will be played at Gillette Stadium, FedEx Stadium, M&T Stadium, MetLife Stadium, and then Lincoln Financial Field, respectively.
Virginia is set to renovate their football facilities thanks to an anonymous $5 million gift.
Uniform of the Week
When I was a kid, wouldn’t you guess it, I was drawn to certain teams based on their uniforms. For example, in the early 1990’s I wanted to play hockey at Maine because the dark blue and light blue uniforms are unassailable. All-time classics for sure. Any time I see this color combination it brings me joy. Today, we present the Rhode Island Rams as the summer of FCS continues.
The team looks like it’s being led out by some fullbacks. Bonus points? I reviewed all of their uniform sets and they’re all awesome. The secret to this color scheme is really embracing the light blue. There are programs out there that have these colors but let the navy blue dominate all of the uniform. Think about Villanova’s traditional basketball uniforms, although they have released a baby blue uniform in recent years.
Recruiting
Offensive lineman Elijah Paige (0.8900) committed to Notre Dame last week shortly after we published the Rambler last week.
Corner Jaylon Braxton (0.9126) from Texas committed to Michigan State.
One of the top interior linemen Brycen Sanders (0.9110) gave a verbal to Ole Miss.
Clemson got a huge pick up this week as defensive lineman Vic Burley (0.9816) committed to the program. Linebacker Jamal Anderson (0.9290) also committed to Clemson.
Defensive end Avion Carter (0.9324) gave a huge boost to the TCU class.
YouTube Channel
I’ve been Disney World 3 times in my life. Once as an 8-year old, then again to the Magical Kingdom only at 27-years old, and once with my wife at 35-years old where we hit up everything. My wife and her family are Disney crazy. She’s been roughly 14 or 15 times. I’m pro-Disney and enjoy it for what it provides for kids, but I’m not that crazy about it. A big disagreement for people is whether to stay on Disney grounds or somewhere off grounds. You can guess where my wife’s family demands to stay, yay marked up hotels!
Clearly, I’m not an expert. This video above is basically common sense, though. Figuring out how long you are willing to wait for a ride is the key to the experience, I think. On my last visit the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was relatively new and the wait was painstakingly long. We kept circling back a handful of times hoping for a shorter wait. At least the queue has some interactive things to pass the time. Any wait over 45 minutes and I get far too restless. I’m not looking forward to it with kids. Although I will say, waking up early and getting into the park(s) as soon as possible is an excellent plan.
Tunes
I was obsessed with the Doors from roughly 1999 through 2003 and they are my favorite American band of all-time. As a high school senior I didn’t cut my hair for about 5 months, cleaned up for graduation, and then really let it grow as a college freshman. I wanted that Jim Morrison style, although my hair was always a touch too curly and frizzy. The Doors will always be too polarizing and have a far too weird of a sound to ever be considered the greatest American band (I had them 6th in my impeachable list back in early March) although being the first band from the US with 8 consecutive LP’s will always be a feather in their cap.
The Doors being so different and counter to so much of the music of the era always had so much appeal for me. Their debut album was worked on in early 1966 and when they recorded it in August of that year the Billboard charts were still covered with a lot of softer rock sounds. At no. 8 that week was the Rolling Stones song “Mothers Little Helper” which is miles away from the group eventually embracing a harder guitar-driven sound about 2-3 years later. The Doors brought a new edgy sound and there’s never been a group quite like them in music history.
Trivia
Most would know that Georgia had the defense with the lowest scoring average last year. Who finished 2nd in points per game allowed?
The Other Football
The US Men’s team tied El Salvador 1-1 on a late equalizer in their last Nation’s League game until 2023.
Costa Rica beat New Zealand 1-0 on Tuesday to claim the last spot in the 2022 World Cup. Now, all of the groups are set!
The Group Stage awaits 👀🔜
Which teams have the toughest path to the knockout round? pic.twitter.com/CrBAjt65yW
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 14, 2022
Darwin Nunez is headed from Benfica to Liverpool for $100 million Euros.
Paul Pogba is headed back to Juventus on a 4-year deal following the end of his contract at Manchester United.
PSG have officially fired manager Mauricio Pochettino.
The MLS and Apple TV have signed a 10-year deal for $2.5 billion deal that will see all of the league’s games streamed on the platform through the 2032. That’s a ton of money.
Streaming
I never played organized basketball but I hooped a ton during the summers. I grew up in the era of Jordan where white boys all across the neighborhood wanted to play basketball at all hours when it was warm out. In trying to put together a list of movies I was the most hyped to see there’s no doubt that He Got Game would be way, way up there. Written and directed by Spike Lee? With Denzel Washington in a prominent role? With young Milwaukee Bucks era Ray Allen in the starring role? All wrapped around a recruiting saga in New York City??
Yes, this movie has some plot holes. It still kills me that they decided to use a school named “Big State” so much in this movie. There was so much licensing in this movie (they even used Lincoln High School for goodness sake!) and I don’t understand why someone like St. John’s couldn’t have filled that role. Besides that, I love this movie so much. The infamous one-one-scene on the court between Allen and Washington is amazing.
A Look Back
As President of the Everett Golson Fan Club I will never forgive Florida State what they did to my boy. It’s 2015 and Florida State is fat and cocky coming off the Jameis Winston era. The Seminoles offense was far from great (they’d finish 28th in FEI) this season but these monsters put Golson on a “no turnovers ever” plan. As Irish fans knows, Golson’s larger problem was fumbling. Coming into this game against Georgia Tech, he’d only put the ball on the ground once through the first 6 games and it was recovered in the prior game. Florida State was undefeated up to this point, too.
Through the first 6 games, Golson was 119 of 177 (67.2%) for 1,449 yards, 11 touchdowns, and zero interceptions. In terms of passer rating that stat line would’ve put Golson 12th nationally just one spot ahead of Deshaun Watson and one spot below Paxton Lynch in the final rankings. EVERETT THREW ONE INTERCEPTION AND FLORIDA STATE THREW HIM IN THE TRASH. The interception was even off the hands of the receiver and popped up into the air in the end zone. It still pisses me off.
18S Paddock Club
Pain, that is all that is felt for Ferrari after a disastrous Sunday in Azerbaijan. Things started out wonderfully after a close series of practice sessions and qualifying saw Charles Leclerc pull out an almost three-tenths gap in Q3 over Sergio Perez to take his 6th pole (and 4th straight) of the season. However, at the start of the race the next day Leclerc locked up into turn 1 and allowed Perez to sneak past for the lead. Leclerc was fending off Max Verstappen for 2nd while on lap 9 the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz stopped in the run-off into turn 7.
During the virtual safety car that was deployed, Leclerc had a slow pit stop from medium to hard tires while both Red Bulls stayed out. When the VSC ended, Verstappen was under 2 seconds behind Perez for the lead. At the start of lap 15, Verstappen made an easy pass around his teammate for the lead.
The pass that sealed Verstappen’s fifth win of the season
Catch up with all the highlights from Baku 🇦🇿#AzerbaijanGP #F1
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 12, 2022
A tough break for Leclerc as his Baku hopes go up in smoke 😖#AzerbaijanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/LEYq3hVA8f
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 12, 2022
Red Bull opted to pit Perez first and then a few laps later brought Verstappen in, as well. This made Leclerc the leader by 13.6 seconds once Verstappen was back on track. Would Max have caught Leclerc? Most likely, but we never had the chance to find out as Leclerc’s engine failed on the very next lap. It was the first double DNF for Ferrari, excluding crashes, since Silverstone in 1997!
The top 3 had a quiet ride to the end as George Russell moved up to a podium position in 3rd place. A late VSC saw Pierre Gasly stay out on his tires costing him P4 as Lewis Hamilton would eventually pass him. Similarly, Lando Norris would go long on his medium tires and after pitting was unable to get past teammate Danny Ricciardo. After forcing himself to do a 180-spin after a lockup in the escape road, Sebastian Vettel stormed back for 6th place, his highest finish in his last 16 races (if you’re not counting his DSQ in Hungary last year).
This is heart-wrenching for Ferrari who looked like they were solidly the number one car after 3 races and now trail Red Bull by 80 points with Leclerc slipping down to 3rd and 38 points behind championship-leader Verstappen.
F1 Fantasy – Another tough week out there with the Ferrari debacle but gambit1077 rides a strong day from Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes to lead the week with 187 points.
Montreal Preview – Formula 1 is slowly trying to re-work the calendar to cut back on the travel costs and this weekend’s return to Montreal remains a huge thorn in that evolving business. Six days after concluding in Baku, F1 has to travel 5,545 miles to Canada in a ridiculous turn around only bettered by the season finale from Sao Paulo to Abu Dhabi’s 7,524 miles in back-to-back weeks.
Canadian Grand Prix
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
FP1 6/17 2:00 PM ET
FP2 6/17 5:00 PM ET
FP3 6/18 1:00 PM ET
Qualifying 6/18 4:00 PM ET
Race 6/19 2:00 PM ET
This will be my first time watching the Canadian Grand Prix as the last 2 years were canceled due to COVID restrictions. It’s a mere 7 hours from my house and will someday be a Murtaugh weekend extravaganza journey to Notre Dame Island.
After a two-year hiatus, the #CanadianGP is back! 🇨🇦
A popular circuit with the #Fit4F1 drivers, traction and braking are crucial around Montreal. Here’s everything you need to know: https://t.co/jSIxGQD7Xc#F1 #Formula1 #Pirelli #Pirelli150 @F1 pic.twitter.com/ScDjEjKb0f
— Pirelli Motorsport (@pirellisport) June 13, 2022
This is one of my favorite circuits in the F1 2021 game, outside of the very slow hairpin turn near the start of sector 3 and a slower radial turn 2 this is an extremely quick track with fast corners and fast chicanes. It’ll be exciting to see these new regulation cars back in Montreal and also to see how the race goes off in this new era of American (and North American) popularity for the sport.
3 Questions for Montreal:
1) Can Ferrari rely on their engines and figure out their race pace?
Specifically for Leclerc, he’s likely to take a 3rd power unit this weekend in just the 9th race of the season and if he takes a new turbo charger that’ll be a 10-place grid penalty for going over the allotment. Compared to Red Bull, they are in a massive hole now in used power unit elements. Bottom line, Ferrari need to get their reliability under control or this championship race could be over before the summer break.
Also, Ferrari’s race pace was largely fantastic through Australia. Since then, they’ve had major issues with tire degradation and it seems like Red Bull’s weight loss and car updates have really improved their race pace in contrast. Does Ferrari need to tweak their set up and move away from qualifying trim?
2) Will the FIA intervene on the car bouncing?
The bumpy circuit in Baku seemed to be a turning point for the PR of the car’s bouncing too much. Nearly everyone complained but Mercedes remains the most vocal about the problem. Some argue the FIA should stay out of it and Mercedes should simply raise up their car to avoid the porpoising. But, Toto Wolff claims its not a ride height or strictly porpoising issue as much as it is a tire and suspension issue. The new regulations stripped down the suspensions for 2022, and we know Mercedes wants their complicated system to return, but the FIA is highly unlikely to do anything mid-season. However, Montreal is a bumpy track so the drivers may get fed up even more.
3) Can Mercedes make Ferrari sweat?
This has been a humbling 2022 for Mercedes and yet here they are just 38 points behind Ferrari for 2nd place in the constructors with George Russell just 17 points behind Charles Leclerc. There will be a lot of focus about Ferrari picking themselves up and not letting Red Bull run away with both titles. But, watch out for the Silver Arrows to make the fight for 2nd a little too uncomfortable.
Trivia Answer:
Clemson, 14.8 points/game.
I don’t see a problem.
Are we sure this isn’t mid October Notre Dame Stadium before the turf?
Smell of sweet tradition.
I went to a conference at Disney Land 3 years ago. It was pretty great riding the rides and exploring the park with other adults. It wasn’t particularly crowded, and I think we essentially did the whole park in one afternoon/evening (skipping out on some conference speakers). I haven’t been to World since I was a kid, and certainly loved it then, but from everything I hear, Land sounds much more manageable these days.
I’ve never been to Disneyland, but it does seem way more manageable. I think Disneyland and Disney California Adventure combined are smaller than Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.
Factor in Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom and Disney World as a package is like 15x as big when you also factor in the resorts and traveling between each park.
That just sounds exhausting. I will stick with 6 flags, went there in my 30s, still effing awesome.
Also. Maine hockey sweaters are excellent. I love the one with the black bear (fiercest mascot logo in college) on the front.
It’s an aggressive logo.
Wow, the FIA did step in starting this weekend in Montreal:
Looks like Golson had a yucky start the next week vs. NC St. throwing two picks in FSU’s first 4 possessions. Sean McGuire came in with FSU down 10 and lead them to a 34-17 win. Golson got Wally Pipped after that it seems.
Thought experiment: if ND football were a F1 team, which would we be?
Maybe the most like McLaren?
Maybe Ferrari? I think current ND is closer to the top (while still not quite there) than current Mclaren
The wife and I have been to WDW three times together, most recently for our honeymoon 4 months ago. The Animal Kingdom Lodge is our favorite, even if it’s not super convenient transit wise. The new fast pass system is hot garbage, especially if you’re sleeping in and not hitting rope drops bright and early. Still, they’re absolutely incredible parks with amazing rides and experiences. We’re already planning our next trip with her family
It feels like everyone says Animal Kingdom is their favorite, but so far away!
Allegedly they’re going to extend the Skyliner system out there at some point which would help a lot
That would be money.
AKL is great, but just a ton of walking to get to your rooms/pool/restaurants. Given the unique parameters of that resort (animal filled savannahs), there aren’t any shortcuts to get where you want to go. After a long day in a park, the walk from lobby to room could be another 15 minutes. That being said, I’d stay there again in a heartbeat (as long as there’s a discount on the room).
Hot take: the new Genie+ system is pay to play, but for a little extra $$$ and a little time on the phone, can make a high park attendance day workable even with a family of 5.
And if you’re a player that can afford Animal Kingdom Lodge, can’t you find a few extra dollars for Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lanes?
Pro Tip: the wait times on the Disney app are often fudged to drive traffic to less popular rides. Pay a little more for something like the Lines app.
This guy Disney’s.
Oh we did use Genie+ and LL. But the old system allowed 3 reservations at a time and the new one only allows one.
If you really want to beat the lines you invite your in-laws who get you a VIP tour guide for one of the days 😀
Holy crap! Don’t those cost like $5K per day? When we hit Disneyland over Spring Break we noticed quite a few VIP tours, more than we’d ever noticed at Disney World.
They are A Lot. I don’t know the details and I didn’t ask. It was only for the day that the in-laws were up. We actually ran into our tour guide a week later and he yelled “you’re still HERE?!?” It was hilarious
Disney with kids is fun. We did it this spring break for the first time. If you have the ca$h for staying at a park property, it’s probably worth it, as those extra minutes before the park open give you the jump on 2-3 rides if done right, plus it’s easier to go home for naps or when the kids burn out.
Genie+ Lightning lane is a blessing and a curse. It will give you the opportunity to ignore a few lines throughout the day, but you spend a lot of time and energy trying to plan where to use it, since you can’t really use another LL while you are signed up for one (unless you pay or wait 2 hours to make another reservation).
Don’t forget to go over to the space coast to see a rocket launch if you get a chance. SpaceX is launching around 1 per week right now, so there is very likely to be one while you are there. I also recommend touring the space center if you are at all interested in space nerdery, the Saturn V is amazing.
We just did a Disney Cruise in May and left from Port Canaveral. Didn’t see any launches, but weirdly cool just to see the buildings from a few miles away – can’t imagine how huge they are up close.
One of my biggest life regrets and misses is having a rocket launch canceled as we’re 20 minutes away from getting to the beach to watch from Cape Canaveral.
Yeah I’ve gone with my nieces and nephews from my wife’s family. It’s really magical to see it all through a kid’s eyes
I don’t remember if i’ve seen it here but have we talked about the new broadcasting booth? Nothing official but jac collinsworth and jason garret is pretty terrible. nepotism and flaccid, what a fun combo these two will bring
There will be a scathing article coming if that actually happens.
Terrible combo and will probably actually diminish the product and prestige of the games to some degree.
We’ve been spoiled by having Tirico, but this is like going from an elite steakhouse to eating a fast food hamburger out of the trash (“it was on the top!” – Costanza).
Sadly, we’ll probably have to deal with Jac Collinsworth for the next 40 years in some form or fashion. Don’t mind him on the periphery (halftime, sideline) but that is at most where he should be at this point.
I liked Pete’s idea of bringing back Tirico for the “A games” against Clemson or USC. Would really give it a special feel and make it meaningful. Since he has SNF, he doesn’t need to be expected to cover the Marshall/UNLV type games, but it would be great if he could be a part of the best game or two of the year. NBC probably doesn’t care about adding to his workload though. Being as I believe SNF averaged 21 million viewers last year and I think ND NBC games were like 2.5 million, there’s no doubt what the priority will be. Sucks to get such a low-end broadcast team though.
What game was it that Gus Johnson did for us? Wisconsin? He is the best. I will personally pay him double, no triple! my 18S stripes subscription to do ND games.
Woof. I’ll stop watching if he does more ND games. Tone it the fudge down, Gus. It was a 3 yard gain.
Woof. I liked the short stuff Jac used to do for Inside the Irish, or whatever it was, and he is fine in small doses on the sidelines. But he is such a bro, I get tired from just watching him be so cool and hip.
And it’s going to be a lot of Jac talking when all Garret does is clap for 4 and a half hours straight. Is there a less dynamic personality in football than Jason Garret?
This is like Hammond + Flutie level bad. At least Jac has the ability to improve over time.
Can we get a Golic Jr. up in here instead of Lil Coll? He just seems so much more natural and likeable as a TV personality, and I bet he’d be fantastic at calling games.
I think he’s been banned from all broadcast booths after his Oreo + mayonnaise stunt.
It is interesting that the only alum who passes muster with NBC is a total nepotism hire. Otherwise we’re mostly resigned to people from schools who hate us. NBC sucks so hard sometimes.
That’s so bad I have trouble believing it is real.
But it’s still not as bad as Sideline Skycam.
So what would have to happen for RBR to let there be a Checo vs Max contest for WDC? If Max has another DNF? Do they need to pull away from Ferrari more first? I’ve never understood why we don’t have more real WDC contests between drivers on the same team, driving ostensibly the same car.
Step 1: Checo has to keep bringing it during qualifying.
Last year, Max out-qualified Perez in all but 1 race. This year, Perez has already done it 3 times (although I think Max was on pace to go ahead in Monaco prior to Checo crashing and that really changes the dynamic of Perez’ season if it happens).
There are 14 races remaining, and I think Checo has to be no worse than 3rd in qualifying in like 12 of those to have a chance. Max has such devastatingly good race pace and is way too consistent.
Generally, letting teammates fight is a bad idea. I think Checo’s best bet is for Max to have some crashes with the Ferrari’s and Perez pips a title or something.
I would also add, as a Checo fan, he probably needs to demonstrate more consistent race pace over an entire race before Red Bull would reconsider his strategy. He’s a great driver but few are as consistent as Max on race day.
Welp.