Your weekly dose of Notre Dame news, opinion, and other stuff.
Top News
Notre Dame opened up spring practice yesterday with the media present for a few minutes.
As expected, former Notre Dame tight end George Takacs has followed John McNulty to Boston College.
Penn State’s AD Sandy Barbour is retiring after 8 years in Happy Valley.
One of the 6 West Point cadets who suffered an overdose from fentanyl-laced cocaine is an Army football player, according to the school.
From the “terrible guy does something you agree is good” department: Michigan became the first major program to hire a female graduate assistant as Milan Bolden-Morris is coming to work with their quarterbacks following a basketball career at Georgetown.
Uniform of the Week
Show me a better team in brown. A lot of people like to criticize the color brown in sports and outside of sports but I think it looks great for a football team. For example, the traditional Cleveland Browns uniforms are top 5 in the NFL. Am I wrong? Look at these beauties from the Wyoming Cowboys:
Wyoming balances the brown and gold perfectly, too. See, Adidas can do things the right way. Traditionally, maybe you’d like to see a gold helmet but some research indicates this isn’t something the Cowboys have attempted, at least in modern times. Anyway, I like the white helmets and the wild west-type of script on the jerseys, although the numbers are annoyingly too low and look weird without nameplates. I’d fancy myself a Josh Allen t-shirt jersey.
Recruiting
Texas gained a commit from defensive lineman Dylan Spencer (0.9312) on Tuesday.
Louisville reached all the way into California to gain a commit from athlete Jahlil McClain (0.9007) this past Sunday.
Also, Stanford reached into Florida for wide receiver Ahmari Borden (0.8990) on Saturday.
SMU running back Ulysses Bentley IV is transferring to Ole Miss after an impressive 1,559 yards at 5.7 per carry with 15 touchdowns in his career with the Mustangs.
Starting corner Nicktroy Fortune is transferring out of West Virginia after 19 starts with the Mountaineers.
UCLA picked up the commitment of Oregon corner transfer Jaylin Davies.
YouTube Channel
There was a time in my life when I knew AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) would no longer be popular but I had a hard time thinking when that would be during its heyday. I left home for prep school at 16 in the late summer of 1998 and can remember a time when I talked on the phone with friends, especially to make plans. Within a year, I was communicating with almost everyone via AIM and we’d lose or forget phone house numbers. I distinctly remember coming home for a summer and rarely using the phone anymore in favor of checking the family Hewlett-Packard (before they were just HP) for messages from friends. It was this weird pre-cell phone but post-land line era of communication.
I didn’t end up getting a cell phone until the summer of 2004 (I held out longer than most friends) which means there was a good 5-year period where AIM ruled my personal communication. Those who were there remember putting up your crafted away messages. Or, waiting for your crush to come back online. Quick, pull down your away message, but wait for her to message you first! I last used AIM sometime in 2006 and as you can see in this video by then it was starting to fall quickly behind other messaging systems.
Then, no one was using it and all those friends from high school and college disappeared if that was the only way you talked. So many lost contacts, which Facebook clawed back a little bit but it would never be the same, especially with texting taking over the world. Looking back, it would’ve been nice if cell phone texting came to us around 1998 and we skipped the whole AIM phase.
Tunes
The year in music for 1995 was absolutely wild. Hootie and the Blowfish, Cheryl Crow, Dave Matthews Band, Alanis Morissette, Blues Traveler, Montell Jordan, Coolio, Notorious B.I.G., 2Pac, TLC, Green Day, Weezer, and Soundgarden were some of the acts blowing up during this year. That list also included Bush and their debut release Sixteen Stone which dominated the airwaves with 5 mega-singles. As a teenager, I can remember the exciting feeling of anticipating the follow-up albums from bands like Weezer, DMB, Green Day, and Bush.
When Bush dropped the single “Swallowed” in October 1996 it was interesting, seemingly cool, but a bit of a dark turn that foreshadowed their 2nd album Razorblade Suitcase a month later. The album was a bloated 61 minutes and 43 seconds of a real hot mess. Not surprisingly, it was written very quickly and despite being a commercial success it received pretty negative reviews and signaled the end of the band’s prominence in the music industry.
Trivia
This player is the only defensive back at Notre Dame to have more than 2 sacks in a single-season since 2010. Who was it?
The Other Football
A late header from Ronaldo to complete a hat trick moved Manchester United past Tottenham this past weekend. Manchester City tied Crystal Palace which moves Liverpool 1 point behind the league-lead thanks to their mid-week win over Arsenal.
Star striker Erling Haaland looks to be moving closer to a transfer from Dortmund to Manchester City for what could be close to a $200 million fee. It’s expected he’ll sign a deal worth $35 million per season for the Citizens.
Villarreal cruised past Juventus to knock the Old Lady out of the Champions League. Ditto for Chelsea who knock out last year’s French champions Lille. These 2 teams join Bayern Munich, City, Benfica, Atletico Madrid, Liverpool, and Real Madrid in the quarterfinals with the draw coming this morning.
The Europa League quarterfinals are all set with West Ham, Lyon, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Atalanta, Braga, Rangers, and Barcelona involved. The draw comes today.
The deadline to bid on Chelsea is 4 PM ET today.
Cruz Azul, Pumas, NYCFC, and Seattle Sounders all advanced to the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals this week. A particular big oof for the New England Revolution who blew a 3-0 first-leg lead and lost in penalties to Pumas.
Just 3 games into the MLS season and every club has dropped points.
Streaming
A couple weeks ago we were talking about some comedy shows and the way they can age over time. I’ve burned through most of the Portlandia shows on Netflix and while there are some big misses from time to time, you have to hand it to Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein for really, really going for it sometimes. No absurdly weird sketch is off the table. Any strange idea can be explored or even molded into a series of skits.
I will forever think of this quick “Portland Bans Plastic Bags” skit when I think of the show. It’s a gift that keeps on giving. The ending is one of the funniest 180-degree turns from what seems like a silly commercial that isn’t going anywhere. You sense something is coming with the plastic bag flags. I just love it.
A Look Back
A ranked Maryland!? Going into a football season!? A primetime night matchup in the old Meadowlands. It was the last Kickoff Classic ever (stretching back to 1983!) but the beginning of the Return to Glory™ as the Molder of Men™ took over the reigns at Notre Dame.
From the ESPN game recap: “Willingham simply paced the sideline, rarely showing emotion, and
applauded his players as they came off the field.” Nailed it. So too did Nick Setta who nailed 5 field goals with Vontez Duff returning a punt for a touchdown. Shane Walton picked off 3 passes and the Irish limited Maryland to just 133 total yards in a 22-0 win. The defense would be very good, but that offense eventually cost them dearly.
18S Paddock Club
Testing Complete: Formula 1 finished up its pre-season testing this past weekend and opens up the anticipated 2022 season this morning in Bahrain. The last day of testing was highlighted by Red Bull introducing upgrades to their car with Max Verstappen setting the fastest lap of the weekend to finish things off.
Red Bull debuted new sculpted sidepods and floor in the last day of testing.
Bahrain Grand Prix
Bahrain International Circuit
FP1 3/18 8:00 AM ET
FP2 3/18 11:00 AM ET
FP3 3/19 8:00 AM ET
Qualifying 3/19 11:00 AM ET
Race 3/20 11:00 AM ET
Race 1 Preview: The Bahrain circuit has been a Mercedes stronghold for years with the Silver Arrows winning 6 out of the last 8 visits, including the last 3 all by Lewis Hamilton. They raced the outer Sakhir track in the shortened 2020 season and that too was won by Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas. However, last year Verstappen took pole by a wide margin only to throw away a victory after being undercut followed by a poor attack off track to pass Hamilton forced the Dutchman to never recover after giving 1st place back at the risk of penalty.
We’ll find out quickly if Mercedes has been sandbagging during testing. Their cars looked unsettled but they didn’t appear to be using much power down the straights–surely their engines were turned down. Everyone seems to agree that Ferrari has looked the most consistent at the top. Will the hype be real? The McLaren’s suffered from major brake heat issues that weren’t sorted out in testing, plus Danny Ricciardo tested positive for Covid last Saturday morning and missed out on crucial practice laps. He’ll be returning this weekend but Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel is out with Covid as reserve driver Niko Hulkenberg will be back on the grid in Bahrain.
Pirelli has chosen the hardest compounds for the weekend in a change from the usual C2-C3-C4 compounds used in recent years–playing it safe with the new 18-inch tires perhaps? The Bahrain track is rough and tire degradation was high during testing so most are expecting 2 or even 3 stops during the race.
Podium Prediction: Mercedes is probably sandbagging to a degree, just like previous years. Even if they don’t have their qualifying pace nailed down (like last year in Bahrain) their race pace is likely to be overwhelming for everyone except Red Bull and Ferrari. It’ll be interesting to see how George Russell handles himself in his first official race as a full-time Mercedes driver. With the new cars, I like Ferrari to take one of the podium places.
1st – Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2nd – Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
3rd – Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Trivia Answer:
Matthias Farley, 3.5 sacks, 2014
Disagree – Feel like AIM was a cornerstone of geriatric millennials. How else are our friends going to read Jack Handy quotes and know which shitty band we’re into at the moment if we don’t post them as away messages? Loved picking the perfect away message from my collection. ::insert picture of guy leaning from behind tree in yellow blazer, rubbing his hands::
“To me, clowns aren’t funny. In fact, they’re kinda scary. I’ve wondered where this started and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus and a clown killed my dad.”
First CD I owned was Sixteen Stone. Parents got me a CD player and a Garth Brooks CD for my birthday, but I chose to return Garth Brooks for Bush.
I, too, didn’t have a cell phone until 2004, when I was a soph/jr in college – don’t remember what part of the year it was.
Excluding Ronaldo’s goals, Spurs woulda won….
*Posts dark, brooding lyrics as away message*
Mom: Everything okay?
“I’m being cool, mom.”
BTW, these were my first 2 cell phones, baby.
Shout out to LG for not putting a digital screen on the outside but giving us a sweet mirror. Super useful.
I had that Nokia. Great reception. Could actually get calls in the dorms. We all called it the brick.
Wow that’s too real
Re: Bush
I listened to Sixteen Stone nonstop as a teen.
A few years back I was scrolling through my albums and decided to give it a listen for the first time in twenty years. And oh my god, the lyrics are so bad.
“Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
Dave’s on sale again
We kissy kiss in the rear view
We’re so bored, you’re to blame”
What??
Ugh, you just don’t get it 🙂
He probably thinks Elvis is dead
What about hidden track “ex-girlfriend” whose entire lyric is “you only call me when you’re down,” repeated like 30 times?
When you’re 11 and you just got a CD player, “discovering” a hidden track automatically makes it cool. (Not nearly as cool as “All by Myself” on Dookie, but still cool)
Also, sort of interesting that No Doubt had a song called “Ex-Girlfriend” and Gavin & Gwen were paired up at some point.
Certainly not a hill I’d like to die on, but the best hidden track I know of is off Alanis Morrisette’s Jagged Little Pill.
Jagged Little Pill hill
Razorblade Suitcase was pretty awful.
There was a stretch in the 90s where gibberish lyrics were cool. Sheryl Crow (There goes the neighborhood, If it makes you happy) did a lot of that, and Loser by Beck is pretty much the height of the art form.
But it gets old fast, unless it’s at least a little poetic and has good imagery (“He wears his Member’s Only jacket/Because he thinks it turns on all the ladies”, “So shave your face with some mace in the dark/Saving all your food stamps and burning down the trailer park”).
Bush had neither.
A starting corner transferring out of WVU? Don’t we have one of their coaches? I know he’s offensive, but do we have any chance at that guy?
I thought, maybe!
Very nostalgic Rambler today: I still remember the first CDs I got at the same time as my first CD player was “Sixteen Stone” by Bush, “Tragic Kingdom” by No Doubt and “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” by the Smashing Pumpkins (guessing this must have been Christmas 1995, but not sure). Not a bad start to the collection.
AIM was legendary. Reading this today gave me a chuckle of the memory that my fraternity allegedly ran an account that simply had an away message that would display where/when students who wanted to come to our parties could go for free DD rides (kinda responsible if you ask me) and detail the themes and times for parties and which house would be throwing down on which night and then would have certain other cheeky messages during the week. Turns out the school did not find the humor in that, nor see the value in the public service messaging and was one of several secret probations/talkings to for the leadership. (RIP pkt411 the 411 as in information ha)
Also, I logged into my Yahoo! account recently to fill out a NCAA bracket, probably the only time of year I log in there…And they have wiped out my whole email account history. That was really sad, I had emails dating back to 2003 and some really great stories from my hockey playing days that I wrote to friends that I wish I didn’t lost. After digging, they did send warning emails to my gmail that I needed to log into Yahoo! to prevent that from happening by August 2021, but I never really picked up on it. Made me sad for a second, but on we go.
Oh boy, I hope they didn’t do the same to my @excite.com domain! I had some really important Western Civ papers I emailed to myself in 2000.
I’d recommend logging in once in a while to make sure. A lot of those legacy systems are purging old data, which is understandable but also kinda sneaks up on the users.
I traded Mellon Collie for the Doors Greatest Hits.
Great double album swap!
I remember my freshmen year at ND, we had many discussions about the purpose of maintaining landlines in every dorm room now that AIM was so popular. That memory makes me laugh now.
They didn’t get rid of the landlines until *2006*; IIRC we had wireless internet before they got rid of mandatory landlines. I had one my freshman year, and I think the only use it got all year from me and my roommate was when our rector would leave voicemails with dorm-related updates.
All this nostalgia makes me feel old enough to remember feeling cool getting my first pager… when I 28.