Your weekly dose of Notre Dame news, opinion, and other stuff.
Top News
The 2023 pre-season Coaches Poll has been released led by Georgia, Michigan, and Alabama. The Fighting Irish start at no. 13 nationally.
The Notre Dame and Miami football game scheduled for 2024 has been moved to 2026. The Irish now have 1 spot open on next year’s schedule.
On Sunday, Notre Dame and Navy released ‘Irish Collection’ alternate uniforms and apparel for the upcoming season opener in Dublin.
Shortly after last week’s Rambler, both Oregon and Washington officially joined the Big Ten for 2024 while Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah joined the Big 12.
According to reports, the ACC is in talks to add Stanford, California, and even SMU to the league after last week’s implosion of the Pac-12–although it looks like it’ll be difficult for them to overcome the roadblocks in place. Additionally, the Mountain West and AAC are set to meet to discuss the possibility of adding the remaining Pac-12 teams.
The Big Ten will be looking to shift a couple of league championship games away from Indianapolis and to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Stanford Steve is the new betting analyst for ESPN GameDay, replacing Chris “Bear” Fallicia who left last year for Fox.
Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith announced this will be his last year before retirement.
Uniform of the Week
The NFL’s new second helmet rule and loosened regulations around uniforms are bringing us a bunch of alternate and throwback looks for 2023. Teams such as Tampa, Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, Tennessee, Minnesota, Detroit, Indianapolis, Denver, and the Jets are bringing something new (or if it’s a throwback, old). However, don’t sleep on the Seattle Seahawks bringing back their original 1976-2001 home uniform this fall.
Seattle has gone through 2 separate uniform redesigns since moving on from these originals. I also just learned that in 2002 the franchise let fans vote on keeping the silver helmet or switch to their new blue one. The blue won in a landslide, but the Seahawks petitioned the NFL to wear gray on the road and blue at home. The No Fun League said no. For me, these originals are among the most underrated uniforms in all of sports. They suffered from atrocious lighting in the pre-HD era of the Kingdome, never had many star players wear them, and never found much team success. However, these uniforms coming back look phenomenal.
Recruiting
Elite safety Peyton Woodyard (0.9586) flipped from Georgia to Alabama.
The nation’s top edge rusher Colin Simmons (0.9962) committed to Texas.
The nation’s top safety KJ Bolden (0.9963) committed to Florida State.
Georgia added Mater Dei running back Nate Frazier (0.9715).
Crazy fast wideout Gatlin Bair (0.9789) is staying in-state and committed to Boise State.
Wide receiver Jelani Watkins (0.9302) committed to LSU. The Tigers also added running back Caden Durham (0.9524).
Corner prospect Dakoda Fields (0.9582) committed to Oregon.
NC State picked up a verbal from wide receiver Jonathan Paylor (0.9408).
Running back Frankie Arthur (0.9105) committed to UCF. The program also added corner Jaylen Heyward (0.9593).
YouTube Channel
Do you ever grow up anti-something and it doesn’t really make sense? I was that way with cruises. I always viewed them as trashy and something your typical Florida Man and his 3rd wife would go on with expectations that the boats were cramped, boring, and smelly. I still haven’t gone on a cruise to this day, although family members all vouch for their fun and entertainment value. I’m waiting to go on the Viking cruises in Europe.
In recent months Royal Caribbean has been performing sea trials for their new behemoth cruise ship called Icon of the Seas set to debut early in 2024. It will be the largest cruise ship in the world at 250,800 gross tonnage which Google tells me is an eye-watering 561.7 million pounds. It’ll have 20 decks, hold 7,600 passengers at max capacity, hold 2,300+ crew, with 7 swimming pools, 6 water slides, a waterfall, and a suspended infinity pool. Sounds pretty crazy. What will cruise ships look like in 100 years?
Tunes
I’m speaking in the past tense but the Allman Brothers were such an amazing band for so many years and think about what could’ve happened if Duane Allman didn’t die in the fall of 1971. Some people argue he was a top 3 guitarist of all-time (I’m not sure I would go that far) and if he was able to live through the next decade we might talk about the Allman Brothers as the unquestioned top American rock band ever. Even in his absence, they have a strong case to be made.
I saw them live back in the late 2000’s when they were without Dickie Betts on guitar and were several years into their run with the (then) young Derek Trucks. Today’s song “One Way Out” was featured on their February 1972 album Eat a Peach that was released after Duane Allman’s death. However, they used the live version recorded from the At Fillmore East sessions so both Duane and Betts are featured on guitar. You hear that boogie guitar in the beginning from Betts and then Allman’s classic slide coming in later. I’m always surprised that the band used this song for years as an encore when to me it’s the quintessential opening song for a concert.
Trivia
I am a Power 5 program that has met Notre Dame on the field just twice in history. Once, in 1925 against Knute Rockne and then over 70 years later during the Bob Davie era. Name that team.
The Other Football
Turns out if you don’t score goals it’s really difficult to progress through the World Cup. So it ends for the United States Women who were dropped out in the round of 16 by Sweden through a penalty shootout. The Swedes will be joined by Japan, Spain, Netherlands, Australia, France, England, and Colombia in the quarterfinals this weekend. Just 4 goals in 4 World Cup matches for the US is really troubling.
American midfielder Tyler Adams is headed to Chelsea as the club has triggered his $25 million buyout clause with Leeds United.
The top American goalkeeper Matt Turner is headed from Arsenal to Nottingham Forest for $13 million.
Spurs have signed defender Micky van de Ven from Wolfsburg for $40 million but as of this writing it looks like record goal scorer Harry Kane is headed to Bayern Munich for $100 million and change. It’s an end of an era.
West Ham are reportedly set to sign defender Harry Maguire for nearly $40 million from Manchester United.
Real Madrid goalie Thibaut Courtois has torn his ACL and may be targeting David de Gea for a replacement.
Virgil Van Dijk is the new captain at Liverpool.
TV & Movies
Sure, I am biased but The Beatles 1965 movie Help! has always been pure delight and one of my favorite films of all-time. Their first film A Hard Day’s Night has always been more revered and received more acclaim then and now, which is fine. As a kid, it was difficult not to love the difference from black and white to color that Help! provided. Yes, the story is pure silliness and a bit too much of a James Bond ripoff but there are so many wonderful scenes featuring the best band in the world.
As a 12-year old watching this for the first time I thought their apartment (filmed at 5, 7, 9, and 11 Ailsa Avenue in Twickenham, West London) was something to aspire towards. We have the open concept, the “rooms” colored for each band member, the vending machines, Paul’s glowing organ, and of course the best part being John’s sunken bed. He also has his own book all over the place, cheeky.
A Look Back
I brought it up last week and here it is folks, the complete replay of the 2007 Notre Dame vs. UCLA game available to watch on YouTube. Mind you, I don’t recommend watching this, or at least in its entirety. Clausen did come out looking sharp early, but the Irish couldn’t run the ball and things never really got much better throughout the afternoon in Pasadena. Clausen would finish with 17 completions (yay!) for just 84 yards (boo!) and Notre Dame mustered just 140 total yards.
Hey, a win is a win though. Vaunted UCLA quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson only completed 12 passes to 4 interceptions helping the Irish cause. At 1:33:00 of this video you can see the David Bruton interception and at 1:39:25 you can see the sack fumble brought back for a touchdown that essentially sealed Notre Dame’s first win of 2007. A win to be cherished as there weren’t many more to come.
18S Paddock Club
With Formula 1 on summer break it’s time to hand out grades to the teams from the first half of the season. We’ll break down half of the grid today, the other half coming up next week, before a preview of the Dutch Grand Prix.
Mercedes – 2nd (247 points)
Grade: B
It’s been a bit better than last year when Mercedes clearly missed on the new regulations and they’ve been trying to claw back lap time ever since. So far in 2023, they have been the most consistent team behind Red Bull, have 5 podium finishes, a pair of 2nd place finishes, and Lewis Hamilton surprised the grid with pole at Hungary.
Their car seems fundamentally uneasy as some tracks just don’t suit them at all. Still, the tracks that do suit them they are in the running for big points and they have proven to be the best non-Red Bull team at collecting points even when they are showing signs of struggling.
Ferrari – 4th (191 points)
Grade: C-
I’m being nice with this grade. One year ago at the summer break the Ferrari was competing hard for 1st place and looked to be “back” at least most weekends. Fast forward to today and they have fallen off the pace and can’t figure out how to solve their car’s troubles. The new era of their team principal hasn’t gone super great, although the classic Ferrari strategy and pit problems have improved. So far, Carlos Sainz hasn’t even made a podium in 2023!
Alpine – 6th (57 points)
Grade: D-
If not for Esteban Ocon’s P3 finish at Monaco and Pierre Gasly’s P3 in the Belgian Grand Prix Sprint this very well could be a grade of F for Alpine. Their biggest rival on the grid McLaren has begun to improve and they are also 139 points behind Aston Martin who have zoomed past them and may be already out of reach for 2023. Alpine have also fired tons of people, including their team principal after the last race. It’s been a really dreadful season for the French team.
Haas – 8th place (11 points)
Grade: C-
So Ferrari goes, so goes Haas. The Prancing Horse has slid backwards this year and the Haas car running almost all Ferrari parts has been on the same trajectory. Their qualifying pace has been decent to good at times but their tires are getting eaten up during races. After a quality 2022, Kevin Magnussen only has 2 points and the team as a whole only has 3 points over the last 7 races.
AlphaTauri – 10th place (3 points)
Grade: D+
Firing a driver after 10 races says enough about AlphaTauri’s season thus far. Although to be fair, Yuki Tsunoda has been dragging this tractor of a car to some decent results, including 12th or better in 7 races in 2023. He may only have 3 points but his season has been far better than those numbers suggest. Maybe Danny Ricciardo can inject more life into the car over the 2nd half of the season but things look kind of grim so far.
Trivia Answer:
Baylor.
On campus now and the Ireland jerseys are all over the bookstore and look great up close, though not ‘$150 a Jersey nice’
Miami postponing the game for next year makes the home slate quite dreadful, and presumably won’t get any big name to fill the open slot. I picked a bad time to start a graduate program and have that be one of my two years to (legitimately) enter the student section.
Skip cruises. Do an al-inclusive resort instead. Same benefits but you aren’t a prisoner in the middle of the ocean.
Oklahoma and Auburn have schedule openings for next year, and Auburn already has 7 home games so theoretically they should be open to fill the opening with a road game. Swarbrick needs to do this yesterday.
He’s too busy sending late night texts to Stanford.
Swarbrick (again) lamenting the state of college athletics and money-grubbing a week after taking the UA cash-grab is really something.
Sounds like another NYT op-ed is coming down the pike.
Why did the Miami game get moved?
Apparently Miami scheduled 4 OOC games in addition to ND. Why it just became apparent that was a problem, and why Miami couldn’t move one of those games instead, is beyond me.
I literally think the ACC is trying to get a tough game off of Miami’s schedule.
Only $110 nice online, plus shipping.
This led me to perusing shop.fightingirish.com, where I came across this jersey. Mind Blown! Black for blacks sake? I can’t imagine the team taking the field in this?
The most memorable part of that game was when every fan in the stadium erupted into cheers as they announced the Stanford/USC final (1 hour 31 minute mark in the YouTube video). “Is this a wacky year in college football or what?” Hahaha oh brother, you ain’t seen the half of it yet!
UCLA’s Chip Kelly points to Notre Dame football as an example for realignment
Instead, from those who believe money talks, consolidtion wins and college football should not be governed by non-profit institutions.
Third-party influence may soon shake foundation of college football impacting conferences, programs
College Football: Top 10 offensive lines in the country (pff)
And add in Muppet’s heartfelt plea — “just separate the football from all else”…
Good lord, this all makes me literally ill. To think of having to so soon abandon the life long dream of Notre Dame, the squaring of the circle… Father Joyce’s “a certain muscular Christianity” … what Markus Freeman seems to have bought into, the 40 year decision, getting good grades, playing hard, with talent …
I don’t see how we can go down the path that seems to be opening up.
(Bad sad words.)
Notre Dame will never abandon its mission, its values and its students. That commitment steers them through the turbulent waters of realignment greed and the willingness of conference teams to surrender their autonomy. Should we have joined the BIG back in June only to watch helplessly as it savaged a conference of four of its best teams leading to its demise would have been tragic and anathema to all the University stands for. If the few “best” teams in private investors pursuits want to take thirty pieces of silver to abandon their conference members, that would only be a logical but horrifying extension of their soullessness. One has to feel a measure of gratitude that agreement by all was reached on the future Playoff before now or that avarice would have dictated its terms.
MC, many thanks. I totally agree on ND never leaving its core identity as an educational institution in a Catholic and ethical framework. Which is why I was wringing my hands in the above post — if CFB keeps descending on this path to the dark side, we will necessarily (and finally) have to “de-emphasize”. And I would deeply miss our mutual passion.
Glad to have the opportunity to express my thoughts, too, in an appropriate response. We’re all concerned about the programs.
Additionally, the Board of Regents for the state university system had to approve (or reject) UCLA’s membership to the BIG, and were concerned about the impact on Cal. The Board of Regents for Arizona expressed the desire for both their state schools to be admitted to the Big 12. On the other hand, Oregon’s state Board of Regents was dissolved in 2015 with decision-making powers transferred to Oregon, Oregon State and Portland State, which is why Oregon’s decision did not involve the best interests of Oregon State.
Notre Dame’s Board of Trustees would make such final decisions after going through a Committee. .
From their Bylaws:
Cruises are what you make of them. My wife and I have done 3 pre-kids and are getting ready for our 2nd Disney cruise with kids. It’s a vacation where you don’t have to do much thinking about what to do and the scenery changes a bit each day. Kids can do their own thing in the kids club, mom/dad can do a cocktail tasting, meet back up at the pool, play some mini-golf, go to a theater show, and eat a “fancy” dinner ( sometimes also with a show).
We don’t vacation enough to legitimately think about cruises, but our honeymoon was at an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica and people were very clear it was not a good idea to leave the grounds. I don’t see a significant difference between that and a cruise.
That was kind of my thought, also. And, sunk cost, if you’re paying for an all-inclusive resort, you have less incentive to leave the grounds.
What everyone seems to be overlooking about cruises is that you are literally, and I mean literal in the old way, on a boat. They writes songs about that shit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avaSdC0QOUM&ab_channel=TheLonelyIslandVEVO
In fairness to all-inclusives, I think you can get way drunker for cheaper. I went on a cruise once in college (almost 20 years ago) and my memory was drinks being so pricey I basically didn’t drink. Hopefully things have changed. So it kind of depends what you are going for. I love boats and I love sitting in pools drinking, ergo both are pretty great. Everything else on both types of vaca don’t mean much to me. I also don’t love the heat, so neither of these is actually high on my list of trips to take.
I am, however, dying to do a European river or Med cruise. You get to see 5-10 cities, but only have to unpack/pack once.
A three hour tour?
Disney Cruise is the way to go if you do a cruise. You get the extra attention to detail, and for the most part the actual Disney stuff is opt-in. Only problem is the activities for children are definitely tailored for certain age ranges so wait until your child is 5 or 6 minimum before going unless you want to be their primary source of entertainment.
Also the blankets on the bed are phenomenal. Apparently they are one of the most common things to “mysteriously disappear” from the rooms.
Also DCL doesn’t have as many spring breaker type bros drinking to oblivion
AHAHA WELCOME TO SOULLESS NFL-LITE HELL
As opposed to soul-filled Indianapolis?
The soul is made of ranch dressing and overrated shrimp cocktail
If there was a CFB sportswriter bingo, I don’t know if “Indianapolis Shrimp Cocktail” or “Northwestern Alum” would be the center square
Hey, nothing says “spicy seafood” like central Indiana.
At least Indy is in the same state as a conference member
Yet Miami is somehow still able to play Florida, Florida A&M, Ball State, and USF next year. Funny how that works.
I strongly suspect ACC fuckery here. We know for a fact they like to screw with our schedules, see the bye week thing of recent years.
If we have an agreement with the ACC to play a certain number (5?) of games, shouldn’t the ACC have to help fix this ?
I think some years we’ve played 4 and others 6, so maybe they are making it out to be this kind of thing. So we’ll have to cancel a later game and schedule a new one for the earlier year.
I think Irishchamp23 has it right — it’s 5 on average, so sometimes it’s 4 and sometimes it’s 6. That said, yes, I do think the ACC should have to help fix this.
The fact that we’ve played Miami twice in this decade-long deal drives me nuts. They’re the closest thing we have to a real, mutual-hatred rival in the ACC, and instead of playing them, we get a nonstop diet of North Carolina.
Hot take: College athletics need to be blown up. They have a lot of similarities in my mind to (hotter political take incoming) our screwed up health insurance system.
Both made sense in a different era when they were first invented, and neither make much sense today. The evolution of both into the mess they are today wasn’t some grand conspiracy but a gradual development into a behemoth that is remarkably able to expand its own bureaucracy and power.
And neither have a parallel with the rest of the world, which IMO does both better.
So yes, blow up the facade of ‘amateur’ college football and basketball and replace them with real minor leagues, and let the Olympic sports hold on to the old college system of regional conferences without big TV money, which still makes sense for them. Doubt we’ll ever go full club sports like Europe, but would be interesting…
As far as academics, my brother had an idea a long time ago that players should get a 4 year full ride and four years of room and board, but not necessarily at the same time. You want to “play no school” for four years? Great, do that, and when your NFL dream doesn’t pan out you go back to school for four years of free tuition and just pay room and board and you can get a degree. Or never go back to school. Or do school at the same time as you play football. Whatever works.
Even hotter take: blow up the college system.
all driven by $$$
My mind is truly blown that this is what the old Seahawks uniforms were supposed to look like. You’re telling me they’re rolling out the exact same uniforms, but the cameras and lighting were just so terrible back in the day that they looked like pale, bland versions of these uniforms?
I never used to understand the nostalgia for these uniforms, but if this is what they actually looked like back then, then I get it.
Dude, games from 2005 look absolutely ancient today. TV technology has come a long way.
The Kingdome with like 7 total lightbulbs turned on:
Although, to be fair I think Seattle significantly brightened the blue in later years.
That was to make up for the dim lights.
Not to go all naval architecture nerd on you, but gross tonnage for a ship is a measure of internal volume and is not an indicator of the overall displacement/mass/weight of the vessel.
Icon of the Seas will probably displace somewhere around 100,000 metric tonnes or about 220 million pounds.
For comparison purposes, the largest ship ever built was the “Seawise Giant” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seawise_Giant). While it had a similar gross tonnage to that of Icon of the Seas at 260,941 GT, it had a massive Full Load displacement of 657,019 metric tonnes, or 1.45 billion pounds.
We just went on our first cruise earlier this summer, to Alaska. It was incredible and I think it’s really a great way to see a few parts of such a large state.
Which line did you use? We took our first cruise, as well, sailing on the Norwegian Jewel from Vancouver to Seward at the end of May/first week of June.
Other than all the offensive “Alaska is bigger than Texas” merchandise, we really loved it, and I’m missing the cool Alaska weather here in the dog days of summer.
We went on Holland America, which we were warned was an “older” line in terms of clientele, but we found it great. Food was awesome, and we spent hours in the forward observation bar “The Crow’s Nest”.
Didn’t realize you were in Texas too. Where are you? I’m in New Braunfels. Yes, the heat has been oppressive
We’re in Katy. Kid #1 (of 5) lives in San Marcos and works in New Braunfels. My sister and her family also live in New Braunfels, but we don’t get along well enough to visit.
We’ve lived here in Texas since 2006 and were also at the Army game in San Antonio in 2016. I’m a native of San Antonio, but I was also an Army brat, so I lived elsewhere for most of the years from 1975 to 2006.