Your weekly dose of Notre Dame news, opinion, and other stuff.

Top News

Congratulations to Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Drue Tranquill on his Super Bowl victory on Sunday.

The November 23rd game against Army at Yankee Stadium is now official. Notre Dame will be playing a Shamrock Series game in the Bronx on the 100th anniversary of the famous Four Horsemen game.

The Fighting Irish are hiring Harris Bivin, brother of former Notre Dame offensive lineman (and current assistant athletic director for alumni relations) Hunter Bivin, for an offensive analyst role in 2024.

Notre Dame will open spring practice on Thursday, March 7th with the annual Blue-Gold Game being played on Saturday, April 20th.

The Pro Day for Notre Dame football will take place on March 21st and be broadcast via Peacock.

Eight Irish players were invited to the NFL Combine including Sam Hartman, Audric Estime, Joe Alt, Blake Fisher, Javaontae Jean-Baptiste, Marist Liufau, JD Bertrand, and Cam Hart.

Chip Kelly has left UCLA to become the offensive coordinator at Ohio State. That position was open because Bill O’Brien’s stay in Columbus was short lived as he leaves to become head coach at Boston College. UCLA is hiring alum DeShaun Foster as their new head coach.

Ryan Grubb is not staying at Alabama and is headed to the Seattle Seahawks to become their new offensive coordinator.

Georgia State head coach Shawn Elliott is leaving to becoming the tight ends coach at South Carolina. They had just started spring practice.

LSU freshman running back Trey Holly is facing attempted 2nd degree murder charges in Louisiana.

No Fox involved. The College Football Playoff and ESPN have come to an agreement on a 6-year $7.8 billion contract extension taking things through the 2031 football season.

The College Football Playoff board vote to switch to a 5+7 post-season system is expected on February 20th next week.

The Super Bowl saw a record 123.4 million viewers this past Sunday.

The first teaser video for the upcoming EA Sports College Football 25 video game has dropped.

Pending NCAA approval, the ACC has agreed to use tablets on the sidelines and one-way communication radios on the field during football games.

Reports coming out this week that the SEC will be moving to a 9-game league schedule beginning in 2026.

Uniform of the Week

Once the Super Bowl ended, the New York Jets officially said goodbye to their current uniform set. The team announced on Sunday night they will be keeping their retro white 1980’s uniforms worn in the 2023 opener (and thus the only regular season uniform Aaron Rodgers wore last year) but coming out with new green and black uniforms for 2024. Thus ends a dark period of uniform history in New York.

Okay, maybe these Jets uniforms weren’t that bad. Their demise was hastened by the extremely dated shoulder stripe protruding across the chest mixed with some really poor results on the field for the franchise. In short, just a really forgettable period for all involved. Special shout out to the all-black uniform which looked weird from day one and lacks character. At least try something different. Maybe the team will do just that when it unveils these in April?

Recruiting

Notre Dame has added some recruits in recent days, including wide receiver Elijah Burress (0.8719) and offensive tackle Owen Strebig (0.9474).

Linebacker Cameron Smith (0.9333) committed to Duke.

Running back Caden Knighten (0.9040) committed to Baylor.

YouTube Channel

What did other people have when you were little that made them rich, or made you think they were rich? Linked below is a video about kids from the 1980’s, I was born in 1982 and here’s what they came up with:

  • Intercom System
  • Multiple Phone Land Lines
  • London Fog Jackets
  • Basement Bar
  • Guess Jeans
  • Grey Poupon
  • Viennetta Ice Cream
  • Multiple Swatch Watches
  • VCR Library
  • Piano
  • Mall Shopping
  • Lacoste/Ralph Lauren Polo Shirts
  • Floor Big Screen TV
  • Ice & Water Dispenser in the Fridge
  • Air Jordan Shoes

I will add an in-ground swimming pool, a huge backyard deck, really nice music player set up, and having a satellite dish were things I perceived only reach people had 40 years ago. From the list above, the water and ice maker in the fridge was something I keenly remember thinking was awesome and somehow so unobtainable circa 1987. I don’t think we ever had our own phone lines, but my brother had the see-through phone in his bedroom.

Tunes

This summer I was on a family vacation when I heard this song “Murder on the Dancefloor” on Sirius radio. I was bopping to the beat along and remembered to circle back to mention this in the Rambler some day. I thought, this is an interesting song because it really seems like a throwback of sorts. It didn’t sound like a song written in 2023. Turns out, it was an older song released back in December 2001 by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, which as you’d expect, is a British singer.

As luck would have it, the song has been blowing up recently. It was featured in the 2023 movie Saltburn and led to a resurgence for the now 44 year-old singer from London. Originally mostly a hit in her home country and throughout Europe, it’s not spreading again to America. Ellis-Bextor even made her first appearance on US television recently after performing on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

Trivia

Which US state is the only one to be bordered by exactly one other state?

The Other Football

Ivory Coast won the Africa Cup of Nations 2-1 over Nigeria. What an amazing run for a team that fired their manager mid-tournament. Imagine being that guy.

In the Asian Cup, host country Qatar won it all with a 3-1 victory over Jordan.

In the Premier League: Chelsea, Arsenal, Man United, Man City, Liverpool, Spurs, and Newcastle all won this past weekend.

The Champions League first leg of the round of 16 kicked off this weekend with the following results:

Man City 3 – 1 Copenhagen
Real Madrid 1 – 0 Leipzig
Lazio 1 – 0 Bayern Munich
PSG 2 – 0 Real Sociedad

TV & Movies

Recently, I stopped using CeraVe lotion because it’s a little on the expensive side. Did I make a mistake? According to actor Michael Cera I did. “I’m pleased to announce that this…is my cream. CeraVe. Oh, you didn’t know?” I didn’t pay attention to many Super Bowl commercials but this one had me dying.

“I’m telling them our story.” I didn’t know that Cera was Canadian and that he’s half Sicilian. I knew he messed around with music a little bit and apparently he released his own produced album true that back in 2014 that got some quality reviews. That’s pretty cool but now he’s the “let my cream hydrate you” funny man again.

A Look Back

There’s been a lot of talk in the wake of the Super Bowl that the San Francisco 49ers weren’t aware of the new overtime rules. It has become pretty complicated, to be fair, with recent changes. If the Niners had scored a touchdown would they have celebrated as if they won the Super Bowl? Can you imagine that!?? Did the Niners think the game ended if the game clock hit 0:00 in the first overtime as the Chiefs were in scoring territory? San Francisco is getting dragged for some hypotheticals but I thought something else was kind of funny.

When the Chiefs scored their touchdown, the reaction from wide receiver Mecole Hardman was very odd. He catches the ball, trots into the end zone, spins around, and puts the ball up in the air with his right hand. As far as touchdown celebrations go, it’s one of the tamest you’ll ever see. As quarterback Patrick Mahomes said afterward, Hardman didn’t know initially that they had won the Super Bowl. The irony!

18S Paddock Club

The reviews of 2023 are over. The Formula 1 season is just around the corner with testing beginning in Bahrain this upcoming Wednesday, February 21st at 2:00 AM ET and running each day through Friday until 11:00 AM ET. The teams will stick around as the first race of 2024 takes place in Bahrain the next weekend which means the next Rambler will have our first grand preview of the year.

This week, I’m ranking all of the 2024 car liveries.

#10 Haas

This car reminds of Wayne Knight in Jurassic Park. Nobody cares. It’s a very similar look to last year except the nose is now black instead of white. That’s an improvement actually. Still, this remains the most forgettable livery on the grid from the most forgettable team in the sport.

#9 Alpine

The team got more flak than any other for having so much exposed carbon fiber on the car, even though they aren’t the worst offender in this area overall. The car stinks in the sense that it’ll look like a dark blob too often on a grid of half dark blobs. However, there are some really interesting coloring choice on the nose and engine cover that I like a lot, plus the pink is a lot less overbearing this year.

#8 Aston Martin

The awkward Stake F1 team 2-year transition before Audi takes over for 2026 has brought us another green and black team on the grid. Now, Aston Martin’s color scheme looks staid and boring. They’ve tweaked the shade of green, rearranged some sponsors, but largely kept the same livery as last year.

#7 Williams

The Duracell battery on the roll hoop and engine air intake remains a classic F1 livery decision. Otherwise, this is a downgrade from last year for Williams. They used a few different shades of blue last year and have now reverted to a mostly bare carbon fiber car with one shade of blue. It definitely lacks character (and will look mostly black from many angles) and thank goodness for Duracell.

#6 Mercedes

Everyone was expecting a black Mercedes again and they got that, except from the front where a silver nose adds a mixture of the team’s liveries over the years. The car looks really sharp from many angles although I detest the red INEOS air intake that has made a comeback after being ignored in 2023.

#5 McLaren

In some ways, maybe this is the best livery. If you can get past the Google Chrome wheel covers. McLaren dropped the use of light blue and stuck with a purely orange and black car for 2024. That was a good decision and puts the car a lot more in line with their IndyCar designs that are some of the best in the business.

#4 Red Bull

A modern classic. I don’t think they changed a single thing about this livery from last year.

#3 Stake

The team leaked their colors so the black and volt green wasn’t much of a surprise when they unveiled their car. But still, they really went for it didn’t they? There’s still a lot of black to blend in with the crowd but so far the live pictures of this car will make it hard to miss with this bright green.

#2 Ferrari

The Tifosi are happy and damn it let them have it before the season begins. Ferrari traded in a lot of black on the top of the car with more red and it’s a cleaner look from a year ago. They went with inspiration from their Le Mans winning car last year and it works. The back of the engine cover is suspiciously blank though.

#1 Visa RB

The former AlphaTauri brand has been punted and in walk a host of new sponsors. The team listened to fans and paid homage to their old Toro Rosso days with this really sharp blue/red/white color scheme that looks fantastic.

Trivia Answer:

Maine