ONLY on St. Paddy's Day would an event like this occur.

Apparently some article was published in the Ann Arbor (whore) News about a Michigan professor who meets with students 15 minutes every two weeks and gives out A's, and the whole Harbaughgate-ish phenomenon has come back once again.

For a good laugh, go check out Mgoblog's comments. Hysterical stuff there, to be sure. I love how any time this issue comes up, Michigan fans immediately attempt to talk about how ND is just the same, and basically piss on ND any way they can.

Surely, this is a gift from God on a Holy Day, for all of us to enjoy with as much joy as possible.
Brad | Email | Homepage | 03.17.08 - 2:21 pm | #

slainte mhor
OldFan | Email | Homepage | 03.17.08 - 5:15 pm | #

Happy St. Patricks day. Im celebrating in Mexico!
The Mexican Leperchaun | Email | Homepage | 03.17.08 - 5:29 pm | #

Love thee Notre Dame.
jim masterson | Email | Homepage | 03.17.08 - 6:38 pm | #

Let's get it on St. Paddy's Day 'cause you know the students (including me) are doing it up big time. Get excited about the spring game(should be interesting) and look for the Bball time to go Sweet Sixteen(George Mason isn't the same team as 2 years ago and I don't think Wazzu can hang with us offensively). Enjoy the holiday.
Irish Fella | Email | Homepage | 03.17.08 - 6:59 pm | #

My mom told me the moniker came from having so many Irish priests on campus.
Judge60 | Email | Homepage | 03.17.08 - 9:56 pm | #

I do think it's cool how ND has turned "the Fighting Irish" idea on its head with last fall's ads: "We fight for justice, we fight against poverty, we fight for goodness, etc. We are the Fighting Irish." It's a really clever way to embrace and deepen a term that used to be simple and pejorative and simultaneously unite the athletic teams with the mission of the school.
PK | Email | Homepage | 03.17.08 - 10:05 pm | #

I've always loved the Fighting Irish name, but 'Notre Dame Catholic Hoosiers' also has a nice ring to it. I could get behind that, too.

"But what about the non-Catholic, non-Hoosiers on the team?"

"They're all Catholic Hoosiers to me."
Joe Subway | Email | Homepage | 03.17.08 - 10:11 pm | #

That calls for a Black and Tan.

(insert sound of pouring, followed by 'glug glug glug' sound of drinking, here)
Steve | Email | Homepage | 03.17.08 - 10:24 pm | #

Beannachtai na Feile Padraig!

Fighting Polish, Fighting French, Fighting Krauts, Fighting Italians, Fighting Bohemians, Fighting Swiss...just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Thank you, President Walsh, from a girl formerly known as "Reilly".

"I sincerely hope that we may always be worthy of the ideals embodied in the term "Fighting Irish."

Can we put that up next to "Play Like a Champion"?
OC mj | Email | Homepage | 03.18.08 - 1:38 am | #

OC mj,


Fighting French? Really? I guarantee that is the very first time in history those two words have been put together to form a phrase.

I can see it now.

"...and the Fighting Frenchies SURRENDER another TD, making it only 144-0!"
Brad | Email | Homepage | 03.18.08 - 11:05 am | #

I have never understood the "Irish-thing" myself. Went there, played there and I can't recall five players who were Irish around me. At one time maybe it meant something but to have that silly leprechaun running around these days is odd.
A-train | Email | Homepage | 03.18.08 - 11:08 am | #

On a belated St. Pat's note, the link below is a speech given by Fr. Jenkins last year to the Los Angeles chapter of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick. The speech is excellent and covers some of how the USC-ND tradition began, and some other witty comments.

Worth a read when you are nursing your hangover at work!

I hope you enjoy.


http://president.nd.edu/speeches.../friendly-sons/

-- LA Domer & Friendly Son
LADomer | Email | Homepage | 03.18.08 - 12:35 pm | #

Last year's football team looked more like the Drunkin' Irishmen!
FlannerisBigger | Email | Homepage | 03.18.08 - 12:57 pm | #

I am Irish and Catholic with a bit of German in me.
Go Irish
martyirish | Email | Homepage | 03.18.08 - 3:15 pm | #

I too am of German and Irish descent.
Thanks for the article. ND fan in
New Phila. Ohio where Woody Hayes
had his first Head Coaching position.
So, you can understand how I am treated and greeted when wearing my
Irish gear. Go Irish!
Dennis Henke | Email | Homepage | 03.18.08 - 3:22 pm | #

A great read, LA Domer. Thanks!
OC mj | Email | Homepage | 03.18.08 - 4:59 pm | #

A train,
Are you absolutely certain you attended the same Notre Dame that we discuss here?
Voice in the Wilderness | Email | Homepage | 03.18.08 - 6:11 pm | #

LA Domer; Many Thanks
jim masterson | Email | Homepage | 03.18.08 - 8:55 pm | #

A-train, are you serious? You know that none of Tennessee's players are volunteers, or that none of WVU's players are mountaineers, right? It's history and tradition, and then some
----------------------------

http://www.goldhelmet.com/index....? referrerid=401
Fish | Email | Homepage | 03.19.08 - 2:48 am | #

I dunno Fish. I've been to West Virginia, and I am willing to bet that are large part of their Oline and other big ol' boys ARE in fact mountaineers. There are some scary places in that State. Deliverance scary.


*** Author ran out of gas last year at 1 am in West Virginia, which apparently has TWO gas stations in the state. Utterly terrifying.
Brad | Email | Homepage | 03.19.08 - 1:27 pm | #

ahahahahaha..im just smiling eating cupcakes wondering what michigan is gonna do next year for a qb..hahahahahahahahaha
fat_kid | Email | Homepage | 03.19.08 - 2:47 pm | #

yes, pryor to tOSU.
very nice.
very nice indeed.
Anonymous | Email | Homepage | 03.19.08 - 3:23 pm | #

and in a crazy turn of events... terrelle pryor commits to the irish to play basketball under mike brey!


haha if only that was true...

please shed some light on how it is possible for pryor to choose his school 6 weeks after everyone else is supposed to sign... what makes him so special
Kyle M | Email | Homepage | 03.19.08 - 3:24 pm | #

Another Irish Catholic with German mix.

Kyle M - Signing day is the first opportunity to commit (other than verbal) to a school - not the day recruits are suppose to commit. Story on Pryor is at the time his father asked him to reconsider PennState (ugh). He said he would but didn't want to ruin the team's basketball season so said he'd do it after the season. They just won the championship, so he now he decided.

What makes him so special: he is by far the #1 recruit of the year - if you've seen him play, you'd understand. Also seems very level-headed and mature. OSU is lucky - better there than PSU or Michigan.
OldFan | Email | Homepage | 03.19.08 - 3:36 pm | #

Hey OldFan,

One of my co-workers told me earlier today about Pryor's signing with tOSU but he went on to say that Pryor has somehow been involved in two bar fights in his hometown. I don't know anything about that myself and was wondering if you or someone else on this board had heard or read anything about it? If true could he be a Maurice Clarett in the making?
Knoxville Irish | Email | Homepage | 03.19.08 - 3:47 pm | #

OldFan:
you sure you got that right? nat'l signing day is last day to commit for recruits enrolling in autumn 2008. not first. ncaa instituted that day many moons ago to effectively close the book on a given seasons recruiting class for all schools simultaneously. pryor had some sort of exemption - no?
Anonymous | Email | Homepage | 03.19.08 - 3:50 pm | #

For the record, National Signing Day is the FIRST day that high school seniors can sign a BINDING committment to go play football for a school. But effectively, to us fans, it is the end of recruiting season, as most every big time recruit signs on that day.
Brad | Email | Homepage | 03.19.08 - 4:30 pm | #

Last year running back Noel Devine signed with West Virginia several days after the National Signing Day.
Knoxville Irish | Email | Homepage | 03.19.08 - 4:38 pm | #

brad: i'm not saying you're wrong, it just seems counterintuitive.
if a player could wait till sept 1 (?), then wouldn't there be many more pryors out there? i.e. guys stretching out the process, gaining notoriety, having fun being courted, etc.
Anonymous | Email | Homepage | 03.19.08 - 4:43 pm | #

Anonymous: prior to NSD, all recruits can do is VERBALLY COMMIT. A verbal commit is non-binding, and can be rescinded any time--in other words, isn't a commitment. NSD is the first day a recruit can sign a letter of intent, committing to a school. There's no rule that says they *have* to send it in on NSD--it's simply that most do, since they've decided and are ready to move on.

Kids can't drag it out to September because they do have to actually enroll in school. Most incoming freshman are enrolled by the end of the previous school year. At most, a recruit can drag it out until April/May--after that, most school's would assume this guy is a headcase and move on.
Nate | Email | Homepage | 03.19.08 - 6:04 pm | #

"Level headed and mature" are adjectives that, until now, have not been used to describe Pryor.

Gosh. I feel bad for Dick Rod and the Skunks. Not.
Voice in the Wilderness | Email | Homepage | 03.19.08 - 6:35 pm | #

If interested to understand about the letter of intent recruits sign see:

http://www.national-letter.org/faq/

Signing Dates for this year is:
Football (Regular Period) February 6, 2008 April 1, 2008

Junior college tranfers have different dates.

Recruits don't have to sign a letter of intent - they can walk-on. When a recruit signs a letter of intent it must be accompanied with a athletics financial aid award letter from the school to be valid. But they can be invited to show up and play for a school with no letter of intent and no scholarship.
OldFan | Email | Homepage | 03.19.08 - 8:35 pm | #

Now that we've got the non-FB BS out of the way ....

Is there a good write up coming on a soon-to-be CFB HOF coach?

Can someone "Cue a good bio for Lou?"
ThE LoSt BoY | Email | Homepage | 03.19.08 - 10:45 pm | #

Sowa anyone have any info on the potential 2009 recruits? Is it still too early for Charlie to go after them? Does it look like there are som especially hot prospects?
GB | Email | Homepage | 03.20.08 - 7:57 pm | #

My dad went to ND and Francis Wallace was a year ahead of him.
jim masterson | Email | Homepage | 03.21.08 - 12:55 am | #

Brad,

As for the Fighting Frenchies, I have a great deal for you if you like antique guns. It's a 1940's era French rifle in excellent condition: never fired -- dropped once.

I had heard that "Fighting Irish" originiated with the Irish priests from Notre Dame who joined the locals to fight in the Civil War. I think I heard that on my first tour of the Basilica. Has anyone else heard that?
JM | Email | Homepage | 03.21.08 - 12:47 pm | #

JM,

Father Corby was a Civil War hero as he stood on top of a rock with Confederates shooting at him to bless the Irish regiment before it went into battle at Gettysburg.

Notre Dame then encouraged its priests to enlist when WWI broke out. Father Walsh was in the trenches.
Greg | Email | Homepage | 03.21.08 - 5:15 pm | #