Admit it: You are loving Notre Dame's Bad Karma

I find it a bit lame to say Notre Dame isn't arrogant but will lump their rivals into the mix (Michigan, USC).

The Irish alumni and their fans thought trashing Willingham and pumping up Weis would improve the school's record of success, it appears their goals have quickly faded into a disaster of historic college football proportion.

 

Check out Dame's pending seasonal schedules (easily accessible via the Net) . . . in additional to a gradual softening of the schedule, they're looking to skew more towards Big East and away from Big Nine/Ten/Eleven . . .

 

NBC is "ramming Notre Dame down our throats" because, for whatever reason, enough people want to watch Notre Dame that they're willing to pay the school many millions in rights fees - more than they'd make from a share of a TV contract in a major conference.

As someone on here already said, once that audience demand dissipates, NBC (and everyone else) will no longer want to pay the rights fees, and Notre Dame will no longer have the financial incentive to be a football independent.

 

Today, ND fell to 0-2 all-time in games I've seen at ND Stadium. So it was a good day.

You don't realize how bad the Irish suck until you see them in person. I've never seen such huge offensive linemen be so oblivious to the blitz. I almost felt bad for Jimmy Clausen at times.

Memo to Charlie: Everyone knew Chad Hall was going to kick your ass before the game started. You didn't? Passing repeatedly on the goal line, not going downfield once, and draw plays on 3rd and 8 are the trademarks of play calling stupidity.

And I got to see it all for free. Only in America.

 

NBC has no other option in the fall, if it wants any kind of college football exposure. The other networks have relationships with the major conferences. There's nothing left for NBC unless it wants to show figure skating week after week in the fall.

 

1) The TV contracts of the other conferences run out fairly regularly; if NBC wants to bid on some of them, it can.

2) If the Big Ten Network collapses in flames as it appears it may, the Big Ten will be looking for a major broadcast outlet.

3) If NBC made it worth the NFL's while, the NFL would certainly be agreeable to a "Saturday Game of the Week."


4) My suspicion is, long before any of that stuff happens, if the NBC poohbahs really think Weis is taking the program's longterm prospects down the toilet, some of the NBC bigwigs will discreetly whisper to the ND high honchos, "you like that nice TV contract, you might think about getting rid of Wideload."

At which point Chuckles will be out of there like the proverbial shit through a goose. $20 million buyout? Chicken change.

FWIW, ND ratings are down 36 percent this year:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/football/ncaa/11/07/nd.sellout.ap/

 

You'd think the ratings would be up because of the train-wreck factor

 

That probably accounts for about 1.8 of their 2.2 rating.

 

I don't think this author is enjoying it very much.
http://www.amazon.com/New-Gold-Standard-Charlie-Notre/dp/1933060204/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-6942740-0884630?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194798454&sr=8-1

 

The customer comments are a hoot.

 

I have a friend who orders vodka and water and then drops crystal light orange into it for a low-carb screwdriver.

 

Title ranks up there with "Dewey Defeats Truman." Amazon should pair this book with Bob Hill's "Basketball: Coaching for Success".

Go Navy! Why would you write this book in the first place? "The New Gold Standard"? On what how to ruin a program? Or is this season part of his master plan: to win a bowl game? Well Notre Dame fans you have him for ten more years. Maybe in that time he will win one meaningful game. He has the same record that Ty did when he was fired, but I guess you would not want to think about that when you have the self proclaimed smartest man in all football.

Mr. Brilliant just ended a 43 year winning streak over the Midshipmen. . . SUCH a genius!

----

If you are a fan of ND or an aspiring coach, then this book is a great read. There is no doubt that Charlie Weis has had a tremendously successful career in coaching, mostly in the NFL, and this story relates how he is attempting to transpose this formula of success to a program in dire need of it. The "return to glory" portion of the title is a little too presumptuous for me, but setting that aside, there is a lot of meat here.

ND is the most storied program in college football, at or near the top in wins, winning percentage, all-americans, Heisman winners, and national championships. Mired in mediocrity for over a decade, Charlie had his work cut out for him when he got the job at ND - even more so since he was commandeering the Patriot's offense toward another Superbowl win.

The book goes into depth about building a staff, recruiting, dealing with academics, time management, football knowledge, people skills, and almost anything else a head coach has to know to be successful.

While ND has some great players that will get attention in the NFL draft this April, there are still considerable holes on the team willed to Weis from his predecessors. The past few recruiting cycles have brought in few offensive or defensive linemen, few linebackers, and a secondary filled with converted offensive players.

That Charlie Weis managed to take this team to 2 consecutive BCS games is a major accomplishment. Sure, both times they were wiped by teams with much greater talent, but what's the phrase, "Rome wasn't built in a day?"

You have to admit his marvelous accomplishments given that just before he arrived the Fighting Irish were losing to programs like Pitt, Syracuse and Purdue. Given this mess of a program, the Irish have indeed found "glory" with Charlie Weis, who is also turning things around with regular top 10 recruiting classes.

Again, good read for ND fans or those interested in coaching. An easy read chock full of useful information.
----

As you can tell the other review did not focus on the book! It was an opinion about Irish football. This is a well written book that all sport fans can enjoy.