Sid, I never thought that I'd say this but I welcomed the numerous TV timeouts. I didn't stand the whole game but I did stand up for every play. I'm pretty sure horses and asses sleep standing up. There weren't many horses in my section but..... Someone explain what the purpose is of standing between quarters and during halftime.....I miss it.
I'm sorry that you were uncomfortable, but as difficult as it was for you to attend the game, it was an effort borne of a grandpa's love, certainly recognized and appreciated by your daughter and your grandson. Getting to see the Irish victory was the cherry on top of the sundae.
ND <t>I still like Sheldon Day. He made some great plays Saturday. We need more like him. Just a freshman too.</t>
Tim, I didn't expect Day to be this good as a freshman. We are really getting good play from a lot of young guys. I just hope Kelly is able to figure out what is needed to get Golson going. I rewatched the game and UM really just dared him to throw the ball, and in doing so really stuffed our running game. If he could just start making teams pay for jamming the LOS it would open up our running game a lot. It's not that I have anything against Rees, but I really hoped that Golson or Hendrix would just seize the job and never look back. It appears to me that Hendrix is now 3rd string and probably only 3rd string because Kelly is trying to keep from playing Gunner this year. But I have to wonder how long he can go with Golson as the starter if Rees has to keep coming in and bailing him out?
2nd week in a row the Irish won their time slot in the TV ratings, handily beat out the FSU/Clemson game and whatever else was on Sat Night.
Mike give us your section/row/seat so we can find you in the Panoramic of the stadium. Pretty cool. I found myself in the one for the Final Four that was held in Houston. Pano of Stadium
It's being reported that Swarbrick has exercised ND's option to cancel the series with UM. 2014 game will be the last game. Larry Lage ‏@LarryLage #NotreDame has notified #Michigan it is exercising a 3-year out in their contract, meaning their last scheduled game will bein 2014 Larry Lage ‏@LarryLage A letter from ND AD Swarbrick to UM AD Brandon cancelling games in 2015-17 was obtained by AP through a Freedom of Information Act request
As we surmised, one of the Big Ten games had to go and Michigan was the logical choice. Now we don't have to put up with their boycott threats anymore.
Whew! At least we won't have to face the Denard Robinson beyond 2014. After the last 4 years, it seems like he's the only guy who has ever played and will ever play QB for Michigan. :lol: I truly will miss our friendly sparring with Bobda. I guess I'll just have to watch from the cheap seats while he spars with the OSU guys.
Each will do just fine in the future without the other but for the past 35-years, the ND-Michigan series has produced some of the most exciting games in the past four decades. I was elated back in the late 70's when the two schools decided to renew a series that had ended years ago because of unconscionable decisions of M's past administrations, and I am sad that it will end it 2 years. Both schools are integral parts of the foundation of college football and their great history and close proximity to one another makes for an inevitable rivalry. Not casting blame as ND certainly has the right to do what it wants to do in its best interests If one scans on a regular basis the internet sites, Michigan and USC seem to be most frequent targets of abuse on the Irish BBs just as the Irish and the Buckeyes are on the Mich BBs (although MSU is now a frequent topic given Sparty's 4 year streak). Reading the blogs from both schools, it seems that more than a few fans of both are of the good riddance/don't-let-the-door-hit-you-in-the-ass mindset that is similar to the sentiments expressed by Texas and A&M fans to one another at the end of last year. But, those same fans will lose the elation that only comes from beating a bitter rival and the depression that visits following a loss. But all things change. When I was growing up as a kid as a Red Wing hockey fan, Toronto and Montreal were the RW's bitter rivals for over 40 years. But expansion came, new rivalries developed, and new generations of hockey fans grew up wondering why the older fans got so excited when Toronto or Montreal made one of their infrequent visits to Detroit. For the older fan, these rare visits triggered in our brains memories of the grand, hated but admired, players of the ancient enemy such as Ferguson and Beliveau and animal excitement one could feel when they skated onto the ice like A Lord of the Earth just before the start of a game at the old Olympia. So if I am still around in 20 years and ND and M happen to play and the students are wondering why the old folks are considering this a big deal, my mind will be elsewhere, conjuring up the memory of sitting in the rain in AA, watching in shock and wondering why in the hell is Bo kicking the Goddamn ball again to that Rocket guy.
I think you hit it right Bobda, there are groups of fans who say good riddance, but there are also plenty of fans that wish the rivalry could continue. The analogy of the Texas/Texas A&M situation is a good one. You could also look back and wonder where the OU/Neb game has gone. It was always a big game from the '70's through the formation of the b12. It took a back seat after that, and now it's gone. They'll never play again unless it's in a bowl game. On the positive side it does give ND some chances to bring in games with Texas, maybe we can get Tenn back on the schedule...even the Gators if they'd leave the swamp in non-conference. Do you think UM will replace ND with another premium opponent or do you think UM will go to 4 non-conf home games against weaker competition like so many teams have done.
Terry, When ND was off the schedule in the past it was replaced by a marquee opponent (UCLA/Colorado/Washington) and my sense is that the same will be true again. I think Brandon's plan would be for the M NC schedule to involve 1 name opponent from a BCS conference, one Mountain West/Conference USA type opponent and two baby seals although some of these baby seals might end up having carnivore teeth such as App State. Read that the notice of the termination of the series was by letter handed by your AD to our AD one hour before the game which is generally a mode of communication reserved for attorneys representing bickering couples locked in a nasty divorce. I hope the two schools will patch things up down the road but who knows. Living in Wisconsin for 5 years and being surrounded by Cheeseheads and an insular Milwaukee media caused me to lose touch as to the degree of acrimony that has been developing between the two schools. I guess the dealings between university ADs in the era of super conferences and conference networks would make Machiavelli smile.
That's interesting, I did not know that...either about how Brandon got the letter or that attny's for bickering clients use that as a "gotcha". I do know that there were some hard negotiations between ND/UM most recently ND somehow getting UM to agree to allow non-Big 10 refs when ND came to Ann Arbor. Prior to that Big10 refs did games in South Bend and Ann Arbor and you of course know the high regard Big 10 refs hold in ND land! Of course they aren't held in as much disregard as Pac12 refs! Plus there have bound to have been some acrimonious behind the scenes with Jim Delaney over the years. I do wonder what will happen with Purdue and MSU. Purdue was the only school in the Western Confernce to defy Fielding Yosts call to boycott playing ND and there is long history as well with MSU and ND, I think maybe MSU was also boycotted by most if not all Big10 teams and ND agreed to play them and that supposed helped them build their program to the point that they had to be taken into the Big10. I could see Purdue/MSU being asked to move out of Sept to a later date which seems doable since the Big10 teams now play non-confernce games later in the season where as in the past they used to never play a non-conf opponent after the start of Big 10 conference play.
I'm trying to think of the classy way of ending the series. We could have sent an email, we could have mailed a letter, or we could have done it in person. It seems to me that doing it in person shows more respect than just mailing it in. But maybe that's just me. We're going to have to do some tap dancing with our schedule. With the 5 team ACC requirement, we're more than likely still going to have some difficult Septembers. It would be nice if we could start a little slow before we start banging with the big boys. Duke, Wake or Maryland would make a good Sept. opponent but playing in Tally the second week of the season would be worse than going to Ann Arbor. With all these conference realignments, they're going to have to play musical chairs.
I wonder who exactly handed it to Brandon? Did he say Swarbrick did? If he did I would think he might have said something like Dave I've made up my mind to invoke our clause and terminate the series at this time, hear is your offical notification. Now if he had an usher deliver it, maybe it wasn't a cordial breakup.