IrishAZ

iso left...iso right...traps...counters....what the hell happened? Callahan find Dr. Tom's playbook in a file cabinet or something?

Awwww geez....c'mon Blackshirts!...YEAH!

Now it's a game...imagine that? Scoring from the I...who would have thought such an antiquated approach would work against those speedy modern defenses?

There we go! That's Husker football!

That was dumb...not even play action...*sigh*...

Somehow, I think Hardy doing that little cocky walk after a 3 yrd reception while being down 21-0 looked pretty dumb...my god man, look like you've been in a game before.

I think it's time for an intervention...keep it together Z...cut off the chips (will just make you want to drink more)...nurse the beer...get to the store at halftime...you can do it!

Have to cut a little slack on the 4th down pass...gutsy call, at least. I would have been happier with the conversion, but at least BC's showing he's out there to win.

Our DB's are keeping up no problem, but they aren't reacting to the ball at all. They're playing for the tackle, not to break up the pass. We're going to get burned on 20 yarders all day long...*sigh*...

Man...that TTU passing game is hard to stop...deep cover and they pick you apart underneath, press coverage and they go deep. Well coached QB and a pretty flexible offensive scheme. The Blackshirts are going to be tested with this one.

Keep the faith...it's still early.

GBR GBR GBR IRISH GBR GBR IRISH GBR GBR! Man...a sea of red...beauty...

There are a couple of reasons, I think. One is that ND has never really been a regional team with a regional fan base (and conferences are, by definition, regional). Before the team was dubbed "the Fighting Irish" in 1920-something, they were known as "the Ramblers" because of the fact that they travelled so extensively. Our biggest rival is USC, for example, and that's a remnant of that era. Consequently, the fan base for ND is very well dispersed. A nice side-effect of this, and though it's not a "reason" per se, inasmuch as I'm sure decision makers at ND don't put too much consideration into it when the conference question is raised, is that ND can schedule all kinds of different teams since we're not tied to playing 5 or 6 conference games every year. Next year, for example, we pick up Ga Tech, PSU, UNC and UCLA. The only real constants on the ND schedule are Purdue (in-state rivals), USC and Navy (which has a pretty good story behind the series - ask me if you're curious). And there's money, of course - the contract with NBC has been renewed through the 2010 season, by the way, and ND isn't required to share any of that money (or merchandizing or any other revenue). Now. before laying the smackdown about ND greed - consider this: ND doesn't have a separate athletic budget - money from the TV contract (and the occasional disasterous bowl appearance) goes into the school's general funding and pays for everything from scholarships and salaries to facilities and the occasional particle accelerator. Keep in mind that ND has a *tiny* enrollment - about 6,000 students - and isn't funded by the Church even supplementally. Donations from alums and boosters might be significant, but I can guarantee you those checks couldn't possibly pay for even 6 months of the operational budget of ND's HEP Lab. I think it ultimately comes down to that - ND football joining a conference would mean a big drop-off in revenue for the school which, in turn, would directly affect the academic environment. I've been able to glean quite a bit from friends at the University concerning this and while it's not specific "insider" knowledge on the reasons for not joining a conference, I tend to think It's not too far off the mark. IRISH! GBR!

I'm not all that worried about the big numbers passing and low numbers rushing. I think we can be pretty confident in Ross's ability to run when it's there. If you get a D that stacks the line, though, you have to make them pay through the air which is precisely what we did. I also think we should all applaud FF for his even-handed commentary here... IRISH! GBR!

I've been pretty impressed with your Lions this season BWB - can't wait to play them next year (it'll be another typical ND/PSU game in the AZ household...my dad, the PSU grad, will be stiffly neutral and unsatisfied no matter who wins...LOL). IRISH! GBR!

Don't take it personally, Pillen...bitter married men don't take to jokes well... ...I didn't think it was funny either, by the way.

I think the Blackshirts aren't going to surprise them - it's obvious we've got ourselves a legitimate top-10 defense. I would expect TTU to throw the book at us this year.... ...I also fully expect the Blackshirts to throw the book, tables, chairs, matresses, tires, lead pipes, sinks, anvils, and the president of the Debate Club right back at them - no one hangs 70 on the Blackshirts and doesn't regret it eventually. I'm way happy with Saturday's performance against ISU - great production on Offense, mental toughness, obvious signs of improvement in all phases of the game. The best revenge? I don't want to see a lopsided score. How cool would it be if we hung 35 on them the first half, then finished the 2nd quarter taking knees with 3 minutes left then coasted the rest of the game with 2nd stringers. as an obvious sign of mercy...and complete disdain. MUHAHA! IRISH! GBR!

Some people just can't be stopped. The Heart of a Champion The heart of a champion Born with no legs, Bobby Martin rises above End Zone By WAYNE COFFEY DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER Despite being born without legs, high school football player Bobby Martin ... ... refuses to be overshadowed by his circumstances. DAYTON, Ohio - Five weeks ago, in the first football game of his life, a 3-foot-1, 110-pound nose tackle for the Colonel White High School Cougars pushed his powerful hands into the turf, found a gap and scrambled across the line of scrimmage. There were six minutes left in the fourth quarter, against an Ohio powerhouse named Valley View High. Bobby Martin, No. 99 in green and gold, smacked into quarterback Derrick Velte, wrapped him in his arms and threw him for a five-yard loss. The crowd stood and roared. Martin thrust up his hands. On the sideline, Colonel White assistant coach Kerry Ivy, a mountainous 342-pound man, had tears in his eyes. Who had ever seen a sack by a player with no legs before? "Nice hit," Velte said. "It felt great," Martin says, smiling. Bobby Martin is a 17-year-old senior at Colonel White, an inner city kid with a wispy mustache and matchstick-thin sideburns that meet at his chin. He lives with his mother, Gloria, in a little white house with a wheelchair that sits in the living room, never used, and never will be, Martin having taken off the wheels. He says the chair is too cumbersome. It slows him down, makes him feel handicapped. "Bobby has an extraordinary will to be normal," says Earl White, the head coach at Colonel White. The coach shakes his head, never fathoming that Bobby Martin would become perhaps the most suddenly celebrated prep football player in the country this season, that people from Sports Illustrated to ESPN to some outlet in Korea would want to talk to him, a third-string player for a team that doesn't even have a home field. The team commutes to practice at an abandoned school a few miles away, a forlorn patch with bent goalposts, bare spots in the middle and grass as long as a hayfield on the flanks. Martin was on it on Friday, a beautiful autumn afternoon, ambushing teammates from behind, running down the field faster than you could ever imagine someone without legs running. "His fingers are his cleats, and you never have to worry about them wearing down," Kerry Ivy says. It was a congenital birth defect that brought Gloria Martin's youngest child into the world with half of a body on Nov. 3, 1987. It didn't stop him from placing second in the city as a 92-pound, middle-school wrestler four years ago, nor from emerging as perhaps the most intensely competitive player on Earl White's football team this season. Indeed, the only force that has stopped him was a man in a striped shirt two weeks ago. Colonel White was playing Mt. Healthy of Cincinnati. The officials conferred at halftime. Dennis Daly, the chief of the officiating crew, announced that Martin could not play in the second half, citing a mandatory-equipment rule in the National Federation of State High School Associations handbook. The rule stipulates that players must wear shoes, thigh pads and knee pads. It is a big problem when you have no feet, thighs or knees. "I thought they were trying to embarrass him," says Marquis Burns, a senior linebacker and captain, and a close friend of Martin's. "We were all really mad." Martin was, too. Later he said it was the first time in his life he'd ever felt disabled. He simmered with anger on the sidelines. He cried. "I felt like they were trying to take something away from me, and it wasn't right," Martin says. A firestorm of protest erupted, and by the following Monday, the Ohio High School Athletic Association had stepped in, giving Martin clearance to play for the rest of the season. Still, the debate pressed on. Daly, who has declined to speak with reporters, has been pilloried in some corners of the press, while a few others have argued that Martin, who competes in both JV and varsity, typically getting in for a few punt returns and late-game downs, is making a mockery of the game. "He's not making a mockery of the game. He loves the game," Kerry Ivy says. Says John Dickerson, an assistant commissioner with the OHSAA, "I think the crew that didn't allow him to play has been very unjustly criticized for making a decision that they thought was in the best interests of the safety of the young man. Had the school maybe been pro-active initially and alerted us to what was an unusual situation, this whole thing probably could've been avoided." * * * When Gloria Martin was pregnant with Bobby and had her first ultrasound, the picture did not show her baby's legs. Three subsequent ultrasounds didn't show them either. Her doctor tried to reassure her, saying they could be concealed. "They were making excuses, because they didn't want me to worry," Gloria says, sitting in a small intake room in the downtown behavioral health center where she works. She was worried, and when she first saw her seven-pound, 13-ounce boy and learned that he would also need surgery for lower intestinal tract complications, she knew she had every right to be. Gloria Martin's greatest solace came from Bobby himself. Even as a baby, he was determined not to let his disability stop him. He walked at 15 months. "He has always done the things he wants to do," Gloria Martin says. "I tried to raise him that way." Life has never been easy for Bobby Martin. The family was poor, and his father, Robert James Martin Sr., has never been much of a factor in his life. In grade school Bobby was quick to anger and would get into altercations several times a week. As he grew up, verbal skirmishes would replace the physical kind. When he feels belittled or singled out, it can set him off, and so can hearing the word "no." He's plenty tough - "If I had one guy to take with me into a fight in an alley, it would be Bobby," Ivy says - but not inclined to compliance when crossed. "I didn't discipline him the way I did my other children," Gloria Martin says. "I spoiled him from the start." Martin has been to three high schools, leaving the previous school because of a contentious relationship with an assistant principal. He's no stranger to Dayton police, having piled up some 17 motor-vehicle violations for driving without a license. How do you drive when you have no legs? You simply hop in and use a windshield squeegee or porch spindle to poke the brake and accelerator. The Martins owe a few thousand dollars in fines, Gloria says. Bobby loves driving, and loves working under the hood of his cars, but says his driving days are over. "I sold (my Camaro) last summer," Bobby says. His principal means of transit now is his 12-inch by 18-inch skateboard. He does handstands on it, takes flying leaps off staircases with it. Martin loves to shock people. He'll cook for himself, springing up to the stovetop, sitting on the edge using the burners farthest away. During a break in practice Friday, he scrambled over to a pickup truck, hoisted himself into the back and vaulted onto the roof. With an upper body that can bench press 215 pounds, he gets places quickly. "His ability to improvise is amazing," says Earl White, who used to be Bobby's wrestling coach. Coaches and friends say that Martin's most notable quality of all, though, may be how comfortable he is with himself. This Friday is Homecoming at Colonel White. Martin is one of the candidates for Homecoming King. People in the school say he is the favorite to win, and Martin would love it. Around the team, there is constant joking back and forth, and Martin's leglessness is fair game. "Take a knee, Bobby," Kerry Ivy will holler. Or: "You can do it. Just put one foot in front of another." Not long ago, Martin came off the field and hollered in mock alarm, "I can't feel my legs! I can't feel my legs!" Everybody laughed. "It's hard to be sad when you're around him," Ivy says. Three days after the game in which he was banished, Martin and Ivy were in an area hospital visiting Ivy's nephew. A big story on Martin had just run in the local paper. The father of a 12-year-old boy named Michael Perry saw Martin and asked if he would be willing to go in and talk to his son. Michael Perry is suffering from a serious kidney disorder and had just had two blood transfusions. His spirits have been down. Martin said sure, jumped on his skateboard and wheeled down to Michael Perry's room. He hopped on the bed and talked to the boy, encouraging him to stay positive, to believe that God had a plan for him, and that God had brought them together that day. Afterward they held hands and said a prayer. * * * The Colonel White Cougars evened their record at 3-3 last night at Stargel Stadium in Cincinnati, about 75 minutes down Interstate 75. They beat Hughes Central High, 27-22. Martin has been frustrated by his lack of playing time - "He thinks he should be starting," Earl White says - but still produced another personal highlight against Hughes. With eight minutes left before halftime, Martin hustled downfield on a kickoff, jersey flapping behind him. He slammed into the returner at the 39-yard-line, helping to bring him down. Martin is talking about playing baseball in the spring, and would like to go to college to study computer software and maybe keep playing football next year. "I don't want it to end here," he says. Late in Friday's practice, Martin was on the kicking team, hurtling his 37-inch body downfield, his arms his fulcrum, and his engine. His favorite player is Warren Sapp, and not unlike Sapp, he astonishes you with his movement. It isn't surprising to anyone on the team, though. Not much is. "We don't consider him a special-needs kid, because he doesn't need nothing," Earl White says. "That's how he's always been. He has an obvious disability, but he doesn't look at himself that way, so we don't, either." The coach looks over to Martin, who is kibitzing with teammates, wrestling and tackling them, a full team member, half-body notwithstanding. "I never felt sorry for myself," Bobby Martin says. "Anything anybody else can do, I can do. When people say I can't do stuff, I just like to prove them wrong." Originally published on October 2, 2005

Not at all, Eric - climb aboard there's plenty of room. He didn't get the nickname "Choo Choo Charlie" for nothing. IRISH! GBR!

'Zactly! Hilarious stuff....real Woodshed fodder IRISH! GBR! -ps Thanks BRJ - good wins for Huskers and the Irish today...much happiness!

...does it exist?

Well, considering his nickname in South Bend was "the Little Prick" even during his best-loved years...

I don't know. IrishAZ isn't that bad Thanks Dave And all this time I thought y'all letting me be here was just a sort of affirmative action program or something ND fans, coaches and players are scuz-bags though...I mean, it's so obvious... Montana, Theisman, Bettis, Bryant Young, Aaron Taylor, Mike Golic...a$$hole$, the lot of them. And Weis making that poor kid do his job for him and call plays and then doing all that self-aggrandizing charity work...what a jerk! And the nerve of them graduating players and having almost as many Academic All-Americans as Nebraska! Outrageous! Truly, Notre Dame is the toe-jam of the World's sneaker...now if y'all will excuse me, I must now repent and wear my blue and gold sackcloth and find some ashes. I think Lloyd Carr's contract will suffice. IRISH! GBR!

Your=posessive You're=you are Sorry...english teacher here... Shouldn't that be "English teacher"? IRISH! GBR!

You ever watch Regis Philbin cry Monday mornings after they lose? That's funny!! I just hope you have it videotaped...it might become a more rare occurance in the future. Glad the hate fest is pointed in the right direction though! IRISH! GBR!