Is Notre Dame, an institution that for the longest time did not accept invitations to bowl games (and not just in seasons in which it finished 6-6), an institution that for the longest time did not accept female students, and an institution that in football has been forever fiercely independent, finally beginning to seriously consider joining a conference?

On Tuesday in New York City, Fighting Irish athletic director Jack Swarbrick met with a few reporters and conceded that, in terms of current conference realignment rumors, “You can each come up with a scenario that would force our hand.”

Such a scenario has two overriding factors: money and brand relevance. Beginning this season ESPN and its partner ABC will have the television rights to the four BCS bowls and the BCS Championship Game through 2014 (ESPN will air the BCS title game from 2011-2013 and ABC, which will retain exclusive control of the Rose Bowl, will air the 2014 BCS championship game from Pasadena). As Disney influence over college football continues to expand, Swarbrick must consider how Notre Dame’s exclusive contract with NBC to air Fighting Irish home games (which runs through 2015) impacts his program.

Currently, Big Ten schools receive $22 million annually in television money, according to a recent report on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines.” Notre Dame, through its contract with NBC, receives about $15 million. That’s correct: Indiana and Purdue both earn nearly 50 percent more in television money than fellow in-state program Notre Dame, even though the Irish dwarf both schools in terms of national interest.

Then comes the matter of Notre Dame maintaining — many would say reclaiming — its national prestige.

Swarbrick, a Notre Dame alumnus who earned a law degree from Stanford, said college football is in a period of peak instability, and that “we are at a point right now where the changes could be relatively small, or they could be seismic.” In an environment in which a playoff is seriously being discussed — a scenario that, to listen to the voices who dominate ESPN (and who, presumably, would not be so foolish as to directly contradict the wishes of ESPN executives on air), would be welcomed by that “family of networks” — Swarbrick and Notre Dame president Father John Jenkins, C.S.C., must consider where a Notre Dame that has no conference affiliation and no home games broadcast on ESPN might fit.

It has been 22 years since Notre Dame, a school that won a national championship in all but one decade between the 1920s and 1980s, last played for the national title. And the truth is that when Notre Dame is not mired in mediocrity, as it has been for the past 15 years, its independence only extends its appeal: the school’s many fans and alumni draw strength from it while its even more numerous legion of ardent detractors use it as the source of their vitriol. Either way, Notre Dame football receives more attention than any collegiate program, football or basketball, and most pro sports franchises.

As long as the Irish are winning. It has been a long time, however, since the Irish were consistently special (26-24 over the past four seasons). And so, within the confines of the Golden Dome and the Joyce Athletic & Convocation Center, Fr. Jenkins and Swarbrick, respectively, must wonder whether this fallow period represents a blip or if it is a symptom of the changing landscape of college football. If they conclude the latter, then expect Notre Dame to join a conference.

It is ironic that the first ESPN “College GameDay” episode to air from a campus site took place at Notre Dame (before the 1993 tilt between No. 1 Florida State and the No. 2 Irish). GameDay is emblematic of how college football has changed in the past two decades: host Chris Fowler and analysts Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit are rock stars as soon as they step on campus. GameDay hasn’t visited South Bend in five seasons (the ‘05 USC-Notre Dame classic). It’s also somewhat funny that at halftime of ESPN football games viewers are returned to a studio that features Lou Holtz, the last messiah to resurrect Notre Dame from the ashes, while Notre Dame’s NBC viewers get … Jimmy Roberts.

Nearly two decades ago the first age of the super-conference was born, as the Southwest Conference (SWC) was sacrificed in order to create the newfangled SEC and expand the Big 8 to the Big 12. Then in 1992 the SEC, taking advantage of a loophole in the NCAA by-laws, created a lucrative conference championship game. The era of expanding conferences without regard to geography (Louisiana Tech, for example, is a member of the Western Athletic Conference) was upon us.

Swarbrick is concerned, and rightfully so — “I’m spending 50 percent of my time talking to people about this” — that we are at the dawn of the next age of the super-conference. When a few conferences, such as the Pac-10 and Big Ten, expand to join the economic elite of the SEC and Big 12 and separate themselves from the rest of the pack. And perhaps eventually those elite conferences become the framework for a playoff structure. At risk is whether Notre Dame passes up its opportunity to enlist with these elite and the ramifications of failing to do so.

(An aside: In 1987 Sports Illustrated had the opportunity to purchase ESPN. Really. The magazine passed. If you don’t think the magazine regrets that decision every day … some opportunities only come around once.)

The irony in all of this, of course, is that Notre Dame initially became a national brand specifically because it was spurned by the Big Ten. In 1926, as Knute Rockne and the Irish were at the height of their powers, Notre Dame’s application to join the conference was voted down, primarily because the athletic directors at Michigan (Fielding Yost) and the University of Chicago (Amos Alonzo Stagg) were suspicious — and perhaps just a little bit envious — of Rockne’s success. By spurning the Irish, the Big Ten forced Notre Dame to take to the national stage, where the school became the first of its kind to engender coast-to-coast appeal.

Earlier Tuesday a Notre Dame fan spoke for most of the school’s faithful when he remarked on Twitter, “The argument for joining a conference almost always boils down to … ‘We gave up.’ ” There is much truth in that sentiment. An independent Notre Dame that can consistently finish in the top five makes up for in prestige and merchandising much of what it might sacrifice in television money by not aligning with the Big Ten…..UH, DUH! STUPID, ANY TEAM WOULD!!!!….gawd they’re so smart and so stupid all at the same time!

The question is, can an independent Notre Dame draw and develop players who have no personal memory of a time when the Irish were the brand name in college football? Is the Irish brain-trust up to that challenge, or is it simply more expedient to abandon the attempt, to allow the school’s football independence go the way of bowl-game refusals and all-male student bodies?

“GO BEN GO!”

Soon, there will be a NEW Jackass in town! Hated in towns across America!;…From San Fran, to Baltimore, to Philly, to Dallas, and even bUFfalo!….He’snow headed here, and you can thank Cincy team mouthpiece, Chud Ocho-Side-Show-act-o for his interest. Yeah, many of the same fans who find value in Chud, a jerk who cost his team in both playoff loses (out of 2 …and both were at home, btw….meaning, this team was suppose to win those games) will LOVE following hims as he endorses an even  bigger distraction to our town! The same guy who killed his team by just being “himself” in both our playoff games (in the last 20+ seasons), wants to further ruin the team by bringing in his equally distracting idol….and, maybe his lover, too?…TO! (totally owesome!)

Quick review: Chud Johnson acted like a little freakin’ jackass in the locker room during half-time of the 2005 season play-off game against Pittsburgh. In a game where the Bungles lost Carson Palmer and needed a guy to mature and step up, they got Chad Johnson the f’in baby-ass instead! They still led at halftime; but! Chud, knowing there were camera’s rolling out on the field, was upset about NOT getting enUFf balls thrown his way. After all, he needed to exploit his face and camera’s generally followed the ball, not guys who’s nads fold up inside their bodies during big games! SO!, because he’s so juvenile and assy (its a word!) he reportedly got in such a “tizzy” that he took a bitch slap at a Coach. I can only imagine it was a “bitch slap” because Chud seems like he’s a sissy-bitch. After all, I’ve seen him try to block, and anytime he’s been hit, he’s gone DOWN  (Gawd I love that vid!) like a sack of dirt!. Chud did start to block a little in 2009, but at 14-million a year that’s a little late for him to get props. Then there’s that dive he took late in the game up in bUFfalo a few years ago, when he was just too scared after getting grazed?(The video showed he was almost completely missed!) That was about pathetic. Still, I understand many of the fans in town still bend over for his ass, so, he’s a least got y’all fooled. Of course, most of you probably chase the red (laser) light up and down the wall too. After all, side-shows like Chaud are here to divert attention. His side-shows acts, which have failed to help “his” team win even ONE playoff game (or even ONE must win game, for that matter), stay…but, he wont even once try the STFU and play method JUST once to see if that MIGHT be MORE helpful to an actual TEAM minded goal (WINS!)?… than his Bullshit skits have? (and they’ve failed miserably at all “TEAM” goals)…. Well, I sure hope winning is still a goal here….despite continual evidence to the contrary.

Anyway!…If the SECOND playoff game the Bengals “hosted” (and have BEEN in since 1990!) Mr “Productive”-o decided that after he was shut-down by D Revis in the Season’s FINAL game of the year (the week before), that he’d buckle down and concentrate ONLY on Football to prepare himself like a professional might, in an effort to help his team win this pending playoff game!….YEAH RIGHT!!…HA!..Man, that’s a freakin’ laugh!..No, instead, in typical jackass form he promoted himself (yawn, again!) by expressing that he’d “own” Revis in the rematch. He went on that week to continue to busy himself with other-than-football-related issues, such as; Express that the “man-on-man sex” he had during the week was proof he was “ready” to play, and then further ready himself by arranging to have the big rig truck he bought himself for his birthday; delivered and set up on display at the stadium. You know, all the important things ALL those wr’s from Indy and N’awlins do/did before their games. Yeah, RIGHT!(again)…Chud also busied himself by proposing that he’d change his name back to “Johnson”, if Revis wasn’t his “bitch” by game’s end. Well, add bet welcher to Chud’s long list of asinine characteristics. The D!ck-head still goes by that ridiculous Ocho-crap-o name! and still, the drones of fans stand by him (while he laughs at them).

Chud’s list of accomplishments continue with his bashing of the City, the fans, and all the players who expected him to actually lead the team by “playing” well (novel concept, eh?)….AND, as a team leader (defined by his time here, his salary and his self-promotion) he was critical of the expectations of him???? After all, they only get to play Cleveland TWICE a year!…OH, and he had that really good game against Miami that year they only won one game;….in week 17 no less!

THIS is the guy endorsing another guy who is as BIG an asshole, but has advancement down the diminished capacity career line a slight bit more! The Bills let him walk, and its been reported that NO OTHER TEAM HAS ANY INTEREST IN TERRELL OWENS at all. CHUD has taken all he’s meant to the city, and all that TO brings to the table, and the fact NO ONE else wants him, and decided assholes love company, and pioneered the Bungles signing the senior distraction/cancer! In true BT Barnum fashion, Mikey Brown has listened, and will probably sign this Class “A”9as in asshole) distraction and team destroyer. They made strides last year, but were a deep threat short of a good offense. Signing a guy NO other team wants, JUST MAKES GOOD SENSE! After all, we still have Chud!…and if HE were anything close to as good as he (and some of YOU) think?..He’s have moved on LOOOOONNNGGG ago! He knew no other team wanted him, and that no other fan base would put up with his diversionary clown antics. Other teams and other teams’ fans expect winning football over clowns!…or, at least a careful mix of both!

I feel really really bad for The Saints,….all they got was a Super Bowl win,….WE still have Chud and his tired ass act!…SUCKERS!!!…AND!, as a bonus, WE still use that tired old chant we stole from them YEARS ago!; ”Who Dey!?”…”WHO DEY?” (HA HA in their FACES!!!)….Well, since 1990?, “Who Dey” = everyone!! Can you imagine a more ridiculous chant for a this team? The only team to have zero playoff wins since 1990?!?!?

IF there is a saving grace here, its this;…..THERE does exist ONE guy in the NFL who is a BIGGER (and better) self-promoting media whore, than Chud (though to THIS guys credit, he has achieved a ga-zillion times more than Chud in his career); and that’s, you guessed it, Brent (I know) FaVre! The whore is going to prolong his “retirement/staying” presser for a few months yet, so I guess the idea that he and TO hook up for a last hoo-haa, is a possibility!??? The NFL has LONG lost its “sport” focused approach, and has been slowly sliding into the being what “pro” Wrestling is; Side-bar stories and distracting loud-mouthed idiots are now the driving force!….Sadly, its been eaten up by the fans so well, its now all the foundation the NFL has left, and what they now need to pursue to continue. This is no longer “Football”, but just another long-breathed staged Reality Show. Drink it in!….ITs gonna be grape flavored THIS year!

The G-String Question: Is the reaction dumber than the question itself? HELL YES!

The Bucs are off the hook.  The single dumbest question of the NFL Scouting Combine was asked to Oklahoma defensive tackle Gerald McCoy.

“Someone asked me if I wore a g-string or a jock strap when I played,” McCoy told the NFL Network set Monday to disbelief, laughter, and amazement.

Analyst Mike Mayock wanted to know McCoy’s reaction to the question.  The affable defender just left his mouth open in a stunned expression. 

We heard a few stories in Indianapolis of coaches jokingly messing with players during interviews, but none sounded as creepy as this.

The video of the interview is oddly not yet on NFL.com. That’s probably a coincidence.  Or perhaps the league is embarrassed.

REALLY, Jackass?..You think the NFL is embarrassed that some one reported that a player was asked a question off of the normal script? Gheesh, how long have you been following Pro Football? These questions judge reaction, no one is interested in the actual answer,..well, unless it involves Paris Hilton, a bipolar Koala bear, and a rented U-Haul.

The general reaction has been that poor Mr McCoy should be offended!….Awww, maybe if his feelings ae hurt, the question served its purpose. After all, it was HE who felt the need to share this snip-it with the rest of the class. The “character flaw”, in part, is ALL his!

 

Well, they made another one, just for you!

Go figure, apparently SOME people are uptight!?!?.. People in this country can get freaked out about some one else’s opinion or views?..WOW! -Who’d have thunk it?

National Signing Day!…the day silly ass College Football junkies (like myself) are glued to their favorite sites waiting for 17 – 18 year old kids to commit their College choices! For the Florida Gators, the class is pretty much complete; and all before 11am! This is the earliest I can recall this being “over”!…Well, there is a highly regarded OL Chaz Green who they still hope to get, but the rest are Signed sealed and ALL GATORS!. Check out that link, and dot the lines on what will be an amazing Defensive Line.

5* DE Ronald Powell (#1 overall recruit, per Rivals)

5* DT Sharrif Floyd (#4 overall recruit, per Rivals)

5* DT Dominique Easley (#7 overall recruit, per Rivals)

4* DE Lynden Trail (#123 overall recruit, per Rivals)

Add Safety Matt Elam (5*, overall #25 player, per Rivals) and Cornerback Joshua Shaw (4* overall #28 player, per Rivals) and the Defense might be kinda strong!…AGAIN!

Collectively, 10 of the Rival Top 100 are signed in as Gators…well, Travon Van isn’t “in” yet, but should be (HE’S SIGNED NOW!) (He’s not in the top 100 though). If Chaz Green (#43 overall, per Rival / OL) avoids the UTenn temptations, he could make 11 of the top 100 that are Gators (& 5 of the top 28 !). Not bad for a Coach who nearly had to quit due to health problems, in the middle of recruiting! Just added Adrian Coxson, 6′2″ wr from Maryland. 27 loi’s, one spot left….for Mr Green!?!?!?!

OSU is humming right around the #26 mark, though when OL Seantrell Henderson (#2 overall recruit, per Rivals) commits, that will shoot them back in the top 20 easy! They really didn’t have a whole lot of need this year. Young team, pretty much already set for 2010. Still, got a good class.

UC hasn’t cashed in, they are listed at #56…B-Kelly left no favors when he parted. They’ve lost a few of the touted recruits they had. By late afternoon they could fall into the 60’s in class rank. 

The SEC is, once again, taking the bulk of the talent, by conference. Seven of the top 19 ranked classes are from the SEC. (Florida, Auburn, Alabama, LoSerU, Tennessee, Jawja, and Ole Miss ; SoCarolina fell to #26) Making it once again, the top conference in recruiting. Somehow people STILL doubt they are the best!…As if 4 National Titles in a row, and 5 out of the last 6 didn’t nail it down for them….???

To Bengals nation n my fans, sorry for letting you guys down n for doing wat I did. I hope dat u guys continue to support me n all I do! I kno its gonna be hard to believe me but I will do everything in my power to gain ur trust back! I will definitely learn from this!

The quote above was taken from Rey Maualuga’s Twitter account this morning.

I wonder if the girls’ parents of the car he smashed are as willing to forgive and forget.

Most of the BIG names have declared, and Texas will likely end up with the #1 Class, followed by Florida, Alabama and a few other SEC Schools (6 in the top 10 to this point). On Wednesday (02.03.10) it’ll all settle, sans the possibility some Terrell Pryor/Bryce Brown type decides to ride the “LOVE-ME” train a little longer. For Pryor, it kinda made his two years of comparable “let-down” kinda interesting. And for UMichy and PeniSUfans, may have been a little humorous? OK, so in Michy’s case, they are PROBABLY a little more concerned with their direction, than how much better off both Pryor and THEY would be had it gone to Ann Arbor. Michiganis addressing their defensive needs in this class, but as far as top recruits coming in, that hasn’t yet returned. They will be better going forward, but Richie-Rod will wear asbestos underwear in this, his final year at the helm. Michigan will not be improved enUFf to save him….and the rope he’s been (to this point)given is long enUFf. PeniSU has righted the ship under Coke Bottle Glasses Guy, and lead the big10 in this years race. Its largely believed they’ll fall off a little in the conference THIS year, but are re-loading with this 2010 class.

 There are two semi-high profile recruits, possibly, who will run this route this year. The extra time did little good for either of the two mentioned above; Pryor has been largely mis-used in Columbus, and Bryce Brown will move on to the NFL without ever playing in a January Bowl game! Still, I’m sure those extra weeks of Coaches coming by to blow you, were well worth the delay. In Pryor’s case, though, at least he’ll be playing for his conference Title every year. As much a credit to the his team, as it is for his conference. This year, he’ll have to beat scUMiami, Wiscony and Iowa. The two in conference games could be the most competition they had in a long while! scUMiami could be better this year than last. They have a ton of young fast players, that just didn’t handle the hot start so well last year. The game in 2011 will be the tUFfer game, but Pryor will likely make the jump by then…..based on potential more than appeal, I believe. He’s got the tools, he’s just not been able to play the kind of offense he’s built to play. tOSU fans would agree with that, following a loss. They might disagree with that line of thinking now, though. Fresh off a win against Defense-challenged Oregon (who was SHUT down by BSU in game one!), they have boners for the “O” now! At the time, of the Boise win over Ore-gone, it was considered an aberration. The team showed improvement. HOWEVER! -Noting what side of the ball matters (exclusively) in the PAC10 (sans USC), it may mean a little somethin’-somethin’..?? Oregon got to #7 by beating Arizona by 3 in double OT (44-41) and by beating Oregon State IN EUGENE, by 3 (UC smoke OSU in Corvallis in 2010,..smoked ‘em!) Arizona was shut-out in its Bowl game against Nebraska!

UCincinnati class rank, thus far?….With INdy’s DyJuan Lewis (top 150 player/recruit) in the mix, they are up to #58, per Rivals. HERE

Catch signing day updates here!….THIS coming Wednesday!

What a silly, silly little man-boy. Lane Kiffin, in an attempt to hide the skeletons in the closets he recently left at his 2.6 million dollar home the good people of UTenn were renting for him, has decided to start up a hoot of a rumor;

ANIMAL HOUSE: Word on the street is that Kiffin and Ed Orgeron are hammering away at Urban Meyer on the recruiting trail. Reportedly, recruits are being told that Urban Meyer already has a plan in place to succeed Lee Corso on ESPN’s College GameDay. Forget, for a moment, how Meyer feels; poor Corso, who battled back from a stroke and is one of the biggest supporters of college football, must feel like he was blindsided. While it’s a cute story those two concocted, me thinks Laney should worry more about what TMZ uncovers regarding his sordid social life in Knoxville during his short stay on Rocky Top. And Coach O(gre), well. … He should just try to make English his first language. After all, that Geico “So easy a Caveman can do it” marketing campaign has got to run out at some point, right?

Yeah, as if the order of his recently let house isn’t enUFf to keep him busy, Lamey has created a story in an attempt to play Urban off as the new Lee Corso! Petty and meaningless?…That’s the Kiffin Klown!! Rock on Kif, you’ll be a star on your (own) merit SOME DAY!!!…..or not. You’ll always be your Daddy’s little man!

USC fans are fearing the cloak-n-dagger “Browns-move-to-Baltimore” style antics of Mr Pete Carroll as he “Signs-n-drives” outta LA!….Sure, Prater and maybe Baxter (a WR and an RB recruit, who are rated as the #2 and #3 overall recruits this year; Baxter reportedly likes Florida and Michigan as “alts”) might “re-open” their options because of this, but that’s small potatoes! THEY may leave (or seek options) maybe not ONLY because the Coach is making off with a ton of cash! (rumored to be approx. 7 million and nearly FULL control!), but because “there be” good reason(s) Pete couldn’t say no THIS time! P-E-N-A-L-T-I-E-S !!!!,…and if they have teeth; the end of USC domination as we’ve come to know it!

Riiiiggghhhtt!, there are NCAA people snoopin’ ’round them fertile football grounds now, and they may not leave for a little while this time! So much for the heroic, “The Captain always goes down with his ship”, saying, eh? Not when said ship can be replaced with 35 million in “G” dollars!

The NCAA couldn’t get any evidence on Reggie Bush before (they lack subpoena power, so they couldn’t make Bush spill any details), but the Bush trial just got green-lite, so the NCAA will get all the evidence they need from the public record of the trial. As much as I love conspiracy theories and the NCAA, for the most part it’s due to a serious lack of power in terms of evidence gathering. They need snitches to make a case, period. Things may be getting steamy for Carroll, and he might be leaving before his factory gets put on serious probation! Like 7 million wont ease his pain,….

The PAC10 and the NCAA had reasons to keep looking the other way, in the USC case. There is (or “was”) a void of good football interests in the far West (Go ahead, say it with me; East Coast Bias!…East Coast Bias!…); That is until recently (Oregon, aka: Nike U!) with the development of that team in Eugene (see Nike co-founder Phil Knight ).  The colorful Ducks can take up the slack now, they have the funding, and a great Offense brewing up there. Typical to the Pac10 ways, though, they dont much bother with playing defense!

So, Pete’s skippin’ off to Seattle and staying a few steps ahead of the law…..can ya blame him? AND!,..after all, its NEVER the people who actually DO the bad things that EVER pay the price in these cases!…..Pete, Maye, Bush, McKnight (who declared for te NFL just now!) all got theirs!…Its just the school and the fans that get the groin shot and a vacation from “Bowling”!!!

Nice work Pete, enjoy your time resurecting the Seahawks!…..and, all that great coffee! Please keep us abreast of how that Colton Harris-Moore case is going!

Mark Sanchez says: THIS,..or, listen to him HERE