Notre Dame "the Luck" of the Irish

As of this Sunday morning, Thanksgiving has come and gone, many college rivialries were renewed and added a new chapter, the four WPIAL champs were crowned, and Notre Dame has once again had luck on thier side to finish the season 12-0 and clinch a spot in the BCS National Championship game. Yes, I know that Notre Dame is a GOOD team, but no where near a great team. Their schedule this year is not as great as everyone claims it to be. Games against Navy, Pitt, Boston College, Wake Forest, BYU, and the fact that their independent should be enough to easily keep them out of the title game, but it obviously isn't. Notre Dame should have lost to Pitt and the refs clearly gave the Irish that game, this scandal occured in the overtime periods. In the 2nd overtime Pitt was attempting their shot at a game-winning field goal, only for their kicker to miss it wide right. The problem is that Notre Dame had TWO guys were the # 2 on the field for that play, by NCAA rule this is illegal and should have resulted in an automatic 1st down for Pitt; giving them another chance to get the game-winning score. Now, who knows if Pitt would have been able to score still, but this is blatent cheating by the refs to save Notre Dame, the ref looked straight up and saw both #2's before the snap and just looked back down (video evidence). This week, Notre Dame caught a lucky break by having to face USC with unexperienced Max Wittek, instead of senior super-star Matt Barkely. Barkley got injured a week ago and was inmediately ruled out for Saturday night's game. USC's offense was off-sync all night and as a result Notre Dame wins 22-13. I will give the Irish credit for making an all-time great goal line stand in the late 4th quarter to preserve the lead, and for making the plays to go undefeated. To have an undefeated season, you have to be great, opportunistic, and have some luck on your side. This year, Notre Dame has definately got the "luck of the Irish" going for them.

Big Ten adds Two

Over the weekend an interesting story in college sports came to surface. On Saturday it first broke that Maryland and Rutgers were leaving their current conferences, the ACC and Big East, respectively to become the 13th and 14th members of the Big Ten. Speculation and anticipation was in the air for the rest of the weekend awaitng to see if these were just rumors. Late Monday morning, any doubts were put to rest when ESPN officially broke the news that Maryland will be joing the Big Ten starting in the July of 2014. Rutgers has been given an invite and is reviewing their options. I do not like how now the conferences are becoming these "super-conferences" that have no relevance to geographic and historic rivalries. Maryland and Rutgers both do not fit the Big Ten's reputation and just don't make sense. I miss the old rivalries such as the Backyard Brawl (Pitt - WVU) and the LoneStar Showdown (Texas - Texas A&M) that are for the present and near future extinct as a result of all this conference realignment!

Podcast

Coming up in my Sport Communications class is our Podcast assignment. A podcast is a short internet-streaming that can consist of anything from a debate to a simple announcement. For the class, I am going to make a podcast previewing Thanksgiving weekend's hottest college football rivalries. Podcasts are a new, interactive way to spread a message or to express oneself. All the time we see Podcasts as "webisodes" or video blogs. Podcasts can be used to discuss any type of topic and are a grea way of media communication that can involve and educate a audience of any kind.

College Basketball Tip-off Marathon

College Basketball is officially started for the 2012-2013 season! This year's Tip-off Marathon started this morning at 12 a.m. Even though we have had some of the higher profiel teams begin their seasons over the weekend, some played their first game on a naval ship, today's marathon is ESPN's way to officially kick off the season in an exciting manner. For roughly 24 straight hours a game will be televised live by ESPN. All day long teams will play, some popular that everyone knows, and others that are less-known but still can put on a good show. To highlight the marathon's action, Kentucky and Duke will play tonight at 8 p.m. on ESPN.

Down Goes Bama

This past Saturday was a wild and exciting one in College Football. There was many big-time plays and a couple of conference battles throughout the day. The highlight of the day though, was #15 Texas A&M going to Tuscaloosa and beating the now "previously-undefeated" Alabama. Texas A&M jumped out to a 20-0 lead after the first quarter and looked to be an complete control. Alabama would come back to score a pair of second quarter touchdowns to cut the lead to six by half. After a third quarter field goal by Bama, the score was A&M leading 20-17. Texas A&M's fresjman sensation Johnny Manziel threw his second touchdown pass of the game midway through the fourth quarter to put his team up 29-17. Alabama would drive down and score to cut it to 29-24. Then came the craziness, Alabams's defense got a quick stop and A.J. McCarren led the offense down to A&M's six yard-line. After failing to score on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd & goal, Bama had a 4th & goal from the 3; McCarren rolled to his right and fired it in the end zone, only for it to be intercepted! It was over yet, as Bama's defense came up big again by forcing a 3 & out and an A&M punt. With 40 seconds left it was 4th and 1 yard to go and A&M was punting, but right before the snap an Alabama defensive lineman jumps of sides; resulting in a offside penalty that gave Texas A&M the game-sealing 1st down. Manziel would take one final knee and that would be it. Johnny Manziel played fantastic, as well did the Aggies' defense to lead the upset victory. So, who will be the new #1 team in College Football? Well, we will all find that out Sunday night, with the release of the new BCS standings.

NBA Tip-off!

This year's 2012-2013 NBA season is officially underway! The past two nights we have seen the majority of the teams play their first game. The surprise so far would have to be the Lakers who are 0-2. I am not surprised by this as I see the Lakers as a talented, but old team who is no better than 3rd or 4th in the West. The Miami Heat started their title defense with a 120-107 win over Boston on Tuesday night. LeBron James and company received their championship rings and the banner was hung high in the rafters. Overall, the game was competitive and came down to the last five minutes of the fourth quarter. Like I already mentioned, the Heat won, but there was a couple of events that overshadowed the action. During pregame handshakes Keving Garnett ignored his former teammate, now a member of the Heat, Ray Allen. Late in the fourth quarter, Rajon Rondo of Boston committed a flagrant foul on Miami's Dwayne Wade when the outcome was already in hand. I had no problem with Garnett ignoring Ray Allen, as Allen took less money to leave and play for the rival. It is good that we finally have a competent rivalry in pro sports again with the Celtics vs. the Heat.