Listen or Die

Beirut: I feel very much like a gypsy every time I listen to this band...minus the gypsy curses of course. Great music to study to I found out.

 

The Naked and Famous: Whats better than an Asian? How about an Asian who fabricate kick-ass music. They are a catchy pop band from New Zealand--Warning: these songs will get stuck in your head.

Rusko: Believe it or not, this dude is pasty white. If you haven't listened to the late phenomena of music called "dubstep," you are probably over thirty. I don't care who you are, it's only a natural instinct to bob your head to the song "Woo Boost." Rusko is great for rave parties!

Peace.

3rd and 9: "Play Like a Champion Today"

Happy gameday bitches! it's time for another primetime college football extravaganza...Notre Dame at Michigan State on primetime television. I'm calling all fans to participate in a game within the game.

Rules:

1. Drink one beer for every quarter (including OT)

2. Take a shot of liquor of your choice on every 3rd and 9 for each team.

Needless to say, you'll be feelin a little saucy by the end of the game.

Good luck, and go Notre Dame!

REVISING UPDATE!:

Yes, we found out that at least two beers per quarter was sufficient. We "tweaked" the rules according to how thirsty we were for example: pound shots for every interception, field goal over 50 yards, safety, fumble recovery, and if a player breaks at least three tackles during one play. The rules get better as the season goes on!

Peace.

Pay Your Dues

I have gotten two parking violations in the past two weeks....its things like these that make me question established organized authority in the first place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrQoR7yoPl0&feature=related

Dumpster Diving 101 AKA "Urban Foragers"

Dumpster diving might be looked down upon in our culture, but to put it in perspective, upright citizens have been doing this art for thousands of years. It makes me sick to my stomach how much legit shit is thrown out by various companies. If you are low on cash, and need an alternate way of acquiring everyday goods, you are in luck! To find even more success beyond this list, I suggest cruising around and stumble upon random dumpsters...you never know what exciting things you could find! (I don't endorse in any way theft of any kind, even though you could probably get away with it, luck ALWAYS runs out at some point.)

6. Office Max
Phone/computer chords, CDs, usb flash drives, office chairs, pens. Unlike other office supply stores, Office Max doesn't have a trash compactors like most larger retail stores do.

5. Thrift Stores
Even companies like Savers or Goodwill throw out decent furniture. Sometimes you need to fix the stuff up, but totally worth it.

4. Local Bakeries    
Great bread products are thrown out every day, but still viable for human consumption most of the time. (Words of wisdom: don't eat anything wet if you can help it...might get a stomachache for a few days)

3. Party City
It won't be the most consistent dumpster diving location, but when you do strike it, you have hit the jackpot! You might find some weird-ass stuff in these dumpsters, but totally worth hitting this place up when you can.

2. Juice Distributers
I don't like to mention names, but you can figure it out. It's jackpot when you find unexpired juice still in the boxes! "Fill up the trunk boys!"

1. Little Caesars
The most consistent dumpster I have ever come in contact with is the dumpsters of Little Caesars. It's company policy to throw out the left over hot n' ready pizzas every night after closing. Learn the time when the stores closes to get the freshest pizzas you can! (I have seen more than a dozen pizzas stacked in their boxes before, so hell yeah, its worth it)    

Week 1 Game Analysis Notre Dame-23 Purdue-12

It was too exciting to see how Notre Dame could put Brian Kelly's philosophy and attitude to the test. This first game also gives us foresight on what may happen in the coming games.

1. The first thing I noticed was the attitude of the players and staff on game day. In the not-so-good ole days of Weis; his leadership lacked the "spunk" they needed. Instead of playing like it's a job, the squad seemed like they were having the time of their life, and excited to play the game and do well and win.

2. Conditioning, conditioning, and more conditioning. The whole roster (with the exception of a few) is in the best shape of their lives, thanks to strength and conditioning coach Paul Longo. The system Longo gives the players is a top secret matter, but the results are no secret at all. Saturday's game almost seemed like the past five years, when the third quarter comes, the players are too fatigued to finish strong. It seemed that they were falling into this same rut once again, but I was pleased to see the team pull through, and finish like a Notre Dame team should. Kudos to coach Longo!

3. I was impressed by Crist's first career start. He didn't force any passes, but there were two times where an interception was almost made. Dayne seemed a little uncomfortable at times, and it showed in four sacks. But I give Crist the benefit of the doubt that he is a noob, but still clear headed; not making too many mistakes.

4. I was surprised from the amount of rushing plays the Irish carried out, coming from a pass-first offensive style. I won't bitch about it, 25 carries between Armando Allen and Cierre Wood for a total of 151 yards rushing--great compared to previous years with rushing woes. I liked the way the Irish controlled the tempo of the game, slowing it up at times, and also marching down the field when they needed to.

5. I knew this defense would be improved from last season, but Saturday's defense performance was solid to say the very least. The secondary didn't allow any passes over 16 yards (haven't been able to say that in a while). I was surprised in the blitz packages that defensive coach Bob Diaco had ordered. I had first thought that Diaco's philosophy was primarily to contain the opposing offense, rather than a more aggressive approach. The D-line seemed hungry to sack Purdue's QB Robert Marve, and flushed him out of the pocket too many times to count. Corners Gary Gray and Darrin Walls seemed to be everywhere creating havoc wherever they went, even making tackles for loss on corner blitzes.

6. I am most proud from the performance of the special teams. Great return coverage, great returns, great field goal kicker in David Ruffer who, by the way, is now a perfect 8 for 8 on place kicking in his collegiate career, including a 46 yard goal. We knew that Ruffer had a hell of a leg, but accuracy we were not so sure about. It seems that the friendly competition for the number one spot from teammate Nick Tausch--last year's starter did David good. I was pleased to see plenty of the freshman class get involved on special teams, making key blocks and tackles;  it is exciting to see the next batch of starters begin to develop and flourish.

I wish I could go more in depth than this, but shit happens. If you have any questions about Notre Dame Football, feel free to ask via a comment, and I will give you an answer, or at least my scholarly opinion; Peace Domers!


             

 

The Grotto: Notre Dame Analysis

Oh yes, it's that time of the year.  Since the season starts exactly a week (Sep. 4) I decided to create a break-down and analysis of Notre Dame's offense by position. I'll save the defense for an other day.

Offense:

QB: Dayne Crist- A 6 foot 5in sophomore from California is expected to be the starting QB. Even though he has never started in his career at ND, he shows promise of leadership that is expected as being at Notre Dame. He tore his ACL last season, which limited his game experience, but he looks like he's in prime athletic condition now. He doesn't have the accuracy as former QB Jimmy Clausen did, but Crist is much more mobile. My two predictions of Crist this year is first, there will be many interceptions for Dayne this year (averaging about 1.5 interceptions per game) this will happen not only because he's inexperienced, but because he will throw most plays, maybe 50-60 attempts with Brian Kelly's upbeat spread attack. (the more the ball is in the air, the more opportunities there are for interceptions.) Since Crist is mobile, there is more of a chance for Crist to get injured. My next prediction is that Crist will get injured probably towards the middle to end of the season. This means freshman back-up Tommy Rees will take his place. Rees enrolled early this spring, so he had a head start on learning Kelly's offense, which put him in a competitive advantage over Nate Montana (yes he is Joe's son), freshman Andrew Hendrix, and freshman Luke Massa. There is very little experience at the QB position, but the fall practice reports show that Rees is the most consistent over the other QBs, competing for the backup position.            

RB: Unlike the QB position, Notre Dame is stacked on running backs. Brian Kelly even turned talented running back Theo Riddick into a wide receiver in the slot position. This means the depth at RB goes: Sr. Armando Allen, redshirt sophomore Cierre Wood, Jr. Jonas Grey, and Sr. Robert Hughes. Allen gets the starting job, but every back has their own unique playing style. Allen is the classic RB that has a lot of experience under his belt, and my favorite aspect of Allen is his ability to catch the ball (he is close to breaking the ND record for catches for a RB) and also his stellar talent for blocking. Cierre Wood brings his quickness and speed. Jonas Grey might not be as fast as Wood, but he has an edgy running style with crazy juke moves to catch the defense off guard. Then finally, Robert Hughes at 245 pounds is the power back for more north to south short yardage situations. I'm excited to see how the running game plays along with Kelly's offense. Maybe the running struggles of the years past, but this group certainly has the ability to break that spell.

WR: Since there is so many WR I could cover, I will only name a few that I think is important. Senior Duval Kamara might have three years starting, but I always worry about his consistency. He has the build of a beast (6-4 225lbs) but he still has the ability of being the number one WR in terms of long yardage statistics. Then you have Junior Michael Floyd at the other end. Kelly originally thought Floyd was overrated when he came to South Bend, due to last year's style of just running like hell and getting just enough space to make a snag, he didn't show crisp route-running. But Kelly's mind has definitely changed since then, as Kelly said of Floyd that he is the hardest working WR out there (which is very surprising due to his aura of being cocky).  Then we have sophomore Theo Riddick at the slot position. In the spring, Riddick showed he was having some trouble with the WR technique of catching the ball, we was known for catching a ball as if the ball was being handed off to him, like when he was a RB. But in the fall practice, he jumped ahead of the other competitors for the slot position, and showed stellar ability to catch the ball away from his hands, instead of using his body. Expect Riddick to be a dangerous big-time playmaker after the catch, bringing him back to his running back roots. Out of the non-starting WRs that should have great potential is sophomore Shaquelle Evans. Last year he dropped plenty of passes, but he seems much more comfortable with Kelly's offense. Expect Evans to be a surprise playmaker. My overall prediction of the WRs is the most obvious....there will be a lot of passes thrown to this group, with crazy amounts of yardage being racked up.

TE: This is by far the most stacked position with the most talent. At the starting position there is Jr. Kyle Rudolph, which is rumored to be the best TE in the country. Rudolph had some injuries in the spring and fall practices, which reduced his practice time, but he seems to be getting in great shape for next Saturday. Next in line is So. Tyler Eifert, who greatly impressed the coaching staff in the spring and fall training, moving up in front of talented Sr. Mike Ragone, who surprisingly dropped back behind Eifert.

OL: At OT there is Sophomore Zack Martin and Sr. Taylor Dever. At OG Sr. Chris Stewart and, my favorite Jr. Trevor Robinson. At center, Braxston Cave earned the starting spot over Sr. Dan Wenger, which was a complete surprise because Cave is not as good at snapping well at the long-range shotgun position. I would not be surprised to see that Wenger would steal the spot later on in the season. Due to Brian Kelly's system of spread attack, hurry-up offense, and quick release passes; this keeps the pressure off of the OL much less than a west-coast or pro-style offense would. There is a trend of style on the OL which is not your traditional big fat players that just stand there in push, but rather more trimmed athletic bodies that can move quickly for a quick offensive style. Even though there is not as much experience than last year (losing two great players) this OL has the ability to do their job well, and give the offense just enough time to get the ball off.                

Notes: Brian Kelly talked about implementing the wildcat formation and the top two candidates are Armando Allen, who ran most of the Weis wildcat plays, or it might be Kyle Rudolph or Robert Hughes; which is a surprising person to run the wildcat, but Kelly had said he loves big bodies at this position.

Top Five Beers

I know it's not a classy start, but first things first. I rate the beer not by taste, but what is most appropriate for the person on a tight budget, but still want to party with mediocre taste.

5. Heineken-----more on the expensive side, this is why it comes at number five. But you can't deny the little more stout flavor of european lager, compared to a domestic lager. Buy on a semi-special occasion, or even a kegger!

4. Budweiser-----King of Beers? probably not. But this is classic Americana for you right here, must buy in bottles. (Probably more well known for Budweiser's commercials, rather than the actual taste of it.)

3. Corona------One of my all time favorites! cut a slice of lime, and enjoy! Those Mexicans get at least one thing right.

2. Coors Banquet-----I don't know if its the malt, hops, or crack that they put in it....but this concoction has a better than average flavor, and it won't rape your wallet at the same time.

1. Pabst Blue Ribbon-----Ahhhhh. There it is. It might have to grow on you, but you can't go wrong with this patriotic beer. For a smoother flavor and cheap as shit, you gotta ask yourself: "why not." "Its like George Washington goin down your throat." Need I say more?  

Disclaimer: This list was fabricated according to MY judgement and taste, and is not influenced by any other entity.