bartshan-83

Yeah, oops. Drafting exactly ONE O-lineman "early" in the past decade and having that ONE draft pick be perhaps the biggest bust in the history of the franchise probably does not constitute "success." But that's just me.

What, the shot or the oysters? Cause if you mean the shot, then I'd sooner fester and die of a CAT 5 hangover than throw back another one of those abortions.

Glad to hear you're alright man. I saw a huge wreck yesterday in the snow and it didn't look pretty. It's ridiculous to see what @ssholes people can be in the snow. I see so many people who seem to think that they can drive the same way in shtty conditions as they do when it is good weather. I was rear-ended a few weeks ago on the highway and while it was pretty minor, I was shaking for a while. Can only imagine how you felt after the action stopped. Crazy sht with the seatbelt...someone up there likes you. Kick back and have a brew

The NBA is decent enough. The thug-stigma attached to the current generation hurts fan attention, but there is still good basketball being played. If you haven't been watching the Suns play this year, then you are missing a real treat. Probably the most fun team to watch (at least IMO) since the Bulls of Jordan's heyday. I'm a Sixers fan so this season has been a little difficult to stomach. I do like checking out stars occasionally, and like Smokin mentioned above, I check several box scores daily. Love to see what Nash, AI, LeBron, Dirk and Wade do. I actually have had less interest in College Basketball of late, as it is very difficult to follow players with everybody leaving after a year or two. However, college ball at its finest is very hard to beat.

I don't know...I've never really gotten down with raw oysters. We ordered a dozen raw and a dozen chargrilled. I tried a few raw ones and they were decent enough. The grilled ones were fcking amazing though. We also did an oyster shooter which, until that day, I had never heard of. Probably the nastiest thing I've ever eaten/drank. Shot of cheap vodka, raw oyster and tabasco. Looked like a small, bloody fetus floating in a test tube...and the taste was probably similar too. NEVER AGAIN.

When I was down there I hit up a place called Acme Oyster Bar. I'm not even a big oyster fan but they had these chargrilled oysters that were on point. Went there twice in 3 days.

Not exactly a restaurant, but if anyone ever does any traveling to Ireland, there is a hotel/resort in County Clare called Dromoland Castle. Converted castle with an amazing golf course. But anyway, I had dinner there several years ago and it was by far the best meal and service I have ever had. If anyone is ever in that area for a vacation, I can't recommend at least a one-night stay highly enough. DROMOLAND Another favorite is Tommaso's in Brooklyn. Nice, cozy Italian restaurant with an amazing wine list. My uncle is pretty tight with the owner so it's always a nice time. Food is excellent. TOMMASO'S (review) Also, if anyone hear makes it out to a Notre Dame game ever, definitely check out Tippecanoe in South Bend. Very good steakhouse and it is a converted mansion formerly owned by the Studebakers. Excellent atmosphere and very good steak. I'm not sure if it is NY steakhouse standards, but it is pretty damn good. However, make your reservations way in advance otherwise you will not be able to get in during a football weekend. TIPPECANOE

What does anything about Snoop's past or present run-ins with the law have to do with Dwayne Jarrett? "You are who you hang out with?" I guess the entire USC football team for the last few years "is" Snoop Dogg too since he would come to their practices and hang out with them before games and during recruiting trips. I'm shocked that both Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush managed to make it through an entire season without shooting someone. Lendale White even gave Snoop a football after a TD last year while Snoop wore his #21 jersey!! I wonder if White knows how close he came to becoming infected with the Rapper-Thug Virus. Dwayne Jarrett was 6 when Snoop first started making hit songs. They aren't "buddies" like AI and his old crew. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

yeah I think I got it. I do wonder what you are basing any of that on, besides a few actions in the Rose Bowl.

probably a great reason not to draft someone... :)

wow.

That's gonna mess with his head.

No doubt.

Good thing this guy will most likely be doing LESS time for repeated sexual ASSAULTS and attempted RAPE than that evil criminal, Genarlow Wilson. AD: I'm obviously no lawyer but, it seems like one of a few things could have happened at his original sentencing: 1. He was convicted of 2 counts of 1st-degree attempted sexual abuse (Class E Felony) which each carry a 1-4 year sentence and the judge gave him the minimum. 2. He was convicted of the same crime and being his first felony offense (I assume) the judge has discretion to lower his sentence to a 1 year max. Either way, it looks like the first judge hooked him up. At least to my untrained eye.

Yeah, who knows? I was still kind of young when Powlus was recruited so I don't remember the hype being as ridiculous as I later found out it was. I just remember watching his first game and seeing him shred Northwestern. Almost sports commentator anointed him the next great one after that game, but there was one guy (I forget who) who said "Relax, it's just Northwestern." Truer words were never spoken. Sadly, the best thing to come of Ron Powlus' career was when he broke his collarbone and Kevin McDougal got to start the season and led us to what should have been a NATL championship in 93-94.

I'm not surprised about Zook or Davis' recruiting classes. Zook was an amazing recruiter at UF and his players were fiercely loyal to him. Wasn't there a story about some of his players getting into a fight with some frat boys and Zook personally went down to the house and joined in the argument and threatened to get them kicked off campus? He was a miserable coach, however, and unless he catches some breaks early, or the other Big Ten teams fall off a bit, his job will be in jeopardy again in 4 years. Of course, he will leave the next coach with an Illinois team stocked with talent that far exceeds anything Champaign has seen in years. Butch Davis also was an amazing recruiter. He built the Miami dynasty which Coker could not control. The NFL-caliber talent he brought to that school was obscene. It's not like UNC is some sht school with no history and no appeal. It wasn't too long ago that Mack Brown was leading them to 10 win seasons. I don't anticipate it taking Davis more than 2-3 years to get that program back into ACC title contention.

Jimmy Clausen is going to win 3 Heisman Trophies as ND wins back-to-back-to-back NATL titles from 2008-10. That's pretty much already decided.

I'll second that...

BINGO. I haven't watched football as long as many here, but I've never seen a college RB with the vision, patience and field awareness of Darius Walker. Give him Reggie Bush's athletic ability and he is the next LT. Unfortunately, he was not even fast for college standards and while he was very crafty, his upper limit is a change of pace back in the NFL. Since we have been discussing Thurmal lately, I'd offer to those of you who don't watch ND with regularity that Darius Walker ran screen passes like Thomas did in the early 90s. It was a thing of beauty to watch him set up his blockers like chess pieces. I'd love to grab him in the 3rd.

Typical Michigan fan.... You make some great proclamation about getting the best high school QB in a generation, and then provide a link that puts him as only the 2nd best QB in THIS CURRENT YEAR. I wonder who got the best?

You are completely right here. I've talked about exactly this with friends before and all I can gather is that there is nothing wrong with paying $1 per song. The only hangup is that Scour, Napster and it's hundreds of current followers made people so spoiled that they (we, actually) expect that music should be free. There was never a transition from having to pay $17 per CD to getting anything you wanted for free. If 8 years ago when Napster et al. started popping up, songs started out at $1 a pop, no one would be complaining at all. But because everyone has been used to getting free music for so long, it's hard to make some people pay even a nominal (and dare I say fair?) price for music. $1 per song is great for singles as it allows you to get the hot songs for practically nothing while avoiding the sht albums that have 2 good songs and cost almost $20. People can't handle having something great placed in our hands. We get a sense of entitlement after awhile and can't look past the fact that what we have been given might not be fair and will refuse to budge even when presented with a reasonable alternative. It's human nature.

Haha...I'll put away the tissues. I know this is a very good class. I'll put it this way, there are very few schools that I would trade places with. My "C" comment was mainly aimed at the obscene classes UF, LSU and USC landed. A class like ours will reload that offense real quick, but the defense will still be another weakness. The talent gap between ND and other top tier schools is still pretty significant. And I'm not sure we gained that much ground. It's a solid top 10 class I'd say, but when the same schools are getting the top 5 spots each year, it doesn't bode well. I know that these classes don't shake out exactly like they are rated on signing day, but eventually you are gonna have to get up there and nab a couple 5 Star guys. We are on the edge, and I anticipate that things will continue to get better. But I'm not going to go crazy for this class....yet.

Agreed. It is so ordered.

ND is still on the upswing, with classes improving each year. Defense was not addressed enough and losing Greg Little to NORTH CAROLINA (fck you Butch and whatever deal you offered him) was very bizarre. I give it a 'B' overall, but more like a 'C' when you look at what other NATL title hopefuls are raking in.

Decent thread. 6 out of 10 on the b.harami scale. Loses points for: - not enough censored words - rehashed topic (see People v. Tracy Lee) - only a minor meltdown But still better than these parts have seen in a long time...