Jimmy Clausen Dropping Back... out of the Top 25. Again.

Notre Dame did it again...

The Fighting Irish went 10 games before the smoke and mirror show was exposed like Peter Bretter in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall". Everybody in blue jerseys on Saturday evening were looking to cover their collective dongs when the final score showed Navy 23 - Notre Dame 21.

Can we all move on now? The Notre Dame Mystique thins every season; and now it's just about translucent. They just aren't a good football team. The coaching staff is lacking. The players don't get the job done. And the attention the program still garners is stomach-turning bad. 100% Serious: I'd rather watch a Kate Plus 8 Minus Jon marathon for a week straight than endure another proclamation that Notre Dame is "back".

Here's what makes Notre Dame even worse: Navy isn't good either. With this win--Navy's second consecutive win at Notre Dame Stadium--Navy qualifies for the Texas Bowl. Anybody care to fathom a guess as to whom Navy's going to see in the Texas Bowl? The Big 12's eigth place team, which currently looks to be Texas A&M. Notre Dame lost to the team who's not even a shoe-in to win the Texas Bowl.

With all the unjustified clout Notre Dame's golden domes carry these days, it's time to take the Irish down a few notches. Remember when Charlie Weis non-chalantly stated that his boys were as good as any of the top 5 teams? Let this serve as notice that Notre Dame certainly is not in the same league as Florida, Texas, USC, Boise State, TCU, or approximately 25 other teams.

Saturday's fourth quarter goes to show how terribly overblown Notre Dame is. The two touchdown scoring drives proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Irish should have been running circles around Navy's defense all day long. Even with the 23 points the Navy offense registered, Notre Dame should have put up 50. Those final touchdown drives for ND went for a combined 12 plays, 156 yards, 14 points in 2:24 of game clock. Really? What happened to the other 3 quarters of the game? What were they waiting for? Was this a rope-a-dope gone awry? No. This was a heartless, gutless showing.

Programs like Navy have nothing to rely on but heart while Notre Dame has a talent pool deeper than the Pacific Ocean. Navy won't ever play for the national title or have a nationally ranked recruiting class, but they aren't above seizing the opportunity. Saturday's game served as a case in point for the "On any given Saturday..." adage. Notre Dame looked to win simply by showing up. After an opening drive fumble turned into a Navy 7-0 lead, the Irish took a gut check they couldn't come back from. Navy outplayed ND all day long. By halftime, Navy was up 14-0. And in the end, Navy stood 2 points higher on the scoreboard and, on the road, beat Notre Dame.

The biggest blemish in Notre Dame's golden dome, though, was in Navy's reaction when the game ended. There weren't any reactions lending themselves to a "Nobody Believed in Us" week of preparation, no midshipmen rushing the field to celebrate with the team, no Gatorade baths for the coach; just a series of hand shakes and hugs for the Irish team they had just beaten. A series of events as such leads everybody looking on in the stadium and everybody watching on Notre Dame's national broadcast to infer that Navy expected to win the whole way--as there was never even a doubt to the outcome. That's what Notre Dame football has come to: Even Navy expects to win. "Play Like a Champion"? Please revise to read, "Play Like You're Relevant Today," because ND football is not. Not anymore.

We learned a lot about Notre Dame football on Saturday. We learned that they're not "back". We learned that they aren't as good as advertised. Most deflating of all, we learned that Notre Dame has no heart. All that "Play like a Champion Today" sign pounding and candle lit praying at the grotto amount to exactly nothing. Even with an unnervingly undeserved BCS bid on the line, Notre Dame couldn't beat one of the military academies.

Anchors away, boys, because there go the Irish all the way to the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
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Lebron, you asked for help. You got it. You definitely got a big body to go down low.

The Phoenix Suns agreed to send Shaq to Cleveland for Sacha Pavlovic, Ben Wallace, the No. 46 pick in the draft, and $500,000. MAKE IT RAIN!

The trade solidifies a few things for us going into tonight's draft: ...

1. Phoenix has officially entered Rebuilding Mode. Amare Stoudamire and Steve Nash might be on the move next.
2. Cleveland wants to win yesterday. That's the only reason Cleveland would trade for Shaq who's definitely running on low in the gas tank. He's got 1, Maybe 2, more solid seasons left in him. Would you believe it if I told you that Shaq's still putting up 17.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks a game? More than that, would you find it equally as or more shocking that Shaq actually played in 75 games last year averaging 30 minutes a night? Me TOO! Really, I had no idea... I blame this on ESPN for sucking in its west coast coverage. The jury's still out on your LA Sportscenter...

As for the Rest of the Draft...

Blake Griffin goes first, Thabeet goes second (he'll suck, by the by), Rubio third, and Stephen Curry goes either 6th or 8th. Do any of those guys make a difference next year a la Derrick Rose? Nnnnnope.

The rest of the class is filled with 6th men, roster fillers, and D-leaguers.

With that, the Chicago Bulls select...

Nobody of any consequence.

I've had my fill of guys with solid college pedigrees (Hinrich from Kansas, Jay Williams/Duhon/Deng from Duke, Noah from Florida, etc.). If new GM Gar Forman goes anywhere near DeJaun Blair (achy-breaky knees, no heart), Tyler Hansbrough (all heart, too many miles), or Nick Calathes (PG out of Florida), I'm already claiming it a true Cubby Blue "Wait Till Next Year...".

Rumor mill's really churning hard on Kirk Hinrich's leaving the team this summer, if not tonight. If it's tonight, it's the No. 26 pick and Kirk Hinrich to Portland for Travis Outlaw and another guard. ANOTHER GUARD!

For the love of all things naked and alcoholic, show me a 4 or a 5 with B+ offensive ability downlow. Outlaw has some offensive ability (~13 pts per game, 1 offensive rebound per game), but I want a big body down low that's ready to bang.

Since there's nobody like that in the draft outside of Blake Griffin, I motion to mortgage the draft to get an established big man. The two options here are, in order of likelihood, Amare Stoudamire and Chris Bosh. I'd prefer Chris Bosh, but I'd settle for Amare Stoudamire--and it hurts to say that. Amare Stoudamire will play no more than 50 games next year and miss the entire post-season. Mark my words.

For Some Reason, People are Still Surprised Yao Ming's Big Ass Foot is Still Broken...

Wake me in February to talk about an NBA center that's constantly nursing a sore foot.

LSU Chalks Up Its 6th CWS Title...

Behind it's powerhouse offense.

After pouncing on the Longhorns for 4 early runs, Texas tied the game but couldn't put anything else together. LSU put up 6 more runs before the 9th as it brutally beat the hell out of Texas' pitching.

Every Texas pitcher looked scared shitless to be on the mound. Ouch.

In somewhat unrelated news, I'm roadtripping to Omaha next year to hit on every LSU sister, girlfriend, wife, and mother. The more mardi gras beads, the better. And upon my return, I'll be speaking Cajun dialect.

One City, Two Teams

Hopefully, I can say it for certain this time: The White Sox look to be putting it all together. HA! Noooo, I can't. But still... it could be worse. It could be the Cubs. Did anybody else see the embarrassment in Detroit? Even when I wouldn't mind--hell, I'd even prefer--a Cubs win, the Cubs just can't make it happen. Jesus God.

The Sox nutted all over the Dodgers, the best team in baseball, last night with 6 home runs including 2 off the bat of Josh Fields, while Gavin Floyd kept the Dodgers quiet at the plate giving up only 3 runs (1 earned)on 6 hits in 6 innings.

Somebody open up the gloves on defense though! Another multi-error game for the Sox as Gordon Beckham picks up his 4th on a ground ball and Alexei Ramirez tacks his 6th on a line drive.

And, Jimmy Gobble, you can go away now. Thank... no, no... Thank you. That'll be all.