All Things Notre Dame - The Clashmore Mike Memorial Thread

[entropy]

and NBC has lost all other sports of relevance...

[Mike]

ND football is relevant?

I suppose there a lot of Michigan and USC fans that tune in every other year.

[Jamie H]

NBC sports has been so thoroughly decimated over the years that they were down to pretty much the Olympics and ND football, meaning that they needed ND as much or more than ND needed NBC and were willing to overpay for it just like they overpay for the Olympics.

With the launch of the new NBC/Universal sports channel, they have made some noise about trying to get more properties. They started with Sunday Night football and some NFL playoff games. If ND continues to struggle, it will be interesting to see how they continue to fit into NBC's new plan for sports.

[SeanB]

Other than the awful intro, which is an epidemic in almost every broadcast, I have enjoyed NBC's Sunday night football coverage. As far as teams go, at least they don't drive me insane with stupidity, which is certainly saying something these days!

They're production is decent, too. Costas, on the other hand, is just a blathering idiot. I could do without his little "pieces". He's so smarmy.

[lineygoblue]

Sean doesn't like Faith Hill?

shameful

[Jamie H]

Trivia answer: "Faith" Hill's real name is Audrey. But I guess renaming yourself "Faith" sells more country records.

I guess it's better than changing your name from Eileen to Shania.

[dannyjerome0]

Really? No one likes NHL hockey? NBC has that going for em.
Also, I prefer NBC's NFL coverage over Fox or ESPN. Much smarter crew that doesn't seem to get completely surrounded in popular hype.

[Jamie H]

I keep forgetting NBC has hockey, they show so little of it. I know they own OLN/Versus/Whatever it is called now that does most of the hockey games.

[iam416]

Clash:

Some ND insider saying Decker visits Columbus this weekend? Not hearing it, yet, on OSU sites, though. Interesting.

I sort of think that if does visit then he'll end up at OSU (a little like SeVon Pittman in that regard). Interesting.

[Clashmore Mike]

Clash:

Some ND insider saying Decker visits Columbus this weekend? Not hearing it, yet, on OSU sites, though. Interesting.

I sort of think that if does visit then he'll end up at OSU (a little like SeVon Pittman in that regard). Interesting.

That hit the ND boards late last night. Came from a long standing poster with a good reputation, but I wouldn't call him an insider necessarily. He claims that it comes from a buddy who got it off of "Bucknuts"...but as it's premium, he wouldn't give us anything else.

As you might imagine, it's been a pretty hot topic in the last 24 hours, but there is nothing that I would consider solid enough to repeat with any certainty. There are a couple pro and a con signs...entirely from ND perspective mind you.

Con is that our IrishIllustrated (Rivals) admin hasn't gotten a response from Decker in the last two weeks, either via phone or text. That is never a good sign...

Pro is that a poster associated with the athletic dept. at Vandalia came out this morning and claims that Decker is "100% Irish". The mods over there typically delete unsubstantiated stuff like that, but the guy send an email to the admin with some info proving that he was associated with athletics at Vandalia. ND admin wouldn't confirm his claim, but did confirm that his background is legit.

In short, I don't know and am forced into reading tea leaves mode. The longer it goes without something from Decker, the worse it is for us...and I do agree that if he makes the visit, we'll lose him.

Since the Warriner & Hinton news, the situation was that he was sticking with ND, but that he really wanted info on his position coach. ND has apparently hired Harry Hiestand, but there haven't been any official announcements because of the lengthy background checks by ND HR (fuck you O'Leary). We need to get Hiestand in front of this kid ASAFP.

[Clashmore Mike]

Losing Decker would be catastrophic in my opinion. Last week we lost arguable our top recruit in Ronald Darby. Sucked, but tolerable. He had been sending hints for the last few months and we all kind of suspected this could happen.

But if we lose Decker now, Darby isn't just an isolated incident...it becomes a trend with the perception of meltdown and guys jumping ship. There is already enough of a pall over the program with the bowl loss. This class is at a critical point. 2-3 pending recruits that we are in the running for commit, and this becomes a top ten class if not better. 2-3 blue chip commits bolt, and its a terrible set-back for Kelly & Co. going into the off season.

As you can tell by the novels I'm writing...I'm fairly anxious...

[iam416]

Well, there's still nothing further on Decker from OSU sites, so I rather doubt he's visiting, this weekend at least.

I'll leave you to consternate about the overall effect if he jumped, but IMO, it would be entirely and rationally explicable. The previous OSU staff did a horrendous job on him. Horrendous. Whatever bad feelings that existed had to largely be washed away when UFM took over. Then, the guy he was most committed to left for OSU. Personally, I wouldn't take that as a sign that there's something wrong with ND. Just bad luck. It would be a loss, though, because I think the kid has upside to be a First Round pick -- great feet and athelticism on a 6'9" frame?--c'mon. When he grows into that frame a bit more he's going to be a fantastic player.

That said, as long as Decker keeps spending weekends in Vandalia, you have zero worries.

[iam416]

Oops. Literally 5 minutes later, it's confirmed that Decker will visit.

Well, OSU is at least in the game now.

[Clashmore Mike]

Oops. Literally 5 minutes later, it's confirmed that Decker will visit.

Well, OSU is at least in the game now.

If it's confirmed, you're more than in the game...you're in the drivers seat.


I certainly understand what you're saying with regard to the circumstances of Decker...I personally wouldn't consider it incompetence on Kelly's part. But in terms of national perception...the kids we're recruiting now don't necessarily appreciate that your previous staff fucked things up...but they will certainly notice that we've lost two of our five highest rated in the span of a week. Hell, it's not even about recruiting anymore...just holding on to what's left.

[iam416]

Yeah, it's confirmed.

Who else is ND in on? I read something from the ND Scout site that had ND credibly in on 5 or 6 more players, with some being top shelf.

As for where OSU stands with Decker...generally it's getting the visit that matters. Decker really likes ND, though. This won't be like plucking Pittman from Dantonio.