Notre Dame's Greatest Coaches: Rockne, Leahy, Parseghian, Holtz
by Moose Krause and Stephen Singular
Notre Dame's recent downfall began in or around 1993. The man they called Mr. Notre Dame, Moose Krause, died in December of 1992. He was recruited by Rockne, coached under Leahy, hired Parseghian, and aided in the hiring of Holtz. Hmmm... his years at the school almost exactly coincide with Notre Dame's era of football greatness. Conspiracy theorists, you may begin...As for the book, it's definitely a must read. It chronicles the 1992 season, Moose's last, plus gives you a Moose-eyed view of the man's life and ND's greatest coaches. Why these four? Besides the national championship factor, these are the four that Moose felt were the epitome of "Notre Dame men."
This book was written from Stephen Singular's point of view, but includes much great insight from Moose and other Notre Dame personalities. Singular does a great job of making the reader feel like they're really there, sucking up Moose's cigar smoke and listening to his belly laughs.
Some highlights:
Notre Dame was beating Northwestern rather handily on the road, so the Northwestern students all started to flip Rockne the bird. After the game, Rockne turns to the stands and screams, "What? You jackasses can't beat us so you fart on us?"
The other you've heard before, but it bears retelling. John Lattner, after fumbling five times in a game, gets called into Coach Leahy's office. After making sure Lattner isn't having girl trouble or family problems, Leahy looks at the future Heisman winner and says, "Lad, I want you to go to confession, and to confess those five mortal sins you committed last Saturday."
I almost passed on this book, but that would've been a mistake. This is definitely a must read.
Thanks to Ellen for her writeup on the ND Swomen. I was going to mention them, but, as usual, I completely forgot.
Peter Gammons had a nice writeup on the Indians and, you guessed it, Jody Gerut. This is why people like Gerut and LeBron James ("Young people look up to me, so I know I have to be a role model -- on and off the court.") are role models, and people like Milton Bradley (jail time for resisting arrest, walking over to take a seat in the bullpen during pitching changes) are not.
Don't forget, the KankaMatic Draft is only a short time away (March 1).
That's it for today - a lot about nothing. We have the Transaction Wire tomorrow, NL East Thursday, and anything else as the spirit moves me. Oh, by the way, Lorain Catholic High School (my alma mater) is closing down after this year, so if anyone knows of any good high schools in the Lorain area where my sister can go for her senior year, and my brother can go for his four years, let me know (or, if you're incredibly rich and would like to write a huge check to save the school, let me know).
