2011 Community Playing Time Forecast

Once again, Tom Tango is asking everyone - including you - to predict the playing time for everyone on your favorite MLB team. So if you're willing to make some educated guesses about how much everyone on your favorite team, head over to

http://www.tangotiger.net/survey/

2010 Fans Scouting Report

Once again, TangoTiger is crowdsourcing his defensive scouting reports. If you follow baseball closely enough to have an educated (or semi-educated) opinion on players' defensive talents, be sure to stop by and enter your thoughts.

Mike Maycock Replaces Pat Haden as NBC's Notre Dame Analyst

Maycock is a graduate of Boston College. Apparently Desmond Howard and Jimmy Johnson weren't available. Let's hope at least that Maycock is less bitter about Notre Dame than Brian Brennan is.

For more, check out our friends at Her Loyal Sons, or read NBC's official presser below.

NEW YORK – August 2, 2010 - Mike Mayock, one of television’s premier college football and NFL Draft experts, joins NBC Sports’ Notre Dame football coverage as game analyst, filling the role vacated by Pat Haden. Mayock’s inaugural game will take place on September 4 when the Fighting Irish host Purdue in the first game of NBC Sports’ 20th season broadcasting Notre Dame football.

Mayock, a former NFL defensive back, is NFL Network’s leading college football and NFL Draft analyst. He is featured on numerous NFL Network programs throughout the year, including Playbook and NFL Total Access, and provides content for all NFL Draft-related programming.

“Mike’s knowledge of and passion for college football has resulted in him becoming one of the most respected voices in the game,” said NBC Sports executive producer Sam Flood. “He possesses a relentless work ethic and perfect pedigree as a former player and son of a coach. We are excited to add him to our team.”

Mayock joins veteran NBC Sports and Notre Dame commentators Tom Hammond (play-by-play) and Alex Flanagan (sideline reporter).

Mayock’s extensive football broadcast experience includes serving as a game analyst for NFL Network’s coverage of the Texas Bowl, the Insight Bowl, and Under Armour Senior Bowl, as well as preseason games for the Minnesota Vikings. Prior to joining NFL Network, he served as a college football analyst for ABC Sports (2001-03), Fox Sports Net (2000), and CBS Sports (1996-99).

“As the son of a coach and someone who has been around football my entire life, my favorite part of sports television has always been broadcasting games,” said Mayock. “The fact that I will now provide commentary on one of the most historically important teams in the history of college football on NBC Sports makes me about as happy as I can be as a sports broadcaster.”

NCAA Baseball Regional Previews

It's almost Omaha time again! No, Notre Dame (and Cleveland State) didn't make it into the field of 64 this year. But for more information on the teams that did, be sure to check out The College Baseball Blog's regional previews. Brian et al. broke down each regional in fantastic detail. That's why TCBB is the top in its niche, my friends.

NAISMITHLIVES.COM ANNOUNCES SECOND ANNUAL ALL-AMERICAN TEAM

Oklahoma Star Blake Griffin Headlines First Team

NaismithLives.com, one of the web's hottest basketball sites, announced their second annual All-American teams today. Oklahoma sophomore Blake Griffin is a member of the First Team.

Griffin averaged 22.7 points and 14.4 rebounds per game on the season. The sophomore forward led the Sooners to a record of 30-6 and was named Big 12 Player of the Year. He scored at least 30 points on six occasions, including a 40-point, 23-rebound outburst against Texas Tech in February.

“The numbers speak for themselves,” says NaismithLives.com senior writer Adam Stanco, “but it was Griffin’s utter dominance that established him as the best player in the nation from start to finish.”

NaismithLives.com All-American First Team:
Stephen Curry, Davidson, Jr.
James Harden, Arizona State, So.
Blake Griffin, Oklahoma, So.
DeJuan Blair, Pittsburgh, So.
Hasheem Thabeet, Connecticut, Jr.

For the complete list of all five All-American teams, please visit NaismithLives.com.

Launched in January of 2008, NaismithLives.com covers all levels of basketball, from high school to the pros. The site features rare insight, great writing, and a place for basketball minds to come together to share ideas.

NaismithLives.com… For the basketball purist.

# # #

For more information, follow us on Twitter at Twitter.com/NaismithLives or contact Adam Stanco at adamstanco@naismithlives.com or by phone at (610) 316-6825.

Best Sports Writing and Brady's Bunch

Two new links in the sidebar:

Best Sports Writing brings together the best in book authors, mainstream reporters and columnists, and bloggers. And somehow I made the cut.

BradysBunch.net is the forum arm of Brady-Quinn.org. A perfect place for my target audience (ND fans and Cleveland fans) to talk about their dreamy poster boy.

Old Notre Dame, New Blog

Everything you need to know is in the title. Go check it out.

Random Updates/Link Dump

• If you're not watching it yet, be sure to check out The Subway Alumni Show, a weekly 15(ish)-minute video on Notre Dame football. One of the two hosts is an Ignatius guy and proud of it.


• Basketball fans know who James Naismith is. If you do, or even if you don't, be sure to stop by Naismith Lives. While you're there, check out the Top 50 Basketball Commercials of All-Time.


• Not content with frequent appearances in the NFL playoffs, Notre Dame alumni have started taking over the MLB playoffs as well. Jeff Samardzija and Craig Counsell may be done, but Brad Lidge and the Phillies are still alive. Matt Macri and Aaron Heilman were knocking on the playoffs' door until the last week of the season.


• Don't forget the WNBA playoffs either. Ruth Riley made another WNBA finals appearance as the sixth woman for San Antonio, who fell to Bill Laimbeer's Detroit Shock.

New Notre Dame Links

Cleaning out my inbox, I added two new links to the sidebar.

The first is for Domer Sports Report, run by Mark, who is a regular over at Bleacher Report.

The second is for Blue Gold Nation, an up and coming message board community. They've started a collection of recruiting videos and other ND-related videos, so be sure to check those out.


Finally, I got an email from a reader who, like me, is a fan of both Notre Dame and Cleveland sports. He was wondering if there were any desktop wallpaper images that combined the two. Anyone?

Gameday Housing

Gameday Housing, which lets Notre Dame fans rent out local houses during football weekends, recently started a blog. I've added links to both in the right sidebar.

Be sure to check both sites out, especially if you and 14 of your closest friends need a place to stay this fall.

My Interview on Cleveland.com's And One Blog

Life is good. I'm up to number 500 on Wikio's sports blog rankings (and there's a shiny new badge in the Statistics section of my sidebar to track my progress). My last Cavs post made a cameo appearance on NYTimes.com. But the creme de la creme was being interviewed by Carolyn of Cleveland.com's And One blog. Check it out here.

Carolyn had some very nice things to say about my writing and the site, and if she's reading this she's welcome to do a guest post here any time she'd like.