Obama’s Speech Wasn’t Controversial. But, Charlie Weiss’ Coaching Is
Amidst great controversy regarding his support for abortion rights, United States President Barack Hussein Obama II presented the commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame last week.
Notre Dame’s President, The Rev. John Jenkins, was widely criticized by dozens of American Catholic bishops for inviting our nation’s 44th President to speak and also for granting Obama with an honorary degree despite his stance on abortion.
Following the commencement, Obama spoke last Sunday night at an Indianapolis fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee and he initiated his address by jesting that the hoopla surrounding his appearance at South Bend “paled in comparison to what to do about the football team.”
“That’s an issue we may not resolve within my four years,” remarked the graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School.
“Eight,” shouted a spectator in the audience, obviously disenchanted with the Fighting Irish football program that has a record of 10-15 over the past two seasons on the gridiron.
“All right, well, maybe in eight we might get it done,” Obama, 47, teased.
Irish Head Coach Charlie Weis, who has gone a disappointing 29-21 at his alma mater since becoming the 28th head football coach in Notre Dame history, signed a 10-year deal worth a reported $30-40 million in 2006.
Assuming that he doesn’t receive his deserved termination notice beforehand, the contract would allow the portly Weis, 53, to waddle along the Notre Dame Stadium sidelines through the 2015 season.
Weis, a white man’s response to Fat Albert who lost 90 Lbs after he underwent gastric bypass surgery in 2002, claimed his players would have a “decided schematic advantage” against their opponents after he resigned as the New England Patriots Offensive Coordinator and took the helm at the “House that Rockne Built.”
The native of New Jersey is atypical among his fellow NCAA Division I football coaches because he neither played the sport himself at the college level nor taught the game before in any capacity in the collegiate ranks.
Nevertheless, since Weis was hired to coach the Irish in 2004, college football analysts have raved about his ability to lure blue chip prospects to South Bend and Notre Dame’s recruiting classes have consistently ranked among the best in the nation.
Unfortunately and perplexingly, the wealth of talent assembled at Notre Dame has translated into the most losses at the school in any two-year period beginning at the start of the 2007 campaign.
It is fair to speculate that collegiate scouts failed miserably at their jobs and vastly overrated the Irish’s incoming personnel from high school.
It is also reasonable to consider the possibility that Notre Dame’s players are in fact elite talents who are being led by an inadequate coach.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program have not won a national championship since 1988 and they need to immediately recapture their spot among the sports exclusive programs or Charlie Weis deserves to be stripped of his role in South Bend.
It is simply overdue that Weis makes the Irish Play Like A Champion Today and fans of Notre Dame football can name 30-40 million reasons why they shouldn’t expect anything less this coming autumn.
Bobby Lashley Would Thrive in the UFC
Former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar Bobby Lashley demolished an overmatched Mike Cook just 24 seconds into his Maximum Fighting Championship debut last Friday night in Edmonton, Alberta.
Lashley, 32, the winner of three national amateur wrestling championships between 1996 and 1998 who later enlisted in the United States Army and continued to grapple there, was incensed that his dramatically inferior opponent entered the cage donning a mask a la Jack Black’s character from the movie Nacho Libre.
"I’m here for business," fumed Lashley (3-0) of Cook’s perceived insult. "I’m here and everyone wants to and tries to make fun of the wrestling thing. I’m real. If they want to play around, I’ll knock them out or choke them out. And that’s what I did. I choked him out and made him pay. Now he can go put the mask back on and have fun with himself."
The native of Denver, Colorado announced after the fight that his next Mixed Martial Arts foe would be former NFL offensive lineman and K1 kickboxing force Bob “The Beast” Sapp.
Sapp, 35, who owns a 10-3-1 MMA record and was selected in the third round of the 1997 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears, is a monstrous specimen that should offer fierce competition for Lashley in their June matchup.
Despite “The Beast’s” vast weight advantage (100 lbs) over the incredibly chiseled Lashley, expect the two-time ECW World Champion and onetime United States titleholder to dispense of Sapp in a timely fashion and prove that his combat capabilities are legitimate once they scrap in Biloxi, Mississippi next month.
After “The Dominator” disposes of “The Beast,” it will be interesting to see if the President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Dana White, offers Lashley a contract to compete in his mainstream organization sometime in the near future.
Unlike his erstwhile wrasslin’ colleague, Brock Lesnar, Lashley may not overwhelm the UFC heavyweight division.
Nevertheless, “The Dominator” would not be physically dominated by any fighter and it would be compelling to watch Lashley participate in the UFC.
Dana White should have Bobby Lashley’s cell phone number on speed dial.
The WWE Will Beat the Denver Nuggets in a Fight
The Denver Nuggets are scheduled to host Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals versus the Los Angeles Lakers Monday at the Pepsi Center.
Unfortunately, the Chairman of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Vincent Kennedy McMahon, reserved the Pepsi Center on the same day and time for his Monday Night Raw event last August and he is unwilling to let Nuggets Owner Stan Kroenke renege on their agreement.
"Quite frankly, it's my view that Stan Kroenke should be arrested, should be arrested for impersonating a good businessman, because he's not a good businessman," McMahon, 63, said on ESPN. "A good businessman doesn't book a World Wrestling Federation live televised event on Monday night realizing that his team in all likelihood would not make the playoffs."
WWE spokesman Robert Zimmerman said the company already sold more than 10,000 tickets and the organization anticipates a sellout.
Mr. McMahon said his crews will be in Denver on Monday night because he can’t let the team “just simply throw us out on our ear.”
A renowned analyst with Hilliard Lyons, Jeffrey Thomison, who has covered the entertainment industry for more than twenty years, said he does not recall a similar dispute in the past and he believes that McMahon will maintain his firm stance.
"I don't think he's putting on an act here," Thomison said of McMahon. "He genuinely is upset."
The male soap opera known as Raw is one of the top rated programs on cable television, attracting approximately 6 million viewers weekly.
"The conflict has to be resolved very soon," Thomison continued. "Monday Night Raw is a very valuable asset to the company."
The Executive Vice President of Kroenke Sports Enterprises, Paul Andrews, publicly cowered to McMahon and issued a flimsy statement to the media Monday night that expressed his desire to reach a harmonious compromise with WWE’s brass.
"We are working with the WWE to resolve the situation amicably," Andrews quivered.
The Denver Nuggets are historically a pathetic franchise and, to some degree, one can understand the lack of faith that Kroenke exhibited in his own basketball squad.
Prior to this season, the Nuggets had not won a playoff series since 1994 and they have been absent from the Western Conference Finals since they made their last trip there in 1985.
Nevertheless, this debacle is entirely Kroenke’s fault and McMahon is correct with the position he has taken in this particular circumstance.
Kroenke, a business entrepreneur who is listed in the Forbes 400 as one of the wealthiest people in the world, needs to bow to WWE suits and take entire responsibility for the mistake that he made in Mile High last summer.
If Kroenke doesn’t fully compensate the WWE for his mental gaffe, McMahon should have “Stone Cold” Steve Austin break a Coors beer bottle over his cranium.
“And that’s the bottom line, ‘cause Stone Cold said so!”
*Moments after publishing this article, a resolution was found to the above debacle:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2009/news/story?id=4188189
Keywords: Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, MMA, Notre Dame Football, UFC, WWE
