Three Guys in a Basement

Continuing on the journalistic roll tgiab.com is on, we have learned that Golden Tate will be named the 2009 Biletnikoff Award winner.  What an accomplishment.  Notre Dame will miss the best play maker under the dome since arguably the Rocket.

Here’s a recap of his year and all of his touchdowns of 2009:

Per usual, tgiab.com breaks the news that every major media outlet is trying to break.  Notre Dame has agreed to terms with Brian Kelly.  Looks to be a 5 year deal, and a substantial pay raise from UC.

Stay tuned to us here at tgiab.com as we follow up this breaking story.

So the first Blazer game I go to this year results in a season ending injury to Greg Oden (I’m calling it the macro-fracture as opposed to his previous microfracture surgery).  On an otherwise benign play, this was one of the most gruesome injuries I’ve ever seen.  When it first happened, I thought it looked like his knee was caved in, and this is how I described it to people.  It didn’t really make sense, but after seeing this picture taken from the same angle as I viewed it live, I can now tell that I wasn’t seeing things.  Here’s to a full recovery of Oden and his broken left patella (more on Portland fans’ feelings later).

Other interesting sights from the game:  Even the announcers were bored until the 4th quarter, opting instead Read more »

Last time leaving the field for Charlie

Last night was a rough one for the Irish.  They fell to 6-6 for the second consecutive year, in what will most likely be Charlie Weis’s last game as head coach for Notre Dame.

Here’s a couple pictures I took from my seats right next to the tunnel at the end of the game.  Luckily for Weis, his new job returning to the NFL as an offensive coordinator will allow him to remain seated up in the box and take off some of the stress on his bad legs.

It was also a tough way for Jimmy Clausen to go out (as I’m assuming he’ll go pro now).  As a fan, his time in South Bend was something of a waste.  Read more »

And it only took until his (and Charlie’s) last game playing for the Fighting Irish.  You might remember last year that I was pretty adamant that he needed to wear one, as it’s obvious that’s how one beats USC.

So, determined to bring a victory to their final game at Stanford, which I will be attending in person, I sent someone to CJ’s Pub on Saturday night to get in a fight with him.  Knowing that a sucker punch would give him a swollen eye and force him to wear a tinted visor, I think it’s a success.  This is exactly what the Irish needed to finish their season 7-5.

I don’t care what anyone says about this song.  Turn it on at 9 am in the Joyce South parking lot.  Crack open a Coors Light. And I dare you to tell me that Notre Dame is not the best place ever.

Just doing our journalistic duties of getting you breaking news before the likes of espn, etc.

This is done largely to shield itself from the creditors at the Tribune company, but the current ownership team hopes this will expedite the looming sale of the Cubbies.

How a team that sells out every game and probably sells $1,000,000,000 of beer a year goes bankrupt is beyond me.

Hey Phil, it is the playoffs.  You have one responsibility on balls hit to left field.  If it lands to the left of the chalk line, you put your hands up and call it foul.  If it lands on the chalk line or to the right of it by, say a foot, you rule the ball fair.

This atrocious call last night may have cost the Twins the ALDS.  Or at least a shot at it.  Don’t get me wrong, the Twins very likely may have still lost, but when you get cheated by a non-judgement call by some arrogant ass hole from New Jersey, you feel a little slighted as a fan.

Ozzie Guillen claims Cuzzi has a vendetta against him, and is quoted as saying, “He don’t like me; I don’t like him.”  Ozzie speaks it as is.  And in this matter, I believe him.

Some other atrocities of Phil Cuzzi’s career:

In the eighth inning of Game 4 of the 2005 National League Championship Series between the Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals, Cuzzi, working as the home plate umpire, ejected Cardinals star outfielder Jim Edmonds for allegedly arguing balls and strikes. With Edmonds batting and the count 3-1, Astros pitcher Dan Wheeler threw a fastball that Edmonds thought was ball four. As he started to walk down to first base, Edmonds was shocked to find that Cuzzi had called the pitch strike two. Edmonds turned around to ask where the pitch was, and was promptly tossed from the game. Pinch hitter John Rodriguez flied out to center field to end the inning. The Cardinals went on to lose the game and eventually lost the series four games to two. Earlier in the game, Cuzzi had ejected Cardinals manager Tony La Russa for disputing balls and strikes from the dugout.

Cuzzi also has a controversial history with the Toronto Blue Jays. In 2003, with Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay pitching in his second to last game of the season and going for his team-record 22nd win, Cuzzi ejected the star pitcher for hitting Tampa Bay Devil Rays outfielder Rocco Baldelli with a pitch. Few people, not even Baldelli himself, believed the beaning was intentional. Furthermore, MLB rules dictate that when warnings have been issued (as Cuzzi had done prior to the start of the game), the manager of the ejected pitcher’s team must also be thrown out, something Cuzzi failed to do. The Jays went on to lose what was at that point a 1-0 game, and Halladay, who had four straight complete-game victories coming into the contest, had to wait until his last outing of the season to break the team wins record.

On October 9, 2009, Cuzzi was once again at the center of controversy. On a fly ball hit by Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer in the 11th inning of Game 2 of the ALDS against the Yankees, Cuzzi called the ball foul down the left field line. Replays showed the ball landing in fair territory by at least one foot. The ball bounced off Melky Cabrera’s glove and into the stands, and should have been ruled a ground rule double. Instead, Mauer singled, and the Twins failed to score in the inning despite getting two more hits after Mauer’s. The Yankees went on to win the game in the bottom half of the 11th inning.

And finally, the video evidence.  Eat a D, Phil.