Phish To Jam For Days In Watkins Glen

Phish, a definite favorite of Andy and myself have formally announced they will be playing at Watkins Glen International, the famous road race course located just a short drive from our periodic stomping grounds of Corning, NY.

The concert will take place July 1-3 coinciding with the Indy Racing League event held the weekend of Independence Day.

The concert harkens back to 1973 when the Summer Jam at Watkins Glen attracted over 600,000 patrons to upstate New York to hear music from The Allman Brothers Band, The Band and Grateful Dead.

It was considered to be the largest outdoor concert in the U.S. by the Guinness Book for some time.

Here's a video from Phish's performance June 29, 2010 at CMAC in Canandaigua, NY.

In attendance were myself, Cutting Room Floor drummer Alan Brown and friend of the blog Chris Parry. It was most excellent.

Irish Hockey Reaches 2011 Frozen Four

In front of a partisan crowd in Manchester, NH the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Hockey team defeated the New Hampshire Wildcats 2-1 to earn their second Frozen Four bid in four years. With five seconds remaining in the second period Billy Maday scored what would be the eventual game-winning goal.

Goalie Mike Johnson, a sophomore, was the real story of the day though as he turned away 37 of the Wildcats' 38 shots.

AP Photo / Josh Gibney

One day earlier Johnson made 32 saves on 35 shots to help the Irish earn a thrilling come from behind 4-3 OT victory against Merrimack College. Anders Lee led the way against the Warriors with two goals including the game-winner roughly five minutes into the overtime period.

Notre Dame will play Minnesota-Duluth (UMD) on Thursday, April 7 at 5pm EST in the Frozen Four in St. Paul, MN. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2 and will also be available on ESPN3.com. Should the Irish defeat the UMD Bulldogs they would advance to the NCAA title game on Sunday, April 9 at 7pm EST against the winner of Michigan and North Dakota. The championship game will be televised on ESPN.

This marks only the second time in school history the Irish have advanced to the Frozen Four. In 2008 the Irish advanced to Denver for the Frozen Four where they defeated rival Michigan in an overtime thriller. Boston College defeated the Irish in the championship game.

Head coach Jeff Jackson enters his fifth Frozen Four in his coaching career. He won two national championships (1992 and 1994) while at Lake Superior State. In between the two titles Jackson's squad lost the 1993 title game to Maine.

If Jackson's title game history has any sense of repeating itself it could develop into Notre Dame's first hockey championship in school history.

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, though, the Irish must beat Minnesota-Duluth. From there, the Irish would take on the Wolverines of Michigan or Fighting Sioux of North Dakota, two schools that hold winning records against the Irish this season.

Notre Dame Fencing Wins 2011 National Championship

Photo Credit / Pete LaFleur

For the eighth time in school history the Notre Dame Fencing team earned a NCAA national championship. Earlier today the Irish held off nearest competitor Penn State by six points to earn the 2011 men's and women combined title, which is their third under head coach Janusz Bednarski. Fond memories will surely be reminisced by Bednarski in the coming days as his first title at the helm of the Irish came in 2003 when his squad also held off Penn State.

Congratulations are also in store for Courtney Hurley and Ariel DeSmet for earning individual gold medals in their respective weapons. Hurley, a junior, earned her first NCAA gold medal in women's epee while DeSmet, a freshman, won his first NCAA gold medal in men's foil.

This marks the school's second national championship of the 2010-2011 academic school year. Earlier this fall the women's soccer team won their third national title in program history.

Elite Eight Matchup for Irish Icers Tonight

This will be a decidedly short message but necessary nonetheless. Last night Notre Dame Hockey defeated Merrimack College 4-3 in OT. Their reward is an elite eight matchup against New Hampshire tonight on ESPNU at 8pm EST.

Go Irish!

Notre Dame Is All In With Adidas

The partnership between Adidas and Notre Dame began in 1997-1998 at a time when the athletic supplier provided footwear for all Notre Dame teams and additional apparel for other Irish teams.

Ever since the initial agreement the two powerful athletic brands have formed a powerful bond, one which was furthered in 2004-2005 with a 10-year extension to their mutual contract. In a deal worth excess of $60MM, the extension forged a relationship Adidas supplying all Irish sports teams with adidas footwear and apparel through 2013-2014.

Late last season came the introduction of techfit jerseys, which Mark Daniels, Director of Football and Team Sports for Adidas, said "will make old jerseys obsolete." At a weight 30% lighter than standard football jerseys, Daniels also had this to add:

Adidas is changing the game with this revolutionary jersey construction and compression fit because we know the right gear can make a difference during a split second play. Less material and a tighter fit means the jersey is harder to grab and you can’t tackle what you can’t grab. College football is more competitive than ever before and teams need every advantage they can get on the field.

The jerseys were debuted against Western Michigan for the Fighting Irish and experienced continued use throughout some of the remaining games. Promotional ads were released for each of the participating schools, which included Cincinnati, Louisville, Michigan, Texas A&M, Tennessee, and UCLA. Here is a look at Notre Dame's video:



In continuation of their partnership together, Adidas recently launched a new "All In" campaign featuring, among others, the Notre Dame Football Team. Others included in the advertisements include Katy Perry, B.O.B, Dwight Howard, Derek Rose, and Eric Berry.

Below is the :60 version of the new campaign though 2:00 and :30 versions can be found as well. As a whole, the campaign plays off of the notion of competitive spirit while adding a modern twist. Even if you aren't an Irish fan you have to admit that this is a really well done ad in terms of editing and content alike.

Go Irish!

Michael A Saint No More: Floyd Arrested for DUI

Notre Dame football opened spring practice today with a notable returning star missing from action, for the foreseeable future I might add.

Early Sunday morning, rising senior WR Michael Floyd was arrested for a DUI. He failed several sobriety tests and blew a 0.19 blood-alcohol content level, more than double Indiana's legal state limit of 0.08. 

Floyd was coming off a successful season for the Irish which led him to contemplate leaving school early for the NFL draft. His draft stock was not as high as he had hoped it would be, though, so he opted to return for his senior season at Notre Dame this upcoming fall. He thought that he would not only be able to improve his draft status but also aspired to bring Notre Dame to a BCS game and, of course, finishing his degree.

All of those hopes are temporarily on hold now as Irish Head Coach Brian Kelly suspended Floyd indefinitely. In fact, Floyd's name is nowhere to be found on the newly released spring roster issued by the Irish.

From his press conference yesterday, here is what Kelly had to say regarding the matter:

"I've spoken to Michael Floyd and his mother and, in light of what took place this past weekend, I let him know he has been suspended indefinitely from football team-related activities," Irish coach Brian Kelly said. "Football needs to take a backseat at the moment while Michael gets his life in order. ... What's most important right now is Michael focusing on maturing and developing more as a person while working to improve his decision-making processes."

It is a classy handling of the situation by a surely frustrated Kelly, who was looking to take advantage of Notre Dame's most prolific wide receiver in school history in nearly every statistical category.

Floyd, who will appear in court on May 2 and is awaiting inevitable punishment from the Office of Residence Life at Notre Dame, did offer an apology for his actions:

"I understand the gravity of the decision I made and how it could have had catastrophic effects on myself and others," Floyd said in a statement released by the university. "I absolutely recognize that I have many things to work on to become a better person and will need to regain the trust of all whom I have hurt within my immediate family and the Notre Dame family. I fully intend to spend the immediate future improving myself to become a better member of our community."

It is unfortunate that he said the right things in his apology because he could have avoided the entire situation had he simply done the right thing and not gotten behind the wheel after drinking.

At this point it is hard to tell whether or not he will ever suit up in an Irish uniform again. Past precedent from incidents with former FB Rashon Powers-Neal and former TE Will Yeatman indicate Floyd's days playing under the dome are over. 

As a team, the Irish will be fine. It hurts to lose one of your best players but it provides an opportunity for the younger players and rising veterans to take advantage of the open spotlight awaiting them.

My hope is that Floyd is able to personally come to terms with his past decisions and learn from the mistakes. It should be noted that he was cited for an underage drinking violation last summer, so there is a pattern of history repeating itself here. If his playing days under the dome are indeed over I hope he is able to find fulfillment either in the NFL or his professional working career.

It is a sad loss for the team but the Irish will no doubt have to become stronger as a unit because of it.