Dear University of Notre Dame, her alumni, students, fans/defenders,
I am writing this letter to offer a mocking and sarcastic "congratulations" to you, for you have sunk to a new low today. Over your entire existence, you have made no secret of your self-proclaimed divinity. You also have tirelessly self-promoted, and selectively applied your alleged "higher standard" of which you claim to operate under. People with half a brain knew it was nothing but pure B.S., but unfortunately many people bought into it. One of those people was the late Declan Sullivan.
You remember Declan right? He worked for your "prestigious" at best, "loathsome" at most honest, football program. He was one of the videographers you had on staff, until you killed him by putting him directly in harm's way. Declan was doing his job on a scissor-lift, filming football practice in the middle of a windstorm that gripped the entire Midwest on October 27. He managed to send a couple of tweets during his last moments of life which were obviously filled with concern and terror-you can look at them pictured above if you need proof.
An ordinary university, (let alone a catholic university) most likely would have been absolutely mortified at what happened and would have done everything possible to punish those responsible for Declan's death, but then you quickly remembered, "Hey.....we're Notre Dame! We do whatever we want and answer to nobody!" Christ-like indeed...
Apparently "nobody" included the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration (IOSHA), who despite your efforts to sabotage their investigation, still managed to give you a record fine of $77,500 for ignoring industry standards that could have prevented Declan's death. Still selectively applying your "higher standard", you are appealing the fine, even though you were already caught lying to IOSHA. That appeal alone would be worthy of outrage, but you didn't stop there.
Today you revealed the results of your own toothless and spineless "investigation", in which you concluded:
"We did not find any individual who disregarded safety or was indifferent to safety. Consequently, there was not any individual discipline...Our conclusion is that it's a collective responsibility."
That quote is from your University President Rev. John Jenkins. Jenkins says this even though it's a known fact ND practiced indoors for two consecutive days before October 27 due to high winds. Jenkins says this despite the fact that Videographer Director Tim Collins kept a female staffer off the scissor-lift that same day because he feared for her safety. Jenkins says this despite Tim Collins saying that ND is practicing outside "contrary to his judgment" that day. Jenkins says this despite the South Bend Regional Airport diverting planes because of extremely high winds. Jenkins says this despite AD Jack Swarbrick dismissing any reports of dangerous winds by saying the conditions were "...nothing out of the ordinary" that day. Do I really need to go on?
It's rather obvious that there is one person, and one person only, that is responsible for practice being outdoors that day, and its head football coach Brian Kelly. When you consider that every college football coach in the country will tell you that as a head coach you are directly responsible for everything that happens on that practice field, 100%. That definitely includes whether or not practice will be filmed, and where it will be filmed from.
Rather than hold Kelly accountable for his irresponsibility and show any sense of decency, let alone display any of that supposed integrity of which you claim to possess, you have chosen to lay "collective blame" which holds NOBODY responsible. That simply is inexcusable, let alone unforgivable.
By taking these actions, you have exposed yourselves as frauds, hypocrites, and duplicitous phonies of the lowest form. Your failure to deal with this matter appropriately and respectfully is a violation of common sense and intelligence. In short, HOW DARE YOU!? How dare you continue to make a mockery of yourselves, of us, and most importantly Declan's family?! You are nothing more than Talking Monkey's who don't deserve the title of "Human Beings", in addition to having Declan's blood on your hands.
Divinity, piety, and catholic character are two way streets. They are not reserved strictly for those times when positive things happen for you. They must also be applied during times of crisis and tragedy, even if you are directly responsible for those tragic events. It is only then, when your apologies will be taken seriously. Until then remember these wise words:
"Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, you do unto me". You remember who said that right? He's the one you put "Touchdown" in front of when you speak of him.
Sincerely,
Angelo Pesce aka "Luzinski's Beard"
a place for mostly fractured, sometimes coherent, and occasionally insightful takes on the world of sports.
Welcome!!!
Welcome to everyone who found this blog! First things first, the man you see pictured with a healthy glass of wine in his hand, and a jim dandy White Sox shirt on, is my uncle. He is one of the finest human beings ever to walk the earth, and this blog is dedicated to him.
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Fourth, LETS HAVE SOME FUN!!!
Secondly, I'm not really sure who would want to read anything here. As I stated before, this blog was started by me strictly for theraputic purposes at this point. If something is on here that generates a reaction in you, by all means feel free to share it. If not, that's fine too. This is a fly-by-night operation, so no pressure.
Third, we live in an era where sports information has never been more accessible. Yet somehow most of it manages to be filtered and watered down in many respects by certain media/sports networks/websites. It's my wish to have one little sanctuary where information/thoughts/feelings are free of agenda or spin, or b.s. that exists in todays sportsworld. Hopefully that will exist here.
Fourth, LETS HAVE SOME FUN!!!
Showing posts with label Notre Dame. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Notre Dame. Show all posts
Monday, April 18, 2011
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Rapid Car-Bombs
I apologize for the gap between posts. Time Management is really tested during the Silly Season, and a lot has happened since the last posting. With that in mind, I'll do my best to shoot from the hip and spray to all fields:
- It appears that Notre Dame went 3 for 3 in their attempt to shed no more light on the Elizabeth Seeberg case than has already been released, as the St. Joseph County Prosecutors Office announced that it will not prosecute Notre Dame. The County Prosecutor also will not reveal the name of the person who sent Seeberg the threatening text of "Don't do anything you would regret. Messing with notre dame football is a bad idea." Obviously Seeberg's family is not happy about this, nor am I. Before you Notre Dame defenders start saying "See I told you so, Notre Dame does NOTHING wrong!", you should understand that the only reason the Prosecutor will not pursue this is because Seeberg's death makes her statements inadmissible. That is not even close to what would be considered "innocent". Mark my words though, this won't be the last of this, and Notre Dame is FAR from being out of the woods.
- There's been some loud baseball activity on both sides of Chicago the past couple weeks. For the White Sox it was the retention of Paul Konerko and the recently signed Jesse Crain to supplement a weakened bullpen. For the Cubs, it was acquiring the statistically enigmatic Carlos Pena from the Tampa Bay Rays, and welcoming with open arms the return of Kerry Wood to their bullpen. Regarding the Cubs moves, I actually think both are good decisions. For as up and down as Pena has been over his career, he's worth the risk for one year. Getting more fastballs thrown at him in the NL should help him. As for Wood, there's really not much to dislike about it as Kerry gave the Cubs a HUGE hometown discount, while simultaneously giving them a proven bullpen arm and opens the door to Andrew Cashner joining their rotation. If Jim Hendry can pull of the impossible and make this Zambrano to the Yankees rumor happen, that would REALLY be amazing. I'll believe that when it happens though. With the White Sox transactions, I think it was brilliant how they made Konerko cave to the pressure from Dunn and AJ back loading their deals to make room for him. Paulie has been the face and captain of this team for the better part of 10 years and keeping him along for one more "go for it" season was the right thing to do, even though it involved some public peer pressure. Crain could be good, but he could be Linebrink too (please god I hope he's better than that).
- Brett Favre...Eff your record. Yeah it's impressive, yeah you played through a lot of pain to get it, but your still a douche, and you really should thank Goodell for waiting until your streak was over before making a decision on whether or not to suspend you. Bye-Bye Ass-Face...
- And now to the Bears. I'd personally like to thank the Vikings for having a hole ripped through their dome to shift the focus on where this upcoming Monday night's game will be played, rather than how awful the Bears were last Sunday. As for how this situation is being handled, The Beard thinks this is the biggest fustercluck he can remember seeing in the NFL since the New Orleans Saints had to play games in Baton Rouge and San Antonio in the wake of Hurricane Katrina 5 years ago. I can't remember whether or not Beer was sold for those games in Baton Rouge, but I DEFINITELY know they won't be served at TCF Bank Stadium! Not to mention there are 15,000 people that had tickets to this game that will not have seats, and even though they are working like hell to melt the 2 inches of ice and snow covering the field at this moment, the weather forecast calls for more SNOW this weekend! In summary this is really a dumb way to handle this by the league. Who gives a crap that it's the 50th anniversary night for the Vikings Franchise? That poor piece of scheduling is really worth having to go through all of this garbage at the risk of player and fan safety? In my opinion...I've got another place you can put that snow shovel...
Labels:
Brett Favre,
Chicago Bears,
Chicago Cubs,
Chicago White Sox,
Notre Dame
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Tidbits And Nuggets
Just a quick shot at some things I've noticed in the past couple days:
- The best NBA Bigfoot in the business Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports gave us a scathing story about how bad the LeBron-Spoelstra conflict has gotten, and that really Spoelstra is in a no-win situation even though the only thing he's guilty of is holding LeBron accountable. It really is amazing that for 8 years of being aware of who LeBron James is, we had no idea how much of a child he has always been. There is such a disconnect with LeBron's perception of reality and lack of overall maturity that it's scary it took us this long to figure it out. Thankfully we as Bulls fans aren't finding this out with James in a Bulls uniform.
- Here's a copy of the all the Free Agents this baseball offseason with up to the minute updates on who has signed where. There hasn't been much activity yet, but of those free agents that have signed, I noticed something strange. Not counting Omar Vizquel, 31% of the Free Agents who have signed are Ex White Sox players. Juan Uribe, Javier Vazquez, Jon Garland, Jose Contreras, and Geoff Blum making up that 31%. I have no clue what that means, but I just find it interesting, especially since there are more Ex White Sox still on the market, namely Magglio Ordonez and Miguel Olivo.
- Speaking of Baseball Free Agents, I'm so SICK of the non-story that is the Derek Jeter-Yankees "will they or won't they" movie. I'm not even going to waste time writing about who's right or who's wrong and the reason is simply this. Any reasonable and rational thinking baseball fan knows, that Derek Jeter isn't even CLOSE to being the #1 most sought after free agent. Matter of fact, I wouldn't even put him in the Top Ten like Yahoo did. Forget that he's Derek Jeter for a second and pretend it was someone else who's 36 years old, just hit .270 with a .710 OPS and despite the worst Gold Glove ever issued since Rafael Palmeiro in 1999, is a butcher defensively. Would anyone who follows baseball care where that guy ended up? I didn't think so...
- Finally, I just wanted to share something I read that far better articulated my outrage at what a Scum Of The Earth program Notre Dame has become in the wake of Declan Sullivan and Lizzy Seeberg's deaths. Not only is the column well written by Editor In Chief of politicsdaily.com Melinda Henneberger, but it particularly gives me hope because Melinda is a Notre Dame grad, and it doesn't stop her from having Brains as well as a Conscience strong enough to be on the right side of this. Give it a read here.
Labels:
Chicago White Sox,
LeBron James,
MLB,
Notre Dame
Monday, November 22, 2010
The Blade Is Being Sharpened...
Hey University of Notre Dame and your silly ass fans...do you realize that you've gotten so obviously out of control with your football program that even David Haugh says you've screwed up?
Assuming you haven't realized it by now, let me shed some light. I've already covered how you killed Declan Sullivan earlier this season, even though your Athletic Director tried to say that you didn't. Now comes word that before you killed Declan, you may have been told that one of your players sexually assaulted a girl and you didn't exactly react with any common sense, let alone do a whole lot about it.
There's a reason they took their sweet ass time turning in their results of course, and that reason is they were hoping this situation would go away, so Notre Dame wouldn't HAVE to submit their results. Now THAT'S what I call INTEGRITY. It's also pretty damn obvious that Notre Dame tried to stonewall the Seeberg Family, since the Seeberg's hired former Federal Prosecutor Zachary Fardon to look into the matter further and thus putting pressure on Notre Dame.
Considering those factors the question then becomes, What's Notre Dame Hiding? Why wouldn't they follow the chain of command for investigations as serious as sexual assault? Why wouldn't they at the very least provide answers to the Seeberg Family that would dissuade them from having to hire a Federal Prosecutor? Why would they continue to use terms like "University Matter" when it comes to yet another dead student?
Before I put Swarbrick, Kelly, and the Entire ND Administration and Board of Trustees on the Chopping Block, I must take a step back for a moment. Reason being, it's still very possible that Elizabeth Seeberg might have been, for lack of a better term, "bat-shit crazy" compounded with a vivid imagination while on anti-depressants. It's conceivable that she could have hallucinated the whole thing, and/or made it up for some ill-attempt at attention. I'm obviously unable to speak for her and her state of mind at the time.
Either way, it still looks bad for Notre Dame, and god-awful for Brian Kelly. Remember when Notre Dame fans were only concerned with Kelly's stance on Abortion? It looks like they had way more to worry about than that. This is now two dead students that are connected loosely in Seeberg's case, or directly in Sullivan's case, to his Football Program....and Kelly's cracking jokes about the impending bankruptcy of the Chicago Tribune and Manti Te'o's broken nose! That's not even counting a recruit of his that died on Spring Break by the way...
Again, where we go from here will depend on the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office. They have Notre Dame's investigation results now, and they will be combing through it brick by brick to see if it holds.
So as the title of this post suggests, while the rest of the ND Clowns are not on the chopping block yet, Kelly was already on it the moment Declan Sullivan went up in the Scissor Lift that fateful day. Whether or not Kelly's head or limbs will roll first depends on the results of the investigation.
Either way, the Blade is being sharpened by our hooded friend at the top....
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Outrage (Update)
So it seems that I'm not the Lone Wolf in the "Notre Dame/Brian Kelly Killed Declan Sullivan" camp. Here are some other people who agree with me:
With each passing day Notre Dame continues to look worse. With Kelly's flippant, "productive practice" attitude whenever this subject is brought up, makes it all the more clear that Kelly doesn't understand what it means to be a coach, and should be removed immediately.
- Jason Whitlock eloquently asks where the outrage towards Kelly and ND is at foxsports.com .
- Dan Bernstein of WSCR 670 AM Asks the same question Whitlock asks here, and did half his show dedicated to how completely cold and heartless Kelly and ND have been post Declan's untimely death.
- David Jones of pennlive.com also agrees with me here as well.
With each passing day Notre Dame continues to look worse. With Kelly's flippant, "productive practice" attitude whenever this subject is brought up, makes it all the more clear that Kelly doesn't understand what it means to be a coach, and should be removed immediately.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Outrage!
Anyone who knows me knows my disdain and vitriol for the University of Notre Dame, and Notre Dame Football over the years. I've always maintained a level of contempt for that arrogant "We're Notre Dame, and we're awesome because we're Notre DAME" philosophy that exudes from nearly every alum and overall fan (see Rudy) of Notre Dame I've encountered in my lifetime, and 99 times out of 100 they always seem to justify my feelings and prove my point with their overall conceit, holier than thou attitude, and general schmuckiness even though they haven't done a damn thing since 1988.
Over the years, there have been many adjectives I've chosen to describe my personal feelings and general conflicts with Notre Dame and her defenders. "Spirited", "Contentious", "Mind-Boggling", "Angry", and "Cute", just to name a few. Overall though, it never got beyond any level of seriousness. That has now changed this week with the news of the death of 20 year old Declan Sullivan. Now my feelings of disdain and vitriol for Notre Dame have been replaced with "DISGUST"!
Let me quickly summarize for those who haven't heard what happened. Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly likes to practice outside and hates practicing indoors. The Midwest has had very strong winds lately up to 60 MPH. Declan Sullivan was a Notre Dame student who filmed the teams practices from on top of the Scissors Lift towers, as part of his job. Those scissor lifts are not to be used in winds over 25 MPH. The winds were too strong that day (53 MPH according to many readings), and obviously Declan knew it judging by picture of his Tweets featured above which were posted about an hour before the tower fell and lead to his death.
Declan is now dead, and Notre Dame and Brian Kelly, have Declan's blood on their hands because they put him in harms way. Whether they knew how dangerous it was to put Declan on the Lift during high winds is irrelevant! Ignorance is NEVER an excuse. Kelly's and Notre Dame's negligence now has a body count behind it, PERIOD. Fortunately for us, there are many courts in this country that would call this situation "Wrongful Death" and it will be only a matter of time before Notre Dame opens up their checkbook to Declan's family.
No amount of that money will ease the pain for Declan and his family however. No amount of painted gold helmets or praying to Touchdown Jesus will wash the blood stains from your hands when they hit your Play Like A Champion sign.
In short Notre Dame, you have now crossed the line from Hateful Play-Thing, to the Embodiment of Negligence and Wrecklessness.
Let that little thought keep you warm at night you hypocritical bastards...
Over the years, there have been many adjectives I've chosen to describe my personal feelings and general conflicts with Notre Dame and her defenders. "Spirited", "Contentious", "Mind-Boggling", "Angry", and "Cute", just to name a few. Overall though, it never got beyond any level of seriousness. That has now changed this week with the news of the death of 20 year old Declan Sullivan. Now my feelings of disdain and vitriol for Notre Dame have been replaced with "DISGUST"!
Let me quickly summarize for those who haven't heard what happened. Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly likes to practice outside and hates practicing indoors. The Midwest has had very strong winds lately up to 60 MPH. Declan Sullivan was a Notre Dame student who filmed the teams practices from on top of the Scissors Lift towers, as part of his job. Those scissor lifts are not to be used in winds over 25 MPH. The winds were too strong that day (53 MPH according to many readings), and obviously Declan knew it judging by picture of his Tweets featured above which were posted about an hour before the tower fell and lead to his death.
Declan is now dead, and Notre Dame and Brian Kelly, have Declan's blood on their hands because they put him in harms way. Whether they knew how dangerous it was to put Declan on the Lift during high winds is irrelevant! Ignorance is NEVER an excuse. Kelly's and Notre Dame's negligence now has a body count behind it, PERIOD. Fortunately for us, there are many courts in this country that would call this situation "Wrongful Death" and it will be only a matter of time before Notre Dame opens up their checkbook to Declan's family.
No amount of that money will ease the pain for Declan and his family however. No amount of painted gold helmets or praying to Touchdown Jesus will wash the blood stains from your hands when they hit your Play Like A Champion sign.
In short Notre Dame, you have now crossed the line from Hateful Play-Thing, to the Embodiment of Negligence and Wrecklessness.
Let that little thought keep you warm at night you hypocritical bastards...
Thursday, June 10, 2010
College Football JOLT
What the hell just happened? College sports, specifically College Football has been turned on it's ear today with some startling announcements. The first announcement of the NCAA hitting USC in the crotch shouldn't be too surprising to anyone who's read this blog with regularity. The second announcement of the Colorado ("ssssthweet stadium...I heard they sssthell booozthe there...) leaving the Big 12 for the Pac-10 today is particularly intriguing because they are now the first official domino to fall in what is believed to be widespread disintegration of the Big 12 conference.
Let's start with USC. The NCAA seems to have grown a pair as they handed down one of the stiffest punishments since 1995 against "The U" when they removed 31 scholarships from Miami. This reminded me of the old days when things like "The Death Penalty" were still able to be used by the NCAA to punish rogue programs like Kentucky and in the infamous SMU case. The damage for USC? They are banned from playing in a Bowl game for 2 years, on probation for 4 years, lose 30 scholarships over the next three years, vacated 14 victories from December 2004 - and the entire 2005 season (looks like Notre Dame DID win the "Bush Push Game" after all), and there's now discussion on whether or not the 2004 National Championship will be vacated as well.
That's a pretty spicy meatball Trojans! For people like me who have always found something rotten in Denmark or in this case University Park, Los Angeles, this is pretty impressive. After reading Tarnished Heisman
, while I was no doubt entertained by the details in it, I still had doubts if the NCAA would really be firm with USC, or if they would continue their recent history of slaps on the wrist. We got our answer today, and that answer is the whip is cracking. The only real question left for me is will they take Reggie Bush's Heisman Trophy back? Here's a good piece debating that possibility. I know there are certain legalities involved that don't leave this a cut and dried issue, but if I'm on the board of trustees at the Downtown Athletic Club I'd have to at least be uncomfortable with the now FACT a "professional" athlete won our award. Another favorite part for me is the reaction of Pete "Captain Happy"Carrol and Reggie Bush. They really want to have us believe they are "shocked" by these findings? That's up there with OJ searching for the "real killers". Go sell that somewhere else fellas...
Now let's get to the Big 12. Colorado has officially made the first move to the Pac-10 from the Big 12. Nebraska is expected to announce they have made the move to the Big Ten on Friday. There are also rumors out of Kansas City that Texas, and Texas A&M have petitioned to join the Big Ten, and Oklahoma wanting to join the SEC. While that rumor is strictly unfounded at this point, the more realistic scenario is Texas, TAMU, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State joining the Pac-10 and making it a 16 team conference.
If that happens, doesn't Notre Dame HAVE to join the Big Ten? While obviously Notre Dame doesn't HAVE to do anything (don't believe me, just ask them and they'll tell you) personally I hope they do. I think it would be terrific for not only Notre Dame to finally stop playing The Military schools but it would also be fabulous for the conference to have 14 teams in it with Nebraska, ND, and Rutgers in the mix. Plus that silly National TV Contract ND has with NBC is not making NBC any money any more. In one felt swoop, Notre Dame can finally put away the argument of "They Don't Play Anybody", join a Big Ten that is suddenly going to be considered a Power Conference, have annual games with Ohio State, Illinois, Northwestern, Nebraska, and Penn State among others, they would also get a piece of the increased revenue the Big Ten is going to get with this new realignment.
While I still can't get an answer as to why all this conference realignment is all happening other than the short & easy answer of "money", this are historic events taking place right now. If the Pac-10 gets 16 teams, and the Big Ten gets 14 teams, how far away are we from having 4 Major Conferences divided by geography each with 16 teams in it for a total of 64? That would make a playoff scenario a little easier to structure wouldn't it???
Let's start with USC. The NCAA seems to have grown a pair as they handed down one of the stiffest punishments since 1995 against "The U" when they removed 31 scholarships from Miami. This reminded me of the old days when things like "The Death Penalty" were still able to be used by the NCAA to punish rogue programs like Kentucky and in the infamous SMU case. The damage for USC? They are banned from playing in a Bowl game for 2 years, on probation for 4 years, lose 30 scholarships over the next three years, vacated 14 victories from December 2004 - and the entire 2005 season (looks like Notre Dame DID win the "Bush Push Game" after all), and there's now discussion on whether or not the 2004 National Championship will be vacated as well.
That's a pretty spicy meatball Trojans! For people like me who have always found something rotten in Denmark or in this case University Park, Los Angeles, this is pretty impressive. After reading Tarnished Heisman
Now let's get to the Big 12. Colorado has officially made the first move to the Pac-10 from the Big 12. Nebraska is expected to announce they have made the move to the Big Ten on Friday. There are also rumors out of Kansas City that Texas, and Texas A&M have petitioned to join the Big Ten, and Oklahoma wanting to join the SEC. While that rumor is strictly unfounded at this point, the more realistic scenario is Texas, TAMU, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State joining the Pac-10 and making it a 16 team conference.
If that happens, doesn't Notre Dame HAVE to join the Big Ten? While obviously Notre Dame doesn't HAVE to do anything (don't believe me, just ask them and they'll tell you) personally I hope they do. I think it would be terrific for not only Notre Dame to finally stop playing The Military schools but it would also be fabulous for the conference to have 14 teams in it with Nebraska, ND, and Rutgers in the mix. Plus that silly National TV Contract ND has with NBC is not making NBC any money any more. In one felt swoop, Notre Dame can finally put away the argument of "They Don't Play Anybody", join a Big Ten that is suddenly going to be considered a Power Conference, have annual games with Ohio State, Illinois, Northwestern, Nebraska, and Penn State among others, they would also get a piece of the increased revenue the Big Ten is going to get with this new realignment.
While I still can't get an answer as to why all this conference realignment is all happening other than the short & easy answer of "money", this are historic events taking place right now. If the Pac-10 gets 16 teams, and the Big Ten gets 14 teams, how far away are we from having 4 Major Conferences divided by geography each with 16 teams in it for a total of 64? That would make a playoff scenario a little easier to structure wouldn't it???
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