In Regards To Bob Stoops' Conference Call

I thought I'd post this for those of you who have been reading articles coming from papers out of Oklahoma today with the story that Bob Stoops said he's going to be at Oklahoma next year. While the quotes you're reading don't sound very good, it's probably because they've been selectively choosen by the Oklahoma papers.

I just finished listening to the entire conference call and found this exchange interesting.

Reporter to Stoops: "Why don't you just come out and say you're not going to Notre Dame?"

Stoops: "Because I don't like the way you worded the question."

Take that any way you want to.

Also, the article I linked to conveniently left out the part of Stoops quote that began with "I intend to be at Oklahoma next year."

Charlie Weis Has Been Fired

In what comes as some of the least shocking news to anyone who follows the world of Notre Dame, college football, or this blog, Charlie Weis has been fired by the University of Notre Dame according to the New York Daily News.

Charlie Weis is out as Notre Dame head football coach, a source close to the program told the Daily News.


AD Jack Swarbrick has decided to make a change after Weis finished the season with a 6-6 record and four straight losses to Navy, Pitt, Connecticut and Stanford.

Kirk Hinrich Will Miss A Couple Weeks

The Bulls play their last game of the Circus Trip tonight in Milwaukee, and considering that they've gone 1-4 so far on the trip, they'll be happy to be playing in front of the home fans again on Wednesday night when Ben Gordon makes his first return to Chicago with the Pistons.

Though Ben will not have his old friend Kirk Hinrich guarding him on Wednesday, nor will any opposing guard over the next few weeks.  The Bulls announced on Monday that Hinrich will miss the next week or two due to a sprained left thumb.

Hinrich missed quite a bit of time last season due to torn ligaments in his right thumb but thankfully this injury doesn't seem to be anywhere near as serious.

As for how Hinrich's absence will affect the Bulls, well, it certainly doesn't help the team much.  The team's already been playing the entire season short-handed with the injury to Tyrus Thomas, and this will only serve to stretch the team's bench further.

So get ready to see Jannero Pargo jacking up even more ill-advised shots in the coming days.

Somebody's Going to Have the BCS Blues

We’ve reached that point in the Big Ten’s college football season where all any of us can really do is sit around and wait.  Aside from somewhat meaningless games between Wisconsin and Hawaii along with Illinois and Fresno State, there really is nothing left to be settled.

Well, there’s one thing.

Who will be the Big Ten’s second BCS berth?  Thanks to Oklahoma beating Oklahoma State 27-0 on Saturday, the Big Ten is basically assured that they will have two teams playing in a BCS bowl this January. While we know Ohio State will be representing the conference in the Rose Bowl, there’s still the matter of whether it will be Iowa or Penn State who will be heading to Tempe or Miami...

Continue reading at Blog Ten

Let's Just Blow This Thing Up

I didn't get to watch the Bears game yesterday because I was too busy digging through Bob Stoops' garbage cans looking for any indication he's coming to Notre Dame at work all night. I can't say I'm disappointed I didn't get to see it.

I'm more relieved, actually.

I was spared three plus hours of stab-myself-in-the-face-with-a-fork football, and when you're as pretty as I am, you don't want to go stabbing your meal ticket like that. I did DVR the game, though, and gave it a quick look-see, which isn't nearly as painful when you already know what to expect.

All I saw was further confirmation that this Bears team is horrible, and that there is no easy fix. They just need to blow that thing up.

Derek Jeter Named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year

It's been a pretty incredible year for New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter. He just won his fifth World Series with the team earlier this month after having one of the best offensive seasons of his career, and also got his fourth Silver Slugger award and fourth Gold Glove to go along with it. He also passed Lou Gehrig as the Yankees all-time leader in hits, which considering the history of the Yankees, is quite an achievement.

Now he has some more hardware to add to the trophy case as it was announced on Monday that Jeter has been named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year...

Continue reading at FanHouse

Report On Scout.Com Says It's Bob Stoops

As we still wait to find out who will replace Charlie Weis at Notre Dame there was more news early Sunday morning that Bob Stoops will be leaving Oklahoma to come to Notre Dame.

Matt Alkire, a recruiting analyst for Scout.com, made the announcement on Notre Dame's Scout site, Irish Eyes, on Sunday morning.  According to Alkire he's heard from five separate sources at both Notre Dame and Oklahoma that it will be Stoops and that just about everything has been agreed to already.

More On Stoops And The Irish

It's been a few days since I posted about Bob Stoops being tapped as the next head coach at Notre Dame, but just because I haven't said anything since then, doesn't mean I've stopped digging.

Now that the Irish season is over -- save for a possible bowl game, should the team choose to play one -- following Notre Dame's 45-38 loss to Stanford on Saturday night, the craziness should begin.

I'm still standing behind my source that Stoops is the man, but admittedly, it gets pretty hard to tell.

Here's a look back at just some of the rumors and claims circulating this Saturday.

The Cubs Are Looking For a Centerfielder

Well the season has been over for nearly two months now, and Milton Bradley is still a member of the Chicago Cubs.  A scenario in which neither the team, the player, or the fans are probably all that happy with at the moment.  The Cubs would like to make some changes this winter, but the fact is, they really can't do anything until they get rid of Bradley and his contract.

What they would like to do, however, according to Fox's Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi is bring in a centerfielder.  Now while Cubs fans have floated the name Curtis Granderson around as someone they'd love to see playing at Wrigley, he's apparently not the only target on the Cubs wish list.

The Recruiting Trail: C.J. Fiedorowicz Ditches Illinois For Iowa

The Recruiting Trail is Blog Ten’s look at what Big Ten teams are doing on the recruiting front.  Of course, you probably already figured that out, and if you hadn’t, well then you may still qualify to play in the SEC.

Back at the end of October Blog Ten told you about C.J. Fiedorowicz, a tight end from Johnsburgh High School in Johnsburg, Illinois.  Fiedorowicz is considered by Rivals to be the top tight end in the country right now, and earlier this year he gave an oral commitment to Ron Zook and the Fighting Illini.

Well, it turns out that the game against Cincinnati wasn’t the only thing the Illini lost this weekend...

Continue reading at Blog Ten

Blog Ten Gameday: Illini Can't Keep Up With The Bearcats

Cincinnati 49  Illinois 36  Final

The Illini went to Cincinnati this week to take on a Bearcats team that was 10-0 and still alive in the national title hunt.  The Illini, on the other hand, are just playing out the string in what has been another disappointing season in Champaign.  Maybe they had a slight glimmer of hope that they could pull off the upset since Cincinnati quarterback Tony Pike was making his first start since injuring his non-throwing shoulder earlier this season.

Pike dashed all those hopes rather quickly....

Continue reading at Blog Ten

Blog Ten Cheat Sheet - Week 13

Well there’s only one game in the Big Ten this weekend, but that doesn’t mean Blog Ten is going to take the day off and not help you figure out where to put your money.  No sir.  Though, to be honest, if you really need Blog Ten’s advice to figure out which way to bet Illinois’ game against Cincinnati, let me just say welcome to America, and welcome to college football...

Continue reading at Blog Ten

Source: Bob Stoops Will Be The Next Head Coach At Notre Dame

I know Foul Balls has never been known as a go-to destination for breaking news stories, but it seems that I've gotten my hands on some information regarding the future head coach at Notre Dame.

The Irish will finish their regular season on Saturday against Stanford, and then they'll return to South Bend where it's expected that Charlie Weis will be relieved of his duties as head coach.

According to a source that I spoke to Thursday night, that replacement will be current Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops.

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm taking the day off to watch football and stuff my face, but wanted to wish all of you who might happen to come by here today a Happy Thanksgiving.

This morning I'm most thankful for Marian Hossa and his two goals in his Blackhawks debut last night, along with the rest of the team for handing the Sharks a 7-2 beating on their home ice.

I'd be more thankful for Andruw Jones if it were 2002 and I wasn't worried he was going to eat the entire turkey himself.

I'm also thankful for the craptastic housing market right now.  Who knew you could sell a house, and STILL not sell that thing?  The poor Clausens.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

Spartans Kick Two Players Off The Team

On Tuesday afternoon there were reports out of East Lansing that up to 20 Michigan State students had been involved in a “mass assault” and that it was possible more than a few of them had been members of the football team.  According to the student that was attacked, Brent Mitchell, a group of men entered a campus dormitory where he and some female students were cleaning up after a potluck event.

The group, some of whom were in ski masks and some who Mitchell recognized as football players, were looking for someone who had been in an altercation with one of them the previous night at a Iota Phi Theta fraternity event.  A fraternity that Mitchell is a member of.  When they realized that the person they were looking for wasn’t there, they decided beating up Mitchell would be enough.  They also hit the females to get them out of the way.

Well, in a move that is most likely related to this incident, two players were kicked off the team on Tuesday night, and one of them is not a surprise...

Continue reading at Blog Ten

Jimmy Clausen Is Going Pro - UPDATE

While the school is yet to make any official announcements regarding 2010, if you can read between the lines it's pretty easy to see what's coming.  As for the future of Charlie Weis in South Bend, well, normally after a game on the west coast like the one the Irish are playing against Stanford on Saturday, Weis would stay out on the west coast to make some of his recruiting trips.

Not this year.  Athletic director Jack Swarbrick says that Weis will return to South Bend following the game, which is a pretty good indicator that he won't be back as head coach.

The other question surrounding the team is whether or not the recently punched Jimmy Clausen will be coming back for his senior season.  While Clausen hasn't said anything about his decision, his family's real estate agent is tipping his hand.

Is Miguel Cabrera on the Trading Block?

There are a lot of questions concerning what the Detroit Tigers are going to do this winter. Some are speculating that there will be a fire sale in Detroit as the team tries to shed payroll going into the 2010 season, and then there are others saying that any such talk is ridiculous.

Still, that hasn't stopped rumors from spreading around the league that players like Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson are being shopped, and now there's a much bigger name floating around. According to a report by The Detroit News' Lynn Henning, even Miguel Cabrera -- he of the rogue first-place AL MVP vote -- is on the trading block...

Continue reading at FanHouse

Big Ten Individual Awards

The All-Conference teams weren’t the only awards handed out on Monday night, as the Big Ten also announced the coaches and media selections for players of the year.

I’ll just say there’s one selection I don’t agree with all that much now.

Find out who took home the hardware after the jump...

Continue reading at Blog Ten

Big Ten All-Conference Teams

Sticking with tradition, the Big Ten Conference announced it’s All-Conference teams and handed out the awards for players of the year on Monday night following the end of conference play this past weekend. Blog Ten will be handing out similar awards — which carry a lot more weight, I swear — in the coming weeks because we’d like to let Illinois and Wisconsin finish their seasons before making any such decisions.

Find out who the coaches and media chose as their All-Conference team after the jump...

Continue reading at Blog Ten

Details Emerging On Clausen Fight

While neither Jimmy Clausen or Charlie Weis have said anything publicly about the fight Clausen was in early Sunday morning that resulted in him getting a black eye, some details are starting to emerge about what happened at C.J.'s Pub in South Bend.

Clausen was at the bar with his family, some teammates and a date and apparently they were there without any incident the whole time.  That is, until Clausen's date left her purse inside the bar.  According to a report from WSBT2 in South Bend, it was after Clausen and his date went back into the bar to retrieve her purse that the trouble started.

Marian Hossa May Play On Wednesday

As I wrote about yesterday, it's time for Chicagoans to hitch themselves to the Blackhawks bandwagon.  They're by far the best thing this city has going for it in the sports world -- and possibly best thing going period -- and there's another aspect about the team I didn't touch on yesterday that makes this team more exciting.

They've racked up the second best record in the conference and have won seven in a row, and they've done all this without their big free-agent signing over the summer, Marian Hossa.

Which may change as soon as Wednesday night as word is that the Hawks $60 million man will be making his debut against the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night.

Jimmy Clausen Involved In a Bar Fight?

On the last two Senior Days in South Bend the Fighting Irish have lost games to Syracuse (a school that's 9-26 over the last three years) and just recently Connecticut (a team that just joined Division I in 2002).  Needless to say, the losses are two black eyes for the program and Charlie Weis' tenure running the ship into the ground at Notre Dame.

Well it seems his quarterback wants to match that feat.  There's a report from David Kaplan that Clausen was involved in a fight in a South Bend bar on early Sunday morning following the Irish's loss against the Huskies, and he's got a couple of shiners to show for it.

White Sox Will Sign Omar Vizquel

I wrote about it both here and at FanHouse last week, but it looks like it's going to become official at some point on Monday afternoon.

The newest member of your Chicago White Sox will be Omar Vizquel.

According to ESPNChicago's Bruce Levine, Vizquel will be signing a one-year deal worth $1.375 million to be a backup infielder and mentor to Alexei Ramirez, Gordon Beckham and Mark Teahen.

It's not a huge move by any means, but as I said last week, it's one that could have a big impact on a White Sox infield that wasn't exactly stellar defensively last season.

It's Time To Embrace The Blackhawks, People

These are dark days on the Chicago sports scene, my friends.  After a long summer of disappointment with both the White Sox and Cubs, we all turned our eyes towards the newest savior in town, one Jay Cutler.  Well, he's proved to be more David Koresh than Jaysus as this Bears season burns to the ground all around us.

Still, if there was any silver lining to last night's Bears loss it was that afterward, all any Chicago sports fan had to do to lift their spirits was flip the channel over to WGN and watch the Blackhawks win their seventh straight in Vancouver. 

They are the best team in Chicago, and they have been for the last twelve months.  They were the team getting all the way to the Western Conference Finals last summer, and they're currently the team with the second-best record in the conference at the moment (San Jose has 36 points to the Hawks 32 but the Hawks beat them at the United Center just over a week ago).

If you're not a Blackhawks fan, or a hockey fan, it's time to embrace the team and the sport.  Commit to the indian, or these winter months are going to be dark and dreary.

Blog Ten Dean's List - Week 12

Saturday was the last day of the regular season for everyone in the Big Ten except for Wisconsin (one game left against Hawaii) and Illinois (games against Cincinnati and Fresno State) which means that all the grades are in, and this will be the last Dean’s List of the regular season.

Though it won’t be the last time I heap accolades on players throughout the conference as after Wisconsin and Illinois finish their seasons I’ll have the Blog Ten All-Conference teams, and there will be a Dean’s List following bowl season.

For now, though, we’ll take a look at the stars from this past Saturday...

Continue reading at Blog Ten

Blogpoll Ballot: Week 12

I realize I forgot to post this the last two weeks.  Though it has been updated in the sidebar, so if you were really interested you could have found it there.

Anyway, here's my latest ballot.  Nothing crazy here, but I'll admit this is one of the harder years to figure out the top five teams.  With six teams still undefeated this late in the year it's hard to know who would beat who.

I mean, whose to say TCU doesn't beat Texas on a neutral field right now?  Or Alabama.  Or Florida.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama
2	Florida
3	Texas
4	TCU
5	Boise State	1
6	Cincinnati	1
7	Georgia Tech
8	Oregon	2
9	Ohio State	1
10	Pittsburgh	1
11	Iowa	1
12	Penn State	1
13	Oklahoma State	2
14	Virginia Tech	2
15	Brigham Young	2
16	Houston	3
17	Miami (Florida)	3
18	Oregon State	4
19	LSU	8
20	Clemson	3
21	Mississippi
22	Utah	2
23	Nebraska	2
24	Stanford	10
25	Southern Cal	4
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: Wisconsin (#18).

The World Meets Devin Hester's Ass

If Devin Hester getting pantsed on national television isn't the perfect way to sum up this Chicago Bears season, I don't know what is.

Video after the jump if you're into that kind of thing.

Don't Let The Door Hit You, Fat Man

Thanks for the memories!

White Sox Honing in On Omar Vizquel

As FanHouse went over in our Footprints in the Snow on the Chicago White Sox earlier on Friday, the Sox aren't expected to be big buyers this offseason after making big moves to land Jake Peavy and Alex Rios last summer. Still, that doesn't mean they won't be making smaller moves to tweak their roster in the coming weeks.

Moves like trying to sign Omar Vizquel to a one-year deal to be a backup infielder as Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal is reporting...

Continue reading at FanHouse

Blog Ten Cheat Sheet - Week 12

This is actually a depressing weekend for me because it’s the last Saturday of the year that will feature a full Big Ten schedule.  Which means that I’ll no longer be able to use “work” as an excuse to sit in my chair all day and watch football, so the girlfriend will be able to drag me out into the sunshine to do things like go to lunch or see a movie.

So I don’t care if there really isn’t all that much to settle on the gridiron this weekend as we already know who the conference champion is and the only team left with a chance to get bowl eligible is Michigan.  And that chance is somewhere between slim and none.

So the only mystery still remaining is how bad my record picking games against the spread will be this year.  Find out with me after the jump, won’t you?

Continue reading at Blog Ten

Source: White Sox Close To Signing Omar Vizquel

The only bad thing about the White Sox adding Jake Peavy to the team last July is that he was the team's biggest "free-agent signing" of this offseason.  Which means that for someone like me, who loves to come up with ideas and pretend he's running the team during the winter, it's going to be a boring offseason when it comes to the team I love.

There aren't going to be any major deals pulled off by the Sox this winter, instead we'll hear news about trades like the one that sent Chris Getz and Mark Teahen to Kansas City for Mark Teahen -- get your World Series tickets now! -- and other minor free agent signings.

Signings like the one Fox's Ken Rosenthal is reporting is close to being finished.  According to Rosenthal the White Sox are about to sign veteran shortstop Omar Vizquel to a one-year deal.